1- r ^S) @J fS) ^' /©?/ ve) r«) m [^ e; '^^ m [«> @. i©^ 1^ /? /-z^>«^ r/ / ^ ^^l^^'i^^:^ I 111.,- SIBLEY. ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. EX-MEMBER OP U. S. CONGRESS; MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY ; FIRST DELEGATE FROM THE TERRITORY, AND FIRST GOVERNOR OF THE STATE, OF MINNESOTA. BREVET MAJOR GENERAL, U. S. V.; COMMANDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF MINNESOTA ; PRESIDENT OF BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY, OF THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL BOARD, ETC. Non omnis moriar. NATHANIEL AVEST, D.D. Pioneer Press Publishing Company, Saint Paul, Minnesota. 1889. Copyright, 18S9, by Henry Hastings Sibley. PREFACE. I PUEPOSE to write, in outline, the Ancedry, Life, and Times of Henry Hastings Sibley, the historic starting point of whose j)edigree is first descried in the gray foretime, near the Plantagenets, and not remote from Norman conquest, when Saxons fought against their proud invaders. Briefly, I desire to indicate historic names in the line descending thence, conspicuous through the scenes of English history, down to the times of the Pilgrim Fathers and days of Cromwell, the times of Carver, Standish, and of Endicott's and Winthrop's fleets, when, as part of a vast immigration, the Sibleys crossed the seas, while "Westward the course of empire took its way;" a line thence lengthening and widening through the mazes of American colonial and revolutionary strife; crossing the epoch of the Great Ordinance of 1787, continuing to the War of 1812, when the subject of this sketch was a babe a year old, and a prisoner of war in British hands; thence, hitherward, spreading through the settle- ment of the Northwest Territory, and particularly of Minnesota, before it had a state or territorial name, and advancing to the period of the present writing. It is a long and sometimes tortuous road to travel, and much of our march must imitate the steps of Homer's gods in space. The task, not less pleasing than severe, recites the story of one whose fortunes were not only unsunderable from the birth and history of Minnesota, but are so interwoven with the fortunes of the whole North- west, that the dimensions of a single volume are insuflicient to compass the wealth of material by which the treatment of the theme is embar- rassed. The fabled Atlas, with the globe on his shoulders, illustrates, in measure, the relation to the State of Minnesota of one who, with universal consent, repeated public expression, and on anniversary occasions, has been by his contemporaries accorded the rank of ^^ First Citizen of Minne- sota,^ ^ and to whose health the magnates of the state, met in semi- centenary banquet, responded, rising to their feet in honor of their guest, and applauding the toast ' 'Long Live the King! ' ' This meed of meritorious praise — not a vain flattery — precludes the possibility of exaggeration on the part of a historian, and binds him to respect the public judgment. Sprung from a line of ancestors renowned in the annals of their country, in both hemispheres, stretching backward through six centuries and twenty generations, and many of whose noblest qualities are illustrated in the life of Henry Hastings Sibley, Minnesota possesses, as her own, a man whose memory she will covet to keep as long as the "North Star State" shines in the constellation of states that form the great American Union. It is not that many brave men, and noble, have not preceded Agamemnon, nor that the subject of this sketch lacked contemporaries of distinguished name, men of literary, civil, mili- tary, and social mark, deserving well of the state, as also of the nation, but it is that Agamemnon himself was great. In the study of my task I have not only applied myself to the most authoritative published historical and genealogical sources of information, but also, with interest, to unpublished manuscripts and notes, corre- spondence, diaries, and various papers of unusual value relating to my theme, so that, notwithstanding the many sketches, histories, and volumes, already extant, the reader will here be treated to some draughts undrawn before, and find new flowers not hitherto set on the board. Jurat iniegros accedere fontes, atque haurire; juvatque novos decerpere flares. I write, therefore, from sources individual and official, personal and public, state and national, American and European, concerning one who, in his youth, was of adventurous disposition, marvelous in his many- sided life, of great capabilities, commanding intellect, high moral tone, intense susceptibility to the beautiful, religiously disposed, and of deter- mined will and purpose; a man whose history far transcends the role of -^neas whom Virgil sang, and who, were a Homer now living, would be made the subject of his muse; a man of virtues such as Tacitus has told of Agricola; of physical stature Ajax-like in his manhood, full of symmetry, and courtly in his manners; a man of fine accom- plishment, integrity unwavering, ideals ennobling, endurances wellnigh incredible, and of whom, one of the most gifted governors of the state ha.s testified that "he bore in his breast, to this distant region, the seeds of an advancing and all-comprehending civilization," planting the same in the Territory of Minnesota, making its "solitary places glad," and its "wilderness to blossom as the rose."^ A frontiersman and van- courier by hereditary right, and with lineal prestige superior to a hun- dred robber-kings, romantic, chivalrous, and self-reliant, instinct with exploit and enterprise, he could have been no other than his history has unfolded him. The prearranged conditions of his birth foredestined hira to be a " Prince of Pioneern.''^ The stature of his thought, the persistence- of his will, the kiiu'iicss of his heart, his self-conscious elevation, 1 Wonln of (jovernor Davis. PREFACE. Y modest as obliging, and condescending as dignified, were among the noblest products of Nature, in his constitution. The arching canopy of heaven, the heaving waters of the lakes. Nature's vast solitudes, and the great prairies of the West, were types, to him, of the Infinite and Ever- present One, and their silent magic left upon him their undying impress. Narrow, bigoted, unjust, unbenevolent, irreligious, ignoble, degraded, untruthful, unsympathetic, he could never be. His primacy is conceded. In his youth he was superlative among the many Nimrods around him, "a mighty hunter before the Lord," a "splendid shot," not surpassed by the Indian; a sportsman by birth, loading the shoulders of his fleet barb with the game that skimmed the sky, and chasing, with delight, not only through the air, but through lines of living prairie fire, the buffalo and elk, the panther and the deer, and camping at night, unmolested, where the red man roamed. He was the first judicial ofiicer, and sole lawgiver over a domain extensive as the Empire of France, and where, to-day, — a half century gone by, — stand the four gi-eat states of Iowa, Minnesota, and the two Dakotas, thronged with millions of an industrious population, cultured and rich, shielded by laws their wisdom has framed, and crowned with institutions their liberality has reared. Their sky-pointing spires rise everywhere, and glitter heavenward, in the glancing sunlight, where once the smoke of the wigwam curled, and the savage war-whoop was the only Sal)bath bell. He was the first in a tenderer jurisdiction, the captured conqueror of one whose personal attractions were, to him, a net of the sweetest entangle- ment, and a wound whose pain was his pleasure. He was first as fore- man of the first grand jury ever impaneled west of the Mississippi, in what is now known as Minnesota, interpreting to a French jury the charge of a Saxon judge. He was the first delegate from Wisconsin Territory, after Wisconsin was admitted as a state with diminished boundaries, gaining by dint of sheer superiority his seat in Congress, and, after powerful opposition, securing the passage of a bill organizing the Terri- tory of Minnesota. He was the first delegate from the Territory ot Minnesota thus organized, and re-elected by the overwhelming voice ot the people. He was first as president of the Democratic branch of the convention met in troublous times to form the state constitution, its guiding genius and its counselor. He was first as the first governor ot the State of Minnesota he had done so much to found; the stalwart champion of her honor and credit during the long struggle in which both were sought by reckless politicians to be destroyed. He was first as a state military ofiicer, appointed by the governor, with the powers of a general commanding the state troops, in the fateful hour of VI PEEFACE. the Sioux massacre of 1862, when the blood of nearly a thousand lives cried for vengeance, and the homes of Minnesota's first settlers lay smouldering in their fires. He was the first from the state as a general in the army, appointed by the president, to command the whole mili- tary district of Minnesota during the Civil War. He was first in the second joint military exi)edition against the Indians in 1862-3, victorious in three successive battles, driving them across the Missouri river. He was first upon the board of Indian commissioners to negotiate treaties with the hostile Sioux and other bands still threatening the upper banks of that waterway. He was the first military officer of the state brev- etted as major general in the army of the United States Volunteers for gallant and meritorious service in the field. And as if Minnesotians could heap no honors too profusely on him, he has been for years eminent among the regents of the State University, adorning the chair of the president of the board, president also of the State Normal School Board, and of the State Historical Society; also of the Chamber of Commerce, of the Cemetery Association, of the Gas Company, of St. Paul; commander of the Loyal Legion, and standing at the head of various institutions and charities besides. If recurring primacies and responsible positions and honors multiplied; if the consentient suffrages of popular esteem, public confidence and admiration, affection and respect; if a life devoted to the interests of the state and the welfare of his fellow men are a passport to the gratitude of any people, then, with others worthy of reward, so much of the character and deeds of Henry Hastings Sibley will secure for him, while life still lingers, a constant and enduring regard, and, when life is ended, a monument to perpetuate the name and the figure of one of whom both state and nation have just cause to be proud. To secure the utmost accuracy, the foUovdng narrative, so far as relates to events under his immediate observation, has been submitted to the criti- cism of Mr. Sibley himself The statements made can be relied upon as historically just. Authentic documents vouch for the rest. For whatever commendation of the deeds, person, or character of the subject of this sketch may be found in the course of these pages, the writer is alone responsible, heedless of many a protest forbidding the same, and purposed to express what justice and truth recjuired at his hands. NATHANIEL WEST. TABLE OF GENERAL CONTENTS. The specialized summary of contents is placed over the head of each chapter, for the greater convenience of the reader. The index, at the close of the volume, gives a particular paged reference to each of the subjects, persons, events, and items of the book. The jyresent table of general contents simply indicates, in the most gen- eral way, the main scope and character of the chapters. CHAPTER I. Page. Ancestral lines, English and American, of the Sibley family; ar- morial bearings; religious, civil, social, political, and military, status in history; their immigration to the New World; biographi- cal sketches of some of the more prominent in American annals; incidents and events connected with their career; a general his- toric view ranging backward, from 1629, the time of the landing of " Winthrop's Fleet," to near the Norman Conquest, and for- ward, from 1629 to 1811, the birth-year of Henry Hastings Sib- ley 1-45 CHAPTER II. Period of the boyhood, early manhood, Indian and pre-territorial, life of Henry Hastings Sibley; or from 1811 to 1828, the year he left his paternal home for the Sault Ste. Marie; from 1828 to 1834, the year his feet first touched Mendota; from 1834 to 1843, the year of his marriage; from 1843 to 1848, the year of his en- trance into the Congress of the United States as delegate from the residuary portion of the Territory of Wisconsin 46-93 CHAPTER III. Period of the congressional career of Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley; first as a delegate from the Territory of Wisconsin, 1848-9; pre- ceded by a statement of the influence of the United States upon European institutions at that time; also a statement of the great outstanding questions affecting the fortunesjof the whole country when Mr. Sibley began his political life; and an account of his successful struggle to secure his seat in Congress, and the recog- nition of the rights of his constituents. Thirtieth Congress, opening of second session, December 3, 1848 94-103-115 YUl CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. Page, Period of the congressional career of Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley, as delegate from Wisconsin Territory, continued; including the history of the acquisition of the Northwest Territory, and of the Louisiana purchase; the organization of various special terri- tories, and particularly of the Territory of Minnesota, sprung from a "double mother," and under eightfold successive juris- dictions; the intense political agitation of the country; the vio- lence of sectional strife; the great yet successful struggle to secure the passage of the bill establishing Minnesota Territory; and the important results flowing therefrom. Thirtieth Congress, second session, from December 3, 1848, to March 3, 1849 116-135 CHAPTER V. Period of the congressional career of Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley, continued, but now as delegate from the Territory of Minnesota; the increasing political agitation of the entire country threatening the disruption of the Union, and establishment of dual and hos- tile governments; exciting scenes in Congress; the arduous labor and unremitting devotion of Mr. Sibley to the interests of his constituents; his fearless and eloquent arraignment of the Indian policy of the United States; defense of the red man; assertion ot the claims of the pioneer; and vindication of the rights of the Territory of Minnesota. Thirty-first Congress, first session, from December 3, 1849, to September 30, 1850; second session, from December 2, 1850, to March 3, 1851 136-158-173 CHAPTER VI. Period of the congressional career of Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley, continued; polar antagonism between North and South; politi- cal parties breaking up; assertion of moral principles in state and national politics; difficult and embarrasing position of Mr. Sib- ley; his unswerving unpartisan attention to the affairs and inter- ests ol' Minnesota; his conflicts and struggles in the house; his victories; his great service in securing territorial appropriations and legislation for the benefit of Minnesota; his final appeals in behalf of railroad communications, connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the I'.ritisli line. North, and Lake Superior witli the Missis- sippi river. Thirty-second Congress, first session, from Decem- ber 1, 1851, to August 31, 1852; second session, from December 6, 1852, to March 3, 1853 174-200-209 CHAPTER VII. Post-congressional career of Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley, or period of his public service in the legislature of the Territory of Minne- sota; his exposure and defeat of public fraud and corruption; his CONTENTS. ix Page. memorial to Congress unveiling the crimes of the Minnesota & Northwestern Railroad Company, and the fraud of the ter- ritorial legislature upon the substance and rights of the people; his position in the formation of the Constitution of the State of Minnesota; his administration as the first governor of the state; his resistance to the "Five Million Loan," and his manly strug- gle to maintain the credit and honor of the state; the phenome- nal condition of the world in 1860-62. Mr. Sibley in the cele- brated Charleston Convention, South Carolina, 1860 210-240-246 CHAPTER VIII. Post-gubernatorial life of ex-Governor Sibley. Period of his first military campaign against the insurgent Sioux Indians; the great massacre of 1862; commissioned August 19, 1862, by Governor Ramsey, as colonel commanding the expedition against the Sioux, with full powers of a general officer; pursuit of the Indians; battles of Birch Coolie and Wood Lake; defeat of Little Crow and re- lease of the captives; trial and condemnation of the criminal Sioux by military commission; simultaneous execution of thirty- eight; the results of the expedition; promoted to rank of briga- dier general, September 29, 1862. Observations by the writer, upon our culture, humanity, and civilization. Action of the legislature of Minnesota, and the business men of St. Paul, in reference to General Sibley. First military campaign, and results; from August 19, 1862, to September 23, 1862, to March 23, 1863. 247-277-301 CHAPTER IX. Period of the second military campaign of General Sibley against the Sioux Indians; organizes the expedition and advances from Camp Pope, June 16, 1863; pursuit of the retreating foe; forced marches from Fort Atchison, July 20, 1863; the battles of Big Mound, Dead Buffalo Lake, and Stony Lake; 10,000 Indians driven across the Missouri river; the important results of the campaign; order issued for the homeward march; deep personal bereavement of General Sibley. Observations by the writer upon the "Indian Problem;" fate of Little Crow; second military campaign, and results; from June 16, 1863, to July 31, 1863, to September 13, 1863 302-317-333 CHAPTER X. Post-military career of General Sibley; promoted, by brevet, to the rank of brevet major general, United States Volunteers; delayed commission received April 30, 1866; recalled to national service after being honorably mustered out; occupied in negotiating trea- ties with the Indians; multiplied offices, and responsibilities pressed upon him; reopening of the question of the Minnesota X CONTENTS. Page. state railroad bonds; General Sibley's election to the state legis- lature, and his triumphant vindication of his administration as first governor of the state; his elevation to many dignities; his last years crowned with military, civic, literary, and academic, honors, 1864-1870-1889. Observations of the writer upon state morality; public expression in regard to General Sibley 334-345-355-364-38 CHAPTEK XI. Eesum^ of the career of Henry Hastings Sibley; special description of his various characteristics; as a man; a statesman; a public speaker; a debater; his moral attributes; religious element; his literary merit; love of humor; love of nature; humanity, and be- nevolence. Home, family, and connections, of General Sibley. Observations upon his wonderful career. The indebtedness of Minnesota to him as the foundation of her greatness, and the central figure around which all others revolve 382-417-431 Personal acknowledgment 432 APPENDIX. Part 1 435-457 Part II 458-481 Part III 482-549 Note on New Ulm 550-554 THE ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. CHAPTER I. ANCESTEAL LINE OF HENKY HASTINGS SIBLEY. — THE FIRST AMERICAN SIBLEYS. — JOHN SIBLEY OF SALEM. — JOHN SIBLEY OF CHARLES- TOWN. — DERIVATION OF THE NAME; SAXON, NOT NORMAN. — COATS OF ARMS. — SIBLEYS OF HERTFORD AND KENT. — "jOHN SIBILE " OF gray's inn. — "JOHN SIBLEY" OF ST. ALBANS. — THE SIBLEY HIGH SHERIFFS OF HERTFORDSHIRE. — LETTERS OF HYDE CLARKE, ESQ., LONDON. — SOCIAL POSITION. — INTERMARRIAGES. — DODINGTON OF LINCOLN'S INN. — DR. WILLIAM GOUGE OF WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. — BACKWARD GLANCE FROM CHARLES I. TO WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. — DOMESDAY BOOK. — FORWARD GLANCE FROM CHARLES I. TO PRES- ENT TIME. — "star chamber" AND "CONVENTICLE." — SIBLEYS AND THE WINTHROP FLEET. — GERM OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. — ENDI- COTT'S ADVANCE. — LANDING AT SALEM AND CHARLESTOWN. — THE "caput ROTUNDUM." — CONNECTION BETWEEN JOHN OF CHARLES- TOWN AND JOHN OF SALEM. — SHIP LISTS LOST. — LINKS. — THE SUTTON SIBLEYS. — SUTTON TOWNSHIP, AND THE LAND GRANT. — GODFEAR- ING PEOPLE. — PURGATORY AND ICICLES. — SIBLEYS AND WHIPPLES. — CHURCH AND PEW. — THE SIBLEY PEWS. — JOSIAH SIBLEY AND "YE WIDOWS." — MUSIC. — SCENES IN CHURCH. — DISTINGUISHED CONNEC- TIONS. — PURITANIC NAMES. — BEER BARREL WHIPPED FOR WORKING ON SUNDAY. — CAT PUNISHED FOR CATCHING A MOUSE DURING PRAYER. — THE TALL BRIDE. — MRS. SIBLEY AND THE BEAR. — SALEM WITCHCRAFT. — INDIAN JOHN AND THE CAKE. — BERKLEY'S ODE, "westward the course of EMPIRE TAKES ITS WAY." — BRILLIANT COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY RECORD OF THE SIBLEYS. — CHIEF JUSTICE SOLOMON SIBLEY OF DETROIT, FATHER OF HENRY HASTINGS. — NABIES OF HIS CHILDREN. — CATHERINE WHIPPLE. — COMMODORE WHIPPLE. — FIRST SHOT AT THE BRITISH FLAG ON THE SEAS. — STEPHEN HOPKINS, SIGNER OF THE "DECLARATION." — COLONEL EBENEZER SPROAT. — THE "OHIO COMPANY." — ORDINANCE OF 1787. — IMPORTANT FACT NOT GENERALLY KNOWN. — LANDING OF THE WHIPPLES AND SPROATS AT THE MOUTH OF THE MUSKINGHAM RIVER, 1 2 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF OHIO. — "buckeye." — SARAH WHIPPLE SPROAT, MOTHER OF HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, BOTH PRLSONERS IN BRITISH HANDS AT DETROIT. — GIRLHOOD, EDUCATION, LIFE, AND DEATH OF MRS. SOLOMON SIB- LEY. — HER CHARACTER. — BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE TO HER MEMORY BY MRS. ELLETT. Henry Hastings Sibley was born in the city of Detroit, February 20, 1811. He was the fourth child and second son of an honorable sire. Chief Justice Solomon Sibley of Detroit, whose wife, Sarah Whipj)le Sproat, was the only daughter of Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, an accomplished officer in the Conti- nental Army, and the granddaughter of Commodore Abraham Whipple of the Continental Navy, an illustrious commander, the first who fired upon the British flag on the high seas, during the Revolutionary War, and the first to float the star- spangled colors from his masthead in the Thames at London. Judge Solomon Sibley was born in Sutton, Massachusetts, October 7, 1769, and was the third sou of Reuben Sibley, born in the same place, February 20, 1743, who was the second son of Jonathan Sibley, born in the same place, September 11, 1718, who was the fourth son of Joseph Sibley II., born in the same place, November 9, 1684, who was the first son of Joseph Sibley I., born in the same place, 1655, who was the third son of John Sibley I. of Salem, Massachusetts, the brother of Bichard Sibley I. of Salem. Tradition vibrates somewhat as to the precise time when these two brothers first appeared in America. One account states that, "In the year 1637, John Hampden, Oliver Cromwell, and John Pym, and others, weary of the tyranny of Charles Rex and Archbishop Laud, determined to emigrate, in a body, from England to America, with the purpose of establishing themselves as the nucleus of a free community; but the king prohibited their embarkation. Among the many young men who were thus balked in their purpose were two Sibley brothers, natives of Middlesex county, near London, John and Richard Sibley, who contrived to escape, however, and safely landed in that part of America then known as 'North Virginia,' but now as 'New England,' locating tliemselves in Salem, Essex county, Massachusetts. Both these brothers were unmarried. The date of their aiiival is somewhat conjectural, one authority fixing it at Kill, another at 1620, still another at 1624; Derrick Sibley of ('iiiciiinati saying his record is at 1632. The precise fact HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 3 is not yet decided." ^ On the other hand, the later and larger number of authorities, so far as accessible, place the appear- ance of the Sibley brothers, John and Eichard, about, or at, the time of the "Winthrop Fleet," 1629, only nine years after the landing of the Pilgrims from the Mayflower, 1620, at Plymouth Rock, and the settlement of "New Plymouth," the first permanent civil foundation ever laid in New England, Charles I. being King of England. Calculated from which- ever date, the generations of the Sibley family in America, from John I. of Salem, to Henry Hastings Sibley of Detroit, are seven generations, and, including his children and grand- children, are nine generations, covering a period of two centuries and a half. ^ Ogilsby, in his early classic "History of America," pub- lished 3671, narrates that, between 1620 and 1650, a period of thirty years, or one generation, the English had planted forty- five chief towns in "New England," the first one, after the location of Fort St. George, being '■'New Plymouth;^'' the second being ^^Salem,^' called Mahunibeak by the Indians, and built, in the year 1628, by ^^ merchant adventurers;'''' the third being Charlestown, or Mashawmut ; the fourth "Dorchester in the form of a serpent;" the fifth "Boston, the metropolis of all the rest, in the form of a heart;" the next "Roxbury, which resembleth a wedge, situate between Boston and Dorchester." '^ From the early records, it appears that a "John Sibley" resided at Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1634, while another "John Sibley" resided at Salem, Massachusetts, 1634 also. From these two Sibleys, with "Richard Sibley," a brother of John of Salem, all of Puritan stock, have descended the wide- spread connection of Sibleys, not only in New England, but throughout the whole United States. From the Salem Sibley, John I. of Salem, came Henry Hastings Sibley of St. Paul, through the line of Joseph I., son of John I. of Salem, Joseph II., son of Joseph I., Jonathan, son of Joseph II., Reuben, son of Jonathan, and Solomon, son of Reuben, as already stated. 1 Genealogical Record of the Sibley Family, by Hon. John Hopkins Sibley, St. Louis Missouri, 1851. Type-written from MS., p. 1. 2 History of Sutton, 1701-187G, pp. 717-726, and History of Union, by J. L. Sibley, 495- 500. Memorial of the Morses, Boston, 1850. Leland's Genealogical Record, Boston, 1S50. History of Grafton, by T. C. Pierce, Worcester, 1879. History of Spencer, by J. Draper, Worcester', 1875. Indexes to American Pedigrees, by D. S. Durrie, Albany, 1886. Wells of Southhold, by Hayes, Buffalo, 1878, pp. 91, 109, 136-7, 140-149, 150, 181. Consult under the title "Sibley." 3 Ogilsby's Hist. America, folio, A. D. 1671, p. 154. 4 ANCESTEY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Of the first two John Sibleys, the one at Charlestown, the other at Salem, we shall speak more hereafter. It is enough for our present purpose to state, that in the lines of both John and Eiehard Sibley of Salem are found a multitude of men and women of high distinction, adorning the annals of the nation, in all the various walks of private and of public life. The name "67&?e?/" is a name of long standing in English his- tory, as it is of various orthography, betraying differences as marked in its development as are the ditferences between our English now and that of the times of Spenser and Chaucer. In the successive genealogies, heraldries, and public records of English history, it assumes a multitude of variations; as, "Sibell," "Sibille," "Sibli," "Sible," ^'Siblie," ''Sibile," ''Sibili," "Sibilie," "Sibely," ''Sibly," "Sibley," "Seble," "Sybly," "Sybele," "Sybeli," ^'Sybyle," "Sybely," withan ^^ alias Sybery," the liquid "r" being interchangeable with the liquid "1," and moreover drawn into close relation with "Sileby," by means of the marked agreement between the armorial bearings of the families of "Sileby" and "Sybly." The etymology of the name is somewhat conjectural. It is certainly not of Greek derivation cognate with ''Sibyl" from the Doric genitive of "Ze^^s" (Sios), Jupiter, and "i?OM?e," the counsel or oracle of Jove, which the ancient Sibyl professed to be, even though we find the names "Sibyl Sibley," and "Sibylla" in the published pedigrees. It can hardly be of Norman derivation, meaning a "field of wheat," "u7," i. e. territori/. The line in Gray's Elegy, "The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the Zm," gives us one of the senses plainly. The other sense, cog- nat;lisli Dictionary, pp. ISo, 200. HON. HENKY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. Land, Union Land, the idea being that of rest, or cessation, from strife. The Eev. John Langdon Sibley, many years librarian in the University of Harvard, regards the name as a synonym for ^^Kins7nen's Land,^' rejecting the primary sense of the ' ' lea, " or " ly, " viz. , a ' ' law, "and also the primary sense of '"Sib," viz., "peace," — these two senses giving us "■Peace Laic,^^ — as "conjectural." ^ On the contrary, it is an established rule in philology, and respected by all the later lexicogra- phers, that the primary sense must run somehow, and be seen somewhere, in all the subsequent variations. We cannot reject it, but must hold to both senses in their fulness of historic usage. The combination ' ' Sibley ' ' is the same as in the words "Dudley," "Horsley," "Morley," "Huxley," "Shipley," "Beverly," andseemstoexpress the fact of j)eace and brother- hood enjoyed after times of discord and war. The variations in the form of the word do not affect its root meaning. These are common to all words in the progress of their development. In the New England Genealogical Dictionary ^ the forms "Sib- ly," "Sebley," "Sybley," are given as among others of the same name, and found everywhere in the history of the family, precisely as we Und the diffei'ent forms of the name "Selby," "Selebi," "Selebe," "Silibie,"and "Silby;"— a circumstance which, in connection with the close resemblance of the armo- rial bearings of the two families, has led to the supposition that the name "Selby" is only a variation of the name "Sibly." In the town records of Sutton, Massachusetts, from 1718 to 1876,wefind " John Sible," •' Samuel Sible," "Joseph Sibly," "Martha Sibley," all of the same family, a variation frequent both in Old and New England in the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries. 3 The armorial bearings of the different branches of this ancient and widespread family are diversified, representing both peace and war, a necessity in the national history of any family. In the " Collectanea TopograpMca et Genealogica,^' London, 1837, the arms of the Poyues and Sibells are given as copied from an old worn stone below the east door of the chapel of St. Duustan's in the west of London. The inscription reads "Armes of the Poyues and Sibells; Barry, or and gu., in chief a mullett, impaling; Gyronny of eight 1 J. L. Sibley's History of Union, p. 495 note. 2 Geneal. Dictionary of New England, Vol. IV, 93. 3 mstory of Sutton, 1704-1876, pp. 31, 37, 41, 47, etc. 6 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF az.,and or; four martlets in lozenge counterchanged.''^ In "Fairbairn's Crests of Great Britain and Ireland," we have still another heraldry, (1) "Sy bells," five halberds in pale, az,, corded together, of the first and gu.,"^ and (2) '^ Sybele, Eugl; out of a ducal coronet, or, a swan's head between wings." ^ Another coat of arms we find described as "per pale, az., and gu., a griffin between three crescents, ar.," and this is given as "the arms of the Sibley family of St. Albans, certified to their descendants in this county (Hertford) by the present officers of the Herald's College." This is the crest George E. Sibley, Esq., of New York City, has pub- lished as the crest of the Sibleys from whom came the first Sibleys of Charlestowu and Salem, Massachusetts,^ and is also given by Burke, in his General Armory, — ''per pale az. and gu, , a griffin passant between three crescents, ar. , " — as the arms of the same family, ^ — the griffin, or half lion and half vulture symbolizing swiftness, ferocity, and readiness for attack; a heraldry assumed, doubtless, at some period of the family history, by one of its great branches, to commemorate some important achievement, or mark some new distinction. This in no way conflicts with the more peaceful heraldry of the ducal coronet and swan's head with wings, as given in Fair- bairn's Crests, a coat of arras believed by the Sibleys of St. Albans to be the true crest of the family, the one question being whether it is the crest of the Sibleys from whom came "John Sibley, Mayor of St. Albans," or from whom came Heuiy and Thomas Sibley, Righ Sheriffs of Hertfordshire. There is still another coat of arms belonging to the Sibley genei-ation, and of marked historic interest. It is that of John Sibley of Gray's Inn, Loudon. In Dugdale's celebrated '■^Origines Juridicales,^^ a rare historical memorial of the ancient English law courts and forms of trial, we find the record '■^ lohanne.s tSihile, 1559," his coat of arms described as fixed ^Hn Borealihus (VtcUe Auhe Hospicii Grayensis FenestrU;^^^ that is, "on the north window of the hall called Gray's Inn," one of the most i-enowned seats of English legal learning. 1 Coll. Top. el (icmal. Land, I8:i7, Vol. IV, pp. lOf., lOS. 2 Fairbairn'H Crests, Loml. au quod,^^ we find a grant made to " Eicardus de Sibton," — the Q'lbtown being simply the 1 J. L. Sibley's Hist, of Union, ii. 495. 2 Uotuli Litt. ClaiiH. asserv. in Tiu'ri Lo .idfii-si, Vol. I, p. 778. 3 Kotuli Chartiirum, asserv. in Turii Londoin'nsi, Vol. I, I'lirt 1, ]). 1(>. 4 Essex Inst. Collections, passim 5 Romll Litt. Clans, asserv. etc., Vol. II, p. 41, p. 108, A. C Iliiii., Vol. I, Part 1, ji. 80; Uotuli Lilt. I'atentinni, asserv. in Turri Londonensi, Vol. I, I'ars ], p. 123. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 13 SibZe«, inhabited; — another to "Sibilla uxor Arsic," and another to "Sibilla, Priorissa et Abbatissa Electa de Berk- iug."i One step more concludes our backward journey. We have reached the twelfth century, A. D. 1186, covering a period of nearly four centuries and a half, dated backward from 1629, the time of the " Winthrop Fleet," or seven hundred years from the present day. It is but a step to William the Con- queror, A. D. 1066, the eleventh century. The "Domesday Book" (Liber Domus Dei) is the oldest national record in the archives of England, the record of the "Great Survey" of England at the time of the Conquest, made in order to ascertain who were rightful holders of lands and estates under Kings Edward and Harold, whether as allodial or under tenants. That no record of Sibley estates or lands is here found is no proof that none existed; for, first of all, the survey was incomplete, and next, it is well established that William, bent on punishing those who dared resist his inva- sion, confiscated their estates, giving the same to his Norman knights, while their Saxon owners were left to shift for themselves. Nevertheless we find ancient traces of the "Albani," "Salebi," "Siboldas," and "Sybton," which, taken in connection with the history of the Sibley family in England, justifies the reasonable conclusion that the ancestral line of Henry Hastings Sibley of St. Paul, Minnesota, extends backward, from the present moment, to the eleventh century, the time of the Norman Conquest, A. D. 1066, a period of over eight hundred years. If, now, we start from the same epoch that formed the base for our backward search, namely, A. D. 1629, and come for- ward to the present time, our labor will be no less richly rewarded. As a preliminary word, it is proper to say that, while the Sibley family seem in English history to side with the men who fought for civil and religious liberty and against the oppression of tyrants and kings, yet some in the line seem to have been of opposite views. In Eymer's Foedera we find the following: "For John Sibley. The king. May 26, 1632, granted to John Sibley et al. the of&ce of clerk and clerks in the star chamber, during life;"^ and in the famous Dugdale's 1 Ibid., Vol. I, Pars 1, pp. 123, 144. 2 Rymer's Fsedera, Vol. XIX, p. 348. 14 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF ''Warwickshire Knightlow Hundred," the record, "Thomas Sibley, clerk." ^ This, however, is offset by history of another hue. In Besse's " Sufferings of the Quakers," we find that "Thomas Sibley, 1684, and William Sibley, 1685, were sent to gaol for being at an unlawful meeting, a conventicle, in Somersetshire." 2 In the same volume, "William Sibley" is chronicled as a prisoner in 1685, in Leicester, for like offense, this place being the town where the Rev. Mr. Higginson was settled as pastor before he sailed in the "Winthrop Fleet" to Massachusetts, 1629; the time about which the first Sibleys came to the New World. This piece of history illustrates the period. The '■'■Camera Stellata-'' and the ^'■Conventicle''^ were but obverse sides of the same historic epoch, adorned with the face of Charles on the one side and of Cromwell on the other, and it was but natural that then, as now, in every great national question, families were represented on both sides. The burden of record, however, goes to show that the Sibleys were of Puritanic stock, men of the same mind with those who accompanied John Robinson to Holland, or Winthrop to Salem. The same counties from which the sires came are the counties in which, to-day, their children are enrolled as " Own- ers of Land in Eugland," the counties of Kent, Middlesex, Northampton, Essex, Sussex, Hertford, Somerset, Leicester, Lincoln, Warwick, and Devon. ^ The epoch of history when the "Winthrop Fleet" bore " John Sibley " to Massachusetts, was, next to that of the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, and of which it was only an echo, the grandest in modern times. It was a time when the spirit of Liberty rekindled her torch, and a Hamp- den, Sydney, and Pym were abroad in the majesty of popular rights; a time Avhen the commons in Parliament dared to affirm the freedom of speech as their ancient right, and the watch- words "Petition of Right," and "Freedom to Worship God," sounded from Pmitan tongues. Both denied by king, lords, star chaml)er, and high commission, the eyes of thousands were turned to where.the Pilgrims, but nine years before, had made their home. A remarkal)le circumstance, scarce known to the American peoi)lo, is tiiat the Winthrop expedition was conditioncil on a fad \vlii(;h boiHi in its breast][tlie germ of the 1 llotuli Hunilr. Miirtoi), Vol. I. p. :527. 2 Uesse'.s Sullbriti^H of I lie Qiiakei's, Vol. 1, pp. 0:{8-G44. '.', Owners of Lanil in l>iigl:iiiil, VbI.s. I, II, III, puH.'iiiii, Loud., 187."). HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL,D. 15 whole American Eevolution and the absolute independence of the colonies in 1776. That fact was the surrender of the char- ter, and transfer of the whole government of the colony and company of Massachusetts Bay to the company itself; a present, absolute, and total release of the colonists from a foreign jurisdic- tion, forever. Certain men of learning and wealth, with wide influence over others, and who, for several years, had discussed the matter, met, August 26, 1629, under the shadow of the walls of the University of Cambridge, in Old England, and "having weighed the greatness of the work in regard of its conse- quences, God's glory, and the Church's good," offered to the general court of the Massachusetts company, to " cross the high seas under God's protection," and make a new and firm plant in the New World, taking with them their families, friends, and all things needed, '■^provided the whole government, together with the patent for said plantation (the Plymouth com - pany's plant) he first, by order of court, legally transferred and established to remain ivith iis and others icho shall also inhabit said plantation.^ ^''- Not as mere adventurers they came, but to stay forever; yet only upon condition that the ''^ whole governmenV^ go with them to Salem, and the company be free forever from subordination to a foreign jurisdiction. The immensity of that proposition was felt by the general court, but the splen- dor of the offer extorted assent, and " Winthrop's Fleet" was the result. Tradition relates that in one of the vessels of that fleet of fourteen sail, came "Jo/mi Sibley,'^ the ancestor of Henry Hastings Sibley of St. Paul. Minnesota. It was a fleet, departing from different ports, and landing at different dates, "furnished with men, women, and children, all necessaries, men of all handicrafts, and others of good condition, wealth, and quality, with two hundred and sixty kine, and other cat- tle, to make a firm plantation in New England." ^ Godfear- ing men, among whom were "merchants and capitalists of London, and others also who mingled hopes of profit with a desire to do good and advance the cause of religion;"^ men like Governor Winthrop, Sir Henry Eosewell, Sir John Young, Dudley, Humphrey, Sibley, Saltonthall, West, Coddington, Southcoat, Johnson, Lothrop, Thorndike, with some fifteen or 1 See tlie evidence produced by Hon. Robt. C. Winthrop, President Massachusetts His- torical Society, in Wisner's " Memorial History of Boston," Vol. I, p. 101. 2 Prince's Annals, Vol. II, p. 199. 3 Wisner's Mem. Hist, of Boston, Vol. I, pp. 88-107. 16 ANCESTIIY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF twenty ministers, such as Higginsou, Davenport, Skeltou, Nye, Ward, Maverick, Bright, and Smith, a company, in all, of nearly two thousand souls. The diiference between old and new style reckoning has caused some confusion in the early records, embarrassing, on some accounts. Of this, Prince and others have complained. The fact is that the "Winthrop Fleet" is so called from its chief personage, John Winthrop, first governor of the colony under its surrendered patent. Its prejjaration began in the year 1628-1629, and was in progress during the consideration of the proposal to bring the government of the colony, this time, along with the emigrants themselves. As early even as the autumn of 1628, six vessels, bearing two hundred English emigrants, entered the harbor of Salem in Massachusetts bay, their governor, John Endicott, selecting for them the place of their settlement. This was the advance guard of the "Win- throp Fleet." The Plymouth company, March, 1628, having granted to Endicott and twenty-five others the territory from three miles south of the bay to three miles north of tlie extremest point of the Merrimac, Endicott sailed from England and landed at Kaumkeag (Salem), where Conant welcomed his arrival. In June, 1629, Rev. Francis Higginsou, with another large company, arrived in Salem, and July 4, 1629, founded Charlestown, the charter already alluded to being assigned to the colonists, August, 1629. Thus, a purely mercantile company became an independent provincial gov- ernment, Winthrop being elected as the first governor of the colony under its new regime^ one detachment of vessels bearing 406, another, in June, 1630, bearing 800, and another, in July, 700 more emigrants to the New World. In short, Endicott' s and Winthrop's fleets were parts of one vast emigration, in the years 1628-1630, impelled by the "new idea of an in- dependent existence on the transatlantic side," the vessels departing at different dates, and from different ports, and arriving at Salem at different times. The great movement, of Mlii(;h the "Winthrop Fleet" was the main body, included all who sailed immediately before and immediately after the main body, in the absence of complete ship-lists of emigrants, port records being either lost or not accessible, room exists for some latitude of conjecture as to the precise date of the ai-rival of certain peisons. All the more is this so, inasmuch as a number of the ships of both Endicott's and Winthrop's • HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 17 fleets continued to sail under their charters, rej)eating their trips, to and fro, for several years after 1628-1630. The date of the arrival of the Arabella, or admiral ship, of twenty- eight guns, bearing Winthrop, is, however, well ascertained, being June 24, 1630, the vessel landing at Naumkeag, or Nahumkeik (Salem), named from the Hebrew ^^Nahum-lceik,^'' ^^ Haven of Comfort,^ ^ and from Psalm 76:2, "In Salem also is his tabernacle."^ We read that "some of the company moved to Mishaicum, to which Governor Endicott gave the name of Charlestown, on Massachusetts bay, and which re- ceived the company of Winthrop," ^ the Pilgrims being now saluted by the newcomers as an "independent colony," the fleet having borne both charter and sovereignty into their hands. In "Felt's Annals of Salem" the entry is made, like that of so many others, "Sibley John, mr. c. fl. 1629;" — that is, "John Sibley, married, came over in the fleet, 1629; — an entry made when enumerating the ' ' first settlers in Salem, many of whom came from Northampton, the north of Scotland, and south of England. "3 In Drake's "History of the Antiqui- ties of Boston," the name "John Sibley" is enumerated in the list of names known to have been in Salem before and in the year 1629."* Of this John Sibley of Salem, John Lang- don Sibley, librarian of Harvard University, says, that "he took the freeman's oath September 3, 1634; was the sixteenth on the list of members of the First church, Salem; was select- man in 1636 at Salem; had a grant of land of fifty acres at Manchester, 1636; was selectman there also in 1636; an exten- sive land owner; died in Manchester, 1661; had nine children, four boys and five girls; and his widow, Eachel, brought the inventory into court, and 'ye court doe order that ye estate be left in ye widoe's hands to bring up ye children till ye court take further order." ^ Hanson, in his "History of Danvers," says of this same Sibley, that "he had land near Salem vil- lage, now probably Danvers."^ Savage, president of the Massachusetts Historical Society, says of this Sibley also that 1 Cotton Mather's Magnalia, p. 67 ; Prince's Annals of Salem, Vol.1, p. 188 ; Hubbard's History of New England, p. 102 ; Wisner's Mem. Hist, of Boston, Vol. I, p. 60. 2 Prince's Annals, Vol. II, pp. 188, 240. 3 Felt's Annals of Salem, Vol. I, pp. 67, 172. 4 Drake's Hist. Antiq., Boston, p. 57. 5 J. Langdon Sibley's Hist, of Union, p. 497. 6 Hanson's Hist. Danvers, p. 31. 18 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF "betook the freeman's oath Septembers, 1634; was select- man 163G; had land at Manchester and Jeffrey's creek, 1637; died at Manchester 1661; his widow, Rachel."^ And Barber, in his "Massachusetts Historical Collections," says that the church to which he was admitted as a member, "was the first Protestant church formed in the New "World. "^ The early records, however, make mention of a John Sibley of Charlestown, impossible to be identified with the "John Sib- ley of Salem," inasmuch as, though bearing the same name, yet they took the oath, and united with the church, at differ- ent dates, died twelve years apart, their families, the names of their widows, and inventory of their estates being differ- ent also. Of the Charlestown John Sibley, it is recorded by Wyman, in his "Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, Massachusetts," as follows: "Sibley John; adm. with wife, December 21, 1634, 5; mr. Sarah who mr. Francis Chickering, [1] (3) John Bowles [1] died November 30, 1649. Issue, Sarah, mr. Francis Dwight. Estates: 4 acres planting ground; home 2 acres; 4 acres at Linefield; 1 acre at South Mead; 2 J acres cow common; 10 acres woods; 28 acres Waterfield."^ Of this Charlestown Sibley, Felt also says, "John Sibley, with Sarah his wife, united with the church at Charlestown, Massachu- setts, December 21, 1634, and died at Charlestown, November 30, 1649. His name is spelled 'Sibilie' in 1650, in the record of his estate."^ The inventory differs from that given by J. Langdon Sibley, as also does the record that John Sibley of Charlestown was married, and had issue, although their names are not produced. In the inventory in the probate office, East Cambridge, are mentioned things other than are found in Wyman's account, as, for instance, this entry, "Amies, a corslet, headi^iece, sword, and pike." This looks much like the costume of the "Hew-A gag-in- j)ieces" kind of men, who lived just before and during the Cromwellian times; men of the ''^ Caput Hoiundiim,^^ who always x^niyed before making a cavalry charge, then plunging, "with the high praises of God in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand," dashed thioiigh tl)e Ibe, and doxologized loud on the other side, shout- ing, "Sucli honor liave all saints; Praise ye the Lord!" At 1 Gencalogicitl Diut. of New England, Vol. IV, i)]). !),'$, 94. 2 Harber's Man. HiBt. Coll., p. 22.'). 'A Wynian'H TienealoK. and Kstales, Vol. II, p. 8G5. 4 I'ell'H AnnalH of Salem, Vol. I, p. 172. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 19 any rate, it was the sort of stuff of which the stalwarts of yore were made; men who knew how to take off the head of a king, demolish a throne, dismiss the commons at will, clear the seas of pirates, and demand cessation of persecution against the Piedmontese, the guns of Cromwell threatening to pulverize the castle of St. Angelo. Of snch stuff, doubtless, were the New England Sibleys. Plainly, the Salem Sibley and the Charlestown Sibley are different persons. That they were of the same connection, there can be no doubt. That they crossed together, at the time of the " AYinthrop Fleet," is admitted by all writers except Savage, whose doubt is based simply on the fact that he had not seen the original record. He does not question Felt's statement that "John Sibley, Salem, came over with Higginson, 1629," but simply intimates that he has "not seen the evidence,"^ He adds this, however, "John Sibley, Charlestown, 1634, wife Sarah, freeman May 6, 1634, spelled with "e" in first syllable, died November 30, 1649." The evi- dence we have, therefore, is that of contemporary history, official records of churches, courts, and colony, and uncontra- dicted universal tradition. ^ It is certain that two Sibleys are found as early as 1634, or within three years of 1630, the one at Charlestown, the other at Salem, both uniting with the church the same year, and one declared to be the sixteenth on the list of members in the First church at Salem, the earliest Protestant church in the New "World. Official records furnish public notices of both. This, and the facts that both were selectmen so soon, land owners in many different places, prominent and influential in public affairs, argue their association with the 2,000 who came over in the fleet to make a "firm plant." And the universal tradition, uncontradicted for more than two and a half centuries, is more than enough to establish a claim, which, were its evidence applied to the investigation of an ancient title deed, would be deemed con- clusive. The testimony of Prince that some of the company made Salem their home, while others made Charlestown, is not without significance for our inquiry. The questions of 1 Savage's Genealogical Diet., Vol. IV, pp. 93, 94; Hist, of Union, by J. L. Sibley, p. 496. 2 See Hotten's Original Lists of Persons of Quality, Emigrants, Religious Exiles, Politi- cal Rebels, Serving Men, Maidens pressed, and others, who went from Great Britain to the American Hantations. 1600-1700, N. Y. 1874. Introd., pp. 31, 24, 28. 20 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF importance are (1) the relation of the Charlestown to the Salem Sibley, (2) the immediate links between the English and American Sibleys in 1629, or even in 1634. To detect the immediate link that existed, in times of civil war, disturbance of the archives, and exchange of an Old World for the New, in a genealogy extending back nine generations, is a work of special difficulty. Like difficult it is to detect the immediate link in the line, still backward among the St. Albans Sibleys, fifteen generations ago. That such links are recorded, some- where, no reasonable antiquarian or archseologist can doubt. That the "Salem Sibleys" are the blood progenitors of the "Sutton Sibleys," Massachusetts, is indisputable history, a history that rests upon the universal tradition and collateral proof that "John Sibley" of Salem crossed the high seas in the ""Winthrop Fleet" of 1629. In the standard and pains- taking "History of Sutton," a large volume of rare interest, the record is made by official action of the "Town of Sutton," thus: "The^rs^ Sibleys in this country came over from Eng- land in the fleet, A. D. 1629, — only nine years after the settle- ment of old Plymouth, — and settled in the town of Salem. They were supposed to be brothers, and their names were John and Ei chard. They both had wives. They united with the church December 21, 1634, and John Sibley took the freeman's oath May 6, 1635. He was a selectman of the town of Salem and went to the general court at Boston. He died, 1661, leav- ing nine children, five daughters and four sons. His sons' names are John, born March 4, 1648, a captain and selectman; William, born July 8, 1653; Joseph, born 1655; Samuel, born February 12, 1657 ; Joseph Sibley, the son of John, was born 1665. This Joseph teas the father of the Sutton Sibleys, his ivife^s name Susanna. They had seven children, one daughter, Hannah, who married Ebnezer Daggett, August 10, 1722. The sons were Joseph, John, Jonathan, Samuel, William, Benjamin. Three of these, Joseph, John, and Jonathan, all brothers, were among the thirty families who were entered as settlers in the 4,000 acres. Samuel's name appears, soon after, as occupying a i)lace with Joseph, and, in the seating of the meeting house in 1731, the names of William and Benjamin Sibley are found assigned to the fifth seat on the lower floor." ^ This clear record tells the story of the pioneer family, and reveals the Sutton 1 History of 8utloD,1704-18"6, p. 718. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 21 ancestor of Henry Hastings Sibley of 8t Paul. That ancestor is Joseph Sibley of Sutton, third son of John Sibley of Salem, his Salem ancestor being sev^en generations distant from him. The township of Sutton, where these six Sibley brothers began their pioneer work, was a tract of land eight miles square, embracing an Indian reservation bought from John Wampus by a company called the "Proprietors of Sutton," and consisting of thirty families, pledged to improve the same. In 1704, or seventy-five years from the time of the "Wiuthrop Fleet," it was founded. The deed conveying the land is quaint enough. It passes the right and title to the thirty families, of which the Sibleys were six, "together with all and singular the pastures, soils, swamps, meadows, rivers, pools, ponds, woods and underwoods, trees, timber, stones, fishing, fowling and hunting rights, members, hereditaments, emoluments, profits, privileges, and appurtenances thereto belonging or in any way appertaining; the same to be called Sutton; to have and to use and to hold, to exercise and enjoy; yielding to our sovereign lady. Queen Anne, and her successors, forever, one- fifth part of the gold, silver, and precious stones, from time to time and at all times, which forever hereafter shall happen to be found, gotten, gained, or obtained in any of said lands and premises, or within any part or xjarcel thereof, etc. Dated at Boston, May 15th, in the year of her Majesty's reign, Anno Domini 1701: — J. Dudley, Esq." ^ Such the land, and the deed of the land, each bona fide settler and head of family having a "thirty-acre lot" and a "five hundred-acre right." Among the chief "ponds" are mentioned "Dorothy pond," "Eamshornpond," and "Crooked pond;" and among the chief caves, "the cavern commonly called Purgatory where the icicles hang from the crevices of the rocks, and even solid bodies of ice are found, although the descent is to the south; a stupendous place .that fills the mind of the beholder with exalted ideas of the infinite power of the Creator." ^ Like the early Puritan stock, the Sibleys were all a religious and God-fearing people, as were the Whij)ples with whom their names are always associated. At the town meeting, whose government was simply that of selectmen, chosen by the people, it was "voated," March 5, 1717, that "the carrying- on of the worship of God and building a meeting house shall 1 History of Sutton, 1704-1876, pp. 10, 11. 2 Ibid., p. 14. 22 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF begin from this day, and twenty pounds be raised to be paid into the clerk's hands for that use," ^ an enterprise prosecuted with vigor, the church edifice being completed within the following year, "40 x 36 feet, folding doors in front, lighted by two windows of diamond glass at each side and end for the lower floor, one of the same size for each end of the gallery, the seats ordinary benches, with backs; the minister to receive a yeerly salary, and a commitee to acquaint Mr. John McKinstree that the town has voated him a call to the ministry, and to ask his acceptance, and that he be ordained AYednesday, November 9, 1720."^ How thoroughly in earnest these Puritans were, with religion as the chief thing, and their "acres" of second importance, the world knows. "It con- cerneth Xew England," says one, "to always remember that it is a religious plantation, and not a commercial one. The profession of pure doctrine, worship, and a godly discipline, is written on her forehead. Worldly gain was not the end or design of the people of New England, but religion. If, there- fore, any man among us shall make religion as ticelve, and the world as thirteen, such an one hath not the spirit of a true New England man." ^ Such was the tone not only at Chelmsford where these words were spoken, but also at Sutton. In morals, the town of Sutton, under the rule of selectmen such as the Sibleys and Whipples, seemed faultless. The only crime that appeared to disturb the conscience of the upright was the appalling outburst of luxury in connection with the town's increasing i^rosperity, as seen in the atrocious custom of "drinking tea with a silver spoon out of a china cup." It had already come to this in 1720, that "the tradesman's wife sips tea, for an hour at a time, out of chinaware, morning and afternoon, and there is a silver spoon, silver trays, besides other trinkets; the chief blame falling on Madame Hall, who had the first tea-kettle ever brought to Sutton, and Deacon Pierce's wife the second; holding a pint each; and there has been no birtli in our town for some time!""* The times were changing. March 4, 1723, it was "voated," in view of the progress of the town, "to seat the meeting honse so as to l)lease the town," and also "to have respect to persons," 1 Hint, of Siittoti, 1701-1H70, |i. 7 I. 2 Iliid., J., 'i.t. 'A ICIectioii Si'nnon, Allan's Mist, of ("lichiisfDnl, p. :{. 4 IHsl. of Snttoti, ITO-I-IHO'J. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 23 especially inquiring ''what charges they now bear, and what they are likely to do in the future," — a worldly compromise with those of the teapot and silver-spoon brigade against which Mr. Jonathan Sibley deemed it his duty "to dissent." To appease the rising indignation, Mr. John Whipple, and Mr. Sibley, with others, were made a "comitty " to consider the matter, dispose of the pews righteously, assigning to each man his place, the pews not to be longer than four or five feet, nor deeper than about four, the "proper persons " to be seated therein. Upon the report of the "com- itty" all things were satisfactorily adjusted, John "Whipple's pew being "5 foot 3 inches long and 5 foot 6 inches deep," Jonathan Sibley's "about the same," Joseph Sibley's "4 foot 3 inches long," and John Sibley's "3 foot 3 inches long;" — and so the " affares of the House of God were settled," the church commending the diligence and wisdom of the " comitty." In view, however, of the dangerous tendency to luxury, fulness of bread, and pride, it was deemed "expedient that there be a day of fasting and i)rayer." The town continuing to prosper, and a rearrangement of seats again becoming necessary, and social relations having somewhat changed, another "comitty" was duly appointed, whose rejiort, although adopted, was apparently not as satisfactory, in all respects, as could, by some, have been desired. It provided that "In ye front seat shall sit Mr. Samuel Sible and six others. In ye fifth seat William Sibly, Benjamin Sibly, and four others. In ye second seat, in side gallery, Joseph Sibly and ye Widoes Rich and Stockwell. In ye fore seat, in ye front gallery, ye Widdoe Mary Sibly, by herself; and it is to be understood that all ye wimmin that have husbands of their own are seated equal with their own husbands, in their own pews."^ If the pew system and its i^atrons required attention, not less, as even now is always the case, did the "music of the House of God" need special supervision. The young i^eople, among whom were "Joseph, John, James, Elizabeth," and many other "Sibleys," were somewhat progressive in their tastes, and fond of "novelties." The worship, however, was simple and devout, the singing led by a precentor, the hymn or psalm being "lined out" that all might "take part in this important branch of divine service." The tunes were few and good, it being "voated that the old tunes, like old wine, 1 Hist, of Sutton, 1704-1876, pp. 147, 148. 24 ANCESTEY, LIFE AND TIMES OF are ye better, and be studied and learnt, as Old Hundred and Canterbury, and that David Town and John Harbach be helpful in this service, and don't set the tune called the 34th Psalm which so many are offended at; and the following tunes, Buckland, Bangor, Funeral Thought, New York, Little Marlborough, Plymouth, St. Martins, Colchester, Windsor, Amherst, Trinity, and Aurora be sung, provided there be no objection made." Tradition relates that things went on har- moniously till, one Sunday, the old Puritan blood got some- what the better of the grace that was in it, the singers run- ning a competing race while singing, with Deacon Tarrant while reading, the hymn, both trying to see which of the two would first reach the end of the verse, both landing at the same goal, about the same time, the harmony not quite as Sabbatic as it should have been. The congregation were con- founded, and the pastor, Mr. Hall, standing up in the pulpit and saying "he had no hand in the matter," was replied to by the free remark of one who instantly rose in the audience, saying, "David Hall, you lie! Sally, it's time for us to go home!" — the irate saint henceforth absenting himself from the stated means of grace. What prominence the Sibleys had in early New England history, the records abundantly show. They appear foremost in every good work. As selectmen they seem to have been perpetuated in office through all their generations. As lead- ers in the church they are not less eminent. Their name^ stand among the founders of the church in Sutton. Their children are recorded as ' ' themselves entering into covenant with God, their parents presenting them for admission to the church." It is Jonathan Sibley who is on "ye comitty" to build the church, and seat the people. It is Samuel Sibley who is "elected a deacon." It is John Sibley and Lieutenant Joseph Sibley who, with others, are to " vu the meeting house, and, with Keverent Mr. Hall, join in loaning out the minis- terial land." It is Captain Joseph Sibley who "treets with ye Minister about ye Deficience in sallery," recommends "in vu of ye general run of J'rovision and Clothing that we appre- hend One Hundred and Fifty pounds," and "bring ye sallery up to ye standard," and again sees "whether ye Town hath fiilfille(l its original jigi'ceiiient with ye minister' Coi'. 48. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 141 fully, this trust was discharged, subsidizing help from all parties, posterity has already judged. No work more difficult, if we regard the temper of the times and the various specula- tions as to what the future of Minnesota might be, in its politi- cal aspect, was ever committed to the hands of anyone, and no praise more merited, for its achievement, was ever ac- corded to the representative of any state or territory. He who thinks that the organization of a territorial gov- ernment is the end of its cares, or that the representative of a new-born territory enjoys the office of a sinecure, has yet to learn that birth is only the beginning of life, and election to office only the fastening of a yoke on the neck, that binds to a servitude severe enough to exhaust the amplest and the strongest powers of men. As all children enter the world, crying, the like music attended the arrival of the ' ' Territory of Minnesota." Perhaps in all its subsequent annals there never was known so great an amount of ^^ praying, ^^ by all classes and conditions of men, white, Indian, and half-breed, as occurred in the years next following the first breath of its infancy. Memorial on memorial, petition on petition, increas- ing and unintermitted; $10,000 sought for this object, $20,000 for that, and $40,000 for still something else; a townshij) of land here, 100,000 acres there; rights of way for this, and donations for that, was the order of the day. The governor prays, the legislature prays, the individual prays, sixty-three citizens pray here, and one hundred and eighty-six citizens pray there; all pray in concert, united, fervent, importunate, for the relief of their wants. The whole combined stream of territorial supplication is poured into the ears of Congress, through the mediatorship of the territorial delegate, who, faithful to his trust, adds to their cry the merit of his own intercession. The people want post roads, military roads, railroads, and roads of every kind. Obstructions need to be removed from the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. Abridge must crown the head of the great "Father of Waters." The frontier must be protected by military force, and a new mili- tary post established. The laws of the United States must be extended over the Indian tribes for the punishment of crime and security of the people. These are felt to be necessities, and justly so. Treaties with the Indians must be negotiated and Indian titles extinguished. Buildings for the capital, a territorial prison, an insane asylum, school, academy, uni- 142 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF versity, libraries, and the reduction of postage on papers and periodicals for the formation of education and knowledge, must be had. The rights of the old pioneers must be pro- tected, and pre-emption rights, if possible, extended to set- tlers on lands still unsurveyed. The land office must be du- plicated. Means must be had for the adequate salaries of territorial officers, and the support of the territorial legisla- ture. Public and private claims must be adjusted. The school lands must be made productive of revenue. Compen- sation for injuries and losses incurred in years gone by and for services rendered to the territory by civil and military force, must be obtained, the homestead must be made sure, and appropriations from Congress secured for the accomplish- ment of nearly every one of these ends. When it is remembered that all these objects can only come before Congress by petition, memorial, resolution, joint resolution, bill, amendment, and motion, to refer to various conflicting committees, then reported and discussed, and that the drafting of bills, resolutions, as also preparation for the advocacy and defense of these objects, fall on the head and heart of the delegate alone, and that he is expected, by every means in his power, now working through the house, and now through the senate, and, if baffled in one method, attempting another, to be ever ready and alert, watching the interests of his constituents, some feeble conception may be gained hereby of the burden of responsibility and care that weighed on the mind of the Hon, Mr. Sibley as the representative of a new territory whose wants were numerous almost as its popula- tion, and whose expectations were boundless as their confi- dence in the man to whom their interests had been intrusted. And something of the success that attended the labors of Mr. Sibley, and of his power to give an impetus to the develop- ment of the territory, may be judged from this, that Minne- sota, organized with but 5,000 inhabitants, was able, within nine years, to knock at the door of Congress with nearly 140,000 inhabitants, and a progress in territorial improve- ment rarely surpassed, and demand admission, and be admit- ted, May 11, 1858, as one of the confederated states of the Union. Ah among the first and most pressing needs of a new ter- ritory, oi)en to every kind of population, competition, and enterprise, are facilities of communication, preservation of HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 143 the rights of the old settlers, the education of the young, the punishment of crime, and defense against hostile attack, so the first act of Mr. Sibley, on his return to the Thirty first Congress, was, December 31, 1849, to present to the house the memorial of the legislative assembly of the territory praying for (1) the improvement of the Mississippi river above the Falls of St. Anthony, (2) the establishment of certain mail routes and additional mail facilities, (3) the construction of certain roads in the territory, (4) an amendment to the law granting pre-emption rights, and relative to section 36 of the school lands, and (5) for means to erect a territorial prison. These several petitions were, in the order above named, re- ferred, respectively, in the following order, to the Committees on Territories, Post Offices and Post Eoads, Eoads and Canals, Public Lands, and Territories. January 3, 1850, swiftly at work, he gave notice of his intention to introduce three bills, (1) a bill for the benefit of Minnesota Territory, (2) a bill for extending the laws of the United States over the Indian tribes in the territory, and (3) a bill for the establishment of certain post roads in the territory. Objection being made to his request for unanimous consent of the house to allow him to introduce the bills of which notice had been given, he improved the time immediately following by presenting the petitions of Elizabeth Odell and Mary Woodbury of the Sioux Nation, praying for the payment of certain money due under the Indian treaty of 1837, claims he regarded as only just, and the payment of which he successfully pressed as only right. January 18, 1850, he presented to the house a bill ''for ex- tending the right of pre-emption to settlers on unsurveyed lands," and on the twenty-eighth instant, gave notice of a bill "to provide for the construction of certain roads in Minnesota Territory." January 28, 1850, again asking unanimous con- sent of the house to introduce a bill " for the construction of certain roads in Minnesota Territory, and objection again being made from the same quarter as before, Mr. Sibley, act- ing on the Baconian aphorism that, what cannot be accom- plished in one way may be achieved in another, moved the house, by a resolution, February 6, 1850, "That the Commit- tee on Post Offices and Post Roads be instructed to inquire into the expediency of establishing a post road from Point Douglas, via Cottage Grove, Red Rock, St. Paul, and the Falls of St. Anthony, to Fort Gaines and to Long Prairie and Pern- 144 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF bina; and from Point Douglas via Stillwater, Marine Mills, Falls of St. Croix, and Pokegama to Fond du Lac, all in the Territory of Minnesota; and to report thereon by bill or oth- erwise." Also, "That the Committee on Territories be in- structed to inquire into the expediency of amending the acts for the organization of Minnesota and Oregon territories, so as to make the office of judges therein created elective by the people of said territories; and to report thereon by bill or otherwise." At the same time, he introduced into the house, (1) a bill " for the punishment of crimes and offenses com- mitted by the Indians within the limits of Minnesota and Oregon territories," and (2) a bill "for the benefit of Minne- sota Territory," the first of these being referred to the Com- mittee on Indian Affairs, the second to the Committee on Public Lands, February 22, 1850. He further moved the house, by resolution, "That the Committee on Military Af- fairs be instructed (1) to inquire into the sufficiency of the military force now stationed on the frontiers of Iowa, Wiscon- sin, and Minnesota Territory, for the defense thereof, and (2) in case said force is not sufficient, and there are no means at the disposal of the department of war, to instruct said com- mittee to report a bill authorizing the president of the United States to call into the service of the United States such volun- teers as may by him be deemed necessary to preserve the peace of the country." Opposition was again encountered from the Hon. Mr. Root of Ohio, who seemed to take pleasure in objecting to everything offered by the delegate from Min- nesota, whereupon Mr. Sibley moved a suspension of the rules of the house, in order to secure, by vote of the house, the acceptance of his resolution. The rules were suspended, by a handsome majority, and the resolution for the protection of the frontier was then received by the house and adopted. A faithful friend to the Indian in every distress, and yet against whom, in later years, he was compelled to draw the sword, he obtained leave of the house, March 11, 1850, to introduce a "joint resolution for the relief of certain bands of the Sioux Nation," which was received, read twice by its title, and by the rules of the house, involving as it did an appropriation of money, was referred to the committee of the wliole on the state of the Union, resulting in the relief de- sired. April 24, 1850, he presented the "memorial of the people of Minnesota for an approjiriation for the survey of HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 145 the Mississippi river above the Falls of St. Anthony, pre- paratory to its improvement," and secured its reference to the proper committee. May 13, 1850, he introduced a reso- lution "that the Committee on Territories be instructed to inquire into the expediency of making provision, by law, for granting the legislative assembly of Minnesota Territory the right to prolong its next annual session to a period of ninety days, for the purpose of enabling it to perfect a code of laws for said territory." Again objection was made by the honor- able member for Ohio, Mr. Eoot, and others, and the house refusing to suspend the rules in order to receive the resolu- tion, Mr. Sibley renewed the resolution in the form of a pe- tition. May 16, 1850, which was received and referred to the Committee on Territories. On the same day, Mr. Sibley presented a "memorial of the people of Minnesota, pray- ing Congress to place the school lands at the disposal of the legislature, so far as to allow said body to rent them." Ever watchful of the interests of his constituents, and of the time when the various house committees, to whom the memorials, petitions, and resolutions he had offered were referred, should report, Mr. Sibley, May 28 and 29, 1850, was in his seat when the Hon. Mr. Thompson, chairman of the Committee on Territories, called for the order of the day, viz., the bill making further appropriations for public buildings in Minnesota and Oregon territories, $20,000 being assigned to each of these territories for the erection of jDenitentiaries, and the expenditure of $20,000 more for the erection of temporary buildings at the permanent seat of government. Through Mr. Sibley's influence, the bill was temporarily laid aside and the motion carried that, when reported again, it should be with the recommendation that it pass. What work had been done with the committee may be learned from the fact that when the bill to provide for the construction of certain roads in Minnesota Territory was reported to the house, the several sums it appropriated were $15,000 for the construction of a road from Point Douglas to the rapids of the St. Louis river of Lake Superior; $10,000 from the same point to Fort Gaines; $5,000 from the mouth of Swan river to the Winnebago Agency at Long Prairie; $5,000 for a road from Wabasha to Mendota; $5,000 for the survey and laying out of a military road from Mendota to the mouth of the Big Sioux river; these roads to be made under the direction of the secretary of war, 146 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF and their contracts determined by him. With an amendment to the bill, that the governors of Minnesota and Oregon terri- tories shall annually report to Congress an itemized statement of the expenditure of all moneys appropriated for the benefit of said territories, applied under the order of the governor and legislative assembly, and the addition of the words, "and for other purposes," to the title of the bill, the bill was passed by the house. Thus, in connection with the bill preceding this, the sum of 880,000, in addition to the amounts api^ro- priated in the bill of the previous session of Congress organ- izing the Territory of Minnesota, had been secured to the peo- ple of Minnesota from the national treasury for the purposes above stated. Among the many petitions and memorials pre- sented to the house by Mr. Sibley during this first session of the Thirty-first Congress, 1849-1850, was that of Charles Ca- reeno, praying for the passage of an act by Congress, instruct- ing the Indian department to pay, from the annuities due to the Chippewa Indians, a reasonable sum of money for personal injuries sustained by him at the hands of an individual of that tribe. Among the deeply interesting questions which, during the first session of the Thirty-first Congress, agitated not only the house, but the senate and the whole country, were hoo, in the public discussion of which Mr. Sibley took part, the one relating to the admission of delegates from Utah and Xew Mexico, and also relating to the rights and privileges of dele- gates in general on the floor of the house, the popular branch of Congress, the other in relation to the policy of the federal government toward the Indians. It is well known, as a matter of history, that, for the purpose of acquiring the vast region of Texas, the United States, taking the initiative, first of all made offer to Mexico to buy Texas, which offer Mexico de- clined. The next step toward the attainment of the object thus sought, but so far defeated, was the declaration of Texan inde- pendence. The third step was the admission of Texas into the Union, her western boundary being the river Nueces. In 183G, however, Texas claimed jurisdiction to the Eio Grande, covering ])y this claim the entire province of New Mexico which had been conquered by the federal arms, the people of New Mexico, hostile to the Texans, disputing the claim. As Texas had been secured in the interest of slavery, and New Mexico luid declared heiself in favor of freedom, the antagon- HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 147 ism of interest aud policy was sharp and intense as possible. The delegate from New Mexico — her boundary line in dis- pute, her competence to declare for freedom denied, jurisdic- tion over her claimed by another state, unorganized still as a territory, her relation to Texas on the one hand and to the United States on the other, a matter of contention — had come to "Washington. Having appeared in the house of represen- tatives, his credentials were referred to the Committee on Elections, the committee reporting in favor of his admission to a seat on the floor of the house as "the delegate from 'New Mexico." Party lines were drawn at once. At the same time, Utah, in an abnormal manner, had also sent a delegate to Congress, and the Committee on Elections had similarly reported in favor of his admission to a seat in the house, as the "delegate from Utah." What involved Mr. Sibley in the discussion that arose was the singular fact that his own admission to a seat in the house as the "delegate from Wisconsin Territory," at the opening of the second session of the previous Congress, was pleaded by the friends of the delegates of Utah and New Mexico, as a precedent applicahle to both these cases. The dis- cussion brought out fully the merits of the whole contro- versy, while the temper of the times revealed a spectacle of political morality humiliating to the nation, evincing how the one great question that divided North and South was the sole question by which, in a party interest, every other question was to be determined. It was in the midst of the discussion, July 16, 1850, the Hon. Mr. Ashe of North Caro- lina yielding the floor, that Mr. Sibley rose to "disentan- gle" his own case, and that of the Territory of Wisconsin he had represented, in the previous session, from the cases of the delegates of Utah and New Mexico. Substantially the points of his argument were these, viz.: (1) That no par- allel existed between the territories of New Mexico and Utah on the one side and the residuum of Wisconsin Territory on the other, the latter being under a legally organized govern- ment, recognized by Congress, and unrepealed, in terms, when Wisconsin was admitted as a state. (2) That he had been duly elected by the people, his credentials bearing the attesta- tion of the governor and the broad seal of the territory. (3) That the Committee on Elections, and the house, by a vote of 124 to 63, had decided that the Territory of Wisconsin had a 148 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF legal existence and was entitled to representation. (4) That, although some members of the house repudiated the doctrine of the committee, and claimed to have given their votes on the score of courtesy alone, yet, where a large number of United States citizens existed, as &owa^(Ze settlers, outside the limits of a state, but inside the territorial limits out of which the state was carved, it was always in the discretion of the house, and in accord with the spirit of our institutions, to admit a regu- larly elected delegate, representing them, to a seat on the floor of the house. (5) That, could the jDarallel be drawn between the cases of the delegates from Utah and New Mexico, so far the action of the house would be a precedent for the cases then pending, but no further. But (6) beyond all these considera- tions just named, Mr. Sibley contended that bis claim, last session, to a seat in the house was based on a deeper and more enduring ground. To use his own concluding language: ^'I must frankly say that my claim for admission here, at the last session, was based upon what I regarded then, and regard now, as a far more tenable position. I contended then, and contend now, that there was no moral or legal right, on the part of the government, to disfranchise and virtually outlaw a iDortion of its own citizens, aftet^ it had encouraged them to be- come settlers J and sold them lands ichereon to establish themselves. * * ^ It was a vital principle that was involved, and I re- gret that it was not positively affirmed in the decision of the house." ^ It was clear from this lucid exposition of the facts in the case that to admit the delegates from Utah and New Mexico, by virtue of the application of the action of the house in Mr. Sibley's case, would have been a willful perversion of his case, and a wrong to the Territory of Wisconsin, by equa- ting it with Utah and New Mexico. Chiefly, as to New Mex- ico, it never was an organized territory, nor never had a civil government, nor was the election of its delegate by the people, but solely by a quasi military government, self-constituted but afterward repudiated by the people. After a long and severe discussion, the whole matter was, by a decisive vote, ''laid upon the table." As to the rights of delegates admitted to their seats in the liouse, the Hon. Mr. Boyden of North Carolina and the Hon. Mr. Stepliens of Georgia had taken tlie ground that delegates from territories organized and recognized by the Congress of 1 Congressional Globe, Vol. 21, Part 2, p. 1389. