BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY' 
 
 -> 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 In 2nd line, page 24, read "Sergeant Prescott instead of Sargeant Trescott." 
 
 In 10th line, page 39, read -"tered into the service for active duty in the 
 south." 
 
 In 12th line, page 91, read "afforded, and the short distance of the protecting. 
 
 In 1st line, page 101, figure in parenthesis after 4th word should be 8 in- 
 stead of 3. 
 
RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SIOUX MASSACRE 
 
 AN AUTHENTIC HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Yellow Medicine Incident, of the Fate of Marsh 
 
 and his Men, of the Siege and Battles of 
 
 Fort Ridgely, and of Other Important 
 
 Battles and Experiences. 
 
 Together with a Historical Sketch of the 
 
 SIBLEY EXPEDITION OF 1863. 
 
 BY 
 OSCAR GARRETT WALL. 
 
 1909. 
 
'St. 
 
 wig- 
 
 Copyright 1908 
 By O. G. WALL. 
 
 Printed at 
 
 " The Home Printery," 
 Lake City, Minn. 
 
 By M. C. Russell, Prop'r. 
 
BANCROFT 
 DEBAR* 
 
 MY EXCUSE. 
 
 AS rise the glorious achievements of man upon 
 the ruins of convulsed Nature, or upon the 
 landscape desolated by war, so out of that night of 
 blood that hung like a pall over the Minnesota fron- 
 tier in that fateful month of August, 1862, has grown 
 in all essentials except form of government, a 
 mighty empire. 
 
 Before the Sioux tragedy was enacted, the pioneer 
 had come, and on the borders founded his home in 
 a land of promise. Clustered about him were dear 
 ones who, in this land of freedom and health, shared 
 the joys and hopes that pervaded every breath in- 
 haled. Here was the opportunity for willing hands 
 and honest hearts the one place where the shack- 
 les of poverty could never enslave those willing to 
 work. Gradually the " covered wagon " gave way 
 to the ** shack " as a temporary abiding place, and 
 the latter to the more comfortable yet modest home 
 of the settler. 
 
 Small fields gave forth bountiful harvests ; gard- 
 ens were rich with their treasures, or aglow with 
 fragrant flowers ; schools were being founded, and 
 churches organized, though widely scattered ; herds 
 were increasing from small beginnings, and for the 
 first time in life the dream of an independent home, 
 with its comforts and promises, was being realized. 
 
 But intrigue had secretly and systematically laid 
 the foundation of wrongs which should overthrow 
 
11 
 
 these bright hopes ; which should rob these new 
 homes not only of all their possessions, but of life 
 itself, and leave blackened ruins, the skulls and 
 cross-bones of erstwhile happy homes, where, at in- 
 tervals over vast prairies, the new dwellings had 
 glistened in the golden sunlight. The grafter in 
 the Indian department, entrusted with power and 
 authority, was willing to imperil the whole frontier 
 for the sake of plundering the Indian, who was no 
 match for the conspirators acting as the servants 
 and servants 7 servants of the government. 
 
 Thus the Indian was taught to look upon the 
 white race as his conniving, secret enemy, willing 
 to violate sacred pledges and solemn obligations, 
 and ready to take, under one pretense or another, 
 the lion's share of the sums pledged to him by the 
 government. In fact for these acts of bad faith and 
 the repeated disappointments resulting, the govern- 
 ment itself had come to be regarded by the red man 
 as unworthy of confidence. Worst of all, white peo- 
 ple indiscriminately had been brought under the 
 ban by the misdeeds of government employes and 
 avaricious traders, who had sown the wind that rip- 
 ened into the whirlwind with which the border was 
 swept without distinction. 
 
 But the savage tide was turned back by force of 
 arms, and was so broken and scattered in the cam- 
 paigns that followed, that confidence was for all time 
 restored along the frontier. 
 
 The " prairie schooner " set sail again, and a tide 
 of humanity followed in the wake of the soldiery, 
 until at length perfect civilization marked, not alone 
 the wilds of western Minnesota, but the vast plains 
 
Ill 
 
 that now constitute the Dakotas as well ; and, what 
 a transformation to be witnessed in a single life- 
 time ! 
 
 A member of Captain Marsh's company, stationed 
 at Fort Ridgely, at the time of the massacre in 1862, 
 and in the service in 1863, on the Sibley expedition 
 throughout what is now that portion of North Da- 
 kota east of the Missouri River, I witnessed, from 
 beginning to end, the stormy scenes attending the 
 outbreak and its suppression, and from contact and 
 observation became very familiar with the history 
 of the Sioux Massacre. But even these facts were 
 but a slight incentive to assume the arduous task 
 of preserving to Northwestern annals, many inci- 
 dents forever lost, unless passed to the pages of 
 history ere the final departure of the rapidly vanish- 
 ing participants in those scenes of nearly fifty years 
 ago ; for assuredly the waves of time must soon for- 
 ever close over the unspoken and unwritten of that 
 tragic period. 
 
 Though yet in my " teens," I kept faithfully each 
 day a diary of events, getting information when 
 necessary, from the highest sources of authority, 
 and no day was allowed to pass without the record 
 being preserved. No matter what my tasks, I would 
 keep my diary. I had no special future purpose in 
 this, and placed no value upon the book after being 
 mustered out of the army and reaching home, but 
 carelessly left it with other relics and memories of 
 a by-gone day, and in the changes that followed, 
 never saw it again for over twenty years, when, on 
 a visit to my mother, she presented it to me, hav- 
 ing carefully preserved it. I had supposed it lost, 
 
IV 
 
 and never regarded it as of enough value to merit 
 an inquiry as to what might have become of it. In 
 the light of the mature present, however, I find its 
 pages full of interest and an ample reward for my 
 painstaking. 
 
 In addition to this I had a messmate and intimate 
 companion during the campaign of 1863, John Mc- 
 Cole, who originally belonged to and was an officer 
 of the Renville Rangers, and whose acquaintance 
 I made during the siege of Fort Ridgely in 1862. 
 Only a few days before the outbreak he had enlist- 
 ed at Redwood, having up to that time for several 
 years been a clerk and an accountant in one of the 
 stores of the Agency. He knew personally and well 
 nearly every Indian on both the Upper and Lower 
 reservations, and spoke the Sioux language fluent- 
 ly. He knew intimately all the Indian scouts, over 
 sixty in number, on the Sibley expedition of 1863, 
 and through him I had several extended interviews 
 with the scouts, and particularly with Chaska, be- 
 tween whom and McCole there was a strong bond 
 of friendship. Chaska had throughout remained 
 loyal to the whites, even at the risk of his own life ; 
 yet he knew the history of the massacre from the 
 standpoint of the Indians, and was most interesting 
 in his narrations, and particularly interesting in ex- 
 plaining how lack of discipline caused Little Crow's 
 plans to miscarry immediately after the massacre 
 at the Agency, to the great advantage of Fort Ridge- 
 ly and the whites generally. 
 
 Forty-seven years having elapsed, and no one thus 
 far having cared to incur the expense and risks or 
 assume the labor necessary to publishing much of 
 
interest thus far unwritten, and which is an import- 
 ant part of Northwestern history, and possessing 
 an accumulation of matter and information as stated 
 herein, I give to the public without apology or fur- 
 ther excuse, the succeeding pages, conscious that 
 among other things they contain the only detailed 
 historical account of the Sibley Expedition of 1863 
 ever published. 
 
 O. G. W. 
 
RECOLLECTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 The Sioux Massacre of 1 862 
 
 Cause of the Outbreak. 
 
 HE impositions perpetrated on the Indi- 
 ans, if not by the government agents, at 
 least by their approval, were monu- 
 mental. The Indians, instead of being 
 put in possession of their own, and given 
 protection, were plundered on every 
 hand, and the gross injustice inflicted as inevitably 
 adjusted itself at the doors of the government offi- 
 cials as the detached leaf adjusts itself to the law 
 of gravitation. 
 
 A thousand lives having been blotted out by meth- 
 ods horrible to contemplate, and a vast area of beau- 
 tiful country having been made barren and deso- 
 late, friends sought to mitigate the sins of derelict 
 officers when the angry clouds of responsibility 
 gathered about their heads, and strove to break the 
 force of the awful consequences of their official sins, 
 by belittling troublesome truths and pointing alone 
 to the depravity of the savage race ; but that the 
 
10 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Sioux massacre of 1862 was due to official chicanery 
 there is little doubt, and fortunate was the official 
 whose good name saved him blameless for acts open 
 to suspicion or criticism. To merely perpetuate 
 these facts, is not the object of their recital in this 
 book. My preference was to omit this chapter ; but, 
 to judge the Indian fairly, and by the standard we 
 ourselves would be judged, a hint at the great 
 wrongs done the Sioux, should live in the ages to 
 come, along with the history of their revengeful 
 deeds. 
 
 To go to the beginning of corruption and intrigue 
 in the Indian department, would be to penetrate the 
 dim and dusty mists of the musty past, which is no 
 part of the mission of this book. We need turn no 
 farther than to the treaty of Traverse des Sioux 
 (Saint Peter) of 1851, to have our eyes opened to 
 the methods in which the Sioux massacre had 
 its conception and in which, continued, it had its 
 birth. 
 
 The crimes committed against the red race, in 
 what assumed to be honorable treaties, and in the 
 carrying out of the terms of those treaties, would 
 not have been tolerated for a day by white men. 
 The whites would have put the treaty-makers and 
 treaty-breakers to flight or to death. With treaties 
 fairly obtained, and their terms honorably adminis- 
 tered, there would, it is reasonable to assume, have 
 been no Sioux massacre. 
 
 When the Traverse des Sioux treaty was consum- 
 mated it was supposed by the Indians they would 
 receive the purchase price of their lands, but to 
 their consternation the traders gathered like vul- 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 1 1 
 
 tures and presented claims for goods sold to the In- 
 dians on credit for nearly $400,000, or a sum consid- 
 erably in excess of the amount the Sioux were to 
 receive, and the monstrous claims of the traders 
 were recognized by the Indian authorities. Added 
 to these were charges for removing the Indians 
 from the lands they had ceded by treaty to within 
 new boundaries. 
 
 Claims for depredations upon traders or settlers 
 by lawless Indians had been filed with the Indian 
 department, and on ex-parte evidence or none at all, 
 were allowed, and the amount ordered deducted 
 from the sum total of payments to be made, thus 
 robbing the law-abiding to make good for alleged 
 offenses committed by lawless Indians. The policy 
 was first to secure the signatures of the chiefs to a 
 sale of tribal lands, frequently by doubtful methods, 
 in payment for which hundreds of thousands of dol- 
 lars were provided from the United States treas- 
 ury; but the enormous sums of gold were swept 
 from the pay-table by questionable claims, and the 
 Indian found himself possessed of neither land nor 
 money. 
 
 The indignation of the Indians was such that vio- 
 lence to the officials of the government in attend- 
 ance, was imminent. Hon. Alexander Ramsey, as 
 Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and a member of 
 the Treaty Commission, in attendance at the great 
 council of December, 1852, at Traverse des Sioux, 
 sought to discipline Red Iron, chief of the Sisse- 
 tons, because of his indignation at what he pro- 
 nounced high-handed methods on the part of repre- 
 sentatives of the government. Gov. Ramsey de- 
 
12 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 posed Red Iron from his chieftainship, and had him 
 arrested by the soldiery in attendance, and brought 
 
 before the commission in 
 irons, when the following 
 coloquy took place, Red 
 Iron being" commanded to 
 arise. 
 
 Gov. Ramsey, with a 
 sternness for which he was 
 noted, addressed the de- 
 posed chief as follows: 
 " What excuse have you for 
 not coming to the council 
 RED IRON. w hen I sent for you ?" 
 
 Red Iron, stately in stature and in the maturity 
 of middle age, nonchalantly met the issue without 
 a suspicion of embarrassment, amid the profound 
 silence his calm demeanor commanded, with not 
 even a scowl, fixing his eye sternly on his interlo- 
 cutor, he replied : " I started to come, but your 
 braves drove me back." 
 
 Governor Ramsey : " What excuse have you for 
 not coming the second time I sent for you?" 
 
 Red Iron : " No other excuse than I have given 
 you." 
 
 Governor Ramsey : "At the treaty I thought you 
 a good man, but since, you have acted badly, and 
 I am disposed to break you ; I do break you." 
 
 Red Iron, with emphasis : " You break me ! My 
 people made me a chief. My people love me ; I 
 will still be their chief. I have done nothing 
 wrong." 
 
 Governor Ramsey: "Red Iron, why did you get 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 13 
 
 your braves together, and march around here for 
 the purpose of intimidating other chiefs, and pre- 
 vent them coming: to the council ?" 
 
 Red Iron : " I did not get my braves together ; 
 they got together themselves to prevent boys going 
 to council to be made chiefs to sign papers, and to 
 prevent single chiefs going to council at night to be 
 bribed to sign papers for money we never received. 
 We have heard how the M'dewakantons were served 
 at Mendota that by secret councils you got their 
 names on paper and then took their money. We 
 don't want to be served so. My braves want to come 
 to council in daytime, when the sun shines, and we 
 want no council in the dark. We want all our peo- 
 ple to counsel together, so that we can all know 
 what was done." 
 
 Governor Ramsey: u Why did you attempt to 
 come to the council with your braves when I had 
 forbidden your braves coming to council ? n 
 
 Red Iron : " You invited the chiefs only, and 
 would not let the braves come too. This is not the 
 way we have been treated before ; this is not ac- 
 cording to our customs, for, among the Dakotas, 
 chiefs and braves go to council together. When 
 you first sent for us there were two or three chiefs 
 here, and we wanted to wait until the rest would 
 come, that we might all be in council together, and 
 know what was done, and so that we might all un- 
 derstand the papers, and know what we were sign- 
 ing. When roe signed the treaty the traders threw blankets 
 over our faces and darkened our eyes, and made us sign papers 
 we did not understand, and which were not explained or read to 
 
14 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 us. We want our Great Father at Washington to 
 know what has been done." 
 
 Governor Ramsey : " Your Great Father has sent 
 me to represent him. What I say he says. He 
 wants you to pay your old debts in accordance with 
 the papers you signed when the treaty was made 
 [the papers signed when the Indians were blind- 
 folded] , and to leave that money in my hands to pay 
 these debts. If you refuse to do that I will take the 
 money back." 
 
 Red Iron : " You take the money back. We sold 
 our land to you and you promised to pay us. If you 
 don't pay us I will be glad, for we will have our land 
 back if you don't give us the money. That paper 
 was not explained to us. We are told it gives about 
 $300,000 of our money to some of the traders. We 
 don't think we owe them so much. We want to pay 
 our debts. We want our Great Father to send three 
 good men here to tell us how much we do owe, and 
 whatever they say we will pay," and, turning to his 
 assembled people, " that is what these braves say. 
 Our chiefs and all our people say this." u Ho, ho," 
 responded the chiefs and braves. 
 
 Governor Ramsey : "That can't be done. You 
 
 owe more than your money will pay, and I am ready 
 
 . now to pay your annuity, and no more, and when 
 
 you are ready to receive it the agent will pay you." 
 
 Red Iron : " We will receive our annuity, but we 
 will sign no papers for anything else. The snow is 
 on the ground, and we have been waiting a long 
 time to receive our money. We are poor. You have 
 plenty. Your fires are warm ; your tepees keep out 
 the cold. We have nothing to eat. We have been 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 15 
 
 waiting" a long time for our moneys. Our hunting 
 season is past. A great many of our people are sick 
 from being hungry. We may die because you won't 
 pay us. We may die, but if we do we will leave 
 our bones on the ground, that our Great Father may 
 see where his Dakota children died. We have sold 
 our hunting grounds and the graves of our fathers. 
 We have sold our own graves. We have no place 
 to bury our dead, and you will not pay us for our 
 lands." 
 
 Red Iron was removed under guard and locked 
 up, and the $300,000 treaty money was paid to the 
 traders. The Indians were wild with indignation, 
 and it was with difficulty they were restrained from 
 slaughtering the officials and the traders. 
 
 Thus the seeds of hatred were newly sown, and 
 offenses revived and set ablaze. Time rolled on. 
 The policy was perpetuated. The offenses of the 
 officials and the traders were made the offenses of 
 the whole white race. If the servants of the people 
 were the enemies of the red men, was it not evident 
 by this same token that the power that created 
 these officials, the white race, was an enemy? So 
 these simple people reasoned. 
 
 One of the claims allowed by these officials out 
 of the treaty fund at this council was that of $55,000 
 to Hugh Tyler, a man utterly unknown to the Indi- 
 ans, "for assisting to get the treaty measure through the Unit- 
 ed States Senate, and for necessary disbursements." Thous- 
 ands of dollars were thus absorbed, as history test- 
 ifies. 
 
 Referring to these crimes and the resulting mas- 
 sacre of 1862, the Right Reverend Bishop Whipple, 
 
16 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 a man of temperate language and a high authority, 
 spoke as follows after the Minnesota frontier had 
 been made desolate : 
 
 u There is not a man in America, who ever gave 
 an hour's calm reflection to the subject, who does 
 not know that our Indian system is an organized 
 system of robbery, and has been for years a dis- 
 grace to the nation. It has left savage men without 
 governmental control ; it has looked on unconcerned 
 at every crime against the laws of God and man ; it 
 has fostered savage life by wasting thousands of 
 dollars in the purchase of paint, beads, scalping- 
 knives and tomahawks ; it has fostered a system of 
 trade which robbed the thrifty and virtuous to pay 
 the debts of the indolent and vicious ; it has squan- 
 dered the funds for civilization and schools ; it has 
 connived at theft ; it has winked at murder, and at 
 last, after dragging the savage down to a brutishness 
 unknown to his fathers, it has brought a harvest of 
 blood to our own door." 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 17 
 
 Yellow Medicine. 
 
 In accordance with the terms of the treaty of 
 1851, the Indians concerned in that treaty assem- 
 bled at the Yellow Medicine Agency about the first 
 of July, 1862, to receive their annuities. 
 
 As a precautionary measure, in view of the thou- 
 sands of Indians to be assembled, fifty men of Co. 
 C, of the Fifth, stationed at Fort Ripley, were sent 
 forward by Captain Francis Hall as a reinforcement 
 to Co. B, which constituted the garrison at Fort 
 Ridgely. This detachment left Fort Ripley under 
 First Lieutenant T. J. Sheehan, June 19, 1862, march- 
 ing by way of Elk River, Henderson, etc., for want 
 of a good road more directly connecting in that day 
 the two forts. Lieutenant Sheehan's march covered 
 a distance of two hundred miles, his destination be- 
 ing reached on the evening of the ninth day, or 
 June 28th. 
 
 There were three companies of the Fifth station- 
 ed on the frontier B at Fort Ridgely, C at Fort 
 Ripley, on the Mississippi River, and D at Fort Ab- 
 ercrombie, on the Red River of the North. The de- 
 tachment from Co. C, and a like number from Co. 
 B were dispatched on the 30th day of June, 1862, to 
 Yellow Medicine, where the payment was to be 
 made, leaving Fort Ridgely under command of Lieu- 
 tenant Sheehan as ranking officer, the command ar- 
 riving at the Upper, or Yellow Medicine Agency, 
 on the 2d day of July. 
 
18 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 All was expectancy among the thousands of Indi- 
 ans, and added to anticipation were the combined 
 elements for making 1 the occasion a heyday most 
 enjoyable. The seasons had unfolded their wealth 
 of luxuries ; the redolent hills and plains, with their 
 wild flowers and carpet of native green, were little 
 less than enchanting, even to other than the " chil- 
 dren of Nature ;" the wooded glens of the beautiful 
 streams that near this spot unite their waters, were 
 suggestive of happiness ; Nature had solved the 
 baffling enigma that gave the world once more, with 
 its varied species, hues and forms, the tranquil 
 summertime. 
 
 Each day witnessed the influx of large bands of 
 Indians, until all had reached this modern Mecca. 
 The great gathering was a sight to behold, with its 
 confusion of strange humanity, wolf-eared dogs and 
 pot-bellied ponies, and its vast array of tepees that 
 sheltered the six thousand or more nomads. 
 
 Dreaming not of disappointment, happiness 
 reigned throughout the great throng. But a single 
 foreboding disturbed the spirits of these wanderers 
 of the plains, and that was, that the hated, grasping 
 traders would intervene to rob them of their annui- 
 ties. The trader, who always " stood in " with the 
 agents and other Indian officials, was the bogie of 
 the red man. As the anticipated day of payment 
 drew near, the Indian dread of his time-honored en- 
 emy increased, this dread finally manifesting itself 
 in a request that Lieutenants Sheehan and Gere, 
 the latter of Co. B, meet the chiefs and braves in 
 council. The lieutenants acceded to the request, 
 and entering the council circle, were regaled with 
 
OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 19 
 
 Indian oratory and the formality common to such 
 councils. Confiding their misgivings to the young 
 officers, they besought their intervention at the 
 making of the payment. The speeches were all of 
 one purport, prefaced with a bit of self-agrandize- 
 ment, and then they impressively proceeded to re- 
 mind the officers that the traders were always al- 
 lowed to sit at the pay-table and take the money of 
 the Indians ; this the council implored the officers 
 to prevent, and the savages were manifestly disap- 
 pointed when told by the officers that the soldiers 
 were powerless to restrain the traders without au- 
 thority to do so from the Agent. 
 
 Days ripened into weeks, but the promised annu- 
 ities came not. The civil war was at white heat. 
 Gold was in great demand, and paper money fifty 
 per cent, below par. Indian . superintendents and 
 agents were not above temptation. There was a 
 fortune in the clever conversion of the gold provid- 
 ed, into paper, or more familiarly, greenbacks, and 
 it was said the gold was converted into currency 
 at a handsome profit. The treaty called for spe- 
 cie payment, and as the Indians knew nothing of 
 paper, it was pointed out they would scorn it with 
 disappointment and indignation. Re-conversion, 
 the story ran, was attended with much loss of time, 
 as well as financial sacrifice which the parties to 
 the transaction sought industriously but unsuccess- 
 fully to avoid, as gold was constantly seeking the 
 coffers of hoarders, while paper money was contin- 
 ually depreciating in value. That the fatal delay 
 in making the Indian payment was due to specula- 
 tion, was oft asserted, never denied and generally 
 
20 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 believed at the Fort and the Agencies. To this de- 
 lay, whatever may have been its cause, was the out- 
 break largely attributable. 
 
 Hunger hears excuses impatiently at best. Bro- 
 ken promises and hunger together, when an Indian 
 is the victim, will undo more confidence in a day 
 than many earnest missionaries could inspire in a 
 year. The assembled Indians were kept in waiting 
 for several weeks, during which time hunger be- 
 came widespread, and starvation actually threaten- 
 ed. In fact famine was only averted by the kill- 
 ing of dogs and ponies, and the digging of roots 
 with which to stay this hunger. Indian chil- 
 dren were actually reported to have starved to 
 death as a result of the dalliance in making the pay- 
 ment and issuing the provisions. 
 
 While authorities assign various reasons for the 
 Sioux massacre of 1862, no doubt had the gold pay- 
 ment been promptly made in good faith at the ap- 
 pointed time, the murdered settlers and the hapless 
 traders would have been spared to work out the or- 
 dinary problems of life undisturbed. 
 
 On the 14th of July a tour of inspection was made 
 of the monstrous Indian camp to ascertain if it was 
 true, as rumored, that a large number of Sioux were 
 present who were not entitled to annuities. The ru- 
 mor was well-founded, there being several hundred 
 Yanktonais and Cut-heads, who were merely hopeful 
 visitors. Such a gathering of Sioux has never since 
 taken place on Minnesota soil, and its like will never 
 be witnessed again. This city of the plains number- 
 ed seven hundred and seventy-nine lodges, and was 
 imposing both for its vastness and for the thousands 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 21 
 
 who made up the aggregate of its inhabitants. 
 
 The policy of dalliance went heedlessly on. The 
 Indians were known to be destitute. The surround- 
 ing country had been swept bare of nearly every 
 available living creature which would serve them 
 as food. There were provisions in abundance in 
 the Government warehouse, belonging to the Indi- 
 ans, but they were withheld to be delivered at the 
 time of payment. It would not do to go through 
 the farcical form of making the annual payment and 
 have the money swept from the pay-table by the 
 traders with no provisions on hand with which to 
 appease the wrath of the disappointed Indians ; so 
 these provisions must be held. It would be safe to 
 sweep the pay-table if only at the opportune moment 
 the hungry stomachs of the Indians could be flat- 
 tered with enough bacon and flour for a few meals. 
 Not to observe this precaution might be hazardous 
 to the hopes of men to whom longevity had its fas- 
 cinations. 
 
 On the 18th the Indians reported their condition 
 unendurable from lack of food. Starvation, they 
 said, was in their midst. Agent Galbraith thought 
 there was no occasion for alarm, but Lieutenant 
 Sheehan, reasoning from the temper of a hungry 
 man, sent to Fort Ridgely, fifty-two miles away, for 
 a second twelve-pound mountain howitzer. 
 
 Lieutenants Sheehan and Gere, conscious that 
 conditions existed that should be logically met, from 
 at least a humanitarian standpoint, advised the issu- 
 ing of provisions to the famishing people assembled 
 in such vast numbers. On the 21st of July Agent 
 Galbraith assured these officers he would arrange 
 
22 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 to count the Indians, issue the provisions and send 
 the assembled Sioux back to their hunting-grounds. 
 On the 26th of July the Indians were counted, more 
 than twelve hours being required in which to make 
 the enumeration. Even up to ten days after this 
 preparatory enumeration no provisions had been 
 issued. At last starvation forced a crisis. On the 
 morning of August 4th two Indian messengers en- 
 tered the little military camp and informed the sol- 
 diers the Indians were coming down to make a dem- 
 onstration ; that they would come armed, but they 
 wished the soldiers to understand there was no pre- 
 meditated hostility in this visit. A moment later 
 there came like the wind a thousand warriors, firing 
 their guns wildly and yelling like demons.* No or- 
 acle was needed to warn the little band of soldiers, 
 just one hundred strong, that a climax had at last 
 been reached, and that their lives were in peril. 
 The hundreds of horsemen were but little in ad- 
 vance of the fleet warriors on foot. They complete- 
 ly encircled the little military camp, and could have 
 crushed it at a single blow. The clicking of their 
 gun-locks showed they were ready, with pieces 
 cocked, should a soldier fire a shot. The starving 
 Indians had come, not to make war, but to forcibly 
 take what they had peaceably pleaded for in vain 
 for nearly two weeks provisions, of which they 
 knew there was an abundant supply, belonging to 
 them. Mah-ka-tah, the chosen leader of the raid, 
 rushed to the warehouse and struck the door a ring- 
 ing blow with his tomahawk. Like clockwork the 
 
 * It was precisely two weeks from this very hour that the massacre began at 
 the Redwood Agency. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 23 
 
 soldiery was brought into line with a promptness 
 that even the Indians contemplated with a look of 
 envy. But the Indians themselves had acted with 
 a promptness and coolness in carrying 1 out their de- 
 sign, as unexpected as it was daring. It became 
 apparent their demonstration was made with a view 
 of overawing the soldiers while a party of warriors 
 should break down the warehouse door and take 
 possession of the stores. They quickly effected an 
 entrance to the building and were removing flour. 
 Lieutenant Gere ordered his men to remove the tar- 
 paulin that sheltered the howitzers, and quickly 
 trained a gun on the warehouse door. If there is 
 anything for which an Indian shows a wholesome 
 respect, it is a cannon. Those who were removing 
 the sacks of flour were warned of their danger, and 
 glancing at the big gun, fell back to the right and 
 left in haste and confusion, leaving an opening down 
 through which Lieutenant Sheehan and Sergeant S. 
 A. Trescott marched with a squad of sixteen men. 
 Lieutenant Sheehan proceeded to the office of Agent 
 Galbraith for a conference. Trescott, a man of res- 
 olution and coolness (who, by the way, was killed at 
 the ferry just two weeks from this date, whither he 
 had gone with Captain Marsh on the ill-fated march 
 to the Lower Agency), cleared the warehouse of the 
 Indians. He and his men having accomplished this 
 task, stood defiantly at the entrance of the building. 
 Every fibre of manhood was now at its extremest 
 tension. The Indians were wrought to the highest 
 pitch of excitement and determination. A spark 
 would have exploded the savage wrath that had at 
 last reached the limit of suppression. The miracle 
 
24 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 is that the massacre that was deferred just two weeks 
 to a day was not here and now begun. Two of Sar- 
 geant Trescott's men were stationed at the ware- 
 house entrance, one on either side of the door, with 
 their guns crossed to bar entrance to the build- 
 ing. The ejected Indians hurled themselves back 
 at the entrance, and in an instant the gun of James 
 Foster, one of the guards, was covered from lock to 
 muzzle with the hands of the warriors who sought 
 to wrest the weapon from him. In this struggle the 
 gun was discharged, but fortunately without injury 
 to any one. All eyes were on this struggle, and it was 
 plain the discharge of the musket was accidental, 
 though the men, red and white, were writhing in an 
 encounter of desperation which threatened instant- 
 ly to involve every element present. 
 
 On the one hand were officers of courage, judg- 
 ment and coolness, with men at their command as 
 true in pluck and discipline as were ever lined up. 
 On the other hand were savages tortured with hun- 
 ger, and whose families were in distress, but who 
 were determined not to be the first to shed blood in 
 open conflict if avoidable, be it said to their credit. 
 
 Realizing the gravity of the situation and the dire 
 consequences of the step from which there could be 
 no recession, there was mutual relaxation in defer- 
 ence to reason at an instant when the taking of life 
 seemed inevitable. 
 
 The chiefs plead the necessities of their people, 
 and urged that the provisions stored in the ware- 
 house belonged to the Indians, and that they were 
 unjustly withheld from distribution at a time of 
 great suffering. The officers, now that a lull had 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 25 
 
 succeeded the white-heat of excitement, advised the 
 Indian Agent to make an issue of provisions. He 
 hesitated, explaining that he doubted the effect up- 
 on the Indians from a disciplinary point of view, 
 but realizing 1 the moment was one of great danger 
 he acted upon the suggestion, but the issue was 
 wholly inadequate to the occasion, and the Indians 
 did not disperse until the military assumed a threat- 
 ening attitude by forming a line of battle for the 
 protection of the warehouse. There was now left 
 to the Indians but one of two alternatives that of 
 beginning hostilities or withdrawing peaceably to 
 their camp. They chose the latter, but sullenly. 
 
 The Indians were displeased and angry, and held 
 a stormy council after their withdrawal to their 
 lodges. A widespread feeling of hostility prevailed, 
 and excitement was again in the ascendant, fiery 
 speeches calling forth the approving " Ho, ho," on 
 every hand. Delay, hunger and broken promises 
 had disarmed those chiefs who had preached the 
 virtues of patience and forbearance, and they re- 
 ceived scant courtesy in this turbulent conclave of 
 maddened warriors. 
 
 Among those who stood for peace and forbear- 
 ance was Standing Buffalo, chief of one of the Sis- 
 seton bands. The decision of the council favored 
 immediate hostilities, amid the wildest excitement, 
 the entire council being committed by the action of 
 the majority. Under the license of such a vote it 
 is a matter of wonder the massacre was not at this 
 time precipitated. That it was not was due to the 
 dogged persistence of Standing Buffalo and his 
 friends and supporters, whose course, though un- 
 
26 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 popular, had a restraining influence over chiefs and 
 warriors of the more conservative type, who, in 
 turn, after the decision of the council, were non- 
 concurrent, even if silent. 
 
 The council at an end, Standing: Buffalo repaired 
 to the military camp and reported that war had been 
 decided upon ; that he had opposed the result, but 
 having- participated in the deliberations of the coun- 
 cil, was bound by the decision. He warned the mil- 
 itary to be on the alert. 
 