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 149 tlie United States had but one sole right and privilege in the house, viz., that of addressing the speaker strictly in reference to matters appertaining to the interests of the territory he represented. The right to make a motion, frame a bill, intro- duce a resolution, or discuss any subject outside the special territorial interest, was denied. In reply to both these gen- tlemen, Mr. Sibley took the opportunity, August 2, 1850, to assert and defend the position that, to every duly elected delegate, from any territory recognized by the government, belongs every right that pertains to any representative of a state, save that of voting. The vote alone is the legislative act peculiar to state representatives. All else is common to rep- resentatives and delegates alike. And this he demonstrated was ''the doctrine of the country" and of the ablest statesmen in it. It was the doctrine of the act of 1817 which defines the duties of delegates, and extends to them the full right of delib- eration and debate, but not of voting. And it is grounded in the nature of the case. For (1) there is no measure discussed in Congress, and no legislation taken, which does not affect, directly or remotely, the people of the territories, as truly as it does those of the states; and (2) a territory is not a mere colony, but an integral member, and essential part, of the great republic itself, a recognized portion of the citizens of the United States, equally interested with all the rest, in all that is transacted in the popular branch of the common gov- ernment, and in the senate as well; while (3) its people have all the specific and constitutional rights of all other citizens resident in the states, and are taxed for the support of the government. Such, in brief, is the substance of the reply of Mr. Sibley, made, and made conclusively, to the argument that assailed his right to discuss questions outside the strict matter appertaining to his own constituency. And in this position he was sustained by the house with overwhelming vote, when, during the previous session, his '' right to move the previous question" was challenged on the sole ground that he was "a delegate from a territory not yet admitted as a state." Had Mr. Sibley been a less important personage, or a delegate of only mean or ordinary influence, or had his adversaries not been men of the extremest sort of strict con- struction, the challenge and reply had not occurred. As it was, it provided him an opportunity to show what, every- where, he showed, that though latest born among the mem- 150 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF bers of the liouse, he stood second to none Id his knowledge of the Constitution and the history of the country, the precedents of Congress, or as a debater on its floor. Kext in importance to the right to be heard, stands the right use of that right, and nowhere did the delegate from Minnesota exercise, it with more eloquence or charm than when pleading^ the cause of the red man, a theme that ever evoked the utterance of his deepest convictions, and breath of his warmest sympathies. He regarded the Indian as wronged, oppressed, betrayed, and driven to desj)eration, and even to massacre, by the inhuman conduct of the federal government and its agents. With unsparing severity he assailed its policy. Perfectly acquainted with it, personally observant of its o^ev- ation and efi'ect, familiar, as a pioneer, and Western head of the great Astor Fur Company, with the Indian tribes that roamed the Western lands, and among whom he lived, whose costume he had worn, whose language he spoke, whose natural virtues, modes of life, their character and needs and wrongs, he knew, and degradation too; for fifteen years their friend and their companion; of all men in either hall of Congress, none were more able, and none more entitled to speak on this sub- ject than was he. By a divine dispensation, as it were, the mission seems to have been intrusted to him to speak for the Indian. What Sumner was to the black man, Sibley was to the red man, in every emergency. Nor did he omit any favora- ble opportunity. Already the bill he had introduced in ref- erence to the extension of the laws of the United States over the aboriginal tribes of the country, especially of Oregon and Minnesota, had gone to the Committee on Indian Affairs. It was, April 30, 1850, when the general discussion upon the bill for taking the seventh census of the United States had reached its height, that Mr. Sibley rose from his seat, and, entitled to the floor, gave notice of an amendment to the efi'ect "that the secretary of the interior cause an enumeration to be made of all the Indian tribes within the limits of the states and organ- ized territories of the Union, so far as j^racti cable." The ap[)alling fact existed that the Indians were diminishing at tlic rate of from 2,000 to 4,000 a year, or from 20,000 to 40,000 during the iiitervals between the taking of the census, and it M'as but right and humane tliat the government should inquire into the real cause of tliis distressing fatality, and seek, if pos- sil)1e, a remedy for the same. How thoroughlj^ in earnest II HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 151 was the eloquent champion of the red man's rights, may be learned from but a single passage of his speech on that occa- sion. "Sir," said he, "during this session we have heard these halls ring with eloquent denunciations of the oppressor, — with expressions of sympathy for the downtrodden millions of other lands, — while gentlemen seem not to be aware that there exists, under the government of this republic, a species of grinding and intolerable oppression of which the Indian tribes are the victims, and, compared with which, the worst forms of human bondage, now existing in any Christian state, may be regarded as a comfort and a blessing." ^ These words, however, were but a preparatory note to Mr. Sibley's formal arraignment of the policy of the government, three months later. August 2, 1850, the Indian appropriation bill being under discussion before the house, Mr. Sibley ob- tained the floor, and, moving to strike out the first section of the bill, proceeded to address the house upon the relation of the government to the Indian tribes, especially of the North- west. He who reads, carefully, the debates and speeches in the National Congress, will find other parliamentary efforts more protracted than this one, and some which have acquired a national and world-wide fame, — not, however, from their intrinsic merit but from the intense interest of the nation and the world, at the time of their delivery, in the questions with which they were connected, — the speeches of a Webster, a Seward, a Sumner, a Calhoun, a Clay, in reference to "Com- promise," "Secession," and "Dissolution of the Union," — but, from first to last, even with the oppression of the negro for a theme, will he find no speech by any senator or repre- sentative, of merit superior to that delivered by the delegate from Minnesota on the occasion above mentioned. For chaste- ness and perfection of expression, logical order, wealth of his- toric knowledge, deep moral earnestness of sentiment, un- sparing arraignment of the government, portrayal of the wrongs inflicted on the red man, recognition of a righteous Providence which metes to nations as to men the reward due to their ofi'enses, pathetic pleadings in behalf of the Indian whose home and soil and graves of his fathers the govern- ment had wrested from him by violence and fraud, and for thrilling appeal to the intellect, heart, and conscience of the country, it stands, in its eight solid columns of the Congres- 1 Globe, Vol. 21, Part 1, p. 855. 152 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF sional Globe, unsurpassed by any ever heard by congressional ears. To attempt to analyze it is to destroy it, it is so agglu- tinated in the progress and the process of its thought. The problem before the government, with respect to the Indian, Mr. Sibley declared to involve but two alternatives in its so- lution, either (1) the entire civilization of the Indian tribes, or (2) their entire extermination, a solution intimately con- nected with the peace, safety, and prosperity, or oncoming unparalleled disaster of the territories in whose midst, or on whose frontiers, the Indian tribes are found. He reviews the policy of the government, reminding the nation that it is not now what it was in earlier times. He suggests the remedy for existing evils. As to the policy of the government, it is one of injustice, cruelty, treachery, violation of treaties the most sacred, stipulations and promises being regarded as conven- ient means of public robbery and private fraud, the will of the stronger ever the rule of action, the dictation of the pur- chaser ever the price of the soil, the red man forced to sur- render his possessory rights in immemorial tenures of country endeared by the traditions and graves of his tribe, or bayo- neted, rifled, shot, or driven from one so-called "reservation'^ to another, until, at last, turning enraged on his foe, he sought vengeance in massacre, crime, and deeds of brutality, for which the government itself, and its horde of vagabond ''Indian agents," worse than the Indians themselves, were alone responsible. With great power, he pointed the house to the fact that, unlike the ancient Greeks and Romans, and later Franks, or the British Empire, who never withheld from their conquered captives the means to endow them with privi- leges indispensable to their existence and civilization, it re- mained for the Auglo-SaxonSj and even the sons of the Pil- grim Fathers, escaped from persecution, to wrest by cruelty and crime the soil itself that gave to the red man birth, nur- tured his youth, and cheered his manhood, and contained in its breast the ashes of his sires, without even once seeking to lift him to a level high as their own, or laboring to incorporate him into their own community. Still more, under no otlier nation of couquerera were the conquered ever known to become extinct, while under the policy of the American Gov- ernment, a race of men of noble natural virtues, with whose heroic efforts in defense of their wives and children, their homes and rights, history had dealt falsely, were fast becom- HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 153 ing exterminated. What wonder that the so-called ''Indian atrocities" should be enacted? For every Indian war, since the country had an existence, the government alone was responsible. "Sir," said he, in the fidelity of a fearless utter- ance, ^^all the Indian wars you have had on your hands, and,- what are likely to occur hereafter, have been and will be oc- casioned by proceedings such as I have but faintly described, on the part of your agents. The Black Hawk difficulty, so called, which cost you millions of dollars, was so brought about. The Florida war took its origin in the treaty of Payne's Landing, by which the Seminoles conceived them- selves deeply defrauded and wronged. This war has already cost you some thirty or forty millions, and from present indica- tions is likely to be renewed at another heavy expenditure on your part. And, sir, this government will continue to be involved in troubles with the Indian tribes until it ceases to pursue its present course, and adopts a policy more in accord- ance with the principles of justice and humanity."^ Not less, at times, did Mr. Sibley draw attention to the glaring inconsistency and self-contradiction of a government boasting of freedom yet surpassing all others in acts of despotic power; nay, more, of that very section of the country loudest in rebuke of African slavery, yet slowest in rebuke of Indian wrongs. What a spectacle for the world's public mockery and derision of American institutions! Blessing a Kossuth yet cursing an Osceola! Apj)lauding the European struggle of 1848 in behalf of popular liberty, yet crushing two races of men, the one the natural owners of the American soil, the other imported to work it, in sweat of their face, and in bonds! and even the Indians' ill treatment worse than the African's condition! A territorial development crowned with such guilt and age-long infliction of wrong, for the sake of greatness and gain, could only invite the punishment such transgression provoked. Already, in the waxing discord of the nation, the menace of civil strife, the threat of disunion, and the ravage of pestilence slaying its scores of thousands, Mr. Sibley saw the portent of judgment that one day must break on the land, unless the nation forsook its ways and turned to a better mind. He stood in the halls of Congress as the interpreter of moral righteousness and the vindicator of the moral government of him who appoints to nations the due 1 Globe, Vol. 21, Part 2, p. 1506. 154 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF reward of their sins, and inflicts, by their own hands, the chastisement their crimes have deserved. What Sumner was to the black man, Sibley was to the red man. As to the remedy, Mr. Sibley suggested to Congress, in sub- stance, as follows: (1) The total and instant abandonment of the present system of reservations. (2) The extension of the laws of the United States over the aboriginal tribes of the country. This he regarded as the fundamental measure, the sine qua non, in any possible solution of the problem of Indian civilization. (3) The gift of separate property, or personal possession of land, put beyond the power of alienation, so tending to break up the tribal relations, and need of reserva- tions. (4) The endowment of the Indian with civil rights, all political rights held in abeyance until the jiroper future time to bestow them. (5) The establishment of manual labor schools for the education of Indian children, this education being made comjjulsory until such time as the same should no longer be needed. (6) The protection of the Indian from the demoralizing influences of the white man, to which already much of his degradation was due. (7) The continuation of annuities, until the Indians' condition rendered them no lon- ger necessary. (8) And, by all these means, with the best religious restraints and examples thrown around him, to en- courage, help, stimulate, uplift, and prepare him for recep- tion, as an equal, in the American community. Such is a lame outline of the plan ]3roposed as a remedy for the existing evils, and as a help to the solution, of the Indian problem. And with ardor worthy of a Wilberforce, a Howard, or a Clarkson, Mr. Sibley pressed it, in behalf of men whom, though savage, he described, from personal knowledge, as "a noble race, gifted ivith a high order of intellect, and an aptitude for acquiring Imoicledge fully equal to that possessed by the whites.^'' That it was no chimerical scheme he advocated, he proved by the weightiest testimonies from the ablest statesmen the United States had ever produced, from other writers, and from the heads of the Indian department of the government. There is something intensely stirring, in the early historic associations awakened by the thrilling question of the orator, "Sir, who has a better claim upon the government of the United Slates, for civilization, than the Indian f^^ The peroration is prophetic. The inspired prophets of old, their eyes fixed on the future, their feet standing upon the HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 155 eternal law of righteousness, were wont to denounce the judg- ments of Heaven against the Hebrew commonwealth for its continued violation of truth, covenant, and right, and its con- tinued oppression of the needy, the helpless, and the poor. Not less ominous of portending judgment to the American nation, and scarcely less impressive, are the closing words of the Hon. Mr. Sibley, when, forecasting the future, he warns the government of the calamity that one day must avenge the pursuit of its policy, so fraught with iniquity, and so fitted to provoke the vengeance of God. "Mr. Chairman," said he, "I remark, in conclusion, that if anything is to be done it must be done noiv. The busy hum of civilized communities is already heard beyond the mighty Mississippi. You are about to remove the Oregon Indians to the east of the Cascade Mountains. The settlements in Utah and New Mexico are driving the tribes, that roam the prairies in that quarter, toward the east and the north. Your pioneers are encircling the last home of the red man, as with a wall of fire. Their encroachments are per- ceptible in the restlessness and belligerent demonstrations of the powerful bauds who inhabit your remote Western j)lains. You must approach these with terms of conciliation and friendship, or you must soon suffer the conse- quences of a bloody and remorseless Indian war. Sir, what is to become of the fifty or sixty thousand savage warriors and their families, who line your frontier, when the buffalo and other game upon which they now depend for subsistence are exhausted ? Think you they ivill lie down and die without a struggle? No, sir; no! The time is not far distant when, pent in on all sides, and suffering from want, a Philip, or a Tecumseh, will arise to baud themselves together for a last and desperate onset upon their white foes. What then will avail the handful of soldiers stationed to guard the frontier? Sir, they, and your extreme Western settlements, will be swept away as with the besom of destruction. We know that the struggle, in such a case, would be unavailing on the part of the Indians, and must necessarily end in their extermination. But this nation will subject itself to additional and awful retributions of that Providence without whose knoivledge and permission not even a sparrow falls to the ground, if it fails to use every endeavor to avert so dire a catastrophe. This republic is, even now, expiating its guilt in this respect, to some extent, by the visitations of pestilence, and the weakening of that bond of harmony among its members which was wont to exist. While mani- festing an active sympathy for the nations of the Old World who are down - trodden by despotic power, — while, like the Pharisees of old, we are thanking God that we are not as other men are, — we seem to forget that we are still pursuing a line of policy toward the Indian race which has already destroyed countless thousands of them. Sir, this nation of more than twenty millions of people can well afford to reach forth its friendly hand to rescue the resi- due of this unhappy race from degradation and death. You are taking from them their lands, their homes, their all, and whatever return can be made them, in this hour of their greatest need, should be granted with an ungrudg- ing and generous hand. Well might the eloquent Sevier, whose voice is 156 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF now silenced in death, thus appeal to the senate in behalf of the Indian tribes, in 1839. Said he, ' Let us remember the kind and hospitable recep- tion of our ancestors by the natives of the country; a reception which has been perpetuated, in carved figures, in the walls of the rotunda of this capitol; and, in remembering these things, let us this day step forward and do something for our wretched dependents, worthy of a great, a merciful, and a generous Christian people. ' " ^ It is not an exaggeration to say that the halls of Congress never heard any appeal more simple, chaste, righteous, or powerful, or supported by higher sentiments of humanity, religion, and morality, or any cause vindicated by a higher sense of justice, gratitude, and duty. Eead by itself, the ex- tract quoted is indeed a specimen of the purest oratory, free from any taint of strained or spurious rhetoric, and produc- tive of convictions deep and lasting. But, unwrenched from the whole preceding argument, so cogent and conclusive, and from the whole unsparing and intense impeachment of the government, its effect is magical, and forms a peroration of which, for dignity of tone, directness of address, and simple majesty, as well as tenderness and truth, the foremost orators of any age might well be proud. Had Congress but heeded the appeal, and laid to heart the prophecy its words con- tained, what agony, loss of treasure, and of blood, had it not averted! And how significant, not merely that the sad pre- diction was verified in history, but, far more, even that, when, in the hour of the nation's deepest woe, engaged in a civil war the greatest of the century, and of any nation, the mightiest, bloodiest, and widest, Indian massacre was added to her other miseries, it was to this eloquent orator the State of Minnesota and the nation looked, and at General Sibley's hands they found deliverance. Such conjunctures i^re not often chronicled in the annals of any people. With what sat- isfaction may the Minnesotians recall the fact that, fourteen years before the great Sioux outbreak, their delegate in Con- gress, the pioneer and prince of all their delegates, had pro- tested to Congress, "i/, unfortunately, this government shall still persist in its present course, with a full knowledge of its un- hajjjjij tendency, Minnesota shall, at least, he free from all respon- sibility upon thai score! ^'^'^ Minds untainted by political prejudice, free from sec- tional asperity, and ennobled by the common instincts of 1 Globe, Vol. 21, Tart. 2, pp. ir.0o-150S. 2 Ibid, p. 1500. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D, 157 humanity, would scarcely dream that an appeal so just, find- ing a response in every heart, and fraught with issues of such moment to the nation, could encounter opposition in the halls of Congress. It was reserved, however, for the Hon. Mr. Mason, as soon as Mr. Sibley had resumed his seat, to rise and, not alone resist, but ridicule, the effort of the delegate from Minnesota. Squarely, in the face of the whole argu- ment of Mr. Sibley, his arraignment of the '■^policy'''' of the gov- ernment, and his presentation of the '"'•remedy''^ for existing evils, the honorable member asserted that ' ' no plan had been proposed" to effect this object. Using the well-known soph- ism, built on the ambiguous word "equal," by the delegate from Minnesota, he further asserted that "history had proved it impossible to civilize the Indian, or make him equal to the white man;" that "Nature and Nature's God had made the white man, the red man, and the black man," — ^Hhree races of animals, called men,^^ to try and make whom equal is all the same as to try and "make every variety of birds equal, — those which have heavy bodies and small wings to fly and soar like eagles and other birds that have long wings and light bodies," with more of the same sort of zoological and ornithological argu- mentation. The scoff was aptly met by Mr. Sibley, interrupt- ing, and inquiring sweetly, "if the gentleman did not regard the Hon. John Randolph and other Virginians, who boasted of their Indian blood, as men furnished with long wings and light bodies,^' Mr. Mason admitting the fact but pleading that this was only "an exception " to the general law. To this Mr. Sib- ley at once rejoined that, so far from being "an exception," it was but an "illustration" of the general law well known to everyone, and furthermore, ^Hhat, wherever the Indian race are allowed the same advantages with the ivhites they are as capa- ble of improvement, and are equal to them in every respect,^'' and that ' ' had the getitleman lived as long as he (Mr. Sibley) had, among the red men, he would be better versed in their history.^'' To other accusations of like nature Mr. Sibley applied the prompt and parliamentary castigation, and upon the principle of ^'■Nesutor ultra crepidam,^^ "Cobbler, stick to your last," allowed the honorable member to indulge his opposition without further interference, and veer off into a discussion of the policy the government ought to pursue with reference to the blacls. This episode is important, simply as showing the temper of the times and the difficulties Mr. Sibley was compelled to 158 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF meet at every step of his congressional career. Slavery for the black man, savagery for the red man, and freedom for the white man, seemed, to many, to be the sum of all political wisdom, and the essence of all genuine humanity. With his defense of the claims of the Indian to civiliza- tion, Mr. Sibley closed his public utterances in the first session of the Thirty-first Congress. Of the bills, resolutions, and motions he had offered, some, as already seen, were acted upon with liberal favor, while others were either suppressed in the committees to whom they were referred, or not yet reported back, or still under discussion, or ordered on the files of the house as unfinished business reserved for future action at the next ensuing Congress. Faithful to his trust, instant in sea- son and out of season, a shining credit to his constituents, having already won for himself the respect of the ablest men in both houses of Congress, he could now return to the bosom, and the greeting, of his friends at home, as once before, receive their cordial welcome, rehearse the labors of his servant-life in their behalf, and prepare himself for further duties that awaited him. The second session of the Thirty-first Congress found the Hon. Mr. Sibley promptly at his post and early at his work. Already, by his personal accomplishments, he had won to him- self the invaluable confidence and indispensable co-operation of senators of high renown, among them the Hon. Mr. Douglas, chairman of the senate's Committee on Territories, and the acknowledged champion of territorial rights and privileges. Allies so potent in the upper house, when the lower house showed disposition to embarrass or obstruct the wishes of Mr. Sibley in behalf of his constituents, could only prove a wel- come stimulus, if such were needed, to the yet more vigorous prosecution of his task. Pursuant to previous notice, first of all, in furtherance of the cause he loved so much, Mr. Sibley introduced a bill, December 10, 1851, "for the punishment of crimes and offenses committed in the Indian country within the limits of Minne- sota Territorj^, and for promoting the civilization of the Indian race therein." The bill was twice read by its title and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. December 13, 1850, he HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 159 gave notice of his purpose to introduce three other bills, viz., (1) a bill "to authorize the legislative assemblies of Minnesota and Oregon to lease the sixteenth and thirty- sixth sections of school lands, and for other purposes;" (2) a "bill to amend an act entitled 'An Act to establish the territorial government of Minnesota;'" (3) a "bill for the relief of certain settlers on the public lands, and for other purposes." The subject mat- ter in the first of these was covered by a resolution, introduced by Mr. Sibley, December 18, 1850, instructing the Committee on Public Lands to inquire into the expediency of the same, and, again, January 4, 1851, was formulated into a special bill, introduced and twice read by its title, the former being referred to the Committee on Public Lands, the latter to the Committee on Territories, each to report by bill or otherwise. By unanimous consent, he also introduced, December 30, 1850, a bill covering t\\e second of the three just named, viz., "to amend an act," as just quoted, which, in like manner, was read and referred to the Committee on Territories. The same day he presented the petition of Governor Kamsey, and others, of Minnesota, praying "for a grant of 100,000 acres of land, including the military reserve of Fort Snelling, to the Terri- tory of Minnesota, for the endowment and support of a uni- versity therein," a prayer further strengthened by the petition of George C. Nichols, and others, invoking the same benefac- tion, and presented January 18, 1851. Attending the first of these, was also the petition of J. K. Humphrey, and others, praying ' ' for a grant of one township of land to aid in the con- struction of a magnetic teleg7'aph from Prairie du Chien, Wis- consin, to St. Paul, Minnesota," and further enforced by the petition of Alexander Wilkin, and others, to the same effect. January 24, 1851, the house refusing to take from the speak- er's table the senate bill "to reduce certain military reserva- tions, and secure the rights of actual settlers on the same," Mr. Sibley then presented the petition of Samuel Thatcher, and others, praying that the military reservation, including Fort Snelling, ' ' be sold at public sale, and the proceeds thereof expended in building a bridge across the Mississippi river, at the Fails of St. Anthony, and the remainder for the purpose of education." To this was added the petition of J. W. Simp- son, and others, praying that W. Noots' improvements on school section 36 be secured to him, and other lands allowed to the Territory of Minnesota in lieu thereof." 160 ANCESTEY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF By consent of the house, January 28, 1851, and on the urgency of Mr. Sibley, the senate bill ' ' reducing the bound- aries of the military reserve at the St. Peter's river" (the Minnesota river), ^ and ''securing the rights of actual set- tlers," was taken up, twice read, and referred to the house's Committee on Public Lands. February 5, 1851, it was reported back to the house, without amendment, read, and sharply discussed. The following day, upon motion of Mr. Sibley again, the senate bill legislating "authority to the governors of Oregon and Minnesota, and the legislative assemblies of these territories, to provide, by law, for the lease of school lands, sections 16 and 36," was taken up, read, and also sharply discussed. February 19, 1851, Mr. Sibley presented the petition of J. P. Wilson, and others, praying ''for an appropriation of $10,000 to remove obstructions to the navi- gation of the Mississippi river, between Fort Snelling and St. Anthony Falls. Such is only a brief but important outline of the work undertaken and proposed by the delegate from Min- nesota, for the short three-months' session of the Thirty-first Congress, so far as concerned the interests of Minnesota, viz., the introduction of four bills by himself, one resolution, the presentation of many petitions, and the reference of two senate bills, involving repeated, protracted, and, at times, incisive and animated discussions. The bill proposing the reduction of the military reser- vation at the mouth of the St. Peter's river — now Minne- sota river — evoked a debate in which a large number of the members of the house took part, Mr. Sibley, necessa- rily, among them. The facts were these. In 1805, a purchase was made from the Indians of nine square miles, or 50,000 acres, of the finest land at St. Peter's river, by Lieutenant Pike, in accordance with the orders of the president of the "United States, for military purposes. Since then, as the Ter- ritory of Minnesota became settled, the military operations were removed into the interior, rendering the military post at Fort Snelling comparatively unnecessary, certain immigrants, by permission of the war department and encouragement of the ofl&cers of the fort, settling on the reservation lands then unsurveyed, and now claiming pre-emption rights, in view of the reduction of the reservation to whose improvement they had thus been virtually invited. After brief discussion, and 1 Name changed, June 19, 1852. HON. HENEY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 161 some delay for the purpose of investigation, the senate had, without opposition, and with slight amendment, passed the bill now before the house, originally drafted for the senate by Mr. Sibley, and warmly advocated by Mr. Douglas. The occasion of the bill was the action of the territorial legislature of Minnesota memorializing Congress for a reduction of the rener- vation to the dimensions of one mile square, with legislation securing the rights of actual settlers ujwn the residimm, that is, the right to the value of their improvements, or purchase of the land at the government's minimum price. Pursuant to the memorial, the war department, agreeing with the territorial legislature as to the propriety of the proposed reduction, yet collided with it as to the claims of the actual settlers, and favored the sale of the reservation, at public auction, to the highest bidder. Hence the bill prepared by Mr. Sibley, offered in the senate by Mr. Douglas, and now, slightly modified, taken up, February 5, 1851, in the house. As a whole, it proposed the two things above memorialized, viz., (1) the reductioyi of the reservation from nine square miles to one mile square, and (2) the security of the actual settlers thereon in their pre-emption ynghts. The resistance offered to the bill by many members of the house, and violently by some, was made on the following grounds, viz., (1) that the bill proposed to give a few settlers around Fort Snelling, to the exclusion of all others, pre-emp- tion rights on unsurveyed lands; (2) that it prescribed a boundary line, prior to all survey of the land; (3) that the war department had not been consulted in reference to the measures of this line; (4) that strong objections were made by the department, and by some people in the territory, to the scheme proposed; (5) that it would be unfair should the government grant pre-emption to the favorites of the military officers of the fort, barring all others from the same; (6) that the sale of military reservations had always been conducted under the direction of the war department; (7) that hundreds of American citizens were ready to bid a high price for the lands when put upon the market; (8) that if any action was taken, it should be the total abolition of Fort Snelling; (9) that the bill ought to go to the Committee on Military Affairs; (10) that the reservation is more valuable than all other Min- nesota lands, and should be sold, if at all, to the highest bid- der; and (11) that the officers of the fort had no authority whatever, nor right, to grant advantages to some, on public 162 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF lands reserved for special use, while denying them to others equally deserving and desirous of obtaining them. These considerations were pressed with much vigor by the Hons. Messrs. Bowlin, chairman of the Committee on Public Lands, Vinton, Hall, Burt, Cobb, Wentworth, and others. To one and all, the Hon. Mr. Sibley replied, single-handed, left, by the rest who sided with him, to bear the burden of the whole defense of the bill, confident of his ability to answer every objection. The substance of his reply, made amid suc- cessive interruptions, was as follows: (1) The territorial legisla- ture of Minnesota, whom Congress must, in equity, regard as good judges in the case, and representing the will of the peo- ple of the territory, had memorialized Congress to grant what the bill provides; (2) through the ordeal of two most cautious, thorough, and competent committees of the senate, that on Public Lands, and that on Territories, the bill had already passed; (3) the senate itself, composed of the ablest men in the nation, had unanimously agreed to it, and after close con- sultation with the war department, and the general land office, exercising the utmost scrutiny and caution; (4) the house's Committee on Public Lands had recommended its passage; (5) the reservation in question is almost wholly unoccupied, only a few individuals, ten or twelve at most, near Fort Snelling residing thereon, invited and encouraged there by the military officers; (6) the reservation remains under military jurisdic- tion, an unfavorable circumstance in view of further expan- sion of its settlement; (7) the bill is of vital importance to the people of Minnesota, for it legislates for 50,000 acres to be redeemed to civil jurisdiction, and exposed to public sale, in the very heart of the choicest lands of Minnesota; (8) the people of the territory desire the passage of the bill; (9) the bill provides pre-emption only for a few actual settlers who have imjiroved the reservation where their homestead is, and to deprive whom of the benefit of their own labors, taking from them land peculiarly their own and selling it to others for their higher price, would be eminently unjust; (10) all laws, indeed, at some point, operate unequally, and the bill may i)erliaps have some imperfections, and differ somewhat from the bill he originally drafted, but, in principle and (essence, it is right and just; (11) the commissioner of the gen- eral land office had written to him (Mr. Sibley) affirming that the 1)111, as proi)OKed, "carries out the principles and prac- HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 163 tices heretofore observed in analogous cases;" (12) not more than 1,200 out of 50,000 acres will be pre-empted, his own homestead included, — he frankly admitted, — yet he asked for himself no favor from the government, but earnestly desired that the principles of natural justice and of equity might prevail in reference to others whose pioneer hardships and toils entitled them to the fruits of their own exertion, and the protection of the government; (13) as to abolishing Fort Snell- ing, that was a question for the war department, not for him; (14) the territorial legislature asks that persons, who, under the encouragement of government officers, have located on the reservation, but are now driven from the same by the military authorities, may be protected in their rights, it being a sore grievance that they are not; and (15) desiring, as he did, only what is just and right, and the closest scrutiny and fullest light to all upon the subject, and anxious that the bill should be perfected, if any serious defect existed, he now moved the reference of the bill to the Committee on Military Affairs. Comment upon the reply of Mr. Sibley to the adversaries of the bill is unnecessary. The reply is self-evidently grounded in the deepest sentiments of natural right, and breathes the loftiest spirit of a true humanity. Had the settlers, whose rights he sought to protect, been 10,000 instead often or twelve, the ^'' principle''^ he advocated would not be one whit aug- mented in importance by their number. A pioneer himself, he knew the hardship of a pioneer life, and his sympathy with the pioneers of the West was only natural. The house unani- mously acceded to his wish, and the bill was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, not reappearing until the fol- lowing Congress, for want of time. Warmer still, however, waxed the discussion the same day, when, again, upon motion of Mr. Sibley, the kindred senate bill was taken up, ' ' authorizing the legislative assem- blies of Oregon and Minnesota to take charge of the school lands in said territories, and for other purposes." The first section of the bill gave authority to the territorial governors and legislatures to lease school sections 16 and 36, as deemed best for the object for which these sections were set apart. The secured sections granted x)re-emption rights to the actual settler on these sections, unsurveyed as they were. The third section granted a quantity of land, not exceeding two town- 164 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF ships, for the purposes of a university. The same principle, to a certain extent, involved in the terms and discussion of the preceding bill relative to the reduction of the military reserve, entered here also, and elicited the same, but intenser, op- position. The debate continued two successive days, Hon. Messrs. Vinton, Johnson, Bowlin, Sweetser, Wentworth, Burt, and others resisting, and Hon. Messrs. Sibley, Boyd, and Fitch defending, the provisions and principles of the bill. The sum of objections, in substance, made to the bill was (1) that the granting of pre-emption rights to actual settlers on unsurveyed lands, and especially school lands, was an inno- vation contrary to the customary legislation, a privilege to "squatters" in violation of positive law, and ought not to be countenanced; (2) that there can be no such thing as a ^^bona fide settler''^ on school lands, no person having a right either to go or to be there, all persons, by law, being inhibited from occupation of the same; (3) that no sufficient reason existed why Congress should now depart from the law for the benefit of Oregon and Minnesota; (4) that the law forbade pre- emption in advance of survey, otherwise men might select for themselves the choicest portions of the territory, and deprive the school fund of its just revenue as well as of its land; (5) that pre-emption rights are confined exclusively to settlers on surveyed lands, whereas the bill is an infringement of this en- actment and wholly at variance with the general principles and purposes of the land system; (6) that the subject matter of the bill had already been passed upon and condemned by the Committee on Public Lands; (7) that the leasing of the school sections, so magnificently timbered, would result in the removal of the timber in less than four years, and nothing of value be left for school purposes; (8) that no such legislation existed in reference to other territories, and the claimants of pre-emption rights, in regard to these lands, were but robbers of the fund and pirates of the land; (9) that Congress would be responsible for all damage done to the school interest, and within, or at the close of, four years, the term of the lease, would be called upon by the people of the territory to refund to the extent of the injury sustained; and (10) that, as to granting Minnesota two townships, now, as a territory, and then liro more, when entering the Union as a state, ought to be resisted. Such the substance of objection. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 165 The burden of the whole rejoinder fell again upon Mr. Sib- ley alone. He was equal to the task. He responded by show- ing (1) that every pre-emption law was for the benefit of the settlers on the public domain, and had in view its speedy occupation, so promoting the development of the country and contributing to its greatness and wealth. The bill before the house embodied no other principles than what had already been recognized as just. The actual settler was entitled, justly, to the improvements he had made and the enhanced value of the land where he had located, and which he had en- riched by his self-denial and toil. The law was grounded in the principles of natural right and that immemorial equity which conceded to man a proprietary claim to the fruits of his own labor. It was, moreover, the one encouragement given to induce men to encounter the hardships of a pioneer life; (2) that "there is no reason why men who have, accidentally, become the occupants of what proves subsequently to be a school section should not be jjrotected in the same manner. If they are not allowed the same rights as otho- bona fide settlers, a great wrong will be perpetrated upon them, and no man would feel safe in bestowing his labor on any unsurveyed land through fear of finding himself on a school section, and being deprived thereby of his improvements and his homestead,"^ (3) that the whole matter in question ' ' affects only the school funds, and that, if the people of the territory were willing to grant pre-emption rights to those who had unknowingly set- tled on school lands, it seemed to him that they were the pro- per judges in the case." Were the bill inherently wrong, or against the popular will, he would never be found its advocate here. But the legislative assembly of Minnesota had memo- rialized Congress to enact substantially the provisions it con- tained. Moreover, he argued, no injustice could be done; none to the territory; none to the school fund. By common usage of the country, and in an interest of immense value to the country, every man who settled upon and improved the unoccupied public domain, eveti though unsurveyed, was secured in his right to purchase the land at the minimum government price, when put on the market. And it was but right it should be so, unless all encouragement to the noble race of hardy pioneers should be forever withdrawn. Even conced- ing that ^^no existing law''^ expressly legislates pre-emption to 1 Globe, Vol. 23, p. 435. 166 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF settlers on unsurveyed lands, yet it is well known that ' ' every man who settled on the unsurveyed lands had virtually a pre- emption. No man dare disjyute his right; " (4) that, yet further, so far from the bill being obnoxious to the charge of innova- tion, and unparalleled in the legislation for other territories, "the first and third sections of the bill were copied, nearly verbatim, from similar bills relating to the territories of Michi- gan and Wisconsin," and the second section of the bill was also nearly an exact cox)y of a law passed authorizing the set- tlement of certain school lands in Florida, Iowa, and Wis- consin." True, indeed, the legislation as to Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan territories had reference to French and Spanish land grants, and none such existed in Minnesota. But the '■'principle involved''^ is precisely the same. All the occupants were settlers on unsurveyed lands. And pre-emption was granted to all. The principle was "exactly embodied in the act read by the clerk, in the law passed in 1844." He could not see why persons living on other sections of unsurveyed lands should be entitled any more than the man who had ^«j9- pened to be situated on the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections; (5) that, as to the fear expressed by the gentleman (Bowlin) that the "/mse" of the school sections would deprive the school fund of its just revenue, he thought that "the gentle- man could have but little confidence in the legislative assembly of Minnesota, to suppose that the public school lands in that territory were not as safe under the care of the territorial au- thorities as in the keeping of the gentleman himself or of the general government. ' ' He could ' ' tell the gentleman that there is not a man in Minnesota who is not most anxious, and who would not strain every nerve, to preserve the public lands set apart for school purposes from deterioration, and the people, he believed, were perfectly willing to confide this trust to the territorial legislature."^ So much for the second section of the bill. In further support of what he had said in reference to the first section of the bill, he read the act of Congress giving to the legislative council of the Territory of Michigan the charge of the school lands there, and renewed his assertion that tlie first section of the bill before the house was "an exact transcript of the clause he had just i-ead." And as to the third section of the bill before the house, that pertaining to the university, he read the act of Congress relating to Wiscon- 1 Globe, Vol. 23, p. 443. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 167 sin Territory, showing that the third section of the bill was "an exact copy of that act." And in reference to the whole bill, he repeated his affirmation that its principles were "iden- tical with laws already passed in relation to the territories." Having thus replied, and most successfully, as every im- partial judge must admit, to the objections of his combined adversaries, and supported his defense of the bill by principles of natural justice, by the spirit and the essence of the law of pre-emption itself, by legal enactment, by historic precedent, and by public opinion, Mr. Sibley addressed himself, for a moment or two, to the pleasing task of paying his parliamen- tary respects to the Hon. Mr. Bowlin, chairman of the Com- mittee on Public Lands. In the most emphatic manner, he challenged the verity of Mr. Bowlin's statement that the Com- mittee on Public Lands had passed upon and condemned, in advance, the particular provisions of the bill. Alluding to Mr. Bowlin's indirect imputation that the early settlers of Minnesota had gained their lands dishonestly, and now seek legislation in favor of men who violate law, he replied: "I do not know what the gentleman might intend to convey by such remarks, but it was evident that he was totally ignorant of what material the ijopulation of the Territory of Minne- sota was composed. The hostility the gentleman had shown throughout to every measure that had been proposed for the benefit of the Territory of Minnesota, was not very character- istic of the magnanimity he had the reputation of manifesting when the interests of his own section are at stake. Minnesota did not ask for more than she was strictly and justly entitled to, and he hoped that what she had the right to would not be withheld from her. She did not expect to receive more bene- fits or privileges than other portions of the Union, but she did expect equal justice. I am not conscious that any state- ment I have made could have rendered Minnesota liable to such a charge as seemed to be implied by the gentleman from Missouri. I hope that gentleman will be able to exj^lain this matter in a way which shall not carry with it any such impu- tation as that which might be inferred."^ A portion of the debate, especially February 6, 1857, was very exciting, and, in some respects, betrayed the bitterness of party spirit that seemed, at times, to array itself against both Minnesota and her delegate. When the second section 1 Globe, Vol. 23, p. 444. 168 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF of the bill was under discussion, viz., the section authorizing- pre-emption rights to bo7ia fide settlers on the school lands, Mr. Sibley had said that although no existing law granted pre- emption to settlers on unsurveyed lands, yet ''every man who settled on the unsurveyed lands had virtually a pie-emption. No man dare dispute his right." Mk. Stevens of Pennsylvania " would like to ask the gen- tleman why they dare not do it? Was there any law that pro- hibited it?" Mr. Sibley said that "there was no law of the United States, but there was a ' higher law ' (great laughter), and that was the settler's 'higher law' of the West, in all matters that involved the homestead and dearest rights of men. And, as such, it was recognized by Congress when, from time to time, laws were passed by that body, to effect the same object, by granting pre-emption rights to actual occupants of the soil. " Mr. Wentworth: "When a man squats upon the school lands there is a 'higher law' that takes him oif. So far as I am concerned, whenever a territorial bill comes up here, con- taining a provision in relation to school lands similar to that contained in this, I shall feel compelled to oppose it. I would leave the matter to the townships. If the townships are organ- ized and choose to let men squat on their school lands, it is their business, not the business of Congress." This was a stroke at the third section of the bill, that is, in relation to the university, in reply to Mr. Bowlin's attempt to distort the meaning of Mr. Sibley's words in reference to a "higher law.'^ Mr. Sibley said he believed "the gentleman knew very well what he (Mr. Sibley) referred to, in the remark that he made, in reference to a 'higher law.' He referred to a usage, of no more common occurrence in Minnesota than in any other Western state or territory. And that usage was that the man who had first gone forward and settled unoccupied lands, who had been, as it were, the pioneer of civilization, should be protected from being turned off the soil that he had settled and reclaimed. There was no other 'higher law' in Minne- sota than that. " Mr. Fitch (supporting Mr. Sibley) replied to certain ob- jections. "It is true that the bill legalizes pre-emption to public lands prior to survey, but that is no hardship. To my certain knowledge, those pre-emptions have been recognized, if not by positive legal provisions, at least by the settlers HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 169 themselves, almost from time immemorial. The objection to leasing the school lands, on the ground that the value would be diminished by loss of timber, is vain. It assumes that all the school sections are timbered sections; that the delegates from Oregon and Minnesota, the legislatures, and the people, have conspired to rob their own constituencies, and defraud their own institutions; and that the people of the territory are not as good guardians of their own interests as the Committee on Public Lands. On the contrary, by the lease of the lands, their cultivation will be rendered certain, their value en- hanced, and the school fund increased." Mr. Stevens moved to strike out the word "Minnesota." "I make," said he, ''this motion for the purpose of destroy- ing the section. Any man who squats upon the public land before it is surveyed is entitled to no pre-emption rights. He is a tresspasser, a wrongdoer. The bill proposes to give the wrongdoer a right to take possession of lands devoted to a sacred charity, — if I may call it 'charity,' — for school pur- poses. I believe there is no law which gives a right of iDre- emption to settlers on unsurveyed lands. I may, however, be wrong in this." Mr. Fitch: "You are decidedly wrong." Mr. Stevens: "I am informed by the gentleman behind me that there is no law which gives pre-emption rights to set- tlers on unsurveyed lands, but the 'higher law,' — which the gentleman from Minnesota speaks of, — the law of the boivie- knife. Now, I think we ought not to recognize tJmt kind of a higher law at any rate. If we are to recognize a ' higher law' above, we are not to recognize, at any rate, a 'higher law' below. I cannot go for that. I hope the whole bill will be killed." Mr. Sibley said that the "higher law" to which he re- ferred was not any law of violence, nor that of the "bowie- knife," as stated by the gentleman from Pennsylvania, nor a law from "below," but the law of public opinion, of public sentiment; a higher law which he believed existed elsewhere than in Minnesota. This public opinion was, if he might so term it. Omnipotent, and any enacted law affecting the rights of person or property, antagonistic to it, would always prove a dead letter. This public opinion in the West was in favor of granting to the settler on unoccupied, and even unsurveyed, land the full benefit accruing from the bestowal of the soil he 170 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF had improved. "The gentleman has asserted that we have no right to protect a wrongdoer, and that government ought not to protect settlers on unsurveyed lands who have no business there. But the settlement of the greater portion of our Western country, and the mighty advancement of that region in loealth, popu- lation, and power, had all been the result of the encouragement given by the government to settlers on unsurveyed lands, by the pas- sage of pre-emption laws from time to time.^^ Such, however, was the political passion of the hour, that, notwithstanding the unanswerable argument of Mr. Sibley, and the prestige of the passage of the bill by the senate, none opposing, and its recommendation by the senate's Committees on Public Lands and Territories, and by the house's Commit- tee on Territories, yet the motion of Mr. Stevens to strike out "Minnesota" from section 3, and of Mr. Yiuton to strike out "pre-emption" from section 2, and of Mr. Bowlin to strike out "lease" from section 1, prevailed. The bill did, indeed, seem mortally wounded, in fact "killed." By subsequent effort, however, it revived, and, reduced to two sections, the first authorizing the territorial governors and legislatures to ^^protecV the school sections, the second setting apart ^Hwo townships'''' for the university, was passed by the house, Febru- ary 6, 1851, the senate concurring therein February 15, 1851. Congress thus, by a self- contradictory act, denied pre-emption to settlers on unsurveyed lands, and withheld authority from the legislatures and governors to lease the school sections. Had the senate refused to concur in the house amendments, all had been lost. Plainly, party passion ruled the house. The situation could not be accounted for by the supposition that a few individuals might reap a benefit not enjoyed by others, for others were not entitled to enjoy it, not being pio- neers. Nor was it that the bill was seriously obnoxious to valid criticism. The principle it advocated was a just one, sanctioned not only by natural right, but even by divine prece- dent, which not only asserts that "the laborer is worthy of his reward," but even exalts the law of nature and necessity above any human legislation adverse thereto. A king of Israel ate shewbread "not lawful" for any but the priests to eat; and a greater than the son of Jesse "plucked ears of f corn" on the Sabbath, not his own by statute but by natural l)rescription. All things exist for the benefit of man, and not mail for the benefit of them. Institutions are made for men, and not men for institutions. Lands, governments, and laws HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 171 must be subjected to this one eternal rule, or laid waste, and overthrown. The rights of man, as man, are the rights of nature, and all enactment must be subordinate thereto. And this is a divine enactment voiced through all the changes of history, and revolutions of empires and states, in a universal "public opinion" which is only another name for a "higher law," and, contrary to which, congresses and parliaments may not run except upon pain of incurring judgment as just as it will be severe. Mr. Sibley was clearly in the right. Had even adverse legislation prohibited pre-emption to van-cou- riers of the nation's wide-expanding civilization, yet the rights of natural justice voiced in the universal conscience of man are ever superior to any positive statutes conflicting with the same. The law of moral righteousness is one to which all governments must submit, repealing whatever resists the same, or go out extinguished in blood. The best engraved political right carved in the text of the Constitution itself, if adverse to it, is powerless before it. The greatest of Roman orators, Cicero, a statesman and philosopher as well, less Pagan than some who aspire to the Christian name, main- tained that the '■''common sense of mankind,^' '■'■ communis sensus hominum,^^ is a law imperial and indestructible, not one thing at Athens, another at Rome, but constant everywhere, a voice infallible, supreme, and always the same. By virtue of that, the Bastile was overthrown by a French mob. On that ground the Gracchi won for themselves a name, and Socrates drank the hemlock regardless of death. On that same ground, Mr. Stevens himself, his friends, and the whole party of freedom in the North, with an inconsistency most glaring, while deny- ing pre-emption rights to the pioneer whose toil had enriched the public domain, resisted the execution of the "Fugitive Slave Law" which ran counter to "public opinion," though armed with constitutional enactment.^ Clearly the house 1 Nble. — So Mr. Giddings, December 2, 1850, opposing the "Fugitive Slave Law," said frankly : "Sir, I will say to the president, with all kindness, but with unhesitating confi- dence, that our peop/e will never submit to be compelled to lend aid or assistance in executing that infamous law; nor will they obey it. The president should have learned, ere this, that public opinion, with an enlightened and patriotic people, is stronger than armies and navies, and that he himself is but the creature of the people's will. Nor is this doctrine new. In every state of the Union statutes have been enacted which never have been and never could be enforced, but remained a dead letter, so opposed were they to the public sense of justice and pro- priety." — Globe, Vol. 23, Appendix, p. 254. Such was the " higher law," good for Messrs. Gid- dings, Stevens, and Vinton, in regard to the "Fugitive Slave Bill," but bad for Mr. Sibley in regard to the " Pre-emption Minnesota Bill!" The fact is that the doctrine of a "higher law" was the doctrine of both North and South, of Calhoun as well as of Sumner, a univer- sal law, the Roman "jtis primum," underlying all society, a law grounded in the moral con- stitution of mankind, the final corner stone of states and nations. 172 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF resistance to pre-emption was the result of a passing preju- dice. As a matter of fact, pre-emption in advance of survey had already been previously legislated in effect, and prac- tically recognized, as had also the power of territorial officers and legislatures to lease the school lands. The right, also, of the '' Squatters," as they were called, in the technics of the times, to determine their own institutions was undeniable, under the Constitution of the United States, neutral enough and liberal enough as it is, to let in all manner of Paganism and Barbarism, under the national flag, provided only it comes in a republican way, as Mormonism did, and knocked at the door of Congress with a meek petition in its hand. Douglas' doctrine of what was called "Squatter Sovereignty," though disrelished by Free Soilers, on the one side, as not positively excluding slavery from the territories, and equally distasteful to secessionists, on the other side, as not positively including it, was, nevertheless, a true doctrine under the Constitution. Clearly, had the constituency of Mr. Sibley — the Minneso- tians — been of the creed of New Mexico or California, Went- worth and Stevens had not resisted the grant of pre-emption already accorded to like situated settlers in Iowa and Wiscon- sin; and had they been of the creed of the Texans or Missou- rians, Bowlin and Burt had not objected to what, in principle, had already been conceded to Florida and Michigan. But, being pioneers, and mostly of the Douglas creed, the opposi- tion came from both sides of the house, and was persisted in, even after its mouth had been silenced by the unanswerable argument of Mr. Sibley. And it will remain a mystery, one of those phenomena which sometimes startle us, in history, that the representatives of the great State of Ohio, first born of the ordinance of 1787, and so consecrated to freedom, should ever have been found, like Vinton, Schenck, Giddings, and Boot, resisting and opposing the delegate from Minnesota, a territory secured to freedom not only by the same ordinance, but by the Missouri line, and moreover by climatic law. The fact abides. No answer to Mr. Sibley's reply was ever at- tempted. Wliat he was enabled to effect was the grant of authority to tlie troviso dej)riving territorial officers of their whole salary for the entire year, in case of absence from the territory for more than sixty days in one year. The senate bill relating to the salaries of the territorial officers, under discussion in the house. May 3, 1852, sought to repeal that proviso and enact a forfeiture of salary only equal to that accruing during the i^eriod of their absence, unless cause could be shown for the same, and deemed satisfactory to the president; in short, enacted full compensation for the whole period of absence, provided the president should adjudge the reasons for such absence satis- factory to himself. Against this, the house's Committee on Territories reported an amendment, virtually a substitute, so as to retain the old proviso, yet conceding the judgment in the case to the j) resident, — an amendment repoited to the liouse at Mr. Sibley's suggestion. At various dates the dis- cussion became quite animated, and enlisted a large number HON. HENKY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 183 ■of representatives. It was complicated, moreover, by the outrages in Utah Territory, under Brigham Young, the re- moteness of the region, and the virtual expulsion of the federal ofdcers from its bounds. Inflexible, however, to the principle involved, viz., the duty of the officer to be present at his post, Mr. Sibley gave utterance to no ambiguous words on this occasion. He resisted the senate legislation, defended the house committee's amendment, and succeeded in secur- ing the concurrence of the senate with the action of the house. His frankness and fearlessness and courteous expression are best seen in the light of his own words: ' ' My own territory, ' ' said he, ' ' has suffered much from the absence of its officers, for months together. I think that the original proviso with- holding salary from any officer who is absent for more than sixty days from his territory, Avithout good cause can be shown for such absence, is a proper and a just one. I do not believe that the provisions purposed by the senate are sufficient to keep these officers at home, if they have a desire to absent themselves. * * * These provisions do not meet my approbation. They effectually annul all previous legislation on the subject, providing that every officer who absents himself, for a period of sixty days or more, from his post during the year, shall not lose his salary for the whole year, but merely the pro rata compensation for the period he may be absent. That, I contend, is not sufficiently precautionary in its character. The Committee on Territories, replacing the clause in its original form, now pro- vide that, if an officer is absent any time, — nothing said about sixty days, — from the field of his official duties, he shall lose his salary for the entire year, unless he can procure a certificate from the president that he had good cause of absence. I regard this as absolutely necessary for the iirotection of the public interests of the people of the territories. If officers accept office in the territories, for which they are well paid by the government, they ought to be willing to remain there and discharge their legitimate duties. I am in favor of making the provision as stringent as is consistent with justice, and hold that if any officer absents himself, without good cause therefor, he should not be paid one dollar of his yearly salary. I am anxious that the provisions of the bill "may be made sufficiently strong to secure the people I have the honor to represent against the evils of a con- tinued absence of the judicial and other officers of the territory. The judges are vested with federal as well as territorial powers, and are the only officers who can issue habeas corpus, and other writs, act at chambers, and perform the other duties of superior courts. I trust the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Stevens) will be satisfied with my explanation, and the necessity of such restrictions as are imposed by this bill. As to the removal of a territorial judge by the president, so far from the concession of such power to the president, it is a mooted question, at this moment before the senate of the United States, and many eminent jurists deny that any such power exists. Be that as it may, and even admitting that such a power does exist, there are grave reasons why it should be exercised only in 184 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF extreme cases; for, if the territorial judiciary is subject to be displaced arbitrarily, and without good and sufficient cause, it ceases to be independ- ent of executive control, and will speedily be converted into a mere politi- cal engine, and no longer be depended on, or respected, by the people."^ [Here the hammer fell.] A wiser, calmer, more compact, convincing, or appropri- ately expressed argument and opinion in the case fell not from the lips of any of the twenty speakers who took part in this discussion. It carried weight with it. Like the effective ^'caterum censeo^^ of the elder Cato, it accomplished its end. The house amendment was carried almost unanimously, and June 9, 1852, the senate receding from its own propositions concurred with the action of the house. Not less emphatic were his utterances in defense of the homestead bill, whereby, under a radical alteration of the old land legislation, he hoped successfully, with others, to resist an effort earnestly made to defeat the bill. The bill was a bill to encourage agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and all other branches of industry, by granting to every man who is the head of a family, and a citizen of the United States, a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres of land out of the public domain, upon condition of occupancy and cultivation of the same for a period of two years. The opposition to the bill was grounded in the following arguments: (1) That by the sale of the public lands the wealth and revenues of the general government would be diminished; (2) the taxation of those not benefited by the sales would be correspondingly increased; (3) the past prosperity of the nation, under the old policy of limited sales at high prices, was sufficient vindication of its prosperity; and (4) that the bill was tinctured with socialistic and agrarian principles, dangerous to the welfare of the repub- lic. As against this reasoning Mr. Sibley directed one of the grandest, though brief, and ablest efforts of his congressional career. He assailed the existing policy of the government (1) as uneconomical. With a public domain of fourteen hundred millionH of acres of land, the average sales, per annum, but little exceeded one million acres, whereas free grants of land to actual settlers would so swell the number of consumers of foreign goods as to greatly increase the duties on imports, and so compensate for any diminution in the receipts, from the sale of the public lands. (2) It was avaricious. It grasped, for the 1 Globe, Vol. 24, I'arl fi, \n>. ri.'iC, 1410, i US. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 185 benefit of the government, its immense unoccupied possessions with the tenacity of a miser, and conflicted with the political axiom in all popular governments that such governments should remain poor, however prosperous the people might become. (3) It was rigid and exacting. It sold the land at high rates, and next imposed a tax of twenty dollars per an- num, which was a new and unjust charge upon production, raising the natural price, while yet the whole cost of the pub- lic lands was less than twenty-two cents per acre, the govern- ment making a clear profit of more than one dollar per acre on all that was sold. "If," said Mr, Sibley, "an individual capitalist should take advantage of his wealth to monopolize, and hold at exorbitant rates, any article indispensable to the subsistence and comfort of the community in which he lives, he would justly be denounced as a wretch unfit to associate with honorable men. And yet, in no respect, would he be more heartless, or worthy of blame, than a government which exacts from its citizens a fivefold price for those lands which are absolutely necessary for their support." (4) It was self- impoverishing. "It is a fact," said he, "that the increase in the sales of the public lands has by no means kept pace with that of the population, since the foundation of the govern- ment. (5) It was productive of crime and corruption. The high rates of sale had forced thousands upon thousands to remain in the corrupting atmosphere of our large cities who otherwise would have become contented and happy tillers of the soil." (6) It was cruel to the pioneer. "He is pursued with unrelenting severity as soon as he has broken the silence of the primeval forest with the blows of an American axe. After enduring all his privations, and subjecting himself to the perils incident to his vocation, he who has toiled for months in honest labor, suddenly finds himself clutched by the law, as a trespasser on the public domain, and bereft of the proceeds of his long winter's work, for the benefit of his pa- ternal government, or rather, for the advantage of its minions. Sir, these outrages in Wisconsin and Minnesota are sanctioned by the same government that permits the public lands in Cali- fornia and Oregon to be overrun by foreigners who appropri- ate to their own use what is ujwn as well as under the earth, without hindrance. The time is at hand when the arbitrary exercise of power, such as I have alluded to, will be rebuked by the people. Nor will it long be endured that the immense 186 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF public domain shall coutiuue to be barred against those who have not the means to pay for tilling the ground God has given to all his creatures, but of which the avaricious temper of the government has hitherto deprived even its own citi- zens." (7) The bill under discussion is true Democratic doc- trine. "I repel with indignation," said Mr. Sibley, "the charge I have heard made, that the bill is tinctured with agrarian doctrines. Sir, when I see the honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Chandler) so eloquent in defense of this bill, and sustained by such men as his colleagues (Daw- son and Moore) and also by the chairman of the Land Com- mittee and other gentlemen equally distinguished and con- servative, and all in accord with the great lights of both par- ties of the country, particularly the Democratic party, I can but express my astonishment that any member could be found with boldness sufficient to denounce it as I have heard it de- nounced in this hall." Such is only a meager resume of the substance of this elo- quent argument on the homestead bill. Like Chatham in the commons, Mr. Sibley held that " the true strength and stam- ina of a country are to be found, not in its trade, but in the cultivators of the soil, their simpleness of virtue, their integ- rity, and courage of freedom, men inured to labor, genuine, invincible, the bulwarks of liberty, and the heart of a nation's power." He saw, what every statesman sees, that, after all, a nation's wealth and glory always spring from, and return to, her soil. The proudest emporiums may decay by the diver- sion of trade, but a nation's greatness and permanence rests upon the self-dependence and the self-existence of her sons of toil. " While trade's proud emi)ire hastes to swift decay, And ocean sweeps the labored mole away, This self-dependent power shall time defy, As rocks resist the billows and the sky." "My life," said Mr. Sibley, "has been passed in the territories, upon the outer verge of civilization. / have never spent a month in any state of the Union. I know the character of the pioneer, and the men on the way to the West, and I speak understandingly when J. .say that it is such homes as this hill will create which will ever remain the nurseries of that love of freedom by which alone our f/ovcrnment can he perpetuated. In the hour of danger to the I'lnintry, there will issue from the atwdes of live workiny classes of your inland ji'ijnilalion, a j)oiiJcr not only self-sustaininij, hat abundantly uhle to bear Ihe Ship HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 187 of State safely through all the stonm that may beset her. If, then, the future hopes of the republic must rest, not upon the denizens of crowded cities, but in the masses who daily toil in the workshop and on the farm, there can be no doubt that the best policy to be pursued is that which favors the increase and prosperity of our industrial classes."^ There is always something prophetic in the mind of a man naturally great. His conviction that a moral order rules the universe to which nations are subject, rewarding the right and avenging the wrong, never deserts him. His vision descries the "coming events" that "cast their shadows before." The voice here was like that of the ancient Gracchi, in the gath- ering storms of the Roman Republic. The homestead policy was that which alone could save a nation. It asserted man's right to the soil as well as to the sunlight and air. It denied that the public domain, bought by the common treasure of the people, or won by their valor, should be grasped and held by the government as a source of its own emolument, or devo- ted to monopolies and chartered corporations, against the interest of the laboring classes. It vindicated the citizen's right to a home, and that of the pioneer especially to the most liberal policy the government could devise. It smote the axiom of despots, and of writers in the interest of despots, that man, when entering society, surrenders his inalienable rights to life, liberty, and happiness, for the benefit of society, the support of tyrants, or a soulless abstraction. It lifted a protest against theexisting policy which made the government an altar on which sacrifices were offered to the god Mammon, and demanded that Congress should no longer legislate in favor of the strong as against the weak, or elevate the lust of wealth to power in the hands of a few, upon the wail and woe of the struggling masses below. It was the sentiment of Washing- ton, of the founders of the republic, of the Puritan stock from which Mr. Sibley came, the broad and open ground that the public lands, though appropriated, in a measure, to state needs and territorial improvements, were yet the treasure of the people, and that the federal policy should be one of " mercy" to the poor, — a " quality" that "is not strained," but ' ' Droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven, Upon the place beneath; twice blessed; Both blessing him that gives and him that takes." 1 Globe, Appendix, Vol. 25, pp. 486, 487. 188 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF The passage of the homestead bill was another of the great victories in which Mr. Sibley bore a conspicuous part, and how rich a blessing it has been to the nation in the develop- ment of her resources, splendor, and strength, the public domain will remain a witness and monument forever. The same fidelity, however, which enlisted the ardor of Mr. Sibley in defense of the homestead bill, exacted from him a vigorous and instant resistance to the bill for the indigent insane, on the same day, and same occasion. That bill, intro- duced by Mr. Bissell of Illinois, provided for "a donation of ten millions of acres of public lands to be apportioned among the states, in the compound ratio of their area and representation, for the relief and support of the indigent insane therein." It stipulated that each state having within its own limits lands of a ^^ suitable quality^' for this object, should receive its portion from the same, but states not having such lands should be '^authorized to select from the public domain, not in the other states, but exclusively in the territories.^'' The like scheme had been presented to the previous Congress, but was first modified, at Mr. Sibley's earnest request, and then defeated. Eevived now in substantially the same form, it was a second time resisted. Its advocates not only pressed the importance of providing for the poor unfortunates contemplated in the bill, but further urged, in support of the bill, that it would (1) protect the actual settler in his rights, (2) confirm pre- emption claims, (3) prevent states from selling lauds at higher rates than the minimum price of the public domain, (4) re- strict the locations to lands subject to private entry at the time of the passage of the act, and (6) give to the territories the right to tax the lands to be selected by the states. These shining baits failed to catch the delegate from Minnesota. "Sir," said Mr. Sibley, replying to the plausible pretense, "I wouldnot gire a farthing for all the limitations, restrictions, and guarantees you can crowd into this ])ill. If the lands are once transferred to the states, the same majority that passes this measure will be found ready, when occasion offers, to scatter all these limitations and guarantees to the winds of heaven, and forbid the territorial authorities from imposing any tax upon such lands. I will venture the prediction that these lauds will l)e managed without re- gard to any previous contract or agreement with the federal government, and without the lea.st reference to the interests of the individual states. The actual Hcttlcr will find himself under a foreign jurisdiction, and I turu with abhorrence from any project which would tend to place him in so humili- ating a j>OHiti()n." HON. HENEY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 189 Mr. Sibley resisted the bill on the grounds (1) that it cre- ated an invidious distinction between the states and the ter- ritories; (2) that it would delay the speedy admission of territories into the Union, as states; (3) that it would engen- der heart-burnings and internal strifes; (4) that it was unjust to the pioneer; (5) that the land states refused to allow any grants of public lands, within their own limits, to be made to other states; (6) that the reasons these states alleged for their resistance hold good as well for the territories; (7) that it is wrong for Congress to transfer to a state the title to lauds in another state, and equally so to transfer to the same state the title to lands in the territories; (8) that Minnesota will resist the scheme with all the power at her command; (9) that Ore- gon, and all the territories, will do the same, and (10) that this whole matter of providing for the indigent insane, worthy as the object is, legitimately belongs to state jurisdiction, and the federal government has no right to engage in any projects of the kind. These positions were maintained with great earnestness and warmth, and it was in this discussion, perhaps more than in any other, Mr. Sibley gave full rein to his power of unspar- ing utterance. Friendly to the object sought to be accom- plished, the relief of the insane, and even willing that the government should do something in that behalf, if it so in- sisted, he proposed, as counter methods to those formulated in the bill, two different schemes; (1) "that the proceeds of the sales of the first 10,000,000 acres of public lands be equitably divided among the states for the relief of the insane," or (2) ' ' that the land states be allowed to select their distributive share of the 10,000,000, within their own limits, and issue scrip to the other states in proportion to the amount they may be entitled to receive, to be sold but not located by them. This scrip would sell in the market for the same price as the laud warrants, and the money be realized much more speedily than if the land itself was granted." But beyond this he would not go. He showed that twenty-one of the states had no lands in their limits that would be deemed ".sM/YoftZt" for the object specified; that of these, fifteen would come to Minnesota to "spy out the land;" that more than six out of the ten mil- lions of acres would be selected here; and that war would begin. "I would be glad," said he "to know with what pro- priety the members from the land states can vote for such an 190 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF accumulation of evils upon Minnesota, when they will not entertain a proposition that another state shall hold one acre of public land within the confines of their own state. Alas! sir, " ' Tis all men's office to speak patience To those who wring under the load of sorrow; But no man's virtue, or sufficiency, To he so moral when he shall endure The like himself.' Minnesotians are a peaceable and law-respecting people; but it may be well imagined that — after they have penetrated the wilderness, endured all trials and sufferings inseparable from the settlement of a new country, made sacrifices of every kind in advancing the interests of our beautiful territory, and built up towns by the labor of their hands — they would not be prej)ared to greet with much cordiality the emissaries of the states who might go among them to "spy out the land" which their own toil had made valuable, in order to secure its transfer to absentee proiirietors, to the exclusion of the friends and former neighbors of the pioneers of the country! God knows, sir, that no man sympathizes more than I do in the sufferings of that unhappy class of beings, — the insane, — and no one would be disposed to make greater sacrifices than myself to ameliorate their condition. But, I know, also, that this bill is not the way to such an end. All that can be done by my gallant friend from Oregon, and myself, to resist it, will be done. And, I beg leave, in the name of the peoiDle whose interests have been confided to my keeping, most ^o\- QxuxAj to protest against its passage. I invoke the aid of those representatives who are opposed to the exercise of doubtful powers by the general gcfp^ernment, and of all friends of the territories, to arrest this scheme in its inception, and thus entitle themselves to the approbation of all who maintain the doctrine that '"Government, thro' high, and low, and lower, Put into parts, doth keep in one consent, Congreeing in a full and natural close Like music' "^ Tt is hardly iKuiessary to say that the Bissell bill for the indigent insane did not pass, but met a second defeat as de- 1 Glol.e, Vol. 2.5, p. 488. HON. HENEY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 191 cisive as the first. The vigor with which Mr. Sibley fought this scheme, so laudable in its aim, so plausible in its pre- tenses, and yet so dangerous in its method, was due to the fact that he had looked for powerful aid from the Hon. Mr. Hall of Missouri, as he says, "with much of the same confi- dence that the Trojans placed in Hector when they were pressed by the Greeks," but was "disappointed." It was due, therefore, to the blows of his own right arm, that the objectionable measure was repelled, and went staggering from the house never more to be heard of in the halls of Congress. But there were other laurels in reserve for Mr, Sibley during this same session of Congress. Another battle, not less severe than the one through which he first passed to his seat in Congress, as the "delegate from Wisconsin," awaited him, and a victory not less complete, though won at greater risk. May 21, 1852, was a day in which the vital interests of Minnesota trembled in the balance. The question was whether the five roads, for which appropriations had previously been made by Congress, in the Territory of Minnesota should receive further appropriations for the continuance of their construction, or the work be discontinued by the federal government, and the burden of completion thrown upon the territory. In this debate the ablest members of the house participated. The bill asking $45,000 more for such purpose had passecl to its second reading, and the gravest objections were arrayed against it, on both economical and constitutional grounds. First of all, in substance, it was alleged that of the $40,000 originally appropriated to this object, not a dollar had been spent as yet in actual construction, while nearly $13,000 had been applied solely to surveys, leaving a balance of $22,000 unexpended. Moreover, large contracts had been made while as yet large portions of these roads, if not all of some of them, remained still unsurveyed, and experience had shown that, to make appropriations, in advance of survey, a large balance still existing to the credit of the territory, was only an unwise legislation, and a needless consumption of money. Still further, it was useless to appropriate $15,000 here, $10,000 there, and $20,000 somewhere else, instead of the whole amount at once, necessary to complete the roads, and which would be not less than half a million at the least. Additionally, it was urged that Minnesota Territory had be- come exorbitant in her demands. 