 The troops were put in the best possible condi- 
 tion for defensive purposes, while the citizens at 
 the Agency, together with all available means of 
 defense took refuge in the Government warehouse. 
 There was a feeling of the greatest apprehension, 
 with good reason for it. As a result of this appre- 
 hensiveness Lieutenant Gere was dispatched to 
 Fort Ridgely on the 5th, to confer with Captain 
 Marsh. This young officer was at all times equal to 
 the demands made upon him. Means for convey- 
 ance were not of the best, but leaving Yellow Med- 
 icine at four o'clock in the afternoon, and passing 
 through the Redwood Agency at midnight, he 
 reached Fort Ridgely at three o'clock in the morn- 
 ing of August 6th, where he called Captain Marsh 
 from his slumbers, and acquainted him with the 
 dangerous condition of affairs at the Upper Agency. 
 After a brief conference Captain Marsh joined Lieu- 
 tenant Gere, and they set out at once for the Yellow 
 Medicine Agency, which they reached at 1:30 o'clock 
 in the afternoon of August 6th. After the arrival 
 of these officers, the hand of violence having been 
 stayed, a council of the Indians was secured by 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 27 
 
 Agent Galbraith and Captain Marsh, at which it was 
 agreed that the stock of annuities, consisting of 
 provisions and other stores, should be issued at 
 once ; that the Indians should repair, after receiv- 
 ing their allotments, to their homes or to the great 
 hunting-grounds to the westward, to be recalled 
 again on the arrival of their money. The issue be- 
 gan on the afternoon of August 7th, and continued 
 for two days thereafter, the Indians breaking camp 
 as rapidly as they could be reached in regular order, 
 so that by the time the last of the supplies were is- 
 sued, the great camp had disappeared. 
 
 Never was calamity more narrowly averted ; and 
 did not the success attending this adjustment lead 
 Captain Marsh into the very jaws of death ten days 
 later ? 
 
 Smarting under their hardships and the long suc- 
 cession of broken promises and disappointments, 
 the Indians spread away to repeople the vast plains, 
 but they were filled with wrath. 
 
 The military detachment withdrew from the 
 Agency on the llth of August, and arrived at 
 Fort Ridgely on the evening of the next day, and 
 nothing being heard of the Indian Superintendent 
 and the long-promised money, Captain Marsh is- 
 sued an order for the return of Lieutenant Sheehan 
 and detachment to their company headquarters at 
 Fort Ripley. Lieutenant Sheehan set out on his 
 march on the 17th, the very day upon which oc- 
 curred the massacre at Acton. He was unconscious 
 of this fact however, until a courier, dispatched af- 
 ter him by Captain Marsh on the 18th, overtook him 
 at dusk of that day as he had gone into camp be- 
 
28 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 tween New Auburn and Glencoe. He had made 
 forty-two miles in the two days' march from Fort 
 Ridgely, but immediately struck camp and retraced 
 his steps with great energy, marching all night and 
 covering the forty-two miles' distance by the early 
 forenoon of the next day, his continuous march from 
 the morning of the 18th until the morning of the 
 19th, being over sixty miles, without rest. The bat- 
 tle at the Redwood ferry had been fought, and Cap- 
 tain Marsh and a large number of his men had gone 
 down to death. Lieutenant Sheehan thus became 
 the ranking officer, and hence the commander of 
 Fort Ridgely. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 29 
 
 Beginning of the Outbreak. 
 
 From what frivolous acts matters of the gravest 
 consequence may flow, was well illustrated by the 
 folly which immediately precipitated the Sioux 
 massacre. Lack of mental breadth and the absence 
 of fundamental principles upon which to found 
 character, charitably interpose themselves as an ar- 
 gument of extenuation in behalf of the vagabond 
 savage. There was lurking in the Indian heart a 
 vengeful spirit. He had been wronged and he knew 
 it. He had been robbed by the traders through the 
 connivance of dishonest agents. He had this year 
 been called from his hunting-grounds to receive his 
 annuities, and after being kept in waiting until star- 
 vation invaded his lodges, was turned back to the 
 plains empty-handed and gaunt. Stung with bitter 
 disappointment he nursed his wrath sullenly. He 
 believed his people the victims of premeditated 
 fraud, and judged the whites as a race by those with 
 whom he had come in contact about the agencies. 
 Notwithstanding all this, the Sioux massacre might 
 have been avoided but for a senseless controversy 
 over the trivial matter of a few eggs. It was not 
 likely that up to this time the killing of a settler 
 had been resolved upon. There were vicious Indi- 
 ans who delighted at all times in doing lawless 
 things. They were always a source of trouble 
 among their own people, even on ordinary occa- 
 sions, just as there are " black sheep " in nearly ev- 
 ery white community, who are pestilential. 
 
30 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 A nest of eggs and the bad disposition of one of 
 these Indians proved to be the touch-and-go that 
 fired the whole Minnesota frontier, resulting" in a 
 thousand murders and horrors indescribable. 
 
 In the fall of 1861, while hunting along the Crow 
 River, near Forest City, Meeker county, Chief Mak- 
 pe-ya-we-tah, of one of the Lower Agency bands, 
 purchased a sleigh of George Whitcomb with which 
 to return to Redwood, having been caught in wint- 
 erish weather. The chief was unable to pay for the 
 sled, but left his wagon to secure the debt. On the 
 10th of August, 1862, with a party of twenty Indi- 
 ans, the chief started to Forest City, intending to 
 redeem his wagon and spend a season in deer-hunt- 
 ing. Nearing their destination, the chief and four 
 members of his band separated from the main body 
 and proceeded on to Whitcomb's, several miles 
 northeastward, the fifteen stopping, intending to en- 
 gage in hunting. Among the latter were some of 
 the most notorious malcontents of the Lower Agen- 
 cy. Some six miles from Acton a member of this 
 latter party found a hen's nest, and proposed to eat 
 the eggs. It was urged by a law-abiding Indian that 
 he had no right to do this ; that the eggs were those 
 of a white farmer, and should not be taken or de- 
 stroyed, as such an act might get them all into trou- 
 ble. The law-abiding Indian was accused of cow- 
 ardice, and with the accusation the finder of the 
 nest destroyed the eggs. The Indian of conscien- 
 tious scruples denounced this act as contemptible, 
 and as showing neither courage nor good sense. 
 His courage questioned, the malcontent drew up 
 his rifle and shot an ox, boasting of this as an act of 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 31 
 
 defiance confirming his courage, but the law-abiding 
 Indian remonstrated in stronger terms than ever, 
 and denounced the breaking of eggs and the shoot- 
 ing of oxen as very cowardly. By this time the 
 whole party was rent with dissension. Four of 
 the Indians stood up for the whites and good order, 
 while the other eleven became more contemptuous 
 as the quarrel progressed. Each party accused the 
 other of cowardice, the eleven claiming the four 
 feared the whites, while the four ridiculed the elev- 
 en for their acts. Violence among themselves 
 seemed imminent, when they finally separated, the 
 eleven saying they would show that they were 
 brave, for they proposed to kill a white man. 
 
 Singularly, after the quarrel and separation, the 
 four who stood for law and order were the first to 
 kill a white man and bring on the crisis. Not long 
 after the parting they heard the ring of the rifles of 
 the eleven some distance away in the settlements. 
 They felt sure this meant that the whites were be- 
 ing killed, and that now their valor would be forever 
 questioned unless they joined in the horrible work. 
 Two of the four still protested against violence, and 
 even yet all might have turned favorably except for 
 an unwise and ill-timed quarrel precipitated by a 
 white man, who was noted for bad temper and not 
 the best for good faith in his dealings with the In- 
 dians. 
 
 This man was Robinson Jones, at whose house 
 the four Indians called near the middle of the day 
 of Sunday, August 17th. The Indians here asked 
 for liquor, not an uncommon thing to do, but were 
 refused. Jones was a man of powerful physique, 
 
32 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 and was courageous and aggressive. He thought 
 he recognized in the quartet an Indian who had bor- 
 rowed a gun from him some months previously, that 
 had not been returned, and took the suspected de- 
 linquent hotly to task. The Indian positively de- 
 nied the accusation. A quarrel ensued and Jones, 
 in his violent way, drove the Indians from the house. 
 They went to the home of Howard Baker, eighty 
 rods away. 
 
 At Baker's house were a Mr. Webster and wife, 
 who had just arrived that day in their immigrant 
 wagon from Michigan, seeking a home on the Min- 
 nesota frontier. At Baker's the Indians asked for 
 water and tobacco, and were accommodated. They 
 drank, and filling a pipe sat down and smoked. 
 They were friendly and good-humored. Unfortu- 
 nately however, Jones and his wife came to the Ba- 
 ker home, Baker being a son of Mrs. Jones by a 
 former husband. Here Jones renewed his quarrel 
 with the Indian about the gun. The Indians finally 
 grew very angry, and Mrs. Baker, in her alarm, 
 asked Mrs. Jones if they had given the Indians 
 liquor. She replied that they had not, and that 
 44 they had no liquor for such black devils as these." 
 This added fuel to the flame, for the Indians appar- 
 ently understood the language, and the spirit in 
 which it was uttered. Here, without question, was 
 the shedding of blood first fully decided upon. The 
 Indians bantered the white men to shoot at a mark 
 with them, Jones replying with an oath that he was 
 not afraid to shoot 44 with any damned redskin." 
 Having emptied their guns, the Indians reloaded, 
 but the whites, not believing the Indians dared to 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 33 
 
 commit an act of violence, or premeditated it, did 
 not reload their pieces. This was the opportunity 
 for which the Indians had made their play, and they 
 fired, Jones, his wife, Baker and Webster each re- 
 ceiving: a shot, the last three being: killed or mor- 
 tally wounded. Jones attempted to escape to the 
 cover of timber, but was felled by another shot. He 
 clung: to life tenaciously, and died in g:reat ag:ony, 
 having:, in his final struggle, filled his mouth with 
 handsful of earth, and dug: holes in the compact 
 ground with his boot-heels. The Indians could not 
 have inflicted, had they tried, greater suffering: upon 
 the man they intensely disliked, than he endured 
 until mercifully relieved by death. Mrs. Webster 
 was in their covered wag:on getting: some thing:s to 
 pass out to her husband when the Indians opened 
 fire, and was not soug:ht out or disturbed. Mrs. 
 Baker, shocked and unnerved at what had occurred, 
 stumbled and fell down cellar with a child in her 
 arms, both escaping: uninjured in the fall ; nor were 
 they molested by the Indians, who immediately re- 
 paired to the house of Jones, upon which they seem- 
 ed to center their vengeance, where they killed a 
 Miss Clara D. Wilson, a young: lady whose home 
 was in the Jones family. 
 
 Having: inaugurated the horrible Sioux massacre, 
 in the town of Acton, Meeker county, the four Indi- 
 ans hastened to a neighbor of the Jones family, a 
 Mr. Eckland, where they took two horses and fled, 
 mounted double, for the vicinity of the Redwood 
 Ag:ency. They reached their own camp, four 
 miles above Redwood, near daylight on Monday 
 morning:, August 18th. Rousing: their tribesmen 
 
34 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 and relating what had happened, all was consterna- 
 tion. A council was called, and it was immediately 
 foreseen that the four Indians must be turned over 
 to the white authorities, or the whole band of Rice 
 Creek Indians, to which the four belonged, be held 
 as accomplices in the crimes committed. There 
 was but little time in which to choose a course. 
 Many of the band were opposed to making war on 
 the whites. Only the previous evening in fact it 
 had been decided at a meeting to start on Monday 
 morning (this fatal Monday morning) for Fort 
 Ridgely to make a demand for their annuities, and 
 if unsuccessful, then to proceed on to St. Paul. In 
 view of this previous plan and of the aversion of 
 friends and relatives to surrender the four to be 
 dealt with for the murder of the whites at Acton, it 
 was decided to hasten down to the Lower Agency, 
 lay the matter of a decision before Little Crow and 
 other Agency Indians. 
 
 To portray the wild excitement and frenzied con- 
 dition of the Indian village in the early dawn of that 
 August morning is not a pen-possibility. Only on 
 the previous night, be it remembered, the wrongs 
 of the agents and traders had been rehearsed, and 
 the disappointments and the sufferings of the Indi- 
 ans dwelt upon. Longer patience had ceased to be 
 a virtue. Disappointment had been piled upon dis- 
 appointment until the limit of endurance had been 
 reached, and a final trip, first to the Fort, and then 
 to St. Paul if necessary, for redress, had been 
 planned for this very morning. In this acute con- 
 dition of mind the news of the outbreak at Acton 
 produced consternation, and discussion only in- 
 
OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 35 
 
 flamed the excited minds of the warriors. While it 
 was decided ostensibly to hasten to Redwood for 
 consultation and advice, the war flame was fanned 
 at every turn. There were constant accessions to 
 the party as it wildly and excitedly rode to the 
 Agency, and each accession was fuel to the flame. 
 Every tepee and wicky-up along: the way contribu- 
 ted to the hellish legion that poured out naked, with 
 hair streaming to join the wild cavalcade and catch 
 and echo the war-cry. The hills of the Minnesota 
 rang with yells as through the blinding dust rushed 
 the ever-growing stream of frenzied warriors. Ex- 
 planations by the way were unnecessary. The war- 
 cry was sufficient, and it is not probable human 
 eyes ever witnessed a wilder scene than was this 
 flight of demons along the trail that resounded with 
 the throbbing footfalls of beasts inspired to their 
 utmost endeavors by their frenzied riders, who fast 
 and faster came as the murderous resolution of their 
 hearts spurred them madly on and blinded them to 
 all thought of right or reason. The earth trembled 
 as the thundering cavalcade pressed on in its wild 
 flight, the hideous war-cry echoing savagely along 
 the broad valley of the Minnesota, rousing Sioux 
 braves from their slumbers and thrilling their hearts 
 with emotions transforming them at once into mad- 
 dened demons. It was small wonder Little Crow 
 was swept from his poise by this frenzied horde 
 and hurried into the bloody torrent that bore him to 
 his ruin. But the blood of Acton had fired the 
 hearts of this crazed legion, that fell upon the Red- 
 wood Agency like a pitiless storm, awakening the 
 whole frontier in one horrifying shriek from its con- 
 
36 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 fiding stupor. 
 
 Little Crow lived in a brick house about two miles 
 above the Agency. He was still in bed when the 
 head of the column of warriors reached his place, 
 and was shocked to hear the familiar war-whoop 
 that roused him from his slumbers. He sat up with 
 his blanket about him and heard the startling story 
 of the spokesman of the party. Soon his house was 
 packed to the limit of its capacity, with scores un- 
 able to gain admission, and the excitement was in- 
 tense. The wild ride had dispelled every thought of 
 a peaceful solution of troubles real and fancied. Ev- 
 ery voice was for war, and the demand that the fa- 
 mous chieftain should lead the savage hosts was 
 unanimous and emphatic. Beads of perspiration 
 gathered upon the forehead of Little Crow, who no 
 doubt dreaded the ordeal, wisely understanding the 
 great hazard that attended a war upon the whites. 
 But he had lost popularity with his people of late 
 years, and now was offered an opportunity to rein- 
 state himself. There was, too, a dream of long- 
 cherished and far-reaching results. He yielded to 
 the demands of the frenzied and impatient horde, 
 and without breakfast joined in the plans for the 
 massacre of the traders and others at the Agency, 
 upon which the warriors had already fully determ- 
 ined, and hastened away at the head of the wild 
 horde like a flying demon. 
 
Si 
 
 EillflsIIIllifllS 
 
 lllilillfiimiiz 
 
 2S8SSS 
 
38 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 
 TWO VIEWS OF FORT RIDGELY, IN 1862. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 39 
 
 First News of the Outbreak at Redwood. 
 
 A garrison was never more tranquil than was that 
 of Fort Ridgely on the morning of August 18th. 
 Midsummer quietude was all-pervading. Lieuten- 
 ant Sheehan and his fifty men had just departed 
 homeward after a month and a half of service and 
 companionship with Company B. The Renville 
 Rangers, a party of some fifty men t who had spent 
 a day or so at the Fort, had just gone on their jour- 
 ney to Fort Snelling, where they were to be mus- 
 tered into these rvice for active duiy in the south. 
 Accompanying them were a number of members of 
 Company B. 
 
 The Indian payment incident at the Yellow Med- 
 icine Agency, which had furnished the only diver- 
 sion of the season, was apparently closed, and with 
 the absence of so many who had helped to infuse 
 animation into the routine duties of frontier garri- 
 son life, a Sabbath-like stillness had settled down 
 upon the post. There was nothing to suggest activ- 
 ity. There was nothing upon which to found the 
 hope that there was anything in store for Company 
 B but hum-drum garrison duty. The youthful offi- 
 cers and men who in the main made up the com- 
 pany, were impatient for an order to go south, and 
 could they have ordered their destiny in this mat- 
 ter by ballot, there would have been a unanimous 
 vote, with cheers and a throwing of caps in the air, 
 to move within an hour. 
 
 But this could not be, and with patience and for- 
 
40 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 titude the soldiers, whose companions had just left 
 them, and whose only diversion of the summer had 
 terminated with the Yellow Medicine event, relaxed 
 into enforced quietude, without the remotest sus- 
 picion that before night more than one-fourth of 
 their number would be called upon to meet death 
 in one of the fiercest and most merciless combats 
 recorded. 
 
 At about 10 o'clock in the forenoon, August 18, 
 1862, came, like the lightning's flash from a clear 
 sky, the startling news of the horrible massacre be- 
 gun three hours previously at the Redwood Agen- 
 cy. Down from the northwest, nearing the Fort, 
 was seen the approach of people in great haste. The 
 attention of the garrison was generally attracted to 
 the unusual spectacle, but without once suspecting 
 the cause of it. J. C. Dickinson was in the advance 
 and was the first to enter the Fort. He had scarce- 
 ly told in a few words of the uprising when a team 
 immediately following him entered under the lash, 
 with a load of refugees, among them a wounded 
 man, who had made his escape after being shot at 
 the Agency. That savage wrath had burst like a 
 flame was at first inconceivable, but the testimony 
 that the seal ping-knife had flashed from its sheath 
 to follow the deadly work of the gun was all too ev- 
 ident to be questioned. The soldiers gathered 
 around the refugees whose tales were told in shock- 
 ing, dramatic detail. Captain Marsh did not delib- 
 erate, but ordered the assembling of the company 
 at once. Charles M. Culver, the drummer boy, for 
 the first time sounded with meaning emphasis the 
 long-roll. Thrilled with the story of the massacre 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 
 
 41 
 
 and the clamor of the drum, men were quickly in 
 line to receive orders. With a haste that seemed 
 imperative a detail of forty-six men was made at 
 once to proceed to the scene of carnage, under the 
 belief that the situation was yet controllable, and in 
 any event demanded the presence of soldiery at the 
 Agency. It was simply a matter of moments be- 
 tween the receipt of the news of the outbreak and 
 the departure of Captain Marsh and his detail for 
 the scene of the bloody work thirteen miles away. 
 
 These were the men to whose lot it fell to gfo on 
 this expedition : 
 
 Captain- 
 John S. Marsh 
 
 Interpreter 
 Peter Quinn 
 
 Sergeants 
 R. H. Findley 
 S. A. Trescott 
 J. F. Bishop 
 
 Corporals 
 J. S. Besse 
 W. E. Winslow 
 T. D. Huntley 
 C. H. Hawley 
 
 Privates 
 Charles Beecher 
 Charles R. Bell 
 W. H. Blodgett 
 John Brennan 
 Levi Carr 
 E. F. Cole 
 
 Privates (cont'd) 
 W. B. Hutchinson 
 Chris Joerger 
 Durs Kanzig 
 James H. Kerr 
 Wenzel Kusda 
 Henry McAllister 
 John Me Go wan 
 James M. Munday 
 James Murray 
 Wenzel Norton 
 J. W. Parks 
 M. P. Parks 
 John Parsley 
 Thomas Parsley 
 H. A. Phillips 
 N. Pitcher 
 A. Rebenski 
 Ezekiel Rose 
 J. Serfling 
 
42 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Marsh and his men (cont'd) 
 James Dunn H. A. Shepherd 
 
 J. W. Foster C. W. Smith 
 
 C. E. French N. Steward 
 
 A. Gardner S. Steward 
 
 J. Gardner W. A. Sutherland 
 
 J. A. Gehring O. Svendson 
 
 John Holmes S. VanBuren 
 
 At the command, " Forward," the men moved out 
 with elastic step, the very embodiment of splendid 
 soldiery. Teams were hastily hitched up, and car- 
 rying light supplies of ammunition and provision, 
 followed and soon overtook the command. Captain 
 Marsh and Interpreter Quinn were on mule-back, 
 and the men now climbed into the wagons that more 
 haste might be made in reaching the Agency. 
 
 Fort Ridgely was now practically deserted, Lieu- 
 tenant T. P. Gere remaining in command of the post 
 with fewer than thirty men. The situation had sud- 
 denly become one of the keenest anxiety, and this 
 was increased by the constant accessions of refu- 
 gees, whose tales of horrible deeds gave evidence 
 of the rapid spread of the frightful work of carnage 
 started at the Agency in the morning, but now 
 sweeping over the adjacent settlements. Fugitives 
 who came in over the Agency road, and who had 
 met Captain Marsh and his men, pronounced the 
 expedition to the ferry one destined to end in the 
 greatest disaster. This was neither reassuring nor 
 comforting to the remnant of the company left in 
 command of the Fort, and was rendered less so be- 
 cause the convictions expressed were those of men 
 of keen discernment, who were well informed on 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 43 
 
 the deplorable situation. In fact these fugitives, 
 when meeting Captain Marsh, cautioned him of his 
 danger, and advised him, if he would not turn back, 
 at least not to enter the valley of the Minnesota 
 River, which he must do three miles from the 
 Agency if he persisted in reaching the ferry. 
 
 Before Captain Marsh had covered half the dis- 
 tance to the Agency his command had witnessed 
 buildings aflame and corpses by the wayside to 
 warn him of the danger that threatened him, and 
 the whole frontier as well. There was no time to 
 deliberate. To march into the jaws of death, as 
 seemed imminent, might make the fall of Fort 
 Ridgely a certainty, and thus expose the frontier 
 settlements to annihilation. On the other hand, if 
 a brave and almost superhuman effort could yet 
 stay the savage hand dripping with blood, incalcu- 
 lable loss of life could be prevented. Captain 
 Marsh knew his men. He had no doubt of their 
 splendid courage. The fleeing refugees warned 
 them that to enter the valley was almost certain 
 death, but all this was met with a stoical determin- 
 ation to do faithfully and bravely the duty pointed 
 out to them by their commander, who believed the 
 great good possible to be accomplished was worth 
 the hazard the undertaking involved. 
 
 While this march was being made on that quiet 
 summer day, hearts were beating anxiously at the 
 Fort. As the men passed out to the northwestward 
 in the forenoon, they were watched for a mile or so, 
 and disappeared, with a bon voyage, below the inter- 
 vening prairie-ridge, entering, as it proved, on the 
 threshold of eternity. Refugees came in in increas- 
 
44 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 numbers, and pointed to the distant columns of 
 smoke as those of burning homes. Some of these 
 people were wounded, and all were fatigued and 
 terror-stricken. There were increasing evidences 
 of the approach of the savage horde throughout the 
 western and northwestern settlements. 
 
 There were none so dull as not to realize that 
 the situation was profoundly critical. Marsh and 
 his little detail were well within the environment of 
 the savages. That they would stay the bloody hand, 
 or even extricate themselves from their perilous 
 predicament, became hourly more doubtful. There 
 was no reserve force to go to their assistance. The 
 Fort itself and all in it must fall if vigorously at- 
 tacked. This was self-evident. Its hope was not 
 in its ability to resist an onslought, but in the great 
 good fortune that should delay an attack until bet- 
 ter preparation should obtain. 
 
 When within six or seven miles of the Agency 
 Captain Marsh, seeing evidences of danger on ev- 
 ery hand, ordered his men to abandon the wagons 
 and resume their former order of march. The pace 
 of the men was quickened, and believing the Lower 
 Agency the center of disturbance, and that once 
 there cool and wise heads could be conferred with 
 and a stop put to the hellish work, the command 
 hurried with a zeal worthy of a better fate than 
 awaited the brave detachment. Reaching the top of 
 Faribault hill, three miles from the Agency, a view 
 of the Minnesota valley presented itself. Sicken- 
 ing scenes had been witnessed by the wayside, and 
 there was little else than desolation to be seen from 
 this hill-top. Only men of the rarest courage and 
 
OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 45 
 
 of the most perfect discipline would have entered 
 that valley of death in the face of all that was 
 known. 
 
 At the Fort the horrible condition at the Agency 
 had now been fully detailed, striking terror to ev- 
 ery heart and sealing the doom of Marsh and his 
 men. Among the refugees who arrived in the af- 
 ternoon from the Agency was Rev. J. D. Hinman, 
 an Episcopal missionary, stationed at Redwood. 
 Having arisen early to start on a journey to Fari- 
 bault, he was out in the tranquil morning that gave 
 no suspicion that the curtain was about to rise on 
 one of the most appalling massacres, at his own 
 door, ever known to American history. He was 
 ready for his departure between six and seven 
 o'clock, when unusual signs for the hour among the 
 Indians attracted his attention. The Indians were 
 almost naked, and carried their guns. Their num- 
 bers increased, and people began to wonder at their 
 unusual appearance, which some interpreted to 
 mean that a raid was to be made on some Chippe- 
 wa band known to have invaded the neighborhood. 
 The Indians squatted nonchalantly on the steps of 
 the various buildings, their demeanor betraying no 
 sign of hostility. 
 
 Now a signal gun broke the silence in the upper 
 part of town. Even this was doubted to be a sign 
 of hostility until other shooting up the street and 
 the hasty fleeing of people towards the bluff over- 
 looking the river began to be alarming. White Dog 
 ran past Mr. Hinman at this juncture, and to an in- 
 quiring word replied that " awful work had been 
 started." He was no doubt himself taken by sur- 
 
46 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 prise, though later in the day his cunning and his 
 treachery played an important part in the betrayal 
 of Marsh. Little Crow also passed Mr. Hinman 
 about this time, but with a scowl declined to an- 
 swer an inquiry of the missionary, though they 
 knew each other well, and the chief, now sullen, had 
 always been polite and friendly. The firing had 
 now become a fusilade, and people were being shot 
 down on every hand. The traders were the first ob- 
 jects of hatred to fall, riddled with bullets. As the 
 bloody work progressed the savages grew wild and 
 furious, their hideous yells, the crash of their guns, 
 work of the torch, the shrieks of their helpless vic- 
 tims, begging vainly for mercy, creating a scene 
 horrifying in the extreme. Rev. Hinman fled be- 
 fore the spreading tide of death had reached him, 
 and gaining the river, fortunately found a skiff with 
 which he hastily crossed, making good his escape 
 to the Fort. 
 
 With this additional information from so high an 
 authority, what could the fate of Captain Marsh and 
 his detail be? Every heart-throb echoed this in- 
 quiry ; every glance betrayed the awful misgivings 
 that tongues hesitated to utter. 
 
 Night began to gather its unwelcome folds around 
 the distraught garrison. Refugees, principly wo- 
 men and children, had swarmed in with sickening 
 tales, to increase the burdens now illy proportioned 
 to the garrison's defenders. Lieutenant Gere, who 
 now commanded the Fort, though but twenty years 
 of age, had combined within him soldierly ability, 
 courage of the highest order, and discretion beyond 
 his years. His bearing was an inspiration, and he 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 47 
 
 possessed the perfect confidence of what remained 
 of Company B under his command. The gloom 
 of night had added its dangers to the situation, 
 with no tidings from the brave men who were 
 last reported as they were descending into the val- 
 ley near the Agency. The men under Lieutenant 
 Gere maintained a courage and loyalty equal to any 
 sacrifice. Whatever fate willed, they would reso- 
 lutely meet. Dispositions were made for the night 
 to guard as far as possible against a night surprise, 
 and with the few men widely dispersed, the garri- 
 son settled down to a death-like stillness, when 
 the first tidings came of the fate of Marsh and his 
 men. Privates James Dunn and William B. Hutch- 
 inson were the first to arrive with the story of the 
 frightful disaster at the ferry, they having been 
 dispatched by Sergeant John F. Bishop, who 
 was in command of the only known remnant of 
 Company B to escape the merciless slaughter at the 
 ferry. The little party were carrying a badly 
 wounded comrade, while Bishop himself was wound- 
 ed. Their progress being thus impeded, Bishop 
 dispatched Dunn and Hutchinson to apprise the 
 garrison of the disaster, himself and party reaching 
 the Fort at ten o'clock at night. 
 
 Now the thrilling story was told in detail. Marsh's 
 slender detachment descended into the Minnesota 
 valley at Faribault hill at about midday, and 
 marched across a bottom for three miles over a 
 road not unfavorable to a treacherous foe, grass of 
 a rank growth affording shelter on either hand. 
 When within a mile or so of the ferry the Captain 
 halted his men for a moment's needed rest. Resum- 
 
48 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 ing his march the men were moved in open order 
 by single file to minimize the danger from exposure, 
 and in this order continued to the ferry-house, situ- 
 ated on the east side of the road, ten or twelve rods 
 north of the ferry. Just two weeks previously to a 
 day most of these men were actors in the dramatic 
 incident at Yellow Medicine, when, on the 4th of 
 August, they were surrounded by nearly a thousand 
 armed warriors, when the Government warehouse 
 was attacked. Coolness and courage won the day 
 for these same soldiers on that occasion. May they 
 not now overmatch the red-handed savage and yet 
 bring order out of chaos ? There must have been 
 this lingering hope, though conditions were so 
 changed as to make the hope chimerical. 
 
 Along the river at the ferry were clumps of wil- 
 lows and other brush, together with a rank growth 
 of weeds and grass, with here and there a sandbar 
 deposited by the river in flood-time. Knowing the 
 stealthy nature of the Sioux, and that war. had been 
 inaugurated, the surroundings were such as any 
 American soldier, willing to meet his foe in the 
 open, would feel ill-at-ease in. 
 
 On the high bluff just across the river was the 
 Redwood Agency, the objective point of Captain 
 Marsh, and where he had hoped to meet prominent 
 Sioux chiefs, and through their co-operation restore 
 order. He apparently could not realize that the 
 Agency had been blotted out, and that every soul 
 who had made up its white citizenship lay prostrate 
 where he fell, shot to death and mutilated beyond 
 recognition. The slope leading from the river to 
 the brow of the Agency hill was studded with a 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 49 
 
 thick growth of brushy timber. The disemboweled 
 and acephalous body of the ferryman had already 
 been found, with the ferryboat on the north side of 
 the river, ready for the soldiers to enter upon, as 
 the Indians had no doubt carefully planned, divin- 
 ing that Marsh would seek to cross to the Agency 
 side. Indians there were in plenty, but they kept 
 themselves well concealed. A few warriors on 
 horseback revealed themselves indifferently on the 
 prairie south of the Agency, and at considerable 
 distance from the ferry, their evident purpose being 
 to attract attention from the forces masked in the 
 region of the ferry. Near the ferry landing on the 
 opposite or Agency side of the river, was a lone In- 
 dian, chosen for a conspicuous part in the tragedy 
 to be enacted when the plans of the cunning Indi- 
 ans were matured. This was recognized to be no 
 less a personage than White Dog, who himself was 
 clearly taken by surprise by the outbreak as his de- 
 meanor to Rev. Hinman revealed in the early morn- 
 ing. White Dog was a prominent Indian at the 
 Agency, having been president of the Indian Farm- 
 ers' Organization, and his selection as a man likely 
 to inspire confidence in Captain Marsh was neither 
 spontaneous nor accidental. Through Interpreter 
 Quinn Captain Marsh addressed White Dog, who, 
 in reply, suavely invited Marsh to cross, assuring 
 him that the Indians did not wish to fight the sol- 
 diers, and that if Marsh would cross to the Agency 
 a council would be called to meet and confer with 
 him. Two soldiers who went to the river's brink to 
 obtain water as this conversation was being carried 
 on, discovered in concealment on the opposite side, 
 
50 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 near White Dog, many Indians. However, Captain 
 Marsh ordered his men forward from the ferry- 
 house to the ferry-landingr, purposing to cross, his 
 men halting at a front along the river. Sergeant 
 Bishop having stepped to the water's edge for a 
 drink as the ferry ropes were being adjusted, saw 
 evidences in the roily condition of the water that 
 the Indians were crossing up-stream with a view to 
 a rear attack. This conviction expressed to Captain 
 Marsh, was intuitively grasped by White Dog, who 
 knew the moment was critical, and now doubted 
 that Marsh would enter upon the ferry. He there- 
 fore fired the signal gun, as was his part in the trag- 
 edy, to which Quinn, the white-haired interpreter, 
 sensing its meaning instantly, in his last breath, 
 cried, " Look out !" A deadly volley came from the 
 ambuscade on the opposite side of the river, killing 
 many a brave soldier who had had no opportunity 
 to defend himself. Quinn was among those to fall 
 at the first volley, riddled with no less than a dozen 
 bullets. The volley was high and mainly passed 
 over the heads of the soldiers. Marsh and Quinn 
 stood nearly side by side when the volley was fired, 
 but the Captain was unscathed, and instantly order- 
 ed his men to fall back to the ferry house. Now 
 came the awful realization of Bishop's prediction, 
 for with deafening yells there rose from ambush in 
 the rear, and within short range, a legion of naked, 
 frantic devils who poured a merciless volley into 
 the already staggered ranks of Marsh. The effect 
 was deadly. Now the men fought for their lives, 
 and to extricate themselves from their perilous pre- 
 dicament. The losses were already so great that 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 51 
 
 to attempt a stand would be simply to blindly chal- 
 lenge fate. [As stated by Chaska in 1863, when re- 
 ferring to this bloody incident, White Dog gave the 
 death-signal prematurely, for which he was bitterly 
 assailed by Little Crow and other prominent lead- 
 ers in the massacre. The signal was not to have 
 been given until the savage cordon had been so ex- 
 tended as to prevent the escape of a single man of 
 Marsh's command, in event the soldiers could not 
 be gotten upon the ferry and there annihilated.] 
 
 The Indians had secured possession of the ferry- 
 house by this time. The righting now was of the 
 most desperate character, being hand to hand or at 
 the range of a few paces. The soldiers made dead- 
 ly work in the ranks of the savages, who were no 
 match for the trained infantrymen in open combat ; 
 but realizing they could not withstand the already 
 overwhelming and constantly increasing numbers, 
 Marsh gave the order to gain at all hazards the 
 thicket along the river, of which the savages had 
 not yet secured possession. This was accom- 
 plished under a furious fire, fifteen out of the origi- 
 nal number, after fighting like demons, reaching the 
 sheltering copse. To reach the Fort over an un- 
 known country, pathless, and beset with a desper- 
 ate enemy, was the only hope of the brave comman- 
 der and his shattered force. The thicket was raked 
 with the guns of the savages, but the men were now 
 fighting from cover with a deliberateness of aim 
 that kept the enemy well at bay. Covering their 
 retreat carefully, the men fought their way down 
 through the brush until they apparently must soon 
 expose themselves to Indians seen out on the Fort 
 
52 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 road, who were believed to be moving" eastward to 
 intercept the re treat ing 1 detachment. Captain Marsh 
 believed safety lay alone in crossing to the south 
 bank of the river, and led in an effort to accomplish 
 this end. This was at about 4 o'clock p. m. The 
 Minnesota River at this point was fifty yards or 
 more in width. Lifting his sword and revolver 
 above his head the Captain waded successfully two- 
 thirds of the way across. Getting: beyond his depth 
 he could no longer retain his weapons of defense, 
 and dropping them, attempted to swim. In this he 
 was unsuccessful, and called to his men for assist- 
 ance. Brennan, Dunn and VanBuren, all men of 
 heroic mould, hastened to the rescue of their com- 
 mander, but he was doomed by the treacherous wa- 
 ters, and though seized by Brennan's strong arm, as 
 he was sinking the second time, and brought to the 
 surface, and although the Captain grasped the 
 shoulder of the athletic hero daring all to save him, 
 the hold of the officer and that of the soldier were 
 broken in the struggle, and Captain Marsh disap- 
 peared beneath the merciless waters to rise no 
 more. 
 
 Now the command devolved upon Sergeant John 
 F. Bishop, than whom there was no better or braver 
 soldier. Beset with calamity, dogged with disas- 
 ter and wounded besides, with one of his men, pri- 
 vate Svendson, so seriously wounded that he must 
 be carried by his comrades, Bishop was put to a 
 test summoning all his tact, courage and endurance. 
 He at once decided to keep the north side of the 
 river, instead of crossing it as Captain Marsh had 
 designed, and this decision no doubt saved the lives 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 53 
 
 of Bishop and his fourteen men, as the Indians, be- 
 lieving the soldiers to have crossed the stream, 
 themselves crossed to ambush the men on the south 
 side. While the Indians were lying in concealment, 
 awaiting the approach of the would-be victims, the 
 little command, under cover of a favoring hill on 
 the south bank of the river, passed successfully to 
 safer and better protected ground down stream. 
 Stealthily, cautiously, vigilantly the wearied and 
 persecuted men pressed onward, not unmindful that 
 their enemy's plan of warfare always embraced the 
 deadly ambush. 
 
 Night was fast approaching. Whether its protec- 
 tion in an unknown and pathless country was pref- 
 erable to daylight and exposure, was difficult to de- 
 termine. With nothing to eat and bearing a wound- 
 ed soldier in need of surgical treatment, there could 
 be no thought of halting, not with the certainty that 
 Fort Ridgely could be but a few miles distant at 
 most. But did the Fort exist ? Had not the des- 
 perate enemy, flushed with success and drunk with 
 frenzy, pressed on tb overpower and annihilate 
 the well-nigh defenseless garrison ? Surely it was 
 within his power to accomplish this result. 
 
 When, after nightfall, Sergeant Bishop sent the 
 sturdy soldiers, Dunn and Hutchinson, forward, 
 there was ample reason to feel the Fort might have 
 fallen, though no cannonading had reverberated 
 through the valley to indicate an attack; still, known 
 conditions were such that a fierce and sudden at- 
 tack on the garrison might be successfully made in 
 a manner to preclude the use of artillery. Ser- 
 geant Bishop felt, as he was justified in doing, that 
 
54 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Dunn and Hutchinson were men to be relied upon 
 to successfully learn and apprise him if the Fort 
 had fallen. But the two soldiers found the garrison 
 in the hands of Lieutenant Gere, and made a suc- 
 cessful entry, as did Bishop and the remainder of 
 his men an hour later, twelve hours from the time 
 of their departure under Captain Marsh in the fore- 
 noon. 
 
 The garrison was well prepared in mind from 
 what had filtered to it, for the news of the disaster ; 
 yet it was stunned to speechlessness when the list 
 of casualties was announced. 
 
 THE KILLED. 
 
 Captain John S. Marsh (drowned) 
 
 Interpreter Peter Quinn 
 
 Sergeant Russell H. Findley 
 Solon A. Trescott 
 
 Corporal Joseph S. Besse 
 Privates Charles R. Bell Edwin F. Cole 
 
 Charles E. French John Gardner 
 Jacob A. Gehring John Holmes 
 Christian Joerger Durs Kanzig 
 James H. Kerr Wenzel Kusda 
 
 Henry McAllister Wenzel Norton 
 John Parsley Moses P. Parks 
 
 John W. Parks Nathaniel Pitcher 
 
 Harrison A. Phillips Charles W. Smith 
 Henry. A. Shepherd Nathan Stewart 
 
 THE WOUNDED. 
 Sergeant John F.Bishop 
 Privates William H. Blodgett Ezekiel Rose 
 Win. A. Sutherland Ole Svendson 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 55 
 
 Early on the morning: of the 20th, William A. 
 Sutherland and William H. Blodgett arrived at the 
 Fort, after experiences and endurance almost un- 
 believable. These men were shot down in the en- 
 gagement at the ferry. Their escape, their suffer- 
 ings and their heroic struggle for life can scarcely 
 be matched in history. Sutherland was shot in the 
 breast, the ball passing through the right lung, and 
 out near the point of the right shoulder-blade, at 
 his back. 
 
 The wound rendered him unconscious for a time, 
 and while in this condition the Indians took from 
 him his gun, cartridge-belt and box, his cap, coat 
 and shoes, leaving him destitute of clothing, save 
 his shirt (saturated with blood from his wound), and 
 his trousers. The mystery is that he was not 
 scalped, but his escape was no doubt due to a dis- 
 tracted state among the savages who were rent with 
 dissension over the personal effects of their victims. 
 Sutherland fell near the river, where he lay for sev- 
 eral hours. Returning to consciousness, he found 
 himself crazed with pain and thirst. Lifting his 
 head cautiously, he looked about him, half stupe- 
 fied, yet curious to learn whether his comrades, who 
 were in action when he fell, had been annihilated. 
 While the savages had completed their hellish 
 work, they were still in the vicinity, and he could 
 hear their voices not far away, and the firing of 
 guns far and near warned him of the havoc being 
 wrought upon the settlements of the vicinity. He 
 determined to crawl to the river and slake his burn- 
 ing thirst, even though to do so should cost him his 
 life. He tested his strength in an effort to turn 
 
56 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 over, having 1 fallen on his face when shot. He found 
 he could move his body, and down through the high 
 grass and weeds he dragged himself to the water's 
 edge, leaving a trail stained with blood to betray 
 him should an Indian cross his path. He was much 
 refreshed with copious draughts of water, and 
 crawled back into the weeds, where he meditated, 
 and wondered if escape was a physical possibility. 
 He reasoned that no attempt at escape should be 
 made before nightfall. Thirst compelled him to 
 make several visits to the river. Near his drinking 
 place was a skiff, lodged against the river's bank, 
 and partially filled with water. The waterlogged 
 boat suggested a possible means of escape, and he 
 resolved that if not discovered and slain before 
 dark he would make a superhuman effort to save his 
 life. At about ten o'clock at night, after all the 
 savages had joined in the hideous orgies of the 
 scalp-dance on the Agency side of the river, he felt 
 that now if ever he must carry out his resolution. 
 He crept cautiously to the water's edge, removed 
 as much water from the boat as possible with his 
 hands while the craft lay on its edge, and pushing 
 it into the stream, got in. There was no seat in the 
 boat, no oars, no paddle, and nothing with which to 
 bail out the water, of which there was a consider- 
 able quantity at the outset. He sat down in this in 
 the bottom of the boat, hatless and without clothing 
 to protect his shattered body from the penetrating 
 chill of night, with no nourishment of any kind. 
 Thus he began his solemn journey, dependent whol- 
 ly upon his boat and the current of the sluggish 
 river. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 57 
 
 As he drifted silently away under the southwest- 
 ern hills, the hideous din of the scalp-dance, con- 
 ducted but a matter of rods away from where he had 
 lain for hours, became less and less distinct, until 
 croaking frogfs or an occasional bittern alone broke 
 the silence of night. In this hapless plight, this 
 country boy of twenty summers, who had left all 
 the comforts of a happy home, tenanted with loved 
 ones, to enter the army and serve his country, be- 
 gan a voyage under conditions seeming to challenge 
 fate and which fiction, in all its reckless extrava- 
 gance, would scarce attempt a parallel. 
 
 All that night, all the next day, and all the fol- 
 lowing night until nearly dawn, this ghostly figure 
 drifted silently along, now backwards, now side- 
 wise and now for an hour or so whirled helplessly 
 in an eddy. The nights were gloomy and solemn, 
 but not more so than the light of day, that revealed 
 the pall of death on every hand. Sutherland was 
 seized with a delusion that haunted him against rea- 
 son, from the outset of his journey. He felt that he 
 was helplessly being carried in the wrong direction 
 that he should go up stream instead of down, and 
 this fantasy gave him no end of trouble. He was 
 shot on Monday afternoon. He entered his boat 
 Monday night, and there remained until the break 
 of day Wednesday morning. He knew his progress 
 had been very slow, but he felt that if the boat had 
 carried him in the proper direction, he must be in 
 the vicinity of the Fort. At all events he found 
 that he must abandon the waterlogged boat, for he 
 had become so stiffened he could scarcely move. 
 Against his better judgement, the bewildering de- 
 
58 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 lusion that had been his pursuing nemesis, impell- 
 ed him to land, by paddling with his hands, on the 
 wrong side of the river, or on the side opposite the 
 Fort. Benumbed and weakened, but stimulated 
 with the hope that he would soon reach the garri- 
 son, he picked his way through a jungle of under- 
 brush, and out of the valley and up the wooded hills 
 until he reached the open prairie on the highlands. 
 He saw Indian cabins that were strange to him, but 
 no trace of the garrison or of any familiar object. 
 His heart sickened, and despair overwhelmed him, 
 and he sank to the earth. But his great will-power 
 triumphed, and he rose to his feet again. The sun 
 had now risen to flood the earth with its exhilarat- 
 ing light. Sutherland realized that he must return 
 to the shelter of the river valley, as he was in 
 great danger of being discovered; and as he 
 turned his face to the northeastward, to his amaze- 
 ment and joy he beheld Fort Ridgely in the favor- 
 ing light of the morning sun, on the hills beyond 
 the river, the colors flying at full-mast, assuring 
 him that without doubt the Fort had not fallen. He 
 now knew he had abandoned his boat not far above 
 the road crossing the river by a ferry, and leading 
 to the Fort. He set out to reach the river at the 
 ferry-crossing, but on his arrival at the stream a 
 new disappointment awaited him. The rope span- 
 ning the river had been cut and the ferry was gone. 
 There was but one alternative : he must swim the 
 river or perish in the attempt to do so. He lost no 
 time, but got down into the water, which was soon 
 beyond his depth, compelling him, while suffering 
 excruciating pain in the effort, to exert himself to 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 59 
 
 keep from sinking. By the assistance of the 
 current he landed on the opposite side, where, 
 having been carried several rods down stream, he 
 experienced great difficulty in pulling" himself up 
 the abrupt and brush-grown river bank. He ac- 
 complished all this, however, and walked a mile, 
 most of the way up-hill, and reached the Fort, a 
 gaunt, bent, blood-stained, half-naked specter, as if 
 risen from the dead to affright his surviving com- 
 rades. He arrived at the garrison between 8 and 9 
 o'clock of Wednesday morning, August 20th, and 
 an hour later the Indians came in swarms over the 
 road by which he had barely made his escape. 
 
 But Blodgett's escape was even more miraculous. 
 It would not be rash to say that it has no record- 
 ed parallel. He was shot through the abdomen, the 
 bullet penetrating the intestines. He lay conceal- 
 ed from 2 o'clock in the afternoon until between 9 
 and 10 o'clock at night, without aid, comfort, water, 
 nourishment or the knowledge that a soul of the 
 command beside himself had survived the battle. 
 For an hour after the engagement the savages were 
 busy all about him, scalping his fallen comrades, 
 whose cries for mercy he heard, as the cruel knife 
 was applied, or as the deadly war-club fell upon 
 their heads. The savages were once within ten 
 feet of him, but a distracting quarrel between the 
 Indians who were conducting a search a few feet 
 away, and which ended in a physical encounter for 
 the possession of a gun, diverting their attention 
 from his concealment, no doubt made his escape 
 possible. When the wild orgies of the savages were 
 at their height at nightfall on the Agency side of 
 
60 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 the river, and when he felt sure the Indian guards 
 had been tempted to the exciting" scenes in celebra- 
 tion of their awful deeds of blood, Blodgett arose, 
 and although in agony scarcely endurable, started 
 down stream along the river's bank, first having re- 
 freshed himself with a drink of water, to make the 
 Fort if possible. Man's endurance was never put to 
 a severer test. With no food since breakfast, without 
 water for hours and crazed with thirst, and the suf- 
 ferer from a wound almost invariably mortal these 
 were the conditions under which this young soldier, 
 determined to reach his comrades, set out in dark- 
 ness, without path, guide or a knowledge of the 
 country, at times feeling that consuming pain would, 
 in spite of his endeavors, thwart his strong will. 
 After struggling along for a few hours, during which 
 he had made about three miles, he found he could 
 go no farther in the darkness through the vines and 
 brushwood which at every step seemed to be tear- 
 ing his wound open anew, and he lay down and 
 rested as best he could until morning, tortured un- 
 mercifully throughout the night by swarms of mos- 
 quitoes. When daylight came he carefully picked 
 his way, at all times keeping himself under cover 
 of the trees near the river, so as not to expose him- 
 self to the Indians, in which manner he advanced 
 about six miles before nightfall. After the dark- 
 ness came on he realized that he must abandon all 
 hope of saving himself, unless he could reach the 
 highway on the prairie uplands to the north of the 
 river, as his strength was too rapidly failing him to 
 stem the jungle of brush, brambles and tangled 
 grass. He therefore resolved to cross the bottom, 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 61 
 
 climb the hill, and gain the highway if possible, 
 though he would thus be much more liable to disov- 
 ery by the savages. Having pushed along over the 
 pathless ground in the darkness of night for an 
 hour, he reached the Fort road, and started slowly 
 on his way to the garrison. When he arrived at the 
 Three-Mile House (three miles from the Fort), he 
 entered it, and finding a match, lit it, and was in 
 the act of searching for something to eat or drink, 
 when he was startled by a man's voice on the out- 
 side, saying, " If there are any whites in there, let 
 them come out and go to the Fort, for I just passed 
 an Indian camp in the valley, only a short distance 
 away." Blodgett suspected this to be the ruse of 
 an unfriendly halfbreed, who was simply attempt- 
 ing to betray him into the hands of the savages ; 
 but he could lose nothing by making himself known, 
 and stepping out, called in the darkness to the un- 
 known spokesman, who proved to be John Fanska, 
 a German of New Ulm, who had gone to the Agen- 
 cy on business just before the massacre, who was 
 frightfully wounded by an arrow which had been 
 fired into his back during the outbreak at Redwood 
 on the 18th, and who had thrown a blanket over his 
 head and escaped to the timber near the river in 
 the excitement. The arrow-head had completely 
 buried itself in his back, and reaching shelter, 
 writhing in agony, he attempted to withdraw the 
 arrow, but only made matters worse by breaking 
 the shaft off where it was attached to the cruel 
 barb. But one thing could be worse than this tor- 
 ture, and that would be to fall into the hands of the 
 savages. This greater dread made the sufferings 
 
62 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 of the wounded man endurable, though the point of 
 the arrow-head had penetrated his right lung. Like 
 Blodgett, he had thus far eluded the Indians, and 
 was endeavoring to reach the garrison. Blodgett, 
 with his new-found companion, reached Ft. Ridgely 
 at 2 o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, August 
 20th, thirty-six hours after receiving his frightful 
 wound still undressed, and with nothing to eat since 
 breakfast of Monday morning, covering a distance 
 the way he came, of fully eighteen or twenty miles.* 
 
 Ezekiel Rose made his escape, wounded, from the 
 ferry disaster by night, and fearing the Fort had 
 fallen, made his way through the country to Hen- 
 derson. 
 
 In the terrible conflict at the ferry, the fighting 
 assuming an almost hand-to-hand stage, the ranks 
 of the soldiers became shattered, and when Cap- 
 tain Marsh gave the order to seek shelter in the 
 brush below the ferry road, a number of men were 
 so far detached to the northward from their com- 
 rades, and were so engaged in the fierce struggle, 
 with their ranks being decimated to the bounds of 
 extermination, that they fought their way out along 
 the road upon which they had entered the death- 
 trap, and their guns becoming too hot for service, 
 fell in the combat, or took to shelter individually, 
 wherever they could find it. Six, beside the two 
 wounded men, Blodgett and Sutherland, thus mirac- 
 ulously escaped with their lives, and returned to 
 the Fort under the cover of night. Those who es- 
 
 * Blodgett survived his frightful experience, and resides (1909) in San Jose, 
 California. Sutherland recovered and served with his company in the South 
 until the close of the Civil War. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 63 
 
 caped with Captain Marsh, and were taken into the 
 Fort by Sergeant Bishop, after the drowning 1 of 
 Captain Marsh, were : 
 
 John F. Bishop William E. Winslow 
 
 Truman D. Huntley Charles H. Hawley 
 John Brennan Levi Carr 
 
 James Dunn William B. Hutchinson 
 
 John McGowan Antonie Rebenski 
 
 John Serfling Samuel Stewart 
 
 Ole Svendson Stephen VanBuren 
 
 James Murray. 
 
 Those who became detached and for lack of am- 
 munition or on account of the non-servicable con- 
 dition of their guns were forced to seek individual 
 shelter, and who thus escaped to the Fort in the 
 night, were : 
 
 James W. Foster Thomas Parsley 
 
 James M. Munday Ambrose Gardner 
 Charles Beecher* Ezekiel Rose 
 
 *Beecher did not reach the Fort until Wednesday forenoon, just in time for 
 the first day's fight. Rose escaped to Henderson. 
 
 [ NOTE After the preparation of these manuscripts, learning that Blodgelt 
 was believed to be living, I instituted a search for him, covering a period of 
 nearly a year. Through the western pension agencies I persisted in my search, 
 and was finally rewarded through the San Francisco agency. Though I had 
 never met Blodgett since the close of the war, I wrote the account of his ex- 
 perience as in the foregoing as he related it to me at the time of its occurrence. 
 Locating him, I asked for a statement for this volume, and received from him 
 under date of January 4, 1908, the following account, hitherto unpublished. 
 
 O. G. W.J 
 
 The company at once fell into line, and 46 men were detailed 
 to go with Captain Marsh to the scene of disturbance, each man taking forty 
 rounds of ammunition. * * I was one of the 46 men to go with Captain 
 Marsh. Starting out, we were soon overtaken on the march by four mule teams. 
 
64 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 As an illustrative incident, the experience of Jas. 
 W. Foster and Thomas Parsley, above, is related. 
 Foster's gun becoming: so hot a cartridge could no 
 longer be forced home with the steel rammer, and 
 finding himself quite alone, he dropped and crept to 
 the sheltering screen of a vine that grew over a 
 plum-tree. The ghastly work he had witnessed was 
 burned into his brain, and he was so utterly de- 
 fenseless, save the protection a clubbed-gun might 
 afford him for a brief moment, that he hailed with 
 delight the opportunity his concealment gave him 
 for an instant's reflection. He had no belief that 
 he would not be discovered and dispatched, but to 
 reveal himself was certain death. He therefore 
 coolly resolved to take the needed rest his shelter 
 .was affording him, allow his gun to become useful 
 again if possible, and sell his life dearly if he must. 
 The last man having apparently fallen, the savages 
 now nothing to fear, rushed in with their clubs, the 
 crunching blows of which Foster could plainly hear 
 
 We got into the wagons and were hurried along. When out about eight miles 
 from the Fort we came to a house that had been fired by the savages. Here 
 we saw a murdered man lying by the roadside. We saw several more dead 
 bodies as we passed along. About two miles from the ferry (at the Lower 
 Agency), before going down th hill to the bottom land, we could see mount- 
 ed Indians pursuing parties on the other side of the river, and in many cases 
 they were overaken and slain. We descended to the river valley, which was 
 covered with a rank growth of grass and weeds. On the left were some small 
 thickets of wild plum and willow. On the right were some trees and stumps. 
 The river was a few rods from and nearly parallel with the road we were on. 
 As we approached the ferry the river made a sharp turn and ran nearly east for 
 a short distance. Just at the turn a small creek came in, and the point of land 
 between the creek and river was covered by a thick growth of willows. While 
 going through this part of the road, it was thought best by some to throw out 
 skirmishers to learn if there was likely to be any trouble; but Captain Marsh 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 65 
 
 on the heads of his helpless, pleading comrades. 
 The savage demons were plainly seen by Foster in 
 their fiendish contortions of exultation as they dis- 
 patched and mutilated the fallen men who had gone 
 down in the open. Back and forth the ground was 
 hunted over, but the running fight with Captain 
 Marsh and the remnant of men in the thicket below 
 the ferry road attracted many of the savages to that 
 scene, though the ground where Foster and others 
 had fought was guarded until darkness made it no 
 longer possible to observe the movements of the 
 savages. By 10 o'clock at night fires were burning 
 on the Agency hill across the river and it was plain 
 the awful work of the day was the occasion of great 
 joy in the camp of the savages. Night indeed was 
 made hideous by the frightful revels of this scalp- 
 dance, where the naked bodies of the savages, with 
 jerking cadence, crouched and swayed, and writhed 
 and leaped around the central fire, in the light of 
 which could be seen as they bore them aloft, the 
 
 thought the Indians would not dare to molest the soldiers, and that probably 
 the disturbance was caused by a few Indians who had by some means obtained 
 liquor. As we approached the ferry, which was on our side of the river at 
 the time, we saw an Indian dressed very gorgeously in feathers and war-paint. 
 He was standing on a log on the opposite side of the river. He at once be- 
 gan talking with Mr. Quinn, the Interpreter, telling him to have the soldiers come 
 over and smoke the pipe of peace. Mr. Quinn said to the Captain that the 
 Indian was a chief named White Dog, and did not belong there, and tlhat he 
 feared his band was also there, and that he feared the trouble was general. He 
 also advised the Captain not to venture on the boat. While this conversation 
 was going on, one of the men [John F. Bishop O. G. W.J went down to the 
 river and dipped up water to pass to the men in ranks. The water was roily, 
 as though recently disturbed. He mentioned to the Captain that he thought the 
 Indians were crossing the river above, and that they would cut off our chance 
 of retreat. I was standing second from the right of the company, in the front 
 
66 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 bloody trophies of the awful slaughter, each fiend 
 in his turn seeking: to make more hideous the occa- 
 sion by hisses, howls, groans and yells than his fel- 
 lows had done. Foster reasoned that this scene 
 must have proven irresistible to the undisciplined 
 Indian sentinels about him, and that this was his 
 opportunity for escape. He arose with caution, 
 and in silence moved with measured step northeast- 
 erly. He had gone but a dozen paces through the 
 weeds and vines when he was startled by stepping 
 upon a human form. No sound came from the body 
 at his feet. Nothing could be heard in the deathly 
 stillness except the beating of his own heart. Bend- 
 ing low, and in a whisper, he asked : " Is this one 
 of the boys from the Fort ?" Feeling the body was 
 not that of a dead man, he again whispered : " If 
 this is one of the boys of Co. B, get up and let us 
 go to the Fort." No answer came, but as he stright- 
 ened up to proceed on his journey alone, the pros- 
 trate form moved, and there came from it in a low 
 
 rank, and on looking to the right saw several Indians moving on the point of 
 land between the creek and river. I at once told Orderly Sergeant Finley. At 
 that moment that terrible blood-curdling war-whoop of the Sioux, that no white 
 man has ever succeeded in imitating, was sounded. At the came time White 
 Dog discharged his gun and jumped back off the log. I felt a sharp pain in my 
 side and back, and began to sink down. I first thought one of the boys had 
 accidentally hit me with the butt of his gun. Then I heard a general discharge 
 of guns and a chorus of yells, and saw two or three other boys fall. I put my 
 hand to my side and found a bullet-hole through me. I then tried to get up, 
 but to do so was obliged to take my cartridge-belt off. While lying on the bank 
 of the river many balls struck near me and threw sand in my face. I at last suc- 
 ceeded in getting up. I started back along the road we had just come in over. 
 The grass seemed to be full of Indians as I ran back. I ran into the ferryman's 
 house. While in there the balls pattered through the house and the window. 
 The building was deserted, and I saw it would not do to stay there, so I ran 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 67 
 
 tone: " Is that you, Jim?" u Yes," said Foster, 
 "and let us get out of here at once." The man whom 
 Foster thus came upon proved to be Thomas Pars- 
 ley, who, when his gun became useless, disarming: 
 him, fell, and like Foster, concealed himself and 
 thus escaped. Indian pickets had been posted with- 
 in a few yards of him until their whereabouts could 
 no longer be determined in the darkness of night, 
 but he feared to leave his concealment until a later 
 hour, and as many half-breeds were on the war-path 
 with the Indians, and as these were known to speak 
 English well, and not suspecting a member of his 
 company had survived, Parsley, though he believed 
 he recognized Foster, even in a whisper, hesitated 
 to disclose himself until assured in his own mind 
 by this incident that he was not the sole survivor of 
 Marsh's detachment. 
 
 In the midst of peace, repose and daydreams a 
 demon had awakened from his slumber, to pile 
 event upon event, tragedy upon tragedy, with start- 
 out and across the road to the barn. Here I found Comrade John Parks, ly- 
 ing badly wounded. I tried to help him up, but he could not stand. As I 
 could do him no good I ran on into the brush and tall grass. I saw three of 
 our boys standing with their backs to a tree, each facing a different direction, 
 and shooting as fast as they could load their guns. I ran toward them, intend- 
 ing to take the other quarter of the tree, thinking it possible that four of us 
 might be able to make a stand, but just as I reached the tree the last one of 
 them fell. I looked in the direction from which I thought the balls had come, 
 and saw an Indian in the act of reloading his gun. I took a quick aim and 
 fired, and had the satisfaction of seeing him fall. I then loaded my gun from 
 the ammunition of Corporal Joseph Besse, and once more started for the brush. 
 As I ran, Comrade Edwin F. Cole came into the path in front of me. I told 
 him to run faster. He said, " I cannot ; I am wounded." I asked him where, 
 and he held out his left hand, which appeared to be shattered. Lifting his left 
 hand turned him into a path to the left. I took the path to the right. Just 
 
68 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 ling: swiftness in the making of Northwestern his- 
 tory. The day's tragedies were appalling indeed, 
 and it is hoped that another such bloody page as that 
 written upon this date will never again stain the an- 
 nals of Minnesota. 
 
 The morning of August 19th dawned after a sleep- 
 less night at Fort Ridgely. Lieutenant Gere, grasp- 
 ing the wide scope of responsibility he had suc- 
 ceeded to as the ranking officer of the garrison, left 
 nothing to luck or chance from the outset. One of 
 the last official acts of Captain Marsh on the morn- 
 ing of the 18th, before starting for Redwood, was to 
 write an order for the return of Lieutenant Sheehan 
 and his fifty men who left on the 17th on their re- 
 turn to Fort Ripley, this order being placed in the 
 hands of Corporal James C. McLean, fitted by cour- 
 age, tact and endurance for such an assignment. 
 
 As the night of the 18th approached, with its rap- 
 idly-increasing number of refugees, and its harrow- 
 then I heard a racket in front. I dropped down and began crawling into the 
 grass. My feet were still in the path, when Ezekiel Rose, our fifer, ran over 
 my feet with two Indians in hot pursuit, but by some means Rose escaped. 1 
 then concluded to hide. I crawled under some wild morning-glory vines and 
 reached back and straightened up the grass. Just then I heard Comrade Cole 
 cry out as if in great pain, and heard two Indians laugh and call him a squaw. 
 He continued to beg, so I concluded they were torturing him in some way. At 
 first I thought to get up and try to help him. Then reason came to me, and I 
 knew I could not save him, even if I gave my life for him. While these 
 thoughts were running through my head, I heard the most sickening sound im- 
 aginable. It was a blow with a tomahawk, and poor Cole was no more. Had 
 I made a move in his defense it would have only added one more to that aw- 
 ful slaughter. The Indians then lit their pipes and sat down to smoke. I could 
 distinctly smell their " kinikanic." They could not have been more than ten or 
 twelve feet from me. They soon left, and all became quiet. * * 
 
OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 69 
 
 ing tales from the settlements, and, finally, with the 
 first tidings of the frightful disaster to Captain 
 Marsh and his men, the garrison found itself in des- 
 perate straits. Lieutenant Gere dispatched a mes- 
 senger in the person of Private William J. Sturgis, 
 on the best horse at the post, with a message to the 
 commandant at Fort Snelling and to Governor Ram- 
 sey at St. Paul, apprising them of the massacre and 
 condition of affairs, and asking them to render 
 promptly such assistance as the dangerous state 
 demanded. Sturgis was also ordered to apprise 
 Lieutenant Culver and Indian Agent Galbraith, then 
 on their way to Fort Snelling with the Renville 
 Rangers and urge their hasty return to Fort Ridgely. 
 