192 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF The graver opposition, however, came from the argument against the power of Congress to make such appropriations. The bill was assailed, heavily, on the general ground of the impolicy of the federal government's making appropriations for any internal improvements, whether in state or territory. The two great political parties of the country were thoroughly divided on this great question. The Hons. Messrs. Houston of Alabama, Venable of Virginia, Stanly of North Carolina, Fowler of Massachusetts, Brookes of New York, and others, appealing to the authority of James Madison, who, in the First Congress of the United States, denied to the general government the power of making appropriations for internal improvements of any kind, resisted the bill on the ground of its unconstitutionality. Even conceding that Congress had power to construct military roads, yet these were not such, nor anywhere described as such. The departures of Congress from the Constitution should not be accepted as precedents for further infraction of that instrument. This piecemeal legislation for the purposes proposed was simply the exten- sion of the "System of Internal Improvements," in its most odious form, into the territories, and should be defeated and abandoned now. There was no possible difference between legislating appropriations for five general roads in Minnesota Territory, and legislating for the same number in Pennsyl- vania, New York, Illinois, Missouri, or Ohio. To deplete the federal treasury for improvements in rivers, roads, and bridges, in the territories, one and all, was no way different from exhausting it, in reference to the states. The question was purely a question of the Constitution, and every member of the house well knew that to make appropriation of the fed- eral money for the purposes of internal improvement, whether in state or territory, was not one of the powers ceded by the states to the general government. More than all, such legis- lation opened a wide door of temptation, and issued a broad card of invitation to 'Mandsharks, speculators, railroad cor- porations, and companies of various kinds, to besiege the capitol and conspire with members of both houses of Congress to alienate the nation's prosperity to unprincipled monopo- lists, and cede to states and territories, under the plea ol internal improvements, the public domain, which should be sacredly reserved for homesteads of the actual settlers in the territories." HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 193 Once more, and, as usual, the lot fell upon Mr. Sibley to sustain the whole defense of the bill, and bear the brunt of the whole assault. Save a few unimportant words, by one or two members of the house, and a kindly strong word of help from the Hon. Mr. Seymour of New York, the whole reply came from the delegate from Minnesota. The points of his reply were these: (1) As to the amounts of money asked for, they were less than the war department and the officer of the topographical bureau and the government engineer had esti- mated. And, because a balance existed to the credit of the roads, he (Mr. Sibley) had himself asked that the proposed a-ppropriations should be reduced nearly one-half. (2) The roads contemplated are an absolute necessity, partly military in their purpose, and mostly to aid the pioneer in reaching the settlements accorded to him by the legislation of Congress. If the policy of granting homesteads to the settlers in the ter- ritories is a good one, not less good is that of providing the means of attaining them. (3) The construction of territo- rial roads is practically and essentially a part of the great system of national development to which the pre-emption laws pertain, affording facilities for rapid settlement in the West, and ought not now to be abandoned. (4) The Territory of Minnesota is inhabited by the largest and most warlike tribes of Indians on the North American continent, and these roads are necessary for the protection of the settlers. Moreover, if the government will but grant one-half what it costs to keep an army on the Northwestern frontier, the pioneers would take care of themselves, against any and all enemies, without ex- pense to the government. (5) The construction of these roads will be the means of saving large sums of money to the general government, annually spent in transportation of supplies to its military posts and Indian agencies. And, now, as to the constitutionality of these appropria- tions, Mr. Sibley, while asserting his fealty to old and time- honored democratic principles, even the principles of Jeffer- son, and Madison as well, and opposing rigorously the new and objectionable scheme of " Internal Improvements, " called apart of the ^^ Great American System ^^^ felt bound to chal- lenge the judgment of the honorable gentlemen who had com- bined so strongly and so resolutely to oppose this measure. And (1) in reply not only to the honorable member from Alabama, but to all, he would humbly submit, that if these gen- 194 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF tlemen did not base their arguments against the bill on consti- tutional grounds entirely, they could urge no other reasonable objection; and if they did base their argument on constitutional grounds, the argument could only fail, since no such grounds existed. (2) From the organic relation of the general govern- ment to the territories, it was evident that Congress had the power to make the appropriations asked for. "The govern- ment," said Mr. Sibley, "is the sole great land proprietor in the territories, and bound by every consideration of equity and justice to make its domain accessible, by means of roads, to those it invites to settle there. How, sir, can your lands be sold, if the immigrant cannot reach them"? Gentlemen will certainly not take the ground that the people of the territories shall make their own roads and those of the federal govern- ment likewise!" (3) From the uniform practice of the gov- ernment. "For fifty years past. Congress has uniformly ap- propriated for works of this kind. The territories are placed by the Constitution of the United States under the direct legislation of Congress, and to Congress the pioneers have ever looked for legislative aid. By means of congressional grants of money in their behalf, rather than in behalf of the govern- ment's own domain, every territory, grown to be a powerful state, has been assisted in its small beginnings, and Minnesota must now be made the exception." (4) From the clear distinc- tion between such legislation as is here proposed for the "ter- ritory," and that which the so-called "American System of Internal Improvements" proposes for the "states." From the foundation of the government the Democratic party has ever resisted the system of internal improvements, and from the foundation it has as constantly advocated "territorial appropriations." There is no parallel between the relation of the states and the territories to the general government. The former have attained to their majority; the latter still are minors and under the immediate supervision of parental care. The general government is bound to assist them. "The terri- tories," said Mr. Sibley, "have invariably received liberal grants from Congress, for such i)urposes as this, and, //// noiv, no attenii)t has ever yet been made to connect them with any system of internal improvements in the states. The distinc- tion is too broad and too ])ali)able to require anything to be said on the snl)ject. The J)('mocratic party, to which we be- long, has never held the doctrines advanced by certain gentle- HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 195 men of that party on this floor. It has always been liberal in grants to territories. * * * The two great parties of the country have indeed divided, on the question of so-called internal improvements, but never on the constitutionality of 'territorial appropriations,' and the attempt now made to confound these different kinds of legislation, ignore the uni- form practice of the government, and apj)eal to party differ- ences, is but an effort to invoke a party spirit whereby the bill before the house may be endangered and defeated." (5) From the "modesty" of Minnesota, in her requests, the appropria- tions ought to be granted. ' ' Minnesota, "said Mr. Sibley, ' ' asks for no expensive lighthouses or harbor appropriations, and has the right to expect Congress to be generous with her, in regard to the construction of her roads and improvement of her rivers. Minnesota never has, and never will take undue advantage of your liberality. As an illustration of our mod- esty, sir, in that respect, I can point you to the fact I have adverted to that this bill provides for only one-half of the amount estimated for by the department, and I will be frank enough to say that I do not believe we should have received anything had I pressed for the whole amount mentioned in those estimates. I conclude by assuring the committee of the whole that the money is wanted, now^ and I am satisfied it will be economically and properly disbursed." ^ The final conflict occurred June 8, 1852, when the bill was put upon its passage, and the Hon. Mr. Stanly of North Carolina made one last effort against it, on the ground that the legislation sought was "partial and one-sided," "unjust to other territories," and that the bill should be referred to the Committee on Public Lands, to share the same fate with other bills, in the provision of some general system of appro- priation which the country was expecting the committee to make. Otherwise, the continual drain upon the treasury by the territories would soon leave nothing to the states for sea-coast, harbor, and river improvements, or fortifications, or tariff. The earnest appeal of Mr. Stanly was promptly met by Mr. Sibley, who replied that he had not come to Con- gress to discuss any merely "abstract right of Congress to make appropriations of money for roads in the territories," but to insist on "the practice of the government from the beginning." "And," said he, "I beg leave to state to the 1 Globe. Vol. 24, Part 2, pp. 1450-1455. 196 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF gentleman from North Carolina that the Territory of Minne- sota has never received one acre of land, and never asked for one, except what was given her for educational purposes. She has never asked for anything unreasonable." Such his closing words on the so sharply debated question. With the eye of a general he saw the situation, and with the skill of a parliamentarian, knowing the critical moment had come, he added, "And now, sir, with this statement, and knowing that the house will not, under any circumstances, confound the system of internal improvement in the states with these terri- torial appropriations, I move the previous question on the pas- sage of the hilV^ It was a venture! Everything was haz- arded! The motion was seconded, the main question ordered, the yeas and nays demanded, the result showing yeas 85, nays 83, a majority of two! But the bill was passed, and Minne- sota's five roads and the appropriation of $45,000 saved. The senate concurred with the house the ensuing session, and also passed the bill. In any account of the actions of Mr Sibley in Congress, his noble stand, though unsuccessful, in behalf of the starving Indians of the Northwest, and the discussion evoked by his amendment to the Indian appropriation bill, may not be passed by in silence. It was July 17, 1852, the bill above mentioned being open for amendment, that Mr. Sibley rose and offered the following, the sum being first fixed at $100,- 000, but now modified to $50,000, viz., that Congress appro- priate "for the subsistence of Indians of any tribe within the limits of the United States, who may hereafter be in a starv- ing condition, to be expended under the direction of the secre- tary of the interior, $50,000; provided, that in no case shall any portion of said sum be paid out unless upon reliable infor- mation made, to the secretary of the interior, of the existence of such a state of suffering among the Indians as is contem- plated by tliis clause." A whole quiver of arrows was at once drawn, and shot, in rapid flight, at the proposition, the Hon. Mr. Phelps of Missouri twanging the first from his bo\7, and followed by i-cpresentatives from various other states. The objiictions were these in the main: (1) That such appro- priation w;is unauthorized by law; (2) that already we spend $800,000 annually for the benefit of the Indians; (3) that the Indian 5an Francisco to Memphis, Tennessee, with its several branches terminat- ing at St. Louis, Dubuque, New Orleans, and Matagorda bay, Texas; a project involving a main trunk line of 2,000 miles, or, including its branches, 5,115 miles, requiring an appro- priation of 97,536,000 acres of land, at a market value of $121,900,000. These condensed reasons, given almost verbatim, in the terms of Mr. Sibley's speech, covered, in the main, his argu- ment in behalf of the road, upon constitutional, economical, and interstate, as well as national, grounds. Then, proceed- ing to depict the practical advantages of the enterprise, if completed, he indulged his chaste, simple, and flowing style of exin-ession, in the most beautiful manner, as was always his wont: " Imagination," said lie, "can hardly depict the magical effect which tlio completion of this work would have in developinj^ the resources of the "West, and in adding to the aggregate wealth of the nation. The valuable fisheries of Lake Hupcrior would lie increased in a ratio tenfold, were a HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 205 market thus opened to the South. The pineries of Minnesota and Wiscon- sin would send forth, annually, their inexhaustible supply of building materials to the valley below. The iron, salt, and coal of Missouri, and the copper and lead of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, could thereby be exchanged, with advantage, for the products of the rich and "Sunny South." The immense tracts of public lands, scores of miles each side of the railroad, now with no purchaser, because of their remote position from the water- courses, would be taken up, at once, by an industrious and enterprising class of settlers, admirably calculated, as the whole of that region is, for the support of a dense population."^ Looking at the result from a military point of view, he continued: " If the longitudinal line of communication along that border were per- fected by means of a railway, the government could control the savage tribes with much greater facility than now can be done, and with less than half the force now requisite for that purpose. The same reasons might be urged as one of the necessary preparations against the occurrence of a foreign war. I know, sir, that many regard that as an almost impossible event. I am not one of that number, for I can well imagine that we may be forced to resort to that so much to be deprecated alternative, at any time, to defend the honor, or the rights, of the nation. Grave senators have assured us that our foreign relations are in a delicate position, and I am bound to be- lieve they are not alarmists, or actuated by any vain spirit of boasting, when they make that declaration. I am not in favor of filibustering expeditions, but I do trust that the high position of this republic will be sustained and vindicated, and the Monroe doctrine strictly adhered to, even at the hazard of a war with France, England, or any other power. And I feel assured that the incoming administration will enforce this cardinal policy of the Democratic party, indeed, sir, I may say, of the whole American people. Should hostilities follow, we ought to be prepared to repel the instrusion upon our soil, of an enemy's force, with the whole power of the country. Were the projected railway from North to South completed, it would en- able the government to concentrate, in a few days, thousands of the best marksmen in the world, at any point on our Southern coast that might be threatened by a foreign foe. " - The last appeal of the Hon. Mr. Sibley, as he closed this exhaustive speech, so full of information, and so grand in con- ception, was in behalf of the bill he introduced previously, asking the right of way and donation of lands for a railroad from the rapids of the St. Louis river of Lake Superior to St. Paul, with branches to St. Anthony (Minneapolis) and Still- water: ' ' That bill, ' ' said he, ' ' is now on your calendar, and I wish briefly to state the necessity that exists for its passage. The distance between the termini is about two hundred and sixty miles, and much of the country 1 Globe, Vol. 27, Appendix, pp. 188, 189. 2 niid., p. 189. 206 ANCESTKY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF through which the road woukl pass is very favorable for settlement. The great object is to open a communication between the waters of the St. Law- rence and the Mississippi, and it is one of immediate interest to every state bordering on the latter river, and upon the lakes. Congress granted 750,000 acres of land, at its last session, to the State of Michigan, to enable it to make a canal around the Falls of St. Mary. Complete the measure of your liberality, and, I may say, of your justice, by contributing to the infant but enterprising Minnesota, from your ample resources, your proijortion of means necessary to build a railway between the northern and southern por- tions of our territory, through what is now little better than a trackless wilderness. We who live on the waters of the Mississippi are now abso- lutely cut off from communication with our own lake coast, for want of a railroad. To reach that part of our territory, without resorting to the primi- tive mode of conveyance by bark canoes and portages, we must descend the Mississippi, nearly four hundred miles, to Galena, thence to Chicago, and through the whole length of Lakes Michigan and Superior, and a part, of Lake Huron. In other words, we must travel more than 1,500 miles to visit a portion of our territory, not more than two hundred and fifty miles dis- tant, in a direct line. The disadvantage to the government and to the Ter- ritory of Minnesota, in view of the need of frontier defense, and transporta- tion of troops, and also of provisions for your Indian agencies, is manifest. Complete, then, the measure of your regard for the peojile I have the honor to represent on this floor. Give us your aid to free us from our diificulties, and I can safely promise that Minnesota will soon be knocking at your doors for admission into the Union, with a population inferior to none of her sis- ters, in virtue, intelligence, enterprise, and devoted attachment to true democratic principles, and to the government under which we live. "^ Such was the earnest, practical, eloquent appeal of the delegate from Minnesota, in behalf not only of his great pro- ject of a national highway from the Gulf to the British line, but in behalf of the immediate needs of his own constituency; nor anywhere, in coming days, let the debates in Congress be searched and read with whatever care, will the future his- torian of Minnesota be able to find a cause more cogently pleaded, or couched in terms more direct, simple, select, or graceful, or pervaded by a spirit more i>ure from selfish ends, or supported by an intellect more broad, comprehensive, and grand. The rights and needs of the territories, the expansion and the possibilities, nay more, the anticipated actualities, of the rapidly developing civilization of the country, and the h<)V«!ring dangers arising from foreign envy of American gr(!atness, as also from Indian hostilities, all loomed before him, evincing the grasp and scope and magnitude of his thought, and finding utterance in a quality of wisdom, atllu- 1 'ilolx;, Vol. 27, Appunilix, j.. 100. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 207 ence of dictioD, and, at times, tenderness of feeling as well as strength of expression, and beauty of imagination, which, combined with the dignity of his personal presence and courtly manner, won for him golden opinions from all who heard him. If he did not succeed in all he attempted to do, it was not for want of ability, tact, or influence, but alone from the temper of the times, the narrowness of men, and a partisan spirit which never could soar higher than the thought of a local need, or sectional prejudice, and whose utmost creed was freedom for the hlack man, deceit or exter- mination for the red man, and tardy justice to the pioneering loMte man. The last act of Mr. Sibley in Congress was his third ap- peal, March 3, 1853, in behalf of a poor woman whose hus- band had fallen in the service of the government, the presen- tation of the petition of Emily Hove, and the request that the senate bill for her relief might at once be taken from the table of the house and passed, granting her the half-pay of captain for five years. With this act of justice and humanity Mr. Sibley closed his congressional career. Judged by his official record, he stands as one of the ablest, purest, and most faithful of public ser- vants, devoting his manhood, talents, attainments, and won- drous experience, as the prince of pioneers, to the service of his constituents, through five consecutive terms of Congress, from December 3, 1848, to March 3, 1853, four years and three months, under the successive administrations of Presidents Polk, Taylor, and Fillmore. His congressional career was one perpetual struggle, from first to last, in behalf of Minne- sota. Nothing that he won for the territory was gained with- out a battle. Not a bill was passed without opposition, nor a benefit secured without a running conflict. From his entrance to his exit, he succeeded, by the power of his personal pres- ence, his commanding talent, parliamentary skill, and the loyalty of certain influential senators and representatives whose friendship and help he had conciliated to his own ad- vantage. None stood more resolutely and unflinehiugly in the gap than he, none more quickly appreciated a crisis in debate, and none wielded more effectively, or frequently, the ''pre- vious question " against his opponents. And yet, nothing re- mained to him as a source of unmixed pleasure more delight- ful than this, that, in all his conflicts, however warm, at times, 208 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF as they were, nothing ever occurred to mar the individual friendships or social relations that existed between himself and those against whom he was called to contend. The record of his congressional career is strewn with the highest compli- ments, publicly made, and from all parties, to his personal candor, love of truth, fairness in debate, frankness, ability, manliness, moral courage, and high integrity. Even his oppo- nents could say that, on the score of personal courtesy alone, he deserved every dollar he demanded for his territory. And how much Minnesota owed to his faithful exertions, perhaps only the early settlers are aware. To him, beyond all other men, Minnesota is indebted for the name of the state; for the change of the name of St. Peters river to Minnesota river; for the location of the capital of the state at St. Paul and not at Mendota, his own home; for the opening of the first roads in her territorial life; for the passage of the bill that gave her a name and a place at all in history; for appropriations to build her capitol, territorial prison, and to lay the foundation of a territorial library; for the first movement toward the pro- vision of relief for the indigent insane; for a double portion of land devoted to educational purposes; for two townships of land for the use and support of a university, secured to her while in her territorial condition; for a new land office, and new land district; and the first movement for a railroad connecting the waters of the Mississippi and Lake Superior; and for appropriations amounting nearly to $300,000. This is more than presiding at the birth of a territory. It is giv- ing birth to the territory itself Viewed in whatever light, the Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley, underlies, in his person and work, the whole civil and political superstructure of the State of Minnesota, and this, without the least disparagement to the just merits of others with whom he was associated, will be accorded, in future, as already it has in the past, by his fellow citizens, and tlie unanimous voice of all pioneers. And, whether we view him as battling to secure his seat in Congress, and the rights of a constituency sought to be de- prived of government and representation alike; or as secur- ing tlie passage of tlie bill establisliing the territory; or as resisting, on every side, all partisan inducements in the trust committed to his charge; or as providing for the defense of the fiontier, and the protection of the wives, children, and homes of the early settlers, from hostile Indian attack; or as HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 209 pleading for pre-emption; or defending, with eloquent tongue, the rights of the pioneer, and championing the cause of the red man against a government loaded with guilt, he will ever stand, in the history of Minnesota, as the man on whose shoul- ders, more than on the shoulders of all others, rests, as on a deep foundation stone, the proud edifice that now bears the name of the "State of Minnesota," and on whose brow glitters the ^'Star of the North" with a light not less effulgent than his own. CHAPTER VII. MB. SIBLEY'S POST-CONGRESSIONAL CAREER, 1853-1860. — HIS PRESENCE NEEDED IN THE TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE. — GIGANTIC SCHEMES OF ROBBERY. — ELECTED TO THE HOUSE. — CORRUPTION OF THE LEGISLA- TURE. — MINNESOTA & NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD COMPANY. — ENOR- MOUS CHARTER AND FRANCHISE. — GOVERNOR GORMAN'S PROTEST, THOUGH SIGNING THE BILL. — MR. SIBLEY'S FORESIGHT BEFORE LEAV- ING CONGRESS. — " PROVISO " TO THE MINNESOTA LAND BILL. — POPU- LAR INDIGNATION AGAINST THE SPECULATORS AND THE LEGISLA- TURE. — GRAND RAILROAD EXCURSION. — BOOM, JUNE, 1854. — MAG- NATES OF THE UNITED STATES IN ST. PAUL, CLERICAL AND LAY. — THE FEASTING AND DANCING. — SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 1854. — RAILROADS AND THE MILLENNIUM. — INVITATION BY ROBERT OWEN TO MEET IN LON- DON TABLED ON MOTION OF BIR. SIBLEY. — FRAUD IN THE NATIONAL CONGRESS IN RELATION TO THE MINNESOTA LAND BILL. — INVESTI- GATION. — GOVERNOR GORMAN'S FORMAL PROTEST. — VETO OF THE BILL. — LEGISLATURE DEFIES CONGRESS. — AMENDED BILL PASSED OVER THE governor's VETO. — BRIBERY. — DYNAMITE DOCUMENT PRE- PARED BY MR. SIBLEY, EXPOSING THE FRAUDS IN THE LEGISLATURE. — SENT TO CONGRESS. — OPINIONS OF EMINENT LAWYERS IN THE STATES. — POWER OF CONGRESS OVER THE TERRITORIES. — THE CHAR- TER ANNULLED BUT THE GRANT OF LAND SAVED. — POPULATION OP MINNESOTA IN 1857, 150,000 TO 200,000. — SEEKS ADMISSION AS A STATE. — ENABLING ACT. — CONVENTION TO FORM STATE CONSTITUTION. — INTENSE EXCITEMENT. — SLAVERY QUESTION. — KANSAS. — NATIONAL CONGRESS. — SCENES IN ST. PAUL. — STRUGGLE TO OBTAIN CONTROL OF THE CONVENTION. — TACTICS. — DIVISION. — TWO CONVENTIONS THE RE- SULT, REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC. — MR. SIBLEY PRESIDENT OF THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. — THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA IS THE ADOPTED REPORT OF A JOINT COMMITTEE OF CON- FERENCE. — RATIFIED BY CONGRESS. — MINNESOTA ADMITTED AS A STATE. — GRIEVOUS DELAY. — TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE EMBAR- RASSED. — MR. SIBLEY ELECTED THE FIRST GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA. — HIS INAUGURAL. — DENUNCIATION OF BASE CAL- UMNY. — JOHN SHERMAN OF OHIO. — THE GREAT PANIC OF 1857. — FINANCIAL RUIN TO MINNESOTA. — SALUTARY LESSON. — THE STATE RAILROAD BONDS. — CELEBRATED "FIVE MILLION LOAN" TO CERTAIN COMPANIES. — THE CONSTITUTION ALTERED. — THE PEOPLE INSANE. — HIS EXCELLENCY, GOVERNOR SIBLEY'S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE TO TIIK LKOIHLATURE. — THE HONOR AND CREDIT OF THE STATE TO BE PKf)TKCTEI). — GOVERNOR SIHLEY DECLINES TO ISSUE THE BONDS UN- LKSS tJl'ON CONDITION OF DEPOSIT OF FIRST MORTGAGE BONDS, AND HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 211 PRIORITY OF LIEN SPECIFIED. — REASONS ASSIGNED. — MANDAMUS GRANTED BY SUPREME COURT, JUDGE FLANDRAU DISSENTING. — BONDS ISSUED. — THE OPINION OF JUDGE FLANDRAU. — WARFARE UPON THE BONDS. — SHAMEFUL DISASTER. — DEFAULTING COMPANIES. — WRECK OF THE WHOLE RAILROAD SCHEME. — TARNISHED HONOR OF THE STATE, — THE REPUBLICAN PRESS. — GOVERNOR SIBLEY'S CONDUCT. — LAST ANNUAL MESSAGE, DECEMBER, 1859. — "PESTILENCE" BETTER THAN "repudiation." — GOVERNOR SIBLEY'S RELATION TO THE BONDS. — INFLUENCES WHICH MADE THE STATE REPUBLICAN. — OTHER INTER- ESTS THAN THOSE OF RAILROADS. — DEVOTION OF GOVERNOR SIBLEY TO THE INTERESTS AND HONOR OF THE STATE. — HIS CHARACTER AND ADMINISTRATION A MODEL FOR HIS SUCCESSORS. PHENOMENAL CONDITION OF THE WORLD IN 1860-1862. — SIGNS OF THE TIMES. — SPIRIT OF FREEDOM REVOLUTIONIZING STATES, EMPIRES AND CONSTITUTIONS. — FINAL ANTAGONISM OF SLAVERY AND LIB- ERTY COME. — OMENS. — CIVILIZATION OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY CHANGING FRONT. — FREE DISCUSSION. — GOVERNMENTS SIFTED. — "man as MAN." — FOUR POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES. — THEIR CREEDS. — STRIFE BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH. — STATE SOVEREIGNTY. — EX-GOVERNOR SIBLEY'S ATTITUDE. — THE CELEBRATED CHARLESTON CONVENTION, APRIL 23, 1860. — CONDUCT OF EX-GOV- ERNOR SIBLEY. — FAITHFUL TO DOUGLAS, THE FRIEND OF MINNE- SOTA. — MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON CREDENTIALS. — CONFLICT. — SOUTHERN ULTIMATUM. — SECESSION. — BALTIMORE. — EX- GOVERNOR SIBLEY'S LOYALTY TO THE FLAG. The period of Mr. Sibley's civil and political career, next following his retirement from Congress, and extending to the close of his administration as governor of the State of Min- nesota, — that is, from March 4, 1853, to January 1, 1860, a period of seven years, — was crowded with scenes and events not less important to the territory than those of the period preceding. Eeturning to his home at Mendota, he at once gave his attention to his private affairs, and began the work of closing his business relations to the American Fur Com- pany of which he was still the head. The condition of things in the territory, however, was such that the need of his presence in the legislature was universally felt. As might be expected, in the almost incredibly rapid development of the country, gigantic schemes of robbery were on foot, plans to plunder the domain of the pioneer, and to the success of which the legislature itself was sought to be subsidized, and who, but a tried and trusted leader, could thwart them ■? Induced by his friends, he once more allowed his name to go before the people, and at the election, October, 1854, was returned from Dakota county as a member of the 212 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Sixth Territorial Legislature. This testimonial of high regard was as deserved as it was opportune. The hearty election of Mr. Sibley was only an additional mark of public esteem, and all the more pleasing, because it occurred amid new political combinations, the conflicting attitude of what were known as the "Fur and Anti-Fur Companies," the corruption of the leg- islature by the influence of Eastern railroad capitalists, the increasing agitation of the negro question, the steps toward the formation of the Eepublican party, the ambition of men for honors in the territory, and the schemes of men to secure a seat in the National Congress; — a condition of things that divided friends who before stood firm and united. The times were full of enterprise, and daring unmatched in the previous history and legislation of the territory. The fifth session of the legislature met, January 4, 1854, in the new capitol building, and, next to dead of night following the last day of the session, March 4, 1854, passed an act incorporat- ing the ^^ Minnesota & Northwestern Railroad Company,^ ^ with powers and franchises of Titanic magnitude. The charter gave to the company, at whose head stood the notorious firm of the Messrs. Schuyler of New York, a title to all the lands that had been, or ever after might be, donated by Congress to Min- nesota for railway construction; a title, in fee simple, forever, to a body of stockholders, almost all of whom were non-residents of the territory. The excitement was intense. Inch by inch, the bill had been battled, throughout the whole session, by a brave minority, and was passed "an hour and ten minutes be- fore the time fixed by law for adjournment," and sent to the governor, who, contrary to expectation, signed it, without ex- amining its details, yet under protest, saying, ^' Heave the whole responsihiUly upon those ivho passed it^ ^ It was petroleum upon the population, and the Lucifer match that touched it was the fact that along side the names of the Schuylers, Ketchum, etc. , were placed, as fellow stockholders, the names of Gorman and Kosser, the governor and secretary of the territory, without their knowledge. The railroad charter became a political is- sue, and ordinary corporations, less rich than Croesus, stood aghast with amazement, like Egyjjtiau enchanters of old, when seeing their own serpents devoured by a serpent larger than all the rest. This cliarter, l)y the legislature of Minnesota, passed March 4, 1854, was intended, by the corporators, to ^^antici- 1 Council Journal, 1H54, p. 301. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 213 jpote" the passage of two bills then pending in Congress, grant- ing to Minnesota the largest donation ever made to any terri- tory, viz., no less than 852,480 acres. To get this magnificent slice of the public domain as their own, and forever, was the purpose of the Minnesota & Northwestern, and the explanation of the '^peculiar pressure" brought to bear upon the legisla- ture. But, " in vain is the net spread in the eyes of any bird." Mr. Sibley, ever watchful of the rights of the people of the territory, and the rights of the United States, as well as jealous of Eastern capitalists, and of their designs upon the young territory, — and aided by Governor Gorman, — quietly efiected a flank march, and secured, when the Minnesota land bill was passed in the house, in Congress, June 20, 1854, the addition of the following proviso, viz., "The lands so granted to said territory shall be subject to the disposal of any future legisla- ture, for the purposes aforesaid, and for no other; nor shall they inure to the benefit of any company heretofore constituted or organized;" — thus placing the grant under the control of a future legislature of the territory or state, and expressly ex- cluding all corporations heretofore, or already, chartered by the legislature. It is both interesting and important to digress here but a moment. The indignation of the people of the territory was arrested for a short time by a scene the like of which occurs but once in the same generation, perhaps but once in a cen- tury. The completion of the Chicago & Rock Island railroad was made illustrious by a "grand railroad excursion," as a fitting memorial of the opening of the line. A thousand per- sons of eminent profession and high standing, from all parts of the United States, were invited to "boom" the Northwest, and making Chicago their rendezvous, excurse westward, along the new line, to Rock Island, where five large steamers — "as far excelling in splendor the barges of the luxurious Cleopatra as did those the birchen canoe of the Ojibwa"^ — stood ready to bear them onward to the city named in honor of the "Great Apostle of the Gentiles." The rolling fumes from the smokestacks of the steamers that plowed the waters, breast abreast, combining and soaring high in the air, doubt- less reminded more than one entranced imagination of the cloudy pillar that guided the children of Israel as they passed through the desert. St. Paul was reached June 8, 1854, — 1 Words of Dr. Neill. 214 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF three weeks before the Minnesota land bill was passed by the house, in Congress, — the happy corj)orators, under the charter given by the legislature, blissfully ignorant of the whereabouts of Mr. Sibley, and the "proviso" to be added to the bill. All were hilarious. Among the Eastern Magi, — doctors, divines, and devotees of science, — who, guided by the ^^ Star of the North,'''' came to see where young Minnesota lay, were ex-Presi- dent Fillmore, George Bancroft, Drs. Gardiner Spring, Ver- milye, and Bacon, Professors E. D. Robinson, and Henry B. Smith, with Professors Gibbs, Larned, Silliman, Parker, and others, from ISTew York, Boston, Yale, Harvard, and various theological and academical institutions in different parts of the land; coruscant men on the scroll of fame. Minnehaha and St. Anthony's falls "done up," the happy exjjlorers abutted in the hall of the house of representatives in the new capitol building, and discussed a magnificent supper where, but three months before, the enormous charter was born. Beneath the splendor of lights, eating, orating, and drinking (water), and next, in the chamber where Justice is said to hold her scales, amid music and dancing, the guests pursued their pleasure, till raven midnight bore them off to their steamers, ready to start and return. The exhilaration was great. The following Sunday, June 13, 1854, the Rev. E. D. Neill, an active and eminent divine of St. Paul, carried away by the glow of the times, preached a sermon ' ' On Railroads, and Other Modes of International Communication" from the words in Isaiah, 40:3, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness! Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Make straight in the desert a highway for our God! Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill be made low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord be revealed, and all flesh see it together." ^ He enforced the great truth that, doubtless, the vision Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw concern- ing Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Ahaz and Hezekiah, extended beyond the Holy Land, the Mediterranean, and Pil- lars of Hercules, and that, not only "the Chicago & Rock Island," but "the Minnesota & Northwestern Railroad," as well, with its great charter, and its eye on the land bill, entered within the range of the prophet's perspective. Curi- ous enough, the great socialist, Robert Owen, about the same 1 See Neill's History of Miiiiic:si)l;i for u full account, pp. 595-007, Fourth Kdition. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 215 time, seems to have caught up the current "opinion" that the millennium comes by gradual progress through human means, and, minus the Christianity, sent a document, dated Novem- ber 4, 1854, to the legislature that made the great charter, entitled " The Permanent Happy Existence of the Human Race, or the Commencement of the Millennium in 1855," a document inviting "all governments, religions, classes, sects, and par- ties, in all countries," to meet in St. Martin's Hall, London, Monday, January 1, 1855, and also to the "Great Trades Meeting of Universal Delegates," May 14, 1855, to introduce millennial glory ^^ without revolution, or violence, or injury to anyone,^ ^ but ^'ivith peace, order, wise foresight, and lasting bene- fit to all!^^^ It is hardly necessary to say that when the paper was read in the house of the legislative assembly, Mr. Sibley, having some doubts as to the railroad method of preparing the way of the Lord, moved that the document be laid upon the table, which office was lovingly done, and where, ever since, it has taken its rest in slumber secure and undisturbed. To return from this digression. June 20, 1854, the house of representatives at Washington passed the Minnesota land bill, with the proviso alluded to. After the bill had gone to the senate, the discovery was made that, by some means or other, serious alterations had occurred. The text of the bill had been tampered with. In the effort to make straight a highway for God, the official records of Congress had been made crooked. The sanctity of the national legislation had been profaned in the march to millennial glory. The word "future" had been stricken out, and the word "or" displaced to make room for the word "and." And thus, the bill — now reading "heretofore constituted and organized" — went to the senate. By the sixteenth section of the bill the charter be- came void, unless, by July 1, 1854, the company was organ- ized with a full board of directors. The alteration of "or" into "and" was made on the twenty-eighth. The senate passed the altered bill on the twenty-ninth. July 1st was at hand, and to organize prior to the passage of the bill was to lose all. To organize after that event, and before July 1st, was a "hot-haste" affair, a matter of one day's notice ! And it was done, the perplexity still remaining that, even though organized after the bill was passed, yet they were constituted 1 See House Journal, Minnesota Territory, 1855, p. 134. 216 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF before it was passed ! In this way, however, the Minnesota & Northwestern Railroad sought to evade the proviso wliich subjected the lands to future legislation, and excluded all companies, whether "constituted or organized heretofore," from the benefit of the same. The company expected to hold the lands under the bill, as altered, pleading that, though constituted, yet they were not organized, prior to the passage of the bill. Thus they hoped to escape the excluding terms of the act their art had spoliated, and possess, in fee, for them- selves, 852,480 acres of the public domain, with as much more as hereafter the liberality of Congress might grant to the Ter- ritory of Minnesota. Fraud suspected, the house of representatives, July 24th, appointed a committee of five to investigate, and report to the house. The committee reported, and, amid great excitement, the original language of the bill was restored. This being regarded as insufiBcient, for rebuke. Congress, by joint resolu- tion, August 4, 1854, formally "repealed" the whole grant, and "annulled" the charter. The entire country was agitated over the disclosures made. As already stated, the Hon. Mr. Sibley was, at such a time, elected to the ensuing legislature of the territory, to resist the re-enactment of the charter by men in the legislature defying the National Congress. Enough were elected to make sure this desired result, had some not dishonored the pledges they had given to the people. January 3, 1855, the Sixth Legislature met, and, in execu- tive session, received the governor's annual message, express- ing therein his strongest protest against the charter of the Minnesota & Northwestern Railroad. "We look," said he, "with jealousy upon the encroachments of capital upon the rights and privileges of the people. In a new country, we will have to keep eternal vigilance, or this powerful adversary to the people's lights will lay hold of, and bind, the infant arms of this young territory, until it move the body at will. The money Icing of our country has already more than a just share of influence among all the affairs of men, and, like the great waters of the Mississippi, bears off on its tide every impedi- ment to its i)rogress, and sinks it to the bottom." In spite of a hand-to-hand struggle, Mr. Sibley, and a faithful few at his side, battling inch by inch against it, an act supple- mentary to amend the act incorporating the Minnesota & HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 217 Northwestern Eailroad, was passed January 30, 1855, by a strictly two-thirds vote, to the disappointment and indigna- tion of the people of the territory. Men, sent to the legisla- ture and solemnly pledged to vote against the charter, be- trayed their trust in the trying hour. The same influence that procured the fraud upon the records of Congress, pro- cured the defection in the legislature. February 1, 1855, the governor '' vetoed" the amended and re-enacted charter. February 12th, the day the veto was laid on the table. Gov- ernor Gorman wrote to the Hon. Mr. Cutting in Congress, com- mending what Congress had done, yet asking that Congress might save the land grant to the pioneers of Minnesota, who ought not to suffer for crimes of which others were guilty. February 14th, Mr. Sibley's motion to take from the table the bill, the veto, and the message, was defeated. February 15th, resolutions of defiance to Congress were introduced into the house, assailing the proviso in the organic act of March 3, 1849, whereby Congress reserved to itself the right to disapprove territorial legislation, and praying for the repeal of the same. February 16th, Mr Davis' motion to take up the bill, veto, and message, was again defeated, like Sibley's, by a two- thirds vote. Then, February 17, 1855, Saturday, 3 P. m., the amended and re-enacted charter was passed by the same two- thirds once more, and, the senate concurring, the offensive measure became a law, the pledges made to the people and the governor's objections to the contrary notwithstanding. This day was memorable for the preparation and trans- mission to Congress of a document drawn by the Hon. Mr. Sibley in behalf of himself, the brave minority of one-third, and the people of Minnesota; a document the parallel to which for fearless and burning exposure of perfidy and wrong, is perhaps unknown in the annals of any territory or state. A Damascus blade, like the sword of Saladin, it cleaves, at a stroke, the adversary's head. It is the photo- graph of a man, who, in an adverse hour, when crime is vic- torious, and betrayal is prosperous, knows how both to speak and to act. It shows us a man supported by the conscious- ness of rectitude, the courage of conviction, the panoply of fact, the armor of right, in short all the moralities that go to make up a man unaccustomed to yield to numbers or to wrong, much less to treason and lies. Beyond all question, it is his own production. It has in it the tone and the tread of 218 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF a lash-bearing Ajax. Its "Whereases" and "Resolved" are the language of one whom money could not seduce, nor threats intimidate, nor bribery approach. It courts no smiles, fears no frowns, and shuns no responsibility. It speaks the truth, shames the devil, and dares contradiction. Reciting the baseness of those who had broken the trust confided to their care, it asks that crimes against the people's rights may not deprive them of the same, but that the congressional grant may yet be preserved to them, while the re-enacted charter may be annulled once more, and all connection of the cor- porators with the grant be forever terminated. The " memo- rial" is as follows, and speaks for itself. MEMORIAL OF THE MINORITY OF MEMBERS OF THE MINNESOTA LEGIS- LATURE. To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Bepresentatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled: The Memorial of the undersigned members of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Minnesota, respectfully represents: That Whereas, At the last session of the Legislative Assembly, a charter was granted to certain corporators therein named, most of whom were non- residents of this Territory, under the name and style of "The Minnesota and North Western Railroad Company," which charter contained franchises and privileges of so unprecedented a character as to excite the indignation of the people, who repudiated its provisions by the election of members of the present Assembly, who were pledged against said Act of incorporation, and in favor of a memorial to your Honorable Body to disapprove and annul it; And Whereas, Among those thus openly and publicly pledged, were the five members of the House from the Saint Paul District, three of whom have since, as your memorialists firmly believe, through the influence of corrupt means used by the said Company, or its agents, been induced to disregard the solemn obligations incurred by them previous to the election, and to cast tlieir votes in favor of a re-enactment of the obnoxious charter, with amendments, thereby giving to the friends of said charter sufficient force to override the Executive veto, by a bare two-third majority; And Whereas, By the two-third vote thus obtained, the House of Repre- sentatives of Minnesota has this day passed an Act supplementary to the Act amendatory of the charter of said Company, without giving it the usual routine of legislation, by suspending all rules, and passing it through to a third reading witliin fifteen minutes after its first introduction into that body, and without allowing it to l)e printed, thus giving to the opponents of said bill no o]>j)ortunity of examining its provisions; And Whereas, The wliole course of the Company so incorporated has been charJbterized by fraud — ]jy forgery, in the alteration of important HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 219 words iu the Congressional Act granting land to Minnesota for railroad pur- poses — and by the use of base and demoralizing means to procure the re-en- actment of a charter which your Honorable House of Representatives has previously, without a dissenting voice, disapproved and annulled. And Whereas, For a further proof of the bad faith and evil designs of the aforesaid Company, your memorialists would respectfully refer your honor- able body to the message of the President of the United States, with the accompanying documents from the Attorney General of the United States, laid before the House of Representatives at its present session, touching a certain suit commenced in the name of the United States, against the said Minnesota and North Western Railroad Company, with reference to which no comment is necessary on the part of your memorialists; And Whereas, The majority of both houses of this Legislative Assembly have passed resolutions offensive in their terms to your honorable body, and defiant of its authority, not only without the assent or sanction of a majority of the citizens of this Territory, but, as your memorialists sincerely believe, iu opposition to the wishes of a large majority thereof; And Whereas, We regard the said incorporated Company as having brought upon Minnesota undeserved shame and disgrace by connecting her name with a fraudulent alteration of your records, for which neither she nor any considerable number of her citizens should be held responsible; And Whereas, We are convinced that the sole object of said Company is to gain possession of the land granted by your honorable body for railroad purposes, by any means, however unscrupulous, and without any design to act in good faith towards the Territory or general government: — Therefore, Your memorialists, comprising three out of nine members of the Council, and six out of eighteen members of the House, respectfully pray that your honorable body will, as soon as practicable, dissolve all con- nection between this Territory and the Minnesota North- Western Railroad Company, by disapproving and annulling the charter so re-enacted as above set forth, with all the amendments thereto; and that your honorable body will not hold Minnesota responsible for the refractory and disrespectful acts of a majority of its present Legislative Assembly, but will take such a course as will secure to the people thereof the benefit of the grant of land made by your honorable body to the Territory, by act of 29th June last, and repealed on the 4th August following. S. B. OLMSTEAD, PresH, ) I. VAN ETTEN, [ MemUrs of the Council. NORMAN W. KITTSON, j J. S. NORRIS, Speaker, ) Me^nhers of the House \^^^^^^^ ^- C^^^' H. H. SIBLEY, I ^^'"^^^"-^ '7,"""*^^ JAMES BEATTY, F. ANDROS, j °J representatives. [^jllIAM A. DAVIS. St. Paul, February 17, 1855. This memorial, signed by the minority, reached Congress in time, and, with other influences at work, saved to Minne- sota the land grant, and sundered all ties between it and the Minnesota & Northwestern Eailroad. The original lan- guage of the bill was restored, and the refusal of the senate, 220 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF August 27, 1855, to concur with the house, secured the grant. "Whether Congress has the right to repeal a grant, or annul a territorial charter, became now a point of secondary impor- tance. The company obtained from four distinguished law- yers, Hon. E. W. Walworth, G. C. Bronson, Wm. Curtis Noyes, and John M. Barbour, the ''opinion," September 1, 1854, that a legislature can give a title, prospectively, to what it does not possess, that neither Congress nor the legislature can repeal a charter once granted, and that the company's title to the lands was good. ^ An inspection of the ''opinion," 1 Opinion of Hon. R. H. Walworth, G. C. Bronson, Win. Curtis Noyes, and J. M. Bar- bour, on the power of Congress to repeal, etc., etc. St. Paul, 1854. [Note. — The four following questions were submitted to these gentle- men, to-wit. : ' ' First — Did the Territory of Minnesota, under, or by virtue of the first mentioned act of Congress, take any, and if so, what, right or interest in the lands granted by Congress to the said territory, or any right whatever ? ^'Second — Did the Minnesota & Northwestern Railroad Company take any, and if so, what, rights or interests, under their act of incorporation, the first mentioned act of Congress, and the organization of the company? " Third — Does the repealing act passed by Congress impair or in any way legally aftect the rights and interests of the railroad company, and if, so, to what extent ? ' ' Fourth — Can the Territory of Minnesota, without the assent of the company, divest such company of, or impair, the franchises, rights, and privileges conferred upon it by the acts referred to, or which it has acquired, by virtue of the proceedings above mentioned ? "Very Respectfully Yours, " Robert W, Lowber, " Vice President M. & N. W. R. B. Co." The several answers to these questions were in substance, as follows: ^^ First — Our answer to the first question, is that by the act of Congress referred to, the Territory of Minnesota became and was, the moment such act was passed, vested, first, with a franchise which empowered the territory to build its railroad upon the lands of the United States, and to operate the same; neither of which could have been done by the territory without the assent of the general government, and also of an easement, or right of way, in such lands for the purposes of a railroad; and secondly, an interest and property in the sections of land conditionlly granted, which entitled the territory, upon constructing the road, or causing it to be constructed in sections, as contemplated by the act, to the fee of the land, without any further action on the ])art of Congress. '^Second — The rule of the common law that grants of property of which the title is not in the grantor when the grant is made, are void, is not appli- cable to this case; for here, the legislature of Minnesota, the supreme law- making power itself, l)y making such grant, and declaring that the same shall have full I'nn-c, ho as to vest the fee simple, absolutely, in the com- HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 221 pany, without any further act or deed, abrogates and annuls tliis rule of the common law, by the paramount power and authority of the statute. The government of the territory could make a valid contract by a legislative act to give land, subsequently to be acquired, to an individual, so as to give him a vested interest therein the moment the territory obtained its inter- est. "The grant from the territory, therefore, was valid, and conveyed to the railroad company a beneficial interest in all the lands subsequently granted by Congress to such territory for the purposes of the road, which beneficial interest became vested in the company immediately upon the passage of the act of Congress and the organization of the company, without the necessity of any further act or deed (section 8), although the company may, if they shall desire to do so, require the governor to execute his deed by way of fur- ther assurance. ' ' Third — We think the subsequent repealing act passed by Congress does not affect the rights and interests of the territory, or of the railroad com- pany, which had become vested under the act of Congress of the twenty- ninth of June, 1854. " 1. It is a principle of the common law that a grant of land or of a franchise, or other property, once made by a legislative body cannot be repealed by the granting power. The law upon this subject is thus laid down by Justice Story: 'Every grant of a franchise is necessarily exclu- sive, so far as the grant extends, and cannot he resumed nor interfered with. The legislature cannot recall its grant nor destroy it. In this respect^ the grant of a franchise does not differ from a grant of lands. In each case, the particular franchise or particular land, is withdrawn from legislative operation. The sub- ject matter has passed from the hands of the government. ' "2. The grant made by Congress to the Territory of Minnesota was, first, a grant of the right to construct the railroad on the lands of the United States, being a grant of a franchise as well as an easement in the lands them- selves ; and, secondly, a grant of the fee, although conditional of the particu- lar sections of land designated in the act. '^Fourth — We are of the opinion that the legislature of Minnesota has no power to divest the railroad company of its rights, or in any way to im- pair the same. "1. By the common law, as we have endeavored to show, the govern- ment cannot, of itself, resume or annul its grant, in whole or in part. ' ' 2. The legislature of Minnesota possesses no powers except those which have been conferred upon it by the act creating it. Now, clearly, Congress could not confer any legislative power which it did not itself possess under the Constitution. Nor has it attempted to do so in this case, but, on the con- trary, the sixth section of the act organizing the territory, declares that 'the legislative power shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation, consistent with the Constitution of the United States, and the provisions of this act.' (9 Stat, at Large, 405.) "Reuben H. Walworth, " Wm. Curtis Noyes, "John M. Barbour." New York, September 1, 1854.] 222 ANCESTEY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF however, shows that the comj)any put into the hands of these legal gentlemen the altered text of the Minnesota land bill, not stating that the bill passed by the senate was not the bill passed by the house, and that, both before the fraud and after it, the company was excluded, by the proviso, from any interest in said lands. It may be true that the company was technically organized after the bill was passed, but it was none the less true that it was essentially constituted before that passage. Able lawyers in Congress held that, to argue, in this case, the distinction between the terms constituted and organized, was an empty plea. It may be true that a territorial statute can annul the rule of common law, and a grantor convey, or give in fee, what he does not own. All this was irrelevant. Mr. Sibley's position, viz., the right reserved to Congress by the organic act, March 3, 1849, establishing the territory, the right to disapprove and disaffirm territorial legislation, was impreg- nable and unassailable, so long as that organic act had not been decided unconstitutional. Nor could the right of Con- gress to protect its official record and its legislation from fraud be denied. It remains only to add here, that February 19, 1855, the same two-thirds of the legislature of Minnesota, as before, voted down a resolution, offered in the house, to in- vestigate the charge "openly made in the streets, and almost universally accredited as true," that members of the legisla- ture had been "bribed and corrupted." ^ Such was the celebrated legislature of 1855, and such were Mr. Sibley's relations to it. Such, also, was his service to the people of the territory. Neither the cunning, nor art, em- ployed in Congress or in the legislature availed to evade, or destroy, the proviso whose insertion in the Minnesota laud bill his foresight secured before it was passed. The years 1857-1858 evoked new scenes and events in which Mr. Sibley again appears as a presiding genius, stand- ing firm amid storms, as before, bringing order from chaos and light out of darkness. The time had come for Minnesota to seek entrance into the sisterhood of states. The popula- tion was between 150,000 and 200,000. Great quantities of land had been settled upon; counties had multiplied; villages, towns, and cities had sprung up; schools had been planted, roads completed, business established, and printing presses iucrc.awed. Immigration i)ourc(l in like a spreading stream; 1 Houso Journal, Mondiiy, February 19,1855. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 223 rich harvests, though limited, rewarded the laborer's toil; commerce and trade advanced, and everything seemed to swim in a sea of unwonted and uuinterrupted prosperity. It was the beginning of 1857, a year never to be forgotten, and but three years before the breaking out of our Civil War. Feb- ruary 23, 1857, Congress passed an "Enabling Act," author- izing the people of the territory to meet in convention, at St. Paul, and form for themselves a state constitution. March 5th it enacted another magnificent grant of land, 4,500,000 acres, to aid the territory in railway construction. May 22d a special session of the legislature passed over to the hands of four chartered but impecunious railroad companies, to-wit, (1) the Minnesota & Pacific, (2) the Minneapolis & Cedar Valley, (3) the Transit, (4) the Southern Minnesota, all the lands donated by Congress, and ordered an election to be held June 8th for the choice of delegates to a convention to form a state consti- tution, July 13th, at the capitol of the state. The delegates met in St. Paul, and the feeling ran high. The Democratic party had existed in the territory since 1850, the Eepublican since 1854. The war-cloud was gathering, Kansas was bleed- ing, churches and platforms were thundering. On the great slavery question of the hour, Choate was answering Sumner, and Ehett was replying to Douglas. The mightiest men of the nation were in action. In Minnesota the struggle was to see now, under what escort, and with what constitution, Minnesota should enter the Union. Republican speakers, imported from different states, stumped the territory every- where. Each party suspected the other, each watched the other, each accused the other, and each, threatening the other, was resolved to secure for itself the organization of the consti- tutional convention. The " Enabling Act" being silent as to the hour the convention should assemble, the Republican dele- gates took possession of the hall of the house of representatives at 12 midnight of Sunday, ostensibly to "watch and pray for our Democratic brethren," but, really and truly, to "prevent the Democrats" from performing that same kind office for their "Republican brethren." The devotion was sleepless; eyes were sharp; ears were acute. Both parties were in caucus. An agreement was reached between 7 and 9 a. m., Monday, that the convention should not be organized till 12 noon of that day, viz., July 13, 1857. The Republicans still holding the hall, and the Democrats entering in a body, at seventeen 224 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF minutes before twelve o'clock, the secretary of the territory, and, at that time, acting governor of the territory, and a dele- gate also to the convention, the Hon. Mr. Chase, the officer to whom by law the certificates of election were sent, ascended the speaker's desk and called the convention to order. A motion, coming from some one of the delegates, was made " to adjourn till to-morrow at 12 noon." Immediately Mr. J. W. North took the platform and moved to organize the conven- tion. The secretary of the territory put the motion first made to the convention, and declared it carried, whereupon the Democrats retired from the hall. The Republicans re- maining in the hall, proceeded to business and organized for themselves, electing T. J. Galbraith, Esq., as chairman pro tern., and afterward, Ste. A. D. Balcomb as their permanent president. The Democrats, finding, next day, their Republi- can friends organized and in possession of the hall, at 12 noon adjourned to the council chamber of the capitol, electing, "by acclamation," the Hon. H. H. Sibley as their temporary chairman, and afterward, also, as the president of their perma- nent organization. Each branch sat separate throughout the whole period of their labors, from July 13 to August 29, 1857. Each formed a state constitution. Each claimed to have a majority of legally elected delegates. Each styled itself ^^ The Constitutional Convention." The Republicans affirmed the right of anyone, bearing a certificate of election signed by the proi^er officer, to call the convention "to order," and " make a motion," apart from any canvass of the credentials themselves, as to whether they were spurious or genuine. The Democrats as strongly affirmed, not only the right, but the propriety, of the secretary of the territory, acting gov- ernor, and certified delegate as well, to do the same. The one, inconsistently enough, denied the territorial secretary's right to put a motion to adjourn, or even to call the convention to order. It was argued there was "no convention to be ad- journed," because "no organization." Besides, it was "fed- eral interference," which must be "resisted." The other de- nied the right of a delegate to "mount the rostrum," and, acting the double role of speaker in the chair, and member on the floor, himself inake to himself amotion, while another was pending, then i)ut it to the house, as if coming from the house. And 80 the parties stood, poles asunder. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 225 It would seem, plainly, that the Eepublican organization was incompetent, and that over which Mr. Sibley presided was the only valid one. A jmnctuvi saliens must be found somewhere. A majority present, some one must rise to his feet. Accepting the Republican principle that the mere pos- session of a certificate, apart from all canvass of credentials, is prima facie evidence of legal election and title to a seat in convention, it is clear that some one must call to order, and some one must move either to adjourn till others arrive, or to elect a temporary chairman. That all motions are unparlia- mentary, unless after prior organization, is a self-evident absurdity, making organization itself impossible. The prima facie right to call to order, or make a motion of any kind, is grounded alone in the possession of a certificate of election, and is inherent in the delegates themselves. It is antecedent to all constitutions and all conventions. The right to move to elect a chairman involves the right to move to adjourn, for a motion to adjourn takes precedence of all other motions. Where co-existing motions are made, the one made first, or the one made farthest from the chair, is entitled to prior rec- ognition and precedent action. N"or will a motion be allowed to be entertained during the pendency of another, properly made, and in possession of the house. Least of all will a speaker or chairman be allowed to make his own motion and then put it to the house. Such action is indecorous, out of order, revolutionary, and unparliamentary. Parliamentary rules are a system of logic, implying always their postulates and necessary presuppositions. Party spirit may blind men's minds to their true understanding, and preconcert and pro- gram falsely construe them, but there is a ''boomerang ethics" in their breast that reacts and avenges their outrage, and makes /eZo de se of every attempt to insult them or set them aside. The sequel shows this. Nor could the Republicans fail to have known what was legal in the case. The scenes at the national capitol, where members elect had met, adjourned, re-met, and adjourned again, and failed, for ten, thirty, and forty days, to choose a Republican speaker of the house, till the senate grew weary, and went on to business alone, were too familiar to allow, for one moment, the position of the Democrats to be seriously questioned. To the Democrats be- longed the constitutional organization, and over this assembly Mr. Sibley presided. Had even two-thirds of the delegates 226 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF remained after the adjournment to 12 noon next day was car- ried, — no one calling "Division" and no one demanding a "count,'' — their organization had nevertheless been null and void. A full and interesting account of the proceedings of each convention is published in two separate volumes, one for the Democrats, ^ one for the Republicans. ^ From both it apj)ears that, weeks elapsing, and better counsels prevailing, a "Com- mittee of Conference and Compromise" was appointed from both to meet and devise some method whereby, instead of two separate constitutions, one constitution might be agreed upon and submitted to the people, in the hope of securing its ratifi- cation, its approval by Congress, and the speedy admission of Minnesota as a state into the Federal Union, The proposal for a conference came from the Republican side, and was met from the Democratic side in a conciliatory spirit. The Committee of Conference successfully completed their labors, and the same constitution adopted in duplicate, and signed and attest- ed separately, by the president and secretary of each conven- tion, and subscribed by the delegates of each, as ^^ Done in convention, this twenty-ninth day of August, 1857, and of the Inde- pendence of the United States the eighty second year; In witness whereof, etc., etc.,^^ was submitted to the people of the terri- tory, and by the same unanimously ratified, October 13, 1857. A careful comparison of the two constitutions, framed by the separate branches of the convention, establishes the fact that the one constitution of the State of Minnesota, which is the adopted report of the Committee of Conference, ratified by the people, and sanctioned by Congress, is, with a few excep- tions, the substantial instrument formulated by the Democratic V)ranch of the delegates to the convention. This organic foun- dation was boi-ne, in due time, by the senators elect, to the Congress of the United States. January 29, 1858, Mr. Doug- las introduced a bill into the senate for the admission of Min- nesota as a state upon the ])asis of this adopted and rati- fied document. After much debate and unjustifiable delay, it passed the senate April 7, 1858, three votes dissenting, and shortly after, by a vote of 158 to 38, the house concurred with the senate. Tlie president, May 11, 1858, approved the act, 1 The Debates and rrocL'cdiiitiS of tlie Minnesota fonslitiitional Convciilion, lH57,i>. G85. 2 Debates and Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention for the Territory of Minne- sota, 1808, p. 619. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 227 and thus, nine years after her organization as a territory, Minnesota stood on her feet as one of the equal sisters of the thirty-one independent states of the great American Union. Her escort into the Union was l)oth political parties, her ban- ner the formal production of both, but the essential produc- tion of one. Another star shone refulgent in the deep blue of the national flag. It is one of the j)leasing and undesigned coincidences, worth notice in history, that the day when the Eepublicans proposed the Committee of Conference to " unite on a single constitution" was the day, August 8, 1857, when they adopted, as a motto for the seal of the state, the words '■^ Liberty and Union! '^ and the hour, 12 noon of day, and not 12 noon of night, when they captured the hall ' ' to watch and pray for our Democratic brethren ! ' ' While the admission of Minnesota into the Union was an occasion of great joy and congratulation, the delay attending the same was a just ground of complaint. The enabling act pledged to the territory a speedy admission upon compliance with the conditions specified, all of which the territory had promptly fulfilled. Notwithstanding this, Minnesota was kept waiting for months at the door of Congress, without one valid reason to support the delay, the foot-ball of partisans and demagogues of the time. Her state officers had all been elected, her state legislature convened, and yet, through default of Congress, her public and private credit was injuriously affect- ed, immigration checked, and her whole government para- lyzed. The executive officers could not qualify, the govern- ment elect could not act, the legislature could make no laws. Nothing could be done until after her admission into the Union, Such unmerited repulsion aroused the ire of the peo- ple, and the legislature, May 1, 1858, amended the constitution, empowering the officers to qualify at once, without further obeisance to Congress. It raised serious questions. How long may Congress allow politicians to tamper with the just claims of territories and trifle with the pledges of the national gov- ernment"? By what right may Congress exercise government, one hour, in a territory which, having promptly complied with every requirement imposed by Congress, and asked for admission, is yet kept, to her injury, in the attitude of a men- dicant, for months at the door of the capitol, without shadow of justification for such treatment? It was but natural and necessary that the governor elect, in his first annual message, 228 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OP should advert to an injustice so great, and mete out to its per- petrators a deserved rebuke. ''For the first time," said Gov- ernor Sibley, "in our political history, a state, against whose admission not a single valid objection could be urged, has been kept out of the Union for many months; not because of any fault of her own, but simply because it subserved the purposes of congressional politicians to allow her to remain suspended, for an indefinite period, like the fabled coffin of the False Prophet, between the heaven and the earth." ^ In fitting terms, the rod of rebuke is applied, not only to such men as, for party reasons, would exclude Minnesota "till the Kansas question is settled," but who, like John Sherman of Ohio, falsely accused the governor elect, by name, with a share in election frauds, the ground of the slander being no other than the unscrupulous lies of partisan prints. "I owe it," said the governor, "no less to the character of the state than to my own personal honor, to denounce it as basely calumnious and without shadow of foundation. I invite the strictest judicial investigation, for, if not legally elected governor, I would scorn to fill that station for a single hour." 2 The investigation was wholly unnecessary. The baseness of Sherman's libel upon Mr. Sibley and the senators elect from Minnesota, "o'erleaped itsel' and fell on t'other side." The senators were allowed to take their seats, notwithstanding the opposition of some extreme Southern men, and ten days after the legislature resolved to qualify the executive officers, Congress or no Con- gress, Minnesota was admitted to the Union. None familiar with the history of the territory could have doubted for a moment, upon whom, first of all, the title "His Excellency, the Governor of the State of Minnesota" would fall. The election for state officers, held October 13, 1857, when the constitution was ratified, revealed the fact that the Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley was the popular choice. The contest between himself and the Hon. Alexander Ramsey, ex- governor of the territory, a gentleman of high standing and influence, was close and sharp, but the victory clear and conclusive. The ballot had lifted Mr. Sibley to the eminent ])OHitioii of the first chief executive officer of the new-born State of Minnesota, t\\ei first Democratic governor, and the only Democratic governor the state has ever possessed. 1 Senate Journal, \KA, \t. 373. 2 Ibid,, p. 374. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 229 The epoch when Mr. Sibley came into power as the gov- ernor of Minnesota, the year 1857, was a memorable one, and is chronicled as a year of the greatest financial disaster ever known to the nation. The penalty for reckless extravagance and daring adventure was now to be paid. The rapid devel- opment of the country, the promise of boundless expansion and wealth, the influx of foreign immigration, the unbridled career of speculation, the illegitimate extension of business, the enormous inflation of the banking system by paper money, and vast railroad enterprises, produced a crisis of unprecedent- ed pressure, a foretaste of that " shaking of heaven, earth, sea, dry laud, " and " the nations, ' ' jjortending universal dissolution. It was a righteous Nemesis. The entire fabric of commerce and trade was shattered to its foandation. Public credit was wrecked. The grandest fortunes perished in a moment. Men living in luxury were impoverished for life, and the sale of pala- tial homes atoned for their folly. A sense of insecurity sat brooding everywhere. The bourses of Europe and exchanges of America alike felt the shock. The fall was perpendicular and the crash was complete. Grand enterprises ambitiously begun were suddenly arrested and ignominiously abandoned. Men "began to build, but were not able to finish." The great commercial cities of the world suffered the extremest distress, and civil revolutions only added to the general horror, — a presage of our own Civil War in 1861. Minnesota formed no exception to the general distress. She had "sprung almost as suddenly as the armed Minerva from the brain of Jove.'' From a population of 5,000 in 1848 she had leaped to one of over 150,000 in 1857, destined to reach nearly 600,000 at the close of the decade next following. The rage for wealth was an unrestrainable madness, a competition of whirling insanity which, like a cyclone, bore away all on its breast, to scatter them everywhere to the winds. Utopias dazzled in the sky, and El Dorados floated before every imagination. The story of the birth of towns outstripped the wonders of the Arabian Nights' entertainments. In the graphic words of Judge Flan- drau, " Towns on paper were thicker than locusts in Egypt. There was little else than towns. Agriculture was hardly known. Even hay was imported while millions of tons lay uncut in the Minnesota bottoms. The current rate of inter- est was three and Jive per cent per month. Everybody borrowed all he could to operate with in town lots. Projjerty reached 230 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF higher prices in 1856 than it has reached at any time since. Everyone felt rich. Xone thought of the fact that we had not a single thing to sell, but all to buy. Then came a succession of failures all over the country. Foreclosures followed as fast as demands fell due. I^ever was smash more complete. There was not money enough in the country to do the ordinary commerce of life." ^ The lesson, however, was salutary. It instructed men that all wealth comes back to the soil, that honest labor is the only substantial foundation of all prosperity, and honest gains the only possessions that abide. It taught them that even gov- ernments and banks, insurance and railroad companies, cor- porations, syndicates, bourses, and business firms, of whatever description, are powerless to successfully confront that moral order of the universe, or law of righteousness, to which finance itself must be subject. It whispered to many a con- science, stained by the "awH sacra /ames," and stung by a sense of self-degradation, that "he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent," and that "as a partridge sitteth on eggs not her own, and hatcheth them not, so is he that get- teth riches, yet not by right. In the midst of his days they shall leave him, and in the end of his days he shall be a fool." "Thou fool! this night thy soul!" rang in the chambers of many an awakened heart, and deep sank the conviction, that Agur's prayer, ^^ Give me neither poverty nor riches,^^ was a better investment than lago's advice, " Go to, put money in thy purse ^ Go to!'- To borrow capital at such a time, for lailroad purposes, and pledge the credit of the inlant State of Minnesota for the pay- ment of the j)rincipal and interest of the bonds executed in her name, was the gigantic blunder of the hour. Much as may b<' said to i)alliate the impetuous and adventurous order of a x>t!Ople to whom the stage coach, the ox cart, and the Conestoga wagon, were the only means of public transporta- tion, in a territory so vast, and so rapidly filling, yet the finan(;ial crisis being such as it was, the enterprise could only merit the name of " Minnesota's Folly." A tyro in political economy might have seen it, and Governor Sibley opposed it. TIm; celebrated "/'iyc Million Loan'' will ever stand in the annals of the state ;is the loftiest monument of the unreason of the people. It will be remembered that Congress, March 1 Addrew) to the Pioneer Association l)y lion. C. E. Flandrau, May 11, 1886, pp. 16, 17. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 231 5, 1857, had grauted 4,500, 00() acres of land to the Territory of Minnesota, to aid in railway construction, which the legis- lature at its special session that year. May 22, 1857, passed over into the hands of four chartered railroad companies who had neither the money nor credit to carry on the pro- jected improvements. This was the first step in the man- agement of the great trust for the benefit of the state. And the second step was of equal folly. Article 9, section 10, of the State Constitution, which 40,000 votes had rati- fied, provided that " The credit of the state shall never he given, or loaned, in aid of any individual, association, or corpora- tion.^^ The legislature, however, impelled by supposed ne- cessity, under the stringency of the times, and a desire for development of the resources of the state, drank of the Cir- cean cup, and, listening to the song of the railroad sirens, passed another act, April 15, 1858, submitting to the people an amendment to the constitution (article 9, section 10), provid- ing for the loan of the credit of the state to the four railroad companies, to the amount of no less than $5,000,000, the con- dition being a certain amount of work done on the projected roads. The plan was to issue state bonds to the companies, bearing the official signature of Governor Sibley, and the broad seal of the state, bonds of $100,000, at the rate of $10,- 000 per mile for grading, said bonds to be delivered upon proof satisfactory to the governor that ten miles of road had been thoroughly completed and was ready for its superstruc- ture, the principal and interest on these bonds to be secured by first mortgages of the companies to the state. Such the amendment. It passed the senate by a vote of yeas 27, nays 7, and the house by a vote of yeas 47, nays 24, not a few Demo- cratic members being opposed to the measure. The people, however, ratified it, overwhelmingly, April 15, 1858, by a vote of 25,023 in favor, to 6,733 against, the vote of St. Paul being 4,051 for, to 183 against, the amendment. It was no party measure, in any sense whatever, but wholly free from politics. Republicans not less than Democrats sharing the responsibility. It was no administration scheme. In the words of Judge Flandrau, " Ji5 went like a tohirlwind,^^ Mr. Sib- ley voting with the minority. The amendment thus passed became the organic law of the state, the credit of the state was loaned, and the public faith and honor of the state hereby became pledged for the payment of the principal and inter- 232 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF est. The companies accepted the offer, and, commencing their work, the several lines of the projected roads '* re- sounded with the blows of the pick and the shovel, in active and laborious hands." In ancient times there were certain high officials, called augurs, whose business it was to bore into things, inspect entrails, and, observing the sky, when danger was near and the cloud impending, watch just where the thunder would burst and the lightning would strike. Qualified, eminently, for a service so important, were Governor Sibley, Hon. R. W. Mar- shall, D. A. Robertson, C. H. Berry, C. E. Flandrau, and oth- ers, who, examining critically the true inwardness and ambi- guity of the loan amendment, foreboded evil to the state, and counseled the utmost caution in the interpretation of the act, and the utmost care in the protection of the credit of the state. June 3, 1858, was a dies notabilis in the history of Minne- sota, the day of the first message of the governor of the state to the First State Legislature, convened December 2, 1857. Informed by special committee that both houses were assem- bled in joint convention, waiting his Excellency's presence, or any communication from his hand, Governor Sibley ap- peared in person and — introduced to the assembly — pro- ceeded to deliver his inaugural. His first utterance was " Our expression of gratitude to Almighty God that we have been pre- served, in our transition state from a territorial to a state govern- ment, from the anarchy which has afflicted the people of a sister territory, under like circumstances.^^ '^ After referring to the delay of Minnesota's admission, the wisdom of economy in government, the severity of the financial crisis, the impor- tance of adequate banking laws, the condition of the railroads, the claims of the common schools, the need of organizing the militia force of the state, and the magnificent future for Min- nesota guided by a virtuous, intelligent, educated, and religious people, he took uj) the question of the state bonds. Remind- ing the legislature that the public faith of the state was pos- sibly endangered, and her credit loaned out to various char- ter(;d companies, he gave no uncertain sound as to what was his purpose in the case. "As guardian of the interests of the state," said he, ''J shall, during my official term, without 1 Senate Journal, IHSH, p. ;i72. The allu.sioii was lo the sanguinary scenes enacted in Kansofi. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 233 being unreasonably strict with these railroad associations, require to be satisfied, by unquestionable evidence, that they have GompUed, as well tvith the spirit (is with the letter of the amend- ment authorizing the loan, and that they are conducting their operations, as parties to the contract with the people of the state, in good faith, before I will consent to deliver over to them any portion of her bonds ^ ^ August 21, 1858, before the issuance of any of the bonds, the governor also caused to be entered on the executive jour- nal, and to be served upon each of the four railroad com- panies, notice that no bonds would be delivered unless upon previous condition that the companies each make, first of all to the state, "a deposit of first mortgage bonds, based on a deed of trust to the state, equal in amount to the state bonds issued to such company, which shall specify a priority of lien to such bonds as the company may deliver to the state in exchange for her own bonds." The effect of this was clearly to secure the state by exclusive prior lien on the property of the companies, preventing the issuance of other like bonds to other parties. Solicited by agents of the companies to change his construc- tion of the amendment, on the ground that his ruling embar- rassed the companies, by limiting their "first mortgage bonds" to the state alone, he still declined and refused to deliver the bonds. November 5, 1858, he alleged, in response to the re- quest of the companies, (1) "that the security of the state against a contingent neglect or inability of the companies to meet their obligations demanded such a construction," (2) ' ' that the public faith and honor of the state were pledged for the payment of the bonds," (3) "that, otherwise, it would be in the power of the companies to issue an unlimited amount of first mortgage bonds which would, equally with those made to the state, be a lien on the property and franchises of the companies, and detract greatly from the value of the securities held by the state," and (4) "that the legislature that passed, and the people who ratified, the loan amendment, intended that the credit of the state should not suffer in consequence thereof." 2 Three of the companies, disposed to yield to the strong arguments of the governor, were prevented by the action of 1 Senate Journal, Message, 1858, p. 376. 2 Speech of ex-Governor Sibley in the Legislature, February 8, 1871. 234 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF the Minnesota & Pacific, which, having tendered to the gov- ernor, as a test, a trust deed not in conformity with his require- ments, demanded the issuance of the bonds. Upon the gov- ernor's refusal to deliver the bonds, the company appealed to the supreme court for a peremptory writ to compel their issu- ance on the basis of the trust deed the governor had refused to accept. Two of the court granted the mandamus, Judge Flandrau dissenting. The governor, disposed at first to regard the decision as an encroachment of the judicial upon the executive prerogative, yielded, however, to the advice of the attorney general, who urged that, even should the order be disregarded by the governor, the comjDanies might submit to his ruling and obtain the bonds, then appeal to the court to be released from his construction. Moreover, the ai)pearance of the state in court by the presence of the attorney general, was a voluntary waiver, and would estop the governor's objec- tion. To this the governor assented, adding that the supreme court was the highest judicial tribunal of the state, and enti- tled to decide the meaning of a legislative act. "I yielded," said he, "to the force of the attorney general's reasoning, because I was especially anxious to avoid the scandal of a conflict between the executive and judicial departments of the government in our infant state, and the bonds were accordingly issued as prescribed by the mandate of the courtJ^^ This was November 12, 1858. The bonds were not issued, however, until the governor had satisfied himself, upon the certificate and oath of the state engineers, acting under his special in- stiuctions, that the gradiug of the roads was durable, the work done satisfactorily to the most critical test, and all the condi- tions imposed most faithfully met. "Not a bond was issued,'' said the public press, "except upon compliance with every condition, and the strictest interpretation of every condition, required by law. And in this Governor Sibley has shown that, in his capacity as chief executive, ho has guarded the interests of the state by exacting a rigorous conformity with the provisions of the law, in favor of the state." ^ The dissenting o])inion of Judge Flandrau, given thirty years ago, and supporting the construction of the law by Governor Sibley, is an opinion of remarkable clearness, pre- 1 Sjieecli of cx-GovcTiior Sibley in Uic Lcginlutiiro. — St. Paul Daily News, February 8, 1871. 2 St. Paul Daily NeWH, I'uliriuuy 1), 1H7I. HON, HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 235 cision, and soundness, and betrays a capacity of legal percep- tion and judgment rare, indeed, at so early a stage of legal career. As the minority of the bench, he held that the words ^^ first mortgage bonds ^' were ambiguous in the clause wherein they occurred; that the grant being a public one and the state a trustee for the people, no alienation should be presumed beyond what was expressed; that the value of the securities the state was to receive could not be depreciated even by impli- cation, and that the ambiguous terms must be construed most favorably to the state, and consequently the trust deeds should ^^ specify apriority of lien in favor of the state.'' This would seem to be invincible. He supported this view by the fact that the loan of the state credit was to receive "as securities'' for the same, first of all, two separate instruments, one pledging the net profits of the roads for the payment of interest on the bonds, the other conveying to the state the first two hundred and forty sections of unincumbered land. And now, and further- more, "as further security," in case of default, an amount of ^^ first mortgage bonds" on the property and franchises of the companies equal to the amount issued by the state. It was a contract for the sole purpose of protecting the credit, good name, and honor of the state. In such connection and under such circumstances, the words "first mortgage bonds" could only mean an "exclusive lien" to the extent of the value named, " not merely a lien to be shared equally by holders of similar bonds to the amount of -$23,000,000, which the Minne- sota & Pacific Eailroad Company alone jjroposed to issue." Otherwise the security was no security. The design of exact- ing the "first mortgage bonds" was clear. In the words, again, of Judge Flandrau, it was "that, in case the companies defaulted, either as to principal or interest whose security was pledged by the two instruments named, no further bonds should be issued, but that the governor should proceed to sell the bonds of the defaulting companies, the bonds held in trust, or require a foreclosure of the mortgage executed to secure the same." Governor Sibley's construction, therefore, was correct, and was no other than that of the people of Minne- sota, who adopted the amendment, April 15, 1858, viz., that the credit of the state should only be loaned to the railroad companies upon the condition of an absolutely valid security which could be no less than an "exclusive first lieu," as an ample jDrotection against default. Had the minority of the 236 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF supreme court been its majority, the history of the State of Minuesota had been different, in some respects, from what its chronicle shows. ^ The whole railroad enterprise and state bond arrangement was a disastrous failure. The companies defaulted. The credit of the state collapsed. The good faith of the state was comj)romised. The honor of the state was tarnished. The people of the state were disgraced. Facts vindicated, triumphantly, the wisdom of the governor's judgment in opposing the loan amendment, the supreme court's error in its writ of mandamus ordering the issue of the bonds without requiring priority of lien, and the soundness of Judge Flan- drau's opinion. Such was the condition of affairs that even after the issue of $2,000,000 of bonds, not one iron rail had been laid, and after the issue of $2,275,000 of bonds only two hundred and fifty miles of grading had been done on all the roads. Even after the amendment had so overwhelmingly passed, the mandamus been granted, and the bonds issued, the Eepublican press exerted itself to baffle the whole enter- prise, exciting suspicion everywhere against the bonds and defeating every effort made by Governor Sibley and others to negotiate the same in the city of New York, or place them elsewhere, until the credit of the state was wrecked, and the bonds made worthless for the purpose for which they were issued. 2 The companies ceased operations. December 1, 1859, Governor Sibley resolved to issue no more bonds, but required the trustees of the defaulting companies to foreclose and de- liver their property and franchises to the state. December 8, 1859, the governor delivered his last annual message, in person again, to the state legislature. In the course of his remarks, he adverted to the condition of the railway companies, the number of bonds issued, and the work done. He then dwelt, in eloquent manner, upon the solemn obligation of the state, notwithstanding her folly, to redeem the bonds of the state, issued, as they had been, by the sanc- tion of the Constitution, the will of the people, and the per- emptory order of the highest tribunal of the state. If it is iH'cessary to part with a portion of the state domain, to keep the honor of the state, part with it. If necessary to convert the bonds, convert them. His words are the words of an in- 1 VoT .hidge Klautlruu'B Opinion, See Minnesota St. Hop., GillilliU), Vol. IV, \t. 228. 2 See ex-Qovcrnor Sibley's Speech, St. Paul Daily News, February 9, 1871. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 237 corruptible statesman alive to a sense of unblemished integ- rity, and ready for any sacrifice, rather than face the shame of threatened repudiation. "I trust," said he, "that you will decide this grave and important question in such manner as to demonstrate abroad that the representatives of the people of Minnesota will not tolerate repudiation. Better far, ice were visited hy pestilence or famine, for these are hut instruments of God for ivhich ive were not responsible, hut our own act in violation of public faith and pledged honor of the state ivould sink Minnesota, for all time to come, beneath the contempt and indignation of the civilized world. ' ' ^ The relation of Governor Sibley to the Minnesota state bonds, during his administration, was a relation in every way most honorable to himself, both personally and officially. A regret was once expressed by the governor, and shared in by his friends, that he had not resisted the decision of the supreme court, and refused to obey its writ. This was but natural under the circumstances. He was under no compulsion to conform his executive action to the order of the court, which was only a co-ordinate, not superior, branch of the state gov- ernment, powerless to enforce its mandate on the chief execu- tive, who was independent of its jurisdiction. Nor, had he seen fit to disrespect the writ, could the supreme court have availed itself of the fact that, as yet, the independence of the executive had not been judicially declared. The Constitution is above the court, and guarantees this independence. Not- withstanding this, his character shines all the more brightly in this, that preferring to avoid the scandal of an open conflict between the two co-ordinate branches of government, bringing damage to the credit of the state, in a crisis so important, he waived a legal technicality, anxious only that both branches of the government might stand shoulder to shoulder, and effect the best possible result in the matter of a loan so enormous to the infant state as that of $5,000,000. All that remained for the governor to do was to exact, rigorously, every requirement of the law, protect to the utmost the credit of the state, and so afford the railroad companies the least possible opportunity to default. If blame rests anywhere, it would seem to rest upon the supreme court in entertaining a case over which it had no jurisdiction by the Constitution. Resistance to the mandate would have been ill advised under the circumstances. The 1 Senate Journal, 1859-18G0, p. 15. 238 ANCESTEY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF scandal would have arrested the progress of the state. Had the supreme court said to the companies, what it subsequently said to Selah Chamberlain when applying to compel the gov- ernor to issue $25,000 of railroad bonds to him, under the loan amendment, viz., ^^ This court will not undertake to compel the governor of the state to the performance of any duty devolving on him as the chief executive, and 2)ertaining to his office,^ ^^ all had been well. It seems a clear misjudgment to regard the waiver of the governor, who thereby sought only the peace and pros- l^erity of the state, as a ground for exercising jurisdiction where none existed, and rendering an interpretation adverse to that of the chief executive, in a matter of such vital mo- ment. To say, as often as has been said, in times of party excite- ment, that the state bonds, debt, and dishonor, were "created by the governor," or by "a Democratic administration," or by the "Democratic party," is to falsify history, and attribute to one class of citizens a responsibility created and accepted by all. The intention of the people of the state was good. The courage of tbe governor was as grand as his motives were praiseworthy, and his conduct unassailable. Now that the supreme court had granted the mandamus, and the executive had issued the bonds to the companies, it was the duty of every good citizen, and especially of those who so overwhelmingly had adopted the loan amendment, to exert themselves, to the utmost, to maintain the public credit of the state. The polit- iciii parties were almost equally divided, Governor Sibley's majority over that of the Hon. Mr. Eamsey, the opposing candidate, at the time of election, being but small. Eepubli- cans not less than Democrats were bound to promote the suc- cess of the enterprise they had in common inaugurated. On the contrary, the fact remains, so far as a party question is concerned, that, notwithstanding tlie adoption of the amend- ment, the mandamus, and the issuance of the bonds, the Re- publican press and influential men of the party made persist- ent warfare on the bonds, injuring the name of the state, threatening repudiation, warning capitalists everywhere against them, liindering negotiation, and completely thwarting the clfoit of Governor Sibley to place them in New York, which, but for this adverse influence, had been successful. It is unde- niable that, in the heat of party passion, ossihle,^'' and, besides, "to place 1 II was only natural that sonic of the siiflferinK captives, six weeks in the tepees of Lit- tle Crow's camp, should complain that they were not sooner released. Agony makes months out of moments and years out of days. But the reproaches against Colonel Sibley found in Mrs. Sarah Wakefield's "Six Weeks in Little Crow's Camp,"pp. 48-5:?, are wholly unjustified. I>;t the unmerited and extreme Huderings of the captives be suflBciont apology for the ground- less accusationM of Indill'erence and unnecessary delay. The public press, however, and the party politicians, envious of Colonel fSililcy's possible success, had no such apology. 2 Rebellion Uecord, Vol. XIII, pp. orsi, 032. 3 Ibid.. r,.3.3. 4 Ibid., pp. 019, f,-,0, fi.'52. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 269 500 cavalry at Abercrombie, 500 at Otter Tail, 1,000 at Ridgley, and 500 at Crystal Lake between the Winnebagoes and the Sioux," and also to send Colonel Sibley ^^ forage for 1,000 /ior«es and rations for 2,500 me/t." ^ Great promises were these, and efficient also, had they only been performable! Colonel Sibley replies, September 19th, that he needs ' ' cavalry at once, hard bread, pork, and blankets for the troops,^' adding ^^ I have no time to write more, as I must immediately go in search of Little Crow.''^ He has ''■only ten days' rations and no supply nearer than St. Peter, fifty miles distant. The Seventh regiment are ivithout overcoats. Yet I shall do all in my power to bring the expedition to a successful issue. ^^ General Pope now writes to Secretary Stanton, war secretary at Wash- ington, ^^ There are neither troops nor arms sujfficierit in the state, and the governor calls on me for both. I am doing all I can and have but little to do it with," and Stanton replies, "I would be glad to carry out your plans, but the critical state of affairs in Kentucky requires every man to be on the ground there, who is not absolutely needed elsewhere. Do not detain in your de- partment more troops than absolutely necessary. Send the rest for- ward immediately to General WrighV^^ Such were the pressure and distress of the times, owing to the Civil War, — the "stay- at-homes" howling at Sibley for "not advancing faster!" September 22d, Colonel Sibley writes that the action with Lit- tle Crow is imminent. September 23d, the day of the battle of Wood Lake, General Pope writes to Major General Halleck, at Washington, ^'You do not seem to be aware of the extent of the Indian outbreaks. The Sioux, 2,600 warriors, are assembled at the Upper Agency to give battle to Colonel Sibley, who is ad- vancing with 1,600 men and five pieces of artillery. Three hun- dred men, women, and children are now in captivity. Cannot the paroled officers and men of the rifle regiment (Dragoons) now in Michigan be sent herel"^ Such the crisis and impor- tunity, in that solemn moment of the history of the nation strained to its utmost, everywhere. Such that most critical epoch in the life of Minnesota, the Indians rising with serpen- tine cunning all around her, Colonel Sibley struggling like Laocoon in the anaconda's folds, to liberate the state, the cap- tives, and himself, from the red man's deadly coil! voices still shouting ^^ Onto Richmond!^'' " On to Little Crow!^' 1 Ibid., pp. 649, 650, 652. 2 Ibid., p. 663. 3 Ibid., p. 663. 270 ANCESTKY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Colonel Sibley's policy was a masterly one, urging rein- forcements and supplies, while yet compelled to reinforce and supply others. On the twelfth of September, through his intercessions, there were in the State of Minnesota, at differ- ent points, 5,500 troops of all kinds, of which 2,721 were regulars, 400 cavalry, and yet but 1,500 or 1,600 of these, with only 25 mounted men, had been assigned to the com- mander of the chief expedition I^ The main body of the enemy concentrated on his front. What better rule than that of old and wise commanders could be adopted, ^ ^Divide et imp€7-a,^' a result effected most triumphantly by Colonel Sib- ley's correspondence with Little Crow, and a friendly element in Little Crow's camp! It was during the so-called delay, — which was no delay, — between the third and twenty third of September, that Little Crow and his bands were given to understand the terms on which Colonel Sibley would consent to treat, viz., unconditional surrender of the captives^ or uncon- ditional extermination ! And yet a disposition to extend mercy to those innocent of the outrages connected with the massacre was as plainly intimated as the determination to punish those guilty of the same. By the one proposition fear was engen- dered. By the other hope was inspired. By both division was made, and dissension kindled in the enemy's camp. No less than four diiferent councils were convoked, the Upper Indians arrayed, in a measure, against the Lower, and also quarreling among themselves. Little Paul, Red Iron, Stand- ing Buffalo, and one hundred Sissetons, determined to fight Little Crow himself should any attempt be made to massacre the captives or place them in front of the coming battle, and ready to sue for peace on such terms as Colonel Sibley might grant. It was half the victory. The hostiles began to feel that judgment was near, their doom no longer slumbering. It compelled Little Crow, already tortured with fear, to for- tify his braves with self-conflicting falsehoods and arts, assur- ing them that 3,000 British were ready to help, that Sibley's troops were ''a pack of old men and boys," to shoot whom was a waste of ammunition, but to tomahawk and scalp them a trivial, easy, morning diversion. The bridges set on fire to impede his advance; the constant scoutipg and as constant retreating; the suggestion of ambuscade; the taunts of the 1 Executive Docs., 1802, p. 27. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 271 Upper against the Lower Sioux as cowards not daring to fight; the little bundles of painted sticks, eight hundred or more in number, left on Prescott's grave, to inform the whites what force they must meet; the defiant bravado stuck on the fence near Redwood river, "Come on, we're ready for you;" the price set on Sibley's head, eighteen young Indians detailed to take his life, only betrayed the fact that Little Crow was even then the victim of apprehension, watching and waiting to make one desperate last resistance, and win or lose all in one final engagement. When the sun was low, September 22, 1862, Colonel Sib- ley's entire command encamped on the high prairies near Wood Lake, three miles from the ford of the Yellow Medi- cine. Within striking distance were also encamped from 800 to 1.000 warriors, Medawakantons and Wahpekutas of the Lower, and Wahpetons and Sissetons of the Upper, Sioux, including certain Winnebagoes, half-breeds, and deserters from the Renville Rangers. ^ On the morning of September 23d, at half-past seven o'clock, the Indians suddenly attacked a foraging party of teamsters, half a mile distant from Colonel Sibley's camp. The guards returned the fire. This precipi- tated the decisive battle of Wood Lake, where the power of Little Crow was broken. The Third regiment, Major Welch, without orders, and impatient for the fray, formed in line, and, crossing the ravine, engaged the foe, only escaping anni- hilation by the quick order of Colonel Sibley calling them back, the Indians almost surrounding them. The Renville Rangers, under Lieutenant Gorman, were ordered to advance, and thrown forward to check the assault, the Third regiment supporting them, and fighting valiantly a hand-to-hand con- test with the red man. Captain Hendricks of the artillery, under the immediate supervision of Colonel Sibley, placed his guns at the head of the ravine, and worked them with de- structive effect. The battle raged furiously for two hours. 1 Rough guesses at the number of Indian warriors, concentrated for the battle of Wood Lake, have been reported otiicially and become a matter of record, which, however, more accnrate information showed to be underestimates. See iRebellion Record, Vol. XIII, p. 745. "The Indians were 780."— Dakota VVar-Whoop, p. 219. "Indians to the number of eight hundred, well armed."— Adjutant General's Report, Executive Documents, 1862. "The num- ber actually engaged on each side was about eight hundred." — Heard's Sioux War, p. 175. The number of "painted sticks," actually counted, gives an approximate estimate, but not necessarily perfect. Major General Pope, in his dispatch to Halleck, September 23d, says they were "2,000 warriors," Colonel Sibley's force being "l,6i}0 men and five pieces of artil- lery." 272 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Unable to pierce the lines in front, Little Crow attempted a flank movement on the right, in the ravine. Colonel Mar- shall was then ordered to charge with the Seventh regiment and part of the Sixth, and drive the Indians from their posi- tion. The charge was executed in the most brilliant manner, on a double quick, in the face of incessant volleys from the Indian rifles, which fortunately went, for the most part, over the heads of the regiments, and the Indians were routed pre- cipitately, at the point of the bayonet. A similar flank move- ment on the left was also disappointed by the successful ad- vance and action of the Sixth regiment, under Major McLaren and Captain Wilson. The staff officers of Colonel Sibley ren - dered prompt and efficient service everywhere, carrying their orders with alacrity and regardless of danger. The friendly Indian "Other-Day" was a hero, bounding like a tiger, with teeth set, into the thickest of the fight, his face radiant with joy, and bearing, as it were, a charmed life. "He was a war- rior worthy to have crossed cimeters with Saladin or dashed with Arabia's mad prophet through the shock of Eastern war." ^ Simon, another friendly Indian, a spy of Colonel Sib- ley, rushed with rare daring into the heart of Little Crow's forces, unscathed, and informed his friendly kinsmen, there, what to do. The conflict was severe. At length the Indians, unable to endure the murderous fire, broke, and retreated in haste, bearing off many of their wounded. The casualties of the white troops were fifty-four killed and wounded, the In- dian loss being vastly greater. A large portion of Colonel Sibley's force was held in reserve, and also guarding the camp. The smallness of his loss was also due to his x>urpose to make it so, dealing a prompt and effective stroke at the outset, which spared the greater bloodshed and mortality that other- wise would have attended a more doubtful and less vigorous action. The Upper Indians, as soon as they saw the battle was going against Little Crow, abandoned the Lower Indians to their fate, and " skedaddled " ^ from the field. Had the cavalry force under Colonel Sibley been effective, a second campaign, the following year, had not been necessary. Neither the state nor the general government provided it. Three hundred mounted men had sufficed to pursue and de- 1 Heard's Sioux War, pp- 1"5, 1"6. 2 The word ".lU'laddled" is classic, and found in tlie epitapli of the heroes who fell at Platea, descrihlng the elFect of their valor loii the foe. It comes from the Greek " skedan- DUIUI." HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 273 stroy every one of Little Crow's miscreant bands. As it was, however, the battle of Wood Lake, fought before any help from Stanton, Halleck, or Pope, arrived, was decisive and conclu- sive of the Sioux War. It was fought by Minnesotians alone. Its importance and timeliness to the state were inestimable. If the engagement at Birch Coolie saved Mankato and St. Peter, the engagement at Wood Lake saved the State of Minnesota. It broke the prestige of Little Crow and dissolved the com- bination of Indian tribes ready, should he succeed, to renew, in appalling, widespread horror, the massacre he had initiated August IS, 1862. It made Standing Buffalo and the Upper Sis- setons the enemies of Little Crow. It released troops to go to the seat of war in the South. It brought peace, joy, happiness, and protection, to the hearts and homes of Minnesota. It stop- ped the "howlers at St. Paul," brought to its dying cadences the cry of "O/i to Little Grow!^' and, with the gratitude of a nation and a state, secured that merited promotion which trans- ferred Colonel Sibley from the rank of a state military officer, under its executive, to the rank of an officer in the United States Army, commissioned as a brigadier general, in token of his gallant conduct in the field, a step to still higher military honor by brevet. Appropriate, as beautiful, are the words of Colonel Sibley to his anxious wife: "Wood Lake (forty-five miles above Fort Ridgley), September 23d. — Thanks to a kind Providence, I have passed, this day, through a sharp bat- tle without injury, although the balls flew thick and fast around us. A large force of savages attacked us this morning, and, after a desperate fight of two hours, we whii^ped them handsomely. We have inflicted so severe a blow upon them that they will not dare make another stand. They sent in a flag of truce, ofleriug to surrender if I would promise them immunity from punishment, and allow them to carry oft' their dead, both which con- ditions were peremptorily refused. Now be of good cheer, and trust in God that we shall soon be reunited. I am sending down a train for pro- visions, of which we are greatly in need." After this decisive battle. Little Crow fell back to a point near what afterward became ^'Camp Release,''^ and remained there till hearing of the advance of Colonel Sibley. On the evening of the battle a flag of truce was sent to Colonel Sibley offering, as above stated, entire surrender of the Indian forces upon the conditions of immunity from punishment and permis- sion to carry off their dead, both which were peremptorily re- fused. On the twenty-fourth, Ma-za-ku-ta-ma-ne, Ta-o-pee, Wa-ke-wa-na, Ma-za-mo-ui, and Aki-pa sent messages to Colo- is 274 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF nel Sibley, from Red Iron's village, advising him of the situa- tion. Colonel Sibley's staff officers, urging him to make a night march upon the Indians and capture their camp, he declined their proposition, after listening respectfully to their reasons, assuring them that, did they but know the Indian character as well as he did, their proposition could have found no place in their mind. The savages had mounted scouts watching him, and in case of a movement under cover of darkness, the fact would be communicated to Little Crow at once, and the warriors would put to death, if possible, all the female cap- tives, disperse to the prairies, and, no cavalry force being with him, he would fail to take a solitary prisoner. He pro- posed another plan to himself which he carried out success- fully. After burying the dead and caring for the wounded, Colonel Sibley broke uj) his encampment, and, on the morn- ing of the twenty-fifth, crossed the Yellow Medicine river, and, marching five miles, bivouacked on the open prairie, Sep- tember 26, 1862, at the spot subsequently known as " Gamp Re- lease,^'' having previously dispatched a message to the friendly Indians apprising them of his intention to reach them the next day. Little Crow, despairing of success, had fled with some two hundred of the hostiles toward the Yankton Sioux on the James river, leaving behind him the rest of his bands, the captives, the friendly element, and the Renville Ranger deserters, all in his camp, surrounded by rifle pits and some small fortifications. In this camp were one hundred and fifty lodges, by this time, of friendly Indians, all the rest finding it their best policy now to play the ''''Good Injun,^' affecting hor- ror at the outrages of the massacre. Determined not to be deceived by flags of truce, or Indian cunning, Colonel Sibley pitched his own camp "within five hundred yards" of the Indian camp, covering it with his guns. ^ His program was carried out successfully, according to arrangement with the friendly element, the white rag hoist- ed at one side of the Indian camp where the captives were gathered, so that, in case of resistance, he might know where to direct his fire. Accordingly, at about 2 p. m., September 26, 1862, Colonel Sibley, against the remonstrance of his staff, who feared treacliery and the possible loss of their loved commander, ac- companied by a few officers and two companies of infantry, 1 Rebellion Record, Vol XIII, p. 079. II HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 275 proceeded straight to the Indian encampment, drums beating and colors flying. Leaving the soldiers outside, he entered the camp, with an air of sovereignty and military supremacy, as if he owned the universe. It was a historic moment. In his own impressive words: "I entered, with my officers, to the centre of the circle formed by the numerous lodges, and seeing the old savage whom I knew personally as the individual with stentorian lungs, who promulgated the orders of the chiefs and head men to the multitude, I beckoned him to me, and, in a peremp- tory tone, ordered him to go through the camp and notify the tenants that I demanded all the female captives to be brought to me insianter. And now was presented a scene which no one who witnessed it can ever forget. From the lodges there issued more than one hundred comely young girls and women, most of whom were so scantily clad as scarcely to conceal their nakedness. On the i^ersons of some hung but a single garment, while pity- ing half-breeds and Indian women had provided others with scraps of cloth- ing from their own little wardrobes, answering, indeed, a mere temporary purpose. But a worse accoutered, or more distressed, group of civilized beings imagination would fail to picture. Some seemed stolid, as if their minds had l)een strained to madness and reaction had brought vacant gloom, indifterence, and despair. They gazed with a sad stare. Others acted differ- ently. The great body of the poor creatures rushed wildly to the spot where I was standing with my brave officers, pressing as close to us as possible, grasping our hands and clinging to our limbs, as if fearful that the red devils might yet reclaim their victims. I did all I could to reassure them, by telling them they were now to be released from their horrible sufferings and freed from their bondage. Many were hysterical, bordering on convulsions, laughter and tears commingling, incredulous that they were in the hands of their preservers. A few of the more attractive had been offered the alterna- tive of becoming the temporary wives of select warriors, and so, helpless and powerless, yet escaped the promiscuous attentions of a horde of .savages bent on brutal insult revolting to conceive, and impossible to be described. The majority of these outraged girls and young women were of a superior class. Some were school teachers, who, accompanied by their girl pupils, had gone to pass their summer vacation with relatives or friends in the bor- der counties of the state. The settlers, both native and foreign, were, for the most part, respectable, prosperous, and educated citizens whose wives and daughters had been afforded the privileges of a good common school education. Such were the delicate young girls and women who had been subjected for weeks to the inhuman embraces of hundreds of filthy savages, utterly devoid of all compassion for the sufferers. Escorting the captives to the outside of the camp, they were placed under the protection of the troops and taken to our own encampment, where I had ordered tents to be pitched for their accommodation. Officers and men, affected even to tears by the scene, denuded themselves of their entire underclothing, blankets, coats, and whatever they could give, or could be converted into raiment for these heart-broken and abused victims of savage lust and rage. The only white man found alive when we reached the Indian encampment was George H. 276 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Speucer, wh^was saved from death by the heroic devotion of his Indian comrade, but yet badly wounded. He said to me, ^It is God's mercy, that you did not march here on the night after the battle. A plan was formed, had you done so, to murder the captives, then scatter to the prairies,' — thus verifying my prediction of the course they veould pursue. I bless God for the wisdom he gave me, and whereby, ivith the aid of my brave men, in spite of all slander and abuse, I icas enabled to win a victory so decisive, and redeem from their ihraldom those unfortunate sufferers who were a burden on my heart from the first moment of my campaign.''^ In his official reports of the battle of Wood Lake, and the release of the captives, first to Governor Eamsey, and next to Major General Pope, Colonel Sibley praises in the highest terms the gallantry of his troops, and especially that of the dashing Lieutenant Colonel Wui. R. Marshall. There are scenes of thrilling character in history, when, after the painful travail of captivity, and weary, wakeful, almost hopeless watching, the long dark night of weeping, suf- fering, and bondage, breaks into the burst of a splendid sun- rise, and the birth of a new life, pulsating with the wild throb of deliverance, and souls made free are delirious with joy. In the body, or out of the body, at such a time, none can tell. To shout at such a time, to sing, to weep, to laugh, is a relief! It seems like a dream! Tears, smiles, and embraces, from swelling hearts of gratitude and love, all flow together, deliv- erer and delivered rejoicing in the same glad jubilee. When, under the sword and edict of Cyrus, Judah's captivity was turned, and exiles who had wept by Babel's streams returned to their homes, all seemed a dream. ' ' When the Lord turned our captivity we were like them that dreamed. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." Thrilling was the scene when the Crusaders, under Godfrey, neared the Holy City, and, catching the first sight of their long expectation, rose in their wagons, children on their mother's shoulders, shouting "Jerusalem! Jerusalem!" Thrilling the scene when tlie Greeks under Xenoi)hon, fu the celebrated retreat of the 10,000, first caught a glimpse of tlie great wide-spreading sea with its heaving billows, and, mounting on each other's shoul- ders, exclaimed "The Sea! The Sea!" Thrilling the time of Lincoln's Emancipation J*roclamation, the surrender of Lee's army at Api)omattox, the wild shout of the nation, and the 1 Private Notes of f'olonel Sibley on the Indian Warof 1802. See.also, Rebellion Record, Vol. XIII, p. 080. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 277 cry of '^Victory! Victory!" guns thundering, wire# shooting, ■white sails and steamers speeding, the news to every nation under heaven. And unutterably thrilling that crowning day when the Union armies, radiant in triumph, and returning to their homes, marched before the capitol in Washington, music sounding, flags flying, the wild multitude waving hallelujahs to them, cheers ringing to the welkin, as their proud steps bore the pageant — not twice seen in a century — to its close. Those are scenes not to be forgotten by any who beheld them. But not more deeply graven in the memory were such events than was the scene at Cam}) Belease, September 26, 1862, graven in the hearts of those who witnessed it, cut "as with an iron pen and in a rock, forever;" — that once-occurring scene when those sad delivered captives, the long-abused victims of con- cupiscence and cruelty, followed, in ragged and irregular pro- cession, their deliverer. Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley, and torn, tattered, weeping, smiling, wondering, naked, hoping, and rejoicing, were conducted to his camp, free, forever, from their loathsome bondage. What emotions struggled for ex- pression in the breast of Colonel Sibley, what in the breasts of the delivered ones, only he and they knew to whom the anguish and the joy were mutual. Outside of these, God only is a partner in such mysteries. Colonel Sibley's proudest, noblest title is not " First Delegate from the Territory of Min- nesota, "not " First Governor of the State," not "Colonel Com- manding the Indian Expedition," not "Brigadier General in the Army," nor "Brevet Major General," but this one word, ^^ Deliverer of Minnesota' s Captives''^ from the grasp of the red man, and who but for him had perished in their chains. If there is one spot upon the soil of Minnesota worthy to be con- secrated as a Mecca for her sons, one acre on her breast on which a monument might tower, heaven-pointing and sky- piercing to the blue, it is that spot called "Camp Eelease," where Minnesota's "Ebenezer" should be raised in memory of God's mercy to the captives, and to the state, delivered by the faithful Sibley and his brave men, September 23 and Sep- tember 26, 1862. Two of the main objects of the expedition having been accomplished, viz., the defeat of the Sioux and release of the captives, the other two, viz., the punishment of the guilty and the driving of the Sioux from the state, remained yet to be realized. The third was effected through the arrest, imprison- 278 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF ment, and trial, by a military commission, of all Indians and half-breeds suspected of participating in the massacre and outrages that had happened anywhere in the state, the state concurring in the findings of the commission, the president of the United States nevertheless modifying the same. The fourth was achieved by the special legislation of Congress, and through the Indian campaign of the following year under General Sibley, General Sully co-operating. Previous to this, however. Colonel Sibley, faithful to his purpose, thrice form- ally applied to Governor Eamsey and Major General Pope to be relieved of his command, now that the campaign was practically ended, and the captives were released. ^ His re- quest was refused. Considerations of public necessity forbade the loss of an officer whose services were so important to the country, and whose success had been so distinguished. All his staff and field officers earnestly and formally entreated him to withdraw his application, and also sent their written action immediately to Major General Pope.^ The news of Colonel Sibley's victory at Wood Lake having reached the ears of the war department at "Washington, its immense value not only to the State of Minnesota, but to the whole country, in the throes of civil war, being deeply appreciated. Presi- dent Lincoln at once promoted him to the rank of ^''Brigadier General^'''' thus transferring him from the rank of a state mili- tary officer, subject to the state executive, to the rank of a United States officer, subject to the jurisdiction of the presi- dent as commander-in-chief of the forces of the United States. The following telegram was sent to Major General Pope: Washington, D. C, September 29, 1862. Major General Pope, St. Paul, Minnesota: Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley is made brigadier general for his judi- cious fight at Yellow Medicine. He should be kept in command of that column, and every possible assistance sent to him. H. W. Hallkck, Oencral-in-Chief. ^ This honor, subsequently confirmed by the senate of the Unit«Ml States, was accepted by Colonel Sibley, and, at the urgent solicitation of the government. General Sibley re- mained at his post, notwithstanding much loss to his private interests. September 28, 1862, before he became a United 1 Rebellion lU'cord, Vol. XIII, pp. C80, 087,694. 2 Il»l(l., p. 720. 3 Ibid., p. 088. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 279 States officer, he organized a military commission composed of Colonel Crooks, Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, Captains Grant and Bailey, and Lieutenant Olin, the Eev. Dr. Eiggs, chaplain and missionary for forty years, among the Sioux, acting as the medium of communication between the injured captive women and the commission, Lieutenant Isaac V. D. Heard acting as recorder and Antoine Frere as general interpreter, to "try, summarily, the mulatto, mixed -bloods, and Indians engaged in the Sioux raids and massacres." ^ The following is the official order: Special Ordee, No. 55. Headquakters, Cabip Release, September 28, 1862. A military commission composed of Colonel William Crooks of the Sixth regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Marshall of the Seventh regiment, Captains Grant and Bailey of the Sixth regiment, and Lieutenant Olin of the Third regiment, will convene at some convenient place in camp at ten o'clock this morning, to try, summarily, the mulatto and Indians, or mixed-bloods, now prisoners, who may be brought before them by direction of the colonel com- manding, and pass judgment upon them if found guilty of murder or other outrages upon the whites during the present state of hostilities; the pro- ceedings of the commission to be returned to these headquarters imme- diately after their conclusion for the consideration of the colonel command- ing. The commission will be governed in their proceedings by military laws and usages. Lieutenant Heard, adjutant Ciilleu Guards, will act as recorder to the military commission. By order of Colonel H. H. Sibley, Commanding Military Expedition. S. H. Fowler, Lieutenant Colonel, S. 31., A. A. Adjutant General. To this tribunal others were added afterward, as became necessary. The commission at once prepared to enter on its painful and laborious duties. No court calendar ever fur- nished an arraignment such as was here presented. By order of General Sibley, three hundred captives having been released and provided for. Colonel Crooks, a most accomplished officer, and president of the commission, quietly, with troops, sur- rounded the Indian camp, on the night of September 30th, and, disarming its inmates, arrested all warriors suspected of massacre and outrage, and marched them to the ''log jail," already erected in the heart of Camp Release for their special accommodation. A similar movement was executed, at Yel- low Medicine, by Captain "Whitney, a faithful officer, to whom it was intrusted. No less than four hundred and twenty -five 1 Heard's Sioux War, p. 251. 280 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Indians and half-breeds, including the mulatto ''Godfrey'^ who turned state's evidence against his compulsory masters, were enrolled for trial, upon the separate and specific charges of "robbery, rape, and murder." The commission sat from September 30 to November 5, 1862, when, having finished their unparalleled labors, they reported to General Sibley their judicial findings, to which he affixed his approval. Of the 425 arraigned for trial, 321 were found guilty of the offenses charg'ed. Of these 303 were sentenced to death by the halter, the other 18 condemned to various terms of imprison- ment. ^ Strict instructions were given by General Sibley that every man should enjoy a fair and impartial trial, be allowed the best possible defense, and that every reasonable doubt should go to the benefit of the accused. The trials were con- ducted, mainly, in the ' ' court house of the military commis- sion," in Camp Sibley, a log building, whose former owner fell in the massacre of August 18th, and whose location was within a stone's throw of the battle-field of Birch Coolie. The work of the commission finished, and the time for the troops to go into winter quarters having come, the camp was removed from the Lower Agency to Camp Lincoln, between Mankato and South Bend. Here, to await further orders from the United States Government, four hundred manacled Sioux, condemned and uncondemned, chained in pairs together, and crowded in wagons containing ten to twelve each, were con- ducted, under a military guard of 1,500 infantry and cavalry, by General Sibley in person. The procession was such as Minnesota had never seen. Eeaching New Ulm, the people made an insane assault upon the prisoners, one woman, fren- zied with rage, cleaving in twain, with a hatchet, the jaw of an Indian, another breaking a skull, the crowd, composed mostly of women, pelting with stones and bricks, till General Sibley, as a prudential measure, gave orders to pass the prison- ers and troops around and outside of the town. November 10, 1802, the names of the three hundred and three convicted Indians and half-breeds were forwarded to President Lincoln, by Major General Pope, accompanied by a complete record of the charges, specifications, and testimony in each case, to secure his approval of the sentence, and obtain the necessary order for the execution of each. At the same time, both Governor Eanisey and General Pope urged upon 1 Rebellion Kucord, Vol. XIII, p. 757. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 281 the president, in most decided terms, the instant and capital punishment of all the condemned, without exception. ^ Three days previously, November 7th, General Sibley had dispatched Lieutenant Colonel Marshall from Camp Release to Fort Snel- ling, with 1,800 captive Indians, mostly women and children, under a strong military escort, the whole train measuring four miles in length, and reaching its destination Novem- ber 13th. The Indian camp, opposite Camp Release, had al- ready been broken up, October 4, 1862, and the men not suspected of complicity with the massacres and outrages of August 18th had been sent to the agencies to gather in the winter crops. It was about this date General Pope offered the reward of five hundred dollars for the capture and delivery of Little Crow, "dead or alive," and sent to Major General Halleck, October 10, 1862, the welcome news, "The Sioux War is at an end." ^ Of what transcendent importance the brave defenses of New Ulm and Fort Ridgley were, not only to the state but the nation, and how invaluable the victory at Birch Coolie, as also the repulses at Fort Abercrombie and Forest City about the same time, September 3, 1862, and, most of all, the crowning defeat of Little Crow at Wood Lake, September 23, 1862, may be learned from this, that during the progress of the trials evidence was found complete not only that "the whole Sioux Nation was involved in the war,"^ but that the Southern Confederacy fixed its hope of success, in no small degree, upon "a general uprising of all the Indian tribes in the Northwest, about the month of September."* British medals were found in the hands of the Sioux. "Investigation showed that secession had sent its emissaries not only to the Dakotas but to all other tribes of the Northwest."^ Only when it became known what was the force in General Sibley's camp did "Hole-in-the-Day," the Chippewa chief, befriend the state, and assist to make a new treaty of perpetual friendship with the whites, offering to war against Little Crow. Only when the battle of Wood Lake had been fought, and as a result the siege of Fort Abercrombie was raised, did the Winneba- goes, true to their cunning, and courting the white man's 1 Rebellion Record, Vol. XIII, pp. 787, 788; Heard's Sioux War, p. 267. 2 Ibid., p. 724. 3 Heard's Sioux War, p. 188. 4 Dakota War-Whoop, p. 290 . 5 Ibid., p. 289. 282 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF favor, j)roclaim war against the Sioux. Prior to that, all the tribes in Wisconsin had sent their wampums to the Winne- bago chief, and a council of war had been fixed for the twen- ty-eighth of September. Notice was sent from the South, in these words, " The blow will he struck this summer.''^ The Hon. H. M. Eice wrote from Washington that evidence existed to show that ^^the Western tribes are going to join the SoutJi,^^ that "///e Sioiix raids are induced by rebels and traitors ivhose emissa- ries are sent to the Chixypeioas also,^^ and that ^^the greatest danger exists,'^ ^ the Confederate Government urging the Indians to combine in a common cause against the United States. It was a critical moment for the country. Federal reverses had pro- duced despondency. Confederate success had filled the nation with gloom. Lee was marching on Hari)er's Ferry, Stonewall Jackson entering Maryland, McDowell was arrested for trea- son, the star of McClellan was waning, Fitz John Porter was suspected, Cincinnati was under martial law, Kentucky in- vaded, and the writ of habeas corpus suspended. France had thrown 30,000 men into Mexico, and England's neutrality was but a mere cloak to prepare for a vigorous demonstration when the opportune moment of weakness in the United States should provide a sufficient pretext. Little Crow had dared to do more than Lord Palmerston. Every hour furnished new testimonials to the far-sighted wisdom of Colonel Sibley in refusing, at this juncture, to move without a sufficient force, and in keeping up secret correspondence with friends in Little Crow's camp. His determined demand for the cap- tives, his appeal to the routed foe to "return and surrender" as the "only hope of mercy to any," all showed him to be a commander not less astute in diplomacy than consummate in tact and successful in arms. Lodges to the number of two hundred and fifty were gathered, or came in, until Little Crow was left, with but seventy men, to wander where he might, to find a home, evading Standing Buffalo's knife, or begging powder from British hands. The scouting and scouring of Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, so efficient and faithful, con- tributed largely to this consummation. So ended the military expedition intrusted, by Governor Eamsey, to ex-Governor Sibley at Mendota. In the almost irurr-edibly sliort ])ei'iod of one month and six days, from August 20th to S«'pt('mber 2()th, Colonel Sibley had organized 1 8t. Paul Itaily PresH, .ScptcinhtT 21, 1802. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 283 the expedition In the midst of obstacles almost insurmounta- ble, fed the perishing multitudes at St. Peter, sent reinforce- ments to Colonel Flandrau, relieved Fort Ridgley, fought the battles of Birch Coolie and Wood Lake, released 300 helpless captives, taken the whole Indian camp, and chained 425 war- riors in irons. In one month and ten days more, from Sep- tember 26th to November 10th, he had organized a military commission, tried the 425, convicted 321, sentenced to capital punishment 303, and to imprisonment 18, having captured in all over 2,200, sent 1,800 to Fort Snelling, besides conveying 425 to Camp Lincoln, and remanding to the spade and the hoe all able-bodied men not proved to be guilty of the crimes with which their fellow criminals were charged. During this period he had traveled three hundred miles, clogged by his military impedimenta, and on roads such as Nature alone i^ro- vides, crossing rivers, camping on prairies, exposed to the violence of storms, sweltering under the noontide heat, or shivering with arctic cold, burdened by day, and sleepless at night. In the space of one month and twenty-one days from the date of his commission as colonel commanding the Indian expedition, i. e. from August 19th to October 10th, the whole campaign was terminated and its judicial results achieved, all eyes now directed to the general government, awaiting its formal sanction of what had been done. Major General Pope was enabled to dispatch the news to Washington, saying, ^ * The Sioux War is at an end. ' ' This seems wonderful. It demands the recognition of a special Providence. Pontiac's War lasted six years. The Semi- nole War lasted seven years, in the Everglades of Florida, and cost the United States Government $40,000,000. The Sioux War, more hideous in its inception than even King Philip's cruelties, lasted only one month and six days, at a cost to the government of less than $250,000. It seems incredi- ble, yet it is true. He who directed the footsteps of young Sibley to the Western wilds, trained him for fifteen years, to live the red man's life, and learn the red man's ways, bap- tizing him with names of mystic import, ^^Ral a Dakotah,^' and " Walker-in-the-Fines,^^ meant mercy to a state even then unborn. That strange preparation, unconscious of its aim, was but a drill room, fitting for a crisis of the nation's peril and the state's calamity, when Colonel Sibley's experience, wisdom, and action should forestall an Indian combination 281 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF which, if unforestalled, might have blotted the new-born state from the Union, and changed the nation's destiny. Evermore, Providence has the right man for the right place. On the twenty-fifth day of November, 1862, by virtue of the removal of Major General Pope to Madison, Wisconsin, his new head- quarters, General Sibley, nothwithstanding all previous dis- positions and arrangements, became general commanding the military district of Minnesota, General Pope commanding the remainder of the department of the Northwest. The fate of the condemned is not without its tragic inter- est. Were they all worthy of death ?^ That question sprang into existence the moment the labors of the commission were ended. President Lincoln, as commander-in-chief of the Uni- ted States forces, forbade the hanging of anyone convicted by a military commission, without his approval. While none in the State of Minnesota doubted the justice of the finding, oj)inion was divided outside of the state. The causes of this division were various. The feeling that the white man was deeply to blame, and that the policy of the government was largely responsible for the outbreak, the spectacular display of three hundred and three human beings dangling simul- taneously from the same scaffold, the possibility that the work of the commission might need some revision, the false and mawkish sentimentalism of men opposed to capital punish- ment, the influence of the Quakers in the East importuning President Lincoln not to suffer such an execution, certain uusent apostles of the pulpit expounding that the hanging of ten guilty men might be justified but the hanging of three hundred, equally guilty, would be intolerable; these, and va- rious other causes induced a delay on the part of Lincoln, such as to beget the impression, in the state, that executive clemency would finally disappoint the public expectation. From November 10th to December 6th passed away without any decision. It was a long list the president had to review, and serious work he had to do, and his business and his cares were already legion. With a solemn sense of his responsi- 1 "The Indians have not been without excuse for their evil deeds. Our own people have given them intoxicating drinics, tauglit them to swear, violated the rights of womanhood among them, robl)ed them of their dueH and tlien Insulted tliem. What more would be nec- essary to make one nation rise against another? What more, I ask? And yet how many curse this people and cry Erlerminale them ! Dare we, as a nation, thus bring a curse upon ourHelves and future generations?"—" Forty Years Among the Sioux," by Rev. S. li. Riggs, !».[>., LL.D., p. 178. Comi)are Neill's Hist, of Minn., pp. 509, 510; Heard's Hist. Sioux War, Ai)pendlx, pp. 343-3)4; Bryant's Indian Massacre, pp. 38-38. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 285 bility he considered every case by itself, read every Indian name, wrote it out, and marked the number of it, examining the charge, weighing the testimony, and pronouncing his de- liberate judgment. How conscientiously this was done, those who knew him can imagine. Meanwhile the popular indigna- tion and impatience of the state were aroused. Protests and appeals, by state senators and representatives, memorials from the valley towns, a petition from St. Paul signed by three hundred of her citizens, the influence of the public press, two hundred armed men marching to burst through the military guard at Camp Lincoln and commence another massacre of all the Indians under sentence, denunciation of the "Eastern sympathizers with red-handed miscreants such as the Puritans themselves had butchered, burned, scalped, and sold to slavery for their crimes," recital of the "sufferings the infant colonies had borne," the "justice of lex talionis,^^ and the divine decree that ' 'whoso sheds man' s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, ' ' all this, crowned with the faultless sentiment, ^^ Let law be exe- cuted and let justice have its course,^' was brought to bear upon the president. General Sibley, though mainly in accord with the popular sentiment, yet issued an effective military order for the arrest of all persons conspiring to invade the camp, or, by unlawful means, take vengeance into their own hands; an order promptly executed by Colonel Stephen Miller of the Seventh regiment, commanding the post at Mankato. How critical the situation was will be seen in the following military dispatches between Generals Sibley, Elliott, Halleck, and President Lincoln: Headquarters District of Minnesota, St. Paul, December 6, 1862. Brigadier General Elliott, Commanding Department: About eleven o'clock on the night of the fourth instant, the guard around the Indian prisoners at Camp Lincoln were assaulted by nearly two hundred men, who attempted to reach the prisoners, with the avowed in- tention of murdering the condemned prisoners. Colonel Miller, command- ing, warned previously of the design, surrounded the assailants and took them prisoners, but subsequently released them. Colonel Miller informs me that large numbers of citizens are assembling, and he fears a serious collision. I have authorized him to declare martial law, if necessary, and call to his assistance all the troops within his reach. He thinks it will re- quire 1,000 true men to protect the prisoners against all organized popular outbreak. He will have nearly or quite that number, but it is doubtful if they can be relied on in the last resort. 286 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Please telegraph the facts to the president, and ask instructions. Any hour may witness a sad conflict, if it has not already occurred. H. H. Sibley, Brigadier General, Commanding. Headquaetkes Depaetment of the Noethwest, Madison, Wis., December 6, 1862. Major General H. W. Halleclc, Washington, D. C: General Sibley reports that, on the fourth, the guard around the Indian prisoners at South Bend were assaulted by about two hundred citizens with intent to murder the Indians. The citizens were taken prisoners, but sub- sequently released; that a large number of citizens are assembling, and a serious collision is feared. I have ordered strong re-enforcements to the guard over the prisoners. W. L. Elliott, Brigadier General, Commanding. St. Paul, December 8, 1862. Brigadier General Elliott, Commanding Department : Dispatches and private letters just received indicate a fearful collision between the United States forces and the citizens. Combinations, em- bracing thousands of men in all parts of the state, are said to be forming, and in a few days our troops, with the Indian prisoners, will be literally besieged. I shall concentrate all the men I can at Maukato. But should the president pardon the condemned Indians, there will be a determined effort to get them in possession, which will be resented, and may cost the lives of thousands of our citizens. Ask the president to keep secret his decision, whatever it may be, until I have prepared myself as best I can. God knows how much the excitement is increasing and extending. Tele- graph without delay to headquarters. H. H. Sibley, Brigadier General, Commanding. Headquaetees Depaetment of the Northwest, Madison, Wis., December 9, 1862. Major General H. W. Hallcck, Washington, D. C: General Sibley reports uiat combinations, embracing thousands in all parts of Minnesota, are forming to get the condemned Indians in their pos- session. I ask that the action of the president may be kept secret until we can concentrate the troops, to prevent a collision, if possible. W. L. Elliott, Brigadier General United States Volunteers, Commanding. All proper diligence and every possible precaution were used to prev(;nt the gathering of the rising storm of popular violence, and the outburst of pcut-up revenge. A proclama- tion by Governor Karasey to the people as "good citizens," not to wreck, by acts of lawlessness, the public order, but "await the decision of the overburdened president," was pro- ductive also of the best results. HON. HENEY HASTINGS SIKLEY, LL.D. 287 The decision came at last. Contrary to the expectation of the people, the president signed the death sentences of but forty of those condemned by the commission, approving only the execution of such persons as the testimony showed had been "guilty of individual murders and atrocious abuse of their female captives." Of these, Otakla, alias Godfrey, was allowed a commutation of sentence to ten years' imprison- ment. Tah-te-mi-na, or Eound Wind, of whose guilt some lingering doubt remained, as, also, in view of what his noble relative, John Other-Day, "had done in behalf of the whites," was reprieved by the president. The number to be executed was thus reduced to thirty-eight. The following is a copy of the officially certified order of President Lincoln to General H. H. Sibley, December 6, 1862, and a copy also of the "Special Order, No. 59," based upon it, by General Sibley, to Colonel Stephen Miller, De- cember 15, 1862, to carry the order of the president into effect, on Friday, December 19, 1862. Executive Mansion, Washington, December 6, 1862. Brigadier General H. H. Sibley, St. Paul, Minnesota: Ordered that, of the Indiaus and half-breeds sentenced to be hanged by the military commission, composed of Colonel Crooks, Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, Captain Grant, Captain Bailey, and Lieutenant Olin, and lately sitting in Minnesota, you cause to be executed on Friday, the nineteenth day of December instant, the following named, to-wit : "Te-he-hdo-ne-cha." No. 2 by the record. "Tazoo"' alias " Plan-doo-ta, " No. 4 by the record. "Wy-a-tah-to-wah," No. 5 by the record. " Hin-han-shoon-ko-yaz, " No. 6 by the record. " Muz-za-bom-a-du, " No. 10 by the record. " Wah-pay-du-ta," No. 11 by the record. "Wa-he-hua," No. 12 by the record. "Sna-ma-ni," No. 14 by the record. "Tah-te-mi-na," No. 15 by the record. "Rda-in-yan-kna," No. 19 by the record. ' ' Do-wan-sa, ' ' No. 22 by the record. "Ha-pan," No. 24 by the record. "Shau-ka-ska" (White Dog), No. 35 by the record. " Toon-kan-e-chab-tay-mauee, " No. 67 by the record. "E-tay-hoo-tay," No. 68 by the record. " Am-da-cha," No. 69 by the record. " Hay-pee-don " or " Wamne-omne-ho-ta, " No. 70 by the record. "Mehpe-o-ke-na-ji," No. 96 by the record. "Henry Milord," a half-breed, No. 115 by the record. 288 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF " Chas-kay-don " or "Chaskay-etay," No. 121 by the record. "Baptiste Campbell," a half-breed, No. 138 by the record. " Tah-ta-kay-zay, " No. 155 by the record. " Ha-pink-pa, " No. 170 by the record. "Hypolite Auge," a half-breed, No. 175 by the record. "Wa-pay-shne," No. 178 by the record. " Wa-kau-tau-ka, " No. 210 by the record. "Toon-kan-ka-yag-e-na-jin," No. 225 by the record. "Ma-kat-e-na-jin," No. 254 by the record. ' ' Pa-zee-koo-tay-ma-ne, ' ' No. 264 by the record. " Ta-tay-hde-don, " No. 279 by the record. " Wa-she-choon " or " Toon-kan-shkan-shkan-mene-hay, " No. 318 by the record. "A-e-cha-ga," No. 327 by the record. " Ha-tan-in-koo, " No. 333 by the record. " Chay-ton-hoou-ka, " No. 342 by the record. " Chan-ka-hda, " No. 359 by the record. "Hda-hin-hday," No. 373 by the record. "Oh-ya-tay-a-koo," No. 377 by the record. ' ' May-hoo-way-wa, ' ' No. 382 by the record. " Wa-kin-yan-na, " No. 383 by the record. The other condemned prisoners you will hold subject to further orders, taking care that they neither escape, nor are subjected to any unlawful violence. (Signed,) Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States. Headquarters, District of Minnesota, Department of the Northwest, St. Paul, Minn., December 13, 1862. [Special Order, No. 59.] The order of the president of the United States, of which the foregoing is a true copy, will be carried into full effect on the day prescribed, that is to say, on Friday, the nineteenth day of the present month, by Colonel Stephen Miller, commanding at Mankato, at such hour and place as he may appoint. H. H. Sibley, Brigadier General, Commanding. St. Paul, Minn., April 17, 1876. I hereby certify that the foregoing copies of orders for the execution of the Sioux Indians concerned in the outbreak of 1862, are true transcripts of the originals, wiiich have been donated to the Minnesota Historical Society. H. H. Sibley. In response to "Special Order, No. 59," Colonel Miller communicated with General Sibley. The time between the seventeenth and nineteenth was too limited to sufficiently HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 289 prepare for the execution. General Sibley instantly tele- graphed to President Lincoln, who replied to the telegram, fixing the time for the execution at the general's suggestion, and which was consequently fixed for a week later. Executive Mansion, Washington, December 16, 1862. Brigadier General H. H. Sibley, St. Paul, Minn.: As you suggest, let the execution fixed for Friday, the nineteenth in- stant, be postponed to, and be done on, Friday, the twenty-sixth instant. A. Lincoln. Operator — Please send this very carefully and accurately. In obedience to this arrangement, Colonel Miller, under date of December 17, 1862, announced that Friday, December 26, 1862, at half-past ten o'clock of the forenoon, the execution would take place at Mankato. The awful day was approaching, rapid as the fates could spin and cut off their threads. Monday, December 22, the condemned were removed from the log jail to a separate room in a stone building adjoining, and given the spiritual counsel of Dr. Williamson and Father Ravoux. Tuesday, the twenty- third, having parted from friends who came to see them, they improvised a war-dance, during which they chanted their death-song. Wednesday, the twenty fourth, each man was allowed to take leave of his relatives. The scenes were sad and affecting, as they spoke of their wives and children whose wrongs they had only avenged. Many wept big tears as they alluded to the wigwam bereaved of its joy, and took their last leave of the homes and land of their sires, torn from their grasp by the white man's hand. Thursday, the twenty-fifth, the women are admitted. Lockets of hair, blankets, and beads, coats, pipes, and trinkets of all kinds, are bequeathed as dying gifts, and mementoes of human affection. One message is sent to all their friends. It is not to mourn their loss. Ta-zoo or Eed Otter, affects to joke. Tah te-mi-na, or Eound Wind, yet unreprieved, is baptized. Tip-of-the-Horn hopes the "Great Wakan" will save him. Walker-cladin-the-Owl's- Tail has nothing to say. Many profess themselves penitent and look to Christ for the pardon of sin. It seems as if a door of hope had been opened to some of these poor Dakota Gentiles, by the pious labors of Dr. Williamson and Father Eavoux, who taught them to say: 290 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF "Jesus Christ, nitowashti kin, Woptecashna mayaqu. Jesus Christ, thy loving kindness Boundlessly thou gavest me." Later at night they are chained to the floor, some singing, some smoking, some sleeping. They appear contented and cheerful. Black Friday, December 26, 1862, only two days previous to the day the Indians had agreed upon for a general council of war, has come. Martial law has been proclaimed. The saloons are closed. The hotels are crowded. At dawn of the day, their friends having entered, they tell them they wish to die happy, not sadly, but bravely, like true Dakotas. They are anxious, however, to look well as they march to the expia- tion. Their eagle-x^lumes, and feathers of the owl's tail, are adjusted with care, and their faces retouched, in artistic mode, with vermilion and ultramarine. They shake hands with the officers, bid them good bye, and perform together, with plain- tive wail, the sad music of the Indian death song. At 7:30 a. M. they are pinioned. The death-song is again sung. Father Eavoux, in the Dakota tongue, devoutly commends them to the mercy of God. Some solemnly respond to his prayer, others sob loudly. Hot tears fall heavily to the ground. A last word is spoken. They look into their little pocket mir- rors to see if the feathers and the paint are all right. Their toilet is perfect. At ten o'clock precisely, they move to the scaffold, through files of soldiers, and are delivered by Captain Eedfield to Cap- tain Burt, the officer of the day. Again the death-song is sung as they ascend the platform soon to slip from their feet. This time, however, it is mingled with the hideous "i/i-yi-yi," even after the caps were drawn over their faces. The noose is adjusted to each. Cut N'ose, a brute to the last, commits a nameless insult. All is ready. The supreme moment has come. The scaffold stands in the midst of the troops, who are formed in a hollow square near the river front. From its beams thirty-eight ropes are suspended, now fastened to thirty-eight necks. It is winter, and'wet and cold, yet every stre(;t and house and hotel, door, window, and eligible spot, is crowded. The poor wretches try to clasp hands, some suc- ceeding, — they stand so closely together, — the grasp unre- laxed even in death. Three low beats of the drum by Major Brown, slow, steady, measured, dismal, and funereal. One,- HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 291 Two,-Three! aud the rope of the platform is cut by Mr. Diiley of Lake Shetek, whose wife and two children had been cai)tured, and three children killed. The scaftbld floor falls, and thirty- eight bodies, spasmodic in agony, writhe and twist and turn and whirl on their halters. A universal cheer goes up from citizens and soldiers alike, protracted, repeated, yet somewhat subdued, blood-curdling, horrific. The dying hear it. Retri- bution has come. Justice alone, in that hour of excitement, retains her composure and looks on the scene with a face undisturbed and calm. On every side is a jubilee, and the Angel of Judgment seems to intone the solemn "^mew."^ Tragic end, not less tragic than the massacre itself! The bodies of the culprits are cut down when life is extinct, piled into four army wagons and borne, by a burial party under Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, to a sandbank in the Minnesota river, where, in a common ditch, thirty feet long, twelve wide, in double rows, first blankets, then earth thrown upon them, their uncofQned remains are sunk out of sight. ^ What be- came of them, immediately afterward, the medical profession can, perhaps, best inform the world ! All that remained to be done now, so far as this sad affair was concerned, was to report to the president the fulfillment of his order, which Gen- eral Sibley did in the following telegram: St. Paul, Mixn., December 27, 1862. Tlie President of the United States: I have the honor to iuform you that the thirty-eight Indians and half- breeds, ordered by you for execution, were hung yesterday at Mankato, at 10 A. M. Everything went off quietly, and the other prisoners are vrell secured. Eespectfully, H. H. Sibley, Brigadier General. Throughout this trying ordeal, as in the field itself, and camp, the staff and field officers of General Sibley won for themselves the highest praise. Colonel Crooks, Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, Colonel Miller, Colonel McPhail, Captain Whitney, Major Brown, Major McLaren, like others, were gentlemen of pure character, accomplished, brave, and faithful to the state. For the hardships they endured, the invaluable services they rendered, and the deliverance they wrought, with the troops at their command, the state can never make a sufficient testimonial of its gratitude. 1 For a fall description of the scene, see St. Paul Daily Press, September 28, 1862, and the Pioneer and Democrat, same date. 292 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF To assist, as far as possible, the completion of the fourth great object sought by General Sibley in his Indian expedi- tion, but Tvhich, for want of a cavalry force, was still left incomplete, viz., to drive the Sioux and their allies from the state. Congress took efficient action. During the months of February, March, and April, 1863, it legislated the abrogation of all existing treaties with the Sioux bands, or Dakotas, in the state, the forfeiture to the government of their annuities and claims, and the appropriation of $200,000, at present, to the survivors of the massacre and sufferers from the Indian depredations. The removal, also, of the Sioux bands outside the limits of the state, and with them, the removal of the Win- nebagoes also, the sale of their reservation for their benefit, and the extension of the United States laws over them, was enacted, both tribes to be transported into distant but contigu- ous territory. In this way, the popular demand for the exe- cution of the reprieved Indian prisoners was abated, no less than 1,000,000 acres of their land being now thrown open to public sale at the government price, and of immense value to the settlers in the state. Though the Hon. H. M. Rice had written from Washington, to General Sibley, that "more exe- cutions would take place, if necessary," yet the cry for more blood was moderated by the vision of more compensating acres. Pursuant to this legislation, the remainder of the con- demned at Mankato were, in the spring of 1863, quietly placed upon the steamer Favorite, and removed to Camp McClellan, Davenport, Iowa, where for eighteen months they were held and treated as convicts of the state prison. Of the Fort Snell- ing prisoners, whom disease and sorrow had spared to drag out a wretched existence, the whole number of them, now 1,300, soon followed, taking a last look at the hills and plains they loved so well. May 4, 1863, loaded on a steamer at the dock, and pelted with stones as they stood, crowded, on its boiler deck, men, women, and children, their blankets their only rampart of protection, they were sent for up the Missouri river to the Crow Creek reservation, on which neither the rain nor dew seemed to fall, their numbers reduced to 1,000 before reaching their destination. Such the .status of things within six months after the massacre of August, 1862. An event like the Sioux massacre, which, even in the throes of our Civil War, attracted the attention of the nation, could not but lead to serious reflection. That General Sibley HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 293 had doue his whole duty, releasing the captives, arresting, trying, and condemning the Indian prisoners, and disappoint- ing the Confederate expectation of Indian help from the North- west, was a fact everywhere recognized. At the same time, conversant with the Indian policy of the government, and what the Indians had suffered, he was the last of men to hold that the outbreak was "without excuse," or that the thirty- eight who swung from the scaffold were "sinners above all " who dwelt in Minnesota or the United States. With the bloody cry of "extermination " he had no sympathy, although his heart was "steeled" against the guilty perpetrators of deeds too cruel to relate. He thought, wisely, that the just punishment of crime is no defense of the causes by which the crime itself was provoked, and that the terrible massacre in Minnesota, like the Civil War itself, was a judgment of Hea- ven for oppression and wrong, which, from the foundation of the government, had not ceased to merit divine displeasure. He saw in the events of the time only another instance of the operation of that same law to which the pagan poet referred when instructing the Romans that they suffered because of ^^delicta majorum,^^ as well as for crimes of their own. He had, in the halls of Congress, already forewarned the nation of what was most certain to come. He, moreover, vindicated the char- acter of the Indian from the convenient aspersion of excessive brutality and inhumanity, of which it was common to say the white man was wholly incapable. And in this he was right, all well-informed men concurring. The guilt of the massacre was a divided guilt, and at the white man's door lay a heavy responsibility, from which no argument of "public policy against individual right," nor "law of progress," "superior race," and "Christian civilization," could ever excuse. He condemned the one-sided self-justifying temper of the times inspired by lust of territorial acquisition, and greed of per- sonal gain, which remitted to oblivion the provocation given to the Indian, and remembered only the Indian's revenge. Unwilling to abate one jot of the claims of justice, he was as unwilling to abate one jot of the claims of truth. For slander he cared nothing. With his eyes full on the facts, he could say that the Indian i)olicy of the United States Government toward the red man was "one of the foulest blots on our na- tional escutcheon." He had lived among the Indians, almost as one of their number, for fifteen years. He knew them well. 294 ANCESTEY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF He repudiated the sentiment which credits to the white man's nature an excess of virtue over that in the red man's blood. And he knew, too well, that even in his most barbarous mood, when exasperated to revenge, and maddened in despair, the red man had committed no deed so foul but that the white man could match it, and even surpass it. Therefore, even in the hour of execution, he felt that the Indian, though guilty, and righteously punished, yet died the victim of the white man's avarice, injustice, and wrong. ^ It is time the white man ceased to plume himself upon his superior virtue, culture, humanity, and civilization ! The dark eclipse of depravity^ common to the nature of all men. 1 The folloTiving letter of Bishop AVhipple shows how intense the rage for "extermina- tion" was, and how even the best of men were maligned and misrepresented if not chiming in with the insane demand for a massacre of all the Indians : Faribault, December 8, 1862. To General Sibley: Dear Sir: Your private and official letters are here by to-day's mail. I fully approve of your reasons for your decision, and agree with you in other matters. My views have always been very sharp and well defined as to the necessity of prompt punishment for crime, and although a clergyman, I have always refused to sue for pardon even where my sympa- thies were deeply enlisted. I feel that the wretched Indians have sinned against the light of nature, and by the laws of God and man have forfeited their lives. * * * it is due to the cause of truth that false calumnies should be exposed. The way is by no means clear for the future, but I do hope and pray that God, in his infinite mercy, will lead us where we are blind, and, out of all this trouble, bring us to a place of safety. Should any be so blind as to sup- pose I sympathize with the guilty you will do vie a favor by denying it, and giving my real views which aim at the reform of our corrupt system. I am with high respect. Yours Faithfully, W. B. Whipple, Bishop of Minnesota. And what a treatment the Indians have received at the hands of the government, under its " corrupt system," the following words of General Sibley sadly and painfully show: The history of the treatment of the various tribes of Indians by the United States Government constitutes one of the foulest blots ou our national escutcheon. The volume containing the long list of treaties negotiated within the last century alfords conclusive eviilence of the violation of public faith. I will venture to assert that not one of the numer- ous treaties on the statute books lias ever been scrupulously fulfilled by the United States Government. The poor savages have been beguiled, time after time, by promises, made only to be disregarded, to relinquish their possessory rights to the lands of their fathers. The senate has often assumed to make radical changes in these so-called treaties, without obtain- ing the jirevious assent of the other parties to the contract, and Congress has almost uni- fornily failed to make the stipulated appropriations within the appointed time. Agents, incompetent or dishonest, have, as a general rule, been charged with the disbursement of the funds, and with the distrit)utiou of goods and provisions, and what was not appropriated to private use has oftentimes been doled out to the recipients un('<|\ially,and gross favoritism generally practiced. The government has been guilty of utter indillcrence to the fate of these so-called wards of the nati teams." — Diary of Oeneral Hlbley, p. 3. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 305 to the Black Hills, and from the forks of the Platte to Devil's lake. A fire must be kindled in his rear. The occurrence of every Indian outrage, no matter how distant from General Sibley's camp, or line of march, was instantly ascribed to his inaction, and insane charges of incompetence, delay, and ir- resolution were showered upon him as fast as certain writers could invent and empty them. ^ Disappointed ambition, envy, jealousy, retaliation for defeated schemes devised for personal emolument, insinuations of disloyalty, and political and par- tisan asperity, all did their best to injure and disparage. It was no new experience. It had been tried the year before. In the midst of the Civil War, a Democratic military officer, who failed to work miracles and do impossibilities, fared ill at the hands of his Eepublican opponents, no matter how loyally he stood to his flag, while yet he refused to surrender his Dem- ocratic principles. If a Hancock, Sickles, Logan, and others, could not evade the shafts of calumny aimed at their names, lest their deeds should win for them a generous remembrance in days to come, General Sibley could as little expect immu- nity from similar injustice. Still more. In a free country like America, where every man is at liberty to account himself a commander, the successors of "the goose who gabbled to Hannibal how a campaign should be conducted, and a battle fought," could not fail to be as numerous as they were conspic- uous. It was easy, moreover, to croak and find fault with Gen- eral Sibley, marching twice as rapidly as General Sully, ther- mometer standing at 94°, 100°, 104°, 108° and 111°, in the shade, and ridicule his movement as that of a "terrific Brob- dingnag" chasing with slow motion, and seeking "to crush the Sioux Lilliput under the ponderous heel of strategy!"^ — but it was not quite so easy to take the place of Halleck and Stanton, Pope and Sibley, Malmros and Ramsey, and "extirpate," even 1 No accusations could be more unjust. So far as the frontier was concerned, Colonel Miller of the Seventh regiment was assigned by General Sibley to the duty of guarding the same, during the absence of General Sibley. In Colonel Miller's command were part of the Seventh regiment, two companies of the Tenth, nine companies of the Ninth, the whole of the Eighth regiment, one company of mounted rangers, and such other troops as could be spared. These were spread along the line of the frontier to secure the settlers, as far as was possible, from any outrages and depredations by roving parties of Indians. A network of fortifications existed along the whole frontier garrisoned by 2,000 soldiers. The inherent defects of a regular military organization, for which General Sibley could not be held re- sponsible, were, moreover, sought to be remedied by a corps of independent scouts, organized by order of the adjutant general, to operate wherever they might, without regard to the regular service. Everything that could be done was done to meet the peculiar modes of In- dian warfare, and protect the people of Minnesota. 