 With savages spreading over the country, the 
 sending of messengers was attended with no little 
 risk to those who were assigned to this duty, but 
 Sturgis, like McLean, could be trusted to proceed 
 alertly and execute faithfully. 
 
 With his twenty-odd men, Lieutenant Gere must 
 
 The battle at the ferry began at about 1:30 o'clock p. m., and lasted about 
 20 minutes. There were 22 killed outright, and 5 were wounded who escaped 
 and reached Fort Ridgely between that time and 2 o'clock a. m. of the 20th. 
 * * * I lay concealed in the grass from near 2 o'clock p. m. until dark. 
 It was a very warm day (August 1 8th) and I suffered from thirst. I could hear 
 an Indian boy or squaw occasionally, not far away, and knew it was not safe 
 to show myself. When it grew dark I attempted to get up, but was so stiff 
 and sore it was all I could do to rise, and I was obliged to leave my gun in the 
 grass. I started toward a small lake to get a drink, but I was so sore and the 
 ground was so uneven I moved with great effort. My feet would catch in some 
 vine or root and cause me to stumble and almost fall, and every jar caused me 
 great pain. I was obliged to go very slow, and feel my way carefully. I at 
 last succeeded in reaching the lake. After quenching my thirst I concluded to 
 lie down and wait for daylight before attempting to go farther. The mosqui- 
 toes were very troublesome all night. At times I think I mus have lost my rea- 
 
70 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 make judicious dispositions. Nearly the entire ef- 
 fective force were posted as pickets, Gere person- 
 ally placing the men at dark, with full instructions 
 as to their duty. This was indeed a thin and slen- 
 der line for the defense of the garrison and the two 
 to three hundred refugees gathered in the buildings 
 of the Fort. The refugees realized this fact, and 
 were in a constant state of nervous tension, need- 
 ing but the sound of a gun to precipitate a panic, 
 as was illustrated during the night when one of the 
 outer pickets fired at some obscure object and ran 
 in, shouting " Indians !" The scene that followed 
 beggars description. The alarm was accepted as 
 the awful realization of the expected, for conditions 
 strengthened the feeling among these terror-strick- 
 en people that Nature's last penalty was to be in- 
 flicted, and, too, without any compensating qualifi- 
 cations, such as instant death, or death at the hands 
 of a civilized foe, even. These refugees were 
 massed in the wooden buildings, forming the east 
 
 son. I could not sleep much, and would rouse up and find myself talking to 
 Jack Fauver of our company, who drove the ambulance, but who of course was 
 miles away, if alive. I would thank him for coming after me, or ask him not 
 to go and leave me. Then again I would keep still and think I was hiding 
 from the Indians. Morning came at last, and as soon as it was light enough, 
 I once more got up by the aid of a tree and started for Fort Ridgely, which 
 was still twelve miles distant. I dared not go out into the open road, or show 
 myself in the open grass land, but kept in the brush. It was very slow, and 
 hard work to get along, so about the middle of the afternoon I ventured out 
 into the wild meadow, there havimg been no signs of Indians, and was getting 
 along better; but on looking around I saw four Indians. I was first attracted 
 to them by the tinkling of little bells on their ponies. They were on the road 
 on the hill, about a quarter of a mile away. They had just passed a thicket, 
 and come in sight of the open space I had entered. I dropped into the grass, 
 which was waist-high, and at once ran to the lake, which was only a few yards 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE 71 
 
 and west sides of the square of the Fort. With a 
 view to their greater safety Lieutenant Gere had 
 ordered the removal of all these fugitives to the 
 long stone barracks building at the north side of 
 the square. The crouching, cringing, praying, 
 grief-stricken mass was cowed into inactivity by 
 the reign of terror that had swept the settlements 
 and put them to flight, but the firing of the shot 
 and the alarm accompanying it set the affrighted 
 mass into a pell-mell scramble for such security as 
 the stone building might afford. The value of dis- 
 cipline was never more forcibly illustrated than on 
 this occasion Among the fugitives were not a few 
 men, and many of these lost their heads in the mad 
 rush for the barracks, the windows of which they 
 crushed to facilitate ingress, while numerous great 
 double doors yawned to receive with ample facility 
 the entire motley throng. But they were terror- 
 stricken, and not the hindmost in the scurrying 
 bedlam that made night hideous. On the other 
 
 distant. I jumped in and swam along the bank until I found some overhang- 
 ing brush and vines. I crawled up under them and waited, for I was almost 
 sure they had seen me. After waiting some time and hearing nothing, I crawl- 
 ed up the bank, and this time I kept out of sight. Soon after I saw the Indians 
 going up the hill about two miles away. Several times during the day I went 
 into the river and bathed my wound, which had become very troublesome, as 
 I was obliged to stoop and bend my body in order to get through the brush. I 
 lay down once near noon and slept about an hour. At about 5 P. M. there 
 came up a thundershower, and it rained nearly an hour. It then turned colder, 
 and I was very uncomfortable, with cold, hunger and a bad wound. I found 
 a few bunches of wild grapes which I ate. At dusk that night I had covered 
 but four miles, and now I was obliged to climb a high, hard bluff. It was a 
 hard undertaking, and three times I lay down and said I could not make it, but 
 after lying a while I got cold, and then would say "well, if I do not try again 
 I will surely die here," so I sought another bush and pulled myself up once 
 
72 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 hand the soldiers were self-reliant and the per- 
 sonification of composure, taking their assignments 
 for a heroic defense of the garrison. 
 
 If Indians were responsible for the alarm, they 
 were merely a reconnoitering party, for no attack 
 was made on the Fort, and the pickets were again 
 posted, remaining without relief or sleep through- 
 out the night, as did all the effectives of the garri- 
 son, watchful and in readiness for instant action. 
 The night was one of constant vigil by the sol- 
 diers, and of supplication, moaning and ceaseless 
 wailing in the barracks where the refugees were 
 gathered, and daylight, whatever it might bring, 
 was welcomed. The great, glorious morning sun, 
 whose enveloping flood dispelled the gloom of 
 night, had a mollifying effect. The mental and 
 physical strain upon the soldiers, and the agonies 
 of the fugitives were unchanged, but the sunlight 
 of heaven, like a merciful anaesthetic, soothed the 
 weary and consoled the distressed. 
 
 more, and gained a few yards. 1 could not get up on my feet without the aid 
 of a bush, shrub, or something to take hold of, to pull myself up by my hands. 
 After a long and very discouraging effort I reached the top of the bluff. Here 
 I saw a house which had been recently fired, and was still burning brightly. I 
 stood by a tree for some time but could not see anyone moving, so concluded 
 there were no Indians near. I passed the burning house a little to the left, and 
 gained the road to the Fort. It must have been nearly nine o'clock, and I had 
 nearly eight miles to go. I was very hungry, as I had had nothing to eat since 
 breakfast on Monday morning, and it was now Tuesday night, but once in the 
 road, I was able to make better time. Once I heard the sound of hoofs 
 approaching me. I left the road a short distance and lay down in the grass. 
 As the objects came up over a slight knoll I could see against the sky they 
 were cattle. I waited until they passed, and returning to the road continued on 
 towards the Fort. Near midnight, and when about three miles from the Fort, 
 1 came to a house where we had often traded coffee and sugar for butter, eggs 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 73 
 
 To the mad revelry at the Redwood Agency on 
 the night of the 18th, in celebration of the horri- 
 ble deeds of blood of the day, may be attributed 
 the escape of Fort Ridgely from a night attack. 
 What of the 19th, now unfolding, to be engraven 
 with history ? 
 
 The merciless carnage at the Agency had fur- 
 nished a scene for the Indians never before dream- 
 ed of, and by the side of which their combats with 
 their hereditary foes, the Chippewas, were puerile 
 and vapid. Wild with the excitement born of riot 
 and bloodshed, the Indians were difficult of manage- 
 ment by their chiefs, as they ever are, chieftainship 
 never carrying with it the right or ability to dis- 
 cipline in matters of detail. 
 
 There was such pleasure in torturing, mutilating 
 and murdering defenseless women and children, 
 and this horrible pastime was attended with such 
 .slight risk to the young warriors, that they pre- 
 ferred to follow it up, rather than engage in the 
 
 and milk. I went to the door and knocked, but no answer came. I then wen 
 to the back part of the house, got in through an open window and found some 
 matches. I lit one, and found everything in the house upsidedown and in con- 
 fusion. I then went into the pantry to get something to eat if possible, but 
 could find nothing but a piece of ham bone, with very little meat on it, but 
 what there was tasted good. I was in the house only a few minutes when 
 some one began pounding on the door. I dared not move or answer. Present- 
 ly a man came to the window and asked if any one was iu the house. I knew 
 by the voice that it was some German, so I answered. He said: "We had 
 better hurry on to the Fort, as the Indians are coming." I got out. As we 
 went along he told me he had been shot in the right shoulder with an arrow, 
 on the morning of the first day of the outbreak at the Agency. He had hidden 
 himself in a haymow. He had pulled the shaft of the arrow loose, but had 
 left the steel point imbedded in his flesh, and the point of it was penetrating hi s 
 lung, and he spat blood. His name was John Fanska, and his home was 
 
74 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 more serious tasks of meeting: armed men in battle. 
 Murder, plunder, rapine and outrage, were fea- 
 tures new to the young: savages, and, when Little 
 Crow undertook to bend their energies against 
 Fort Ridgely on the morning of the 19th dissension 
 resulted. 
 
 While in camp on the Sheyenne river on the 
 4th of July, 1863, on the Sibley expedition north- 
 ward, the writer, with John McCole as interpre- 
 ter, visited the camp of the scouts of the Sibley 
 command, and had a prolonged interview with 
 Chaska, an intelligent scout well known to Mc- 
 Cole, and who had rendered noble service in 
 saving the missionaries and other whites, the 
 previous year. Chaska only knew the story of the 
 savages as he learned it from them after the mas- 
 sacre, but related fluently and intelligently many 
 things that were matters of but reasonable conjec- 
 ture on the part of the garrison. Asked how it hap- 
 pened that Little Crow did not attack Fort Ridgely 
 
 in New Ulm. He was at the Agency on business when the Indians began the 
 slaughter. He was very weak, and we had to rest often. He could get up all 
 right, and would stand and let me pull myself up by taking hold of his clothes. 
 When we reached the picket post about half a mile out from the Fort, we were 
 challenged by one of the men on guard who happened to be one of those who 
 had escaped at the ferry on Monday. When 1 answered the challenge and gave 
 Kim my name, he said : " My God, it can't be, for I saw Blodgett fall a sec- 
 ond time." We were received, and taken immediately to the hospital, and al- 
 though it was 2 o'clock in the morning of Wednesday, August 20th, Dr. Al- 
 fred Muller was still up, and dressed our wounds, after first satisfying our hun- 
 ger, it having been forty hours since I had eaten. We were put to bed and 1 
 fell asleep very soon. I was awakened by the sound of musketry, and there- 
 fore must have slept until about 1 :30 in the afternoon. Now I heard those hid- 
 eous yells again, and Little Crow had attacked the garrison with his warriors. 
 * * * * When the firing began the Doctor, hospital steward and patient* 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 75 
 
 on the 19th of August, Chaska replied that such an 
 attack was Little Crow's plan, supported by nearly 
 all the older Indians, but his forces became so weak- 
 ened by dissension among the young men before he 
 reached the garrison that he finally was obliged to 
 give up the attack for that day, though he left the 
 Agency early on the morning of the 19th with a 
 force of over three hundred warriors, bound for the 
 Fort.* 
 
 If Little Crow had not previously repented his 
 hasty assumption of command, he now no doubt 
 felt that his consent of leadership was a thankless 
 task and a grave error. His plan of campaign was 
 first to wipe out the Redwood Agency, and then 
 forthwith to take Fort Ridgely at the time of its 
 greatest weakness. This would give the savages 
 freehand in all the settlements north of New Ulm 
 
 "The dissenting Indians spread over the settlements in the direction of New 
 Ulm, which afforded a rich field for rapine and murder, and late in the day 
 about one hundred made an attack on New Ulm. 
 
 made preparations to vacate the old log hospital back of the barracks, and go 
 over to the stone quarters. As the others were leaving, I asked the hospital 
 Stewart to help me dress, but he seemed to be in too much of a hurry to reach 
 a place of safety to help any one. I managed to get up and dress all but put- 
 ting on a hat, and started across the street. It was more difficult for me to 
 move after having lain down so long. I was obliged to go very slow. While 
 crossing the street or passageway between the log buildings and the barracks, the 
 bullets were Hying past, and several times I could feel the wind fan my cheeks. 
 When I reached the stone building I passed along the west end, and reached 
 the south or front side of the building. Here one of our boys helped me up 
 the steps, and said "I thought you would never get across that street." Several 
 of our men were wounded in this battle. * * * During the first 24 hours 
 I was in the Fort I was allowed to eat as the others did, but after that, and for 
 two weeks, my diet was rice-water nothing more. Then I was allowed a 
 morsel of more solid food the quantity being gradually increased. The second 
 
76 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 and St. Peter, and the wily old chieftain felt deeply 
 no doubt the insubordination that frustrated his 
 plans. His judgment from the stand-point of the 
 savage, having 1 commenced the bloody work, was 
 good, for had he attacked the Fort immediately 
 following the slaughter of Marsh's men at Redwood, 
 the Fort would inevitably have fallen, as the fewer 
 than thirty men in the garrison could not have 
 manned all the exposures, and with the fall of the 
 Fort Sheehan and his men, with limited sustenance 
 and ammunition, would, despite their valor, have 
 been annihilated. So also would the Renville 
 Rangers, on their way back from St. Peter, have 
 been blotted out. The obduracy of the young men 
 among Little Crow's command no doubt saved all 
 these remnants of soldiery and the lives of hun- 
 dreds of settlers who were given time to make 
 their way to places of safety, as Crow was averse 
 to penetrating the more thickly settled country in 
 the direction of St. Peter without first taking Fort 
 Ridgely. While he was subjugating the recalci- 
 trant warriors to his will, Sheehan reached the Fort 
 with his fifty men, and the Renville Rangers like- 
 wise came in safely, uniting elements of strength 
 
 morning after reaching the Fort, and while dressing my wound, the Doctor re- 
 moved some puss, and mixed with it were some grape seeds, and particles of 
 food escaped from the wound in the side for fourteen days. The wound in the 
 back, where the ball came out, was very painful, and had to be cauterized ev- 
 ery morning. When I was shot, the ball entered between the two lower ribs 
 on the left side, and passed out near the spinal column on the same side, mak- 
 ing a wound about six inches long. This was said to be the first case of its 
 kind on record, and Dr. Alfred Muller made a full report of the case, and it is 
 on file in the Surgeon-General's office at Washington, D. C. 
 
 W. H. BLODGETT, San Jose, Cal. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 77 
 
 that could have been destroyed in detail, had he 
 followed up with a prompt attack on the Fort. 
 
 The night following: the massacre at the Lower 
 Agency, August 18th, as related by Chaska, it was 
 determined in council, after the wild revelry and 
 dancing over the slaughter with which their hands 
 were still red, that Fort Ridgely should be attack- 
 ed the next morning, August 19th, Little Crow 
 mustering that evening over three hundred warriors 
 for the onslought. With no distracting conditions 
 prevailing, this programme would have succeeded, 
 but a disagreement on the way to the Fort on the 
 policy of so soon turning from the defenseless 
 settlements for so serious an undertaking as the 
 facing of armed men, led to a division of forces, 
 which reduced Little Crow's soldiery for the attack 
 to about one hundred and twenty-five men. Not- 
 withstanding this diminution, the great war chief 
 came to within a short distance of the Fort, on the 
 morning of Tuesday, August 19th, where, on a knoll 
 to the northwestward, in plain view, he held a coun- 
 cil of war. The council circle was plainly visible 
 from the garrison, and manifestly the deliberations 
 were of a serious nature. Through a telescope 
 which some one at the Fort fortunately possessed, 
 Little Crow was recognized as the chief orator of 
 the occasion, standing in the center of the council 
 circle. Others than Little Crow also addressed 
 the council, but the war chief, always conspicuous, 
 was the only Indian to be recognized. 
 
 Serious as was the moment for the little garrison, 
 there was something akin to amusement in the 
 antics of an Indian who frequently rode around the 
 
78 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 council circle on a spotted pony at break-neck 
 speed. What his spasmodic gyrations meant, no 
 one could divine, or has ever learned. 
 
 These were moments of great peril for Fort 
 Ridgely, whose fate hung by a thread. The garri- 
 son was on trial for its life in this council. A vote 
 to defer attack meant that Sheehan and his men 
 and Galbraith, Culver, McGrew and Gorman and 
 the Renville Rangers might reach us in safety ; a 
 vote to attack at once meant death to all. 
 
 We watched the deliberations of the Indians with 
 profound concern, knowing what an attack on the 
 depleted garrison would mean. One-third of our 
 company had been annihilated the previous day at 
 the ferry, while other members of it were on their 
 way to Fort Snelling with the Renville Rangers. 
 These facts made the deliberations of Little Crow 
 and his warriors of great importance to the garri- 
 son. Finally there were signs that the stormy coun- 
 cil was about to dissolve, and in a trice the savages 
 rose and dispersed from view. Our suspense was 
 even greater now than before. The holding of this 
 council under our eyes was a bold piece of busi- 
 ness, and the garrison had good reason to regard 
 it with the suspicion that while our attention was 
 visited upon the council a large force was stealthily 
 approaching the Fort under cover of ravines and 
 woods from the opposite direction. But the Indians 
 were having troubles we knew not of, as, naturally 
 it was supposable Little Crow had his entire force 
 well in hand. 
 
 He likewise, however, was ignorant of our condi- 
 tion. He had occasion to believe Sheehan and the 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 79 
 
 Renville Rangers were still at the Fort. His speech 
 in the council is said to have been substantially 
 as follows, eliminating: the gall poured upon the 
 heads of those who had failed him for the day : 
 4 'We know that for two months there have been 
 from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred 
 and fifty men at the Fort (Marsh's company and 
 fifty men of Company C, called in June to attend 
 the Indian payment.) We know we killed half of 
 Marsh's company at the ferry yesterday. We count- 
 ed them at the river before shooting. We know 
 there must be over one hundred soldiers in the Fort. 
 We cannot take the Fort with the braves we have 
 today. We must take the Fort. Our warriors must 
 come tomorrow. We must get all our men together 
 and we must attack the Fort tomorrow noon". These 
 were, in substance, the conclusions of the council. 
 It would be difficult to impress upon the mind 
 of the reader the great importance to the frontier, 
 of the failure, at a critical stage of the massacre, 
 of Little Crow's warriors to obey and support united- 
 ly their chieftain. The blood of over three hun- 
 dred souls at the Fort would have added to the 
 sanguinary river that had already drenched the 
 Agency and the surrounding settlements, for bear 
 in mind Fort Ridgely was only a fort in name. There 
 were no protecting walls or breastworks, no tren- 
 ches, no stockade. Desperately as the garrison 
 might have defended itself, it would have inevit- 
 ably gone down to death in one brief struggle ; 
 Sheehan's men would have been ambushed in the 
 long, gloomy, wooded defile through which it must 
 pass to reach the Fort, if indeed spared to gain that 
 
RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 point, and the Renville Rangers would have shared 
 a like fate, and in addition several hundred settlers 
 to the southeastward would have been added to the 
 long list whose lives had already gone out in un- 
 speakable agfony. It is not too much to say that the 
 insubordination of Little Crow's warriors, on Au- 
 gust 19th, saved the lives of a thousand people. 
 
 We have all experienced the souPs gratitude, 
 when depressed with the gloom of prolonged dark- 
 ness, at a rift in angry clouds, through which the 
 sun poured forth a flood of golden light, as if bear- 
 ing a joyous message from the land of eternal life, 
 but a thousand times intensified in comparison was 
 the thrill of joy that electrified every soul in the 
 garrison when Sheehan and his fifty men, just as 
 the Indians were dispersing from their council, 
 filed rapidly into the Fort at the end of an all-night 
 forced march of forty-two miles. These men had 
 been the guests and companions of Co. B for two 
 months, and had left us but forty-eight hours before 
 for Fort Ripley, receiving a soldier's good-bye and 
 a God speed from Captain Marsh and the noble 
 fellows who had, since their leaving only so short 
 a time before, been slaughtered in the battle of 
 Redwood ferry. The meeting of Sheehan and his 
 men and the little remnant of Co. B in the garrison 
 passes the bounds of description. There was no 
 time for demonstration, but fraternal emotion never 
 surpassed in heartiness and spirit the hail and wel- 
 come of this meeting, which, had Little Crow at- 
 tacked the Fort instead of holding a council, would 
 never have taken place. 
 
 Courier Sturgis, after an all-night ride over a 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 81 
 
 dreary road, reached St. Peter at dawn on the morn- 
 ing: of August 19th, with his message announcing 
 the dire straits of the Fort and the upper frontier. 
 Here he overtook Lieutenant Culver, Sergeant Mc- 
 Grew and five other men, all of Co. B, together 
 with Indian Agent Galbraith and James Gorman, 
 the latter in command of the Renville Rangers, all 
 on their way to Fort Snelling. St. Peter was stir- 
 red to its foundations with excitement when the 
 contents of the message of Lieutenant Gere and 
 the verbal report of Sturgis spread with almost 
 electric swiftness throughout the town, confirming 
 what up to this time had been a rumor, but one that 
 did not, in the public mind, portend a general up- 
 rising. 
 
 In this day no railroad had penetrated the valley 
 of the Minnesota river; nor was there any tele- 
 graphic communication between St. Paul and this 
 upper country. 
 
 Men were never more prompt in responding to a 
 call than were the brave fellows above named and 
 the Renville Rangers, the latter newly-recruited, 
 not even mustered into the service, and unarmed. 
 Under the inspiration of this call to duty, great 
 vigor attended every detail of preparation for the 
 return to the Fort. St. Peter was fired with excite- 
 ment and activity as never before, and rendered 
 promptly every requirement for the out-fitting of 
 the men. At 6 o'clock on the morning of .the 19th 
 the expedition set out, and without a break in the 
 rhythmic step, the noble fellows covered in a forc- 
 ed march the distance of forty miles by evening, 
 entering the Fort amid wild shouts of joy and wel- 
 
82 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 come, for at last the garrison considered itself on a 
 "war footing," not only equal to self-defense, but 
 strong enough to stay the bloody hand raised 
 against the Minnesota valley. 
 
 Before leaving St. Peter a sufficient number of 
 old Harper's Ferry muskets were secured to arm 
 the Renville Rangers, each man receiving a beggar- 
 ly three rounds of ammunition ; but what might have 
 been frightful disaster was prevented by the favor- 
 ing fortune that diverted the enemy from the Fort 
 road that day. 
 
 Thus, on the eve of battle, Fort Ridgely contain- 
 ed, at last, the following military strength : 
 
 COMPANY B, FIFTH MINNESOTA. 
 Norman K. Culver, First Lieutenant 
 Thomas P. Gere, Second Lieutenant 
 
 SERGEANTS. 
 
 James G. McGrew John F. Bishop 
 
 Arlington C. Ellis 
 
 CORPORALS. 
 
 David W. Atkins William Good 
 
 Charles H. Hawley Truman D. Huntley 
 Michael Pfremer William E. Winslow 
 
 DrummerCharles M. Culver. 
 
 PRIVATES 
 
 George M. Annis John Brennan 
 
 Charles Beecher Levi Carr 
 
 Charles H. Baker William H. H. Chase 
 
 William H. Blodgett James Dunn 
 Christopher Boyer Caleb Elphee 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 83 
 
 (Company B, continued) 
 
 Andrew J. Fauver Antoine Rebenski 
 
 James W. Foster Heber Robinson 
 
 Columbia French Andrew Rufredge 
 
 Ambrose Gardner Lorin Scripture 
 
 Elias Hoyt John Serfling 
 William B. Hutchinson Ole Svendson 
 
 Levi W. Ives Allen Smith 
 
 John W. Lester Samuel Stewart 
 
 Isaac Lindsey Robert J. Spornitz 
 
 Henry Martin William A. Sutherland 
 
 Arthur McAllister Martin J. Tanner 
 
 John McGowan Jonathan Taylor 
 
 James C. McLean Joel A. Underwood 
 
 John L. Magill Stephen Van Buren 
 
 James Murray Eli Wait 
 
 Edward F. Nehrhood Oscar G. Wall 
 
 Thomas Parsley Andrew W. Williamson 
 
 William J. Perrington Martin H. Wilson 
 Henry F. Pray 
 
 In this list are all surviving members of Co. B 
 who were in the Fort at this time, including: those 
 who were so disabled as to be incapacitated for 
 duty, the total number of private Soldiers being 
 forty-six. 
 
 COMPANY C, FIFTH MINNESOTA. 
 Timothy J. Sheehan, First Lieutenant. 
 
 SERGEANTS. 
 
 John P. Hicks F. A. Blackmer 
 
 John C. Ross 
 
84 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 CORPORALS. 
 
 M. A. Chamberlain Wm. Young 
 Z. C. Butler Dennis Porter 
 
 PRIVATES 
 
 S. P. Beighley 
 E. D. Brooks 
 J. M. Brown 
 J. L. Bullock 
 Chas. E. Chapel 
 Zachariah Chute 
 L. H. Decker 
 Chas. Dills 
 Charles H. Dills 
 S. W. Dogan 
 L. A. Eggleston 
 Halvor Elefson 
 Martin Ellingson 
 
 C. J. Grandy 
 Mark M. Greer 
 J. P. Green 
 
 A. K. Grout 
 Andrew Gulbranson 
 Peter E. Harris 
 Philo Henry 
 James Honan 
 
 D. N. Hunt 
 
 L. C. Jones 
 N. I. Lowthian 
 
 A. J. Luther (w'd) 
 John Malachy 
 John McCall 
 Orlando McFall 
 
 F. M. McReynolds 
 J. H. Mead 
 
 J. B. Miller 
 Dennis Morean / 
 Peter Nisson 
 Andrew Peterson 
 J.M.Rice 
 Charles A. Rose 
 
 B. F. Ross 
 Edward Roth 
 
 C. O. Russell 
 Isaac Shortlidge 
 Josiah Weakly 
 
 G. H. Wiggins 
 J. M. Ybright 
 James Young 
 
 RENVILLE RANGERS. 
 James Gorman, First Lieutenant, commanding. 
 
 SERGEANTS. 
 
 Theophyle Richer John McCole 
 
 Warren Carey 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 
 
 85 
 
 Louis Arner 
 
 Eurgel Amiot 
 Joseph Auge 
 George Bakerman 
 Rocque Berthiaume 
 Edward Bibeau 
 John Bourcier 
 Pierre Boyer 
 Samuel Brunelle 
 David Carpenter 
 John Campbell 
 Jaire Campbell 
 Antone Chose 
 George Dagenais 
 Frederic Denzer 
 Henry Denzer 
 Alexis Demerce 
 Francois Demerce 
 Carlton Dickinson 
 James Delaney 
 Louis Demeule 
 Joseph Fourtier 
 B. H. Goodell 
 In addition to the 
 
 CORPORALS. 
 
 Dieudonne Sylvester 
 Roufer Beurger 
 PRIVATES. 
 
 Richard L. Hoback 
 George A. LaBatte 
 Frederic Le Croix 
 Cyprian Le Claire 
 Joseph La Tour 
 Medard Laucier 
 Joseph Milard 
 Moses Mireau 
 Theophile Morin 
 Charles Mitchel 
 A. B. Murch 
 Joseph Osier 
 Henry Pflaume 
 Ernest Paul 
 Henry Pierce 
 Joseph Pereau 
 Thomas Quinn 
 Magloire Robidoux 
 Charles Robert 
 Joseph Robinette 
 Francois Stay 
 John Wagner 
 foregoing troops were: John 
 
 Jones, Ordnance Sergeant, U. S. A. ; Dr. Alfred 
 Muller, Post Surgeon, and Benjamin H. Randall, 
 Suttler. 
 
 The organized forces, now, in the Fort, including 
 the disabled, totalled one hundred and sixty officers 
 and enlisted men 
 
86 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 The Renville Rangers were recruited for service 
 in the civil war, but the Sioux Massacre diverted 
 their organization, and following the surrender 
 of the captives at Camp Release, the company, 
 after rendering three months of service for which 
 no adequate reward was or ever can be made, be- 
 came disintegrated, the men enlisting singly in 
 other bodies or returning to civil life. 
 
 Out of the agitated mass of refugees there came 
 to the surface some twenty-five men of sterling 
 worth, to whom the garrison, in its day of need, 
 was under unspeakable obligations, and whose valor 
 and general usefulness contributed in no slight de- 
 gree to the successful defense of the Fort. Among 
 these were a number of sturdy Germans from the 
 surrounding settlements. These, with the one hun- 
 dred and fifty-four officers and men enumerated 
 above, raised the Fort's defenders to about two 
 hundred men. There was no possibility of increas- 
 ing thisstrength. All the beleaguered garrison had 
 dared to hope for had now been vouchsafed to it. 
 If numbers were deficient, there must be the greater 
 dependence on valor and tact. 
 
 Stationed at the Fort was one lone representative 
 of the regular army, in the person of Sergeant John 
 Jones, whose official station was that of ordnance 
 sergeant of the post. His years had hardened him 
 to ripeness in the art of gunnery. He was over- 
 exacting as a drill-master, accepting nothing as 
 good enough that was not exactly right. During 
 the quiet months of Co. B at Fort Ridgely, artillery, 
 as well as infantry drill, was taken up, perhaps not 
 so much to increase the efficiency of the men as to 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 87 
 
 give them a respite from the manual-of-arms prac- 
 tice and infantry evolutions, in which they had be- 
 come very proficient. An unexpected emergency 
 had now risen in the Indian uprising to put at its 
 best the value of this artillery training under Jones, 
 for there was no lack of gunners when the artillery 
 of the post became a saving factor. Fortunately 
 for the occasion also, was the fact that J. C. Whipple, 
 who had successfully escaped to the Fort from the 
 Redwood Agency, was a trained artillerist, having 
 served in a battery during the Mexican war. 
 
 No one can write of the stirring events at Fort 
 Ridgely during the latter days of August, 1862, 
 without painfully regreting that the names of many 
 men who took refuge at the Fort during the mas- 
 sacre, became lost to history, for many of these 
 unknown men from unknown walks were lion-heart- 
 ed, and willing to step into the breach and hazard 
 their lives without a murmur, wherever duty called. 
 Among these I recall a Mr. De Camp, * whose 
 Sharp's carbine became familiar music to the de- 
 fenders of the Fort. Then there were the Riekes, 
 brave and brawny young fellows, and others, whose 
 names should never have been lost to history. 
 
 An eventful day closed when the shadows of 
 night on the 19th overwhelmed all in darkness. 
 The garrison had known no sleep no rest for 
 thirty-six hours; but the strain was so great, the 
 events that had rapidly succeeded each other so 
 important, and the situation was so pregnant with 
 grave possibilities, that sleep had not suggested 
 Itself as a necessity. 
 
 *De Camp was later killed at the battle of Birch Coulie. 
 
88 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Fort Ridgely Viciously Attacked. 
 
 Engagements of A ugust 20 and 22. 
 (Figures in parenthesis in following pages refer to plan of Fort on page 37.) 
 
 On the arrival of the detachment of Co. C, Tues- 
 day morning, First Lieutenant T. J. Sheehan of .that 
 company, by seniority of rank, became commander 
 of Fort Ridgfely. If nothing could be gained in 
 courage and efficiency in such a change, certainly 
 nothing was lost. Brave and resourceful, vigilant 
 and aggressive, the garrison, as results proved, was 
 ably commanded. Pickets were posted for the 
 night, and every precaution taken to guard against 
 a night attack, as such an event was among the 
 reasonable probabilities, but the long vigil was un- 
 disturbed, and the sun rose on the morning of the 
 20th in autumn splendor, with its message of good 
 cheer. No news came from the outside world, and 
 there was no possible means of communication. 
 An occasional refugee came in, the number of 
 these distressed people in the garrison now reach- 
 ing fully three hundred. 
 
 In the very nature of things the Fort could 
 not long escape attack. Its period of exemption 
 had already exceeded the* limit of expectation ; 
 but there was no occasion for disappointment 
 or even for any impatience. Scattering bands 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 89 
 
 of Indians disclosed themselves from time to time 
 during the morning and until midday, in the coun- 
 try immediately surrounding, indicating that the 
 savages were assembling in the shelter of the 
 wooded valleys that headed near the Fort on 
 three sides. Plainly there was a general converg- 
 ance of hostiles. Just when the attack would 
 be launched and just what its plan would be, were 
 conjectural matters, but Lieutenant Sheehan's pre- 
 paredness, to the limit of his little force, was for 
 any emergency, and wisely did he distribute his 
 men and resources. 
 
 The reader will find the birdseye plan of Fort 
 Ridgely and surroundings presented in this con- 
 nection, invaluable, in that it reveals at a glance 
 what can be but imperfectly expressed at best in 
 words. (See page 37.) 
 
 Having completed his plans and dispositions, 
 Little Crow, the wily chieftain and fearless warrior, 
 emerged from concealment at about 1 o'clock in 
 the afternoon, and rode out into the open beyond 
 the picket line to the westward of the Fort, and 
 likewise beyond musket range, yet near enough 
 to be recognized. No doubt, understanding the 
 importance of his capture, he believed a general 
 rush would be made to seize him, since he was un- 
 attended and unsupported. He feigned a desire for 
 a conference with the officers of the post, but de- 
 clined with sullen indifference the invitation of 
 Sergeant Bishop, sergeant of the guard at the time* 
 to come down to the picket line. The ruse was 
 shrewd, and the play of the foxy warrior dra- 
 matic, but Sheehan was not to be tricked by Indian 
 
90 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 cunning:. Seeing: his plan had failed, the mask was 
 thrown off, and the battle opened fiercely by the 
 savages under cover of the wooded ravine at the 
 northeast corner of the Fort, which extended from 
 Fort Creek to within a few rods of the wooden 
 buildings north of the barracks. Little Crow had 
 reasoned wisely when he planned to draw the at- 
 tention of the garrison from the point at which he 
 was to deliver his attack on the post, for he had 
 massed the main strength of his force at the near- 
 est point to the Fort, and in the onrush which was 
 a part of his attack, his warriors gained possession 
 of the outer log: building's of the garrison. 
 
 When the first shot was fired the clarion voice 
 of Lieutenant Sheehan rang out, in ever-memorable 
 tones : "Every man to his post !" The challenge 
 of the enemy was daringly met, and the savages 
 having disclosed their hand, dispositions were 
 quickly made that checked with a round turn the 
 dashing assault it was believed would prove irre- 
 sistible. Lieutenant Gere was ordered to stay the 
 attack with a detachment from Co. B, and posting a 
 howitzer under J. C. Whipple, which he supported 
 under a galling fire, opened with shrapnell at short 
 and deadly range. Sergeant McGrew, conspicuous 
 for bravery and tact throughout the siege, support- 
 ed by a detachment from Co. C, posted a howitzer 
 at the northwest corner of the garrison, and open- 
 ed vigorously on the enemy swarming from the 
 wooded shelter to the northward; but impatient to 
 reach the persistent force with which Gere and 
 Whipple were hotly contending, and which, under 
 shelter of the hill, was perilously near the Fort, he 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE 91 
 
 ran his shotted gun into the open to the northwest 
 of the buildings, and with an enfilading fire swept 
 the slope to the grass-roots, calling forth a furious 
 volley from the concealed enemy, but driving from 
 the slope the desperate savages who were deter- 
 mined to force a breach in the defenses at the point 
 of original attack. Nor would the savages abandon 
 this point, though swept back by Whipple and Mc- 
 Grew and their supports, aided by a hot fire from 
 the windows of the long barracks building. This, 
 it had been well reasoned out, owing to the shelter 
 afforded, and the short distance the protecting 
 hill and its brushwood covering from the Fort, 
 was the vulnerable spot that alone held out hope to 
 Little Crow's forces of from five to seven hundred 
 men. The savages persisted in their attack on 
 this point, but Whipple, with Gere's splendid de- 
 tachment, and McGrew and his resolute supports, 
 had, by dauntless courage and skillful tactics, be- 
 come masters of the key, driving the Indians from 
 the wooden buildings they had daringly gained, and 
 making the continued near approach of the savages 
 at this point too hazardous to be persisted in at 
 short range. 
 
 The attack had gradually extended itself well 
 around the garrison, seeking a point of vantage, but 
 the defense was alert, and presented an unyielding 
 front at every turn. 
 
 The hot musketry and cannonading were telling 
 seriously on the supply of ammunition at hand, and 
 it was found necessary during the fight to withdraw 
 men from the defenses to form a detail for the re- 
 moval of all ammunition in the exposed magazines 
 
92 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 (22) to the stone barracks (1). To thwart this 
 movement the savages must expose themselves to 
 the raking fire of McGrew's howitzer, that officer 
 having been ordered to cover the men engaged in 
 the toilsome task of carrying by hand the heavy 
 munitions a distance of two hundred yards, exposed 
 to the missiles of the savages, happily at long range. 
 The day was hot, and the men bending to their tasks 
 in the din of battle and as conspicuous targets, 
 found little opportunity to mop their dust-besmear- 
 ed and perspiring faces during the hour or more 
 required to complete the transfer of the precious 
 fixed ammunition to more available quarters. 
 
 His men unable to withstand the withering fire 
 that from the start had been poured into their ranks 
 at the north, Little Crow executed a move that 
 might have been successful with a larger force. 
 Sheltering conditions favored the concentration of 
 a large force of the enemy at the south and south- 
 west of the garrison. This move was executed 
 under the personal direction of Little Crow, who 
 sought by a bold stroke to so engage the forces of 
 Lieutenant Sheehan as to loosen his hold on the 
 northeast of the garrison, where the chieftain still 
 hoped to enter the Fort. The din of cannon and 
 musket, and the wild shouts of the desperate and 
 enraged savages, were incessant and at times deaf- 
 ening. 
 
 Sergeant Jones, supported by Lieutenants Culver 
 and Gorman and the Renville Rangers, was in 
 position at the southwest angle of the garrison, and 
 was exposed to the raking fire of the enemy. Jones 
 covered the ground over which the savages must 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 93 
 
 make their way to an entrance, with a six-pound 
 field-piece. Men were diverted as they could be 
 spared to the protection of the scene of anticipated 
 attack, and the fray was hot and furious, Jones' 
 piece working havoc in the ranks of the savages, 
 and holding the force in abeyance, while the Ren- 
 ville Rangers and other forces dealt effective vol- 
 leys among the naked demons, making their repeat- 
 ed efforts at a sally and onrush too hazardous for 
 Sioux courage. 
 
 The Indians had attacked the Fort with full con- 
 fidence in their ability to overpower and take it. 
 Little Crow, in a towering rage, urged that the 
 Fort must be taken. It was the door which closed 
 the Minnesota valley to his red-handed followers, 
 and it must be taken. Nagged, brow-beaten and ex- 
 horted, his warriors returned time and again to the 
 task set for them, eager for the flow of blood and 
 the spoils of victory awaiting their triumphant 
 breaking of the thin line of defense, but they could 
 not stem the storm of musketry and the rain of 
 shells that hurled them back, despite their frenzied 
 efforts to force a hand-to-hand struggle, in which 
 they felt sure of overpowering the Fort's defenders, 
 by their vast superiority of numbers. 
 
 By 4 o'clock in the afternoon it was evident they 
 had put forth their supremest effort, and had failed 
 to force a break at any point. Their disappoint- 
 ment and anger found vent in the most hideous 
 yells ever uttered by savages. They fought in dis- 
 order at all points, and then would concentrate with 
 an energy and ferocity entitling them to first place 
 among Indian warriors. And so the battle raged 
 
94 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 until nightfall, when the savages withdrew to the 
 depths of the dark valleys, full of vengeance, as 
 their defiant yells betokened, but worsted in the hot 
 game of war for the day.* 
 
 But what of the night? This was the serious 
 problem. The officers knew, and so did every sol- 
 dier in the garrison, that the foe was not vanquish- 
 ed, and that he would return again to the attack. 
 
 With all its exposure, the true American soldier 
 prefers to meet his enemy in the open, and in the 
 light of day, and in this case, with his greatly in- 
 ferior numerical strength, the fear of a night attack 
 produced a deeper feeling of dread than was gen- 
 erally acknowledged. But the enemy retired poor- 
 ly rewarded for his losses and his rough treatment 
 generally, and silence profound reigned where for 
 hours the din of battle had been almost deafening. 
 
 The silence and solitude of night witnessed no 
 change in the garrison, save that in killed and 
 wounded we had lost eleven good men. The men 
 
 *A few errors regarding this engagement persist in repeating themselves. First, 
 the engagement opened at not later than I p. m. of Wednesday, August 20th, 
 1862. Second, the garrison was in no sense surprised by the first or any other 
 attack. Even so eminent and accurate an authority as Judge Flandrau, in his last 
 and most interesting work, "The History of Minnesota and Tales of the 
 Frontier," page 148, repeats the error first given currency in Hurd't History of 
 the Sioux Massacre, to the effect that the engagement began at 3 p, m., and 
 that the garrison was taken completely by surprise, "the first knowledge of the 
 presence of Indians being the firing of a volley by the savages through an open- 
 ing between the building*." Pickets were posted well out from the garrison, 
 rendering a surprise impossible. The first shots in defense of the Fort were 
 fired from the picket line. The precautions of the garrison were such that there 
 could have been a surprise at no time, day or night, from the beginning to the 
 end of the siege, covering a period of nearly ten days. Third, there was no 
 attack at any time on the Fort during Thursday. August 21st. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 95 
 
 about the guns and the force that had manned the 
 windows of the barracks and other buildings and 
 openings, remained watchfully where they had 
 fought. The artillery strength of the garrison was 
 increased, Sergeant Bishop being placed in charge 
 of a twelve-pounder field-piece, efficiently manned, 
 for action. Every precaution having been taken by 
 the alert Sheehan, with vigilance everywhere im- 
 pressed, the men, weary and worn, settled down to 
 a sleepless night. 
 
 Undeservedly brief has history dealt with the 
 Renville Rangers, for no men during the massacre 
 were put to so rigid a test as they. The company 
 was very largely made up of French half-breeds, 
 who were born among, had lived with and were 
 related to, the very Indians who had risen to de- 
 populate and make desolate the Minnesota frontier. 
 With a single exception these men were loyal to 
 every trust reposed in them, and no braver soldiers 
 than they had proven themselves to be in the day's 
 battle, ever went into action. It was one of these 
 men, Joseph Osier, who fired the first shot from the 
 garrison at the opening of the engagement. Anoth- 
 er, Geo. Dagenais, brave and athletic, dashed into 
 the open and ran to one of the log buildings, of 
 which, during the engagement, the Indians had 
 taken possession, and firing through a crack be- 
 tween two logs, got his man, and running back to 
 the barracks amid a shower of bullets, leaped into 
 the building at an opening with the exultant : "I 
 kill him one, I kill him one." 
 
 Little Crow was born on the banks of the upper 
 Mississippi, and spent his childhood, and even early 
 
96 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 manhood, in the valley where Winona, Wabasha, 
 Red Wins and other Minnesota towns and cities 
 now flourish. For natural beauty the scenes of this 
 noted Indian's early life stand almost unrivaled. 
 The lofty, majestic hills, the beautiful valley itself, 
 and the great river of unsurpassed grandeur, had 
 become a part of the very being of this haughty 
 savage. Driven from the valley that civilization 
 might expand its borders, and knowing, too, that the 
 pristine beauty of the country (which was all to 
 him) had been marred and desecrated by the white 
 settler, still the heart of Little Crow never ceased 
 to yearn for the land of his childhood, and the hope 
 had ever lingered that some day, by some fortuitous 
 stroke, this land might yet be restored to those who 
 for ages held it by prowess and sacrifice. It was 
 the land where his wild, roving nature had known 
 all there was in youthful happiness the land where 
 the ashes of his ancestors were scattered. 
 
 Prof. A. W. Williamson, for more than a quarter 
 of a century professor of mathematics of Augustana 
 college, Rock Island, 111., a member of Captain 
 Marsh's company (B) stationed at Fort Ridgely at 
 the time of the Sioux Massacre, who was a son of 
 the noted Sioux Missionary, Rev. Dr. Thomas 
 Williamson, and who was born at Lac qui Parle in 
 1836, and therefore thus knew from contact, per- 
 sonally, intimately, more of Indian history and 
 character than is given to many men to know, stat- 
 ed to the writer but recently that through Indian 
 sources he was advised at Fort Ridgely that agents 
 of the Southern Confederacy were at work among 
 the Sioux about the time of and immediately pre- 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 97 
 
 ceding 1 the outbreak, in an endeavor to impress up- 
 on the Indians the fact that the whole northern 
 country was hard pressed in the civil war ; that the 
 men had all been impressed into the military ser- 
 vice, leaving only a few soldiers to guard the fron- 
 tier ; that this was the supreme time for an upris- 
 ing, and the driving of the whites back from the 
 land of the savages. Prof. Williamson, then a young 
 private of Co. B, thought the report of so little im- 
 portance that he did not recall that he ever dis- 
 cussed it with any one ; and while he never be- 
 lieved the rumor to have been well founded, its 
 source was such, and it was so consistent with pos- 
 sibilities, withal, that the story had never ceased to 
 impress him. 
 
 Whatever the truth, it is well known that Little 
 Crow believed that Fort Ridgely swept from his 
 path he would over-run and repossess the country to 
 the mouth of the Minnesota River, if not beyond. 
 What impressed him with this belief will never be 
 definitely known, but that he possessed it, is beyond 
 doubt. The dream of childhood days and of youth- 
 ful haunts, and the promise of some mysterious in- 
 fluence held out to the war-chief that somehow, some 
 day he would lead his people to the home of the 
 olden time, were influential factors in determining 
 his action when, roused from slumber on the morn- 
 ing of August 18th he sat upon his couch, his blan- 
 ket drawn about his shoulders, and heard the de- 
 mand of his people that he should lead them in a 
 war against the whites. Impelled alone by mental 
 agitation, great beads of perspiration gathered on 
 the forehead of Little Crow, and coursed down his 
 
98 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 face. He struggled with his decision, and relying 
 on the hope of far-reaching results, gave his con* 
 sent. 
 
 The die having been cast, the famous war-chief 
 was from the outset determined upon a full realiz- 
 ation of his hopes, not to be enjoyed with Fort 
 Ridgely in his path. 
 
 At midnight of the 20th a dreary rain set in, add- 
 ing not only gloom, but discomfort to the situation. 
 The resulting darkness was utterly impenetrable 
 for even the distance of a few feet, and amid these 
 conditions there came a wailing sound from out on 
 the prairie, startling in its possibilities, as some of 
 the pickets had smelled the burning of kin-nic-kinic 
 earlier in the night a sure sign that Indians were 
 near. If words were uttered they were unintelligi- 
 ble to any one who heard them. The wail was re- 
 peated, and believing it the ruse of savages to at- 
 tract attention from a movement against the garri- 
 son, Lieutenant Sheehan ordered Sergeant McGrew 
 to fire a shot from his howitzer in the direction 
 from which the sound came, so aiming his piece as 
 to injure no distressed refugee, and yet to develop 
 if possible, the meaning of the cry. Still the sound 
 came as before. Sheehan now ordered a detach- 
 ment of soldiers to proceed to the spot whence 
 came the wailing, and the men soon found, groping 
 in the gloomy darkness, a frenzied woman, lost, ex- 
 hausted and crazed with grief and fear, and whose 
 harrowing story and frightful experiences were 
 sensational in the extreme. 
 
 No other incident disturbed the night. Lower- 
 ing skies marked the morning of the 21st, but the 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 99 
 
 day passed uneventfully. A large body of Indians 
 came within plain view of the Fort, and their pres- 
 ence was regarded ominously. They moved by 
 and entered the Minnesota valley a mile below the 
 Fort, however, and passed down, as was later known, 
 to attack New Ulm. Advantage was taken of the 
 lull on the 21st to construct a protecting barricade 
 for Jones, his gunners and supports. 
 
 ATTACK OF AUGUST 22. 
 
 Friday morning, August 22nd, after the fourth 
 night of sleepless vigil, the sun rose in splendor, 
 its welcome rays dispelling the gloom of cloud and 
 darkness, and cheering the souls of men who were 
 under a strain severely testing their endurance, 
 and who, though prone to cheerfulness, gave evi- 
 dence of the mental and physical wear to which 
 they were subjected, and from which lack of num- 
 bers forbade any relief. Except throughout the 
 hours of darkness, there were few intervals during 
 which the menacing presence of Indians, some- 
 where within the scope of vision, did not impress 
 all with the necessity of preparedness. 
 
 As the morning hours advanced, portentious signs 
 of attack mainfested themselves, for the savages 
 were clearly massing under cover of the surround- 
 ing wooded valleys. This movement went on 
 throughout the forenoon, and it was evident Little 
 Crow had vastly increased his numbers for this 
 attack. 
 
 Shortly after noon the hellish legion left its cover 
 and came quickly to its work, accompanying its 
 approach with yells, such as only those who have 
 
100 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 heard them can appreciate or understand. The 
 numbers were three times those of Wednesday's 
 attack, and the plan was clearly to intimidate by 
 boldness and fierceness of onslought from all sides, 
 with a hope of breaking the defenses at some vul- 
 nerable point, then to complete the work with 
 overwhelming: force. For a time it seemed the tide, 
 constantly augmented from the sheltering woods, 
 and ravines, must prove irresistible, but the ring- 
 ing blasts of Whipple's and McGrew's guns, and 
 their supports, as in the first day's fight, staggered 
 the savages, and swept them back in spite of their 
 numbers, the men, posted identically as before, 
 having made the defense of the ground with which 
 they had become thoroughly familiar, a matter of 
 scientific marksmanship. 
 
 Everywhere on the prairie were creeping savages 
 whose heads were wreathed in turbans of grass and 
 wild flowers of the prairie, the better to conceal 
 their movements in seeking vantage ground from 
 which to pour their terrible fire upon the garrison. 
 Not only bullets, but the primitive arrow came in 
 great numbers, and with furious impulse. With 
 the latter it was sought to fire the buildings of the 
 Fort, burning punk being affixed to arrow points 
 that were fired into many roofs, but the rains that 
 had discomfited the garrison now proved to have 
 been a blessing in disguise, for had the roofs been 
 thoroughly dry, a condition would have resulted 
 more dreadful than the bullets of the savages could 
 create. 
 
 Great pressure was brought to bear on the south- 
 southwest of the garrison. The long government 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 101 
 
 barn to the south (3) and the suttler store (20) to 
 the southwest, fell into the hands of the enemy from, 
 inability to extend a line for their protection. These 
 building's afforded shelter to the savages who were 
 to change their plan of battle by making a furious 
 attack, to be followed by an assault on the south- 
 west angle of the Fort. McGrew was ordered to 
 throw a shell into the suttler store for the purpose 
 of firing it, and in this was successful with his 
 second shot. The savages themselves about this 
 time fired the barn. In furtherance of Little Crow's 
 desperate attempt on the south-southwest of the 
 garrison, the persistent force at the north-northeast 
 which up to this time (about 4 o'clock p. m.,) wag- 
 ed an incessant fire, was largely withdrawn out 
 across the open country, to the north, to the head 
 of a wooded ravine (23) leading from a point half 
 a mile west of the northwest angle of the Fort, in 
 a southerly direction to the Minnesota river. Down 
 this wooded ravine hundreds of warriors passed to 
 join forces with those massing for a superhuman 
 effort upon the southwest angle (12), which, though 
 the savages must subject themselves to far greater 
 exposure here than at the northeast, was itself the 
 weak spot of the garrison for lack of needed shelter. 
 McGrew passing down to the position of Jones, at 
 the southwest angle, Jones being in charge of 
 the post ordnance, conferred with that officer with 
 regard to the movement of the savages on the west, 
 and asked permission to use the 24-pound field-piece 
 then in park, for the purpose of dropping a shell 
 into the wooded valley to the west, in the supposed 
 region of the savages. The result was far more 
 
102 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 fruitful of benefit than was anticipated. A second 
 shell fell into the camp of the savages where the 
 squaws, papooses, dogs and ponies were in hiding, 
 and at which place the deflecting savages had, in 
 their passage, congregated for a brief halt. The 
 detonations of the exploding shell were alone terri- 
 fying (as light ordnance was used in the short-range 
 engagement that had ensued for hours), but the de- 
 structive effects of the shell were also serious in 
 the extreme, and produced surprise and conster- 
 nation among the Indians. The experiment was re- 
 peated, with a sweeping range, to excellent advan- 
 tage. Undaunted however, and bent upon his one 
 determination to take the Fort, Little Crow concen- 
 trated his principal force at the southwest. Jones 
 and his support, the Renville Rangers, were under 
 a merciless fire from the savages, who had pressed 
 forward to so short a range as to literally perforate 
 every foot of exposure of the barricade and head- 
 quarters building (3), but this fire was heroically 
 returned, and with telling effect. The fusillade had 
 become general about the garrison again, as the 
 preliminary step to an assault at the southwest, and 
 when the musketry of the savages had reached a 
 furious stage, Little Crow ordered his men to club 
 their guns and rush in. This order the half-breeds 
 of the Renville Rangers plainly heard and communi- 
 cated to their officers. This was the most critical 
 moment the garrison had experienced. A charge 
 of the overwhelming numbers would have been ir- 
 resistible. 
 
 To stagger the enemy at this supreme juncture 
 was the only hope of the garrison. Jones had double- 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 103 
 
 shotted his gun with canister, and bravely hazard- 
 ing his life in the act, dealt a withering blow to the 
 massed foe at short range, at the crucial moment, 
 mowing: a swath down through their ranks that sent 
 terror to their hearts as they were in the act of 
 leaping, like wild beasts to the charge. The Ren- 
 ville Rangers followed with a galling volley and a 
 challenge in the Sioux language, hurled defiantly : 
 4 'Come on ; we are ready for you !" 
 
 Bishop had used his gun to good effect at the 
 southeast, and the garrison now rose supremely to 
 the occasion and dealt its telling blows fast and 
 and furious. The savages hesitated, wavered and 
 recoiled, and though they fought on until night, 
 could not again be nerved to the point of charging. 
 
 But the garrison had reached its last desperate 
 extremity. It was on the brink of collapse through 
 exhaustion of its supply of ammunition for the small 
 arms of the men who had fought so gallantly. The 
 guns in use were all muzzle-loading. There was 
 powder available by opening spherical case shot, 
 and fortunately caps for exploding it, but there 
 were neither bullets nor lead of which to make 
 them. Human resource was put to its test. The 
 limited supply of small iron rods in the Government 
 blacksmith shop was resorted to, with which to 
 prolong the struggle until all possible means of re- 
 sistance should cease. These .rods of iron were 
 cut into slugs three-fourths of an inch in length, 
 and a corps of nimble-fingered workers under the 
 direction of Mrs. Dr. Muller set to manufacturing 
 cartridges. With these (and their whistling chal- 
 lenge was terrifying,) the fight was continued until, 
 
104 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 as night closed in, the savages withdrew, with a 
 howl of rage, but fairly vanquished. 
 
 But had the attack been prolonged, or had the 
 foe returned to renew it, the garrison must inevit- 
 ably have been lost. 
 
 No mind can justly conceive of, or pen faithfully 
 describe, the mental and physical strain endured 
 from this hour on by the garrison a strain that 
 burned as by a living fire, its burden into every 
 soul. No sign of response had been made to the 
 call of the 18th for assistance from Fort Snelling 
 and St. Paul. The world without was dead to the 
 beleaguered Fort. Surrounded, menaced and har^ 
 rassed by a desperate foe, all communication was 
 extinct beyond the picket-lines. The officers and 
 men had fought valiantly, and while their ranks 
 were being gradually depleted, they would still bid 
 haughty defiance to the hosts of the Dakota chief- 
 tain; but the exhaustion of their ammunition, ex- 
 cept for ordnance, had reduced them to the last 
 straits of desperation. Under cover of night they 
 could take the risk of fighting their way to safety 
 down the Minnesota valley, but they could not 
 abandon, neither could they take along, their burden 
 of three hundred helpless refugees. If these must 
 perish, then the soldiers must perish with them 
 must be the first to fall before the club and the 
 knife, for the final struggle must be hand-to-hand. 
 This was the firm resolution of the gallant men who 
 had repelled heroically the savage foe whose hands 
 were reeking with blood, and who placed the taking 
 of Fort Ridgely above every other ambition. 
 
 The garrison could not know, unfortunately, that 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 105 
 
 Little Crow's retreat into the dark valley as the 
 sable mantle of night enveloped his vanquished 
 host, signalized his departure from the Fort forever. 
 Unfortunately it could not know this, I say. In- 
 stead of relaxing, vigil must now, if possible, be 
 greater than before, with the defense of the Fort 
 depending upon the cannon, the half-dozen rounds 
 of slug-iron cartridges per man, and the bayonet. 
 
 And so the strain, testing man's ability to retain 
 his reason, continued for still four and a half days 
 longer, or for a total of nine days. 
 
 At last, on the morning of August 27th, unherald- 
 ed, Col. Samuel McPhail and William R. Marshall 
 rode into the garrison at the head of one hundred 
 and seventy-five mounted citizen -soldiers, and the 
 long siege was raised, the reinforcements coming 
 from St. Peter under cover of night, and thus escap- 
 ing detection or attack. * 
 
 The defenders of the garrison, who had borne up 
 for days from sheer force of will, and who were 
 now relieved from the great and long-endured strain, 
 had not realized their utterly jaded condition until 
 their burdens were assumed by those who brought 
 relief, and they soon gave way to the restful stupor 
 that stole like a dream over their exhausted senses, t 
 
 * I have searched unavailingly (or the names of the men who raised the siege, 
 (or they are worthy o( perpetuation in these pages. 
 
 t Captain Gere, (a lieutenant during the siege, of Fort Ridgely) concluding an 
 account of the long siege, has said : "It was a battle on the part of the garri- 
 son to prevent a charge by the savages, which, had it been made, could hardly 
 have failed, as Little Crow seemed confident, to result in the destruction of the 
 garrison and the consequent horrible massacre of its 300 refugees. It is but 
 truth to add that no man in the garrison failed to do his duty, and that, worn 
 
106 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Fort Ridgely Never Surprised By the Sioux. 
 
 Once for all, let it be forever known that Fort 
 Ridgely was never surprised by the Sioux. Many 
 writers, taking: their cue from some sensationally- 
 inclined word-painter of the early day, have pic- 
 tured Little Crow's dashing demons in the act of 
 taking the Fort unawares. To the credit of the 
 vigilance of the officers and men, there was never 
 a moment from the day of the beginning of the 
 Massacre at the Redwood Agency up to the end of 
 the exciting and perilous ten days* siege, when the 
 savages could have surprised Fort Ridgely. Pickets 
 were at all times posted and a close watch kept up- 
 on the movements of the enemy. Little Crow at 
 one time sought to draw the forces from the Fort 
 by a ruse shrewdly conceived, and in event of suc- 
 cess there would have been a possible surprise from 
 the opposite side of the garrison, but because of 
 vigilance and of the well-known treachery of the 
 Sioux, no opportunity for surprise was for a moment 
 given. The attacks upon the Fort were no doubt 
 intended by the Indians as surprises, insofar as they 
 could make them such from the sheltering woods 
 and ravines surrounding the Fort except on the nor- 
 thern exposure, but they were in no measure sur- 
 prises in the sense of taking the Fort unawares/ 
 
 by fatigue and suspense, and exhausted by loss of sleep, to the end every man 
 was at his post, bravely meeting whatever danger confronted him. The con- 
 spicuous gallantry of the artillerists was the theme of general praise, and the 
 great value of their services was conceded by all, while the active and intelli- 
 gent support that rendered their work possible, is entitled to no less credit. * 
 While the withdrawal of the Indians on the 22nd terminated the fighting at Fort 
 Ridgely, the weary garrison could not be aware that such would be the case, 
 nor for a moment relax its vigilance ; hence the forces continued to occupy the 
 positions to which they had by this time become accustomed." 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 107 
 
 Daring Service of Messengers Sturgis and 
 
 McLain. 
 
 In all that has ever been written of Fort Ridge- 
 ly's part in the Sioux Massacre, no account has 
 heretofore been published of the wild ride of the 
 man who bore the dispatches from Lieutenant 
 Thomas P. Gere, commandant at Fort Ridgely on 
 August 18, 1862, to Governor Alexander Ramsey at 
 St. Paul, announcing: the outbreak of the Sioux at 
 the Redwood Agency, the disaster to Marsh and his 
 detachment the afternoon of that day at Redwood 
 ferry, and the terrible deeds already being: com- 
 mitted in the surrounding settlements. At the close 
 of the civil war William J. Sturgis, the young soldier 
 who made the ride for the life of the frontier, dis- 
 appeared into the sea of civil life to work out the 
 problems the future held for each soldier whose 
 calling had been happily changed at Appomattox. 
 Sturgis' famous ride was a mere incident in that 
 day of great deeds and great achievements, and 
 was scarcely thought of, and he finally drifted to 
 the region of the Rocky Mountains, where he rare- 
 ly if ever met a comrade of his immediate service 
 in the army. He was not given to writing for the 
 press, and having taken up farming, lived a com- 
 paratively retired life. When the writer assumed 
 the labor of gathering the scattered fragments of 
 history that should be preserved to Minnesota an- 
 
108 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 nals, he searched widely for each surviving member 
 of the original Company B of the Fifth Regiment, 
 then only a dozen or so in number. This work 
 covered a period of two years before the last man 
 was found. Locating Sturgis, he was importuned 
 for the story of his ride, but while he said the inci- 
 dents of it were as fresh in his mind as at the time 
 of his flight in the blackness of that August night, 
 still he would have to await a period of leisure in 
 which to take the matter up. Sturgis was now 
 seventy-two years old, and as time was so rapidly 
 depleting our ranks, and as much had already been 
 lost by no effort having been made to preserve many 
 incidents of value, a compliance with the request 
 from Sturgis was insisted upon, and on the 4th day 
 of January, 1908, he wrote a personal letter in which 
 he told to me his story, and while he was in his 
 accustomed health at this time, death called him a 
 month later. 
 