2 Quoted from the St. Paul Press, and repelled in Heard's Hist. Sioux War, p. 306. 20 306 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF with the "fine-tooth comb of irregular scouts" scratching the forest everywhere, those skipping Scythians of the hairy woods, of whom what Caesar said of their ancient prototypes was only too true, ^^difficilms invenire quam interflcere,^^ — "it is harder to catch than it is to kill them!" It made no dif- ference. In those days, when North and South were in con- flict, a Democrat was, by thousands of stalwart Eepublicans, christened, ipso facto, a "wool- dyed rebel," whose salvation either in this or another world was regarded as wholly beyond the power of God! Happily for General Sibley, intrenched so firmly in the confidence of the state, these shafts fell pointless and power- less at his feet. Forward the expedition went, marching from camp to camp, the column and train advancing under a broil- ing sun; cavalry, infantry, and artillery; scouting, explor- ing, skirmishing, and returning; their military route passing through solitudes, sandhills and bluffs, coolies and coteaux, timbered or bare; streams stagnant and covered with scum; ridges loaded with boulders; prairies blasted by fire which the Indians had kindled to hinder the march; lightning, thun- der, and rain; ground broken and rocky; grasshoppers thick as the locusts of Egypt and filling the air like snowflakes; huge flies obedient to Beelzebub, and, by the billion, drawing the blood from mules, horses, and men! Still, onward they moved, amid marshes and mounds, and dust clouds raised by the buffalo; wind hot as the breath of a simoon, and flUed with suffocating smoke; trails rugged and tortuous, made by the Indians retreating across the wildest regions; yet not with- out landscapes of valleys and hills, prairies and plains, splen- did as Nature could make them ; westward, northward, upward, downward, and between, till the banks of the Missouri were reached. At first, the Indian retreat was in the direction of the British line. Made aware, perhaps, by some of their trans-Missouri friends, of the delay of General Sully by reason of low water in the river, preventing the arrival of his sup- plies, they changed their line of retreat, toward the Missouri river itself, expecting further reinforcements, thus transfer- ring the Sioux War from the boundaries of Minnesota to the banks of that stream. Three weeks had passed away since the order to march was given at Camp Pope. July 4th, the Big I><^nd of the river Cheyenne was reached, the woods of the sand mounds, and of the " Chien qui Graite,^^ seen on the HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 307 right, and the hill ^^ShonTiah-tcalikon-ehincha-tah^^ looming in the far distance on the left. Letters from Abercrombie con- veyed the rnnior that 1,000 lodges of Indians were concentra- ted at Devil's lake, and the Sionx intended to come and offer battle. A week more passed by, no Indian force appearing. The failure of the expedition had already been predicted, from the long drought, the firing of the prairies, the excess- ive heat, and the grasshoppers. General Sibley was deter- mined, however, that, so far as his command was concerned, there should be no failure. Having opened communication, at Camp Douglas, this side of Devil's lake, with some Red River Chippewa half-breeds, July 17th, he learned the whereabouts of Standing Buffalo, Mahtowakkon, Red Plume, and Sweet Corn, and that six hundred lodges of Indians had separated into three camps, west of the James river, and were making for the Missouri. The doubt that hung over this information was removed at Camp Atchison, where, July 20th, General Sibley received a friendly visit from three hundred Chipj)ewa half-breeds, with Father Andre their Catholic priest at their head, and whom, addressing in French, and thanking them for their friendly visit, he dismissed in peace. It was plain that, from the further information now obtained. Devil's lake was no longer to be thought of, unless the entire informa- tion should prove false. General Sibley acted promptly. Assembling his colonels and regimental officers, in council of war, he announced to them his purpose to leave the footsore and inefficient men and heavier portion of the train in Camp Atchison, with sufficient gaurd, and hasten, at once, by forced marches, to overtake the retreating foe. The j)roi)osition was hailed with delight. Immediately, with 1,436 infantry, 520 cavalry, 100 pioneers, and artillery, 25 days' rations loaded on his wagons, he started in pursuit, himself borne in an am- bulance, owing to the painful wrenching of his knee and hip- joint caused by the miring of his horse. Thoughtful and cau- tious, he says, "lam bearing farther west to enable me to strike either toward the coteau of the Missouri, where the Indians are reported to be, or Devil's lake, as the position of the Indians may render necessary." "Mail, today, from Fort Abercrombie, bringing papers to date of twelfth instant, in which are misrepresentations based upon statements of and others. We are determined to falsify these predictions of failure."^ July 22d he had made forty-eight 1 General Sibley's Diary, pp. 50,56. 308 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF miles west of Camp Atchison, aud corraled his train at Camp Kimball, having crossed the James river. An Indian scout, sent to feel after Standing Buffalo, reports that the Indian bands were on the Missouri cotean. "Shall hang him," says General Sibley, "if he has deceived me!" Still pursuing. General Sibley, July 23d, crossed the second ridge of the Mis- souri coteau, and, next day, passed Lake Sibley, "a handsome sheet of water, two and a half miles from Big Mound," the scouts reporting a large body of Indians in the neighborhood, Eed Plume and Standing Buffalo among them. The long- desired moment for effective action had at last come. The week commencing July 24, 1863, is crowded with ex- traordinary interest. It presents the history of three deci- sive engagements fought by General Sibley against the most powerful combination of Indian warriors ever massed together, at any one time, in the annals of Indian warfare; three sepa- rate victories over a total Indian force 2,200 to 2,500 strong, ending in routing the Indians with great loss, and driving them, broken and discomfited, in wild confusion, across the Missouri river. The battle of Big Mound was fought Friday, July 24, 1863. As soon as the news of the Indian approach was made known by the scouts to General Sibley, about 1 p. m., the order was given to corral the train on the shore of a salt lake near by, and throw up earthworks as a precaution against sudden at- tack on the transportation. Parties of Indians soon appeared on the neighboring hills, venturing near a portion of Gen- eral Sibley's scouts, four hundred yards from the camp, Eed Plume, a chief opposed to the war, yet in the Indian camp, having sent word to General Sibley to beware of a plan de- vised to invite him and his officers to a conference with Standing Buffalo at the Big Mound and then treacherously shoot them. Surgeon Weiser of the First Minnesota Rangers having incautiously approached, the Indians extending their hands in a friendly way, was suddenly shot through the heart. Lieutenant Freeman, while distant with some scouts, was also killed. With the shooting of Dr. Weiser, the battle was pre- cipitated, tlie savages encircling those portions of the camp not protected by the lake, the Big Mound being situated one and one-half miles away at the terminus of a ravine between it and the camp. Precisely at 3 p. m., a thunder-storm boom- HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 309 ing, the First battalion of cavalry, Colonel McPhail, sup- ported by two companies of the Seventh regiment, was ordered to advance, and, dividing the Indians, hold the ground where Weiser had fallen. The Sixth regiment, Colonel Crooks, with part of the Seventh, was deployed on the hills on the right flank of the camp, Lieutenant Colonel Averill, with two com- panies, being deployed on the left flank. Colonel Marshall, with five companies of the Seventh, was directed to advance U13 the ravine on the left of the cavalry now dismounted on account of the extremely broken condition of the ground. Part of the Tenth regiment. Colonel Baker, was, for the pres- ent, retained in care of the camp. General Sibley, ascending a hill with a six-jjounder, supported by one company of the Tenth regiment, under Captain Edgerton, opened fire with spherical case shot upon the Indians in possession of the upper part of the ravine, and ordered a general advance of the troops. The Indians, at least 1,500 in number, including families, retreating before the destructive volleys of musketry and shell, were forced back over successive ridges, moving southward to their camp five miles distant, where the retreat became a rout and a panic; — the camp abandoned, their fam- ilies rushing before them in wild dismay. Colonel McPhail, supported by the Seventh regiment, part of the Tenth, and Whipple's section of a battery, closely pursuing. Five suc- cessive charges were made, in the midst of the terrific thunder- storm, the lightning killing one private, and loosening the grasp of McPhail' s hand on his saber while engaged with an Indian. The loss of the Indians was eighty killed and wounded, twenty-one being scalped in the last charge. ^ The trail was strewn with all manner of articles, provisions, clothes, skins, utensils, and furniture. The infantry reached a point ten miles, the cavalry fifteen miles, beyond General Sibley's camp. Nothing could be more complete than this victory, and the Indians were now absolutely in the power of General Sib- ley. But, while man proposes, a Higher Power disposes. As the wise man learned by experience that "time and chance happen to all," so two important circumstances here contribu- ted to shape the final results of the expedition. One was the 1 This white man's barbarity was severely discountenanced by General Sibley. "I am ashamed," said he, " to say that all were scalped. Shame upon such brutality 1 God's image should not be thus mutilated or disfigured." — Diary, p. 69. 310 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF failure of General Sully to aj)i)ear at the time expected, the other the misdelivery of au important order. General Sibley had sent his order, by Lieutenant Beever, a faithful and ac- complished officer, to Colonel McPhail "not to follow the Indians after dark but ijursue them while it was light enough to do so," instructing him "to bivouac upon the field if not attacked, but, if attacked, or threatened with a night attack, to fall back, at once, on his supports, and, if necessary, return to the camp."i q\^Q order was mistakenly delivered, Colonel McPhail understanding it to be an order not to bivouac upon the field, but repair to camp, at nightfall, thus avoiding a night attack. Colonel Marshall, still disposed to remain, yet yielded to Colonel McPhail, the ranking officer, and cavalry, artillery, and infantry retraced their steps to their original position. To his amazement, early next morning when about to advance, the wagons ready and the camp broken up. Gen- eral Sibley saw the pursuing men returning, and learned, with deep regret, the unfortunate mistake by which nearly two whole days were now lost to the expedition, and a dearly won advantage forfeited. A day's rest must now be taken, and the next day be wellnigh consumed in regaining the i^oint reached the night previous. The cavalry, artillery, and infantry, were exhausted by the march, the battle, the chase, and the coun- ter-march, having been twenty-four hours in action, covering forty miles, without rest, and, moreover, destitute of water for twelve hours; a feat almost unparalleled. None so deeply deplored the mistake as the anguished officer who so excitedly and innocently committed it, and whose subsequently toma- hawked head, and body pierced by a ball and three arrows, told how loyally he had served a commander he loved even unto death. 2 The battle of Dead Buffalo Lale was fought Sunday, July 2G, 18ti3. The evacuated Indian camp was passed early on the morning of the twenty-sixth, and, about noon, the scout alarm 1 I>iary, p. CO. 2 Lieutenant Fn;duric Holt Beever was a young volunteer Englishman, of high educa- tion, wealth, and iiccoinplishnient, a graduate of Oxford, who sought and was given a place on <;eueral Siblry's staff". Noting his untimely death, which occurred July 2'.)th, while bear- ing hack an answer to an order to Colonel Crooks, (ioneral .Sibley says: " His Ijody was found in the donst,' tinilKjr near the rivc^r. Two pools of Ijlood on the side of the trail wlicre the Indians liad been in anibiisb, in;nian,and his death is much lamented In camp." — Diary, p. 76. His body was " buried with funeral lionora" at Cauip .Slaughter, .July 31, 1863. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 311 of ^^ Indians conmiff!^^ was raised. A line of skirmishers, un- der Colonel Crooks, was at once thrown forward six hundred yards, supported by Captain Chase and his pioneers, Mith Whipple's section of six-pounders, in order to check this Indian advance. Discharges of spherical case shot caused the Indians to retreat, but only to commence, as usual, encir- cling the camp. A flank movement, attempted on the left, was frustrated by Captain Taylor and his company of mounted rangers, who next hastened to the support of Lieutenant Col- onel Averill, resisting, with two companies of the Sixth regi- ment, the force assailing another portion of the camp. The final assault was made at three o'clock in the afternoon, by the reinforced Indians, who dashed, by circuitous route, to the extreme left of the camp, with a design to stampede the mules herded on the shore of the lake. This bold attempt was quickly met and repulsed by Wilson's and Davy's companies of cavalry, Major McLaren at once extending a line of six companies of the Sixth regiment, and thus effectually secur- ing that flank from further attack. The Indians, foiled in their charge, retired from the contest, leaving a goodly num- ber of their dead and wounded on the field. Their force dur- ing the day ranged from seven hundred to eight hundred. Nine were killed by one man, all Sissetons and Cut Heads, and each was scalped. At nightfall, earthworks were thrown up as a defense against sudden surprise. TJie battle of Stony Lake was fought Tuesday, July 28, 1863. Nothing was more certain than that the Indians were making for the Missouri river, closely pressed by General Sibley, and fighting desperately as they halted a moment to give their wretched wives, mothers, and children, a transient relief from the horrors of the chase. Their only hope of escai3e lay in the absence of General Sully. Again, by forced marching. General Sibley overtook them. On the morning of the twen- ty-eighth, as the rear of the train filed round the end of a narrow lake, a mile long, the Tenth regiment being in the advance ascending a long hill, a scout suddenly waved his blanket, in token of danger, when from every sand hill on every side the Indians seemed to spring, as by magic, out of the ground, and began to encircle the camp. According to the estimates of Colonels Crooks and Marshall, and Major Brown, their number could not have been less than from 2, 000 312 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF to 2,500.^ Whatever direction some may have taken when, breaking up into three separate camps, they commenced moving southward, these in front of General Sibley had clear- ly been reinforced by their trans-Missouri friends. Not only the Lower Sissetons and part of the Yanktonnais, but the trans -Missouri Tetons also were present. General Sibley, riding past Colonel Baker, to the top of the ridge, directed him to deploy two comj)anies, at once, as skirmishers, and sent orders to the regimental commanders to take their posi- tions, in haste, according to the program of the line of march. Not a moment too soon had b^e blanket been waved, or the order given. Onward the Indians came, with fiendish yells, "their vast numbers enabling them to form two -thirds of a circle, five or six miles in extent,'^ along the whole line of which they were seeking for some weak point upon which to precipitate themselves."^ Their advance, splendid as swift, was foiled, however, and their repeated efforts to break through General Sibley's lines were sorely disappointed. Colonel Crooks, with the Sixth regiment, on the right flank, and Colonel Marshall, with the Seventh and McPhail's caval- ry, on the left flank, effectually repulsed every attempt. The brunt of the conflict was borne by the Tenth regiment, Col- onel Baker, in front, where the Indian assault was most gal- lantly met and broken. The artillery dislodged from their holes and lurking places in the stony ground, south of the lake, the enemy there concealed. At last the order was given to advance, in full force, in battle line, out on the open prai- 1 In General Sibley's General Order, No. 51, the number is put at 2,000, but more accu- rate information, after the battle, increased the tigurea. Sibley's telegram to Pope says " 2,000 to 2,500." His diary notes the forces as from "2,200 to 2,-')n0." So, also, his official report to Major General Pope. In the Seminole War, the Seminoles could only bring into the field "1,910 warriors, of whom 250 were negro slaves," their territory being only 47,000 square miles, bloodhounds being used to hunt them, and S200 reward offered for e?ery Indian scalp. General Scott and the ablest officers of the army were in the tield against them, and, after seven years' fighting, were compelled to make peace with them. The " /Simir Li/liput" General Sibley bad to deal with could iimster 4,000 warriors, did muster nearly 2,500 in this one engagement, had a territory of 200,000 square miles, and were encouraged to fight not only by the Confeiloracy of the South, but by French and Knglish inlluences. — Diary, p. 71 ; Rebellion Uecords, Vol. XIV ; Dakota War-Whooj), p. 397 ; Rryant's Indian Massacre, p. 494 ; Heard's Sioux War, p. 388. 2 Official Ileport to Major General I'()I)l'. — Uebellion Record. 3 General Sibley referred to this scene — in personal conversation with the writer — as "one of the most magnificent sights" he ever saw. "Their advance as they deployed was a perfect i»lct ore." So Colonel I'landrau describes the scene of their advance upon New Ulm. till' year previous, ex ((audi rig in " fan-like" order and " encircling" the place, as " very fine and highly exciting."— Magazine of Western Hi.story, April, 1888, p. G61. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 313 rie, and move iu the direction of the families of the Indians, firing front, right, and left. The order was executed with great spirit. The volleys were rapid and incessant, and the six-jiounders and two sections of mountain howitzers whirled their exploding shells into plunging ponies and men. The savages, seeing the design of the movement, broke, running in the same direction, and withdrew from the field. The flight was swift. The Indian camp contained "nearly 10,000 souls." ^ The punishment was severe. It was the last des- perate struggle of the haughty Dakotas this side the Missouri river. Had General Sully#^ force only appeared in time, according to the design of the expedition, the Indians, caught between upper and nether millstones, had been ground to powder. Two days more remain of this eventful week of forced march- ing and fighting. Monday, July 27th, the trail of the retreat- ing Indians was followed, until, iu the distance, '■^La Butte de MissourV^ hove into sight, the Indians and General Sibley's advance having " lively skirmishes" during the day, not a few of the former being wounded or killed. A Young Teton was caught on the twenty-eighth, whose exploit, in successfully evading the bullets of his pursuers by holding up, backhanded, behind him, his outstretched buffalo robe, jerked like a shuttle from side to side, as he ran skipping with zigzag motion, had won for him great admiration. "A per- fect Apollo in form," he was led to the tent of General Sibley. Having proved his non-participation in the fight, and mere presence for the sake of "seeing how the Indians could whip the whites," and being a noble character, — heir to the chief- tainship of his tribe, — he was sometime afterward released by General Sibley, who sent a kind note to his father, recom- mending him always to be at peace, and to treat with mercy any white captives, in view of the fact that he had spared the life of his son. Such deeds are wise as they are generous, and full of good fruit. General Sibley still continued his violent march, having not only fought the battle of Stony Lake, but advanced eighteen miles the same day, with quadrupled teams, in close column, camiHug that evening, at Camp Slaughter, Apple creek. The next day, Wednesday, July 29th, crossing 1 Official Report to Major General Pope. No such concentration of force has, so far as my information extends, ever been made by the savages of the American Continent. — General Sibley. 314 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF the Apple creek, thermometer one hundred and four degrees in the shade, the expedition made sixteen miles of rapid and difficult progress, the cavalry and six-pounders in advance, and, in the afternoon, ^^ struck the Missouri river about four miles above Burnt Boat island, ivhere a natural passage exists, through the bluffs, to the river. The Indian camp was plainly visible on the bluffs opposite, and the hills were lined toith savages, ^catching our line ofmarch.^^ ^ Here was the terminal point of the expedition, nearly six hundred miles from St. Paul, or by the odometer, five hun- dred and eighty-five miles. Het^t the Indians had crossed, not caring to risk another engagement with General Sibley. Gen- eral Sully had failed to intercept. Shelling the dense timber, one and one-half miles thick, through which the Indian trails passed to the banks of the river, and where Lieutenant Beever lost his life, at the hands of straggling Indians in ambush, Colonel Crooks, with the Sixth regiment. Colonel McPhail with the cavalry, and others, were ordered to advance, imme- diately, to the edge of the river. General Sibley and the main column, "at 4 p. m., same day, moved down to the banks of Apple river, near the Missouri, and encamped on a high table- land.'^^ The detachments sent into the woods returned to the camp, after a brief but ineffectual exchange of shots with the Indians across the river. Eockets were thrown up and guns fired, in the hope that General Sully might, even yet, be near, but in vain. At midnight, the long roll was suddenly sound- ed, the prairie having been set on fire by the Indians, and the alarm of "Indians! " given. General Sibley ordered the grass around the camp to be also fired at once, fighting fire with fire, and throwing scouts out in advance. At 7 A. M., July 30th, a detachment of eleven companies, under the command of Colonel Crooks, was sent back to the "Sioux Crossing" to destroy the wagons and other property left by the Indians this side the river, and to search for Lieutenant Beever's body. After dark, the detachment returned to camp, having burned more than one hundred wagons and vehicles of various sorts, 1 Diary, p. 72. "The Hiirnt Boat Island" is now called " Sibley Island," and the "natural passage" is now called the "Sionx Crnssiriff." The latitude is 46° 32' and the loiiKitude 100° 15'. The hanks of the Missouri were densely tiiuhercd one and one-half miles tliick. The place here referred to is not far from Bismarck, where the Northern Pacific railroad overspans the Missouri river. 2 This was on the evening of .July 29th, and the camp liere formed was called "Camp Braden," the place where Lieutenant Beever's recovered body was "buried with funeral honors," July 31, 180:5. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 315 also bearing back the corpse of the lamented young English- man, and of the private of the Sixth regiment, who also had been murdered. Again, without answer, the signal guns were fired and rockets sent up for Sully. Friday, July '61st, the gen- eral order w((s given to the troops to prepare for their homeward 7)iarch to morrow, the remains of Lieutenant Beever and the private having first been committed to their prairie graves. How sad the sigh of General Sibley, "It is hard to see these wretches escape from our^clutches, but there is no remedy." ^ And there was none! The transportation was exhausted and overcome. The burdensome pontoons had been abandoned on the forced marching. To cross the river in the face of a gall- ing fire was destruction wholly useless. To delay was impos- sible. Only twelve days' rations were present, and ten days were required to return to Fort Atchison. The expedition 7nust move from Camp Braden, to-morrow, Saturday, August 1, 1863. All had been done that human strength and wisdom could do, and to wait longer for General Sully was out of the question. At 5:30 A. M., August 1, 1863, the whole force start- ed on its return. If anyone concludes, from this itinerary, that an ofiicer so distinguished, and in every way so reliable, as General Sully, was guilty of negligence, or indisposition, the judg- ment would be as false as the open fact of his absence was true. It is General Sibley himself, who, with characteristic justice and magnanimity, says, "For three successive even- ings I caused cannon to be fired and signal rockets sent up, but all these elicited no reply from General Sully, and I am apprehensive he is detained by insurmountable obstacles." ^ it was even so. Not till a week after General Sibley left Camp Pope did General Sully start from Sioux City. The day General Sibley faced for home, August 1, 1863, General Sully was one hundred and sixty miles below him on the Missouri river, and the day he left Fort Atchison, July 20, 1863, with 1,430 infantry, 560 cavalry, besides guns. General Sully left Fort Pierre with 1,200 cavalry, moving, by forced march, to the Big Bend in the Missouri river. Nor was it till August 28th he learned that General Sibley had successfully engaged the Indians. "There's a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will," and it was not written in the 1 Diary, p. 74. 2 Official Report to Major General Pope. 316 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Book of Destiny that, as yet, the Dakotas should utterly per- ish beneath the upper and nether millstones of this expedi- tion. The expedition under General Sibley was a triumphant success, notwithstanding the Indians crossed the river. They were compelled to cross. The annals of Indian warfare pre- sent no parallel to this campaign, in celerity of movement, economy, care of the lives of the troops, and effective result. Within six weeks' time, or forty-twg days, exactly, from June 16th, when the troops left Camp Pope, to July 28tb, when the final battle of Stony Lake was fought. General Sibley had marched nearly 600 miles, attaining a point in latitude north, 46° 41', and longitude west, 100° 35', reaching within 30 miles of Devil's lake, then turning southward and westward, pushing the Indians before him, pressed on, with his moccasined men, by forced marches, toward the Missouri coteau and river, fighting the three battles of July 24th, 26th, and 28th, ther- mometer ranging from ninety-four degrees to one hundred and eight degrees in the shade, and all with casualties of but seven killed and three wounded, while inflicting upon the enemy not only the severe loss of nearly one hundred and fifty killed and wounded, but the destruction of the entire camp of the Sioux, driving from 8,000 to 10,000 Indians, wail- ing and helpless, across the Missouri river. Achievements like this are rare indeed. The piercing night-cries and lam- entations of the squaws, and Indian mothers, told how fear- fully the Indians had been punished. With truth, the victor could send the dispatch to Major General Pope, forwarded immediately to Major General Halleck:^ August 7, 18fi3. — We had three desperate en<^ageraents with 2,300 Sioux ■warriors, in each of which they were routed and finally driven across the Missouri with the loss of all their subsistence. Our loss was small, while at least one hundred and fil'ty savages were killed and wounded. H. H. SlIU.EY, Driyadier General, Commanding. In liis general order, ending the campaign, July 31, 1863, with justifiable pride on the one hand, and devout gratitude on the other, he thanked his noble officers and troops for their fidelity, endniance, and courage, and congratulated them ui)on the rredation ami outrage, in acritical conjuncture, and without cost to their own government seems to me the acme of al)surility, savoring of ill will to our nation, and of the worst fea- tures of old-fogyism." 1 Ilev. S. It. Itiggc, n.n., in St. Paul Daily I'ress, August 15, 1S(J3. 2 Dakota War-Whoop, by II. K. B. McConkey, |>. 377. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 321 and noblest of men I have ever known, I do not know how there can be any divided opinion in regard to his campaigns. If there is, I have here the judgment of one who is competent to speak. It is the judgment of Major General Curtis of the Regular Army, made to the United States Senate's Committee on Indian Affairs, in reply to questions touching military op- erations against hostile Indians. "I have been in command in the field up the Arkansas river, and, elsewhere in operations against the hostile bands, and I am conversant with all other movements under different commanders in the same direction, and I am frank to say that, in my judgment, no such important or effective blows have ever been struck upon the savages of the frontier as those inflicted by the Minnesota troops under the com- mand of General Sibley in his campaigns q/il862 and 1863." ^ In presence of such testimonials as these, which place Gen- eral Sibley in the front rank of Indian commanders, silence becomes a civilian even as a salute becomes a soldier. To add words here is to "carry coals to Newcastle" and "owls to Athens." There are some things connected with the expedition of 1863 which ought not, in any account of it, to be withheld from the public, and others the sanctity of which will not be in- vaded by revealing to the state the burden of agony General Sibley was called upon to bear, in addition to the load of mili- tary responsibility, and the assaults of detraction, when en- tering on, and while conducting, the same. It is worthy of special notice that, as a commander, he, first of all, forbade 1 St. Peter Tribune, Wednesday, January 28, 1880. The testimony of tlie Hon. E. M. Stanton, secretary of war, is no less conclusive. After General Sibley was detailed as a member of the national civil and military commission to negotiate treaties with the Indians on the Upper Missouri, he visited Washington, by order of the war department, to report to the secretary of the interior, and, with Major Gen- eral Curtis, called on Mr. Stanton. When entering the office, crowded with military men, and others, the usher called out their names. Mr. Stanton, though pressed with important business, immediately left his desk, at the other end of the room, and, hastening to the door, shook hands with General Curtis, who introduced General Sibley to the great war secretary. Seizing General Sibley, with both hands, Mr. Stanton said, " General Sibley, I have never had the pleasure of meeting you before, but I am happy to see you, to assure you that this govern- ment is under great obligations to you for the eminent and important service you have ren- dered, and with such economy and regard for human life, while commanding the military dis- trict of Minnesota." General Sibley bowed gracefully, and, expressing his thanks for the compliment paid him, retired. As the two visitors were leaving the room, General Curtis remarked to General Sibley, " General, I have known Stanton for many years and have had many conferences with him on military matters, but I never heard hira utter any such compliment to any civilian or military officer as he has paid you to-day." Whoever knows the austere, unbending, and adamantine character of the " Iron Secretary of War" will be able to appreciate the value of this incident. It shows what estimate the authorities at Wash- ington placed upon General Sibley's military merit. 21 322 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF the sale of intoxicating liquor to the troops, "an order that remained in force during the whole time of the exj)edition."^ On one occasion he broke up the sutler's store rather than suifer it. Also, by an order issued and published to the camp, June 21, 1863, the first Sunday of the expedition, the observ- ance of the Sabbath as a day of rest from all unnecessary mili- tary duty, was enforced, and throughout the campaign this order was observed. "We shall march farther," said he, "week after week, by resting on God's day, than we should by marching through the seven. But there is a higher view of this subject. If God be not with us, we shall fail of ac- complishing the desired objects, and one way to secure the presence and assistance of God is to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." "On the Sabbath day the standard rested from its march." ^ It was a repetition of the order in the camp of Moses in the wilderness. Twelve Sundays cov- ered the sacred calendar of the expedition, from Sunday, June 21, to Sunday, September 6, 1863. How conscientiously the day was kept is attested, everywhere, in the diary of the com- mander: "Sunday, June 21st. — Remained in camp to-day." "June 28th, Sunday. — Ordered back the stragglers, outside, into camp." "July 5th, Sunday. — I have issued a general order enjoining greater vigilance on the part of my oflBcers, and regularity as to the Sunday order in the camp." "July 12th, Sunday. — Went to hear Chaplain Light of the Seventh regiment. His allusions to home and its sweet associations touched me profoundly, as they brought vividly to my mind how great the recent loss in our dear little flock at my home, and the uncertainty of Frank's recovery." "July 26th, Sun- day. — Alarm of Indians. Formed a line of skirmishers. Nine killed. Over six hundred Indians appeared." "August 2d, Sunday. — I dislike to travel or otherwise violate the sanctity of the Lord's day, but I deem it to be my duty to march to- day." "August 8th, Saturday. — If sufficient can be obtained for the stock, I shall not travel to-morrow, it being Sun- day." "August 9th, Sunday. — Remained in camp. Went to hear Chaplain Lothrop. His allusion to home, and finding our loved ones we left there, reminded me painfully of the ravages made by death in my little ilock." "August 16th, Sunday. — Invited Rev. Mr. Riggs to preach. Suffered much 1 Dakota War- Whoop, ]>. .'535. 2 IbiJ., p. 337. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 323 from pain in my knee, and from dizziness." "August 23d, Sunday. — In camp. Commission api^oiuted to try the Indian prisoners now with us." "August 30tli, Sunday. — Remained in camp. Chaplain Bull arrives with letters from Sarah, of twenty-third and twenty-sixth."^ "September 6th, Sunday. — Remained in camp. Bishop Whipple to preach at half- past ten o'clock. Governor Ramsey, however, left this morn- ing." And so the record runs. The deep personal sorrow and unspeakable bereavement to which allusion is made already, and under whose wellnigh insupportable pain and weight, General Sibley served his state and country, was the death of two dear children, during his absence in the field, and the thought of home and its irrepa- rable desolation. Even before the order to march from Camp Pope was given, the blow had fallen. "June 13, 1863. — Colonel Miller informs me by letter of the death of my dear little lamb-like Mamie. God enable her parents to bear this over- whelming blow with becoming fortitude! How dear to us this gentle child was, he alone knows who alone can tell how ter- rible is the blow I have received! God bless my poor wife and enable her to bear up under the fearful bereavement! " It is the commander who is first struck by bereavement. He may not return, even for a moment, to mingle his tears with the heart-crushed wife of his bosom, who sits, clouded, lonely, and gloomed, by the coffin of her child. '■''Forward !^^ It is the bugle call! Grief must be smothered and home forgotten! '■^Forward '.^^ What a preliminary lesson, what a preparation for military service where, soon, other hearts must wail in unutterable grief! Was it an aimless dispensation, an in- structionless calamity! Calumny herself might have held her tongue till the brave man's pain was assuaged and his tears were dried! His "little lamb-like Mamie," though dead, still lived in the quenchless love of a father's heart. But more sorrow was in store. Billow follows billow. God's waves roll high and fast. "Julj^ 19th. — Remained in camp. Sunday. Messengers from Abercrombie brought letters for me, and the Fress of the eighth, announcing the death of my son Frank. ' ' This was at Fort Atchison, and the day preceding the start on the final week of forced marching and fighting. The strong man is bowed to the earth, struck by wounds God only can heal, and 1 General Sibley had not received a letter from his sorrowing wife "for forty days !" — Diary, p. 102. 324: ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF moaning a double grief God only can assuage. It is midnight. He is alone in his tent. "O my God, why hast thou thus doubly afflicted thy servants'? If for our sins, awful has been thy chastisement upon us! Poor dear Frank and Mamie! Shall I see you no more on earth? Dreadful thought! Even the hope of again meeting my beloved wife and remaining chil- dren becomes more faint and less cheering as I think how our home has been devastated by death within a few short weeks. God give my dear wife and myself strength sufficient to bear up under this second stroke!" Perpetually, throughout his diary, this inconsolable bereavement asserts its claims. The moan breaks through the tent, floats over the prairie, mingles with the storm, and even blends its sad note with the din and fury of battle. ''Poor departed Frank and Mamie! Shall I fail to meet your smiling and familiar faces and your loving welcome when I reach home? My poor wife's sorrow affects me deeply. How fearfully have we been visited by Provi- dence? How shall I feel, if permitted to return, to find my family scattered without a home, and two of my dear children in their graves?" How little the State of Minnesota, secure from harm, and enjoying gladness, knew of these recorded midnight agonies! He dreams! " Camp Kennedy, August 3, 1863. — Tuesday. I had distressing dreams, last night, of Indians attacking the camp in overwhelming numbers, and that I could not give the alarm. Then I dreamed of having arrived at Belle Plaine, and found Mrs. Potts there. I expressed surprise at her leaving St. Paul, when, suddenly, Sarah^ came into the room, looking very smilingly and pleasant. I was astonished and delighted to see her, but Avhen I wished to approach her, to embrace her, she evaded me with a coquettish air, and would not come near me. I asked her if she had brought the children with her, and she said not! She had come to meet me, alone! These things brought back, vividly, upon awaking, the thoughts of my poor departed Frank and Mamie, ^ Surely 1 Mrs. Sibley. 2 ThlB reminds us of a similar experience, sadly as i)eautifully told by the poet : "To my fancied sipht, Love, sweetness, goodness, in her i)erson sinned So clear, as in no face with more delight. But oh' as to embrace her I inclined, She (led; I waked; and day brought back my night." The last words of his son Frank were, "Tell papa to meet me in Iluaren." HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 325 my return home will be a sorrowful oue!" Everywhere these agouies are reproduced in the heart of the sufferer. July 1st, 5th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 19th, 20th, 30th, 31st, August 3d, 5th, 24th, September 6th, bore witness how deeply had sunk into his soul the dark-mantled sorrow that came to be his companion as he started from Camp Pope, mated by an- other, in the midst of his march; both death angels escorting him to his desolated home! Nor were his thoughts confined to himself and his house- hold. He loved his country and his state, next to his home. He longed for peace and not war. "July 10th. — I spent the day in coopering barrels of hard bread for our expedition. We march at 4 a. m. I feel much depressed to-day, not only by my private griefs but by the gloomy news of the advance of the rebels." "August 18th, Camp Ambler. — Exhausted. This is the anniversary of the Sioux outbreak and massacre of 1862. What changes have occurred within one year! Hun- dreds of people massacred, or their homes broken up. The Indians severely chastised at Wood Lake. Many hung, or confined in prison. Campaign of this year about to close with a degree of success almost marvelous. Thank God! The Southern forces are being pushed to the wall, and apparently cannot much longer resist. O for peace and unity, once more, in our beloved country! God grant wisdom to its rulers to guide the nation in this fearful crisis of its fate. Poor dear Mamie and dear Frank! How changed I am in body and mind! I thank God for the strength given me, though so deeply afflicted, to do my whole duty as leader of the exjjedition.''^^ Has any state ever had a man of whom it might be more proud? How loving a husband! How tender a father! How in- corruptible in public life! How successful a soldier and com- mander! In his person were combined justice to man, rever- ence for God, the sentiment of religion, the admiration of virtue, the strength of personal affection, dependence on an overruling Providence, love of country, fidelity, integrity, truth, endurance, and self-sacrifice, — a bright-set constellation of breast-worn honors, outdazzling all the star-and gartered titles of nobility; an ornament of character more costly than the diadems of kings, more lustrous than the gems that Aaron wore. Mediocrity, hate, jealousy, calumny, and death, all love a "shining mark!" 1 Diary, p. 102. 326 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF The march homeward from Camp Slaughter to St. Paul and Fort Suelling was ably conducted, special detachments being sent out, right and left, to scour the country, and clear it of all straggling Indian parties. August 8th, Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, with ten scouts and others, started at 5 A. M. from Camp Carter, to speed his way to St. Paul, four hundred miles distant, as bearer of dispatches. August 10th, Fort Atchi- son was reached. August 13th, the river Cheyenne was re- crossed at the same spot as when on the outbound march. August 21st found the expedition at Fort Abercrombie, and, by September 4th, it came to Camp Austin, where General Sibley "met Bishop "Whij^ple, Governor Ramsey, B. Thomp- son, Davis, and others." September 7th, Camp Taylor on Sauk river, two and one-half miles from St. Cloud, was reached, "where the ladies came out to see the General and were introduced." Finally, September 8th, at 4:30 p. m.. Gen- eral Sibley arrived at St. Paul, his command having been transferred by him to the care of Lieutenant Colonel Averill, under whom it entered Fort Snelling, September 13, 1863. The time occupied in the return was one month and twelve days The whole period of General Sibley's absence, in command of the expeditions, was two months, two weeks, and four days, having traveled, since starting, 1,170, or nearly 1,200, miles, according to Colonel Crooks' computation, or 1,039}, accord- ing to General Sibley's computation. Or, if we combine the main features and results of the two campaigns of 1862 and 1863, then the total time consumed until the final battles were fought was two months, two weeks, six days, nearly 500 war- riors captured, of whom 425 were tried, 321 convicted, 303 condemned to be hanged, 38 executed, 1,800 prisoners sent to Fort Snelling in two shipments, 2,000 exiled from the state, from 8,000 to 10,000 driven across the Missouri, the entire camp of the Sioux destroyed, and over 100 vehicles of all kinds burned, the Sioux annuities forfeited, their treaties abrogated, five sharp and important battles fought, with a loss to the enemy of over 300 kilh'd and wounded, and of casualties to the foice under General Sibley of 54 killed and 98 wounded, the total distance traveled, from the beginning to the close of both campaigns, being nearly ],r)00 miles, the frontier settlements made secure forever, against hostile incursions.^ 1 To this final roHiilt Genera] Sully also contributed. After Ocneral Sibley's return, the Sioux recrosHed the Missouri to their old hunting grounds in Dakota. In August General HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 327 It is for the country and posterity to consider the moral effect of these victories and chastisements over and upon the Sioux Nation. They taught this warlike people, wh# deemed themselves the unconquerable masters of the territory, as they were in fact the terror of the plains, and of other tribes, that the strong arm of the government could reach them, and that their fancied immunity from punishment was a dream. It is also for the country and posterity to compare Sibley in the halls of Congress defending the red man's right, with Sibley on the field of battle visiting the red man's wrong. No inconsistency is here. The faithful voice uplifted in the house of representatives, to warn the government against the coming wrath, was entitled on the coteau of Missouri to give the order to fire upon the Indian. Circumstances alter cases, and the soldier here was no less honorable than was the statesman valiant there. From first to last, the conflict be- tween the Indian and the white man has been that of race and acquisition. And the great problem involved is as little to be solved by the sword on the one hand, as by legislation on the other. In either case, the issues sought, viz., peace, concord, and amity, are to be gained only by "the rule that makes for righteousness." The folly of the state may pro- voke massacre and murder, robbery and arson, and atrocities untold, which the sword of the state is bound to avenge. The madness of the nation, bent on conquest, and spurred by avarice, injustice, and cruelty, may crush to the earth the inalienable rights of man, belie its own ''declaration" of the same, and force an arbitrament by blood. But a final deci- sion, short of "extermination" of the weaker by the stronger, can never be elfected. The sword and violated faith may secure a temporary truce, only to be followed by a new revenge and a re-enacted scene of horror. Japhet, resting on an oracle that ordains him to iDossession in the tents of Shem, may justify himself with the dictum that "an inferior must yield to a superior race," proclaim "God's law of eternal progress" and teach that a divine decree excuses from Sully chastised them severely, at the headwaters of the James river, and again in Septem- ber, five hundred miles north of Fort Pierre, at the battle of White Stone Hills. Their loss was over 200. killed and wounded, with 135 taken prisoners. General Sully's loss was 21 killed and 30 wounded. Between Generals Sibley and Sully over 500 Indians were killed and wounded, and nearly 2,500 taken prisoners, their camps and entire subsistence twice entirely destroyed. The blow was a fearful and remediless one. The massacre of 1862 was awfully avenged. 328 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF the human guilt by which it is accomplished.^ But "right is right as God is God," and no enduring foundation of national^rosperity, or security from judgment, can ever be laid strong enough to avert divine displeasure, or resist the assaults of time, save that of righteousness; — that "Jms" which a Eoman orator assures us is the ^^fundariientum socie- tatis^' and the ^^monumentum gloria}^ ^ for any people. "Dead for want of righteousness" is the epitaph on the tombstone of every extinct empire. And, as to the sad discipline of life, through which, in the discharge of duty, all must pass, and the home sanctities and loves that death so rudely invades, the awaiting splendor of the end will more than compensate for the anguish of the way. To us, short-sighted as we are, the future still stands veiled. But love and sorrow, more than gladness, transfigure the forms of our dear departed ones with a beauty time cannot change, and perpetuate an affection safe forever from disruption. In the magic of that mirror, we behold what to the eye of sense is unseen, and learn the fact that "To death it is given To show how this world is embosomed in heaven."^ If, in coming years, the trumpet shall again sound to arms, and soldiers of Minnesota march to its note, in the inner history of General Sibley's campaigns they will find sujjport in their bereavement and an example of heroic forti- tude in suffering, worthy of a Regulus, and of virtue equal to that of a Cimon or Timoleon. "Were it not that various writers, in their discussions of the "Indian problem," have indulged in a strain of remark dis- couraged by every Christian sentiment, and openly advocated the philosophy of "extermination " as its only effective solu- tion, we might dismiss this part of our work without further protraction. But justice and truth alike claim to be heard in a matter of such importance not less to the nation than to the Indian himself. Especially now, even in our own time (1889), after such sad experience, and in view of negotiations now l)en(ling to ojx'ii the Sioux reservation in Dakota, for the sake ol' raiii-oads and civilization, is this claim imperative. ^ It is 1 }{ryantN Iniliari MjiKHiurre, p. ■tO.'i. 2 Tin: efl'ortH uiadu of lute to open up, peacefully if possible, the preat Sioux Reservation in T'akotn, lo railroads and the indux of white pojiulation, have at length proved successful. August !i, \HH'J, after a long struggle, all the .Sioux chiefs, save Sitting Hull, surrendered to the means and arts uade use of to persuade them to sign the new treaty, and accept what HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 329 largely asserted that the civilization of savage tribes, in con- tact with a race superior to themselves in mental and physical endowment, is a "wild dream of the imagination," a "vain scheme of philanthropy " impossible of realization, a " failure in every case," and that "God's written law of progress" dooms to extinction the tribes that refuse to submit to the white man's modes of life and forms of social existence. It may, at once, be replied that whatever mail's law of progress may be, GocVs law of progress is not one of injustice and crime. What the causes of failure to civilize the red man are, seems matter for silence, perhaps for the reason that the same would be equally strong in the case of the white man himself under similar circumstances. Every way in which it can be taken, the theory is incorrect, and the sentiment to be deplored. It is repelled by the best ethnologists. It is simply an assertion that, unless the red man submits to the civilization of the white man, such as he sees it, and feels it, and knows it, to be, he is proj)er game for the government, and a proper target for the immigrant. These are the plain alternatives. It is an argument that mocks every appeal against the permission of wrong to the noblest precedents of history, and the better genius of our American institutions; a palpable inconsistency and a self-convicting folly. By such reasoning, the negro races abroad were first condemned to a curse eternal, not limited by advancing Christianity, nor meliorated by the sentiment of a common brotherhood. It was taught that the perpetual chattel bondage of the black man was a divine decree, and the African slave trade — held by all nations to be "piracy on the high seas" — was a "be- nignant system of emigration," and, withal, a "providen- tial missionary enterprise." A similar shibboleth was that of mediaeval Christendom which rang "anathema" over the the government oflfered, per acre, for their lands. Chief Gall, who was field general of the Indians in the Custer campaign, John Grass, and others of prominence, affixed their names to the treaty, and, the requisite number of signatures having been obtained, the treaty is closed, and 11,000,000 of acres of land have now become the property of the govern- ment, and are thrown open to the inflowing immigration. The Indian chiefs resisted until they became satisfied that the government "could take the land for nothingif it wanted to," then consented to sign. In the words of Gall, speaking regretfully, after he had yielded, " The whites have now got our lands, and I hope they will be satisfied, and let us live in peace in the future." John Grass, long opposing, at last consented, suddenly, professing a desire to favor the civilization of the Indians. Sitting Bull was obstinate to the last, saying, "Don't talk to me about Indians. There are no Indians left. Excepting my band of Unca- papas they are all dead, and those wearing the clothing of warriors are only squaws. I am sorry for my followers who have been defeated, and their lands taken from them." — St. Paul Daily Globe, August 6, 1889. 330 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF heads of the Jews, expelled them from every Christian nation under heaven, and whelmed them, men, women, and chil- dren together, 20,000 at a time, in the Mediterranean sea, because refusing to adopt ^^ our^^ Christianity, and '■^our''^ civi- lization. In like strain, erudite men, glorifying civilization as a transformed tribal existence, some ancient lines of it still lingering among us, in the marriage relation, and belief in a future state, ventilate the doctrine that no sanctity attaches to the immemorial rights, life, and wigwam, of the red man, nor to the person of his wife or squaw, forgetful of the fact that our Aryan forefathers were savages as cruel as were ever Camanches, Ojibwas, or Dakotas, who sport the eagle-plume and the scalping knife, or worship the old ancestral totem. The better mind revolts from this whole philosophy of exter- mination. The fresh-made robe of " ou/- " civilization will not be instantly donned by men through whose blood oriental sunlight streams. History, moreover, is the constant record of all physical, intellectual, moral, religious, political, social, civil, and material progress, and he is a superficial reader who has not yet learned that the course of every nation that has a history has been from barbarism, through painfully slow and various degrees, to a better condition. "Savage tribes may remain long unimproved, but let the more civilized nations come in contact with them, and they soon learn such arts as conduce to their gradual improvement, together with such practices and indulgences as injure rather than profit them. Even while copying the crimes and vices of the superior race, they step forward out of their savage environment. The ap- pliances of education, the extension of law over them, assist- ance, kindness, justice, and truth, elevate them and prepare them for a higher history than ever before enjoyed." A cham- pion of this doctrine was General Sibley himself. On the other hand, history tells the mournful story of civi- lized nations, cursed by their love of conquest, wealth, luxury, and deepening destruction, falling back, with a rapid step, from a liigli d(;gree of perfection, before their less civilized, and even barbarous, invaders. So Greece fell before the arms of Home, as did Rome, in her turn, before German, Scythian, and African liordes. A propliet of Israel foretold the rise of that (empire, tlie mightiest the world has known, from the outcast l)arbarous tril)es of Latiuui, stretching its wide do- minion to the walls of liabylon and the banks of the Tigris. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 331 Not less did his glance foresee the unsuspected decay and fall of the same empire, sapped by its own corruptions, a prey to still other barbarian hordes, avenging a thirst for dominion marked by successive wars, not in defense of the empire, but for enlargement of power and possession already too great. The judgments of Heaven are a part of "God's law of prog- ress" to punish the crimes of "man's law of progress;" and, to carry the account of man's crimes over to the credit of God's law, in the name of Christian civilization, is not only a very unstatesmanlike thing, but it is an infidel theory of human progress which postulates the vindication of man at the ex- pense of the condemnation of God. It is not true that the race inferior in civilization must yield to the race superior. Barbarians conquered both Greece and Eome, the two most civilized of all the nations of antiquity. "God's law of eter- nal progress" is something more than a Spanish bull-fight. It is a moral law which, as Matthew Arnold says, " makes for righteousness," a "moral order of the universe," as Fichte called it, and reveals itself by judgment no less than by bless- ing. He gives to barbarous tribes the abused favors he dis- pensed to the civilized nations smitten before them. Goth, Vandal, and Hun, learned all that Eome could bestow, even as Eome sat at the feet of Greece to study philosophy, science, and art. While barbarism has become civilized, civilization has become barbarized. The Indian becomes a Christian and ceases to scalp. The Christian becomes a savage, scalps, pays bounty for scalps, and treasures his trophies of shame in places of public resort. In a community nursing the pleasure of such things, Eeligion can have no power, and Truth no place. Humanity becomes inhuman. Progress is turned back, Civiliza- tion is ashamed. Faith scarcely can lift up her eyes, and Hope seems quenched in rayless night. Hard-hearted Mammon, degrading Mammon alone, will rule, and Conscience and God go to the ditch. The doctrine of extermination is that of the Black Flag, of Ghoorkas, and Bashi-Bazouks, the doctrine of cruelty, lies, injustice, perjury, perfidy, fraud, and brute force, as the measure of right between man and man. It was the maxim of blood-stained Eome, — ^^ Spare the submissive, destroy the resisting,'''' — a maxim whereby it became necessary, in every quarrel, to conquer or perish, and, by these alternatives, bind the empire either to die or subdue mankind. Xo state has a right to make the submission of men, outside its lawful juris- 332 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF diction, a necessary condition of their preservation. The doc- trine that '■'■ Might makes righV annihilates the possibility of a moral judgment on nations, the vindication of national chas- tisement, and sets the Most High, as a Moral Governor, in fiat contradiction with himself. Competent statesmen will not accept it as "God's law of eternal progress." A Pitt, Sheri- dan, and Fox flamed against it. A Webster, Choate, Sumner, and Wilberforce publicly denounced it. A race is not to be exterminated because its capital criminals deserve such a fate, nor is the Indian a "Canaanite" doomed to extinction by a divine command. When Christian brutality, worse than In- dian savagery, and civilized mammon and lust, disappear, some hope will remain for "o»/-" civilization, and the red man, one day, will adorn the bench of justice, and stand erect in the halls of Congress. The effective bond of all progress is not the ^^parcere subject is, deheUarerebellatis,^' but the common implanted feeling of humanity, the '■^ Homo sum^^ that recog- nizes a kinship in all nations of men God has made to dwell on all the face of the earth, appointing their bounds and times, and the disregard of which is the death of all those nobler sentiments which lift their voices to tell the Fatherhood of God, and extend their hands to build the brotherhood of man. And the quicker our "American Christian civilization" ceases to be a system of national freebootery and blood-curdling cru- elty toward the Indians, the better it will be. Little here need be said of Little Crow. He was the eldest- born son of Little Crow, Sr., chief of the Kaposiaband, ad- jacent to St. Paul, and hereditary successor to his father's chieftainship. Instructed by his dying father to accommodate himself to the new system of things, assume the habits of civilized life, abstain from war with the whites who were determined to have the land, and against whom it was useless to contend, as also to live a sober life, and by honest industry provide for himself and his tribe, he yet disregarded these dying admonitions. A few miles north of Hutchinson, while l)icking Ix'i-i'ies near one of the Scattered Lakes, July 3, 1862, — the day General Sibley was near Ink-pah at the Coteau de Prairie, not far from the bend of the Cheyenne river, — he was shot dead by Mr. Chauncy Lampson, unconscious that it was ^^ Ta-wai-o ta-doo-iaW^ his riile-ball had pierced. No better, briefer, or more comprehensive description of his character can be given tlian that furnished by General Sibley to the HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 333 Minnesota Historical Society. "Little Crow, Jr., soon forgot the parting injunctions of his father. He was a drunkard, a confirmed liar, and possessed of very few redeeming qualities; a man of great energy and determination. He was the lead- ing spirit of the pagan Indians, bitterly opposing all changes of dress and habits of life. He was no friend to missionary operations but clung to the superstitious observances of his fathers. The latter part of his life is known to most of you. He encouraged the Indians in the prosecution of their bloody work in 1862, was the acknowledged head of the war party, and, finally, in 1863, while engaged with a small band in a raid upon our frontiers, was shot dead by a Mr. Lampson, his sou who was with him ojily escaping to fall into the hands of a detachment of the troops under my command near Devil's lake, a few weeks later. It is my conviction that no outbreak would have occurred, had either Wabashaw, or Little Crow, Sr., been living at the time."^ His scalp and arm-bones, not to the credit of "Christian civilization," or the "culture" of the "superior race," are trophied in the shelves of the State Historical Society, in the capitol, for the satisfaction of the curiosity, and the peculiar inspiration, of all beholders. All that is redeeming in humanity j)rotests against the acquisition; a spectacle which can only feed the temper of a barbarous mindf and excite the moral disgust of every man, unblunted by a spirit of revenge. The perpetual exhibition of such relics, in a state capitol on whose dome the figure of Justice, with her scales, — weighing not less the white man's crimes than the red man's wrongs, — seems to hold an even account, is disgraceful to "Christian civilization." For the sake of Ma-ya ku-tama-ne, Ta-o-pee, and "VVa-ke-wan-wa, if not for Minne-sota, let these relics be removed! ^ 1 Coll. Minn. State Hist. Society, Vol. Ill, pp. 233, 254. 2 It remains as a slain in American "Christian history," that the government of Massa- chusetts otlered large bounties for Indian scalps, that Minnesota ofTered $25, S7o, and S200 under the adjutant general's order, " for every Sioux scalp," and that the United States offered S200 for "every .Seminole scalp," taken in the Seminole War. Special inducements were also oflfered, in Minnesota, to scour the Big Woods, and " lay the trophies at the feet of the Historical Society," scalps, bones, and trinkets made out of bones of human beings ! The first scalp taken by a white man under the S25 offer, in Minnesota, was that of Little Croii: (Dakota War- Whoop, p. 319.) It seems certain that General Sibley, although his heart was " steeled" against the criminals of 1862, could not approve of the scalp and arm-bono use of Little Crow, the "trophy^' that now sits on the shelf of the State Historical Library. When learning that his own troops had scalped the dead, he issued a sharp military order forbidding it, and exclaimed, "Shame upon such brutality ! God's image should not be thus mutilated and disfigured !" — Diary, p. 69. CHAPTER X. GENEEAL SIBLEY'S POST-MILITAEY CAREER. — MULTIPLIED HOXORS AND OFFICES OF TRUST. — CONFIRMATION OF HIS RANK AS BRIGADIER GEN- ERAL, UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS. — HIGH COMMENDATIONS FROM EMINENT SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS. — BREVETTED MAJOR GENERAL, UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS. — NOT MUSTERED OUT OF MILITARY SEE- VICE TILL 1886. — MIXED CIVIL AND MILITARY COMMISSION TO NE- GOTIATE INDIAN TREATIES, AT COUNCIL BLUFFS AND SIOUX CITY. — ANOTHER SIMILAR COMMISSION.— .GENERAL SIBLEY, PRESIDENT GAS COMPANY, PRESIDENT MINNESOTA MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE, PEES- *IDENT ST. PAUL CITY BANK. PEESIDENT CHAMBEE OF COMMEECE, EESIGNATION OF THE PRESIDENCY OF THE CHAMBER, PRESIDENT BOARD OF REGENTS OF STATE UNIVERSITY. STATE BONDS AGAIN. — PERPLEXING FACTOR IN STATE POLITICS. — RESUME OF THE SITUATION. — MISREPRESENTATIONS. — REPUDIATION. — DE- FENSE OF REPUDIATION. — DEMOEALIZATION OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE. — MAGNIFICENT EESISTANCE TO THIS BY" GENERAL SIBLEY^ — GOVERNOR MARSHALL. — FIRST SCHEME FOR LIQUIDATION. — POLITI- CIANS AND THE HONOR OF THE STATE. — LIGHTNING FROM GENERAL SIBLEY. — HE APPEALS TO THE CHUECHES AND THE PULPIT. — BUENING WOEDS. — JUSTICE CURTIS. — HON. W. M. EVAETS. — ATTOENEY GEN- EEAL. — GOVEENOE AUSTIN. — EVASIVE SCHEME OF SUBMITTING LEG- ISLATIVE ACTS TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAD ALREADY REPUDIATED. — GENERAL SIBLEY ELECTED TO THE STATE LEGISLATURE, OCTOBER, 1870. — HIS RESOLUTION INTRODUCED FEBRUARY' 4, 1871. — HIS GREAT SPEECH ON THE BOND QUESTION, FEBRUARY 8, 1871, IS COPIED IN THE EASTERN PAPERS. — SEVENTEEN PRESIDENTS OF DIFFERENT NEW Y'ORK CITY- BANKS, AND THIRTY LEADING FIRMS, SEND LETTERS OF CON- GRATULATION AND THANKS. — STATE LEGISLATURE MOVED TO ACTION. — GOVERNOR C. K. DAVIS AND GOVERNOR PILLSBUEY" ON EEPUDIA- TION. — JUDGE DILLON ON THE VALIDITY OF THE BONDS. — SUPREME COUET OF THE UNITED STATES. — DECISION OF THE SUPEEME COUET OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA. — ATTITUDE OF THE DEMOCEATIC AND EE- PUBLICAN PAETIES TOWAED THIS QUESTION IN 1881. — DEMOCEATIC STATE CONVENTION. — THE PLATFOEM. — EEMAEKS BY GENEEAL E. W. JOHNSON, THE NOMINEE. — EEMAEKS BY HON. EUGENE M. WILSON. — THE EXTEA EEPUBLICAN LEGISLATUEE. — FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE BOND QUESTION. — EEFLECTIONS ON THE MOEAL CHARACTER OF A STATE. — MUST HAVE A CONSCIENCE. — IS A PUBLIC PERSON. — NAMES TO UK RE.ME.MBEEED. — ANCIENT AND MODERN ETHICS. — THE GOVERN- MKXT OK A STATE. — POPULAR CORRUPTION. — INDIVIDUAL FIDELITY. — GENEEAL SlIiLEY'S EXAMPLE. — EETIEES FROM POLITICAL LIFE. GENERAL SIBLEY AH A PRIVATE CITIZEN. — ACCUMULATION OF HONORS AND TRUSTS. — PEESIDENT OF VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS. — COMMISSION TO SUPEEVISE THE WHOLE INDIAN DEPAETMENT. — HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D, 335 FELLOW OF AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. — NOMINATED AGAIN FOR CONGRESS. — RETAINED AS PRESIDENT OF REGENTS OF THE UNI- VERSITY. — PRESIDENT OAKLAND CEMETERY ASSOCIATION. — ADDRESS BEFORE THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. — COMMISSION TO SETTLE CHIPPEWA CLAIMS. — PRESIDES AT BI-CENTENNARY CELEBRATION OF DISCOVERY OF FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY. — PRESIDES AT INAUGURAL BANQUET TO GOVERNOR HUBBARD. — PRESIDENT MINNESOTA CLUB.— LECTURE BEFORE YOUNG MEN'S CILRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. — EULOGY ON GENERAL GRANT; FUNERAL SERVICES. — SEMI-CENTENNIAL OF GEN- ERAL SIBLEY'S ADVENT TO MINNESOTA. — BANQUET. — QUARTER-CEN- TENNIAL OF BATTLE OF BIRCH COOLIE. — BANQUET. — ELECTED AND INSTALLED COMJIANDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION. — BANQUET.— ELECT- ED MEMBER OF THE PRINCETON CLIOSOPHIC SOCIETY. — HONORARY DEGREE OF "DOCTOR OF LAWS" CONFERRED. — CORRESPONDENCE AND CONGRATULATIONS. — THE DIPLOMA. — UTTERANCES OF THE PUBLIC PRESS. — RESOLUTION BY THE UNIVERSITY. — UNTARNISHED HONORS. General Sibley's relief from the arduous labors to whicli he had been called in defense of the state, during his military- career, brought with it a more tranquil and domestic life, yet none the less active in national, state, and municipal affairs. The city of St. Paul, as we have seen, was his permanent home, where, since 1862, he resided amid the companionship of his friends. Public places and stations of responsibility ever waited to welcome him. His experience, energy, enter- prise, and large influence, and social standing as well, con- spired to invite him to honors and burdens more frequent than usually fall to the lot of men. As already stated, the con- firmation of the appointment, twice made by the president, of General Sibley as brigadier general, for meritorious service in the field, was unavoidably delayed by reason of the action of Congress reducing the number of such officers, notwith- standing which, however. General Sibley, having accepted the honor thus twice conferred, continued in the field acting as a general officer, and, recognized as such by the govern- ment, accomplished his second military campaign with the signal success narrated. For a time, adverse circumstances contributed to prevent the confirmation of the appointment. On motion of Charles Sumner, misled and deceived in his ac- tion by men of his own party, it was laid on the table. The action, however, of the Minnesota legislature, and of the citi- zens of the state, as also the high commendation by Major General Pope, smote this disreputable effort of certain politi- cians, and availed to undeceive, at Washington, many whose minds had unjustly been prejudiced. To the credit of the 336 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Hon. Charles Sumner's manhood and sense of justice, when informed by Senator Ramsey, who had just been elected and taken his seat, of what General Sibley had done, and how un- merited was the effort to defeat the confirmation of his ap- pointment, he returned to the senate, and, explaining his er- ror, while emphasizing the distinguished services of General Sibley, on motion the appointment was taken up from the table by the senate, and unanimously confirmed. March 26, 1864, the formal commission of General Sibley as brigadier general was made out, his reaffirmed rank being retroactively dated from March 20, 1863, thus covering, by second appoint- ment, not only his second campaign but the whole time since the "more than fifty leading business firms of St. Paul" be- sought him, by open letter, not to retire from the field, March 19, 1863. The official announcement of this was telegraphed from Washington, by General-in-Chief Halleck to Major Gen- eral Pope, under date of March 23, 1863, the date of General Sibley's reply to the business firms just mentioned.^ The parchment that bears the commission reads as follows: The President of the United States of America to all tvho shall see these presents, greeting: Know ye, That reposing special trust and confidence in the patriotism, valor, fidelity, and abilities of Henry H. Sibley, I have nominated, and by and with the advice and consent of the senate, do appoint him brigadier general of volunteers in the service of the United States, to rank as sueh from the twentieth day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-three. He is, therefore, carefully aud diligently to discharge the duty of brigadier gen- eral by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto belonging. And I do strictly charge, and require, all officers and soldiers under his command to be obedient to his orders as brigadier general; and he is to observe and follow such orders and directions, from time to time, as he shall receive from me, or the future president of the United States of America, or the general, or other superior officers set over him, according to the rules and discii)line of war. This commission to continue in force during the pleasure of the president of the United States for the time lieing. Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, this twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- four, and in the eighty-eighth year of the independence of the United States. I'ly the President. (Signed,) AimAHAJl LINCOLN. (Signed,) Kuwin M. Stanton, Seerctiirij of War. 1 It.lx-llioii UccordH, Series I, Vol. XXII, I'iirl II, 17r,; Coll. Minn. Hist. Soc, Vol. Ill, I'lirt II 'JHl. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 337 The official transmission of the same was made under date of April 28, 1864, as follows: Adjutant General's Office, Washington, April 28, 1864. Sib: I forward herewith your commission of brigadier general, your receipt and acceptance of which you will please acknowledge without delay, reporting at the same time your age and residence when appointed, the state where born, and your full name, correctly written. Fill up, subscribe, and return as soon as possible, the accompanying oath, duly and carefully exe- cuted. I am, sir, very respectfully. Your Obedient Servant, S. F. Chalfin, Assistant Adjutant General. Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley, United States Volunteers, St. Paid, Minn. The acknowledgment of the receipt of the commission was made ten days thereafter. Headquarters District of Minnesota, Department of the Northwest, St. Paul, May 9, 1864. Brigadier General L. Thomas, Adjutant General United States Army, Washing- ton City, District of Columbia, General: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of my com- mission of brigadier general of volunteers, from your office. When appointed, I was fifty-two years of age, and my full name is Henry Hastings Sibley. No official oath accompanied the commission, for the reason, probably, that when I received the letter of appointment I was required to return the blank oath sent with it, properly filled and executed, ■which was done, and it is on file in your office. I am. General, very respect- fully, Your Obedient Servant, H. H. Sibley, Brigadier General, Commanding. May 2, 1865, he became a director in the Minnesota Valley Bailroad Company, whose name was afterward changed, July 9, 1869, to that of the St. Paul & Sioux City Eailroad Company, and in whose service he continued until 1882. The memory of his high merit, however, and valuable services, not only to the state but the nation, and the respect in which he was held by the different military bureaus at Washington, com- manded for him, in view of still higher position, the warmest and weightiest commendations, and inspired the purpose to see that such merit was duly rewarded. From Fort liandall, Dakota Territory, Major General Curtis, under date of Sep- tember 29, 1865, — and from St. Louis, under date of November 22 338 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF 7, 1865, Major General Pope, — and, again, from St. Paul, under date of October 12, 1865, Governor (Senator elect) Ramsey, all addressed special communications and indorsements to Major General Halleck, urging, in the most flattering terms and the strongest manner, the appointment of General Sibley as ^'Brevet Major General, United States Volunteers," "in view of his distinguished services in the Indian campaigns of 1862 and 1863," also, "in view of valuable services to the general government," and, besides, in view of "his economical and judicious administration of the military district of Minnesota, which for three years he has commanded," and, finally, "for his devotion to the country." Notwithstanding every effort made by political partisans, and certain officials of the Indian department of the state, whom General Sibley had looked after with his usual conscientious regard, much to their disappoint- ment, official notification that the high distinction, sought for him, had been conferred by the president of the United States, reached his hands, in the form of the following document: Wak Depaktment, Washington, November 29, 1865. SlE: You are hereby informed that the president of the United States has appointed you, for efficient and meritorious services, a major general of volunteers, by brevet, in the service of the United States, to rank as such from the twenty-ninth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five. Should the senate, at their next session, advise and consent thereto, you will be commissioned accordingly. Immediately on receipt hereof, please to communicate to this depart- ment, through the adjutant general of the army, your acceptance or non- acceptance; and, with your letter of acceptance, return the oath herewith inclosed, properly filled up, subscribed and attested, and report your age, birthplace, and the state of which you were a permanent resident. You will report for duty to Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. Brevet Major General Henry H. Sibley, United States Volunteers. The acceptance of the appointment was duly acknowledged by General Sibley: St. Paul, Minn., December 14, 1865. Brevet Major General L. Thomas, Adjutant General United States Army, Wash' inf/ton City, D. C, Gkneeal: I have the honor to notify the war department, through you, of my acceptance of the appointment of major general by brevet, con- ferred upon me by the president twenty-ninth November, 1865. I was Ijorn in Detroit, Michigan, ray age is fifty-four, and I am a resi- dent of the State of Minnesota. Herewith I respectfully return the oath of HON. HENEY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 339 office duly filled up, subscribed and attested. I was assigned to duty as commissioner to treat with tlie hostile Indians of the Upper Missouri, by Special Order, No. 450, dated August 21, 1865, from the war department, and am now awaiting further instructions from the honorable secretary of the interior. Very respectfully. Your Obedient Servant, Henry H. Sibley, Brevet Major General, United States Volunteers. The senate, at its next session, having "advised" and "consented" to the appointment, the official parchment, de- claring and attesting the honor bestowed, as a reward, ^'for efficient and meritorious services,'^ was, after the customary de- lay, received by General Sibley, bearing date April 7, 1866, the commission, however, taking effect from November 29, 1865, and is as follows: Washington, April 7, 1866. The President of the United States of America, to all who shall see these presents, greeting : Know ye. That I do hereby confer on Henry H. Sibley of the United States Volunteers, in the service of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, the rank of major general by brevet, in said service, to rank as such from the twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, for efficient and meritorious services. And I do strictly charge and require all officers and soldiers under his command, to obey and respect him accordingly. And he is to observe and follow such orders and directions, from time to time, as he shall receive from me, or the future president of the United States of America, and other offi- cers set over him, according to law, and the rules and discipline of war. This commission to continue in force during the pleasure of the president of the United States for the time being. Given under my hand at the City of Washington, this seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and in the ninetieth year of the Independence of the United States. By the President. (Signed,) Andrew Johnson. (Signed,) Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. The transmission of this document was accompanied by the usual note from the adjutant general's office at "Washington: War Department, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, April 20, 1866. Sir: I have the honor to inclose to you, herewith, your commission of brevet major general, the receipt of which please acknowledge. I am sir, very respectfully, Your Obedient Servant, J. C. Kelton, Assistant Adjutant General. Brevet Major General Henry H. Silky, United States Volunteers. 340 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF The acceptance of the commission was duly acknowledged, as follows: St. Paul, Minn., April 30, 1866. Brigadier General L. Thomas, Adjutant General United States Army, Washing- ton City, D. C, General: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of my com- mission of brevet major general. United States Volunteers. I am, General, very respectfully. Your Obedient Servant, Heney H. Sibley, Brevet Major General, United Slates Volunteers. Major General Sibley was not mustered out of the service until late in 1866, along with others whose names were re- served, and continued by the government, for special reasons. His name occurs in the list of officers "honorably mustered out of the service of the United States," under date of Decem- ber 28, 1865, according to "General Orders, No. 168," and among whom were Generals Rosecrans, Sykes, Custer, Pleas- anton, Johnson, Sanborn, McCook, and others, brave soldiers, who had deserved well of their country. But, so far as relates to General Sibley, the order was "revoked" by "Special Orders, No. 85, 1866," a copy of which was immediately for- warded, from the war department, to General Sibley himself. It was the following: Wae Department, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, February 24, 1866. Special Orders, No. 85. {Extract.) 8. By direction of the president, the muster out of the service of the United States, of Brigadier, and Brevet Jlajor, General H. H. Sibley, United States Volunteers, to date January 15th, as directed in General Orders, War Department, No. 168, 1865, is hereby revoked, and the instructions to this officer, to report to the honorable secretary of the interior, contained in Special Orders, War Department, No. 450, August 21, 1865, are still, and will be regarded as having continued, in force. By order of the Secretary of War. (Signed,) E. D. Townsend, (Official.) Assistant Adjutant General. W. A. NiciroLS, Assistant Adjutant General. General Sihlry, National Hotel, Washington, D. C. It was in pursuance of the same policy, on the part of the government, that, August 15, 1865, General Sibley, prior to HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 341 the receipt of his formal commission as major general, to which rank, however, he had already been appointed, was, with others, constituted one of a mixed civil and military- commission, by President Andrew Johnson, to negotiate trea- ties with the Sioux and Cheyennes on the Upper Missouri, and also with other tribes of Northwestern Indians of disaf- fected and hostile disposition. It was of the first importance, in such a commission as this, that General Sibley, known to the Indians as an officer of high rank in the United States service, should abide still in that service, in order to retain his official influence over the tribes, as a military officer act- ing in the name of the government. Hence the Special Order, No. 85. The places of negotiation were Council Bluffs and Sioux City. The official document is the following: Executive Mansion, August 15, 1865. Newton Edmunds, governor and ex-offieio superintendent of Indian affairs of Dakota Territory, Edward B. Taylor, superintendent of Indian affairs for the Northern suj)erintendency, Major General S. R. Curtis, Briga- dier General H. H. Sibley, Henry W. Reed, Oran Guernsey, are hereby ap- pointed commissioners to negotiate, under the instructions of the secretary of the interior, a treaty or treaties with the several tribes of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians of the Upper Missouri, and any other tribes in that re- gion, who have recently been engaged in hostilities with the United States, but who are now anxious to make peace. (Signed,) Andrew Johnson, President. The official notification was in the following terms: Department op the Interior, Washington, District of Colubibia, August 15, 1865. Sir: I transmit, herewith, a copy of an order of the president, of the fifteenth instant, appointing certain commissioners, of whom you are one, to negotiate, under instructions of the secretary of the interior, treaties with certain Indian tribes therein referred to. You will be further advised as to the time when, and the place where, the council will be held. I am, sir, very respectfully. Your Obedient Servant, Jas. Harlan, Secretary. Brigadier General H. H. Sibleif, St. Paul, Minn. The promptness with which this important service was executed may be seen from the telegrams sent to General Sib- ley, in rapid succession: 342 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF [Telegram. ] ♦ St. Paul, Aug. 21, 1865. By Telegraph from Washington, 21st, 1865. To Brigadier General IT. H. Sibley: You and General Curtis are detailed by the president's orders to nego- tiate treaty with Sioux and Cheyenne Indians of Upper Missouri. Report by letter to secretary of interior. Orders will meet you at St. Louis. Ac- knowledge receipt by telegraph. By order of the secretary of war. (51 au 448 pd. ) R. Williams, Adjutant. [Telegram.] St. Paul, Aug. 22, 1865. By Telegraph from Washington, Aug. 22, 1865. To H. E. Sibley, Brigadier General: Meet commission to treat with Northwestern Indians at Council Bluffs 5th Septr. At Sioux City on the 10th. R. B. Vanvalkenburg, (17 au 225 pd.) Assistant Commissioner. [Telegram. ] St. Paul, Aug. 26, 1865. By Telegraph from Washington, 26th, 1865. To Brigadier General Sibley: A letter to Major General Curtis. The commission will meet as pro- posed. Make the eftbrt to be present. I hope you will be able to join them. General Curtis goes to St. Louis. Ja8. Haelan, (31 au 365 pd.) Secretary. [Telegram. ] St. Paul, 30 Aug., 1865. By Telegraph from Washington, 30, 1865. To U. n. Sibley: Yours of twenty-third received. You will join the commission at Coun- cil Bluffs on the fifth, or Sioux City on the tenth September, as may suit your convenience. Jas. Haelan. (28 au 335 pd.) [Telegram. ] St. Paul, August 31, 1865. By Telegraph from St. Louis, 30th Aug., 1865. To Brii/fidicr General Sibley: General Curtis is here and will be at Coumil lilulls on the tenth of Sep- tember, at Sioux City fifteentli Septeml)er. Expects you to join him. Send scouts to notify head chief of Indians to be at Fort Rice on the fifteenth (15) day of Oct. U, -I'i. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 357 '•sinking fund," made from the same, would soon redeem the state from dishonor. The legislature turned a deaf ear to his words. Again, in another message, January 4, 1877, he renewed his appeal, reasserting the validity of the bonds, and warning the state not to put indisposition in the place of abundant ability to pay. Unheeded, he still kept up his brave, fearless, and faithful assault upon the false sentiment of the times, and sought to win the people to a better mind, and stir the legislature to needed action, and January 11, 1878, opened his mouth, after the manner of General Sibley, saying to the legislature, "No public calamity, no visitation of grasshoppers, no wholesale destruction or insidious pesti- lence, could possibly inflict so fatal a blow upon our state, as the deliberate repudiation of her solemn obligations. It xcould he a confession more damaging to the character of a government of the people than the assault of its ivorst enemies. With the loss of public honor ^ little could remain worth preserving.''^ '^ The heart of the governor was evidently touched on account of the hardness of the heart of the people refusing to hear the voice of the charmer, " charming never so wisely," and voting into the dust every measure proposed to protect the name of the state, and keep conscience and truth with men. A re- ligious community intent on fraud and defending the same is the devil's best card in the onward march of " our Christian culture and civilization!" As with a last gasp and sigh, Governor Pillsbury, once more, besought, obstested, implored, and even supplicated, the state to abandon her political and moral dishonesty and turn her feet to the paths of righteous- ness, wisdom, and truth, saying, as his accents sank in silence, January 6, 1881, ^'^ I implore the people of Minnesota, and you, gentlemen, their representatives, to seize this last opportunity, he- fore it is too late, to wipe out this only Mot from the fair name of our beloved state !^^' Moved to some extent by the wakened conscience, and wakening aj^iieals of noble and influential men, as well as beginning to feel some trivial sense of shame, the legislature of 1881 passed the "Internal Improvement Sinking Fund Act," and also erected a "tribunal of district judges" to decide whether the legislature was competent of itself, in a case of contract between the state and companies 1 Exec. Docs., 1877, Vol. I, p. 40. 2 Exec. Docs., 1881, p. 39. The "opportunity" referred to was the otfer of Mr. Selah Chamberlain, in behalf of himself and the bondholders, to settle at half-face value of the bonds issued, with the interest accrued. 358 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF bound by her legislation, to protect the credit of the state against the will of a people careless to keep it, — this act, like all the rest, to be "submitted to the people" for their approval or rejection! The arts of "the legislature" and the honesty of "the people," had been sufficiently tested. Judge Dillon of the United States Court had decided, with vigor, that the bonds were "valid, and binding in law on the state, and in honor and in justice; nor can the State of Minnesota afford to bear the odium of rej)udiation." ^ Upon appeal, the supreme court of the United States affirmed the decision of Judge Dillon, in terms of rebuke to the state, saying that "toe/'e Minnesota amenable to the tribunals of the country as a pri- vate individual is, no court of justice would loithhold its judgment against her in an action to compel her to pay.'''' - It was high time to put an end to the rule of politicians seeking jjopular favor, and stamp out the farce of a legislature that ever abjured its own jurisdiction, and, in every act it passed to relieve the situation, held the good name and credit of the state chained to the will of a people resolved to disgrace the one and for- feit the other. The supreme court of the State of Minnesota decided that the act of March 2, 1881, icas unconstitutional and issued a writ restraining the district judges from interfering in the manner proposed, and also decided that the act of 1861 requiring a x^opular ratification of any plan the legislature might devise for settlement of the question was nuU and void; and. further, that the legislature had power, of itself, to treat with the bond- holders, and protect the credit of the state. A moi-e disgraceful chai)ter never appeared in the annals of any state, nor is there language enough in any vocabulary wherewith to praise the heroic men who fought repudiation inch by inch, for a quarter of a century, without interruption. The state owes them a debt it never can pay, nor can ever repudiate while the world stands. Governor Pillsbury, as soon as the supreme court of the state had rendered its deci- sion, convoked an "extra session" of the legislature to meet October, 1881. The Eepublican party, that gave 40,000 ma- jority for Garfield as president of the United States, declined to (le(;lare in its platform that it was in favor of a just and honorable settlement with the bondholders, although some of its best men admitted that the state was liable. 1 Exec. Docs., I87r., Vol. I., p. :{1. 2 Ibid. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 359 The Democratic party — not forgetful of aboundiDg frauds ever emerging under Eepublican administrations, and still feeling the outrage upon the rights of the nation when, in 1876, its great standard bearer, Hon. Samuel J. Tilden, fairly- elected president of the United States, was unlawfully de- prived of his seat, and, later still, when the illustrious Han- cock was defeated by the people's money, stolen from the government by "Star Eoute thieves," and expended in whole- sale bribery and corruption — resolved to seize the opj)ortu- uity and lift its voice, once more, against repudiation. Prior to the extra session of the legislature, the leaders of the i)arty called a Democratic state convention, to meet in the Grand Opera House, October 6, 1881, and, as might be expected, the name of General H. H. Sibley of St. Paul was greeted with rounds of applause, and ' ' the old war-horse of the Democ- racy of the state ' ' was carried, by an enthusiastic and unani- mous vote, into the presiding chair of the convention. The convention lost no time in putting itself again upon record. The Hon. Charles E. Flaudrau, chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, reported the following "j;7«(/*orm," which, from that hour onward, became the final official and re-enforced expression of the Democratic party against the policy of re- pudiation: Whereas, The Democratic State Convention in 1859 embodied in its platform of principles the following, to-wit : First — That it is the duty of the people of Minnesota to preserve invio- late the faith and credit of the state. Second — That the doctrine of repiidiation announced by the Eepubli- can party is one which is abhorrent to the Democracy and must receive the condemnation of the honest masses. Third — That we pledge the Democratic party of Minnesota to honor- ably and promptly meet all obligations resting upon her. And Whereas, The Republican State Convention which lately held its session in this city utterly ignored in its deliberations and platform all allusion to the proposed settlement of the state railroad bonds, a question involving vitally the honor and reputation of the state ; therefore, Resolved, Fourth — That the principles of the Democratic party as above reproduced from the platform of the state convention in 1859, are hereby reaffirmed, and we hereby express the hope that the legislature of this state soon to assemble in special session will by prompt and practical legislation solve this grave problem. Resolved, Fifth — That we express our sincere grief for the untimely death of President Garfield, and our utter horror at the wicked assassina- tion by which he was removed from life; and we hereby tender our heart- felt sympathy to his bereaved family. 360 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Eesolved, Sixth — That Tve reaffirm the political principles announced by the Democratic National Convention which nominated Winfield S. Han- cock. 1 These resolutions were adopted unanimously, and seriatim^ the whole convention rising to its feet when the "fifth'' one, relating to the assassination of President Garfield, was reached, and "standing in respectful silence until the chair- man declared the resolution adopted by a unanimous vote.'^ In the nomination for state officers upon this jjlatform, Gen- eral Eichard W. Johnson of St. Paul was placed at the head of the ticket, and his selection for governor of the state, and standard bearer of the party, was carried by acclama- tion. In accepting the nomination, General Johnson responded appropriately, concluding his remarks by saying, "Let us wipe away this stain, and if we are defeated and overborne let it be written in history that we were crushed in a war of honesty against repudiation. I thank you again for the com- pliment you have paid me." This testimony of the Demo- cratic party in an hour so dark was a brave one. The can- didacy for the governorship was not entered on with the least hope of success. In the words of the nominee, such was "the popular determination not to redeem the honor of the state, that the candidate who was willing to go before the people on that issue, went as the leader of a "forlorn hope." The result was the defeat of the Democratic party. During that canvass ^Ht was made clear that a legislature, elected on that issue, ivould never provide for the settlement of this vexed question, and that the only way to secure the settlement was for Governor Pillsbury to call an extra session of the old legislature, and submit the question to that body." ^ Notwithstanding this, the action of the Democratic convention of October 6, 1881, had its influ- ence, nor was the extra session of the legislature a stranger to it. And all the more was this true, inasmuch as, in the words of the Hon. Eugene M, Wilson of Hennepin, "the Re- publicans in their convention had ignored the call for the extra session, and the purpose for lohich it ivas called, and had studi- ously avoided any allusion to the matter; a slight, an insult, to Governor Pillsbury from his own party. "^ The Kepublicans, however, saw that the time had come for them also to make a record once more, and the " vexed ques- 1 St. Paul Daily Glo)ie, Octolier 7, 1881. 2 A Soldier'H Ueiuinlscences, by General R. W. Jobnson, pp. 375, 376. 3 St. Paul Daily Globe, October 7, 1881. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 361 tion," kept vexed so long by the party in power, was at last composed. Mr, Selah Chamberlain, representing $1,075,000 of bonds, in behalf of himself and others, had offered to accept ''new bonds of the state" at half- face value of the old, to- gether with the compounded interest on the coupons, in settle- ment of the bondholders' claims. The state accepted the offer, issued the new bonds, sold other bonds, in which the school fund was invested, to procure the money needed by the bond- holders, and, with this, purchased its own new bonds, substi- tuting them in the place of the sold bonds of the school fund, thus making that portion of the railroad bonds a permanent school fund investment, the interest on which is paid regu- larly by the state; — an investment never to be dishonored or repudiated while the state stands. The state auditor's re- port, as to the actual condition, or status, of the final settle- ment, shows the total amount of Minnesota adjustment bonds to be no less than $4,287,000, as against $2,275,000 of the original bonds. Of these $4,287,000, the amount held by the perma- nent school fund is $1,981,000; the amount held by the state university permanent fund, $288,000; by outside parties, $1,- 696,000; and redeemed by the internal improvement land fund, and destroyed, $322,000; in all $4,287,000. Thus a quarter of a century had passed away from the time that the people of Minnesota, swept from their moorings by a resistless desire for railroads, while suffering under the finan- cial blow of 1857, amended their Constitution, April 15, 1858, extracting its wisdom and supplying folly in its place. Thus ended one of the most perplexing and obstinate problems it ever befalls a state to solve; — the problem of will against con- science, truth against lies, faith against fraud, self-respect against shame, right against wrong. While the ^^church^^ is a supernatural institute built on the word of God, the ^^ state'' ^ is a natural institute built on a foundation no less divine, viz., "man made in the image of God," the law of conscience graven in his breast. And because the constitution of man is a moral one, and the state rests upon man, — not man on the state, — therefore, in its last analysis, the constitution of the state, resting on man, must rest upon God. An atheistic state can- not survive, and an immoral state must perish. All Pagan- dom has taught us this. In the wild rush of our modern ma- terialistic development, we might well afford to sit at the feet of a pagan Aristotle, and learn that "the rule of law is the 362 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF rule of God and of reason, since the state is organized for the sake of justice and a good life, and the good citizen is identical with the good man;" that "virtue must be the serious care of a state that truly deserves the name, political society being in order to noble actions and an honorable self-sufficing life."^ The state, as a ^^jmblic xyerson,^^ must have an immutable mo- rality, not one thing here and another there, but the same everywhere, that ^'■lex nata non scripta''^ constitutional to man and coeternal with the mind of God, whence it came, that '^jiis,^^ or sense of natural right, apart from which the state has no foundation, save the passions, will, and inclinations of men. A pagan Cicero, by the light of nature alone, could recognize this, in his speech for Milo, praising, before the judges, that immutable law, "not one thing at Athens and another at Eome, but the same everywhere," a law which he declared to be the ^^fons cequitatis, fundamentum libertatis, vin- culum societatisy It is true that the legislature is the law- making power, and that courts are but instruments to declare and enforce it, and that the constitution of a state is the re- sult of the will of the people. But, in "a government of the people, by the, people, and /or the people," it behooves the people to respect the dicta and data of natural justice graved in the moral constitution of man, and which are prior to the constitution of the state; those necessary, primary, indemon- strable, imperial, and authoritative, postulates of all society not yet dehumanized, the bed-rock and bottom of all moral distinctions and mutual confidence, apart from which no guar- antees exist for justice, equity, truth, or faith, between man and man. Everything comes back, at last, to personal integ- rity. Onr rights and obligations grow out of our relations, nor is there a place where all the moralities and decencies that belong to individual or associated life are displayed more conspicuously than in those covenant or contract relations which underlie the whole fabric of civilized society, and which, if grounded injustice and truth, no legal technics or tricks of practice, or judicial bias, may evade or destroy. The state must have a ^' con.science,^'' and her morality must be something other than the evolutionary "maxims of a generalized expe- diency," as Herbert Spencer and his school would have it; something better than the "customary commercial morality" of the, Ueiitliam-Pak^y school, whose only pole-star was that 1 I'olilicMof Aristotlo f.Iowi'tl), Hook, Vol. Ill, p. '.). I HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 363 only ''what is expedient is right ! " Expedient it may be to amend the constitution and pledge the faith of a state to men who confide in her morality. Expedient it may be to repudi- ate that faith, and break covenant rather than keep it, and while condemning in one breath the divine right of kings to be tyrants, commend in the next the human right of states to be thieves. But, when once such "expediency" has fully usurped the throne of "right," and politicians, people, legis- latures, courts, and magistrates, bow down to worship this idol of their hands, the one right that remains is the right to invoke divine "judgment" to wipe out from existence an or- ganized system of robbery, falsehood, fraud, and oppression, too deep for human plumb-line to sound, too shameful for human conscience to bear. Apart from immutable morality, the laws of a state are vain. " What avail vain laws ajyart from morals r^^ Sibley, Flandrau, Marshall, Davis, Pillsbury, Johnson, Wilson, and others, who insisted that Minnesota should re- deem her obligations, — names worthy to be remembered, — were contending, not so much for the mere form of an external contract, as for the backmost, bottommost principles of nat- ural, civil, and moral right, the wreck of which, by the people, was the shame of the state. Xor was it of small significance that the greatest Eoman lawyer and orator of his time, a man versed in moral science, not less than in jurisprudence, the foremost statesman of his day, always advised the sous of Eomulus to act, not from the force of an ^^ obligation ^ or out- ward statute, binding, as if with iron hand, some criminal ready to escape, but from the force of an ^^officiwii^^ or sense of moral duty persuading from within; in other words, to act from the force of ^^ conscience ^^ implanted and unperverted, a power apart from which all obligations, covenants, and con- tracts, are ^^^yacta nuda,^^ and worse than in vain. A state without a conscience is the enemy of every man's home, of every man's business, and of all mankind. "An honest man is the noblest work of God," and an honest state is the noblest work of man. The "Ten Commandments" were the consti- tution of the Jewish commonwealth, and it was to the credit of the Christian state, in the hour of its formation, that it 1 " Quid leges, sine moribus, T'onrp proficient f — Horace Odes, Lib. Ill, Ode 24. 364 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF engrossed the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount in the Theodosian Code. In that one majestic sentence of the Constitution of the United States which ordains that contracts shall not be impaired, all the moralities of life are cov- ered, and all the rights and relations of the citizen and the state, formed upon these moralities, are protected. As to General Sibley's course, on the ^'■hond question,^'' he is a blind reader of facts who cannot see that the character shining here with such moral luster, in the midst of surround- ing corruption, is the same character that shone so brightly, in reference to the ^'■Indian question,^ ^ when, in the midst of the National Congress, he pleaded the same cause in behalf of the red man, defrauded, oppressed, and deceived, not alone by the state but by the nation itself. If Aristides merited the title of "just,^^ and Socrates deserved a name for teaching '^ manners^ ^ to the youth in the streets of Athens, Minneso- tians will not withhold the like praise from him who raised his voice in both national and state legislatures, and in the execu- tive chair, in defense of the same cause that made their fame immortal. An example of public fidelity and incorruptibil- ity, like this, lifting itself aloft in the forefront of the history of the state, and standing firm amid all subsequent conflicts and strifes, is of priceless value to the young men and people of the state. Like the olive tree, sung by Sophocles and sacred to Minerva, it is a plant not set by human hands, of terror to its foes, and protection to its friends; an immortal tree no storms can uproot or destroy. If any of all the sons of Min- nesota is entitled modestly to repeat the words of the Ara- bian emir, it is Henry Hastings Sibley, her first governor, — ^^I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My judgment was a robe and a diadem. My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.^^ The retirement of General Sibley from the hall of the state legislature (1871) did not relieve him from the burdens of duty to which he was called, notwithstanding his wish for a life more serene and free from care. Whenever the interests of tlic city, state, or even of the nation, — whenever municipal advancement, the cause of education, financial progress, public morals, social benefit, or protracted service — demanded men HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 365 of integrity, benevolence, talent, experience, influence, and character, his name was among the first to be mentioned, and his co-operation the first to be sought. His long life, and ac- tive career, and stainless record, as a public man, his promi- nence in every enterprise that engaged the energies of his fellow citizens, and the universal confidence reposed in his judgment, entitled him to the conceded rank of the ^^ First Oitizeyi of Minnesota.^'' With advancing years his honors still continued to be multiplied. In 1872, he was appointed ''chairman of the board of com- missioners to select and purchase, for the city of St. Paul, the site of a public park," on a grand scale, the result of which was the choice of the ground at Lake Como. In 1873, he was elected a director in the First National Bank, and still remains in its service. In 1874, he was appointed, by Governor Davis, president of the State Normal School Board. The confidence, however, reposed by the national govern- ment in his personal "integrity, ability, and discretion," and in his large Indian experience, soon called him again to serve his country, on one of her most important commissions, a com- mission no less than to supervise the operations of the whole Indian department, in reference to vast appropriations and contingent expenses, North, East, South, and West, as pro- vided for under a recent act of Congress. The document is as follows: Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States of America, to all who shall see these presents, greeting: Kuow ye, That, reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity, ability, and discretion of Henry H. Sibley of Minnesota, I do appoint him to be a commissioner under the fourth section of an act making appropria- tions for the current and contingent expenses of the Indian department, approved April 10, 1869, and do authorize and empower him to execute and fulfill the duties of that ofiice according to law, and to hold the said ofiice, with all the rights and emoluments thereunto legally appertaining unto him the said Henry H. Sibley, during the pleasure of the president of the United States for the time being. In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made patent, and the seal of the department of the interior to be hereunto aflixed. Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, the third day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninety-eighth. By the President, U. S. Grant. C. Delano, Secretary of the Interior. 366 ANCESTEY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF In the year 1875, when the state was scourged by the ''lo- cust plague" that devoured the substance of both man and beast, in large sections of the state, he was appointed, by Governor Davis, as chairman of the Committee of Belief in behalf of the sufferers, and discharged the duties incident to that mission with such promptness, wisdom, and fidelity, as to call forth the public thanks of the chief executive. In the same year he was elected a member of the American Geo- graphical Society, Cooper Institute, New York, and, again, was chosen president of the Minnesota State Historical Society. Once more, he was summoned to act upon another Indian com- mission. In addition to this, he was nominated, by acclama- tion, in his district, for Congress, a district scoring 20,000 Ee- publican majority, and though conscious of coming defeat, yet accepted the nomination in deference to the wishes of his political associates, and out of regard for his warm personal friend, Major General Hancock, then a candidate for the presi- dency of the United States. In what high esteem he was held by the regents of the State University, may be learned from the fact that, when, in 1876, General Sibley was burdened with many cares, and much serving, and desired to resign his position as president of the board, which he had filled with such credit to himself, and such benefit to the institution, the proposition was instantly repelled. Of this, the following correspondence is but a por- tion of the pleasing evidence: State of Minnesota, Executive Department, St. Paul, May 19, 1876. My Dear General: It is with sincere regret I have to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the seventeenth instant, tendering your resignation as president and member of the hoard of regents of the University of Minnesota, and as president and member of the State Normal Board. I have but a moment to consider the communication. Please ex- cui5e my non-acceptance of the resignation of one whose services are so valu- a>)le and important to this state, until at least I can have the opportunity of a consultation with you. I am, Truly Yours, J. S. PiLLSBURY. To General II. H. Siblei/, Si. Paul, Minn. University ok Minnesota, Minneapolis. May 21, 1876. General: On receiving your letter on Saturday I went at once to Governor Pillsbury and l)egged him on behalf of the faculty not to accept your resignation. Your retirement from tlie board and from your ofiice in the board at this time would })e a great calamity to the institution. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 367 No new man, however great his natural abilities, can perform the ser- vices which your long experience and acquaintance with the affairs of the university enable you easily to render. Your place cannot be filled. Per- mit me, for myself and my colleagues, most earnestly and respectfully to urge that, when Governor Pillsbury comes to you to beg that you will with- draw your resignation, you consent still longer to sacrifice your valuable time and personal ease to the public service. I am. General, Most Truly and Respectfully Yours, etc., Wm. W. Folwell. General H. H. Sibley, St. Paul, 3Iinn. In 1878, he was elected president of the Oakland Cemetery- Association, and continues still to discharge the duties per- taining to that office. In 1879, he was chosen to preside at the celebration of the "Thirteenth Anniversary of the Minne- sota State Historical Society," delivering the opening address to a large and intelligent audience gathered in the representa- tives' hall at the capitol, and reading to them the letter of President Lincoln authorizing the execution of the Indians, in the winter of 1862. In 1881, the year before the final set- tlement of the question of the state bonds, his fortunes saw him again leading the party with which he had always acted, in one more effort to redeem the honor of the state, his manly figure adorning the president's chair in the Democratic State Convention. The following year, 1883, he was, once more, ap- pointed by the president of the United States, as president of the commission of the United States Government to settle all claims for damages done to the ChipxDCwa Indians by construc- tion of national reservoirs. The arduous activiftes, which burdens so multiplied im- posed upon General Sibley, were not unmingled with a com- pensation of social enjoyment, and frequent public recognition of his personal worth. On any unusual occasion pertaining to the welcome of a celebrated character hailing from abroad, or a citizen of eminence from another state, or relating to events connected with the history of his own state, or of the nation, an assemblage without his presence could only be want- ing in one of the features most essential to its success. As years passed away and planetary revolution completed bi-centennial, semi-centennial, and quarto- centennial periods, dated from special events or great occurrences in the life of the Territory and the State of Minnesota, and brightened the recollection of scenes long to be remembered, it was but natu- ral to institute festivities fittingly to celebrate the same. In these, also, General Sibley bore a conspicuous part. 368 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF The year 1880 was the ^'Bi- Centennial Anniversary of the Discovery of the Falls of St. Anthony ^^^ by Hennepin, an event celebrated by a large gathering of representative men of the State of Minnesota, meeting in a grand arbor erected for the occasion, on the campus of the State University, at Minneap- olis. By unanimous voice, General Sibley, president of the board of regents of the university, ofiiciated as president of the bi-centennial, and was himself the central figure, and mas- ter of ceremonies. Among the notable men then present were Alexander Eamsey, Henry M. Eice, Russell Blakeley, three of the Washburn family, Governor Cadwallader of Wisconsin, Archbishop Tache of Manitoba, Bishop La Flesh of Canada, the Eev. Dr. Neill of St. Paul, Bishops Ireland and Grace, General E. W. Johnson, and not least of all the renowned general of the United States Army, William Tecumseh Sher- man. Never again will any occasion bring this constellation of illustrious men together. The splendid ^^ Inaugural Banquef'' given by the citizens of Minnesota to Governor Hubbard, on the evening of January 9, 1882, was an occasion of proud compliment to a brave sol- dier, a worthy citizen, and an accomplished gentleman, whom the people of the state had honored by calling him to fill the executive chair. It was only appropriate that General Sibley should preside at the banquet, and deliver the address of wel- come, and, in the name of the state, salute the new governor, extending to him the cordial congratulations of the brilliant gathering. « Saturday evening, November 7, 1884, the ^^ Semi- Centennial Anniversary of the Advent of the Prince of Pioneers^'' to Minne- sota, a costly banquet, sumptuous with the choicest prepa- rations, gay witli floral decorations, and select with the pres- ence of his warm admirers, among whom were the elite of the city of St. Paul, graced the ladies' ordinary at the Metropolitan Hotel. Tlie tables, arranged on three sides of the room, brought the guests close together, General Sibley being seated in front of the centre table, and at the middle of the same. Commodore Kittson on his right, and Judge Nelson of the United States Circuit Court on his left. On the back of the hill of fare, beautiful anrey; And carrion-kitc, and Jay-bird, Fled, screaming, faraway!" HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 373 In May, 1888, General Sibley was unanimously elected com- mander of the Loyal Legion of the State of Minnesota, and June 7, 1888, decorated with the emblems of his office, the chief justice of the supreme court of the state holding the second place, a tribute offered not as a matter of mere routine, but as a cordial recognition of invaluable service rendered to the state and to the nation. The ^'' Grand Annual Reception and Banquet of the Loyal Le- gion,^^ when the magnates of the state and many distinguished guests, both civil and military, met at this date in full force, in the capacious rooms of the Hotel Eyan, to install General Sibley into the high office of "Commander of the Legion," ought not to pass unnoticed. His ancestors had belonged to the ancient "Order of the Cincinnati," formed at the close of the Revolutionary "War, and it was fitting that their illustrious descendant should be invested with the chief dignity in an or- ganization of not less importance and renown. The dining room of the hotel and its approaches were decorated with a profusion of the national and state bunting, and the choicest productions of the florist's skill, displayed in the most tasteful arrangement. Under a canopy of silk American flags shone the celebrated picture of "Sheridan's Ride," representing the great general on his black charger, bounding from Winchester to the battle-field, twenty miles away. Portraits of Generals J. B. Sanborn, W. R. Marshall, H. H. Sibley, and ex-Governor Ramsey, the great "War Governor," hung at the head of the stairway, surmounted by a shield bearing the heraldry of the commandery, and supported by the standard of the Legion embroidered in gold. On the large mantelpiece of the corri- dor the great American eagle spread his outstretched wings. Flowering plants and shrubs stood everywhere, and a brilliant assemblage of ladies added beauty to the splendor of the scene. The Third Infantry band, stationed in the rotunda, discoursed the national music with stirring effect, and, during the banquet, an orchestra from the same charmed the ears of the delighted guests. The menu card bore the following lines: "Halt the column, rest a moment, Stack the guns, the fires light, Here is foraging in plenty, Let us bivouac here to-night." The stores of the commissary department having been thor- oughly discussed, ex-Governor Marshall delivered an appro- 374 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF priate eulogy iipou the life and career of the commander elect, General Sibley, referring in high terms also to ex-Governor Ramsey and ex-Senator Henry M. Rice, who were among the distinguished personages of the evening. General Sibley then made the "Address of Welcome," and announced his accept- ance of the high honor conferred upon him, expressing his great satisfaction at the sight of so many of his old comrades who had shared with him the dangers and the victories of the Sioux War of 1862 and 1863. At the close of his address, the following poem, greeted with applause at its conclusion by the whole company, was read by Captain Henry Castle, in honor of General Sibley: OUR NEW COMMANDER. Companions! why the grateful words withhold That leap to voice our heart-throbs' loyal swell? We, honoring, honored are; let lips be bold In tril)ute to the name we love so well. Our new commander! Let the record gleam With blazonry of all his lame and worth! No risk of chance or change. No fear of him — Rock-buttressed as the pedestals of earth. In mettled youth the stalwart pioneer Who strode the forests; scaled the dizzy steep; Taught the swart savage justice to revere, And plowed the path of empire wide and deep. In early manhood builder of the state — A leader and a master, laying down The rod and rifle for the realm sedate Of legislator — and the civic crown. In life's ripe prime the soldier, whose strong arm To periled thousands wrought deliverance. Whose cool and prudent prowess quelled alarm As quailed the foe before his angry glance. In stately age the counselor and friend, The splendid model of our men to be. Sereuest sage! Gentlest of gentlemen! Fit autumn for the summer's fulgeucy. His past secure in history's golden urn, Honored and loved through all life's shining span, His future safe — late be lie ours to mourn The i'lTtit and noblest Minnesotian. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 375 Such praise, cordial as unanimous, and true as deserved, was a fitting accompaniment to the investiture of General Sib- ley with the chief dignity of the comniandery. Honors, however, of a different and not less illustrious character, — honors academic and literary, — from one of the oldest and most distinguished American institutions in the East, and of world-wide fame, began to greet him, in recogni- tion not only of his military merit but of his civil services, his high personal character, and what he had achieved for the cause of education in the State of Minnesota. June 19, 1888, the following telegram was received by General Sibley from Professor Magie of Princeton College, New Jersey: Princeton-, June 19, 1888. To General Henry Hantings Sibley, Dear Sir: I am directed to announce to you that you have been elected, unanimously, a member of the Cliosophic Society of Princeton, Please notify us of your acceptance. W. T. Magie, Professor. This announcement, startling and unexpected, was fol- lowed by another, six days later, viz. : Princeton, June 25, 1888. Hon. Henry H. Sibley, Dear Sir: The degree of Doctor of Laws, LL.D., has been unani- mously conferred upon you by the trustees of Princeton College, on the ground of your high personal character, scholarly attainments, and eminent public services, civil, military, and educational. A. F. West, Professor. This yet more unexpected communication was accompanied by an official notice of the fact from the secretary of the board of trustees, as follows: Newark, New Jersey, June 26, 1888. The Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley, LL.D., My Dear Sir: It gives me great pleasure to announce that, at their last meeting, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on you by the trustees of the College of New Jersey. Very Truly Yours, D. R. Frazer, Clerk pro tern. To this communication, General Sibley replied, in the fol- lowing terms: 376 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Univeesity of Minnesota, Eegents' Office, St. Paul, July 3, 1888. D. R. Frazer, Clerk pro te)n. , Newark, New Jersey, My Dear Sir: Your esteemed favor of the twenty-sixth ultimo, noti- fying me, formally, of the action of the trustees of the College of New Jersey, conferring upon me the honorary degree of "Doctor of Laws, " was duly received. In accepting this unexpected honor, permit me to express my high appreciation of the compliment thus paid me by the authorities of one of the oldest, if not the oldest, and most famous of the institutions of the East, and my grateful thanks therefor. Very Truly Yours, Henry H. Sibley. In addition to the formal notification, a personal congratu- lation was forwarded to General Sibley, by the Eev. Francis L. Patton, D.D., LL.D., the newly inducted president of the institution, and which was duly acknowledged: Peinceton, New Jersey, June 28, 1888, Son. H. H. Sibley, My Dear Sir: I was greatly pleased to learn that, just before my own induction into office, and transfer, under the administration of Dr. McCosh, the trustees of Princeton College had conferred upon you the hon- orary degree of Doctor of Laws {Leguvi Doctor). I write only to express my own pleasure that the highest academic title in the gift of the college has been so worthily bestowed, and that, among those who will henceforth repre- sent us, in your state, is one whose services to the state are so universally known and appreciated. Official notification of the action of the trustees will have been received, in all probability, ere this, through the clerk of the board. I am, Very Faithfully Yours, Francis L. Patton. The diploma, in witness of the honor conferred, and bear- ing the official seal, displayed on the colors of William of Nassau, the Prince of Orange, was duly transmitted, and as duly acknowledged. A facsimile of the parchment is seen on the opposite page. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 377 378 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF It was but natural that the distinguished president of the University of Minnesota, present, at the time, in New Haven, Connecticut, and seeing in the public press the announcement of the honor conferred upon the president of the board of regents of the University of Minnesota, should hasten to transmit his own congratulations to the recipient of so emi- nent an honor. With a warm pulse-beat. Dr. Northrop sent to General Sibley the following tribute, as handsome as it was brief, cordial, and appropriate: New Haven, Connecticut, June 30, 1888. My Dear General Sibley: Accept my hearty congratulations on the well-deserved honor yoa have received. After an acquaintance of four years with you, I am prepared to say that I know of no honor which could be conferred on you which would not be deserved. Very Truly Yours, Cyrus Northrop. The board of regents of the University of Minnesota also placed on record the following preamble and resolution: Whereas, The honorable title of Doctor of Laws has been conferred, by the College of New Jersey, upon the president of this board, the Hon. H. H. Sibley, it is hereby Eesolved, That this board approves with special gratification this rec- ognition of our fellow citizen who has eminently served our state from its earliest organization, with his sword in defense of our homes on the frontier, with his counsel as our representative in the halls of Congress, and as our chief executive, and who now consents to give us his last years to building up a university which will emulate the merits and renown of the institution which has so honored him. How thoroughly the great compliment paid to General Sib- ley, by Princeton, was appreciated by the public press of the city of St. Paul, echoing as it did the sentiment of this state, may be learned from the following editorial which appeared in the Pioneer Press, June 30, 1888: St. Paul's eminent citizen, the oldest pioneer, distinguished alike for his services to the state and to the country, Hon. Henry H. Sibley, has just been crowned with two wreuths, placed upon his head by one of the most celebrated among our Eastern literary institutions. The College of New .Jersey, with her eminent faculty and board of directors and trustees, has unanimously conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.), at its recent commen<;enient, upon General Sibley, while the Cliosophic Society of Princeton h;ts, at the same time, elected him an honorary member of its learned fraternity. Among the directors and professors of this institution, in wliose presidential chair have sat men like Witherspoon, Jonathan Edwards, and McCosh, and whose present chief is Dr. Patton, conceded to be the first dialectician of the age, are many who are familiar with the his- HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 379 tory of Minnesota and the career of General Sibley. The compliment to this distinguished citizen, first in the territory and first in the state, will be appreciated by the entire state, and remembered with delight. The only question is whether General Sibley is more honored in receiving, or Prince- ton more honored in bestowing, the distinction. The State University, of whose board of regents General Sibley has so long been the head, will, though Princeton has stolen a march on it in this matter, undoubtedly regard the honor as due to itself. The alumni of Prince- ton will feel proud because its laurels are won by one than whom there is none more admired, or loved for his attainments, services, or personal worth, in the state. The Territory of Minnesota, the legislature of Minnesota, the judiciary of Minnesota, the civil and military organizations and various public institutions and charities of Minnesota, have heaped honors on his head. To the same purpose, the Daily Globe, same date, added its commendation, in the following terms: We congratulate our esteemed citizen. General Sibley, full of honors as of years, upon this distinguished compliment to his merit, from a source second to none for eminence in the whole country. These honors he has received are honors worth ha\ing. The "Clio" is reputed as one of the most celebrated literary societies in the United States, and has a roll of eminent names, many of whom are of world-wide fame. The board of trus- tees of Princeton is composed of a large body of eminent scholars, historians, jurists, divines, and professors, among whom are Drs. McCosh and Patton, and gentlemen of the first wealth and standing in New York and Phila- delphia, and other cities in the East. Three honors in three weeks! "Com- mander Loyal Legion," "Member of the Princeton Clio," and "Doctor of Laws!" Falmam qui meruit ferat! Let him, who has deserved the palm, take it ! The natural outgrowth of such testimonials of esteem as these, and their effect and influence upon the hearts of all connected with the university, may well be imagined. The following year, after passing through a severe illness, the honored president of the board of regents made his appear- ance, June 6, 1889, at the university commencement, when once more he became the subject of a grand ovation. He was introduced to the crowded assembly by President Northrop in a handsome speech that developed the electricity into a blaze most brilliant and exciting: ".4< the mention of General Sibley^ s name, the entire audience rose, and made the welkin ring with cheers. The recipient of this signal honor was visibly affected, andthe hardy patriarch, whose biography is the history of Minnesota, found himself overcome by the occasion.''^ ^ 1 St. Paul Dispatch, June 7, 1889. 380 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF The intelligence of this ■well-merited tribute no sooner reached the ears of the Eight Eeverend E. S. Thomas, S.T.D., Bishop of Kansas, — an old friend of General Sibley, — than the following beautiful appreciation of it was sent, on wings, to General Sibley's home: Salina, Kansas, July 6, 1889. My Deab Geneeal Sibley: Last evening, my son George informed me of the handsome tribute which President Northrop gave you on commence- ment day of the university. It made my heart thrill with pride and joy. It is such a pleasure to know that a true man and a noble life may have their due meed of praise, now, and their worth openly recognized, before the shroud of death calls for a fitting eulogy. Mrs. Thomas sends affec- tionate regards. Your Very Sincere Friend, E. T. Thomas. To crown all, the following editorial appeared in the Daily Globe about the same time, and testifies to a sentiment that, one day, perhaps not far hence, may find its realization in the actual consummation for which it pleads. No citizen will say that it does not deserve a ready consideration: The Globe publishes this morning an article descriptive of Mendota, where the earliest white settlement in Minnesota was made, and where the first house was built by General Sibley. The structure is still standing, and its builder is still living. The town of Mendota, the venerable stone man- sion, and the name of Henry H. Sibley are all inseparably associated with the history of Minnesota. It is therefore with all the more freedom that the Globe makes the following suggestion: Who General Sibley is and what he has been to Minnesota is known of everybody. Panegyrics on an illustrious name are not necessary in the presence of a people who have personal knowledge of the deeds of the man. So what we have to say we will at, directly, without the form of further introduction. The Globe'' s suggestion is that the piece of ground known as Pilot Knob be at once secured, and that ten or fifteen acres, or as much of it as may be necessary for the purposes, be devoted to the use of a public park, in tlie midst of which, and curving the summit of the Knob, shall be erected a monument to General Sibley. Tliat General Sibley deserves a monument from the people of Minnesota, goes without question. That Pilot Knob is the most appropriate phice for a monument to General Sib- ley's memory is made plain in the Globe^s Mendota article. It should stand on the eminence directly overlooking the little pioneer town where the first white man's home was built in Minnesota and in full view of these two great cities. Following close on tlie heels of tlie (llobc^a suggestion to build the Sib- ley moiiuiiicnt on Pilot Knob comes the (juestion, Who will iuaugvirate the movein(!nt':' There are, perhaps, scores of our public-spirited citizens who will cheerfully give it substantial aid. The Globe itself would only be too HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 381 proud to be a leader in such a movement. But there is a fitness in all things. And in this instance it is appropriate that the honor of the initial movement shall belong to the old settlers. The surviving pioneers who shared with Sibley the privations of frontier life, and v?ho still live to enjoy with him the exceeding glory of their joint achievements, are the ones to inaugurate a movement to do honor to the name and memory of their old leader and to Minnesota's earliest and best friend. The Globe has made the suggestion. Now let the old settlers take hold of it and put it into prac- tical shape. It would be difficult to find another among the honored pioneers of Minnesota, more worthy of such a mark of public esteem than the Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley, whom the Ter- ritory of Wisconsin, the Territory of Minnesota, and the State of Minnesota by her people, her judiciary, her legislature, her university, her civil, military, commercial, financial, mu- nicipal, and charitable, institutions have already adorned with so many tokens of their continuous and undiminished regard. As a civilian, the first in so many important re- spects, and of such moment in the infancy of Minnesota, and as a soldier, the redeemer of so many of her captives from the grasp of a brutal foe, he shines with untarnished honors, and keeps the ensigns of his worth, neither assumed nor laid aside at the caprice of the popular breath. He, all-indifterent to the spurns Of vulgar souls profane. The honors wears he proudly earns. Unclouded by a stain; Nor takes, nor lays the fasces down As fickle mobs applaud or frown. Intaminatis fulget honoribus, Nee sumit, nee ponit, secures, Arbitrio popularis aurse. — Horace, Odes, Lib. Ill, Ode II. CHAPTER XI. EESUME OF THE CAREER OF H. H. SIBLEY. — SPECIAL CONSIDERATION OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF MR. SIBLEY. — INTELLECTUALITY. — A STATES- MAN, ORATOR, DEBATER. — MORAL ATTRIBUTES. — RELIGIOUS ELE- MENT. — LITERARY MERIT. — CONTRIBUTOR. — DESCRIPTIVE POWER. — EPISTOLARY POWER. — LETTER TO COSTANTINE BELTRAMI. — POETICAL PROPENSITY OF GENERAL SIBLEY. — HIS POEM "THEN AND NOW." — ELEGAIC TRIBUTES. —TRIBUTE TO COLONEL HERCULES L. DOUSMAN. — TRIBUTE TO MAJOR JOSEPH R. BROWN. — PARTIAL LIST OF GENERAL SIBLEY'S WRITINGS. — HIS LOVE OF THE ROMANTIC AND BEAUTIFUL IN NATURE. — WORDSWORTH'S LINES. — EXPRESSION OF HIS SENTIMENT. — LOVE OF THE COMICAL, ILLUSTRATED. — HIS BENEVOLENCE AND BE- NEFICENCE. — SYMPATHY WITH HIS FELLOW MAN. — WORTHY OF PRES- ENT PRAISE, WHILE LIVING. — THE HOME OF MR. SIBLEY AT MENDOTA. — THE HOME OF MR. SIBLEY AT ST. PAUL. — HIS SOCIAL LIFE. — PLACES CALLED BY HIS NAME. — PRESENT FAMILY, AND FAMILY CONNEC- TIONS IN ST. PAUL. — CLOSING WORDS. — TRIBUTE TO HENRY HASTINGS, BY THE WRITER. — PERSONAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT. In the foregoing chapters, we have spoken of the ancestral lines of Henry Hastings Sibley, both English and American, giving special prominence to both. We have traced the history in outline, backward to the Norman Conquest, forward to the time of the Winthrop Fleet, and thence to the period when the subject of this narrative was a babe, a year old, a pris- oner in British hands. We have seen his early proclivities, and followed his career from the time he left his paternal roof to the time of the present writing, a period of seventy- eight years. Freed from his mother's knee, we have watched him pursuing his juvenile, and next, his classic, education 5 then turning away from his home, in his seventeenth year, to seek his fortune; a clerk and justice of the peace at the Sault Ste. Marie and at Mackinac; a partner next in the Great American Fur Company; a pioneer in Minnesota; chief inspector of the trading posts of the fur company through- ont the whole Xortliwest; justice of the peace, again, over a r<*gion hirge as the Einpiie of France; foreman of the first grand jury west of the Mississippi; an Indian hunter for many years; a business man; a delegate to Congress from the resid- uary i)oiti(>ii of Wisconsin; s<'('uiing the passage of the bill organizing Minnesota Territory; a delegate from the Territory HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 383 of Minnesota, devoted to its interests, and winning for himself the praise of all; presiding officer of the Democratic branch of the state convention, met to form the state constitution; first governor of the State of Minnesota, defending the honor and struggling to support the credit of the state; a soldier next, leading the forces of the state to avenge the great Sioux massacre of 1862; a second time leading a second expedition, in 1863, and returning again victorious from the field; the deliverer of Minnesota's captives from the grasp of a savage foe; organizer of a commission to try the Indian criminals; a member, not only of the territorial, but also of the state, leg- islature; appointed by various presidents of the United States to negotiate treaties with the Indian tribes, and again with others to supervise the entire operations of the Indian de- partment. We have seen him also locating the capitol of the state, giving to Minnesota river, and to the state, their names; assisting to form the first Protestant church ever formed in the region before it became a territory; building the first church edifice ever built west of the Mississippi; a friend of the missionaries, contributing to their support; battling for pre-emption rights and a homestead for all; pleading for the insane; securing large appropriations for the territory, and a double share for the purposes of school education; two town- ships for the purpose of a university; a colonel, a brigadier, a major general; president of the board of regents of the State University, doctor of laws, and a citizen crowned with numer- ous and distinguished honors, civil, political, military, and academic; a man respected and beloved by the people, and living to almost an octogenarian age, witnessing wonders such • as no other man has seen, in the development of the Northwest. In all these changing and diversified relations, he has passed before us, not as a phantom figure, but a real character, ex- citing our interest, and challenging our admiration, at every step of his many-sided, unique, and marvelous career. It remains, in a closing chapter, to devote some space, more critically than the previous connected narrative would permit, to the intellectual, moral, sesthetie, and religious fea- tures of General Sibley, his character as a man and a states- man, a public orator and debater, a literary author, as also to note his benevolence and charities, his home, to number his family and family connections in the city of St. Paul, and, with some closing observations, retire from our labor. 384 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF A marked characteristic of General Sibley's mind is its broad inlellectuaUty, a mind deep yet clear as the crystal in which the scenery of trees and sky, and the objects of nature, are reflected with the utmost distinctness and perfection. If, as Bufifon remarks, "the style is the man," this must go un- disputed. If not merely the flow of his pellucid language, but the thoughts covered by the words are an index of the mental quality behind them, General Sibley's style of expression, and the culture it betrays besides, will rank him as among the best thinkers of his time. On whatever theme he speaks or has spoken, or writes or has written, there is a breadth of comprehension and a grasp of its widest and deepest rela- tions, with a clear statement of his subject, such as evinces an intellectual power scarcely inferior to that of men we are accustomed to regard as among the first and ablest of our time. The transparency of the vesture with which his ideas are clothed may deceive superficial minds, as might the charm of their simj)licity, and the ease with which they flow in lan- guage where no word is misplaced, and none mistaken, — a diction select and appropriate, — but better minds, versed in such mysteries, will not be misled in their judgment of the merits both of the thinker and the thought, by the clearness of the utterance. To read his speeches, one would think they had been elaborated with the utmost care, and delivered only after they had been committed to a faithful memory. And, were it not that the same facility of utterance, and force of intellect, and faultlessuess of style, emerge everywhere on all occasions, even when called upon to speak impromptu, and un- expectedly, it might be difficult to evade a conclusion which ten minutes' conversation with their gifted author would over- throw. This much is due, in a general way, to his intellectu- ality, which if not as quick now, nearly at the close of four- score years, is yet as observable as when in its prime. As a statefivian, judged by his congressional career, the development of his mind was of the first order. He pene- trated to the foundation of things, examining the principles of human action, studying the structure of society, its various forms of govrrnnient, the genius of institutions, the character of constitutions and of laws, the realtion of the federal to the state authority, the results of legislation, the histories of states, enipires, and republics, the rights of man, and the general progress of the world. Endowed with a meditative HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 385 and reflective disposition, and sharing his father's judicial aptitude, his opinions as to the character of his times, the tendencies of great forces then in action, — not alone in the United States, but everywhere in the civilized world, — be- came of real value to those who sought his counsel. Gifted, moreover, with that prophetic foresight which is grounded in a logical deduction from the knowledge of the world's past course, and a keen perception of impulses wrapped up in its present motion, he framed to himself a "philosophy of progress" which he believed the experience of future years would verify, in the rapid evolution of the American people. It was that character of mind which restrained him from siding with the extreme South in the Civil War, and also awoke the grand conception of a North and South linked together as one, in coming time, commercially as well as agri- culturally, by a gigantic railroad from the Gulf of Mexico to the British line. The old and narrow notions of natural enmity, hereditary feuds, and sectional antagonisms, with practically independent petty sovereignties, such as clannish Highlanders, imperial barous, and savage Indians, entertain, he deemed worthy to be banished from the temper of the peo- ple, and from the politics of the times. Eadical for the removal of every inherent wrong, and of all things adverse to man's improvement, — let his color be red, black, white, or yellow, — he was yet a wise counselor, cautious and safe, opposed to all volcanic action, save as a last resort, handling l^ractically, as a statesman, and not theoretically, as a ro- mancer, the great questions of his day, and regulating his procedure by guides and considerations of a wise experience. The tenor of his life, habitually temperate, made him all the more industrious and constant in the distribution of his time, and enabled him to be a thorough master of all the details of such business as required his attention. He was posted in territorial and state affairs far beyond the majority of the house, when he entered it, although well informed men were there. Punctual to his engagements, and hourly diligent, he was ever ready, whenever a crisis demanded his special inter- vention, to make his appearance, leaj) into " the imminent deadly breach," and even lead a hojDc almost ''forlorn." Pa- tient and persevering, he was determined, on all occasions, to deserve success, even if on some occasions he did not suc- ceed. He ever stood rooted in his creed, not wavering with 386 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF circumstances, nor veering with the wind. Even the ne'cessity of self-preservation, the first law of nature, could not warp his judgment to affirm a proposition, which the text of the Con- stitution, and the plighted faith of the states, demonstrated to be false. In the issue between North and South, while he gave the legal case to the South, so far as the rendition of the fugitive was concerned, he stood by the North on the ground of the integrity of the Union, and drew his sword in defense of his state. The "neutrality" to which, in the feeble begin- ning, and critical time of the birth of the territory^ he com- mitted himself, was no evasion of principles he was well understood to hold, but grounded itself in the non-existence of political organizations among his constituents, the pledge of non-partisan representation, and the highest good of the people. It was based on moral not less than political reasons. The same courage displayed itself here, as later on, at the birth of the state, when all neutrality was thrown aside, and he stood foremost as the leader of the party whose funda- mental principles he has ever regarded as those of the people and country, and indestructible so long as popular govern- ment lasts. Whether in ascension, or in retirement, he re- mained steadfast to the Constitution and the laws, loyal to the government, conservative yet tolerant, discriminating yet indulgent. Like all men of any real greatness, he was, while dignified, yet condescending and affable, easy of approach, simple, sociable, genial, enthusiastic, and cordial in all his personal relationships. His influence with men, even the leaders of diverse parties, was great, and it acquired strength all the more, under the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed, the times in which he lived, and the interests committed to his hands, when it was discovered that, not merely the minor obstacles thrown in his path gave him no concern, but that, rising superior to the party passions of the hour, and the base undergrowth of selfish ends, he could be a patriot and not a partisan, refusing to sacrifice, to political entanglements, the interests his constituents had committed to his trust. As a pnhlic spealcer, he deserves a place among the first that Minnesota has produced, dilferent indeed from all the rest by the wliole difference of mental and moral constitution that obtains l)etw<;en one man and another. He had, more- over, studied the best models of his own and former genera- HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 387 tions. He had read, with care, the orations of a Chatham and Pitt, a Burke and Sheridan, a Curran and Fox, a Grattan and Emmet. He pored over the productions of a Webster and Clay, an Everett and Choate, a Benton and Calhoun, and was familiar not only with Douglas and Foote, but with the first orators in both the senate and the house of representatives. He delighted, besides, to study the pages of a Rollin and Gibbon, a Hallam and Alison, storing his memory with the records of ancient and modern history. The English and French poets were his companions. His knowledge was not confined to the ordinary accomplishments of an English education, but ex- tended to the classic authors, the source of his exquisite taste, and perhaps of the "o?'e rotundo^^ character of his expressions. In all these great models, he discovered the existence of a great principle which was constitutional to himself, and a chief source of their success, viz. : a firmness of purpose and resolution in the pursuit of their object. Whatever they willed to do they ^^ ivilled it ivith a wu7?," undismayed by any opposition, how formidable soever it might be. We see this element not only in the maiden speech of Mr. Sibley before the house Committee on Elections, but eminently so in his speeches on the "pre-emption and homestead bills," and still more strongly in the struggle whereby five roads were saved to Minnesota. Once, and again, he bore the brunt of the whole combined attack upon him, and held his position with a tenacity which, at last, was crowned with victor}^ He was, admittedly, one of the most effective speakers in the house. He never rose to discuss a great question of con- stitutional government, state or territorial right, public econ- omy, the rights of delegates, the interpretation of the Consti- tution, internal improvement, or national policy of any kind, that he did not command the attention of the rei3resentatives, and was even entreated by members of the house to address that body. Tall, stately, well formed, and of commanding personal appearance, erect, dignified, urbane, and even cour- teous, in his manners, self-possessed and deliberate, wearing the look of conscious power, he challenged, and received, the respect of all. He conveyed the impression, always, that he was master of his subject. His voice blended the harmonies of the pathietic and the strong, the tender and the grave, and, in the presentation and enforcement of his cause, he touched not less the sympathies than enlightened the understanding 388 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF and persuaded the mind of his hearers. Sometimes, he rose to the height of an intense and burning eloquence, as when pleading for the pioneer, and the red man, or exposing the perfidy of the government and its officials. He had a divine memory, an affluent diction, a lucid order, a consistent method, a fullness of historic fact, an aj^titude for illustration, a power of description, a simplicity of action, and naturalness of ges- ture, an animation chastened by good taste, a flow of the deepest feeling, a weight in his words, a gravity of mien even when excited, and a faculty of shedding over questions of state policy and government the high light imparted by their moral associations. His speeches show that he felt the speaker was not the only person actively engaged while a speech is in progress, but that the audience are in action as well, and that not merely must the intellect be informed but the affections moved, and the will determined in the direction proposed. A. mere didactic orator he could never be. A passive audience he could never have. Elevated, commanding, and composed, he yet became, when the time required it, impas- sioned, and overmastering. His severity he reserved for those public occasions when, in Congress, legislature, or through the public press, or when addressing his fellow citizens, whether from the state or national cajiitol, or at the market place, vice was to be made dance under the lash, — honor, justice, truth, and fidelity to covenants to be vindicated, — the name of the state to be redeemed from infamy, — corrupt politicians ex- posed, — corporations frustrated in their schemes of plunder, — and public officials held to just accountability. His invective was terrible, his denunciation scathing. His sentences were framed to hold as much dynamite as possible, and his force was used to hurl it with the most destructive effect. The eye that could "stare a buff"alo out of countenance" glared. At such times it was a joy to him to see his shells explode just where he intended them to go, and the splinters fly just where they were least expected. On other occasions, when speaking in praise of the good, he was like a bow on the cloud or the clear shining of the sun after rain. His speeches on the "Indian question" and the "home- stead bill" are models of pathetic eloquence in many pas- sages, and of scorching indignation in others. That on the " HMluction of tlie military reservation of Fort Snelling," re- claiming, from a military to a civil jurisdiction, Minnesota's HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 389 best acres, pleading for the pioneer, and the territory, and that on the "indigent insane," crushing a scheme to allow the states to select for themselves Minnesota's best lands for their own benefit, are specimens of intellectual power, and wither- ing rebuke. And what adds enduring value to these efforts is the fact that, in them all, the orator is not contented with mere material interests, nor talks in the terms of a mere cal- culator of material industries and advantages, nor as a specu- lating politician, but rises to the height of asserting the de- mands of natural justice, and enforcing the principles of eternal right. As a debater, General Sibley was not surpassed. He was matched against the most accomplished men in the house, nor once came out second best in any dialectical encounter. A half-hour's analysis of his gladiatorial exercises, as seen in the congressional records, will let this, also, go unquestioned. He was never vanquished by attack, and his reply was fre- quently more powerful than his first presentation. Mason, Boyden, Stevens, and Eoot, were witnesses of that. They experienced also the power of General Sibley in retort. As to his mode of reasoning, in debate, if, from the structure of his mind so broad and comprehensive, and the flow of his language, Ciceronian and Johnsonian in its periods, it was not sharp, short, and precise, like the logic of Calhoun, or the terse sentences of Douglas, but more like that of Burke or Erskine, it was none the less effective. It prevented too rapid a motion in the mind of his hearers, too exhaustive an atten- tion, and made the comprehension of the argument all the more easy. If the web of the argument was extended, its tex- ture was none the less tough. If it moved, like a river cut- ting its channel ever deeper, and widening its banks by the gathering forces of its flowing and increasing waters, still it never wearied the ears that listened to its roll, nor brought slumber to eyes that watched its motion. Cogent and convinc- ing, with one aim before him, he pressed onward, by a fault- less dialectic, to achieve his victory. No empty sentence escaped his lips. He never strayed from the thread of his argument. His facts were never overstated. His points were never broken. His clinching demonstrations were never re- futed. In the hottest of the contest his suavity of manner never forsook his bravery of action. If voles overbore rea- son, and he lost, in the first encounter, he yet returned to the 390 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF charge, undaunted by opposition, and undeterred by defeat. He was ready to meet, single handed, any antagonism that offered itself to his attentions. As a parliamentarian, he was skillful to wield the "previous question," and, as an honora- ble strategist, he knew how to corner the house and bring its leaders to his feet! The moral attributes that shone, conspicuously, in General Sibley's whole career, have been matters of universal com- ment, and unqualified commendation. The recurrence of almost daily eulogies in reference to this phenomenon in the life of a public man, amid the temptations of our age, when recklessness of principle is seen among so many of our public men, reminds us, strongly, of like eulogies, under like circumstances, by the Greeks and Eomans, upon men whose virtues escaped the seductions around them; eulogies of vir- tue, even in the very bosom of Pagandom before Christianity was born, and whereby men won for themselves an enduring name. We recall the character of the elder Cato, the story of Regulus, and the life of Socrates; their adherence to truth, honesty, and justice, fidelity to covenants, the sanctity of promises, and their freedom fi'om corruption. It is Sallust who can think of nothing nobler for the Roman youth than to imi- tate the noble deeds of their fathers, turning away from the crimes of the age, nor satisfied so long as the virtues of the dead were more than those of the living. By such high ex- ample, he sought to recover from ruin the generation almost hopelessly destroyed by its own excesses, its political venality, luxurious vice, and sacrifice of all things for the sake of con- quest, pleasure, and power. If we seek to catalogue these virtues, so much to be praised, we shall find them no other than what an insj^ired writer has summed up under the ru- brics of '■'■icliatsoeoer things are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and of good report,^'' '^ — pagan virtues to the height of which, at least, all Christian m(m should aspire. That General Sibley's record, in this respect, stands un- impeachable, none will be willing to deny. He looms every- where, as a man of unbending integrity, displaying in his life the highest moral virtues. His veracity and honor, his love of Justice and equity, and his purity of motive, pass unchal- lenged. The slave of no mean avarice or thirst for promo- tion, he has been indifferent to emolument, not stooping to 1 Paurit EpiBtle to tin; IMiillippiang, chapter 4, verse 8. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 391 practice petty intrigues, or defile his hands with the jobbing of sordid politicians. Forgetful of self, scorning duplicity, cunning, and craft of every description, he has remained true to himself, and to all who have confided their interests to his care. He has sought the welfare of the people and the glory of the state. In all his official and public, as well as\ private, transactions, he has abhorred deceit. Lying is his detestation; schemers and tricksters are the objects of his implacable disgust. The conduct of men to whom the bound- ary between truth and falsehood, right and wrong, is so nar- row as almost to be invisible, and with whom prosperous wickedness is virtue, he denounces in withering terms. The lawyer seeking, by technical tricks, and immoral means, to defend a crime; the judge on the bench controlled by per- sonal prejudice, popular sentiment, or the main chance for election; the legislator taking a bribe; the candidate for office purchasing votes, and truckling to win popular favor; cor- rupt officials combining to cheat responsibility; the forger, the false pretender, the fraudulent man, and he who by silence, not less than by words, misleads his neighbor, are, alike to him, guilty of no venial transgressions. He has sacrificed place and power to principle and conscience, when, by a con- trary course, he might have retained both. His private in- terests he has made subservient to the welfare of the nation and the state, even at the expense of loss to himself. When it lay in his hand to enhance the values of his realty, and be- come a millionaire; — when by a stroke of his pen he could have made his coffers overflow; — he preferred the honor that closed against him, forever, that splendid and tempting vis- ion. When the popular i)rejudice and public will were intent to blast the reputation of the state, he sprang to the rescue, careless alike of praise or blame. When bereavement invaded his home, and death twice draped it in gloom, and sorrowing children and wife sat in tears, lamenting a loss no time could repair, he still remained absent from home, crushed by his grief; — a faithful soldier standing between the life of the state and the savage foe that assailed it. When, in spite of his splendid services, he was set aside by the party discipline of a new administration, and the "state machine" rolled like a Juggernaut over all who oi^posed its progress, he repelled the creed of politicians that "no man can serve his country with effect out of office," and with the same high sense of the 392 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF duties of life, devoted his time and his labor to the good of the nation and state. He valued no position, and no suc- cess, only so far as it helped him win some triumph in the cause of humanity, justice, and truth. He was ever the ad- vocate of progress and reform, the friend of education and of virtue, and his heartfelt sincerity in all that he did, or at- tempted to do, was his shield against the suspicion of tor- tuous methods, indirect aims, and selfish ends. The strength of the popular confidence in General Sibley's integrity may be learned from this, that vast personal inter- ests have been intrusted to his management, the only secur- ity being his simple promise, infallible as bonds indorsed by princes, or mortgages on values equal to the world. No blot of dishonor stains his escutcheon, nor taint of corruption has tarnished his name. In the words of another, long intimate with his career, "his record is as stainless as the snow." Such high moralities, in a public man, deserve special commendation, shining, as they do, all the more brilliantly, in an age proverbial for contrary developments, and when, too frequently, business and political transactions have ac- quired for themselves a character of thievery, oppression, sharp practice, robbery, and fraud. "A good name is better than ointment," and he, who transmits such a boon as this to his children and his country, has not lived in vain, but merits the esteem of the state and the praise of mankind. The ancient educators all directed the eyes of the youth of the state to the men who excelled in virtue. Nor will it in- jure Minnesotians to study the moral element which has given such permanence and value to the example of the Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley. '■^Morihus inculpatusP^ One of the first institutions of the East has given diplomatic attesta- tion to this high excellence in the character of him whose name it has honored. As to the religions element in General Sibley's character, we have spoken elsewhere. His creed, the formal profession of his faith, his ecclesiastical relations shaped by the neces- sities of his pioneer life, his formation, with nineteen others, of the first Protestant church in the region afterward known 'AH Minnesota Territory, his erection of a church building at his own expense, his unabatiid assistance to other churches, his support of tlie early missionaries of the territory, and his final identification of himself with the Episcopal Church in HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 393 St. Paul, the denomiuation to which his parents belonged, and in which his youth was nurtured. We have seen his observance of the Sabbath, both during his Indian life, and throughout his military campaigns, the deep communings of his heart with God when under the strokes of successive and crushing bereavements, and the acknowledgments in his mili- tary messages, as everywhere else, and, touchingly, in his pri- vate letters to his wife, of the special providence of God. As a layman, he is wonderfully versed in the Scriptures, and can readily complete almost any passage anyone in con- versation will commence. In scores, it may be said hundreds, of conversations with the writer of these lines, the writer has many times been indebted to the better memory of General Sibley for more accurate quotation of the Scriptures than himself had given, and many times, after reading a chapter in the New Testament, or a psalm in the Old, or some portion of the Historical Books, wonder has been excited at the depth and breadth of his discernment in the teachings of the Sacred Oracles. A constant reader of his Bible, and not neglectful of his devotions, he still continues his study of the Word of God, not as a literary occupation, or diversion, but with a practical and personal intent. If advancing years, and the week's weariness, abate his church attendance, it is not to engage in secular pursuits upon the Sabbath, but to win the rest his failing strength demands, and improve the hours, at home, in profitable meditation, and in the enjoyment of his family around him. Conspicuity in church affairs he has never sought. For years his activities as a vestryman in St. Paul's have been chiefly nominal, while yet supporting with his means, and taking interest in the welfare of the church, contributing to its charities, and needs, as generously as in his earlier years. A firm believer in the doctrines of Christian- ity, he is no less a firm believer in the fruit such doctrines should bear, and regards the outward profession of faith in the same as of infinitely less moment than a life conformable to the precepts of Christianity by which those doctrines are enforced. His abhorrence is the spectacle of men high in an outward profession of religion, and conspicuous in church re- lations, deporting themselves in secular and business affairs as if Christianity were only a name, devoid of power to in- duce a life of justice, honesty, and truth, equal to that of men who make no profession, or to that of a respectable religious 394 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF pagan. The practical side of Christianity, the example of him who went about doing good, outweighs with him all other considerations. The natural shrinking and modesty which have character- ized his whole life, and only have been overcome when pub- lic affairs, and a crisis, demanded that these should be sacri- ficed to the public good, makes him reserved in his expression of his religious feeling and his thoughts, to any save a few who enjoy his most sacred confidence, and to whom, at times, he reveals his silent experience. Ostentation and parade of what he deems the most sacred of all relations between man and his Maker, he repels, while yet to no subject does he lend a more deep and interested attention, and in none displays a more serious interest than in what pertains to a life after the present short time has run its course. With becoming solic- itude he recalls the companions of his early days, many of whom are now gone, and the remainder of whom must soon go, and, with himself, enter on scenes untried and of moment- ous import. For the severer and sterner forms of orthodox doctrine he entertains a qualified regard, while yet free to confess that these truths so long the heirloom of the largest portion of the evangelical church are to be judged of as little by their cari- cature in the hands of their enemies, as by the exaggerated expressions of their friends. For forms of government he has but little preference. His creed allows him to fellowship in spirit all true Christians to whatever denomination belonging. The Catholic, the Jew, the Presbyterian, and Episcopalian, the Methodist and Baptist, the Lutheran and the Congregational- ist, he treats with a Christian and benevolent regard, while emphasizing the couplet of the poet: "For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight, His can't be wrong, whose life is in the right." He finds pleasure and profit in reading the addresses of a godly Catholic archbishop, or an Episcopalian rector or bishop, and takes the liveliest interest in the productioos of a Talmage and a Spurgeon. He is neither an optimist nor a pessimist in his view of the future. While believing in the ultiiriate triumph of Christianity, he is satisfied, not only from the Scriptures, but from the lessons of past history, and the tendency of present times, that this victory can only be achieved after a fearful and impending struggle in which all HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 395 the forces of a living Christianity, found in all denominations,, will be called into requisition to face, and perhaps with ad- verse fortune for a time, the whole combined force of anti- Christianity in one final conflict. The restlessness and law- lessness, seen everywhere in Christendom, the corruption in the bosom of the Church itself, the increasing unbelief of Christendom notwithstanding the amount of good in it, and the extension of missions, and the horoscope of the political constellation, and the relation of the Euroi^ean powers to the progress of civilization, and the complications of church and state, and struggle for power in the East, all seem, to his experience, after sixty years of observation, to forbode this result. As to the final outcome, in history, for the race of men in their conflict with evil, while fully accepting the state- ments of divine revelation, he yet believes that, somehow, the dark mystery of evil will yet be cleared up to the com- plete satisfaction of the whole intelligent universe, and the ways of God be vindicated to the world. Verging to the nar- row house and long sleep appointed for all living, he deems life, without a firm hope in the mercy of God, to be but "A painful passage o'er a restless flood, A vain pursuit of fugitive false good." Unnumbered times, we have heard the words upon his tongue, ''''Fear God and keej) his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man ! ' ' The literary merit of General Sibley's productions must not be passed by in silence. He was, as already intimated, a pro- lific writer for many of the papers and magazines of the East, as more recently for some in the West. By the literary as well as historical value of his productions, he contributed greatly to awaken the interest of the whole country in a region to which the people of the United States were comparatively stran- gers. Under his proper name, as also under the noms de plume of "Hal a Dakotah," " Walker-in-the-Pines," and other titles, in Porter^ s Spirit of the Times, Forest and Stream, Bod and Gun, The Turf, the Field and the Farm, the Wildwoods, the Western Magazine, and the valuable "Minnesota State Historical Soci- ety Collections," besides his various essays and lectures before different institutions and organizations, he has furnished, in his measure, a literature of great importance, in many re- spects, to the history of the Territory and State of Minnesota, as well as to that of the Northwest. In the classic English work 396 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF of ''Hawker on Shooting," the two chapters, contributed by Mr. Sibley, stand inferior to nothing written by any of the accomplished pens brought to enrich the contents of that fascinating volume. His celebrated letter to Senator Foote, at the commencement of his congressional career, and pub- lished in the Southern and Eastern papers, unveiling the gran- deur and resources of Minnesota, deemed, at that time, fit only to be the abode of savages and lumbermen, attracted universal attention, and assisted vastly to promote immi- gration to the Northwest. As " Walker-in-the-Pines," he contributed to the St. Paul Pioneer, in a series of extended chapters, the story of "Jack Frazer," a half-breed, and noble character, thirty five of whose years had been spent with the Red "Wing band of Dakotas. It is a valuable production, embodying authoritative statements, and a clear account of the manners, religious opinions, ceremonies, and other usages and customs, of the Dakotas, as taken from the lips of "Jack" himself, and as connected with a condition of aboriginal life such as existed two generations ago, in the region of country now known as Minnesota. The supplementary chapter, by General Sibley, upon "The Religion of the Dakotas" is a critique not only of "Jack's" information, but also of the labors of others in reference to the same subject, and, though brief, is of great value to the ethnologist and antiquarian. In all these productions. General Sibley shows himself to be a master of the pen, gifted with a power of arrangement, ex- pression, and description, not surpassed by anything in Field- ing and Smollet, Alison or Prescott, Goldsmith or Scott. If the test of perfection in composition is the impossibility of reconstructing the sentence, or clause, in a better form, or in language more apt, graceful, and chaste, — if, by any effort to give it a new shape, the work is marred, and the charm lost, — the ai>plication of this rule to the productions of General Sibley will rank him, not only as one of the best writers in the State of Minnesota, but anywhere else. The styles of men are, indeed, diverse, because the men themselves are so, just as the stars and the flowers are different, and the tones of musical instruments various. The Vicar of Wakefield does not read like Ivanhoe, nor the Divina Commedia like Childe Harold. The stately majesty of Gibbon is not the racy bril- liance of Macaulay, and Shakespeare's Othello and Milton's Comus were not born of the same mother. Yet all are models HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 397 of literary excellence. In like manner, the pen of "Hal a Dakotah," " Walker-in-the-Pines," or "Sibley," is not that of another, but is all his own, and such as only himself can wield. As a specimen of descriptive power in simple narration, and chasteness of style, what can be more perfect than this, writ- ten more than twenty years ago, when, having vented his wrath against those whose wanton slaughter of birds and ani- mals, not in the season for game, was inspired alone by the "love of killing for the sake of killing," he turns to jDicture the magical change a few years were sufficient to bring to a region infested by savage hordes, and whose mountains and plains were a common hunting ground for the trader and In- dian: "The onward march of civilization, and heavy and ceaseless tramp of thousands, and tens of thousands, of white men seeking their homes in the far West, results in forcing the larger animals, such as the buffalo, elk, and deer, farther and farther away toward the Stony Mountains, there to be met and exterminated by the pale faces from the Pacific. In our happy and beautiful territory, where we have no Bloody Kansas scenes to deplore, the buffalo, elk, and deer, indeed, yet roam, but they are daily retiring before the avalanche of white settlers who are precipitating themselves upon us. It is probable that most of your readers have had but a faint perception of the process by which the mighty Northwest is transformed from a wilder- ness into a populous state, in an incredibly short space of time. Let them picture to themselves a magnificent prairie, studded with fine lakes and interspersed with luxuriant groves of oak and other timber, with a camp in the distance, composed of conical lodges of skin, and a troop of daring Da- kota horsemen, accompanied by a single white mau (your friend Hal), urg- ing the chase of a herd of buflalo. Let them regard that as a true scene of 1850, or even later, then bid them recall the same landscape in 1856, and from the picture will have vanished Indian men, women, and children, buf- falo, dogs, and lodges, leaving the solitary white man to gaze with amaze- ment, not untinged with melancholy, upon thriving villages, countless farms, teeming with laborers engaged in securing the abundant harvest, and all the other evidences of happiness and comfort which characterize the set- tlements of young America. Let them conceive the whole vast area of 160,000 square miles, a very small pait of which they have looked upon, as containing 6,000 whites, all told, in 1850, and of that same area six years later with a population of 200,000, of the prime men, women, and children of the whole land, and they will be able to realize, to some extent, how Minnesota has been changed, ;xs by the wand of a magician, and how it is that the infant communities of the ' Great West ' spring into full strength and manhood almost as instantaneously as armed Minerva from the head of Jove. 398 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF "To an old hunter like myself, accustomed to the solitude of forest and prairie, these changes are, as I have before hinted, not unattended with the lingering regret which we feel when some fair but wild vision disappears suddenly from our enraptured view. The Indians with whom I lived and hunted for so many years — where are they? The powerful and haughty tribe of Dakotas, who possessed the fair land, and boasted that they were, and would ever remain, its only masters — what is their fate? Turn to the history of the Six Nations, and of other bauds, whose graves are number- less on both sides of the Alleghanies, and you will need but little aid from the imagination to enable you to reply correctly to such interrogatories. Broken treaties and unperformed promises on the part of the government, and the presence of a power which the Indians feel their inability to resist, these are but a repetition of the old story, and the humbled and degraded Dakotas can look for no redress of their grievances, this side of the 'Spirit Land.' Their country has iiassed into the possession of a race who can appreciate its beauties and develop its riches, and my only regret is that the government and its agents have failed to use the opportunities presented to them, to place the poor Indians in a position to be treated kindly and fairly, and to be protected in the possession of the rights secured to them by solemn treaty. "But I will no longer pursue a strain so lugubrious. Let us leave the settlement of these questions in the hand of the Great Father of all." ^ Another and still more recent specimen of this kind of writing is the following sketch of the early times, not less valuable for its information and its picture of what Minnesota was in her pristine condition, than as a model of elegant and chaste composition: "Our state has sprung into existence so recently that some of us yet liv- ing have participated in or witnessed each step of her progress from pre-ter- ritorial times, when a few hundreds of men employed in the fur trade were all the whites to be found in the country, to the present period, when Min- nesota possesses a population nearly equal to one-sixth of that composing the entire American confederation when it was finally emancipated from foreign control. Less than a generation since, wh£\t is now called Minnesota, together with a large part of co-terminus territory, was of importance only as a region producing in abundance wild animals valuable for their furs and skins. The bear, the deer, the fisher, the marten, and the raccoon, were the tenants of the woods; the lieaver, the otter, and other amphibia, such as the mink and the musUrat, were to be found in the streams and lakes, while the prairies were dotted with countless herds of the bison and the elk, accom- panied by their usual attendants, wolves and foxes, which scarcely deigned to seek concealment from the eye of the traveler. The numerous lakes and marslies were the breeding i)laccs of myriads of wild fowl, including swan, gec>io, and ducks. Many of the younger men who sought employment with the fur comi)anies were, like myself, more attracted to this wild region by a love of adventure and of the chase, than by any prospect of pecuniary gain. 1 The Fore.ft ami .Stream. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 399 There was always enough of danger, also, to give zest to extreme frontier life, and to counteract any tendency to ennui. There were the perils of prairie fires and of flood, from evil-disposed savages, and those inseparable from the hunt of ferocious wild beasts, such as the bear, the panther, and the buftalo. War was the normal condition of the powerful bands of Dakotas and Chip- pewas, and the white man, falling in with a war party of these belligerent tribes, might deem himself fortunate if he could save his life by a sacrifice of whatever property he possessed. The traveler and the hunter in their pere- grinations were compelled to trust to their skill in constructing rafts or in swimming, for crossing the numerous streams, and to the compass, or to the sun and stars, to direct their course. Nature in her primitive luxuriance, unmarred by the labor of man, unveiled her beauties on every side, as a reward to those of her infrequent visitors who could appreciate and enjoy them."i As an example of epistolary correspondence, his letter, in the name of the Minnesota Historical Society, addressed to the honorable the council of the city of Bergamo, Italy, in response to a communication from the same, accompanied by the presentation to the Historical Society of the writings of Beltrami, has been everywhere referred to as a model of dig- nified, chaste, and elegant acknowledgment. The full text of the composition is the following: Rooms of the Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota, March 6, 1867. To the Honorable G. B. Camozzi Vertova, 3Iayor, and the Honorable Aldermen of the City of Bergamo, Italy, Gentlemen: By direction of the executive council of the Minnesota Historical Society, I have the honor to acknowledge, on their behalf, the receipt from the city of Bergamo, so worthily represented by you, of a hand- somely bound volume entitled ^^Costantine Beltrami da Bergamo — Notizie e lettere pubblicate per cura del municipio di Bergamo e dedicate alia societa storica di Minnesota," prefaced by an eloquent and pathetic letter addressed by you as representatives of the native city of Beltrami, to this society, bearing date the first of January, 1865, and containing the following productions, to-wit: First — The articles of Gabrielle Rosa, collected under the title of "Travels and Discoveries of Costantine Beltrami." Second — "Dissertation on the Travels and Writings of Costantine Bel- trami," by Count Pietro Moroni. Third — Letters of Chateaubriand, La Fayette, Lafitte, Julien, Rossig- nac, Davis, Robertson, and Camonge, to Costantine Beltrami. Fourth — Letter from Costantine Beltrami to Mons. Monglave, perpet- ual secretary of the Historical Institute of France. In addition to this were twenty-five extra copies of the same work, and a large and elegant copy of Professor Scuri's painting of Beltrami. 1 Coll. Minn. Hist. Soc, Vol. Ill, Part 2, pp. 194 and 195. 400 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF For all these kind offerings, the executive council have requested me, on the part of the society, to tender to you individually and collectively the expression of their earnest gratitude and thanks, and they respectfully desire you to convey to your fellow citizens of Bergamo, their keen appre- ciation of the cordial and friendly feeling manifested by them, as set forth in the communication vrhich bears your ovrn signatures. The society fully reciprocates the vrish expressed in the concluding portion of that document, that the courtesies extended may "add a new and strong link to bind to- gether the great and free people of the American Union and the Italian people." The object of the Minnesota Historical Society, as you have been here- tofore apprised, is the collection of all the materials within its reach, relat- ing to the lives and adventures of those early explorers whose names are indissolubly linked with the region now embraced within the limits of this vast state, and to incorporate in its annals whatever may tend to throw light upon the prehistoric period of Minnesota; the habits and customs of the aboriginal occupants of the country, and, in short, everything which may be considered essential to the elucidation of facts, for the guidance of the future historian. Into this great reservoir you have cast your contributions, which are not only valuable for their originality, and the artistic beauty with which they have been reproduced, bflt especially for the aid rendered by them to this society, in rescuing from undeserved obscurity and forgetfulness, the name of the daring and generous Italian, Costantine Beltrami. Were it permitted to your illustrious countryman to burst the ligaments of the grave, and to revisit in life the scenes of his former wanderings in this far-off land, he would be the amazed and delighted spectator of the marvelous transformation which has been wrought in less than half a cen- tury. His eye would rest upon cities, towns, and villages situated on the very spots where he had accepted the hospitality of the savages in their rude wigwams; and the evidences of a young and vigorous civilization would meet his astonished vision on the broad prairie, which he had known only as the resort of countless herds of the bison and of the elk. The wilder- ness traversed by him in 1823, in which the face of a white man was seldom seen, now contains a population of 350,000 Americans, active, industrious, and enterprising. Such, honorable sirs, are the wonderful changes which a few short years have made in this Northwestern state. Is it strange that we who live to profit by the toils and exposures of the noble men who first explored and brought into notice, this terra incognita, which is destined to become the home of millions of freemen, .should seek with earnestness and zeal to re- deem their names from oblivion, and to assign to each the honor due him as a pioneer in the great woik ? In con(;luHion, the Minnesota Historical Society, through me, beg leave to ofTer to your accept ince the following do('uments: Fimt — Copies of their "Collections for 1867," containing a memoir of Costantine Beltrami. Second — An engro.s.sed copy of the bill which passed the legislature of Minne.sota, and was approved by the governor, to establish the county of Beltrami. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 401 Third — Certified copies of the proceedings of the legislature of Min- nesota, and of the executive council of this society on the same subject. Fourth — A photograph of Major Taliaferro, together with an explana- tory letter from him to Signor Rosa. All of which will be transmitted with this letter to your address, through the medium of the United States State Department iu Washington City. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, Your Obedient Servant, (Henry) H. H. Sibley, President 3Iinnesota Historical Society. ^ The poetical propensities of General Sibley, though less fre- quently indulged, and less severely cultivated, than other impulses with which his nature was endowed, yet found their special opportunities. During the civil strife between J^orth and South, not only the line between pulpit and platform was obliterated, but, too often, the minister devoted the Sabbath hours for divine worship, and sacred instruction, to the dis- cussion of questions coaceruing national government, partisan politics, construction and interpretation of the Constitution, foreign affairs, and the "things that are Caesar's" in general. The survivors of that epoch still remember, how, for years previous to the firing of the first gun on Fort Sumter, and thenceforward, for years after, the pulpit, not less in Boston, INew York, and Brooklyn, than in Charleston, Eichmond, and New Orleans, in fact, in all cities, both North and South, lent its whole influence to inflame the discontent of the two great sections of the country, and intensify the hate that already foretokened the bloodiest and most unnatural conflict known to any century. There are times, indeed, when moral ques- tions enter the sphere of political action, and a voice from the pulpit is no less imperative in behalf of honesty, integrity, justice, and truth, in social and civil life, than is a voice from the platform, or from state legislatures, judicial benches, and 1 Giacomo Coslanllne Beltrami, bora iu Bergamo, Italy, 1779, was an eminent Italian patriot, who, belonging to the order of the 0(>-6o?ia?-i, during the civil commotions in 1820, was •exiled from his country, and, having traveled in Germany, France, and England, came to the United States in 1823. Accompanied by Major Taliaferro, he reached St. Anthony Falls, and Fort Snelling, May 20, 1823, and suhseiiuently explored certain regions of the Northwest Territory. He was, while in Italy, chancellor of the departments of Stura and the Tanaro, judge of the court at Udine, and of the civil and criminal court at Macerata. The legisla- ture of Minnesota honored him by establishing a county, in the state, called by his name. The volnme referred to in the letter of General Sibley, is dedicated "Alia Sociela Slovica di Minnesota," contains a beautiful engraving of Beltrami pushing bis canoe up the Missis- sippi, and bears the official seal and autographs of the municipal officers of Bergamo. A brief monograph of Beltrami is found in the Minnesota Historical Society Collections, Vol. III., Part 3, Second Edition, 1889, pp. 8.3-196. 26 402 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF national councils. But, this conceded, nothing can justify, or excuse, the transubstantiation of the pulpit into a political tribune, or the church into an arena of secular strife. At such times, men whose early memories of what religion seemed to them, in its heaven-born spirit, as a religion of peace and good will, their sense of religious propriety being strong besides, are apt to express themselves in a manner propor- tioned to the strength of their judgments, and, not unfre- quently, the Muse is invited to lend her numbers to enforce their emotions. A sentiment of this kind bubbled up, one day, in the breast of General Sibley, after a painful disappointment experienced during Sabbath services, from which he had hoped to gain some spiritual good. Judged by the rules of art, the poem will not rank with the best effusions of the Muse, while yet its character and grade are far above the mediocre products of the man who thinks that "jingling rhymes'' are poetry. There is not only a quiet depth and steady flow of moral feel- ing in it, but it paints, in simple words, two pictures, — ^'■Then and Noiv,^^ — which, if portrayed upon the painter's canvas, would excite admiration of their truth, and thanks for their appropriateness, not only to the times in which they were written, but, in many respects, to our own day. THEN AND NOW. THEN. Upon a mount begirt with green, a massive building stands, To honor him whose dwelling 's in "a house not made with hands;" Around its ancient walls — untrimmed the grand old oaks arise, And spread their branches far and wide toward distant skies. It was a Sabbath morn, the sun was shining bright. Athwart the grave stones, thickly strown, it shed its peerless light; As here the dead, both old and young, of generations past, 'Mid tears of mourning friends, had found a home at last. The chuH'h within was neat and trim, with seats of homely mould, And the worn puljut show'd no trace of crimson or of gold. Devout, tlie preactlicr lifts his hands up to the throne of grace, And j)rays for blessings on the heads of all the human race. A man of God, who long, like Enoch, walked in pious ways. And sought no worthless laud of men, but labor'd for his praise. The earnest crowd, compos'd of all who liv'd in peace around, p]ach worldly thought had bani.sh'd far, from off that sacred ground. The j)rayerH are nuido, the hymns are sung, and then the holy priest, With mind intent, asks heavn'ly aid to spread the go.spel feast; I HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 403 The pages of the good old book turns o'er witli reverential awe, And to his list'ning people speaks, of God's most holy law. He points them to the cross of Christ, whence hope alone can flow To all who, curs'd by sin, are doom'd to grovel here below. He pleads with youth and age, while tears stream down his furrow'd cheek, That they would turn from worldly ways, their Saviour kind to seek. He warns them of the wrath to come, but most he cares to dwell, On Jesus' boundless love, who came, to save their souls from hell; And when he closed, and, to their homes, dismiss'd his humble flock, Among them none were found to scorn, or make of truth a mock. The teachings of that meek old man sank deep in ev'ry breast, And gave to each a foretaste of the promis'd heavenly rest. I saw within the city dense, full many a glittering spire. That shone with light reflected oft, like points of living fire, Denoting where the great array of Christian people meet. To worship God, and doctrine learn at some Gamaliel's feet. 'Tis Sabbath day, we'll enter in, with reverence appear. And join the throng of worshipers, to offer praise sincere. The sexton, with an easy grace, points out a distant pew. And intimates, with shake of head, 'twill do for me and you. No owner of the cushioned seats invites us to partake Of the luxurious lounge on which he prays "for Jesus' sake." The broadcloth coat and silken dress alone an entrance claim, To where the pious gentry sit, great man and smirking dame. The roof is arch'd, the pillars grand, all perfect and complete, Except that strangers, poorly clad, must take an oaken seat. The aisles are all well carpeted, the pulpit cover'd o'er With crimson velvet, rich and rare, all hanging down before. Upon a fine projection, hemm'd with something like point lace. The Book of Truth, in handsome guise, rests in its proper place. And now the organ's swelling notes attention call to him Who occupies the sacred desk, — in form both tall and slim. His features solemnly drawn down, his coat and neck-cloth white, Are each of foultless cut and fit, his eyes are keen and bright. He gives the psalm, which duly sung, by the small chosen choir Of tooting juveniles, the rest all listening to admire. " Behold he prayeth," but his prayers are not like those of old. Instead of bowing in the dust, he's confident and bold. He tells the Majesty of Heaven what straightway should be done, To put the moral world in shape that it may smoothly run. He asks that all may think like him, for he is surely right, In politics, religion, and all topics black and white. The spirit of the Publican, who smites his breast, and cries For mercy undeserv'd by him, dulls not our preacher's eyes. More like the stately Pharisee, who renders thanks to Heav'n, That he is not like other men, swell'd up with sinful leav'n. 404 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF The sermon next in course comes off, and here the parson shines, Although he slight attention pays to the celestial lines, Which warn him often not to judge his fellow man with hate, Lest he himself be judg'd by One who holds the scales of fate. He coldly prates of what all owe, to God and man, of love, And more dilutes his weak discourse, upon the world above. With mundane questions, politics, and Radical Tom Jones, Than points the thirsty soul to Heav'n in earnest tones. vile deceit! pretenses ialse! is this religion pure, Such as the Saviour taught on earth, the soul's disease to cure? What wonder that the land is full of unbelief and crime, When parsons leave their mission high, eternity, for time. And pander to the vicious taste, for tinsel glare and show, Forgetting that the Lord of life, from Heav'n came here below, To save from death the souls of men, and not to regulate The small affairs of civil life, or government of state. The congregation unrebuk'd, pleased with themselves and him, Soon homeward wend their gleesome way, dismissed by Reverend Prim. The men to talk of Jones, the dames, of flummery. Prim, and dress, With no thought of the future life to trouble or oppress. The preacher, elegant, has made his bow, 1 follow suit, and sorrow most that then's not NOW. There is one other department of writing in which Gen- eral Sibley excels, and a specimen of which it is but justice to his pen to reproduce. It combines a deep tenderness of heart, with his accustomed propriety of expression, and is a credit to the sympathizing character of his manhood, as it is proof of the constancy of a personal affection, which death itself could not quench. It is an elegaic tribute to the departed friend of his youth, and companion of his riper years. It has the low sound of the sighing wind in the cypress tree. At the close of one of his contributions to the Minnesota Histori- cal Society, in the year 1874, he commemorates the virtues of his deceased comrade Colonel Hercules L. Dousman, in the following style: "I cannot but recall to mind, with the keenest regret, that the friend of my early and riper years, — my associate in business for nearly a quarter of a century, — who directed my steps for the first time to what is now Min- nesota, and to whom I was fervently attached, has gone the way of all the earth. He was summoned away suddenly, when liis bodily vigor seemed hardly to have been diiuinished, or his intellectual energies to have lost any portion of their force. He left behind liim no enemies to exult over his dei)arture, but very many warm friends and dear relatives to lament the death of one whose place can never be filled in their affections. All that was mortal of the imposing form and presence of the deceased, now lies mouldering in the cemetery he himself had donated to the Catholic Church HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 405 at Prairie du Chien, and the magnificent marble monument erected by lov- ing hands to commemorate his virtues will have become dim and tarnished by time, long ere his noble example shall cease to exercise an influence upon the community and the state of which he was an honored member." "Why weep ye, then, for him, who having run The bound of man's apiioiuted years, at last, Life's blessings all enjoyed, life's labors done, Serenely to his final rest has passed: While the soft memory of his virtues yet Lingers, like twiliglit hues when the bright sun has set."l Not less eloquently, simply, and tenderly, does he speak, on his feet, as he stands beside the coffin of the brave soldier he loves so well, the man whose virtues he delighted to extol^ his life-long friend. Major Joseph E. Brown. Whether writ- ing or speaking, the same gift and aptitude of expression, in thought and feeling, nej^er desert him. Paying the last trib- ute of affection to the remains of his endeared companion, he says: "My acquaintance with Major Brown dates back thirty-five years — more than the lifetime of a generation. Daring all of that long jieriod a friendship existed between us which continued to the day of his death. When separated from each other, we corresponded more or less frequently, so that our interchanges of letters amounted to hundreds, if not to thous- ands. We were generally of like opinion on questions of public policy, and especially did we accord in the belief that justice to the oppressed and downtrodden Indian race demanded a total change of policy on the part of the government and its agents. He was the firm friend of the poor and sufiering among whites and Indians, and by none will his sudden demise be more sincerely lamented than by those of that class who were accustomed to look to him for succor. Major Brown was remarkable for his courage as well as for his equanimity. I have seen him in the heat of battle, when bullets flew thick and fast around him, but his cheek blanched not, nor did he evince by outward appearance that he was at all disturbed by the fact he was liable at any moment to be struck down. "But, my friends, this is neither the time nor the occasion to enter into details of the life and character of our deceased friend. That will be done by some competent hand hereafter, when the histroy of our political organi- zation, as a territory and state, shall be written. No man stands forth more prominently as the untiring friend of Minnesota in all the phases of her existence than does Major Brown, and any history which does not mark him as among the first to labor efficiently for her advancement and gen- eral prosperity will be simply defective and incomplete. " There remains to us only to perform the last office of the dead. To us among the old settlers the lesson taught us that soon we shall follow our friend to the other world, should operate as a warning to put our houses in order, and prepare for the momentous change. What can we offer but our 1 Coll. Jlinn. Hist. Soc. Vol. III., Part 2, pp. 199, 200. 406 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF warm and earnest sympathies to the sorrow-stricken family, in this their great bereavement? All that remains of the affectionate husband and the fond and indulgent father, cold and lifeless, is contained in the casket before us, which is about to be consigned to the earth. We can but point the sur- viving relatives to the consolation offered by the Christian faith, for all else, in such an hour as this, is vanity and vexation of spirit. " And now, my old and tried friend, I leave you to your long and lonely sleep. Peace to your ashes. 'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.' " If the source of writing well is, as Horace says, "to be wise," — ^^scribendi recte sapere est fons et princiinum,^'' — por- traying truth in feeling, thought, and character, expressing what is ordinary in forms of ordinary speech, what is beau- tiful in forms of beauty, what is grand, grandly, and the ten- der in terms of tenderness, intolerant of sloven carelessness, everything conformed to nature as th^ highest art, none will dispute that General Sibley has a claim to a place among the models of fine composition. Whatever the form of his pro- duction, it is pervaded always by unity of sentiment and clear design, and moves with simplicity and ease straight to its end.i 1 The following partial list of published writings of General Sibley is found, chiefly in the catalogue of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. II., pp. 467, 408: 1 Description of Minnesota, 18o0. — Minnesota Hist. Soc. Coll., Vol. I., p. 37. 2 History of the Minnesota State Railroad Bonds, "Five Million Loan." — Address, H. E., Feb. 8, 1871. 3 Hunting on the Western Prairies. — Hawker's Instructions to Young Sportsmen, 1853. 4 Inaugural Address as Governor of Minnesota, 1858. 5 Report to Adjutant General (). Malmros, Battle of Birch Coolie, 1862. 6 Report, Battle of Wood Lake, 1862. 7 Memoir of Hercules L. Dousiuan.— Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., Vol. III., p. 192. 8 Memoir of Jean Nicollet. — Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., Vol. I., p. 183. 9 Message from (jovernor Sibley, Minnesota, 1859. 10 Reminiscences, Personal and Historical. — Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll., Vol. I., p. 4.'57. 11 AdS/te hath icrought a good work on me! Verily I say unto you, wherever this gospel is preached in the lohole loorld, that, also, which this woman hath done, shall he spoken as a memorial of her.^^ So far as the power of example goes, good deeds, uncelebrated, are as if never performed, even as valor, unknown, differs in nothing from cowardice fast asleep in the grave. We honor ourselves more, and set a better example, and display a better character, by the absence of envy, and presence of grateful tribute to the living, for the noble deeds they have done, and what they have been, and are, than, by meanly pleading "propriety," steal from a man his right to the praise of his fellows, before Death has called for his shroud. General Sibley has con- quered a large place in the hearts of Minnesotians, who have not been slow to let it be known, and, for a historian to with- hold the "reason why," would be a crime against manliness, justice, conscience, and honor, and a forfeiture of the decent respect of the world. To say that he who is justly styled the *' First Citizen of Minnesota," and honored with so many marks of distinction, and bearing a character so unblemished and good, has been, or is, without the infirmities and faults that belong to a human sinner, or even to a saint, is to belie the history of mankind, and contradict the word that speaks ♦ from above. 418 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF True virtue still some faults must own, The best of men besetting ; But mercy to such souls is shown, Their faults and sins regretting. The faultless saint is but a myth, Himself, not me, deceiving ; While he who rests, alone, in faith, His blest reward's receiving. In a closing chapter, it is only proper that a word should be spoken in reference to the Jioyne of General Sibley, and in doing so it will not be deemed inappropriate to revert, a mo- ment, to his first residence at Mendota, notwithstanding brief allusion to this has already been made. Midway between St. Paul and Minneapolis, couching in a natural amphitheatre of rare beauty, over which the hills, two hundred feet high, stand guard, and commanding an entrancing view of the "meet- ing of the waters," the Minnesota winding in on the left and the Mississippi flowing in on the right, stands, in "Mendota," the old ruin of the house where General Sibley first made his proper home. An ordinary stone hotel, a Catholic church, a cemetery adjoining, a school house, a post ofBce, one or two country stores, railroad tracks, and a few stragglers in the streets, are its present accompaniments, the features of the spot Mr. Douglas desired to make the capital of Minne- sota. The house we speak of is stone, and erected by Mr. Sibley in 1836, a building of plain but substantial character, two stories high, with a portico in front, entered not only from front and rear, but also by a flight of steps ascend- ing outside to a small square gallery connecting with the sec- ond story, the whole inclosed in a garden surrounded by a picket fence afterward replaced by one more neat and costly. The main room on the ground floor, first of all, was the busi- ness ofiice of Mr. Sibley, where traders and Indians gathered to transact their affairs, and in which stood a business desk, chairs, benches, book-shelves freighted with books, and papers of all descriptions. To these was added a safe, — the first ever made in the region before it became a territory, — constructed of solid oak ])lank two and a half inches thick, unpainted, bound with iron hai'S, and studded witli huge nails, the door of the safe swinging on iron hinges weighing at least ten pounds^ — a marvel o security for those days. Distant from the house, three hundred feet, stood the barn, where six fine HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 419 horses, a large elk, and favorite cattle, enjoyed a shelter in the winter time. Near the barn stood the capacious dog- house, divided into compartments to keep the pugnacious by themselves, the whole pack, soon as Mr. Sibley appeared in the morniag, with his rifle on his shoulder, and bugle at his lips, setting up such a '^ concert of sweet sounds" — each dog with peculiar howl, or high-keyed note — as made the hills vo- cal with the echoes of their canine music. The business office, at length, as the life of the bachelor gave way to one more blissful, became a parlor whose floor was covered with a body Brussels carpet, on which stood a piano, the first one brought to this region, a huge Canada stove capable of holding uusplit wood of half a cord's length,^ sofas, arm chairs, and other furniture of good quality, and pictures of various kinds adorn- ing the walls. On the first floor, also, was the hall and the dining room, three bedrooms occupying the space in the sec- ond story. Two additions to the house, one for a bedroom, and one for an office, completed the domestic premises. Such was the hospitable mansion of the noble pioneer, the spot where so many distinguished men found a temporary sojourn during their explorations, and whose first tenant, next to Mr. Sibley, was the celebrated Captain Marryatt. Here Mr. and Mrs. Sibley passed the earlier days of their married life. Here the venerable Mrs. Steele, the mother of Mrs. Sibley, and her daughter Mary Steele found a home. Here Mrs. Ab- bie A. Potts and Mrs. Eachel Johnson were united in wed- lock, and saw the happiest days it has been their earthly lot to know. Everything was plain, neat, solid, comfortable, in- expensive, and crowned, as to social life, with amusements, incidents, and events, sometimes comic to the last degree, sometimes painful as death stole away the babe from its moth- er's arms, — experiences not soon to be forgotten. To him who visits Mendota, now, and, filled with the recollection of the past, gazes on the ruin of the old home, which — could its broken walls, dilapidated rooms, and desolated garden, find a 1 About fifty years ago, General H. H. Sibley brought to this country a large Canada stove which has been in constant use every winter since he purchased it, — -save a few years past. It warmed him when a young bachelor. It warmed both him and his young wife. His children were born and reared around it, and his grandchildren have played and prat- tled about it. It has been a faithful friend and is about as good to-day as it was when he first brought it to the territory, but the styles have changed and this venerable stove, al- though only in the prime of its usefulness, has had to give way to a new pattern, — not so good but more sightly. As a relic of the past it is now stored away in the attic, surrounded by the pleasant memories of a half-century. — St. Paul Dispatch, 1882. 420 ANCESTKY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF tongue — would tell of happier days and brighter scenes, for- ever gone, the contemplation can only be that of sadness, if not of tears. But there are compensations for the changes Time creates. On Woodward avenue, one of the broad promenades of the city of St. Paul, laid out in what was once the finest part of the city, and, now, not far from Lafayette Park, stands the present residence of General Sibley. The location enjoys all the ad- vantages of both country and city, not only convenient to the thoroughfares of business, but attractive by its surroundings composed of substantial houses placed in the centre of lawns extensive and kept with scrupulous care, adorned with majes- tic trees and various flowers, i^resenting a scene of calm and quiet beauty. The homes of the denizens of this locality be- speak, for their owners, the possession of wealth, refinement, and taste, and the comforts of life. On the upper side of the avenue is the fine mansion of General Sibley, massive and solid, quadrangular form, two stories high, surmounted by a cupola, and described as "the result of an evolution from the original shanty which he saw erected on the present site of the city, and, like himself, the perfected development of an origi- nal product which, at first, was planted in the crude soil of a savage wilderness."^ The ground on which it rests has a frontage of three hundred and thirty-three feet, running back two hundred and twenty feet, the whole beautified with the waving foliage of the oak, the maple, and the box-elder, rows of magnificent and stately elms lining the sidewalk, distant from which the mansion stands nearly one hundred feet, em- bowered within the arbored ground, and accessible by paved and graveled walks. The interior of the mansion, with its high ceilings, large doors, broad staircase, lieavy rails, elabo- rate chandeliers, frescoes, and fine tapestry, reminds one of the grandeur of baronial times, where all was simple as solid, and taste was without the glare of a tinseled and tawdry orna- mentation, and comfort without the expense of a vain and worthless luxuiy. There is nothing to pamper the extrava- gance of a millionaire. There is everything to satisfy the de- sire of a man well-to-do, and not ambitious of vain display. The furniture is of the most substantial kind, and the decora- tions, while, of necessity, many, are yet chaste, elegant, and appropriate. 1 Chicago Times, .Jan. 30, 1886. HON. HEXRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 421 To tlie left of the uiaiu hall, below, is the sitting room, where, during the afternoons and evenings of the day, — his business hours, at his office in the Globe building, ending at 1:30 p. M., — the General is found, first indulging, as the state of his health and fatigue require, a brief post-prandial nap, and next, after the time for sujiper has passed, improving the hours, by reading the various papers of the day, writing his private correspondence, receiving his friends, or enjoying the society of his family. At the far side of the room, having passed the piano and centre-table, and under the corner gas- light, his open cabinet filled with books, and letters, and files of papers, and standing against the wall, is placed a capacious chair, well cushioned and strong, in which the General, seated at ease, golden spectacles adjusted in proper position, news- paper lifted and held at the right distance, his tall form stretched to the footstool, and the light blazing, devours the latest intelligence, near and remote, and posts himself in refer- ence to the commercial, civil, political, religious, and military condition of the world. His encyclopaedic appetite for knowl- edge, even at seventy-eight years, remains unimpaired by dyspeptic ailment, and his intellectual digestion is as perfect as when in the prime of life. It is his special pleasure, also, to recite to his friends, the scenes of by-gone days, the hard- ships and toils, the dangers and delights, and duties and re- sponsibilities of his long career; his fur trade experience, his Indian life, his effbrts for the church and the school, and the later events connected with the organization of the Territory and State of Minnesota. On the wall, in front of where he sits, hangs the splendid oil painting of his favorite hunting dog, "Lion," in a frame 7 feet long by 5 wide, displaying the life size of the noble animal 5 feet 3 inches in length, and 2 feet 8 inches in height, the pointer in posture ready to leap for the prey. '■^ Noble animal he loas,^^ says the General, with a tone of affectionate sadness, a smile of satisfaction, and a gaze steady and intense, at the grand object on the wall. Behind the large chair hangs another oil painting, that of "Mendota in 1836," with its few lone hamlets, plumed In- dian in the foreground, the high bluffs, behind Mendota, over- looking the Mississippi and Fort Snelling. Xext to that is a large photograph of the "Old Settlers Association," in which the early and representative men of Minnesota are seen. On the other walls of the sitting room are hung two splendid en- 422 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF gravicgs of the United States Senate, in 1850, the one repre- senting Daniel Webster, the other Henry Clay, addressing that remarkable body of men, on the "Compromise measures" of that agitated time. In the background of the first, and standing near Winthrop, the Hon. H. H. Sibley's tall figure appears. Also two fine engravings from London, one the ''English Gamekeeper," the other the "Scotch Gamekeeper," attended by their dogs, and bearing their game. An engrav- ing of "Shakespeare and his friends," an engraving and crayon of Commodore Kittson, a crayon of his sou Alfred, and near to these, arranged in order, fine photographs of his son Fred- . erick, Major Generals Halleck, Hancock, Fremont, Curtis, and Johnson, Senator Douglas, Mrs. Steele the mother of Mrs. Sibley, the reverend Drs. James McCosh, Francis L. Patton, and Professors Young and Sloane of Princeton College, an en- graving of Mr. Josiah Sibley of Augusta, Georgia, also two engravings of himself, one in civil dress, when in Congress, and one in the military costume of a general, — these, with other minor decorations, and a pen and ink sketch of the "Old Mendota Home," complete the artistic embellishments of this domestic and quiet room. As the hours pass on, his serene engrossment with the newspaper, or the volume, is sometimes interrupted by the agreeable and teasing importunities of Mrs. Potts, or some members of the family, beseeching him to please be more attentive to themselves and less devoted to the printer! On the right side of the main hall is the capacious and well-fur- nished parlor, on whose tables are placed various Indian relics, and whose walls are made instructive with oil and water pic- tures of the choicest quality. Among these are a large eques- trian oil painting of General Sibley reviewing his troops, and painted, in 1878, by Colonel Fairmaii, a woodland painting of rare excellence, by Larpenteur, with browsing cattle near the banks of the Mississippi, the celebrated j^ainting of "Othello and Desdemona," the "Magdalen," "Les Preludes de Bach," "Le GynCce," and two fine large crayons, one of the General, the other of Mrs. Sibh^y. On the tables are statuettes in Par- ian marble, and otlu^r oi-namental figures, all whi(;h, with the various hangings, and large jjhi-iits, stationed in different places, give to the parlor a finished and pleasing appearance. Next to llie sitting room is tlie library, whore shelves are packc^d with liundi'iMlsof vohinies, encyclopa'dias, oflicial docu- ments, state and congressional papers, works on treaties and HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 423 constitutional law, law books, histories, biographies, the poets, and, in short, all that goes to make up the library of a man of letters, or an accomplished servant of the state and nation. And, here, in this home of neatness and comfort, he lives, and makes welcome his friends and his guests, the receiver of visits, at times, from men of distinction, who, journeying west- ward, or eastward, tarry a moment to call and salute ^'the man of the state." To see him, in private life, one would scarce take him to be the Indian hunter of fifty years ago. There is not a line of the rough, the rude, or the coarse, about him. His benevolent face, and pleasing expression, his generous disposition, refined manners, with great firmness of will, while yet obliging, sociable, kind, alike attract and im- press. No man would dare to be unduly familiar or impolite. And yet, his spirits are buoyant and sometimes playful, though changing again to the solemn and serious side of life. He is mindful of what is due, not only to personal respect, but to the ties of blood, the habits of friendship, and the obligations imposed by attentions of others, — confining his visits, however, in later years, to the narrower circle of long- cherished and older friends. None can enjoy his society and not feel that he deserves a tribute in measure greater than yet has appeared; — a man so free from the airs of the mere pre- tender, and the style of a money king! He is no traitor to men, no betrayer of his friends, no selfish calculator at the expense of others' convenience. With the slanderer and con- spirator he has no fellowship. True, helpful, and just, he is the pride of his house, and moves among men, a soul of honor, disdaining a deed of reproach, and preferring exile or death to shame. His hospitality is ever the same that it was in his youth, and peace, contentment, and plenty, bless his pillow and board. Such, in his waning years, is the present home, and life, of the man who, more than half a century ago, was the adventur- ous youth, trader, and hunter, in the wilds of Minnesota. "While others have labored to amass vast fortunes, and devoted their lives to mere material pursuits, or, by political fortune, or commercial land speculation, have acquired great wealth, he has desired a higher and nobler aim, and, contenting him- self with the golden mean. 424 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF " Escapes alike from all The squalor of a sordid cot, And from the jealousies begot By wealth in lordly hall." Like the laureate of Augustus, turning away from the splen- dors of a court, and the miser grasp of men who live but to amass their wealth and lavish it on homes built of costliest stone, adorned with rarest wood, and furnishings from every land and sea, unmindful of their fate, he too can say, "Within my dwelling you behold Nor ivory nor roof of gold ; There, no Hymettian rafters weigh On columns sent from Africa; Nor Attains' imperial chair Have I usurped, a spurious heir. * •* * * * "But a true heart, and genial vein Of wit are mine, and rich men deign, Such as I am, to seek my door. For nought beyond do I implore. Than this, nor crave my potent friend A larger bounty to extend. ***** "Day treads on day, and sinks amain, And new moons only wax and wane, Yet 7nen, upon death's very brink. Of piling marbles only think, Which yet are in the quarry's womb, And, — all unmindftd of the tomb, Rear gorgeous mansions everywhere, As though the earth too bounded were!"^ Such, the pleasant and comfortable home, and such, the quiet and calm philosophy of him who, in his early days, was the Nimrod of his time, the owner of six splendid horses, twenty- three of the finest dogs in all the region, six double-barreled shot-guns, three rifles, besides his holster-pistols, with which he commanded the respect of the savages, amused himself in the intervals between the seasons of active business, and won for himself a name that made him the fit leader of the expedi- tions against the Sioux, in the years of 1802 and 1863. It is only right that the close of a career, so full of wonder as his, should l)riiig the reward of all these temporal benedictions; especially to one who now, as ever, is prodigal of that same hospitality which endeared him to all who came in contact with him. 1 Horace, Odes, Lib. J I., Ode XVIII. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 425 Nor is the "Sibley mansion" the only spot where his name is associated with the scenes and times of his event- ful life. He has left his impress on the geography of three diiferent states, and in more than one municii)ality. "Sib- ley's Indian Homes," his generous gift to tempt the red man to a better future, are a witness to his character and in- fluence. From section 27 to section 37, behind Mendota, is "Augusta lake," so called in honor of his eldest daughter. By unanimous consent of the original proprietors, what now is "Hastings City" derived its name from Henry Hastings Sibley. The city council of St. Paul have named their " Sib- ley street." "Sibley lake," " Sibley crossing," and "Sibley island," in Dakota and on the Missouri river, were dedicated such, as a consequence of the Sioux campaign of 1863; and in the State of Iowa, the town of "Sibley" has just been chris- tened to perpetuate his fame. Still other tokens of esteem are in the future, not the least of which will be the "Sibley monu- ment." A coming generation will be just. Had Fortune given him the vast wealth other men have, the city of St. Paul, ere this, had been debtor to his generous hand for some proud and enduring memorial, built for the good of his fel- low man, or some magnificent donation, like that of his friend Pillsbury, to the State University. An early riser, impatient for the duties of the day, and burdened with a multitude of cares, he takes his morning meal and hastens to his work. He dreads inaction. On the ground floor of the east side of the Globe building is the place in which he transacts his business. A modest room, it is yet interesting in various respects. One entering, during the hours of business, will find the General, gold spectacles on, seated in front of his large desk, crowded with papers and letters, and files, busy at work. On the top of the desk, rests the Princeton diploma. To the right, and high on the wall, hangs a splendid oil portrait of the charming daugh- ter of Mrs. S. McKuight, a chef iVceuvre de beaute, painted by her mother, one of the most accomplished women and artists of the day. Contrasted with this, on the wall at the left of the desk, hangs the large crayon of "OM Bets,'''' a character well known, an Indian captive redeemed by General Sibley from the grasp of Little Crow. Two large pictures, one the "Execution of the Thirty-eight Indians, the other "Presi- dent Cleveland and His Cabinet," beside a water-color of a 426 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF "Sioux Scalping a Chippewa," serve also to vary the decora- tion. A facsimile of the last trembling signature of the dy- ing German emperor, William, the photographs of two Indi- ans, "Medicine Bottom" and "Shakopee," with the latest steel engraving of himself, sum up the ornaments of this last laboratory of the Prince of Pioneers. Conducted to this spot, every morning, save Sunday, he performs the duties that call for his presence. In his modest vehicle behind his old but grand "white horse," — an object of attraction to the city, — his faithful "John," a Swede devoted to his master, drives him daily to the office, and shortly after the meridian, returns him to his mansion. And thus, day follows day, in swift succession, the years revolving, and hastening, to its last and narrow house, the form now beginning to bend with age, and soon to be removed from the land of the living. ''^Nos, noslraque, debemur mortV^ is written on all sublunary things, and on the loftiest of men. " Down to the tomb Your heads must come! Only the actions of the just Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust! " The death of Mrs. Sibley, May 21, 1869, due chiefly to the double bereavement suffered by the loss of two of her chil- dren, during the absence of her husband when leading the ex- pedition against the Sioux Indians in 1863, bore heavily upon the General. In addition to the loss of five children, the loved mother of them all had been removed, lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends. The entire family register of Mr. and Mrs. General Sibley is, in its order, (1) Augusta (Mrs. Captain Douglas Pope), (2) Henry Hastings, who died in infancy, (3) Henry Hastings, again, who died in infancy, — the Power who rules all things seeming to deny the father's name to any living son, (4) Sarah Jane (Mrs. Elbert A. Young), (5) Franklin Steele, deceased, (6) Mary Steele, de- ceased; — these last two, the children who died while their father was in the field fighting the Sioux, and so touch- iiigly bewailed as '■'■ Liltle Mamie'' and ^^ Dear Frank'' in his military diary, — (7) Alexander, deceased, (8) Charles Fred- erick, (9) Alfred IJrush; nine cliildren in all, four still sur- viving; two (laMglit(;rs, Mrs. Douglas Pope, and Mrs. Elbert A. Young; two sons, Charles Frederick and Alfred Brush. HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 427 The children of Mrs. Pope are Alice, Augusta, aud Elsie. Those of Mrs. Young are Henry Sibley, Cornelia, and Elbert A. The surviving sisters of Mrs. Sibley are Mrs. Dr. Potts^ and Mrs. General Johnson, ^ named before. The children of Mrs. Potts are Mary Steele (Mrs. Crawford Livingston), Henry Sibley Potts, John Charles Potts, Abbie (Mrs. Charles Mcln- tyre). The children of Mrs. Livingston are Crawford, Mary Steele, Abbie Potts, Henry Sibley, Gerald. The children of Mrs. Mclntyre are Alice, Charles, and Helen, one, the eldest, William, having died in infancy. The children of Mrs. John- son are Lieutenant Alfred B., United States Army, Ei chard W., medical department United States Army, and Henry Sib- ley. The children of Lieutenant Alfred B. Johnson are Kitty Smyth Johnson and Eachel Louise Johnson. Of the family of Dr. John Steele of St. Paul, deceased, — one of the brothers of Mrs. Potts and Mrs. Johnson, — three still survive, Charles Steele (married Fanny Dawson), Jane R. Steele (Mrs. Dr. E. J. Abbott), and Clara Steele (Mrs. George Dufi&eld Slayma- ker). The one child of Mrs. Charles Steele is named for his father, Charles. The children of Mrs. Dr. E. J. Abbott are Catherine, John, Lorina, Rachel, and Theodore.^ The imme- diate household of General Sibley is composed of his eldest daughter Mrs. Douglas Pope and her three daughters, Alice, 1 Dr. Thomas R. Potts was born in Philadelphia, 1810; graduated from the Uuiversity of Pennsylvania, 1831 ; resided at Natchez, Mississippi, 1831-1841; removed to Galena, Illi- nois, 1841 ; came to St. Paul, 1849 ; lived in St. Paul twenty-six years, being surgeon at Fort Snelling, medical purveyor of the district, physician to the Sioux; in 1850, president of the town board; in 1866, city physician ; health officer in 1873; married to Abbie A. Steele in 1847; died in St. Paul, 1874, age sixty-four years. Dr. Potts was, at the time of his death, the oldest practicing physician in the State of Minnesota, and one of the most distinguished, " an institution " of himself, of fine personal presence, social, kind-hearted, and greatly re- spected. 2 Brevet Major General R. W. Johnson was born in Livingston county, Kentucky, 1827 ; graduated at United States Military Academy, West Point, and reported for duty at Fort Snelling, 1S49; second lieutenant First Infantry, Fort Duncan, Texas, 1850 ; adjutant Sec- ond Infantrj^l853; first lieutenant Second Cavalry, 1855 ; captain Company " F," 1856; es- caped, when the Civil War broke out, from Texas, and reported at Carlisle Barracks, Penn- sylvania, 1861 ; lieutenant colonel Third Kentucky Cavalry, colonel United States Army and brigadier general Volunteers, 1861 ; brevet major general United States Volunteers, 1865. He served gallantly in the Siege of Corinth, pursuit of Morgan, battles of Stone River, Liberty Gap, Chicamauga, Missionary Ridge, aud in the campaign against Atlanta. After the Civil War was provost marshal of the military division of the Mississippi, then judge advocate of the same, and of the department of the Cumberland, and on account of wounds, was placed on the retired list, 1867, and still lives, 1889, his age sixty-two years, hearty and hale, a useful and active citizen. 3 The Hon. Franklin Steele, brother of Dr. John Steele, Mrs. Dr. Potts, and Mrs. Gen- eral Johnson, married Annie Barney of Baltimore. Both are deceased. The family regis- ter gives the children's names as Mary C, Kate O., Rosa P., Franklin, Jr., Fanny, Sarah, Carrie, William E.; eight in all. 428 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Augusta, and Elsie, his son, Mr. Alfred B. Sibley, besides Mrs. Dr. Potts and her son Charles. Surrounded by his sur- viving children and grandchildren, and the large and influ- ential relationship just named, nephews, nieces, cousins, and connections, with a host of much endeared friends, all vieing with each other to minister, the most, their kindly offices, the "Patriarch of Three Generations," and "Prince of Minneso- ta's Pioneers," enjoys the evening of his life, nearing the ho- rizon line, and, though setting like the sun, yet lingering, as if to leave a blessing, throwing back, on all beholders, the rays of his departing light. In retiring from the task we began, — viz., to trace in out- line, the ^^ Ancestry, Life, and Times ^^ of the Hon. Henry Has- tings Sibley, — a sense of wonder, and sometimes of sadness and awe, steals over us, as the concentration of the whole pan- orama seems, for a moment, to converge from all sides, and present itself to us in one compacted picture. The Norman Conquest: the Middle Ages; the wars of the houses of York and Lancaster; the times of the Pilgrims and the English Commonwealth; the Winthrop Fleet and the great immigra- tion; the Colonial and Eevolutionary times; the settlement of the Northwest; the ordinance of 1787; the advent of Solomon Sibley, the father of Henry, to Detroit; the birth of Henry; Sault Ste. Marie; Mackinac and the fur trade; the partner- ship of young Sibley; his journey to Prairie du Chien, and thence to the "meeting of the waters;" his Indian life; his congressional; his territorial and state life; his military life; his life as a private citizen; and now, still living, and increas- ing in his years; — what histories, memories, scenes, events, and changes, not only pass before us, but crowd themselves into one conception, vivid, oppressive, and overpowering ! Pass- ing away and coming, coming and passing away, — "one gen- eration coming and another going," — this is the lawnof prog- ress; — the sons of Japhet ordained to expansion, a forward march and extension, the savage tribes retreating, and the forests falling, before them, the world's conquest their ulti- mate prize! To this pioneer race, Henry Hastings Sibley has belonged, and played his part in blazing a path through new and un- trodden wilds, now crowned with the ('llh)rescence of a mighty civilization. The cathedral of Milan rises from the ground, surrounded at its base by rude barbaric figures, its roof sur- HON. HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY, LL.D. 429 mounted with 6,000 pinnacles on which stand saints and an- gels, their heads sky-laucing and glittering with light, the intermediate architecture showing the progress from Barbar- ism to Civilization, and from Civilization to Christianity. It is a grand poem in stone! What monument should not the wealth and resources of a state like Minnesota rear to the memory of the brave pioneers, among whom Henry Hastings Sibley stood, and stands, the first and the tallest, and now survives as the oldest of all? What device better than some proud pile at whose base the Indian and mound, the wigwam and bounding buffalo, and elk, and deer, shall be seen, its sum- mit crowned with twin figures of the two great cities of the state, the intermediate construction showing the upward prog- ress from savage to civilized life, — Sibley below in his Indian attire, Sibley above in citizen's dress, — a half -century scene, th^ like of which is without a mate in the world ! Fifteen years, in the solitude of a pre-territorial life, he, — the phosphor of the morning, — shed his beams athwart the region over which the rising sun of civilization had not yet lifted his golden brow. Fifteen years, — much of the time in Indian costume, — he antedated the advent of the men whose names are in- separably bound with the actual organization of the Territory of Minnesota. He passed under four successive territorial jurisdictions, without once changing his residence at Men- dota ! On the territorial seal, devised by Governor Eamsey and General Sibley, are displayed the Falls of St. Anthony in the distance, the immigrant plowing the border of the Indian's land and looking wistfully beyond, as if anxious to plow still more, the Indian amazed at the sight and speeding in full flight to the setting sun! And General Sibley has lived to see this symbol, and all it implies, translated into actual fact. What changes since 1858, when Minnesota was admitted as a state! What greater changes since 1849, when Minnesota was organized as a territory! And what, greatest of all, since 1834, when Henry H. Sibley planted his feet on the hills be- hind Mendota! — "four hamlets" then in the little amphi- theatre, all the rest a wide wilderness; but now the splendid cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis seated — like queens with crowns on their heads — on places young Sibley trod as his hunting ground, and where the Indian war-whoop echoed through the trees! — then only a "few hundred of whites in all the region," an area of 83,000 square miles and 56,000,000 of acres, but, now, a population of nearly 1,500,000 souls! 430 ANCESTRY, LIFE, AND TIMES OF Let him, who can, compose the volume that shall draw the full contrast between ^^Then^^ and "JVb?(? /" Tu eris Marcellus! The man who sees the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis sees two mighty wonders, if only he thinks of the transformation. But he whose fortune it is to look on General Sibley, sees a mightier wonder still! Wonderful life, of a wonderful man! His eyes have not been denied the vision that "wise men, prophets, and kings, desired to see, but died without the sight!" In that prophetic symbol, apocalypsed on the terri- torial seal, his inward sense foresaw what the Hiawatha of the poet sang: ' ' All the secrets of the futui'e, Of the distant days that shall be : And, with these, the westward marches Of the unknown, crowding nations, All the land so full of people, Restless, struggling, toiling, striving, Speaking many tongues, yet feeling But one heart-heat in their bosom. "^ It is time to say '^Adieu!^^ When, in coming years, the just tribute of admiration shall be paid to the pioneer, the Indian hunter, the legislator, the statesman, the orator, the governor, soldier, husband, father, and friend, who has been the subject of this volume, none will say that we have over- rated his merits, or been too profuse in our praise of his vir- tues, or too minute in our faint memorial of his services. Take him as a man, survey him in what light we will, accord to others, his contemporaries, the full meed of praise due to their noble deeds, and self-denying toils, to help redeem a wil- derness, and found a state, still Henry Hastings Sibley stands second to none on the scroll of fame. He is the central Jigure around which all other figures group themselves. It was he who gave, in 1834, the first impulse of real value to all com- mercial enterprises of the region which even then was with- out a special name. It was he who, from 1849 to 1853, gave again a fresh impulse, in the organization of the territory, more than any other man, and, by his efforts in the halls of Congress, put it on its path to a swift and prosperous state- hood. First governor of the state, in 18r)8, it was he who, in 1862, assumed the military dress, led the main expedition 1 Ix)iigf(;ll()w's PoeiiiH. Sons "f Hiiiwatlia, The White Foot, XXI. For the curious and IntercAting »tory of Hiawatha, or Manabozho, the aniplilet form. — N. W. APPENDIX. 443 lately improbable. My credentials were presented on the first day of the session by the Hon. James Wilson of New Hamp- shire, in whose hands they were placed, because he had for- merly resided in Iowa, and might be supposed to be better informed, as to our situation and geographical position, than any other member. Although the case was by him set forth in a clear and strong light, an objection was raised to my admis- sion, and my claim was referred to the Committee on Elections, with instructions to examine and report thereon. I will not en- ter into a detail of the mortifications and vexatious delays to which I was subjected from that time until the question was decided, six weeks after. Although permitted, through cour- tesy, to occupy a seat in the house, I was allowed none of the privileges of a delegate, and, indeed, I was little more than a lobby member. Meanwhile my claim was resisted with bitter pertinacity by certain individuals of the committee, particu- larly by the Hon. Mr. Boyden of North Carolina, who made a long and labored argument against my right to a seat, and rid- iculed the pretension that a territorial organization still ex- isted in the country north and west of the State of Wisconsin. I made a reply before the committee, the substance of which has been published. You can judge whether your rights were therein properly sustained and defended. Finally, the major- ity of the committee reported in my favor, and the minority presented a strong counter protest. On the fifteenth, January, the subject was brought before the house, and the resolution introduced by the majority of the committee was adopted by a strong vote, which admitted me to the full enjoyment of the privileges of a delegate. I should have mentioned that my argument in answer to the speech of Mr. Boyden was made the basis of the report of the Committee on Elections, a copy having been furnished by me to the chairman at his request. Notwithstanding the decision of the house of representa- tives, which recognized me as the representative of Wisconsin Territory, it was publicly stated by many members who had voted for my reception, that they did not intend thereby to admit the existence of an organization there, but had been actuated merely by motives of courtesy. This fact was made evident but a few days subsequently, when one of my oppo- nents, being determined to test the question, moved to add an item to the general appropriation bill for defraying the ex- penses of Wisconsin Territory for the ensuing year, which 444 APPENDIX. motion was negatived by a large majority. The house was then taunted with having admitted a delegate to represent a territory which had in reality no legal existence. The great object to which I turned my attention was the bill for the organization of Minnesota Territory. I was kindly allowed, by the Committee on Territories of the senate, to change certain provisions of the bill so as to meet the wishes of my constituents, and but little difficulty was experienced in procuring its passage by that body. But with the house the case was far different. The bill there was most violently opposed. The Committee on Territories had reported amend- ments to the senate bill, changing the boundary of Minnesota, and making the act to take effect on the tenth of March, in- stead of the day of its passage, so as to preclude the adminis- tration of Mr. Polk from making the appointments. I was averse to these changes, because we had already sufficient ter- ritory without extending our boundary to the Missouri river; and as to the appointments, I stated that Mr. Polk would only exercise the right to nominate two or three of the officers, and that under any circumstances the proposed amendment was to my view a breach of delicacy and propriety, but in both points I was overruled. An effort was made, in committee, to append the Wilmot proviso to the territorial bill, but this I resisted, as I deter- mined, so far as it was in my power, not to allow it to be clogged by a provision wholly superfluous, as the introduction of slavery was prohibited on the east of the Mississippi by the ordinance of 1787, and on the west of that river by the act of 1819 establishing the Missouri line. The proposition was therefore voted down before the bill was reported to the house, but was brought in as an amendment by the minority of the committee, and was only kept from being adopted, and producing consequently a fierce and angry discussion, which would have resulted in the loss of the bill, by my moving and refusing to withdraw the previous question, which cut off all amendments. On the twenty-second of February, I moved that the rules of the houses be suspended to enable me to sub- mit a motion, that the committee of the whole be discharged from the further consideration of the bill for the organization of Minnesota Territory, so as to put it upon its passage. The rules were susi)ended by a vote of 100 to IG, and the struggle then commenced upon my moving the previous question. I APPENDIX. 445 turned a deaf ear to all entreaties to withdraw it, and I there- by incurred the ire of those who were inimical to the bill. But after an attempt to lay it on the table, or in other words, to defeat it, which was unsuccessful, it was finally ordered to a third reading, and all opposition to it ceased. It was finally passed on the second of March, and sent to the senate, which body refused to concur in the house amendment, changing the date when the bill was to take effect. By great exertion on the part of my friends and myself, the house was at length persuaded to recede from its amendment, and the bill was passed and became a law on the third of March. As Mr. Polk, with great magnanimity, refused to make the appoint- ments, although he had a perfect right so to do, I waited on General Taylor and the secretary of state two days after the inauguration, and submitted a written appeal, that the terri- tory should be allowed the three ofiices, of secretary, district attorney, and marshal, if no others, and that the remainder should be filled by selections from the Northwest. The effect of the step you have seen. Of the three citizens of our terri- tory named by me in connection with these offices, two only have been appointed, and it was only by incessant efforts on my part that even these were allowed us. I believe it to be a piece of injustice toward us, and a violation of usage, not to have given us the office of secretary also. But the crowds of office seekers must be conciliated, if possible, and at our cost, so far as the territory could furnish the means. I have no doubt the selections of the individuals appointed to office in our territory are proper ones; but I contended for the principle, that when the materials could be found in the country for filling the offices, the territory should be preferred. I should be wanting in my duty, did I not place before you the names of the Hon. Messrs. Caleb B. Smith, Eobert Smith, Thompson, Darling, Lynde, Turner, Lincoln, Sawyer, Ste- phens, McLane, JSTewell, Van Dyke, Yenable, and Wilson, as prominent among those members of the house who sustained our interests on every occasion. We owe to them a debt of gratitude for their exertions in our behalf, and we are also under particular obligations to Hon. Messrs. Henry and A. C. Dodge, Walker, Jones, and Douglas of the senate, for their kind sympathies, which were manifested, not in idle words, but by a firm advocacy of all those measures which involved the interests of Minnesota. 446 APPENDIX. The removal of the land office to Still water was only effected after much delay and diflBculty, as a remonstrance had been made by the members of the Wisconsin legislature, and sent to Senator Walker, against its being removed out of the limits of the state. This obstacle was eventually surmounted by the establishment of an additional land district in Wisconsin, the location of which office has been made at Willow River. A weekly mail has been granted us by the postmaster general, at my earnest and repeated solicitation. I was aided in ob- taining this grant by the gentlemen composing the Iowa and Wisconsin delegations. I offered a resolution in the house, which was adopted, to instruct the Committee on the Post Office to inquire into the expediency of establishing a post route from Fort Snelling to Fort Gaines, also to instruct the Committee on Indian Affairs to inquire into the expediency of extending the laws of the United States over the Northwest tribes, so as to make all amenable to the proper tribunals, and thereby put a stop to the murders and other crimes habitually perpetrated among them. I also drew up a bill which was presented in the sen- ate by Hon. George W. Jones, and in the house by Hon. Eobert Smith, appropriating 112,000 for the construction of a road from the St. Louis river of Lake Superior, to St. Paul and to Point Douglas via the Marine Mills and Stillwater. There was not sufficient time to push these measures through Congress at this short session; but they will doubtless be effected next winter, as I do not apprehend any difficulty will be thrown in the way of their passage. Much business apper- taining to individuals and to private claims has also been intrusted to me, and I have given it as great a share of my attention as other and more important duties would permit. Having been furnished with a power of attorney, signed by a large number of Sioux mixed-bloods, to dispose of their lands at Lake Pepin, I waited upon the secretary of war and commissioner of Indian aifairs repeatedly, with a hope of pro- curing their concurrence in the furtherance of this object. It was finally decided l)y the former, that as a change of ad- mi nistiation was so soon to take place, it would not be proper for him to enter into any negotiations with me; and he like- wise ()hjc(',tolitical complexion as to 111 m may seem best calculated to insure "the greatest good to the greatest number." Until that period arrives, leave your deh^gate at least free to act, witliout being tram- meled by any imj)osed obligation, to take part in the political contests at the seat of government. My own experience has so far conviiKM'd mo of the pr<)])riety of non-interference in these topics of discussion here, that should 1 even be elected by a APPENDIX. 453 strict jjarty vote to that station, a conscientious regard for the interests of the territory would constrain me to pursue the same line of policy which I have hitherto adopted. In no other way can a delegate make himself useful to his constitu- ents, or accomplish those beneficial results for the territory, which they have a right to expect at his hands. I need hardly inform you, fellow citizens, that for obvious reasons there has been greater difficulty in procuring the as- sent of Congress to any measures of practical legislation during the present session, than has probably ever been the case since the foundation of the government. Nearly eight months have been consumed in debate on topics more or less connected with the institution of slavery, to the exclusion of other great and important interests of the country. Every other subject of national concern has been overlooked and neglected by Con- gress, and up to this time there seems to be no more ground to hope for the adjustment or settlement of the sectional con- troversy which now agitates the land than at the commence- ment of the session. It could not reasonably be expected, under such circumstances, that Minnesota would receive much attention at the hands of that body. It should be a subject of congratulation, therefore, that we have not been thus neg- lected. Of the very few acts passed, and sanctioned by the president, three of them have been for our especial benefit. I refer to the bills for the erection of public buildings, and a prison, for roads, and to authorize the legislative assembly to prolong its next session to ninety days. By the two former, we are secured the sum of $80,000, to be expended during the current year. The sums allowed for the construction of roads between important and distant points in our territory, al- though, perhaps, not sufficient to complete them, will go far toward opening the country to immigrants, and will prove of incalculable benefit, even on that score alone. And we may reasonably rely upon the liberality of Congress to supply any deficiency hereafter, which may operate to prevent the imme- diate completion of these great thoroughfares. The estimates for the expenses of the territorial govern- ment for this year, including the increase requisite to meet the prolonged session, will amount to about .$35,000, and are provided for in the general civil and diplomatic appropriation bill, which will undoubtedly be passed within the next twenty days. To these amounts are to be added the sum appropri- 454 APPENDIX. ated to meet the deficiencies in the territorial expenditures of last year, amounting to about $13,000, the most part of which was got through in the face of an existing law of Congress prohibiting the territories from exceeding the appropriations made to defray the expenses of their respective governments. Thus far, then, we have secured to us for disbursement among our citizens during this year, more than one-eighth of a mil- lion of dollars in cash, which is more than any other territory has ever received in a single year. But this is not all that has been accomplished. The river and harbor bill, which has been reported to the house by the Committee on Commerce, contains an item of $5,000 for the survey of the Mississippi river above the Falls of St. Anthony, preparatory to its improvement. Congress has enriched our library, by the gift of a copy of the complete works of the ex- ploring expedition, valued at eight hundred or a thousand dollars. The appropriations for treaties with the Sioux In- dians, and to extinguish the Indian title to a considerable por- tion of the valley of the Eed Eiver of the North, have been placed in proper train, and will be speedily acted on. The senate has passed the bill "for the benefit of Minnesota," which, should it succeed in the house, will grant us quite three millions of acres of the public lands for the construction of a railroad from our extreme western boundary, by the way of Lake Traverse and the valley of the Minnesota river, to the Iowa line, with a sure prospect of a further grant at the next session, for a connecting branch to the seat of government. The bill for the reduction of the military reserve at Fort Snell- ing has been retarded in the senate by opposition from the war department, and from other sources, but I have strong reasons to believe it will, nevertheless, become a law during the present session. The half-breed treaty, which has been to me the cause of much anxiety, and in behalf of which I have spared no exertion, still remains unacted on in the senate, and may possibly be defeated, because of the undue and ma- lignant inlhiences which have been brought to bear upon it from the territory, inducing senators to look upon it with a suspicious and uufavorable eye. The bills for post routes, and a collection district in Minnesota, will doubtless also be passed. Besides tli(\se lueasures which I liave enumerated, and which have required my uuri^mitting attention, much business APPENDIX. 455 has been transacted with the different departments of the gov- ernment, as well for the territory as for private citizens. Mail facilities have been multiplied, and post offices established through my instrumentality. Several of the thirty-sixth sec- tions of school lands have been secured, of which the decision of the commissioner of the land office would have deprived us, had I not prosecuted a successful appeal from that decision to the secretary of the interior. Many claims of our citizens upon the government have been pressed, for the most part with success, and no individual can complain of neglect on my part, who has intrusted his affairs to my hands. I have, withal, maintained a correspondence with all parts of the country in reference to Minnesota and its advantages, infor- mation being naturally sought from me, by persons desirous to emigrate, and cheerfully afforded. I have thus endeavored to bring to your notice, fellow citi- zens, but in an imperfect and hasty manner, the field of labor which has occupied your delegate, for the most part, day and night, since the commencement of the session. You can thereby judge, to some extent at least, of the obstacles to be surmount- ed, in accomplishing what has been done. If anyone imag- ines that these results have been brought about without per- sonal solicitation, constant and unwearied, and the cultivation of kind relations with members of both houses of Congress, and the heads of departments and bureaus, as well as the most arduous continuity of exertion, he is much deceived in his estimate of what is necessary to the satisfactory consummation here, of business appertaining either to the territory or to individuals. I have been a working man thus far through life, but never have I been called upon to undergo labor so incessant and so exhausting, as during this and the preceding session of Congress. It will naturally be asked, why, if such be the case, I have any desire to return here as the delegate, after the expiration of my present term of service. I have two reasons to assign why I have consented again to go before the people as a can- didate for re-election. The first is, that many of my friends, irrespective of party, have urged me to do so; and the second is my entire conviction, that one or more of those who have been announced as probable candidates for the station I now hold, seek to be elected, not for the advancement of the ter- ritory and its interests, but to subserve private ends and sel- 456 APPENDIX. fish purposes. I have toiled too long and too faithfully for Minnesota, to be willing to see its destinies committed to such hands, if by any sacrifice of my own inclination or comfort, I can avert from it such an evil. Being necessarily absent during the canvass, fellow citi- zens, I must expect to be assailed by every device and every weapon which my enemies can bring to bear against me. Some of the gentlemen who are reported as among the candi- dates, will not, I feel assured, descend to detraction or abuse to endeavor to bring about my defeat. From others who are also announced as aspirants to the same office, I may not ex- pect, nor do I ask, forbearance. They commenced their sys- tem of tactics at the very beginning of the session, by endeav- oring at that early period, to induce the people of Minnesota to believe that I had lost my influence here. I am willing to be judged on this point by results, which, after all, is the only criterion whereby to form a correct impression as to the stand- ing of a representative. It will be charged, also, that I am connected with a firm which is a monopoly. If to be a monopo- list is never to make use of any means to crush an opponent, or to work injury to any man, then am I one. If it is in the nature of a monopolist to assist the poor man in securing his homestead, by lending the money necessary for him to do so, at never more than a legal rate of interest, when he would cheerfully have paid twenty per cent per annum, then must I plead guilty to the charge, for I have been such a monopo- list in many cases, so far as my means would allow. I appeal to the old settlers, who have known me for years, to say whether I have ever oppressed a human being, or taken ad- vantage of his necessities to deal harshly by him. I do not anticipate that the most virulent of my opponents will attempt any imputation upon my private character, or even insinuate that I have used my public position for j)ersonal objects of my own, or for any other purpose than the general interests of the territory. Fellow citizens, if I have seemed unduly to parade before you the services I have rendered, I trust yon will not attribute my having done so to an exaggerated estimate of my own merits, or a desire to impress you with an idea that what has been uftconiplislM^d has be(Mi owing mlchi to my own exertions. On the contraiy, 1 have been aided by kind and confiding friends in and out of Congress, and it gives me pleasure here APPENDIX. 