 Greater stress of circumstances rarely falls to 
 human lot than hovered over Fort Ridgely on the 
 night of August 18. As darkness set in at the close 
 of that day, Lieutenant Gere, a boy of twenty years, 
 found himself charged with the gravest of respon- 
 sibilities. He had but twenty-four effective men, 
 all told. Capt. Marsh had depleted the garrison 
 when he marched out in the forenoon with the forty- 
 six men, destined to the Redwood Ferry. Helpless 
 refugees had poured into the Fort all day, many 
 mangled and bleeding, others half-naked and dis- 
 tracted with fear and grief, while it was known the 
 work of carnage was rapidly spreading in the sur- 
 rounding settlements. Great hopes were buttress- 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 109 
 
 ed upon Marsh's safe and speedy return with his 
 precious detachment. Darkness brought increased 
 anxiety. Except in the quarters where the refugees 
 were housed, a death-like stillness reigned through- 
 out the garrison, waiting, waiting in suspense. 
 The crickets, on that summer night, were the only 
 cheerful companions of the pickets, posted by Lieu- 
 tenant Gere in person to make assurance of proper 
 dispositions doubly sure. The gathering pall of 
 night had overwhelmed the anxious, expectant gar- 
 rison, when an alarm came from the southwestern 
 angle of the sparsely guarded picket line, and now 
 came the staggering news that Marsh was dead, 
 and that Interpreter Quinn and half the noble de- 
 tachment of forty-six men had been ambushed and 
 killed at the Redwood Ferry. Privates William B. 
 Hutchinson and James Dunn, who were of the de- 
 tachment and who, with Sergeant Bishop and eleven 
 others under him, had escaped with their lives, and 
 were on there way to the Fort, were sent ahead by 
 Bishop when within a few miles of the post to ap- 
 prise the garrison of the disaster, Bishop's progress 
 being impeded by the fact that his men were oblig- 
 ed to carry a badly wounded comrade, Ole Svendson. 
 The news was horrifying, and the bloody work 
 had but just commenced. Unmoved by the terrible 
 blow that came with the news of the day's disaster, 
 or by the perilous predicament in which he found 
 himself and those under him in pitiable numbers, 
 the boy officer wrote dispatches to Governor Alex- 
 ander Ramsey at St. Paul, the commandant at Fort 
 Snelling, and incidentally to Lieutenant Culver, ac- 
 companied by Indian Agent Galbraith, Lieutenant 
 
110 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Gorman and Sergeant McGrew, then at St. Peter, 
 apprising: all of the predicament, and calling for 
 assistance. 
 
 Private William J. Sturgis was asked to impress for 
 his use the best horse in the garrison, and to bear 
 away these dispatches in all haste, with St. Paul 
 as his destination. Responding like a true soldier, 
 Sturgis received his dispatches, swung into the 
 saddle, and plunged away in the darkness at a wild 
 pace. Down through the dark valley, and out on 
 the highlands beyond Fort Creek, and away he sped. 
 His horse was one driven into the Fort during the 
 day attached to the St. Peter stage (the stage that 
 brought the 71,000 in gold to the Fort.) The animal 
 was thus familiar with the road, and headed home- 
 ward, but twelve miles of flight had completely ex- 
 hausted him. 
 
 Overtaking a peddler flying for his life, Sturgis dis- 
 mounted and joined him, the peddler having a good 
 team. The tidings from the Fort put new fear into 
 the soul of the tradesman, and his efforts were re- 
 doubled. The peddler was making for Henderson, 
 while owing to dispatches that must be delivered 
 at that place, Sturgis must reach St. Peter on his 
 journey. The men separated after an exciting ride 
 of ten miles, each going his way. Sturgis remem- 
 bered that there was a settler's house at this point, 
 where our company, on its march to Fort Ridgely 
 several months previously, had halted to rest and 
 lunch. He was thus enabled to easily find the house, 
 and pounding upon the door soon brought forth from 
 his bed a dazed settler, for the disturbance was at 
 the dead of night. Sturgis assured the settler of 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. Ill 
 
 the frightful conditions above, and demanded 
 he be taken to St. Peter with all possible haste. 
 The thoroughly aroused and frightened man re- 
 sponded with energy, and soon the dispatch-bearer 
 was being hurried pelliiiell over roads' none too good 
 at best, and none too visible at night. 
 
 On, on, did the messenger urge the speeding of 
 horses, restive under his grave responsibility that 
 had to do with human life. Too well, knew he, that 
 the breaking dawn would prove the signal to the 
 crazed Sioux for extended scenes of carnage. Too 
 well knew he, that unsuspecting settlers were dream- 
 ing, in ignorance of the butchery that would mark 
 their homes ere the drowse of slumber had releas- 
 ed them. Every fibre of his body was tense. -Every 
 faculty of his nature was alert. 
 
 Aurora's first delicate shades were faintly gather- 
 ing along the eastern horizon as Sturgis entered St. 
 Peter, at a few minutes past 3 o'clock on the morn- 
 ing of Tuesday, August' 19. 
 
 Unbelievable rumors had preceded him, and while 
 they were traceable to no authentic source, they 
 had been sufficiently sensational to keep St. Peter 
 awake and in a state of frenzy all night. Among 
 prominent citizens of the place, Sturgis found Lieut. 
 Culver, Sergeant McGfew, Lieut. Gorman and Major 
 Galbraith up and anxiously awaiting tidings from 
 the north. Recognizing the young dispatch-bearer, 
 and knowing that his presence among them was of 
 the gravest importance, he was quickly surrounded 
 by an eager-faced, impatient throng. Sturgis gave 
 St. Peter at this moment its first awful news of the 
 Massacre. Despite the vague rumors that had fil- 
 
112 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 tered through from above, the town for the moment 
 was stricken speechless by the frightful story and 
 the impending dangers at which it hinted. 
 
 But the messenger's thoughts were upon the fur- 
 ther discharge of his important duty, and he at once 
 set about obtaining transportation for the continu- 
 ance of his flight. Pandemonium now reigned in 
 St. Peter, and he had the greatest difficulty in se- 
 curing a horse. Personal safety was the thought 
 uppermost in the minds of the inhabitants, and in 
 the "to arms, to arms" tumult Sturgis was helpless. 
 He sought Sheriff R. W. Tomlinson, appealed to 
 him in the name of necessity, and not in vain, for 
 the sheriff quickly hitched up his own team, and 
 taking Sturgis aboard, drove to Le Sueur, making 
 the twelve miles in just one hour. At Le Sueur, 
 Sturgis obtained a livery horse, which he rode with 
 all possible speed to Shakopee. The exhausted 
 animal was here discarded, and another obtained 
 which bore him to the Ferry, a well known crossing 
 of the Minnesota River in that day. The last horse 
 obtained was a poor one, and at the Ferry was com- 
 pletely winded. Here, however, Sturgis found two 
 men just leaving with a team for St. Paul. His 
 horse having failed him, this was his only oppor- 
 tunity of proceeding. He stated his case and asked 
 to be taken aboard. The men flatly refused to ac- 
 cede to him. He repeated his request in the nature 
 of a demand, with the threat that he would take the 
 team if further refused or delayed. He thus be- 
 came an unwelcomed passenger. Recognizing the 
 justice of his intrusion however, the men soon yield- 
 ed friendship to him, and exerted themselves in his 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 113 
 
 behalf. 
 
 Arriving at Fort Snelling on the journey to St. 
 Paul at 3 o'clock on the afternoon of Tuesday, after 
 a ride of eighteen hours from Fort Ridgely, and one 
 testing the metal of Sturgis, the dispatch bearer pro- 
 ceeded hastily to post headquarters, where, fortu- 
 nately, in addition to the commandant, he found Gov- 
 ernor Ramsey and Adjutant General Malmros in 
 consultation with the military authorities regarding: 
 operations in the south and the rendezvous of re- 
 cruits being assembled at Snelling. Sturgis de- 
 livered his dispatches with little ceremony. For 
 the instant the governor and the commandant were 
 stunned with the shocking intelligence of the mas- 
 sacre conveyed to them from Lieutenant Gere. 
 They compared and reread the dispatches to make 
 sure they had not interpreted more appalling dis- 
 aster from them than they really contained. The 
 visible shock gave way quickly to a determination 
 to act, and by 6 o'clock of that evening a part of the 
 Sixth Minnesota Vol. Infantry had embarked on a 
 steamboat, bound up the Minnesota River, then re- 
 gularly navigated. Sturgis accompanied the de- 
 tachment as far as Shakopee, where he had left a 
 horse. At the supper table in a Shakopee hotel he 
 made the acquaintance of two men who had friends 
 on the frontier, for whom they had the greatest con- 
 cern. These men had horses, and it was agreed 
 that the two should mount after supper and proceed 
 toward the front. They rode to Henderson, where 
 they found much excitement. They resolved to 
 form a company of mounted men, and proceed to 
 Fort Ridgely with all possible haste. They spent 
 
114 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 the night in perfecting 1 their plans, and by morning 
 had forty, resolute men enlisted for a forward move- 
 ment. Ex-Indian Agent Joseph R. Brown was at 
 Henderson, and dissuaded many of the volunteers 
 at the last moment from venturing upon what he re- 
 garded as an impracticable undertaking. A num- 
 ber withdrew from the organization under his influ- 
 ence. This discouraged others, and but six men 
 finally remained true to the original determination 
 Sturgis, his two acquaintances from Shakopee and 
 three determined Henderson men, Sturgis feeling 
 the greatest concern for his comrades at Fort Ridge- 
 ly. They proceeded, but out on the fort road, four 
 or five miles from Henderson, the six resolute men 
 met a half-breed just coming in from the Yellow 
 Medicine country. He assured the horsemen they 
 could never reach Fort Ri4gely alive, and gave a 
 graphic account of the horrible deeds he had wit- 
 nessed for fifty miles, giving the latest information 
 from the scenes of the massacre. Reluctantly the 
 men returned to Henderson, and Sturgis proceeded 
 back to acquaint Gen. Sibley, in command of the 
 reinforcements, with the information he had gained 
 from the half-breed. Much to the disappointment 
 of Sturgis, who had ridden without rest or sleep in 
 the discharge of his duties to hasten the progress 
 of assistance, he had to ride back to Belle Plaine, 
 so slowly had the movement of troops dragged. 
 Finding Gen. Sibley at the hotel in Belle Plaine, 
 Sturgis acquainted him with all he had the morn- 
 ing of that day learned from the upper country. 
 General Sibley asked Sturgis if he could, without 
 rest, bear some dispatches to Gov. Ramsey, at St. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 115 
 
 Paul, and was assured by the efficient dispatch-bear- 
 er he would do his best. This was at nightfall of 
 Wednesday. Sturgis found difficulty in getting 
 transportation for his new task, but was finally given 
 an order by Gen. Sibley to take the sheriff's horse, 
 that officer being then in town. The night was very 
 dark and the roads strange, but Sturgis reached 
 Shakopee at 4 o'clock on Thursday morning, Aug- 
 ust 21. Boats ran regularly as far up as Shakopee, 
 and the boat for St. Paul would leave at 6 that morn- 
 ing. Leaving orders to be called promptly at 5:30, 
 Sturgis threw himself upon a couch and had his first 
 continuous hour-and-a-half of sleep since the pre- 
 vious Sunday night. He was called in time to eat 
 his breakfast and catch the boat. He reached the 
 governor's office at the state capitol in St. Paul at 
 about 10 a. m., of that day. Delivering this, his sec- 
 ond dispatch, the Governor asked in an impatient 
 tone as to the progress made by the troops, and rose 
 from his seat and paced the floor when told Gen. 
 Sibley was still at Belle Plaine the previous even- 
 ing, where he had been since the evening of the 
 first day out. There were no telephones in that 
 day, and, asking Sturgis to remain in his office, the 
 Governor sent a messenger out after William R; 
 Marshall, who came promptly. There was an ani- 
 mated discussion of the situation, in which Gover- 
 nor Ramsey expressed himself with much emphasis. 
 Marshall seemed to fit the occasion uniquely, and 
 the seeds were sown here that matured in his mili- 
 tary advancement later. It was the request of Gov- 
 ernor Ramsey that Mr. Marshall go to the front as 
 his, the Governor's representative, and placing in 
 
116 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Sturgis' hands dispatches for Gen. Sibley, Marshall 
 and himself were shortly away for the front, arriv- 
 ing: at Shakopee at night. They drove thence to 
 Belle Plaine, over a rough and muddy road, in in- 
 tense darkness, arriving" at Gen. Sibley's headquar- 
 ters early in the morning of Friday, August 22. 
 Sturgis delivered his dispatches to Gen. Sibley, 
 and left Sibley and Marshall in consultation. 
 
 The sequel of their conference was not long to be 
 waited for. Marshall joined Sturgis, and they sat 
 down at the breakfast table in a Belle Plaine hotel, 
 and as they ate, the blare of trumpets was heard, 
 and before they had finished, the advance guard 
 was in motion, moving briskly through the prin- 
 cipal street of the town. Marshall and Sturgis re- 
 mained together until they arrived at St. Peter. 
 Here Sturgis, for the first time since the night of 
 Sunday, August 17, or nearly a week previously, re- 
 moved his clothing and slept in a bed. He remain- 
 ed with the troops, and was with the first detach- 
 ment to reach Fort Ridgely on the morning of Wed- 
 nesday, August 27, where the beleaguered garrison, 
 famished and worn, embattled and oppressed by a 
 foe in whose heart mercy was an unknown element, 
 received its long hoped for relief. Ten days of 
 fighting, vigil and suffering had reduced the garri- 
 son to a pitiable condition, and to be among the 
 first to raise the siege was a matter of great satis- 
 faction to the dispatch-bearer and to have partici- 
 pated in the joyous greetings of the besieged garri- 
 son and the men who had ridden all night to relieve 
 our sufferings, a celebration no one has ever at- 
 tempted to describe, was the privilege of a lifetime, 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 117 
 
 and reward enough for all the hardships Sturgis 
 had endured. 
 
 No less notable than the wild flight of Sturgis, 
 was that of Corporal James C. McLain, the mes- 
 senger who was sent on a no less perilous ride in 
 pursuit of Lieutenant Sheehan, who left Fort Ridge- 
 ly the previous day (Sunday) with his detachment 
 of fifty men of Co. C, and who was long miles away 
 on his return march to Fort Ripley, on the upper 
 Mississippi. Bravely and dramatically McLain 
 dashed away to perform one of the most gallant 
 feats in the history of the massacre, but no account 
 of the incidents of his long ride through a country 
 overrun by the Sioux was ever preserved, and as 
 he was years ago "gathered to his fathers," no ac- 
 count is now obtainable of the incidents of his val- 
 orous deeds. The order detailing McLain for this 
 service was one of the last official acts of Capt. 
 Marsh before leaving Fort Ridgely on his fated 
 mission to the Redwood Ferry on the morning of 
 August 18. McLain's ride was by daylight, giving 
 him some advantages, and yet increasing the 
 dangers that beset him. He overtook Lieutenant 
 Sheehan after a ride of forty-two miles, near Glen- 
 coe, and immediately started on the return to Fort 
 Ridgely with Sheehan's detachment, marching all 
 night and making his eighty-four mile journey with- 
 out a moments rest. 
 
118 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Noble Men and Women Among the Refugees. 
 
 While the refugees who came into the Fort from 
 the surrounding: settlements consisted mainly of 
 women and children, not a few men were among 
 their number, and among these men, as among the 
 women, were those of true Spartan courage, and to 
 their noble endeavors Minnesota owes a debt of 
 everlasting gratitude. There were those who were 
 cowed into a state of submissiveness that rendered 
 them an impediment rather than a benefit to the 
 distressed garrison. But the few of whom this may 
 be written had been mentally dazed by the fright- 
 ful experiences through which they had passed be- 
 fore escaping the blood-stained hands of the Sioux. 
 Their peaceful and happy homes, in an hour of un- 
 expected danger, had been fallen upon by savages 
 who were merciless, and who found their greatest 
 pleasure in their deeds of extremest cruelty. It is 
 needless to depict what many of these refugees had 
 witnessed and experienced ; and the wonder is not 
 so much that they lost their virility and combative- 
 ness, as that they retained their reason. But there 
 were noble specimens of manhood among the ref- 
 ugees, whose dogged courage and endurance con- 
 tributed much to the successful defense of Fort 
 Ridgely, these men, during the hours of conflict, 
 without special or separate organization, seeking 
 the point where their services as individuals seem- 
 ed most required, there to resist heroically and to 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE 119 
 
 share the dangers of a noble defense. Many of 
 these people or their descendants still live in the 
 immediate vicinity of the old fort, and have proven 
 their worth for sturdiness in civil life as they de- 
 monstrated it in the perilous days of the Sioux 
 Massacre. The names of these people, men and 
 women, will grow brighter as time advances and 
 the world the better appreciates their heroic deeds 
 for the State and humanity. 
 
 The artist's plate in the camera receives the 
 beautiful image, imprinted upon it by the heavens' 
 radiant gleam or the lightning's flash, but the image 
 itself appears not until time shall have changed the 
 conditions. So it is with the character and services 
 of the refugees who helped to save Fort Ridgely, 
 and for whom reverence increases as the years roll 
 by ; and while this book, in its treatment of the 
 early stages of the Massacre, has dealt largely 
 with the achievements of companies B and C of the 
 Fifth Minnesota and of the Renville Rangers, the 
 splendid services of Sergeant John Jones of the 
 regular army, and of gunner John C. Whipple, it is 
 not unmindful of the glorious part the refugees had 
 in the triumphant defense of the key to the Minne- 
 sota frontier, in an ordeal whose tests will never be 
 fully told. 
 
 It is regretable as a matter of history that the 
 names of all who sought the protection of Fort 
 Ridgely during the Sioux Massacre, were not pre- 
 served, but the making of such a record was of little 
 moment at a time when the lives of all at the garri- 
 son hung tremblingly in the balance. To stay the 
 savage tide that surged determinedly for the over- 
 
120 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 throw of Fort Ridgely, was a task of the gravest 
 moment. Every hour was one of danger and ex- 
 pectancy. Every moment increased the tax laid 
 upon human endurance. Those known to have 
 reached the Fort, and who nobly participated in its 
 defense, are the following : 
 
 William Anderson 
 Robert Baker (killed) 
 Werner Boesch 
 Louis Brisbois 
 William Butler 
 Clement Cardinal 
 M. A. Dailey 
 J. W. DeCamp 
 Frank Diepolder 
 Henry Diepolder 
 Alfred Dufrene 
 J. C. Fenske (w'd) 
 Jo. J. Frazer 
 T. J. Galbraith 
 E. A. C. Hatch 
 Patrick Heffron 
 George P. Hicks 
 Reran Horan 
 John Hose 
 Joseph Koehler 
 Louis La Croix 
 James B. Magner 
 John Magner 
 Pierre Martelle 
 Oliver Martelle 
 John Meyer 
 John Nairn 
 
 Dennis O'Shea 
 Joseph Overbaugh 
 B. F. Pratt 
 J. C. Ramsey 
 
 B. H. Randall 
 John Rcsoft 
 Adam Rieke 
 George Rieke 
 Heinrich Rieke (died) 
 Victor Rieke 
 
 Louis Robert 
 Louis Sharon 
 Chris Schlumberger 
 Gustav Stafford 
 Joshua Sweet 
 Louis Thiele 
 Nikolas Thinnes 
 Onesime Vannasse 
 A. J. Van Voorhes 
 John Walter 
 J. C. Whipple 
 
 C. G. Wykoff 
 Xavier Zolner 
 
 WOMEN. 
 Anna Boesch 
 Kenney Bradford 
 Elizabeth M. Dunn 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 121 
 
 Margaret King Hern Mrs. E. Pereau 
 
 Mary A. Heffron Wilhelmina Randall 
 
 Eliza Muller Valencia J. Reynolds 
 
 Juliette McAllister Mary Rieke 
 
 Mary D. Overbaugh Mrs. R. Schmahl 
 
 Agnes Overbaugh Mrs. Spencer 
 
 Julia Peterson Julia Sweet 
 
 Mrs. E. Picard Emily J. West 
 
122 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 New Ulm. 
 
 The siege raised, our first news came of what had 
 transpired about us, particularly at our nearest 
 neighboring town, New Ulm, seventeen miles be- 
 low. We had surmised an attack on New Ulm. 
 We had witnessed during the siege, on different 
 days, a movement of savages around the north and 
 south of us, like the drift of a mighty river, floating 
 as spectral figures over the great prairies for long 
 intervals. Where could they be concentrating, ex- 
 cept at New Ulm? But beyond this there was noth- 
 ing upon which to base a suspicion. 
 
 Now it was learned that Little Crow T s forces who 
 had held their council under the eyes of the Fort 
 on the morning after the outbreak at the Agency, 
 had fallen upon defenseless New Ulm on the after- 
 noon of that day, August 19th, producing conster- 
 nation, as the town was utterly unorganized and 
 wholly unprepared for such a visitation. Fortunate- 
 ly Lieutenant Gere's message forwarded through 
 Courier Sturgis, reached St. Peter before daylight 
 of the 19th, requesting the immediate return of the 
 Renville Rangers and confirming the gravest sus- 
 picions of a general Sioux uprising. Judge Charles 
 E. Flandrau, one of Minnesota's ablest and best of 
 the distinguished men who came into the Territory 
 from 1845 to 1850, lived about a mile out of St. Peter. 
 He was not only able and resourceful mentally, but 
 had practical knowledge of Indian character. Learn- 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 123 
 
 of the uprising 1 , he set out without a moment's 
 delay to organize for relief and defense. Gather- 
 ing a company about him, he started to intercept 
 the enemy and give him battle as a check to his 
 progress while defenses were being more extensive- 
 ly organized. When his command left St. Peter 
 there was no fixed destination, but both Fort Ridge- 
 ly and New Ulm were undoubtedly hard pressed, 
 and to one or the other of these points it was ex- 
 pected the command would go. Fortunately, New 
 Ulm being the nearer, that point was made, Judge 
 Flandrau and his men reaching the town while it 
 was defending itself at great disadvantage from an 
 attack by the Indians, who were not strong in num- 
 bers in this attack, but who were numerous enough 
 to threaten the taking of the town, a number of 
 citizens having been killed and several houses fired 
 by the savages. 
 
 Judge Flandrau had never received military train- 
 ing, but by the saving grace of good sound sense, 
 he was admirably equipped for the great work that 
 awaited him at New Ulm. An able lawyer, a keen 
 student of human nature, a good organizer, and a 
 man of dauntless courage, he met every demand of 
 the emergency. Several companies of hastily or- 
 ganized citizen-soldiery centered at New Ulm on 
 the urgent call sent out by Judge Flandrau, who 
 plainly said the town could only be saved by ac- 
 cessions from the country south and east. These 
 organizations were headed by men well suited to 
 the work before them, who ably seconded Judge 
 Flandrau in putting the distressed town on a de- 
 fensive footing. Little Crow's desperate attack on 
 
124 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Fort Ridgely, on the 22nd was most fortunate for 
 New Ulm, as an indispensable day was grained by 
 Flandrau, his lieutenants, and the inhabitants of 
 the town to prepare for what must inevitably come 
 a second attack by the Indians. The day also en- 
 abled Flandrau to send parties into the surround- 
 ing 1 settlements, who gathered up scores of people 
 whose lives were momentarily in danger, and who, 
 had they been left in the settlements, would have 
 fallen an easy prey on the following day, to the 
 hundreds of marauding savages who raided the en- 
 tire surrounding country. The inhabitants of New 
 Ulm were almost exclusively Germans, who, char- 
 acteristic of their race, were a quiet, industrious, 
 peace-loving people, and the unheralded catastrophe 
 that had burst upon them so suddenly, had over- 
 whelmed them with dismay. But every possible 
 defensive precaution had been taken during the 
 22nd, so that on the following day the town was pre- 
 pared to offer strong resistance to the furious at- 
 tack of the savages, which began between the hours 
 of 9 and 10 of the forenoon of Saturday, August 23rd. 
 The defensive force under Judge Flandrau number- 
 ed about three hundred effective men, neither well 
 nor uniformly armed, however. The non-combatants 
 of the town numbered from 1200 to 1500 people, 
 principally women and children of the village and 
 of the country immediately surrounding. The at- 
 tack of the savages was furious, and made with the 
 confident belief that success was to reward their 
 efforts. The signs of the morning portending a 
 fight, Judge Flandrau moved his forces well out, 
 quite encircling the town. Speaking of the open- 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 125 
 
 ing-, Judge Flandrau has said:* "At nearly 10 
 o'clock in the morning the body of Indians began 
 to move toward us, first slowly, and then with con- 
 siderable rapidity. Their advance upon the slop- 
 ing prairie in the bright sunlight was a very fine 
 spectacle, and to such inexperienced soldiers as 
 we all were, intensely exciting. When within about 
 one and a half miles of us the mass began to expand 
 like a fan, and increase in the velocity of its ap- 
 proach, and continued this movement until within 
 about double rifle-shot, when it had covered our en- 
 tire front. Then the savages uttered a terrific yell 
 and came down upon us like the wind. I awaited 
 the first discharge with great anxiety, as it seemed 
 to me to yield was certain destruction. The yell 
 unsettled the men a little, and just as the rifles be- 
 gun to crack they fell back along the whole line." 
 The most unfortunate part of this movement was, 
 that in falling back from the open field, buildings 
 were passed in the outskirts of town, of which the 
 Indians were quick to take possession, and from the 
 cover of which they became doubly troublesome 
 and effective. Realizing the danger rapidly threat- 
 ening, Judge Flandrau and a number of brave fel- 
 lows now charged up the hill, down which the forces 
 had fallen back, and the movement was taken up 
 
 * Judge Flandrau modestly places the number of Indians in the attack at 650, 
 basing his information on reports from unfriendly half-breeds subsequent to the 
 engagements. This would mean two to one of Fiandrau's force. A force of 
 four to one would hardly have given Judge Flandrau and his brave men a harder 
 fight than was the second battle of New Ulm, lasting nine or ten hours ; and 
 this is a safer criterion by which to judge of the number* of the enemy than 
 would be the solicited estimates of half-breeds who were in the fight with the 
 savages. An Indian invariably belies his strength and his casualties. 
 
126 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 with a shout that effectually checked the progress 
 the Indians were making:. 
 
 From this on the men fought aggressively and 
 confidently, and the contest raged hotly for several 
 hours, with varying advantages. The Indians at 
 length encircled the entire town, and pressed every 
 advantage with great vigor. Their position on the 
 bluff was a commanding one, and this they held 
 persistently. Getting a footing in the lower part 
 of town, the Indians began the firing of buildings 
 at the foot of the main street of the village. This 
 threatened to be the utter undoing of the noble de- 
 fenders of New Ulm. This offensive movement was 
 one the defenders could not stay or stem. The 
 wind proved an evil element in addition, as it blew 
 so as to drive the smoke and flames up the main 
 street. Under cover of the smoke the savages push- 
 ed their way up the street, and in combatting them 
 the forces of Flandrau exposed themselves to a hot 
 fire from the enemy on the bluff. The defenders 
 now fought inch by inch and foot by foot to gain 
 ground that would enable them to check the pro- 
 gress of the conflagration, and in this, by indomit- 
 able perseverance and hard fighting, succeeded. 
 
 After the conflict had raged for hours the defen- 
 ders became hardened to battle, and grew to be in 
 every way better soldiers. They had learned the 
 tactics of the savages, and had become inured to 
 their demonic yells, which at first were terrifying. 
 Not only were the lives of hundreds of helpless 
 women, children and aged and infirm, in the hands 
 of these valiant men, but far-reaching consequences 
 to the whole border were involved in the contest, 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 127 
 
 and as the conflict lengthened, the defenders more 
 and more forced the fighting, until at length, with 
 nightfall, the savages withdrew, defeated, for they 
 had failed of their purpose. 
 
 This battle was one of the most important events 
 in the history of Minnesota, and will ever hold a 
 distinctive place among the early day frontier 
 tragedies of the state ; and New Ulm's distinction 
 is unique, in that it is shared by no other Minnesota 
 town. 
 
 After dark a new and less extended defensive 
 line was formed and barricaded, and all buildings 
 outside of this line, some forty in number, were 
 burned. Thus the town, for the first time, was in 
 good condition to resist attack, and the wisdom of 
 this precautionary measure was apparent when the 
 savages renewed the attack the following morning, 
 only to abandon it definitely by noon. 
 
 Pestilence threatening, and ammunition and pro- 
 visions becoming well exhausted, it was resolved 
 to abandon New Ulm, and on Monday, August 25th, 
 the venture of successfully reaching Mankato was 
 made. In addition to the women and children, were 
 eighty wounded men. To remove these a train of 
 153 wagons was made up, and the procession, which 
 Judge Flandrau has described as the "most heart- 
 rending ever witnessed in America," set out on its 
 sad and perilous mission, reaching its destination 
 in safety. Though for a time abandoned, New Ulm 
 was not again the scene of conflict or important 
 molestation. The moral effect of a strong force 
 of troops moving up the Minnesota valley to the 
 scenes of the massacre, though the troops were not 
 
128 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 yet within striking distance of the enemy, exerted 
 a salutary influence over the Indians, who had been 
 roughly handled at Fort Ridgely and New Ulm, 
 and who were beginning to sorrowfully abandon the 
 hope of re-entering the Mississippi valley. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 129 
 
 Birch Goulie. 
 
 On Thursday morning:, Augfust 28th, Col. H. H. 
 Sibley entered Fort Ridgely at the head of a column 
 of about 1200 men. These with Col. McPhail's men 
 already at the Fort, and accessions that followed 
 rapidly, made up an army sufficiently large to war- 
 rant offensive operations, though the equipment of 
 these troops was grossly, inefficient. 
 
 Preliminary to other operations, a detachment 
 was sent out on Sunday, August 31st, with the Lower 
 Agency as the .objective point. This was still, as 
 of old, the rendezvous of the Indians. Mainly, the 
 expedition had for its purpose the interment of the 
 men who fell at the ferry and the Agency, and of 
 others, and to discover, if possible, the body of 
 Captain Marsh. The detachment for this purpose 
 was composed of Co. A, Sixth Minnesota Volunteer 
 Infantry, Captain Hiram P. Grant, and the Cullen 
 Guards, mounted, Captain Joseph Anderson. The 
 detachment was under the general command and 
 guidance of Major Joseph R. Brown, a noted Indian 
 trader and frontiersman, and embraced about one 
 hundred and fifty men, exclusive of seventeen team- 
 sters, who had charge of as many wagons contain" 
 ing equipage. In burying the scores of corpses 
 that had been exposed for ten days in a summer's 
 sun, the little expedition put in a day of trying ex- 
 periences by. the time of reaching; the Redwood 
 
130 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 ferry, and went into camp at night, (having: seen 
 no sigfn of Indians) in the Minnesota bottoms, just 
 east of the Agency. Monday morning, September 
 1st, Captain Anderson crossed the Minnesota, and 
 after burying: the dead at the Agfency, proceeded 
 up the west side of the river, while Captain Grant 
 scouted about the country to the eastward, the two 
 detachments rejoining: each other at nigrht at Birch 
 Coulie, a location than which there could have been 
 nothing: more unfortunate from a military stand- 
 point. The site had Major Brown's approval, and 
 there being: confidence in his judgment, he having: 
 lived for years among: the Sioux, and knowing: every 
 rod of ground of the surrounding: country, the men 
 bivouacked, knowing: they were in the enemy's 
 country, but little suspecting: the frightful catas- 
 trophe that awaited them. 
 
 The location of the camp, as stated, was unfavor- 
 able in the extreme, being: in a depression where 
 in event of an attack the men would be at the mercy 
 of the enemy. 
 
 Company B of the Fifth, which for months had 
 occupied Fort Ridg:ely, now that so larg:e a body of 
 troops had arrived, left the quarters and went into 
 camp in tents northwest of the garrison. The writer 
 remembers well, while lying: on the ground about 
 dayligfht on the morning: of September 1st, of hear- 
 ing: the rattle of musketry. This was heard and com- 
 mented on by many, and indicated plainly that 
 Captains Grant and Anderson were hotly eng:ag:ed 
 by the enemy. It was not supposed the firing: could 
 be fifteen miles away, as it really was, Mother Earth 
 being: a better telephone than she was g:iven credit 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 131 
 
 for. A relief column was at once organized to go 
 to the assistance of the Grant- Anderson detach- 
 ment. This consisted of Col. Samuel McPhail, with 
 fifty horsemen. Major Robert McLarren with one 
 hundred infantrymen, and Captain Mark Hendrix 
 with a mountain howitzer and the necessary gunners 
 to man it. The whereabouts of Grant and Anderson 
 could only be surmised, as no word had come from 
 them since the day of their departure, but they 
 could be located within reasonable bounds ; so the 
 relief column need not, and did not, go far astray. 
 The movements of the relief column in fact had 
 been detected by the savages, and a strong force 
 of Little Crow's warriors was thrown against the 
 McPhail-McLarren forces, to prevent their reaching 
 Birch Coulie, which the Indians knew must soon 
 fall into their hands if relief could be prevented. 
 The relief detachment having a howitzer made ex- 
 cellent use of it in many ways besides pouring shot 
 into the ranks of the Indians who had thrown them- 
 selves across the path of the soldiers. The sound 
 of the cannon gave heart to the desperately oppress- 
 ed force at Birch Coulie, three miles distant, struck 
 terror to the hosts of Little Crow, and admonished 
 Col. Sibley that a hot fight was in progress. 
 
 Lieutenant Sheehan, the hero of Fort Ridgely, 
 had accompanied the relief column, and as the com- 
 mander of the expedition found the savage hosts 
 too strong to make farther progress possible, dis- 
 patched Sheehan with a request to Col. Sibley for 
 reinforcements. Sheehan, of all men in the relief 
 expedition, was best fitted by tact, courage and ex- 
 perience for the hazardous mission, and while his 
 
132 . RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 horse was twice wounded by the savages, made the 
 ride successfully. 
 
 Col. Sibley, in response, at once put his entire 
 force on the march, leaving Fort Ridgely at sun- 
 down on Tuesday evening, September 2nd. He 
 reinforced the relief column in the night, his own 
 cannon, in charge of Sergeant Jones, and that of 
 Captain Hendrix, being used for signal purposes 
 in uniting the two bodies. The exact location of 
 the Grant-Anderson force not being known, and the 
 night being very dark, Col. Sibley awaited daylight 
 where he found McPhail and McLarren, moving 
 his entire force forward at dawn. A march of three 
 miles led to the horrifying death-trap that passed 
 into history as Birch Coulie, a place that furnished 
 one of the bloodiest pages of the Sioux Massacre, 
 as well as one of the grandest exhibitions of cour- 
 age and endurance, under the most adverse con- 
 ditions, ever recorded. 
 
 At dawn onTuesday morning, September 2nd, the 
 camp of Captains Grant and Anderson was surpris* 
 ed and fiercely attacked at short range under cover 
 of the brush and hills surrounding. The effect upr 
 on the little command was appalling. The rain of 
 bullets dealt consternation and death to the unpro- 
 tected camp, throwing officers and men into the 
 wildest confusion. The storm increased as the 
 savages warmed up to their work, and emboldened, 
 forced their way to newer and nearer points of van- 
 tage, their yells and shouts and the beating of 
 torn - toms adding to the terrifying din, ami4 
 which many men and horses went to earth. It 
 seemed that not a living creature could long survive 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 133 
 
 the almost blinding" cross-fire to which the men 
 were subjected. Horses, frightfully wounded, gave 
 painful expression to their agonies. There were 
 ninety of these noble beasts in the little camp, and 
 nearly all were down, dead or groaning in death 
 agonies, within thirty minutes after the firing of the 
 first shot by the savages. One-fourth of the men 
 had already fallen, dead or wounded, and yet the 
 fire grew hotter. 
 
 The panorama surrounding the men was such as 
 to daze their senses. The belching guns of the sav- 
 ages formed an encircling line of fire, while the 
 exultant Indians, their writhing bodies swaying 
 and leaping, made tame in comparison the "Inferno" 
 of Dante. The men must return the fire to prevent 
 a charge, which would have swept the little rem- 
 nant of soldiery from existence in a twinkling. 
 
 If they would withstand the awful storm of bullets, 
 they must dig, for without trenches there was no 
 protection, and they JiY/dig, using the three spades 
 and one shovel available, and their swords, bayo- 
 nets, pocket-knives and fingers, even. But hours 
 passed before fairly adequate protection was se- 
 cured, many a man's pit proving to be his grave. 
 All day long the pitiless rain of shot fell upon the 
 helpless men from all sides, imprisoning them in 
 their little trenches from which they bravely fought 
 beneath a scorching sun without food or drink or 
 relief or the ability in any known way to communi- 
 cate a knowledge of their distress beyond the cordon 
 of savages, that, like the coils of a serpent, held 
 them in its deadly folds. 
 
 On and on, hour by hour, the battle raged, until 
 
134 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 darkness relaxed in a degree only, the savage grasp. 
 The roar of the howitzer of Captain Hendrix had 
 been heard for hours, but its sounds had become a 
 mystery rather than a hope. 
 
 Night came none too soon, for the ammunition 
 with which to resist longer was practically exhaust- 
 ed. The long vigil, surrounded by the dead and 
 the moaning, helpless wounded, whose entreaties 
 were almost beyond human endurance, ended at 
 dawn when Col. Sibley and his men rode into the 
 slaughter-pen as the savages fell back among the 
 protecting hills and valleys of the Minnesota. 
 
 The scenes that met the gaze of the relieving 
 column can only be truly known to those who wit- 
 nessed them, for language, in its process of evolu- 
 tion, has not as yet arrived at a stage in its de- 
 velopment for the faithful portrayal of the uncanny 
 spectacle that Col. Sibley looked upon in dumb 
 amazement when he entered the camp. Judge J. J. 
 Egan, then a boy, a volunteer for the service and 
 the occasion, says, in writing of the events in 
 which he participated from first to last at Birch 
 Coulie : "The scene presented in our camp was a 
 sickening one. Twenty-three men, black and dis- 
 colored by the sun's rays, lay stark and dead in a 
 small space; forty-five others, severely wounded, 
 and groaning and crying for water ; the carcasses 
 of ninety dead horses lying about, and a stench in- 
 tolerable emanating from the whole ground." The 
 tents of the camp were literally cut to pieces, while 
 the wagons, riddled and splintered, told of the aw- 
 ful ordeal through which the survivors had passed. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 135 
 
 Wood Lake and Camp Release. 
 
 Following 1 Birch Coulie came a period of inactivity 
 at the Fort, painful to the restless men who felt 
 that valuable time was being: wasted; but while 
 Col. Sibley would never have gained fame as a 
 dashing: Indian campaigner, it is due to say that at 
 this time he was poorly equipped for an aggressive 
 movement. His men were good, but his equipment 
 was poor in the extreme, and his means of trans- 
 portation no better. Having as far as possible over- 
 come these defects, just one month from the day 
 of the outbreak, or on September 18th, the march 
 was taken up for an offensive campaign, the entire 
 force moving down to and across the Minnesota 
 River by ferry, a mile from Fort Ridgely. The 
 command proceeded with great caution up the west 
 side of the Minnesota, camping below the Redwood 
 Agency on the afternoon of the second day. The 
 fifth day out, the 22nd of September, Wood Lake 
 was reached, a shallow body of water about two 
 miles from the Yellow Medicine Agency. The 
 following morning, there being no signs of a for- 
 ward movement, a party of the Third Minnesota 
 started with teams on a foraging expedition, and 
 had proceeded nearly a mile in the direction of 
 Yellow Medicine when they were fiercely attacked 
 by a large force of Indians. Major A. E. Welch, 
 commanding the Third, hastened with his remnant 
 of a regiment, about 270 men in all, to the rescue of 
 
136 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 the foraging party, and became hotly engaged. The 
 fighting Renville Rangers could not keep out, and 
 were soon in the midst of the conflict. But all this 
 was unauthorized, and instead of supporting Welch, 
 he was ordered to fall back to camp. He persisted 
 in dealing a hot fire into the ranks of the enemy, 
 and instead of retreating, sent word back to Col. 
 Sibley that he could hold his ground, and asked to 
 be reinforced. Col. Sibley then sent a peremptory 
 order to fall back to camp. Welch, reluctantly 
 yielding under orders, was hotly pressed by the 
 exultant savages, and sustained serious loss in the 
 retrograde movement, himself receiving a broken 
 leg. In this enforced retreat, made amid bitter 
 curses on the part of the soldiers, it was necessary 
 to cross a small creek, which flowed through a 
 narrow, deep ravine. Taking advantage of this 
 confusing hindrance, the Indians poured in a merci- 
 less fire, and it was here Welch received his serious 
 wound, and that many of his men were killed or 
 wounded, but the men, assisted by the Renville 
 Rangers, were able to save their wounded from 
 falling into the hands of the savages. 
 
 At last the Sixth and Seventh Minnesota men, 
 chafing under restraint while their comrades were 
 suffering unjustly, as they believed, were put into 
 action, with their fighting spirit at fever heat. 
 Lieutenant Colonel William R. Marshall, with his 
 five companies of the Seventh, joined the Third and 
 Renville Rangers in a gallant charge that sent the 
 enemy flying. The Sixth and the Artillery render- 
 ed effective assistance at various points, once the 
 order was given, and all combined, gallantly passed 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 137 
 
 the battle of Wood Lake over to history with victory 
 complete. 
 
 The march from Wood Lake was resumed on the 
 25th, a day having been ipent at the scene of the 
 battle to bury the dead and study the movements 
 of the enemy. On Friday, September 26th, the 
 command reached the Indian camp nearly opposite 
 the point at which the Chippewa enters the Minne- 
 sota River. The friendly Indians had secured pos- 
 session of the white captives taken by Little Crow 
 during the massacre, the warrior chief now finding: 
 his time taken up with the serious matter of self- 
 preservation. Immediately prior to this date stormy 
 times had characterized the life of the savages. A 
 powerful and vicious element, steeped in crime and 
 dripping with innocent blood, was determined the 
 captives, about 250 in number, should be massacred. 
 Another strong element, though in the minority, 
 bravely stood between the fiends incarnate and the 
 helpless women and children who lived in mortal 
 fear of annihilation. They had suffered agonies in- 
 describable and indignities revolting and unspeak- 
 able, by the side of which death would have been 
 merciful. The sound of cannon at Wood Lake, to 
 them as sweet as aeolian strains, told of the 
 near approach of their deliverers, and gave them 
 a new interest in life ; but they jrealized their 
 increased dangers, now mingled with the first gleam 
 of hope, and their suspense and mental anguish told 
 frightfully on their endurance. Crushed in pride and 
 spirit, exposed to the chill of rains and autumn winds, 
 and compelled to live on food revolting to decent 
 stomachs, there were no longer brave spirits among 
 
138 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 these unhappy people to encourage the weak, and 
 the nearer deliverance came the greater became 
 the danger that the whole captive mass would be 
 butchered. The red-handed assassins among the 
 Indians were determined this should be done. The 
 brave men among them, the "friendly Indians," 
 who would hazard their own existence in the final 
 struggle to save the captives/were favored by the 
 anxiety of those who had blotted out a thousand 
 lives, to escape to places of personal safety. This 
 was indeed a strong factor in saving from annihi- 
 lation the helpless captives. The wish of the red- 
 handed element was to accomplish the terrible exe- 
 cution of these people with gun and club, and then 
 hastily escape into the great solitude to the north- 
 westward, then known only to adventurous explor- 
 ers. They were thwarted only by the courageous 
 Paul (ma-za-ku-ta-ma-ne) who had the moral support 
 of Standing Buffalo and other influential leaders, 
 and who would have fought desperately had the 
 final issue been forced. 
 
 Another point never historically developed, was 
 the masterful skill by which, without internecine 
 violence, the friendly Indians became the dcfaclo 
 possessors of the captives. This was not done 
 openly or boastfully, but artfully and covertly, and 
 while this might not save the lives of the captives, 
 it would place them where they would not be the 
 first to die. The loyal Indians interposed them- 
 selves by a concerted movement between the cap - 
 tives and their would-be assassins. 
 
 All plans matured, and the main body of Indians 
 who had instigated and prosecuted the war on the 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 139 
 
 whites, having pushed northward for personal safety, 
 Col. Sibley rode into and took possession of the In- 
 dian camps and the captives, who were overwhelmed 
 and prostrated when the hour of their deliverance 
 finally came. That the power of their captors and 
 tormentors had been broken, and that the forbidding 
 incubus under which they had lived such wretched 
 lives, had been swept away, was too much for their 
 dulled comprehension, and they bowed down and 
 wept, and then lifted their faces in thanksgiving to 
 God, and as they rose and marched away into new 
 life the actors in the theatre of war for the nonce 
 disappeared from the stage. 
 
140 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Attack on Fort Abercrombie. 
 
 Like Ridgely, Abercrombie was a fort in name 
 only. The post consisted of three buildings bar- 
 racks, officers' quarters and comissary. When the 
 news of the outbreak reached this distant frontier 
 post, steps were taken to hastily put the garrison 
 in a defensible condition by the construction of 
 earthworks and other barricades. Abercrombie, 
 situated on the west bank of the Red River, in what 
 is now Richland County, North Dakota, did not 
 learn of the outbreak until the 20th of August. The 
 post was garrisoned by Co. D, Capt. John Vander- 
 Horck, Fifth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. The 
 center of attraction of the Indians was on the more 
 southern frontier and during the period of quiet at 
 Abercrombie Capt. Vander Horck put his post in 
 the best possible condition for resisting the enemy, 
 and wisely he planned, for the Indians desperately 
 attacked the Fort at 5 o'clock of the morning of 
 September 3rd, which attack they continued until 
 about noon, but they were repulsed by the gallant 
 men of Co. D, and retired after sustaining severe 
 loss in numbers. The garrison was now confronted 
 by several serious problems. Capt. Vander Horck, 
 while on a round of the picket line before daylight 
 of the morning of attack, was shot and seriously 
 wounded by a guard who had seen Indians in the 
 vicinity of his post, and who mistook the Captain 
 for a foe. First Lieutenant Cariveau was ill, and 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 141 
 
 while Second Lieutenant Groetch had commanded 
 with ability, it was discovered when this first en- 
 gagement was over that but 350 rounds of ammu- 
 nition for the old Harper's Ferry muskets, with 
 which the men were armed, remained. By mistake, 
 cartridges had been supplied to the post of a calibre 
 not suited to the guns of the men. A force was at 
 once organized to manufacture cartridges, the 
 bullets for which were obtained by opening canister 
 intended for the howitzers, of which there was an 
 abundant supply. Sufficient ammunition was thus 
 made for the infantry without seriously depleting 
 the supply of the artillery. 
 
 On the morning of September 6th, just at the 
 break of day, the Indians launched a furious attack 
 upon the Fort with greatly increased numbers, the 
 attack lasting ten hours, during which time the 
 fighting was at times hot and furious, but aided by 
 the howitzers, which were splendidly manned, the 
 garrison bad defiance to the enemy and drove him 
 from the field with heavy loss. Though reinforce- 
 ments did not arrive until September 23rd, over a 
 month from the beginning of the outbreak, the Fort 
 was not again attacked in force, though the garrison 
 was practically in a state of siege for weeks. Co. 
 D lost five men, one killed and four wounded, in 
 the two engagements. 
 
 The defense of Fort Abercrombie was heroically 
 sustained. The mental and physical strain endur- 
 ed, severely taxed the officers and men, but they 
 proved equal to every demand and every expect- 
 ation. 
 
142 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Escape of the Missionaries. 
 
 On the night of Friday, Aug. 22nd, after a hard 
 day's fight with the savages, and while the enemy 
 was yet reasonably supposed to occupy in large 
 numbers the woods surrounding Fort Ridgely on 
 three sides, Andrew Hunter, son-in-lawof Rev. Dr. 
 Thomas Williamson, the well-known Sioux mis- 
 sionary, crawled on his hands and knees into the 
 Fort to ascertain conditions and the advisability of 
 attempting to pilot a party of forty souls into the 
 garrison. He told in an undertone the startling 
 story of the escape of the missionaries and their 
 families from above the Yellow Medicine Agency, 
 an escape thrilling and miraculous, made while the 
 whole country was lying at the feet of the murder- 
 ous Sioux. The missionary party had reached a 
 point not far distant from the Fort on the afternoon 
 of August 22nd, and plainly heard the storm of 
 battle that raged for hours between the garrison 
 and the hosts of Little Crow, and as silence succeed- 
 ed the din of battle at dark the most intense anxiety 
 was felt by the missionaries, as to what the result of 
 the fierce engagement had been. Had the Fort 
 fallen, and was the reigning silence the silence of 
 death and desolation? Thus queried all, and thus 
 thought Andrew Hunter as he crept up to and into 
 the garrison. The Fort still survived, but it was 
 so reduced in ammunition and supplies as to make 
 it no longer a safe place of refuge. The hearts of 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 143 
 
 the mission band scarcely beat in the hour of anx- 
 iety during which Hunter had stealthily, his life in 
 his hand, crept to the Fort. Hunter was advised 
 that it would be wiser for the missionaries to con- 
 tinue their flight, dangerous as it was, rather than 
 to enter the Fort in its exhausted condition, for it 
 must fall for want of ammunition, if the battle were 
 renewed, as was not improbable. 
 
 Thus came to Fort Ridgely the first news receiv- 
 ed of the whereabouts and fortunes of the mission- 
 aries, the families and associates of the Rev. Dr. 
 Williamson and the Rev. Stephen R. Riggs, whose 
 mission homes were at Hazlewood, five or six miles 
 northwest of the remote Yellow Medicine Agency. 
 Great anxiety was felt for these well-known people, 
 some of whom had been in missionary work among 
 the Sioux of the Minnesota Valley since 1835, but 
 no one had dared to hope they had escaped death 
 at the hands of the savages, but one noble Indian, 
 Chaska, had stood loyally by them ; and with pecu- 
 liar instinct had guided them, even through a 
 country swarming with savages, by probably the 
 only routes that would have made their escape 
 possible. 
 
 Early in the evening of Monday, August 18th, 
 Chaska and an Indian companion, Tankanxaceye, 
 learning of the bloody work at the Lower Agency, 
 hastened to the home of Dr. Williamson, warn- 
 ed him the lives of all the whites at the mission, as 
 elsewhere, were in peril, and advised preparations 
 for flight. Paul and Simon, also full-blood Indians, 
 likewise acquainted Rev. Riggs of the conditions 
 below as they had just learned them, urged 
 
144 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 flight for safety, and assisted in piloting: the families 
 of Rig:g:s, Jonas Pettijohn, D. W. Moore and H. D. 
 Cunningham to an island in the Minnesota River 
 some distance away, where they remained until the 
 following: evening:. During: this time Chaska and 
 his Indian companion had conducted Dr. William- 
 son and family, and the family of his son-in-law, 
 Andrew Hunter, to a place of safety and conceal- 
 ment farther down the river. Having: accumulated 
 the families at the sawmill, through the kindly 
 efforts of the Renvilles, half-breeds, the Rig;g:s party 
 set out on the north and east side of the Minnesota 
 River on one of the most perilous journeys ever 
 undertaken by man. To encounter Indians was 
 death. To traverse their country and avoid them 
 seemed impossible. Dr. Williamson was slow to 
 believe the Indians had risen, en masse, for the slaug:h- 
 ter of the whites, and lingered in the region of his 
 mission-home hesitatingly ; but the warning^ of 
 Chaska were so urgent that discretion admonished 
 the ag:ed missionary to seek safety for himself and 
 friends without further delay, and well did he reach 
 this conclusion. The only available conveyance 
 was an ox-cart. This was put to the best possible 
 use, Chaska and Lorenzo concealing: the occupants 
 of the Cart beneath robes and quilts, and starting: 
 on the perilous journey to Fort Ridg:ely, nearly 
 sixty miles distant. The Rig:g;s party was over- 
 taken the following: day. Now, with the accession 
 of three Germans who had escaped from the raided 
 settlements through which the refugees must pass, 
 the number of souls under the guidance and pro- 
 tection of the faithful friendly Indians numbered 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 145 
 
 forty. 
 
 The trail of the missionaries had been taken up 
 by the murderous Indians, but fortunately a severe 
 thunderstorm intervened, and the torrents of rain 
 obliterated the trail ; it was given up, and the 
 savages went into the defenseless settlements, to 
 ply the work of destruction. 
 
 The movements of the missionaries were unavoid- 
 ably slow, and attended with momentary danger. 
 Dead bodies everywhere and charred ruins or burn- 
 ing homes made manifest the peril of the helpless 
 refugees, but their Indian guides were ever on the 
 alert, watchful as eagles, and quick to detect the 
 slightest signs of danger. Nor were they less alert 
 in the matter of choosing: the safer side of any 
 dilemma. There was little rest for man or beast, 
 and little upon which to subsist. So, day and night 
 they trudged along, much of the time through coarse 
 grass that lacerated their flesh, or jungles that hin- 
 dered their progress. 
 
 Failing to enter the Fort, the weary and worn 
 party made its way heavy hearted still many miles 
 distant, finally reaching Henderson, Sibley county. 
 
 It was with feelings of deep regret at the Fort 
 that these people were advised to continue their 
 journey, beset with the greatest of dangers, but the 
 garrison was in such peril that this was thought the 
 wiser course to pursue. 
 
146 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 CUT-NOSE 
 
 An Incident Preceding the Outbreak. 
 
 A few days before the out- 
 break a large party of Indi- 
 ans came to the Fort, Cut- 
 Nose among: the number. 
 The object of this visit can 
 best be surmised by what 
 followed. No outbreak had 
 been planned in advance, 
 though an uprising: had been 
 premeditated as the one 
 course left open for redress- 
 ing: the wrongs the Indians 
 had suffered. The visit of these Indians, as it was 
 not uncommon, excited no suspicion on this occa- 
 sion until the evening: of the second day. The 
 party, embracing: fifty to one hundred people, had 
 been unobtrusive and good-natured, but in the even- 
 ing before they were to take their departure they or- 
 ganized a war-dance west of the garrison thirty or 
 forty rods, during which they worked themselves in- 
 to a frenzied state. The writer was among a party of 
 soldier spectators who sat on a pile of rails near the 
 outer edge of the dancing circle. War-clubs and 
 seal ping-knives were in the hands of many of the 
 dancers, and were flourished with unusual defiance. 
 In passing the rail-pile on which the soldiers were 
 seated, one particularly offensive savage made a 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 147 
 
 pass as if to grab the scalp-lock of a spectator, then 
 flourished his wicked knife as if in the act of cutting" 
 a throat or lifting a scalp. The spectators, all sol- 
 diers of the garrison, were utterly unarmed. At this 
 juncture Cut-Nose interposed himself between the 
 circle and the pile of rails, and proposed the sale of 
 his pipe to one of the soldiers, and while the deal 
 was being consummated a general hegira of blue- 
 coats was started in the direction of the garrison, 
 so that the purchaser of the Cut-Nose pipe with 
 surprise found himself deserted by his unarmed 
 companions, but lost no time in imitating the dis- 
 cretion said to be the better part of valor. 
 
 The threatening demonstrations had by this time 
 roused the whole post to the extent of causing the 
 leveling of several pieces of artillery, full-shotted, 
 upon the frenzied warriors. The wiser heads among 
 the red men knew this was not the time and place 
 for hostilities, and they were told through Interpre- 
 ter Quinn their conduct was becoming displeasing, 
 and likely to get them into trouble. They learned 
 the guns were trained on them, and ceased their war- 
 dance with a suddenness betokening acumen not al- 
 ways ascribed to the savage. 
 
 While the unusual conduct of the Indians in their 
 dance was the talk of the garrison during the even- 
 ing, no one believed it had serious portent, but 
 rather thought it merely the result of excitement 
 and indiscretion on the part of vagabond individuals. 
 In less than a week after that time the whole fron- 
 tier was strewn with death and distructior^ and 
 these same warriors who had visited us, possibly 
 on a tour of inspection, were among the forces that 
 
148 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 desperately attempted to take the Fort ; and the 
 hideous-faced Cut-Nose, whose name was derived 
 from his having lost the outer part of his right 
 nostril in a fight with Other Day in past years, dis- 
 tinguished himself in the massacre for some of the 
 most fiendish deeds conceivable, and for which he 
 paid the death penalty by hanging after the out- 
 break.* 
 
 I recall that among the number on the above visit 
 was old Betz, a squaw everywhere renowned for her 
 great age, which was said to be at the time of their 
 visit, 120 years. No trader's or pioneer's memory 
 could recall when Betz was not old. She was not 
 very tall of stature, but was quite fleshy. Her at- 
 tire was not catchy, and her hair, in appearance, 
 had not been combed for years. Betz was a child 
 of the simple life. She lived close to nature, and 
 
 *Much was made of this incident by those sensationally inclined, and in a 
 history published in 1863, dealing largely with the Sioux Massacre and the 
 causes leading up to it, it was stated on the authority of a mysterious somebody, 
 a Frenchman, whose name could not be used, that this visit was a part of a 
 preconceived plan to precipitate a general massacre of the. whites by taking the 
 Fort at this time. Interrogated as to this visit and its significance a year follow- 
 ing the massacre, Chaska, Paul and other Indians who were conversant with 
 matters pertaining to the massacre, expressed positiveness that there was no plan 
 hatched in the "Soldier's Lodge," an Indian organization, for an uprising, of 
 which this visit was part. The incident at Fort Ridgely was without any 
 special significance, the indiscretion of the band being due to discontent rather 
 than to premeditated design upon the Fort, and as for th demonstration at Yel- 
 low Medicine on the 4th of August, it was the natural result of hunger and dis- 
 appointment, as was well understood by the officers and men of our regiment 
 who were at Yellow Medicine at the time to attend the payment, and who 
 realizing the seriousness of the situation and the sufferings to which the Indians 
 were subjected, urged upon Agent Galbraith the importance of issuing at least 
 food enough to prevent starvation, but without avail until the hungry savages, in 
 their desperate straits, forced a crisis. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 149 
 
 was an economist. She knew that opulence only 
 came to those who were willing: to practice economy. 
 She had a hectoring suspicion that there were things 
 in the swill-barrel outside the barracks kitchen that 
 ought to be stimulating pancreatic activity, and not 
 infrequently did she penetrate the mysteries of that 
 receptacle to her elbows, in quest of specimens of 
 vegetable matter or of discarded samples of the 
 baker's handicraft, bearing them away in her short 
 skirt, which she deftly gathered into the form of a 
 basket for the purpose, and flinging a cold potato 
 at the head of the blue-jacket who essayed to eye her 
 pastime curiously, emphasizing her effort with the 
 one word Betz never got too old to hiss forth in scorn- 
 ful accents: "Se-chee!" (bad.) This venerable 
 dame had never cultivated the art of "growing old 
 gracefully," and was always cross and irritable, 
 much to her disadvantage among the soldiers, who, 
 though respecting her years, and always kindly dis- 
 posed toward her, could not resist annoying her on 
 her occasional visits to the Fort. 
 
150 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Incidents of the Siege. 
 
 Mark M. Greer, Co. C, was the first man killed in 
 the Fort, a bullet from the enemy's first volley caus- 
 ing 1 his instant death, August 20th. 
 
 William Good, corporal of Co. B, was the first 
 man wounded in the first day's fight. A bullet struck 
 him squarely in the center of the forehead, pene- 
 trating the skull. Good was supposed to have been 
 instantly killed, and while he later gave signs of 
 life, this manifestation was accepted as merely an 
 evidence of the great vitality he was known to pos- 
 sess. The bullet could not be removed, but under 
 surgical skill not less remarkable than his vitality, 
 he recovered to live for several years, a greater 
 mental than physical sufferer, however. 
 
 Among 1 the severely wounded, Robert J. Spornitz, 
 Co. B, was an early victim in the first day's battle, 
 a shot entering one check and passing out at the 
 other, tearing: away the roof of his mouth. He, like 
 Good, survived for many years. 
 
 Andrew Rufredge, Co. B, one of Lieutenant Gere's 
 men at the northeast angle, and a supporter of 
 Whipple's gun, was, like Spornitz, the victim of a 
 frightful wound in the first day's engagement, the 
 ball in the case of Rufredge cutting the lower jaw 
 off well back towards the ears. 
 
 One of the most pathetic incidents of the siege 
 occurred in connection with the wounding of Ruf- 
 redge. One of the Rieke boys, a mere youth of six- 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE 151 
 
 teen or seventeen years, was assisting in carrying 
 and passing ammunition for the Whipple cannon. 
 While turned away from the gun in his work, Ruf- 
 redge had received his wound, and had fallen upon 
 his back, his lower jaw dropping 1 upon his neck and 
 breast. When the young German turned to pass 
 to the gunners the ammunition he held, Rufredge 
 lay at his feet, and the horrible spectacle so shock- 
 ed and appalled the boy that he fell, and a few mo- 
 ments later died in his sister's arms,while Rufredge, 
 under masterful surgical skill, survived. 
 
 Sergeant Frank A. Blackmer, Co. C, received 
 what was supposed to be a mortal wound, but cling- 
 ing tenaciously to life, recovered.* 
 
 One of the Renville Rangers, a three-quarters 
 blood Indian, deserted to the enemy in the night, 
 first succeeding in plugging the parked cannon with 
 rags, to render them ineffective for quick service. 
 The Renville Rangers, who were brave and loyal 
 men, felt keenly the disgrace brought upon them 
 by this traitor to the cause they were upholding. 
 
 When the siege was finally raised, the great mass 
 of refugees for the first time fully realized their 
 utterly destitute, helpless and bereft condition. 
 The fear that had terrorized their hearts was remov- 
 ed. The protecting arm that had shielded them 
 during the days and nights of danger at the Fort 
 could not follow them into the world; without homes 
 to welcome them or friends to comfort them, they 
 must turn away in utter destitution. Desperate as 
 had been their condition, the crisis was not reach- 
 ed until now. The conditions were so exacting 
 
 *In later yean he became a prominent physician at Albert Lea, Minnesota. 
 
152 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 when these unfortunate people came into the Fort T 
 and during the siegre, that no attempt could be made 
 at keeping: a record of their names, and when relief 
 came, it was to a garrison so exhausted that this 
 task was quite impossible. The mass of humanity 
 finally became assimilated by the world at large, 
 leaving no trace of individuality in history. 
 
 On the 18th, the day of the massacre at Redwood, 
 the long-looked for funds for the Indian payment 
 reached the Fort. The fatal delay had only that 
 morning borne its bitter fruit. The sum, $71,000, 
 was in gold coin, and was in charge of C. G. Wykoff, 
 clerk of the superintendent of Indian affairs, J. C. 
 Ramsey, and E. A. C. Hatch. The funds were kept 
 under strong guard until after the siege was raised. 
 Had Little Crow known this treasure was in the 
 garrison, he might, in view of the fact that he had 
 already killed the hated traders, who always sat at 
 the pay-table, have persisted in attempts to take 
 the Fort, which he could have done in the desperate 
 straits to which the garrison was reduced. 
 
 Not only in the exhaustion of its supply of ammu- 
 nition, was the garrison on the verge of collapse at 
 the time of the last attack, but a really more se- 
 rious crisis had been reached if possible, in the 
 complete exhaustion of the water supply. On the 
 day of the outbreak, August 18th, all available 
 barrels, tanks, tubs and other vessels, were filled 
 by hauling water from the spring, the accustomed 
 source, half a mile distant from the Fort, to meet a 
 possible emergency. The supply had been con- 
 sumed to the dregs, and a replenishment was only 
 attempted when the unendurable necessities of the 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 153 
 
 garrison, with its refugee mass, compelled it, and 
 the obtaining of water was only accomplished 
 finally at great hazard and under trying hardships. 
 
 About Losses. 
 
 The story of the Sioux Massacre of 1862, cruel 
 and revolting, has never been fully told, and never 
 will be. What was essentially descriptive of the 
 appalling tragedy enacted along the Minnesota fron- 
 tier, was given in brief narratives from individual 
 view-points at the time of occurrence, and were 
 reasonably accurate and faithful in narration, but 
 limited in scope, especially as to the extent and 
 consequences of the tragedy. One chronicler who 
 went well into details, and practically the only one 
 who attempted to write a"history," converts tragedy 
 into farce-comedy when he sums up the results of 
 the defenders of the frontier by stating seriously 
 that the total number of Indians killed by troops 
 and settlers during the massacre, from August 18th, 
 exclusive of the battle of Wood Lake, was just 
 twenty-one. His enumeration of the savages slain 
 is as follows : "At the battle of Redwood Ferry, 1 ; 
 New Ulm, 5 ; Fort Ridgely, 2 ; Big Woods at or 
 near Forest City, 1 ; Birch Coulie ; 2 ; at Battle of 
 Acton, with Strout, 1 ; Hutchinson, 1 ; Spirit Lake, 
 1 ; at Shetek, by Duly, 1 ; near Omahaw, 1 ; Aber- 
 crombie, 4 ; between Fort Ridgely and New Ulm, 
 half-breed, 1. Total 21." Serio-comically the his- 
 torian assures his readers of the accuracy of his 
 figures for two reasons ; first, by asking the Indians 
 
154 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 to give him the number of their losses, and second- 
 ly, by verifying their report by hunting: for dead In- 
 dians several days after the battles were fought. 
 