457 to acknowledge the obligations I am under to the Hon. Messrs. Douglas, Dodge of Wisconsin, Dodge of Iowa, Cooper, Un- derwood, Foote, Shields, Seward, Walker, and others, of the senate, and to many gentlemen of both political parties in the house of representatives, for the friendly assistance rendered me in promoting the interests of our territory. His Excel- lency, Governor Ramsey, has also rendered me essential sup- port, by his correspondence with leading men here; and I am happy likewise, to render to Hugh Tyler, Esq., of our terri- tory, the tribute due for his efficient co-operation in urging forward all measures of importance to its welfare. What I do claim for myself is, to have devoted my whole time and most strenuous efforts to the discharge of my public duty. Finally, fellow citizens, I offer myself as a candidate for your suffrages at the approaching election, without distinc- tion of party, hereby pledging myself, if elected, to maintain, during my term of service, the same neutral position in the discharge of my duties as a delegate, that I have hitherto preserved, and to labor for the general good of Minnesota with the same zeal and diligence which have thus far characterized my course. More than this, I can neither promise nor per- form. Your Fellow Citizen, Henry H. Sibley. Washington City, July 29, 1850. II. OFFICIAL MILITARY REPORTS AND DISPATCHES ^ OF . COLONEL HENRY HASTINGS SIBLEY. FIRST SIOUX CAMPAIGN, 1862. (See i)p. 2o8-2SS.) [This second part of the appendix contains military reports and dis- patches of Colonel Sibley, during the first Sioux campaign, and covering the period from September 1, 1862, to October 21, 1862.] Headquarters, September 1, 1862. Adjutant General 0. Malmros, St. Paul, Sir: The ammunitiou and rations have just arrived, and although the supply is small, I shall march to-morrow and probably cross the Minnesota at the Yellow Medicine and fol- low the main body of the Indians in whatever direction they have gone. There are still small parties lurking about here, but I do not think that the Indians are in force this side of the river. I have had parties out as far as the Yellow Medi- cine. They saw nothing, but heard a few shots fired in the vicinity, or rather up the Yellow Medicine river. I sent out a company of mounted men and one of infantry, yesterday, with a burial party. They are still out, and up to last evening they had interred forty-one (41) bodies, mostly those of men, including probably those under Captain Marsh's command who were killed at the ferry. The mounted men have to-day crossed to the Lower Agency to examine matteis there, while the infantry proceed up on this side of the river, to examine the country thoroughly. The dead were so much decomposed as to render recognition im- possible. APPENDIX. 459 I trust more cartridges will soon arrive, for with all we have, the men will be furnished with less than forty (40) rounds each, much too small a number for an extended expe- dition into the Indian country. We have no means of baking the flour, which is very annoying. Hard bread should, by all means, be sent. I have already pressed upon you the necessity of having forwarded, as expeditiously as possible, clothing, blankets, etc. I have dispatched orders to Captain Rogers of the Seventh, to report at !N'ew Ulm and be directed by Captain Flandrau. Captain Davis' company is also there, and Captain Edger- ton's company is at the Winnebago Agency. I have advices from the latter up to yesterday, in which he informs me that all was quiet at the agency. H. H. Sibley, Colonel, Commanding Indian Expedition. BATTLE OF BIRCH COOLIE, AUGUST 31, 1862. Headquarters Indian Expedition, September 4, 1862. Adjutant General 0. Malmros, St. Paul, Sir: I have received two several dispatches from Gov- ernor Ramsey of first instant, one of which regards the dis- position of some of the forces under my command, which I will endeavor to comply with so far as I deem it prudent to do so. In fact, the region at New Ulm and its vicinity is already in possession of Captain Davis' and Captain Rogers' companies, which I dispatched there, to aid Captain Flan- drau in the defense of the line, and I will co-operate with them from this side so far as it is possible to do so. I will dismiss the allusion to a possible treaty or negotiation with the miserable wretches who have murdered our people and devastated our frontier by stating that neither suggestion, nor idea nor supposition of any such arrangement has ever been made or conceived, so far as I know, by any man in this camp. The absurd rumors spread by the men, who in most cases basely deserted this corps as it was about to en- counter the enemy, were, at least so far as any treaty ar- 460 APPENDIX. rangements was conceived, without a shadow of foundation in fact. I wish this assertion to be taken as absolute and without foundation. I have to report the particulars of a sad affair, which has been attended with extraordinary fatality to a j)ortion of my command, on Thursday, thirty-first ultimo. After having previously taken measures by sending through as far as the Yellow Medicine scouts entirely reliable to ascertain whether the country was free from Indians, and none having been seen, nor any trace of them found, I dispatched Captain Grant, with his company of seventy-five men of the Sixth regiment, fifty-five men of the mounted volunteer force under the command of Captain Joseph Anderson, and an armed burial party of twenty men, in all about one hundred and fifty- three men, the whole under the command of Major J. E. Brown, with orders to proceed to the scene of the late butcheries, collect and inter the remains, and search for any survivors that might perchance be roaming through the coun- try. The further orders given to Major J. R. Brown were to avoid any pass or defile where they might be waylaid or am- bushed, to use every precaution against Indian treachery, and after having performed the duties devolved upon him to re- join my forces either here or at Birch Coolie, about eighteen miles from here, whither I expected to move on the succeed- ing day. On the day succeeding their departure I heard from them through Mr. Myrick and others, who informed me that they were proceeding actively in the interment of the dead bodies, having already disposed of sixty-nine in all. On the morning of the second, I was startled by the reports of vol- leys of musketry in the distance, in the direction where the detachment was supposed to be. I immediately dispatched Major McLaren, with three companies of the Sixth regi- ment, a detachment of mounted men, and two pieces of artil- lery, to the relief of Major Brown, the whole being under the command of Colonel McPhail, with orders to proceed at once to the camp of Major Brown, wherever he might be found. I received a message from Colonel McPhail in the evening, stating that he had not been able to join Major Brown, but was then nearly surrounded, witli his command, by the In- dians, who were giving indications of hostilities. I imme- diately placcid the remainder of my forces under arms and marched to their rescue. I joined them during the night, APPENDIX. 4G1 and early in the morning, with the force thns united, I pro- ceeded toward the spot, some miles distant, where the con- tinuous rattle of musketry showed the camp of Major Brown to be. As I crossed the prairie toward the timber, the In- dians deployed as skirmishers to resist my advance, but, hav- ing protected my flank from attack, I deployed my advance guard of three companies and advanced. A brisk firing at long range ensued on both sides, but with no loss to us, and but the loss of one man to the Indians, killed or wounded. As I marched they commenced a general retreat along their line, and I reached the camp of Major Brown, to find the shocking sight of dead and wounded men and dead and struggling horses strewn through the camp. The attack commenced on Major Brown's camp, at daylight, by about two hundred and fifty Indians, on the morning of the second. Our loss was thirteen killed and three mortally wounded, and forty-four more or less seriously injured, including Ma- jor Brown and Captain Anderson, the latter having received two wounds. I proceeded to inter the dead — thirteen in number — and to remove the wounded men to this post for surgical care. I arrived here with my whole force at mid- night last night, and shall remain no longer than is necessary to completely organize and equip the expedition to pursue the Indians. The unfortunate issue of the movement referred to has added another to the list of crimes committed by this league of fiends. I will send you Major Brown's detailed report of the affair as soon as received. I have learned, with pain, that much dissatisfaction exists below in consequence of the unavoidable delays in fitting the expedition for field service. I am therefore anxious to relieve your administration of any embarrassment connected with the affair. I hereby place my commission at your dis- posal, and shall be glad to turn over my command to some person to be selected by the commander-in-chief, in whose military training and experience the people of the state will |)erhaps feel more confidence. Yours Respectful ly, H. H. Sibley, Colonel^ Commanding Indian Expedition. 462 APPENDIX. Fort Eidgley, September 4, 1862. Colonel H. H. Sihley, Commanding Expedition in Sioux Country, Sir : In compliance with your order, I left the encamp- ment at this post, on the morning of August 31, 1862, to visit the different settlements between this post and Beaver river, to search for and bury all persons that could be found mur- dered, and at the same time, to examine the country about the Lower Sioux Agency and Little Crow's village, to mark all indications of the movement of the Indians, and the course taken by them in their retreat. Captain Grant's Company A, Sixth regiment; Captain An- derson's company of mounted men, several volunteers from the officers of the expedition, a fatigue party of twenty men, and seventeen teamsters, with their teams, formed the force of the detachment. On the thirty-first of August, the detachment moved in a body and encamped on the Minnesota bottom, at the mouth of Birch Coolie and opposite the Lower Sioux Agency, hav- ing found and buried sixteen corpses during the day. On the first of September, the detachment marched in a body to the river bank, when the mounted company, with one team and eight of the fatigue party, accompanied me across the river, under the protection of the infantry. After search- ing around the agency, and becoming satisfied there were no Indians in the vicinity, Captain Grant was directed to remain with his company, and twelve of the fatigue party, and sixteen teams on the east side of the river, to bury what murdered persons could be found at the crossing and at the settlements, as far as Beaver river, and from the Beaver river to return to the upper timber on the Birch Coolie, and encamp. I proceeded with that portion of the detachment that had crossed the river, to bury the dead about the agency, and then proceeded to Little Crow's village, and from there I went alone to where the road leading to the Coteau de Prairie di- verges from the Yellow Medicine road, to ascertain whether the Indians had gone to the coteau, or continued up the Min- nesota, toward the Yellow Medicine. Tiie road and the camps about Little Crow's village indi- cated that the main body of the Indians had an immense bag- gage train, which had gone forward about six days previous, APPENDIX. 463 and a smaller baggage train, coming from the lower part of the reservation, liad gone forward two days subsequently, the entire force keeping the Yellow Medicine road. In all our examinations, no signs could be found about the village, along the road, or at the river crossing, near the vil- lage, that any Indians had been in the vicinity for the four days previous. This was the united oj^inion of Major Galbraith, Messrs. Alex. Faribault, Geo. Faribault, and J. J. Frazier (who were among the volunteers), and myself; and, as the Indians, when encamjaed near their villages, invariably visit them frequently, the general supposition was, that upon learn- ing the approach of troops, the Lower Indians had gone up to join the Yellow Medicine Indians, that they might subsequently act in concert in their defense against the troops, or in their movement west. Having accomplished the object of my visit to Little Crow's village, I proceeded to the ford, near that village, and re- crossed the Minnesota river, and, near sunset, reached the encampment selected by Captain Grant, near the upper tim- ber of the Birch Coolie, and about three miles from the Lower Agency, The two divisions of the detachment buried, during this day, fifty-four murdered persons. Captain Grant found a wo- man who was still alive, although she had been almost en- tirely without sustenance for fourteen days, and was severely wounded. She escaped from the massacre at Patterson's Eapids. This camp was made in the usual way, on the smooth prairie, some two hundred yards from the timber of Birch Coolie, with the wagons packed around the camp, and the team horses fastened to the wagons. The horses belonging to the mounted men were fastened to a stout picket rope, between the tents and wagons, around the south half of the camp — Captain Anderson's tents being behind his horses, and Captain Grant's tents being inside the wagons which formed the north half of the camp. A guard of thirty men and two non-commissioned officers was detailed and organized — ten sentinels being stationed about thirty yards from the wagons, at intervals, around the camp, with instructions to keep a good lookout, and report any noise or other indications of the approach of Indians. Nothing was reported from the guard, until half past four 464 APPENDIX. o'clock, on the morning of September 2d, when one of the guard called out, "Indians!" and almost instantly afterward a shower of balls fell upon the camp. The firing, for probably a minute, was entirely on the part of the Indians, during which time many of our men were either killed or wounded; but the mortality among the men, at that time, was, by no means, as severe as might be supposed, owing to the protec- tion afforded by the horses. Captain Anderson and his company promptly availed them- selves of the protection afforded by the wagons near him, and opened fire upon the Indians. Captain Grant's company and the fatigue party promptly seized their arms, and commenced firing; but they, for some minutes, continued to expose themselves, imprudently, and consequently were very much cut to pieces. After the entire detachment became settled under the shelter of the wagons and dead horses, but few were killed or wounded, and the close firing on our side soon caused the Indians to withdraw to the shelter of the woods. After the withdrawal of the Indians, the construction of rifle-pits was commenced in different parts of the camp, which, although the men worked with a will, i>rogressed slowly, owing to the hardness of the soil, and the want of proper tools. Three sjoades, one pick, bayonets, tin pans, etc., con- stituted our means for excavation; and yet rifle-pits to the extent of about two hundred feet in length were completed. From the time the first rifle-pit was commenced, but one man was killed and two wounded, although the fire of the Indians was continued until the arrival of reinforcements. Although the Indians had great advantages over us in the early part of the engagement, I think that the mortality on our side, fearful as it was, did not exceed that of the Indians, judging by the numbers they carried across the prairie from the timber from which they fired. Our men were cool, and had oi'ders to discharge their pieces only when a prospect of hitting a foe was presented. About two o'(;lock, on the second of September, the report of a cannon, wiiich we were confident was discharged by friends approaching to our relief, was hailed with joy, and as we were then in a condition to laugh at all the attacks of Indians upon our ])Osition, w(! i\'M confident that they would be cheated of a victory through starvation or thirst. APPENDIX. 465 As the reinforcements advanced, the Indians began to withdraw from us, and prepare for operations against the ap- proaching force. We could see and hear the Indians, and learned through them that the force was not large, and they hoped to cut it off. This gave us some uneasiness, because we feared the troops might attempt to cross the Birch Coolie about dark; but we soon learned they were halted, and that the Indians proposed to wait until morning to make an at- tack uj)on them. In the morning of September 3d, we again observed the maneuvers of the Indians, and could plainly hear their lamentations at the discovery that you with your entire force had reached Col. McPhail's camp during the night. From that time, the Indians had no hopes of either capturing us or defeating the reinforcements. Still they kept up a fire on us until your van reached within two or three hundred yards of us. The Indian force which attacked our camj) I estimate at from two hundred and fifty to three hundred, all well armed and many mounted on good horses. Inclosed you will find Captain Anderson's report, detail- ing the force, operations, and casualties of his company. His officers and men (with the exceptions he indicates) acted with the utmost coolness and courage. The captain, although twice severely wounded, continued in active command of his com- pany until your reinforcements reached our camp. To the prompt movements and energetic action of himself, and his officers and men, the early retreat of the Indians from the prairie is in a great measure due. Captain Grant rendered important service in the construc- tion of the main line of rifle-pits. Lieutenant Gillam of Cap- tain Grant's company, with a small party, located themselves on the left of Captain Anderson early in the fight, and did gallant service. Lieutenant Baldwin of the same company also acted with cool courage in the different portions of the camp where his duties called him. Lieutenant Swan of the Third infantry (a volunteer) was in charge of a party near and on the left of Lieutenant Gillam, where he and his party did good service. Mr. Alex. Faribault, with his son, J. Frazier, and other volunteers, had position on the north portion of the camp, where good service was done during the continuance of the battle. Major Galbraith and Captain Redfield, both vol- unteers, were wounded early in the morning. Major Gal- 466 APPENDIX. braith received two wounds, but continued to assist in the construction of the rifle-pits. Lieutenant Patch (volunteer) and Sergeant Pratt of Captain Grant's company, also rendered valuable service in the defense of the western rifle-pit. There were wounded, of the volunteers, in addition to those mentioned above, Daniel Blair and Warren DeCamp, the latter very severely. Mr. J. C. Dickenson of Henderson, and E. Henderson of Beaver river, also volunteers, left the camp in company with four others at the first fire, and were probably killed. The body of Mr. Henderson was found a short dis- tance from the camp. Having received no report from Captain Grant, I am un- able to give the names of the killed and wounded of his com- pany, and the fatigue party attached to it. There were a few men who behaved badly, mostly, I think, teamsters ; but with these exceptions, the entire detachment acted with commendable coolness and courage. Probably the desire of Captain Grant's company to charge upon the In- dians led to their exposure, consequently so many deaths and wounds. After they took position behind the wagons but few casualties occurred. It is a singular fact, that the woman found by Captain Grant escaped unhurt, although she lay in a high wagon, ex- posed to the fire of the Indians, and which had several balls pass through it. The killed and wounded were reported to Van on the third instant, by Dr. Daniels, who accompanied the detachment. That report I believe to be correct. Every horse belonging to the detachment was killed, ex- cepting six, which were left at the camp, being wounded and unable to travel. The tents belonging to the detachment were perfectly rid- dled, one having one hundred and forty ball holes through it. They are unfit for service. Very respectfully, Your Obedient Servant, Joseph R. Brown, Major Third Minnesota Volunteer Militia, Commanding Detachment. I appendix. 467 Headquarters in Camp, Near Fort Eidgley, September 5, 1862. Adjutant General 0. Malmros, St. Paul, Sir : * * * I am very anxious to secure the safety of the mauy prisoners before attacking the camp, as they will doubtless be placed in the most exposed situation. The num- ber of fighting men among the Lower bands is 617, acceding the actual enumeration of Wakpatons about 250, and that they have been reinforced by 600 men from the Yankton and Sis- seton bands, and that the Eyanktonas or Cut-Heads will be down as soon as they arrive from their hunt. We have there- fore to meet, according to Mr. Riggs and another competent authority, 2, 700 or 2,800 men, and I have, from the beginning, believed and acted upon this conviction, that the Lower bands would not attempt to escape, but would make a determined stand. Their main camp is at Yellow Medicine, and it is said by the Robinsons that the Upper Sioux have refused to allow them to go to the country, but tell them that they must fight where they are. From what I can gather, I am satisfied they will make a desperate fight, and that we must expect night at- tacks, ambushes, and every species of annoyance in our ad- vance. In view of the great importance of the results of the movements of this column, and the fact that I am without any disposable form of mounted men (there are not more than sixty or seventy left), I must urge the absolute necessity of having cavalry fully armed and equipped, to the number at least of one regiment, and the infantry force increased to 2,000 men. This expedition, if properly supplied with men and ma- terials, can crush this emeute at a blow, and wipe out the murderers, but should it meet with rei)ulse, or take the field against a vigilant and desperate enemy without sufficient sup- plies, no one can see the horrible results. The scouts, as well as the bearers of the flag of truce, as- sert that all outlying parties have been called in, in view of the menacing position of our corps, and the latter further state that the party that attacked Major Brown's camp consis- ted of 349 men, who left the Yellow Medicine with the in- tention of dividing into two parties at this point, and simul- taneously attacking St. Peter and Mankato, and that they had no idea of the force that met and repulsed them being in the neighborhood. 468 APPENDIX. I hope that the Third regiment will be ordered to join this column at once, and that men and cartridges, rations and clothing, will be pressed forward with all expedition. Let us exterminate these vermin while we have them together. I will report to you in my next the amount and descrip- tion of ammunition on hand, and what is still wanting. In accordance with your suggestion, I have sent to New Ulm eighty-three muskets of different kinds and 2,800 cart- ridges, which have been turned over to the sheriff of the county for arming the settlers. I learn from Colonel Flandrau that he would leave for St. Paul to hurry up reinforcements and supplies for the south side of the river. While I concur in his report of the necessity of adding to his strength, I hope that you will not forget that, in all proba- bility, this corps must meet the main attack, and that the Third regiment, being disciplined, is indispensable as a nu- cleus and an example to the entirely raw officers and men composing the large majority of the Sixth and Seventh regi- ments. H. H. Sibley, Colonel, Commanding Military Expedition. BATTLE OF WOOD LAKE. Wood Lake, near Yellow Medicine, September 23, 1862. To His Excellency, Governor Ramsey, SiK: I left the camp at Fort Eidgley on the nineteenth in- stant, with my command, and reached this point early in the afternoon of the twenty-second. There have been small parties of Indians each day in plain sight, evidently acting as scouts for the main body. This morning I had determined to cross the Yellow Medicine river, about three miles distant, and there await the ariival of Captain Kogers' company of the Seventh regiment, which was ordered by me from New Ulm, to join me by a forced march, the presence of the company there V)eing unn<'C(;Hsary by the arrival there of another company, a few days i^revious. APPENDIX. 469 About seven o'clock this morning the camp was attacked by about three hundred Indians, who suddenly made their appearance and dashed down toward us, whooping and yell- ing in their usual style, and firing with great rapidity. The Renville Guards, under Lieutenant Gorman, were sent by me to check them, and Major Welch of the Third regi- ment was instantly in line with his command, with his skir- mishers in the advance, by whom the savages were gallantly met, and after a conflict of a serious nature, repulsed. Meanwhile another portion of the Indian force passed down a ravine on the right, with a view to outflank the Third regi- ment, and I ordered Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, with five companies of the Seventh regiment, and who was ably second- ed by Major Bradley, to advance to its support, with one six- pounder under the command of Captain Hendricks, and I also ordered two companies of the Sixth regiment to reinforce him. Lieutenant Colonel Marshall advanced at a double-quick, amidst a shower of balls from the enemy, which, fortunately, did little damage to his command; and after a few volleys he led his men to a charge and cleared the ravine of the savages. Major McLaren, with Captain Wilson's company, took po- sition on the extreme left of the camp, where he kept at bay a party of the enemy who were endeavoring to gain the rear of the camp, and finally drove them back. The battle raged for about two hours, the six-pounder and mountain howitzer being used with great effect, when the In- dians, repulsed at all points with great loss, retired with great precipitation. I regret to state that many casualties occurred on our side. The gallant Major Welch was badly wounded in the leg, and Captain Wilson of the Sixth regiment was severely bruised by a nearly spent ball in the shoulder. Four of our men were killed, and between thirty and forty wounded, most of them, I am rejoiced to say, not severely. The loss of the enemy, according to the statement of a half- breed named Joseph Cami)bell, who visited the camp under a flag of truce, was thirty killed and a large number wounded. We found and buried fourteen of the bodies, and as the habit of the Indians is to carry off the bodies of their slain, it is not probable that the sum told by Campbell was exaggerated. The severe chastisement inflicted upon them has so far sub- 470 APPENDIX. dued their ardor that they sent a flag of truce into the camp to express the seutimeut of the Wahpetons, composing a part of the attacking force, and to state that they were not strong enough to fight us, and desired peace, with i^ermissiou to take away their dead and wounded. I replied that when the pris- oners were delivered up it would be time enough to talk of j)eace, and that I would not grant them permission either to take their dead or wounded. I am assured by Campbell that there is serious depression in the Indian camp, — many having been opposed to the war, but driven into the field by the more violent. He further stated that eight hundred Indians were assembled at the Yellow Medi- cine, within two miles of the camp, but that the greater part took no part in the fight. The intention of Little Crow was to attack us last night, but he was overruled by others, who told him if he was a brave man he ought to fight the white man by daylight. I am fully prepared against night attack, should it be attemj)ted, although I think the lesson received by them to-day will make them very cautious for the future. I have already adverted to the courage and skill of Lieu- tenant Colonel Marshall, and Majors Welch and Bradley, to which I beg leave to add those of the officers and men under their respective commands. Lieutenant Colonel Averill and Major McLaren were equally prompt in their movements in preparing the Sixth regiment for action, and were both under fire for some time. Captains Grant and Bromley shared the dangers of the field with Lieutenant Colonel Marshall's com- mand, while Captain Wilson, with his command, rendered efficient service. The other companies of the Sixth regiment were not engaged, having been held in position to defend the rear of the camp, but it was difficult to restrain their ardor, so anxious were officers and men to share with their comrades the perils of the field. To Lieutenant Colonel Fowler, my A. A. A. G., I have been greatly indebted for aid in all my move- ments, his military knowledge and ability beiug invaluable to me, and his assistance in to-day's affair particularly so. To Major Forbes, Messrs. Patch, Greig, and McLeod, of my staff, who carried my orders, I must also acknowledge myself under obligations for their activity and zeal, while to Major Brown, also of juy staff, tliough suffering from illness, it would be injustice not to state that he aided me materially by his exer- tions and advice. Tlic medical staff of the several regiments APPENDIX. 471 were cool and expert in rendering their professional aid to the wounded. Assistant Surgeon Seigneuret, attached to my staff, is to be commended for his skill and diligence. I am very much in want of bread rations, six-pounder am- munition, and shells for the howitzer, and unless soon sup- plied I shall be compelled to fall back, which, under present circumstances, would be a calamity, as it would aftbrd time for the escape of the Indians with their captives. I hope a large body of cavalry is, before this, on their way to join us. If I had been provided with five hundred of this description of force to-day, I venture the assertion that I could have killed the greater part of the Indians, and brought the campaign to a successful close. Eev. Mr. Riggs, chaj)lain of the expedition, so well known for his knowledge of the character and language of the In- dians, has been of great service to me since he joined my com- mand. I inclose the official report of Lieutenant Colonel Marshall. I omitted to mention Lieutenant Gorman and his corps of Eenville Rangers. They have been extremely useful to me by their courage and skill as skirmishers. Captain Hendricks and his artillerists won deserved praise to-day, and Captain Ster- rett, with his small but gallant corps of cavalry, twenty-seven in number, did good service also. I send reports of the several surgeons, embracing lists of the killed and wounded.^ Very respectfully. Your Obedient Servant, H. H. Sibley, Colonel, Commanding. Headquarteks Wood Lake Camp, September 24, 1862. Ma-sa-ka-tame, Taopee, and Wa-Jce-nan nan-te, at Red Irons Vil- lage, My Friends: I call you so, because I have reason to believe that you have had nothing to do with the cruel murders and massacres that have been committed upon the poor white peo- ple who had placed confidence in the friendship of the Sioux Indians. I repeat, what I have already stated to you, that I have not come to make war upon those who are innocent, but 1 War of the Rebellion, Series I., Vol. XIII., pp. 278-2S0. 472 APPENDIX. upon the guilty. I have waited here one day, and intended to wait still another day to hear from the friendly half-breeds and Indians, because I feared that if I advanced my troops before you could make your arrangements the war party would murder the prisoners. Now that I learn from Joseph Campbell that most of the captives are in safety in our camp I shall move on to-morrow, so that you may expect to see me very soon. Have a white flag displayed so that my men may not fire upon you. ^ Your Friend, H. H. Sibley, Colonel, Commanding. Headquarters Wood Lake, September 24, 1862. Ta-tanM-nazin, Cliief of the Sisseton-wans and Tah-ton ka-na-ken- yan, Soldiers of Wa-na-tams Band, Bed Irons Village: If you are the friends of your Great American Father you are my friends also. I have not come up to make war upon any bands who have not been concerned in the horrible mur- ders upon the white people, who depended upon the good faith of the Indians. You would do well, therefore, to advise your bands not to mix yourselves together with the bands that have been guilty of these outrages, for I do not wish to injure any innocent person; but I intend to pursue the wicked murderers with fire and sword until I overtake them. Another large body of troops will meet these bad men if they attempt to escape either to the Red river or to the Missouri. Such of the Indians as have not had anything to do with the murders of the whites will not be injured by my troops; but, on the contrary, they will be protected by me when I arrive, which will be very soon. Those who are our friends mnst raise a white Hag when they see me approaching, that I may be able to know my friends from my enemies. Take these words to your bands, that they may know that they are in safety as long as they remain friends of your Great Father. ^ Yonr Friend, H. H. Sibley, Colonel, Commanding Military Expedition. 1 War of the rU'h.-llion, Oflicial KecorU.s, Scries I., Vol. XIII., pp. r,r,i;, (507. 2 Jl)l(l., p. 007. appendix. 473 Camp Eelease, opposite Mouth of Chippewa Kiver, September 27, 1862. General Pope, St. Paul, General : I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your dispatch of nineteenth [seventeenth?] instant. It reached me last evening by Colonel Crooks. In reply you will permit me to remark that celerity of movement cannot well take place when my troops are entirely unsupplied with sufficient rations and are necessitated to dig potatoes from the Indian fields to supply the want of breadstuffs. Yesterday I came to this point with my command, having been met by several half-breeds with a flag of truce. I en- camped within five hundred yards of a large camp of about one hundred and fifty lodges of friendly Indians and half- breeds, who had separated themselves from Little Crow and the miserable crew with him, and had rescued from them most of the white captives awaiting my arrival. About two o' clock in the afternoon I paid a formal visit to this camp, attended by the members of my staff and the com- manding officers of corps, with two companies of infantry as an escort. Leaving the latter on the outside of the line of lodges I en- tered the camp, where I found that regular rifle-pits had been constructed, in anticipation of an attack by the hostile In- dians. I told the interpreter to call the chiefs and headmen together, for I had something to say to them. The Indians and half-breeds assembled accordingly in considerable num- bers, and I proceeded to give them very briefly my views of the late proceedings; my determination that the guilty par- ties should be pursued and overtaken, if possible, and I made a demand that all the captives should be delivered to me in- stantly, that I might take them to my camp. After speeches, in which they severely condemned the war party and denied any participation in their proceedings and gave me assurance that they would not have dared to come and shake my hand if their own were stained with the blood of the whites, they assembled the captive women and children, and formally de- livered them up to me, and among the number ninety-one pure whites. When taking the names of such as had been instru- mental in obtaining the release of the prisoners from the hos- 474 APPENDIX. tile Indians and telling the principal men I would hold another council with them to-day, I conducted the poor captives to my camp, where I had prepared tents for their accommodation. There were some instances of stolidity among them, but for the most part the poor creatures, relieved of the horrible suspense in which they have been left, and some of the younger women freed from the loathsome attentions to which they had been subjected by their brutal captors, were fairly overwhelmed with joy. I am doing the best I can for them, and will send them down to-day, together with a large number of half-breeds, who have been also kept in restraint here. The first mentioned are pure white women and children, two or three of the latter being very small orphans, all their relatives having been killed. A list of them will accompany this communication. After the disastrous result to himself [Little Crow] and the bands associated with him at the battle of Wood Lake the half-breeds report that falling back to this point they hastily struck their tents and commenced retreating in great terror. I must now await the arrival of a provision train from below, and it may not reach me for three or four days, in which case my command will be reduced to the verge of starvation. In conclusion. General, as I have accomplished two of the objects of the expedition, to-wit, checking and beating the Indians and relieving the settlements, and secondly, the deliv- ery of the prisoners held by them (with a few exceptions, for it seems the hostile party have still a few with them, sui3posed to be not over twelve or fifteen), I respectfully ask that you will relieve me of the command of the expedition, and place at its head some one of your officers who is qualified to follow up the advantages already gained and conduct it to a successful issue. Having borne the burden and fatigue incident to the organization of the forces in the field, and there being nothing left to do but to follow up the Indians vigorously and exter- minate them, if possible, I am of the opinion that a strictly militaiy commander would be better fitted for the task than myself. Besides, my private aifaii's are left in utter confusion and require my presence. ^ ^ >}: ^ '^ t- :\i ^ I am, General, very resj^ectfully, Your Obedient Servant, H. H. Sibley. 1 Il-ia.,!-!.. 079, G80. appendix. 475 Headquarters Camp Release, September 30, 1862. Major General John Pojye, Commanding Department of the North- west, St. Paul, Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt, per Captain Atchison, your aid-de-carap, of your dispatch of twenty-third instant, in which you give the assurance of protecting the rear of this column and furnishing proper supiDlies, both of which are not only important, but indispensable. The work of the military commission still continues, and new developments take place daily incriminating parties in the friendly camp. Indians are arrested daily on charges duly preferred by me, but as the j^roceediugs are of course secret, it is impossible now to state how many will be convicted. The camp would be in a starving state but for the potatoes found in the Indian fields ; but I learn that a small provision train will reach me to-morrow, not sufficient, however, to justify a farther advance into the Indian country. Little Crow and his adherents are making their escaj>e as speedily as possible. Intelligence just received of a reliable character states that he had already reached a point one hundred and twenty miles distant from this camp, so that a pursuit with infantry alone is out of the question. Unless a full supply of provisions and forage, with five hundred mounted men at least, can be sent on at once, the campaign may be considered as closed for this autumn. The grass is already so dry as to afford insufficient nourishment to the horses and cattle, so that grain cannot be dispensed with, and there is none except unshelled corn on this side of Fort Ridgley. Having been suffering from ill health for several days I shall probably report myself in person to you at St. Paul very soon, in which case I shall devolve the command temporarily on Colonel Crooks of the Sixth regiment. This corps is abso- lutely at a stand for the reasons stated, to-wit, want of neces- sary provisions and forage, so that my presence can well be dispensed with after the proceedings of the military com- mission have been closed, and the friendly Indians and half- breeds dispatched to gather the crops of corn and potatoes in the fields below. The rescued captives of pure white blood, amounting in number thus far to exactly one hundred, and half-breeds prob- ably one hundred and fifty more, will go down to-morrow. 476 APPENDIX. There is probably not a hostile Indian below this of the Sioux tribe, so that I apprehend no further danger to the settlements now. But even if no farther pursuit of Little Crow can be made this fall, it will be necessary to station strong garrisons at points above Fort Eidgley, with a sufficient force of mount- ed men to pursue and destroy any band of prowlers who may be compelled by hunger to renew these depredations. Very respectfully, Your Obedient Servant, H. H. Sibley, Colonel, Commanding Military Expedition. N. B. — I have evidence that Little Priest and part of his band of Winnebagoes participated in the hostilities at New TJlm and elsewhere. ^ Headquarters Indian Expedition, Camp Eelease, October 3, 1862. Those Indians of the Medawakanton, and Wahpeton bands of the Sioux who have separated themselves from Little Crow and desire to return and surrender themselves to their Great Father, must come down and encamp near me, sending in ad- vance two of their x)rincipal men with a white flag. This must be done immediately, for there are other bodies of troops in search of Little Crow who will attack any camp they find unless they have protection. I will see that no innocent person is injured who comes to me without delay. Unless these peo- ple arrive very soon I will go in search of them with my troops and treat them as enemies ; and if any more murders and dep- redations are committed upon the white settlers I will destroy every camp of the Lower Indians I can find without mercy. ^ H. H. Sibley, Colonel, Commanding Military Expedition. 1 li.id., r>p. oyi, 6yr,. 2 Ibid., [.. 709. appendix. 477 Headquarters Camp Eelease, October 3, 1862. Wanatua, Standing Buffalo, Tah-ton-Jca-nangee, and Wa-mun-dee- on-pe-du tah, Chiefs of the Sisseton Sioux, My Friends : I am sorry to hear that you allowed Little Crow and the bad men to escape into your country. After I had beaten them and killed many of their number you should have stopped him until I could have overtaken him and his band and destroyed them. Now he must be pursued by my troops into your country, but you will not be injured nor any of your men who have not been engaged in the murders per- petrated by the bad Indians. I learn that you intend to come down to see me with some of your bands. I do not wish you to do so, because I have a great many men who are very angry because so many of their white relations have been killed, and they might not be able to distinguish you from the guilty bands, and fire upon you. I do not wish you to suffer from any such mistake ; therefore I desire you to remain at your own villages until I can have time to go and talk to you in council. Keep your bands separate from the wicked men who have broken peace with their Great Father. There are many other troops going in search of these bad men besides those I have with me, and they will all be caught and punished. ^ Your Friend, H. H. Sibley, Colonel, Commanding Military Expedition. Camp Eelease, Minnesota, October 7, 1862. Brigadier General H. H. Sibley, Sir : The undersigned, after cordially congratulating you upon your recent well-merited promotion, beg leave to repre- sent that they have learned with much regret that you have asked to be relieved from your present command. They re- spectfully ask that you will immediately withdraw said appli- cation and remain in command of the Expedition. They fur- ther earnestly request that you will use your best exertions with Major General Pope to consolidate a brigade of the new Minnesota regiments, and that you remain in command there- of till the end of the war. 1 Ibid., pp. 708, 709. 478 APPENDIX. If at all consistent with public duty they would be grati- fied to have an opportunity alter the close of this campaign to bring together and drill the scattered fragments and parts of the regiments for two or three months, or such other length of time as the major general commanding may deem best, pre- vious to the march against the common foe. ^ Very respectfully, Your Obedient Servants, Wm. Crooks. Stephen Miller, Colonel, Seventh Minnesota. Wm. E. Marshall, Lieutenant Colonel, Seventh Minnesota. George Bradley, Major, Seventh Minnesota. E. ]Sr. McLaren, Major, Sixth Minnesota. E. C. Olin, Lieutenant, Third Minnesota. M. Hendricks, Captain, Battery. Headquarters Military Expedition, Camp Eelease, October 17, 1862. Major General John Fope, Commanding Department of the North- ivest, St. Paul, Minnesota, General : Since my last, acknowledging receipt of your dispatches of the tenth instant, I have received no dispatches from your headquarters. ^ ^ ^ >ic il> ^ >{< I have now 123 Indian men prisoners, including the 20 first sentenced, and 236 men are confined at Yellow Medicine, 20 miles below this point. As the Indians reported their force at Yellow Medicine to be about 750 (exclusive of half-breeds, who were forced to be l)reseiit), about one-third of whom did not participate iu the conflict there, or rather at Wood lake, my estimate is as fol- lows, based on the best information I can obtain, to-wit : 1 n>i(l., p. 720. APPENDIX. 479 Entire force of the Medawakanton, Sioux, and Wahpetous 7o0 Prisoners in Camp Release 123 Friendly Indians (scouts) in same cam]) 5 Prisoners at Yellow Medicine, strictly confined 236 Friendly Indians there, under surveillance 63 Killed in enj^agement at Wood lake (known at least) 30 Wounded (supposed) 40 497 Say 500 warriors accounted for, leaving 250, besides the 100 in White Lodge and Sleepy Eyes' bands of Sioux Sisse- tons, who committed the Lake Shetek massacres, yet to be found and dealt with. I believe the above to be nearly cor- rect. If there is any error, it will be found to be in overrating the men still at large. The estimate embraces all the bands below Big Stone lake. I am convinced I am not far wrong when I state the Sioux Indians above as follows: Sissetons of Standing Buffalo, Wanatua, and Red Feather, with other smaller bands at Big Stone lake and Lake Traverse 450 Eastern Yanktonnais, including Cut-Heads and Ouk patiens [Unca- papa?] 800 1,250 The latter may be somewhat underestimated, but they do not in any case exceed in number 1,000 warriors. To these may be added about 400 Missouri Yanktons, with whom the Eastern Yanktonnais are intimately connected, and by whom they could readily be reinforced. You have, therefore, General, within*your department lim- its or immediately adjacent: Refugee Medawakanton and Wahpetons 250 Lower Sissetons 100 Upper Sissetons and Eastern Yanktonnais 1,450 Missouri Yanktons 400 2,200 Making an aggregate force of 2,200 Sioux warriors, provid- ed they are not strengthened by the Teton bands across the Missouri. The fractional brigade under my command, if aided by a few hundred mounted men to overtake and bring to bay these prairie savages, is able to whip the whole of them even if combined ;» but as they are well provided for the most part with good horses, they could easily elude the pursuit of foot- men alone. 480 APPENDIX. I think it may be safely calculated that one-half of the first 350 above set down will be captured and destroyed before spring, as they must come in from the prairie before winter. I have made the foregoing enumeration, General, to furnish you with such information as may be useful to you in forming your plans for the future. ^ « * * * >ic >(s ;}; I am, General, very respectfully, Your Obedient Servant, H. H. Sibley, Brigadier General, Commanding. Headquarters Military Expedition, Camp Eelease, October 21, 1862. Major General John Pope, Commanding Department of the North- west, St. Paul, Minnesota, General : Your dispatch of seventeenth instant reached me to-day through Lieutenant Shelley. I shall of course change my plans so as to accord with your orders. The commission is proceeding with the trials of prisoners as rapidly as possi- ble. More than 120 cases have been disposed of, the greater part of whom have been found guilty of murder and other atrocious crimes, and there remain still nearly 300 to be tried. Lieutenant Colonel Marshall has just arrived with his de- tachment and 39 men'and about 100 women and children pris- oners. Among the former are known to be several murderers and rascals, who will of course be made to pay the penalty of their crimes. I have now about 400 Indian men in irons and between 60 and 70 under surveillance here and at the Yellow Medicine. Lieutenant Colonel Marshall proceeded to within 35 miles of the James river and he passed within 26 miles of Big Stone lake. He took captive all the Indians to be found in the district of country visited by him, and the prisoners re- port the Sissetons and Eastern Yanktonnais to be several days' march farther west. When his report is received it will be transmitted to your headquarters. He was ably assist- ed by Major Brown of my staff, who accompanied him, as 1 Ibid., pp. 744-746. APPENDIX. 481 well as by Captain Valentine of the Sixth, and Curtis of the Seventh, regiments, and Lieutenant Swan, in immediate com- mand of the mounted men, whose companies, with a mounted howitzer, under the charge of Sergeant O'Shea, composed his force. ^ I am, General, very respectfully, Your Obedient Servant, H. H. Sibley, Brigadier General, Commanding. 1 Ibid., pp. 756, 757. I III. OFFICIAL MILITARY REPORTS AND DISPATCHES OP GENEEAL HENEY HASTINGS SIBLEY, OF COLONELS MCPHAIL, CROOKS, MARSHALL, MILLER, AND BAKER, OF THE FIRST, SIXTH, SEVENTH, EIGHTH, AND TENTH REGIMENTS, MINNESOTA VOLUNTEERS, AND OF MAJOE GENEEALS HALLECK AND POPE. SECOND SIOUX CAMPAIGN, 1863. [This third part of the appendix contains military dispatches and re- ports from General Sibley and others, during the second Sioux campaign. From the close of the first campaign, or Battle of Wood Lake, September 23, 1862, to the opening of the second campaign, or march from Camp Pope, June 16, 1863, was a period of somewhat more than eight months, occupied, with the release of the captives, the trial, condemnation, and exe- cution of the Indian criminals sentenced to death, the imprisonment of others adjudged to a milder fate, the disposition of the Indian prisoners, their final expulsion from the state, the abi'ogation of treaties made with the Sioux Nation, the removal of the Winnebagoes, preparation for the cam- paign of 1863, and the stationing of troops for the protection of the fron- tier, during the approaching absence of General Sibley in the field. A mul- titude of dispatches exist, during this time, most of which Ave are obliged to omit, to make room for those more important, and of public value. What are here given, cover from February 18, 1863, to October 5, 1863, a period of about eight months. Their subject matter is the general condi- tion of Minnesota and Dakota in the winter, spring, and summer of 1862- 1863, the organization of the second Sioux campaign, the vindication of General Sibley by Major fJeneral Pope, in command of the military depart- ment of the Nortliwest, tlie explanation of General Snlly's failure to inter- cept tlie IndiaiiH, according to the i)lan of the joint expeditions of Generals Sibley and Sully, and the linal fortunes of Little Crow, j appendix. 483 Headquarters Department of the Northwest, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, February 18, 1863. Colonel J. C. Kelton, Assistant Adjutant General, Headquarters of the Army, Colonel: I have the honor to state, for the information of the general-in-chief, that reports from General Sibley, from the Indian agents, and from other respectable persons on the frontier have been received here, and these reports all concur in representing that extensive preparations and combinations are being made among the Sioux for a renewal of hostilities in the spring. Little Crow, it is stated, has succeeded in uniting several of the bands of the Upper Sioux, and that as many as 7,000 warriors will be brought into the field as soon as the spring fairly opens. This number is perhaps overesti • mated, but all indications point to some serious and extensive operations against the white settlements, and it will be well to provide in time against such an outbreak. I have accord- ingly instructed General Sibley to organize two columns, if possible, to consist of not less than 2,500 men each, with six pieces of artillery to each column, and to be in readiness to take the field as soon as the grass is sufficiently advanced to subsist his animals. One column will move north from the St. Peter's (Minnesota) river, at the mouth of Yellow Medi- cine, the other along the Big Sioux, or between that stream and the James river. The Indians are said to be assembled in the vicinity of Devil's lake, on the northern line of Minne- sota, and these columns will move against them. At the same time I desire to move a third column, under General Cook, up the Missouri river from Fort Eandall, so as to intercept any retreat of the Indians to the south side of the Missouri. The attack of the Indians will doubtless be made upon the settlements along the Missouri and James rivers, if their movements be not anticipated. The only troops I can give to General Cook for this purpose are three companies of the Forty-first Iowa Infantry, now at Sioux City, and part of the regiment of cavalry in Iowa, the organization of eight com- panies having been completed. I have written to Governor Kirkwood to send up the eight companies of cavalry to report to General Cook at Sioux City, and I have suggested to him that he should fill up the Forty-first regiment by organizing as soon as possible the remaining seven companies. In view 484 APPENDIX. of these operations in the spring, I request that the mounted regiments in ]!^ebraska be placed at the disposal of General Cook for his movement up the Missouri. Under all views of the Indian question, I think it very necessary that demon- stration in some force be made on the northern plains in the spring. I think, with the regiments of mounted men in Ne- braska, the force will be sufficient. I will transmit to the de- partment copies of the reports of Generals Cook and Sibley. ^ I am, Colonel, respectfully, Your Obedient Servant, Jno. Pope, Major General, Commanding. Headquarters Department of the Northwest, Milwaukee, February 25, 1863. Brigadier General H. H. Sibley, Commanding District of Minne- sota, General: Your letter of the nineteenth, to Major Selfridge, has been received. All stores, etc., will be sent you as soon as the river opens. The information concerning Little Crow and the intentions of the Sioux Indians is very conflicting, as it reaches me from different quarters. From Fort Eandall I learn positively that Little Crow is encamped on the Missouri river, one hundred and fifty miles above Fort Pierre, and that the attack of the Sioux tribes (if any attack be made) will be upon the settlements along the Missouri. About 2,500 men, most of them mounted, will be assembled at Fort Ean- dall as soon as the Missouri can be navigated, for operations up the river, in conjunction with your operations in Minne- sota. If, as you apprehend, there is likely to be a formidable movement against Abercrombie, it seems to me that in your movement toward Devil's lake you had best send a large de- tachment by way of the post, instead of Big Sioux or James river, to unite with you near Devil's lake. It will not be necessary to keep any large garrison at Abercrombie after you commence your movement, nor do I think it at all neces- sary or desirable that you should keep up the small posts you have established for the winter along the frontier. Don't put yourself on the defensive, but on the offensive. With the 1 AVar of the Uebellion, Official Uccords, etc., Scries I., Vol. XXII., Part II., i)i). 116, 117. APPENDIX. 485 force you have, it seems clear to me that you cau organize two columns, each of sufficient strength to deal with the whole body of Indians. One of these columns you can send, if you think best, by way of Abercrombie and the valley of the Red river, but in order to do this you must abandon the idea of maintaining all these small posts through the country. Five or six hundred men will be enough to leave at Fort Eip- ley to keep the Chippewas quiet. All the other (or most of the other) posts I would break up, and take the troops with you as you pass beyond them in your march north. Make your preparations complete. I will do all I can to forward your plans. There are no troops in this state except those now under orders for the South, where they are greatly needed, and I cannot bring myself to believe that you lack troops in Minnesota. I have written fully to the department concern- ing the Indian prisoners, both the condemned and those at Snelling. I will have you relieved of them before you move. ^ Respectfully, etc., Jno. Pope, Major General, Commanding. Washington, D. C, March 23, 1863. Major General Pope, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, General: Your letters of the twelfth, in regard to con- demned Indian prisoners, and also requesting that additional brigadier generals be sent to you, are received. Your letters in regard to the Indian prisoners have several times been laid before the secretary of war, and always with the same result. The department of the interior refuses to take charge of them, or to furnish any means for their sup- port. We. therefore, have no alternative but to guard and feed them until the president sees fit to otherwise dispose of them. Brigadier General Sibley has been reappointed, and is for duty in your department; as also General Smith, formerly of your staff. General Roberts will be sent to you as soon as he can be replaced at Harper's Ferry. Probably another will 1 Ibid., p. 123. 4S6 APPENT)rX. also be sent. But three brigadier generals are a fall propor- tion for the number of yonr troops. In all the departments brigades are commanded by colonels. ^ Very respectfully, Tour Obedient Servant, H. W. Halleck, General -in - Ch ief. HEADQUABTEEB DEPAET]!0:^'T OF THE XOETHWEST. JtlrLTTAUKEE, AViscoKBDf, April 4, 1863. Colonel J. C. Kelton. Assistant Adjiitant General. Headquarters of the Army, Washington, D. C. CoLOXEL: I hare the honor to report, for the informa- tion of the general -in-chief, that I hare received letters from General Cook, informing me that scouts and runners, whom he sent up the Missouri some weeks since, have returned and report that the Indians having been informed of the proposed movements against them from the Missouri and Minnesota, have moved off toward Devil's lake, with the purpose of tak- ing refuge in the British possessions on the Lower Bed river. From the account sent by Greneral Cook, it seems that the fact of the expedition moving against them as soon as the spring opens was communicat'Cd to the iDdians by white traders from the Selkirk settlements, who invited them, in view of their danger, to move into the British possessions, assuring them of protection and assistance in the way of arms and ammu- nition. I do not doubt that much of this information is true, and that the Indians, if they find themselves unable to resist, will retreat north beyond our frontier. How much assistance they will receive, or how much encouragement will be given them at the British post and agencies I do not know, but it seems now probable that the expeditions will find none of these Indians within our own territory. I am going up to St. Paul in the course of a couple of weeks, and shall instruct Generals Sibley and Cook to pursue these hostile Indians who have committed depredations within our lines, or whose usual homes are in our country, wherever they may go, regardless of boundary lines. These orders \nll be carried out unless I am otherwise instructed by the government. Otherwise the 1 IMd-, p. 1 76. APPENDIX. 487 result will be that the Indians, having a secure place of ref- uge, will be at liberty to resume hostilities whenever a favor- able occasion presents itself, and all expeditions against them must fail of success. This result will involve the necessity of keeping the large force in this department constantly on the frontier until the Indians choose to close their hostilities. Unless they are followed into the Selkirk settlements, or any- where else they may choose to go, the campaign against them must of necessity be a failure, unless, indeed, they choose to risk a battle. If they are not pursued, as soon as our forces are withdrawn to Minnesota and Missouri, the Indians will follow them up, and renew their attacks upon defenseless set- tlements. Unless thoroughly punished this summer, there will be constant difficulty with them for years to come. If the government do not desire me to push into the British posses- sions in pursuit of any hostile Indians, I respectfully request to be informed of it as soon as possible. ^ I am. Colonel, re- spectfully, Your Obedient Servant, Jno. Pope, Major General. Wae Department, Washington, April 11, 18G3. Major General Pope, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, The president directs that under no circumstances will our troops cross the boundary line into British territory without his authority. ^ H. W. Halleck, General-in- Ch ief. Headquarters Department of the Xorthwest, Milwaukee, ^yIscoNSIN, May 19, 1863. Major General R. W. HallecTi, General-in-Chief, Washington, D. C, General: I have the honor to transmit inclosed copy of dispatch from General Sibley, which reiterates views and opin- ions I have already laid before the government. This dis- patch is submitted only for the purpose of again inviting the 1 Ibid., pp. 198, 199. 2 Ibid., p. 211. 488 APPENDIX. attention of the president to this subject. I understand that the authorities of the Hudson Bay Company in the region concerned are more than willing that our troops should pur- sue their operations against the hostile Sioux anywhere within the British possessions, and I submit this telegram of General Sibley in the hope that the necessary authority may be ob- tained from the English Government through its minister in Washington. The people of this region of British America are quite as much interested as ourselves to keep the wild In- dians in subjection, but they have neither the military force to do this themselves nor the influence to control the action of these Indians, either in regard to themselves or to us. Un- less, therefore, authority can be obtained to pursue the hostile Sioux wherever they may seek refuge north of our boundary, It is nearly certain that the Indian campaign will be fruitless of results. The subject is worthy of the serious attention of the government, and I submit it accordingly. ^ I am, General, respectfully, Your Obedient Servant, Jno. Pope, Major General, Commanding. Headquarters Department of the Northwest, Milwaukee, June 1, 1863. Colonel J. C. Kelton, Assistant Adjutant General, Colonel: I have the honor to report, for the information of the general-in-chief, that the following plan of operations for the summer campaign against the Indians has been made, and will be carried out as fully and expeditiously as practi- cable. The hostile Sioux are encamped at Devil's lake and on the upper waters of the James river (Riviere au Jacques). There are a number of bands, some of them from the Upper Missouri. It is believed that there is great dissatisfaction amongst them, and very great difference of opinion, both as to the policy of making war at all, and as to the manner and place of carrying it on. It is very doubtful whether any sort of understanding will l)e arrived at between the various bands. General Sibley niarclies from the Upper Minnesota (above Fort Kidgley), with 2,000 infantry and 800 cavalry, and the 1 Ibid., pp. 288, 289. APPENDIX. 489 necessary batteries of mountain howitzers. He carries sup- plies for upward of three months. He will march nearly di- rect upon Devil's lake, sending detachments by way of Red river. He leaves behind him about 3,000 men, under a com- petent officer, for the protection of the frontier against mov- ing bands during his absence. These troops are established at various points, from north to south, along the whole line of outer settlements, and are certainly more than sufficient, even if the whole of the Indians should disperse themselves for such desultory warfare. It is probable that you may be annoyed with complaints of insufficient forces being left for the defense of frontier settlements; such complaints are sometimes really dictated by fear, but in many cases by very different motives. In all events, you will understand that 3,000 men are thus left, and I am sure no reasonable people could ask more. I do not myself believe that one-half this force is needed for such a pur- pose, but I have left them in order that the timid, spiritless population of foreigners along the frontier (Norwegians and Germans) may not abandon their villages and farms, and pour into the river towns. General Sully moves up the Missouri, with 2,000 cavalry and some light howitzer batteries, to a point southwest of Devil's lake, and will then cross the coun- try to that place to meet Sibley, thus cutting off any retreat of the Indians toward the Missouri river. He is directed to move a portion of his command up the south side of the Mis- souri river, in case there is any apprehension of Indian trou- bles on the frontier of Nebraska. Late advices from there certainly contradict any report of trouble in that region. As soon as operations against the Indians near Devil's lake and on James river are completed. Sully is directed to return to the Missouri river, to traverse the whole country on both sides of the river as far as the Black Hills, visiting all the Sioux tribes he possibly can. He will be supplied with rations for four months, to be kej^t on the steamers which accompany his expedition up the river. He has a small train of wagons, and can move with great celerity. Sibley is instructed to move east from Devil's lake to Pembina, one portion of his com- mand returning on the west side of Red river, whilst the other visits Red lake and all the Chippewa tribes between that place and the Mississippi at the mouth of Crow Wing river. He will take such forces as are necessary to insure quiet in that region for some time to come. My own belief is that there will 490 APPENDIX. be no considerable, if, indeed, there be any, fight. Most of the Indians assembled near Devil's lake and on James river are planting Indians, who have been accustomed to depend upon their crops of corn for a large part of their supply of food. The moment they find they will be prevented from raising any crops at all by the advance of our forces, and that they must fight so large a force successfully, I do not doubt that a very large part of them will come on and deliver them- selves up. It will be well for the government to cousider care- fully in advance what disposition had best be made of such Indians. There is no sort of use to make a treaty of peace with them; such treaties amount to nothing, as they are only kept by Indians as long as they find it convenient; but such a con- dition of things will give the government the opportunity to make a final and favorable disposition of a large number of troublesome Indians, so as to secure perfect quiet in the fu- ture. I therefore invite attention to the subject at this early day, as I do not doubt that much of what is here stated as my belief is true. My own views as to the disposition of these Indians I have already laid before the government, and it is unnecessary to repeat them here. A portion of the Indians will, without doubt, take refuge in the British possessions, and such must be left to be dealt with as the government determines hereafter. It is possible that I may be mistaken in this view of the conduct of the Indians, but even if they are united and give battle, or make war in any other way, there is abundant force to deal with them. The Missouri river is lower than it has been for thirty years, and, as little snow fell in the moun- tains, the June rise will be slight. I fear, therefore, that Sully may be delayed somewhat, though I have done all that is possible to prevent it. After the expedition leaves the frontier, nothing more will be needed by them, and we shall probably hear but seldom from them during their absence. I hope, early in the autumn, to be able to send nearly the whole of these forces South. ^ I am, Colonel, respectfully, Your Obedient Servant, Jno. Pope, Major General, Commanding. 1 Il.id., pp. 304,305. APPENDIX. 491 Washington, July 17, 1863, 12:25 p. m. Major General Fope, Department of the Northwest : It is reported here by and others of high stand- ing that General Sibley's command is altogether too large for the object in view; that one-third of the number would be much more efficient against the Indians, and could be subsist- ed with much less difficulty. Would it not be better to recall a portion of his forces, now that there is no probability of its meeting any large body of Indians?^ H. W. Halleck, General-ill- Chief. Headquarters Department of the Northwest, Office of the Assistant Adjutant General, Milwaukee, July 18, 1863. Major General H. W. Halleck, General-in- Chief, Washington, General: I have the honor, in answer to your telegram of yesterday, to submit the following statement: The whole force with which General Sibley marched from his camp above Fort Eidgley was 2,800 men. The regiments were all new and little accustomed to the hardships of a march. From all experience, therefore, by the time he reached Aber- crombie his effective force would be reduced to 2,300 men at most. I have no information which leads me in any way to the belief that General Sibley will encounter any less force of Indians than was supposed from the beginning. On the con- trary, last advices (and they are certainly as late, and quite as reliable, to say the least, as anybody else can have) repre- sent the Indians as still concentrated near Devil's lake. This expedition was organized throughout by General Sibley. He has passed his whole life in Minnesota, and knows Indian character well. He conducted the successful campaign of last autumn against the Sioux, in the midst of the same carping and fault-finding. He has had time, and it has been his busi- ness (to which, I know, he has devoted all his time and energy for months past), to inform himself thoroughly of the inten- tions and force of the Indians, and of the necessary means and 1 Ibid., p. 380. 492 APPENDIX. modes of conducting a successful camiDaign against them. I have received letters from him several times since he com- menced his march. I have seen no reason, from them or from anything else within my knowledge, to occasion any suspi- cions that he has been mistaken in his preparations, or an- ticipates any interruption to the course he has marked out. Surely, under these circumstances, it may be fairly presumed that General Sibley understands his business as well, at leasts as anybody else does. I do not consider it judicious to send him any orders on the subject. I am very sure that if circum- stances occur which will enable him to dispense with any part of his force, he will do so without requiring orders. I shall send him a copy of your dispatch and of this letter, so that he may be fully advised on the subject. The reports in the pa- pers concerning his expedition are, no doubt, as untrue as newspaper reports usually are. I have received nothing from him which, in the remotest degree, justifies such stories.^ I am. General, respectfully, Your Obedient Servant, Jno. Pope, Major General, Commanding. Headquarters Department of the Northwest, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 21, 1863. Major General H. W. Salleck, Wasliinyion, General: The inclosed copy of a St. Paul newspaper contains a very full account of Sibley's expedition up to July 5th. You will readily see how utterly mistaken are those who put in circulation the accounts in the papers, which are, doubtless, repeated to you. I will endeavor to keep you ad- vised of everything of importance in this department, and I think my opportunities for knowing the condition of affairs in this department are as good, if not better, than those of any one not connected with the military service. Representations and applications similar to those made in regard to the pres- ent expedition were made to me last autumn, and I was ui-ged, with many authentic statements of facts, to remove Sibley from the command of the expedition last September, only a 1 Ilii(].,|ip. 381,a82. APPENDIX. 493 few weeks before he brought it to a most successful termina- tion. As I declined to accede to such applications, it is likely they have been transferred to you, but I think you will save yourself much trouble and annoyance by referring them again to me. I have every hope that the combined movements of Sully and Sibley will put a decisive end to Indian hostilities in the Northwest. Of course, small parties of hostile Indians will endeavor to harass the border settlements, in the hope to arrest Sibley's march. This was to be expected, and a large force and every precaution has been devoted to preventing any considerable trouble. There are not troops enough in our whole armies to satisfy the people of Minnesota, and place a regiment or company in the front doorof every settler's house in the country. A few Indians, never more than three or four together, have been lurking about on the frontier, far in the rear of Sibley, but they ought easily to be dealt with by the people alone, without the aid of soldiers. Nevertheless, a very large force of troops is posted along the entire frontier settle- ments, and is constantly patroling the line of frontier. This horse stealing, and occasional outrage by one or two Indians at a time, who steal into the settlements, all the troops in the world could not prevent. Every precaution has been taken to make the Indian campaign successful, and I believe it will be so if mistaken interferences of over-anxious citizens of the frontier are not suffered to embarrass the military operations. ^ I am, General, very respectfully, Your Obedient Servant, Jno. Pope, Major General, Commandmg. Headquarters Department of the Northwest, Milwaukee, July 21, 1863. Colonel J. G. Kelton, Assistant Adjutant General, Washington, B. C., Colonel: I have the honor to report that I am just in receipt of letters from General Sibley, dated on the fourth instant, from the Cheyenne river, up which stream he is march- ing to Devil's lake. He has had some trouble, but not much, having marched one hundred and sixty miles in thirteen days. 1 Ibid., pp. 385, 386. 494 APPENDIX. He is advancing on Devil's lake as rapidly as possible by the valley of the Cheyenne. The Indians, he reports, are said to be concentrating on the river above him for the purpose of giving him battle. General Sully is by this time marching east from the Missouri for Devil's lake, and will soon be in the immediate vicinity of Sibley. Either column alone is abundantly able to deal with the combined force of Indians. ^ I am Colonel, respectfully. Your Obedient Servant, Jno. Pope, Major General. Headquarters Department of the K'orthwest, Milwaukee, July 27, 1863. Major General S. W. Railed; Washington, D. C, General: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the letter of William F. Lock wood, on the subject of appre- hended Indian troubles in Nebraska, with your indorsement thereon. Mr. Lock wood is doubtless right when he says that ' ' pro- tection to the settlers is the leading consideration," but when he says that protection can best be rendered by keeping the troops assigned to that duty amongst the settlements, he is stating what is contradicted by all military experience on the frontier for the last twenty years. IsTothing is better known than the fact that it requires five times as many troops to pro- tect in this way a line of frontier settlements as the Indians can possibly bring against them, and tbat so long as this sys- tem of defensive operations is kept up, just that long this greatly superior force of white troops must be maintained. Besides this, under such a system, the frontier farms and small settlements not actually occupied by a military force are con- stantly subjected to encroachments of small parties of Indians, who, having no fear of the invasion of their own country and homes, spend their time in stealing into the settlements to commit depredations. I suppose if there is one fact demon- strated clearly by an experience in Indian warfare it is that no such defensive policy is wise, and that it only leads to great and increasing expense, and to the constant alarm and uneasi- I It.i'l., p. 380. APPENDIX. 495 ness of frontier settlers. Our troops on the frontier have of late years certainly been posted, not in the settlements, but at points as near as possible to the Indians, and in such positions that their garrisons can be most readily concentrated. When Indian hostilities break out, campaigns are at once made against them, and in nearly every case with sufficient success to restore peace for some time at least. A review of Mr. Lock wood's letter leads me properly to speak of the condition of Indian affairs in Minnesota, and to answer very briefly the fault-findings and misrepresentations which certain parties have carried to the government. With- out commenting on the motives of this spirit of carping and finding fault, I shall assume that the parties making these ob- jections to Sibley's expedition, and the military arrangement in Minnesota, really believe what they say, and entertain in good faith the apprehensions they express. What are the facts'? Even after Sibley's successful campaign of last autumn (which, by the way, was followed by the same representations and fault-finding), my intention of sending a large part of the force under his command to Grant's army having become known, I was assailed by a storm of remonstrance and entreaty against sending a man away from the state. I was assured solemnly that the whole region west of the Mississippi was in imminent danger from Indians, and, if any of the troops were sent away, the country west of the river would be abandoned, and the inhabitants would precipitate themselves upon the river towns. In fact, I was informed by the highest authority that the exodus was already begun, in consequence of my pur- pose to remove the troops having become known. To such an extent was this carried, that I was compelled to address a letter to the governor for publication, promising that the troops should remain at their stations along the frontier for the win- ter. Of course, no movement against the Indians was practi- cable until the spring opened. It was, and is, my belief that the government wishes this Indian war brought to a close as soon as possible, and the troops sent where they are greatly needed. This, therefore, was, and is, my first object. The question was, how this could best be done. I knew perfectly well that any attempt to send troops South from Minnesota would lead to the same appre- hensions and remonstrances which met me in the autumn. I knew, too, that if I allowed the troops to remain posted along 496 APPENDIX. the frontier, their stay in the state would be unlimited, as the people certainly would never consent to thisir being sent out of the country, and would abandon their farms and the settle- ments at the first movement of the kind. I need not tell you what a storm of remonstrance and entreaty would have been visited upon the authorities at Washington, nor how imiDOSsi- ble to have resisted it. It became necessary, therefore, as soon as the spring opened, to make, as rapidly as possible, such a campaign against the Indians as would assure the security of the frontier and restore confidence tjo the people. Unless this could be done, there was no hope of being able to send the troops South. In this view, the expeditions of Sibley and Sully were organized. Sibley's campaign is probably over by this time, as on the twenty-second instant he was to reach Devil's lake, where the Indians were still concentrating as late as the eleventh of July. He will return with little delay, and will probably reach Fort Snelliug with the larger part of his command by the last of August or the first week in Sep- tember. Sully, as soon as he hears of Sibley's arrival at Devil's lake and its result, will cross to the south side of the Missouri and deal with the Sioux in that region. From these two expeditions I expect the happiest results — an end of the Indian war, the security of the frontier, and the departure of a large part of the troops South, without ob- jection. By pursuing any other course, they would, by mere force of entreaty and remonstrance, backed up by strong in- fluence, have been forced to spend another winter, and per- haps another, in Minnesota. No one knows better than your- self how difficult it is to get troops away from any frontier settlement where momentary necessity has occasioned their being posted. People who never felt apprehensions before, immediately find troops absolutely necessary for their protec- tion, and really believe it to be so. Every means is, there- fore, used to prevent their removal, unless it is demonstrated there is no longer danger, even remote. This apprehension and this reluctance to the removal of troops once posted among them has been ludicrously illustrated this spring. Although Sibley left a very large force behind him along the frontier settlements (five times as large as ever was in Minnesota be- fore, when ])owerful trib(!S()f Indians were still encamped on the Mississippi and surroumled tlie sparse settlements then exist- ing in the territory), and although he was marching against the APPENDIX. 497 very Indians of whom they were apprehensive, and was con- stantly interposed between them and the white settlements, there came up a terrible outcry from the whole peoi)le west of the Mississippi, through the newspapers, that they were being abandoned; that Sibley was marching away, and the Indians would attack the settlements behind, ridiculing the movement one moment and the next protesting against the expedition, etc. That much of this storm was stimulated by a few persons, for very different reasons, and to accomplish their own purposes, I have abundant reason to know; but that the mass of the people believed themselves in danger I have no doubt. Under such circumstances constant alarm and "stampedes" were expected as soon as Sibley got out of sight, but they have been really fewer than I expected. The inclosed slip, from a paper which has been very active in giving circulation to these wild and alarming rumors, will show you just what such stories amount to. Objection has been made to the size of Sibley's expedition, but without much reason, and little or no knowledge of the facts. Wonderful statements have been made of his difficulty in getting along, of the dreadful suffering of his men, of the breaking [down] of his animals by thirst and starvation, of conferences about abandoning the expedition, etc. These stories were put in circulation while Sibley was without the means of communicating with St. Paul. There was not one word of truth in any of them. The expedition has had no difficulty; it is large enough completely to accomplish the pur- j)ose, and to make such demonstration of force on the plains as utterly to put an end to the belief among the Indians that all the fighting men had gone South, and that the white settle- ments along the frontier were at their mercy, a belief circu- lated by Little Crow, and which, doubtless, prompted the out- break last summer. No force much, if any, smaller would have accomplished the purpose. If I had kept the body of troops at these posts, and sent out cavalry or infantry expedi- tions, no results would have been accomplished which would have induced the people of Minnesota to listen to the idea of sending troops South. The truth is, in plain words, that there are in this state many people who are determined that the troops shall not be taken out of it. They are clearly entitled to some of the government expenditures which they can only get in this way. As long as the apprehensions of the people 32 498 APPENDIX. can be kept up, the troops will be kept in the state. Of course, no expedition must be successful enough to destroy all danger from Indians; hence Sibley's expedition must fail, and must be embarrassed and belied and misrepresented, so as to make it fail if possible. Whilst some are actuated by these motives, others of whom I have written act iuthe same direction, with a different object in view. I believe that the expeditions are properly organized, and that they will accomplish their purposes, and enable the gov- ernment to send the troops composing them to the South at the earliest possible moment. They were organized with this view, and I am confident of the result. In relation to the apprehended difficulties in Nebraska, I wrote to Sully before he left Sioux City, to ascertain whether there was any danger south of the Missouri, and if so, to march his command on the north side of the river and cover the set- tlements as he moved north. He replied that there was no danger, nor has he ever intimated that there were any In- dian troubles in Nebraska since, though I have heard from him several times at Sioux City, Fort Eandall, and Fort Pierre. Nebraska, as you know, is not in my department. Sully's force is now not even 1,200 strong, and I cannot reduce it and accomplish what is desired. The Seventh Iowa Cavalry has, however, been sent to General Schofield, and can take the place of the Nebraska regiment now with Sully. A few days longer and all these matters will be plainly developed. I only give you here my reasons for the course I have taken, and for believing it will prove the wise one. ^ I am. General, respectfully. Your Obedient Servant, Jno. Pope, Major General, Commandinrj. Headquaeters District of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, August 3, 1863. Major General John Pope : General Sibley writes July 19th, thirty-five miles this side of Devil's lake: No Indians seen except small scouting parties. Half-breeds report that a few days previous six hundred Sioux 1 Ibi