 The historian however rendered too much valu- 
 able service in compiling historical information to 
 be taken seriously to task for his faulty conclusion 
 in the matter of Indian losses, which no doubt ex- 
 ceeded his figures more than ten to one. During 
 the two days' battle at Fort Ridgely a ton of ammu- 
 nition was fired. At times the enemy was closely 
 massed at short range. One double-shotted charge 
 from Jones' gun at the southwest angle of the garri- 
 son on the afternoon of the second day's fight, when 
 the Indians had moved up in close order, under 
 Little Crow's command to club their guns and rush 
 in, mowed down seventeen Indians, most of the m 
 killed. This was but one shot out of scores made 
 under conditions rendering it impossible that the 
 enemy could have escaped without great loss. In 
 fact had not the fire of the garrison been deadly at 
 every point of concentration of the foe, nothing 
 would have prevented a charge, the one thing Little 
 Crow realized would give him the prize he so earn- 
 estly coveted Fort Ridgely. So ineffective a fire 
 as the historian suggests would have merited the 
 contempt of the savages, and the garrison would 
 have been blotted out in short order. On the after- 
 noon of August 27th, the post having finally been 
 relieved on the morning of that day, of its great 
 strain and long vigil, John McCole, of the Renville 
 Rangers, and the writer, entered the river valley 
 from a quarter to a half mile southwest of the garri- 
 son, where we found a small abandoned cellar or 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 155 
 
 "dug-out," in which were seven dead warriors, 
 partially concealed by earth that had been dug from 
 the overhanging embankment to cover them. 
 Two other decomposing bodies were found in the 
 underbrush near the cellar. It is the custom of In- 
 dians to completely bear their dead from the field 
 of battle, and entirely beyond discovery, if not over- 
 tasked with the burden, or too hard pressed by their 
 enemy. The nine bodies above noted were probably 
 about one-tenth of the Indians killed during the 
 siege of Fort Ridgely, and the casualties sustained 
 by Indians in other engagements were proportionate- 
 ly large. 
 
 The battle at the Redwood Ferry was desperate 
 and at very short range. In fact it was almost 
 hand-to-hand, and the few men who fought their 
 way out of the ambuscade did so over the dead 
 bodies of many of their foe. To say that but one 
 Indian was killed in this engagement is to ridicule 
 the brave fellows who cut their way through the 
 savage cordon in the most desperate battle of the 
 massacre. 
 
156 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Talks of Cruelty as Told by Refugees. 
 
 When we touch the subject of Indian cruelty, as 
 practiced on the helpless victims along: the Minne- 
 sota frontier during 1 the Massacre of 1862, we enter 
 upon a phase of the horrible uprising 1 that rouses 
 every feeling of resentment of which human nature 
 is capable. How even savages in this age could 
 perpetrate or approve such fiendish deeds as were 
 committed, passes understanding. Even infants 
 were tortured in a manner that would put to blush 
 and shame the imps of the infernal regions. The 
 stories told by the refugees from the settlements, 
 who straggled into Fort Ridgely the first two or 
 three days of the Massacre, no one has ever attempt- 
 ed to literally repeat. Chapters have been written 
 on the Massacre at the Agency and the ferry, and up- 
 on the attacks on Fort Ridgely and New Ulm, but 
 no writer has ever given to the world an account of 
 the awful scenes through which most of these ref- 
 ugees passed ; and perhaps it is best that it is so. 
 Wounded, persecuted, hunted, they were half crazed, 
 their agonies of heart and body uncontrollable, 
 while yet their tales of horror would dismay even 
 the stoutest-hearted listener. Some had by apparent 
 miracle wrested themselves from the very jaws of 
 death when the overpowering hand was raised to 
 deal the fatal stroke, as was the case of one woman 
 whose husband, after felled to rise no more, shot her 
 assailant with the gun held in his death-clutch, per- 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 157 
 
 ishing: himself, but momentarily dumbfounding: 
 their assailants, during: which the wife escaped, 
 first into a cornfield near the house, and then by 
 concealing: herself in a clump of hig:h weeds a few 
 rods distant, where she was compelled to hear the 
 heartrending- cries of the man who had defended 
 her to the last, and who, for his act in dispatching: 
 her assailant, was being: tortured by every conceiv- 
 able device to make his death one of prolonged 
 agony. When the shrieking: and moaning: of the 
 helpless victim would die away, the cruel knife 
 would be applied to ag:ain awaken the dying: man 
 into new suffering:, until finally silence told the tale 
 of death. The screams and shrieks of her two 
 children, as if the heart of the poor woman had not 
 suffered its full measure of torture, rang: piercingly 
 in the ears of the crouching:, cringing: mother, who 
 could scarcely keep her hiding:, thougft she knew 
 that death by unspeakable means would be the only 
 result of her attempt to rescue those being: fiendish- 
 ly tortured and mutilated and finally murdered. To 
 have been permitted to die a death worthy of a g:reat 
 cause, would have been tenfold more acceptable to 
 this poor, wretched woman, than to save her own 
 life while those near and dear to her were being: 
 cruelly put to death, but instinct admonished her 
 of the worse than death she would suffer for reveal- 
 ing: herself, without being: able to render assistance. 
 Death having: stilled the cries of the unfortunate 
 victims who had fallen into the hands of the fiends, 
 the house was plundered and the torch applied, and 
 having: apparently satiated their thirst for blood, 
 the savages, loaded with plunder, took the only 
 
158 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 family horse from the stable and made off, without 
 farther search for the wife and mother, who had 
 escaped with her clothing: half torn from her body. 
 Distracted with gfrief and racked with fear, she lay 
 in hiding: until after sundown, when, with faltering: 
 step, first wildly scanning: the surroundings in fear 
 of a concealed savag:e, she ventured to the ruins of 
 their smoulding: home, where she found the bodies 
 of her children, frightfully disfigured, and that of 
 her husband, he having: been scalped and otherwise 
 mutilated almost beyond recognition, and his body 
 partially charred. 
 
 Before the darkness closed about her, destitute, 
 homeless and friendless, she turned her face to- 
 ward the only known place of refug:e, Fort Ridg:e- 
 ly, which she reached on the morning of Aug:ust 21st, 
 more naked than clad, and frenzied with the mental 
 and physical strain which had wellnig:h unhinged 
 her reason. 
 
 And so the historian mig:ht recount the tales of 
 horror of one-half of the three hundred refugees who 
 had made their way from the raided settlements to 
 the Fort, for such a mass of quivering: humanity ; 
 such a collection of maimed, suffering: people ; such 
 a gathering: of odds and ends of blasted and oblit- 
 erated homes and of half-crazed victims of the most 
 diabolical crimes ever devised, was rarely ever be- 
 fore brought into one collection. The terror with 
 which their souls were stricken had written its tale 
 of horror on every face. The refugees had many 
 of them come from remote settlements, over a track- 
 less country, often without shoes to protect their 
 bleeding: feet, or raiment to hide their nakedness, 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 159 
 
 every step of the way taken with fear and tremb- 
 ling, without sleep, rest or sustenance, and persecut- 
 ed by the hideous scenes witnessed in the ravishing , 
 slaying and maiming of dear ones of the home circle. 
 It is best, I repeat, that the shocking details of the 
 sufferings of these refugees were never handed 
 down to history. 
 
 What befell their friends and what they narrow- 
 ly escaped may readily be inferred from a few ran- 
 dom instances of cruelty common to the Massacre 
 along the entire frontier devastated. 
 
 Below Yellow Medicine a few miles, on the east 
 side of tbe Minnesota River, twenty-seven dead 
 bodies were found in one group, the only living 
 creature being a babe that had escaped the toma- 
 hawk to finally die of starvation at its dead mother's 
 breast. In a building near the scene of this ghast- 
 ly spectacle were found by Antoine Freniere, Gov- 
 ernment interpreter, seven small children, who were 
 later burned alive by the Indians, together with the 
 house the helpless little creatures occupied. 
 Freniere was compelled to fly for his life, and could 
 do nothing for the children. 
 
 August 20th a party of Indians visited the home 
 of a farmer named Anderson, with whom they were 
 acquainted, and whose family had often befriended 
 them, in what is now Kandiyohi (then Monongalia) 
 county. They asked for favors which were grant- 
 ed them, and without a sign of their evil purposes, 
 while they were being waited upon, shot down the 
 defenseless man who, without suspecting harm, 
 was good-naturedly serving them. They had, among 
 other things, asked for potatoes, and Anderson had 
 
160 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 sent his boy to dig them, and while the boy engag- 
 ed in the task they shot him dead, almost at the in- 
 stant his father was murdered. Mrs. Anderson ran 
 into the cellar with a small child, and having been 
 unobserved, escaped, the Indians having failed to 
 burn the house. A daughter, Julia, fourteen years 
 of age, seized a sister of ten years, and succeeded 
 in hiding in the weeds near the house. These were 
 prizes for which the Indians made diligent search, 
 and whom they finally discovered. The girls were 
 borne away on a pony, but night coming on they 
 were taken but a short distance, where the savages 
 camped. The girls passed a horrible night. The 
 Indians, next morning* discovered their ponies had 
 stampeded, and in the excitement incident, hurried 
 in pursuit of them. The girls made their escape, 
 and although hunted excitedly, succeeded in elud- 
 ing their captors. After two days and nights of ex- 
 cruciating hardships they reaphed Forest City, hav- 
 ing covered a distance of some thirty miles. They 
 emerged from the brush into a road in the neighbor- 
 hood of their home in their flight, where they stum- 
 bled upon the bodies of two neighbors Backlund 
 and Lorentson. The heads of both these men had 
 been chopped off. Lorentson's scalp had been rer 
 moved, and the skin, with the ears attached, had 
 been torn from his face. The heads of the two men 
 were set up side by side, with their hats on. , Back- 
 lund evidently used snuff, for his snuff-box was 
 placed near his face, while his severed right hand, 
 lying by the side of his head, held between the 
 thumb and finger, placed there derisively, a pinch 
 of snuff. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 161 
 
 The gratification of lustful passions led to some 
 of the most fiendish abuses and cruelties ever re- 
 corded, and while the world should know the truth 
 as a part of the history of this awful Massacre, 
 crimes and cruelties of this nature are too forbid- 
 ding 1 to pass to the pages of a book. 
 
 Dr. Humphrey, the Government physician at the 
 Lower Agency, a man who had done much for 
 the Indians, was overtaken when endeavoring to 
 make his escape from Redwood to the Fort with 
 his family, and was slain, as were his wife and two 
 children, a third child, a boy, escaping by having 
 been sent to a spring in a concealed spot for drink- 
 ing water, he having heard the shooting a few yards 
 away in time to hide. Dr. Humphrey was shocking- 
 ly mutilated, his head being severed from his body. 
 Emerging from his concealment when all was quiet, 
 the boy who went to the spring, cautiously return- 
 ed to where he had left the family, only to find his 
 father dead and the bodies of his mother and little 
 brother and sister burned in the house at which 
 they had stopped to rest and get a drink, that of 
 Mayner, on the fort road. 
 
 From a murdered family near New Ulm, one little 
 fellow, supposed to have been killed, had revived 
 and was rescued. The bodies of all the family had 
 been frightfully mutilated, and the ball of one of 
 the eyes of the little boy who survived, had been 
 dug out with a knife, and lay suspended upon his 
 cheek, in a state of putrefaction. 
 
 Near New Ulm Wak-pa-doo-ta went to a house 
 and looking through a window, saw a sick woman 
 lying on a bed. He fired through the window and 
 
162 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 wounded her. At this an old man was seen to make 
 his way up stairs. Fearing the old man was after 
 a gun, and too cowardly to take any chances, the 
 Indians fired the house and burned the occupants 
 to death. 
 
 Mauley, the Redwood ferryman, was a mark of 
 special vengeance, no doubt because of the fact of 
 his having sacrificed every personal opportunity of 
 escape to save those whom the Indians had hoped 
 would be unable to pass the river barrier; but 
 Mauley stood at his post until the last to reach the 
 ferry in advance of the savages had been transfer- 
 red to the side of possible safety. Highly incensed 
 that he should have saved so many from their bloody 
 clutches, he was shot down at his post, and before 
 life was extinct he was disemboweled, and his 
 hands, feet and head were cut off and thrust within 
 his bleeding body. 
 
 The Lake Shetek settlement, in Murray county, 
 was attacked by Lean Bear, who first attained 
 prominence at the council of Traverse des Sioux 
 in 1852. Sleepy Eye and White Lodge joined him 
 with their bands. The crimes and cruelties per- 
 petrated in this settlement were shocking in the ex- 
 treme, with but one compensating result the death 
 of Lean Bear who fell at the hands of a settler, 
 William J. Duly. The wife and two children of 
 Duly were taken captives, as were a Mrs. Wight 
 and child, and a daughter of a Mr. Everett. The 
 prisoners were carried to the Missouri River, the 
 tortuous journey covering a distance of seven or 
 eight hundred miles. The children were mostly 
 murdered in cold blood in the presence of the power- 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 163 
 
 less mothers. 
 
 And so might this chapter of horrors be lengthen- 
 ed into a hundred pages, with sickening details yet 
 untold ; but more than enough has already been re- 
 corded, except for the fact that the future has a 
 right to know the price paid by the advance-guard 
 of civilization for the heritage to be enjoyed by un- 
 ending generations. 
 
164 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Execution of Thirty-Eight Indians. 
 
 After the surrender at Camp Release a commis- 
 sion was appointed by Gen. H. H. Sibley, who had 
 command of the forces on the Minnesota frontier, 
 for the trial of Indians implicated in the Massacre. 
 The original commission was composed as follows : 
 Colonel William Crooks, of the Sixth Minnesota In- 
 fantry Volunteers, Colonel William R. Marshall, of 
 the Seventh, Captain Hiram P. Grant, Co. A. and 
 Capt. Hiram S. Bailey, Co. C, both of the Sixth, 
 and Lieutenant R. C. Olin, Co. B, third Minnesota. 
 Of this commission Col. Crooks was president, and 
 Lieutenant Olin judge advocate. The commission 
 held its first session at Camp Release on the 30th 
 of September, and its last one at Fort Snelling Nov- 
 ember 5th, 1862, sessions having been held at va- 
 rious other points mean time. This commission 
 tried 425 Indians and half-breeds on the charge of 
 murderous participation in the Massacre, and of 
 these 321 were convicted, 303 being sentenced to 
 death, while the remainder were sentenced to pay 
 lighter penalties. The East set up the cry that 
 these people were prisoners of war, and that it 
 would be a crime against the nation to permit of 
 this wholesale execution. As a result an investi- 
 gation was made by the general government out of 
 which grew an order from President Lincoln that 
 thirty-nine of the condemned Indians be hanged on 
 the 26th day of December, 1862, at Mankato, and 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 165 
 
 that the remainder of the condemned savages be 
 held to await further orders. After thirty-nine of 
 the most guilty had been selected, one was pardon- 
 ed by President Lincoln, and the thirty-eight were 
 executed as ordered, one large scaffold sufficing for 
 the entire number. 
 
 Not an Indian was self-convicted. All swore 
 positively to child-like innocence, and affected 
 amazement that they had been accused. One negro, 
 Godfrey, who lived among the Sioux, was among 
 those executed. His pica of innocence availed him 
 nothing, as he, like Cut Nose, was known to have 
 committed some of the most monstrous crimes ever 
 charged up to the account of a fiend. 
 
 The final death sentence was promulgated on the 
 6th of December, just twenty days prior to the date 
 of execution. 
 
 Passing from crime to punishment, the scenes 
 that followed the sentence were without a parallel 
 in our national history. 
 
 The condemned in the main accepted their fate 
 philosophically. They were treated with humane 
 consideration by the officials in whose charge they 
 were, pending the final act. They were privileged 
 to select their spiritual advisers according to their 
 individual preferences, and each made his choice. 
 The condemned received much comfort from the 
 Christian influences thus brought about them. As 
 the day for the execution drew near the condemn- 
 ed were permitted to receive friends from among 
 their fellow-prisoners who had escaped the death 
 sentence. Through these, farewells were sent to 
 family friends, and many little keepsakes were com- 
 
166 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 mitted to the hands of those present to accompany 
 the parting messages. 
 
 The condemned were never too deeply distressed 
 to enjoy their pipes, and for the fatal scene upon 
 the scaffold arranged their hair and painted their 
 faces with painstaking effort. At the appointed 
 moment the condemned arose from a sitting or re- 
 clining posture and walked with steady step to the 
 death-trap, apparently glad the suspense was to be 
 ended. There was no lagging. Every wretch was 
 self-supporting and active, all chanting the death 
 song. William J. Duly, of Lake Shetek, whose 
 family had been murdered by the savages, and from 
 whom he escaped after a desperate encounter in 
 which he killed Lean Bear, was privileged to spring 
 the trap that sent the thirty-eight murderers into 
 eternity at one stroke. 
 
 Thousands of people witnessed the execution. 
 The bodies were cut down after death was pronounc- 
 ed, and carted to a sand-bar in the Minnesota river, 
 where they were buried in one trench. After a 
 term of imprisonment, the convicted savages who 
 had escaped the hangman's noose, were placed up- 
 on the reservation assigned to their people beyond 
 the borders of Minnesota. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 
 
 167 
 
 Dr. Alfred Muller. 
 
 The great service 
 rendered by Post 
 Surgeon Dr. Alfred 
 Muller during the 
 siege of Fort Ridge- 
 ly, has never been 
 understood or pub- 
 licly accredited. Dr 
 Muller was a native 
 of Switzerland, and 
 had acquired his 
 professional knowl- 
 edge in the land of 
 his nativity. The 
 outbreak filled the 
 post hospital with 
 DR. ALFRED MULLER. many frightfully 
 wounded men. Blodgett was shot through the ab- 
 domen, the intestines being penetrated ; Sutherland 
 was shot through the right lung, the ball passing 
 entirely through his body ; Good was shot squarely 
 in the forehead, the bullet crashing irrecoverably 
 into his skull ; Spornitz was shot through the head ; 
 Rufredge had his lower jaw entirely severed on 
 both sides ; Blackmer was shot in the head, and 
 many wounded were brought in from the Agency 
 and the settlements, in addition to others wounded 
 at the Fort. The record made in these cases is un- 
 
168 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 surpassed, even in the world-famed Japanese army 
 hospital service. Not a man, no matter how seri- 
 ously wounded or mutilated, lost his life after reach- 
 ing: the care of Dr. Muller, nor was an arm or leg 
 amputated. In piling up work for Surgeon Muller, 
 events followed each other swiftly under the rain 
 of fire of the savages, but the perception of Muller 
 was unerring, his execution rapid and thorough, and 
 his devotion tireless. His surgical record is ex- 
 celled by that of no other, in or out of the army. 
 A few years after the close of the civil war, his 
 estimable wife having died, Dr. Muller left his New 
 Ulm home, in which he had located after his ser- 
 vice, for his native land, where he died, at Berne. 
 He came out of the unique Mountain Republic of 
 Europe like a ray of light in a period of darkness, 
 and having performed his mission, returned to pay 
 the debt of Nature. Minnesota owes much to his 
 memory.* 
 
 *Dr. Muller was born at Berne, Switzerland, in December, 1825, graduating 
 from the medical department of the University of Berne in 1851, immigrating to 
 America a year later. Coming to Minnesota in 1856, he located at Still watrr, 
 where he practiced his profession until 1861, when he was appointed Post 
 Surgeon of Fort Ridgely, where he remained until 1867, when he removed to 
 New Ulm, having retired from army service. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 169 
 
 A Woman in Battle. 
 
 The storm of battle is likely to strike terror to the 
 heart of the true, normally-poised woman. Even 
 strong: men, whose profession is war, are often terror- 
 stricken with the first shock of battle. The ordeal 
 in this case was more than one of warfare. The 
 surroundings were inconceivably trying 1 . The hun- 
 dreds of refugees added much to the nerve-racking 
 trials of the hour. Almost without exception they 
 were from homes made desolate by the gun, toma- 
 hawk and torch. The father, usually the object of 
 first attack while endeavoring to defend his family, 
 rarely made his escape, but under cover of his re- 
 sistance occasionally some member would fly unob- 
 served in the awful encounter to a place of conceal- 
 ment. If the home was not wholly taken by sur- 
 prise, it would frequently happen that by conceal- 
 ment, several members of a family would escape ; 
 and of such remnants as these was the body of the 
 refugees at the Fort made up. They came, often 
 over long stretches of trackless prairie, being guid- 
 ed mainly by a general knowledge of the location of 
 the Fort, making their way with the greatest caution. 
 Whether by day or under cover of darkness, every 
 step was taken with fear and trembling. Reaching 
 the Fort at length, famished with hunger and thirst, 
 and distracted with grief and sleepless vigil, they 
 were just so much additional fuel to the flame of 
 pandemonium that reigned at the post a condition 
 
170 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 in itself sufficient to unnerve any but the bravest 
 and most resolute man. There was no assuaging: 
 the grief of these people, some half bereft of their 
 reason, others sick and others wounded. Human 
 conception is inadequate to grasp the mental and 
 physical torture to which they had been subjected. 
 They had witnessed scenes no pen can describe, 
 and had suffered sorrows that break the heart ; and 
 added to all this in the Fort was the startling reali- 
 zation that to be defeated when attacked meant 
 that the little garrison would become a veritable 
 slaughter pen. 
 
 Amid scenes and conditions of this character 
 within, and the din of battle without, accentuated 
 by hideous yells, increasing in fury as the conflict 
 grew fiercer, Mrs. Alfred Muller, wife of Post Sur- 
 geon Dr. Alfred Muller, was a notable figure. Mrs. 
 Muller was in the prime of womanhood, and was 
 well known to all the little garrison, where, with 
 her husband, she had her home. In the days when 
 danger was unsuspected, and military life at the 
 post was of the commonplace kind, Mrs. Muller fill- 
 ed her wifely sphere with becoming womanliness. 
 She was a native of Switzerland, and a good type 
 of her race. She was retiring rather than other- 
 wise, but always at ease in her manner. In person- 
 al appearance she was of medium build, cheerful of 
 disposition and comely in looks. When war was 
 precipitated with all its horrors she at once mani- 
 fested a personality never to be forgotten, and for 
 which she deserves to live forever in the love and 
 esteem of the Northwest. 
 
 When the test of battle came there was no shrink- 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE 171 
 
 ing. No despairing thought revealed itself in her 
 modest face. If fate had decreed the garrison must 
 fall, she did not shrink from bearing her part brave- 
 ly. Not many rifle shots had spoken in startling 
 tones when Mrs. Muller had occupation at her hus- 
 band's side. She helped to stanch the flow of blood 
 and to bind ghastly wounds. She spoke words of 
 comfort and cheer to the suffering, and her kind 
 heart prompted many acts of gentleness unusual in 
 the activity of battle. Wherever she was her 
 demeanor was reassuring, and whatever she did her 
 adaptability was an inspiration. "What can I do," 
 was not a question with her, but rather u What can 
 I not do ?" 
 
 After the engagement of August 22nd had con- 
 tinued for hours, it was found the supply of musket 
 ammunition was exhausted. The depletion of the 
 two days of fighting had precipitated a crisis. This 
 necessitated the organization of a corps of workers 
 for the manufacture of such ammunition as could 
 be extemporized. Of this work Mrs. Muller took 
 charge, and through her gifted versatility she soon 
 became an expert cartridge maker, and taught 
 many other hands, now enlisted from among the 
 useful women refugees, the art of dextrously turn- 
 ing out ammunition, for which there was the most 
 pressing need. 
 
 I was detailed late in the day of August 22nd to 
 obtain a supply of this newly-made ammunition, 
 and found Mrs. Muller and her workers busily en- 
 gaged in a little room on the first floor of the bar- 
 racks. The face of this truly heroic woman was 
 intensely impressive to the glancing eye. There 
 
172 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 was a constant crash of musketry and the resound- 
 ing: of artillery all about the little garrison, the din 
 being: almost deafening:. Amid this her mental poise 
 was perfect, her hand steady, her eye alert, her 
 voice g:entle, and her face composed and natural. 
 And so this inestimable woman, from day to day 
 during: the sieg:e, g:ave evidence of the most sterling: 
 qualities. Without price or the thought of reward 
 she did well her part in the defense of Fort Ridg:e- 
 
 ly. 
 
 It is said regretfully that she did not long: survive 
 the restoration of peace where the warlike tempests 
 had rag:ed that developed her g:reat worth to the 
 Northwest, and particularly to Minnesota, and it is 
 fitting: that she sleeps in the Fort Ridgfely cemetery, 
 where the State of Minnesota has equally fittingly 
 erected a monument to her memory. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 173 
 
 The Grand Old Ferryman. 
 
 One of the noblest characters developed by the 
 deluge of blood that made crimson the Minnesota 
 frontier, was the ferryman, Mauley, at the cross- 
 ing: of the Minnesota River at the Redwood Agency. 
 Self-preservation is the first law of nature, but 
 there are times when some men become more than 
 human, and rise superior to this selfish law. Mauley, 
 the plodding, unlettered, unobtrusive old ferryman 
 was such a man. History is adorned with no grander 
 spectacle than was exhibited in this humble, un- 
 polished frontiersman, and of all heroes who won 
 renown in that conflict, his memory should have 
 been the first to be recognized and honored, as his 
 was the first great service rendered when the trag- 
 edy that came like a fiery bolt from a clear sky, 
 overwhelmed the Agency in the early morning of 
 August 18th. 
 
 Plain old Frenchman! He was but a grain of 
 dust in the world of affairs. Men who regarded 
 themselves as of superior mould, hardly had a word 
 for him as they passed, his calling was so humble, 
 his life so simple and his horizon so limited. But 
 sterling manhood abounded within his noble breast, 
 and when the terrible calamity befell the Agency, 
 he proved a hero without a peer. As was remark- 
 ed of him, "This humble man whom nobody cared 
 for, suddenly seemed to care for everybody but 
 himself." Those who escaped the gun and warclub 
 at the Agency, sought safety in flight by way of the 
 
174 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 ferry, where all found the sturdy old Frenchman at 
 his post. He could have saved his own life with 
 ease and certainty, having: had ample time and 
 warning", but he thought only of those who were in 
 peril, and to the music of splashing lines and creak- 
 ing pulleys he kept his boat plying back and forth 
 until the overwhelming wave of savages reached 
 the river bank. He had just saved the last to come 
 or at least had transferred across the sullen barrier, 
 the last to reach the stream, when, in a towering 
 rage for having snatched so many from the clutches 
 of the swarming demons, he was shot down with 
 fiendish glee. 
 
 Here was a man who deliberately gave his life 
 that others might live, the most noble sacrifice a 
 mortal ever made, and France, the land that gave 
 him birth, may well be proud of such sons ; and 
 may his memory ever be cherished and perpetuated 
 in his adopted country as that of the hero of heroes 
 in the fiery ordeal that tried men's souls at Red- 
 wood, for there does not exist in history a nobler 
 instance of intrepidity or greatness of soul than 
 this man exhibited. The rage of the savages knew 
 no bounds when they discovered this faithful ferry- 
 man had robbed them of many a victim, and they 
 avenged themselves upon him with exultant shouts 
 arid fiendish cruelty, disemboweling him before life 
 was extinct, and then cutting' off his head, hands 
 and feet and stuffing them into the bleeding trunk. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 175 
 
 John McCole. 
 
 It was my good fortune in point of satisfaction to 
 have made the acquaintance of John McCole during: 
 the siege of Fort Ridgely, then second sergeant of 
 the Renville Rangers, and a good soldier. Follow- 
 ing the Massacre, the Renville Rangers having 
 merged themselves into other organizations, we 
 served a year together as bedfellows and messmates. 
 This service, during 1863, was in the Indian country 
 and in Indian campaigns. McCole had for some years 
 been a clerk and an accountant in one of the stores 
 at the Redwood Agency, and had, only a few days 
 before the outbreak, enlisted in the Renville Ran- 
 gers, with a view to going south, and thus escaped 
 the terrible fate of his former employers and asso- 
 ciates who were massacred on the morning of Aug. 
 18th. McCole, long since gathered to the realms 
 of the great majority, was of unusual intellectual 
 burnish, and of a fortunate, gentle disposition, mak- 
 ing him a favorite with all who knew him. His pro- 
 tracted service in the stpre of one of the leading 
 traders had given him a wide acquaintance among 
 the Indians, whose language he spoke with great 
 fluency. On the Sibley Expedition of 1863 were 
 seventy-five Sioux scouts, whom McCole knew fa- 
 miliarly, and with whom, at intervals, I was afford- 
 ed through him an unusual opportunity to gather 
 information regarding the massacre from a source 
 not always available. These scouts were selected 
 
176 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 from the Indians who had proven themselves loyal 
 to the whites during: the massacre the previous year, 
 but who had mingled more or less with their former 
 friends and relatives after the surrender at Camp 
 Release, were drawn into the maelstrom by 
 Little Crow, to the extent of being: participants, 
 even if not voluntary ones, of the massacre, and 
 thus the scouts had a double knowledge of what 
 occurred during the outbreak. The trouble at the 
 Upper Agency, August 4th, 1862, when a massacre 
 was narrowly averted, was told of with much earn- 
 estness, as were the sufferings and disappointments 
 leading: up to that event. Many deeds of cruelty 
 were related, with a shrug: and with manifest dis- 
 approval ; but of these there was the least dis- 
 position to talk, information being: vouchsafed when 
 asked for as applying: to particular persons, as, for 
 instance, to the old ferryman of the Lower Agency, 
 the traders and residents of the Agency, etc. One 
 of the features of the massacre discussed without 
 reserve, was Little Crow's failure to take Fort 
 Ridgely when he had first planned to do so the 
 day following the massacre at the Agency and the 
 ferry. This failure was explained with the facial 
 earnestness and artful gesticulations peculiar to 
 Indian character, traits that increase the force of 
 language by half. 
 
 Only those who have vainly tried, know how diffi- 
 cult it is to extract information from an Indian ; but 
 McCole had the faculty of unlocking the secret 
 springs of reticence of the red men, and securing a 
 voluble flow of language when he chose to do so. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 177 
 
 Standing Buffalo. 
 
 One of the great injus- 
 tices of the Sioux Massacre 
 was sustained by Standing 
 Buffalo. (Tatanka Nazin,) 
 whom Captain McGrew, 
 forty years after the out- 
 break, referred to as "the 
 noblest red man of all." 
 Standing Buffalo was the 
 chief of a band of Sissetons 
 whose village was on the 
 STANDING BUFFALO, shores of Big Stone Lake, 
 and was a self-reliant, level-headed man, whose 
 friendship for the whites had breadth and depth. 
 As the disappointment of the Indians increased, 
 and their unrest became more manifest, Standing 
 Buffalo, who dissented from proposed radical 
 measures, was chided for his fealty to the whites ; 
 yet his sturdy character made him a factor of 
 strength among the Indians, who had great respect 
 for him. 
 
 The trying ordeal through which the Indians 
 passed at the Yellow Medicine Agency, while as- 
 sembled to receive their annuities, elsewhere fully 
 treated, produced widespread and justifiable dis- 
 content, and having grown desperate, a council of 
 chiefs and warriors was called from among the six 
 thousand savages in camp at Yellow Medicine, in 
 August, 1862. This council was an extremely 
 
178 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 stormy one, and any man would have been very 
 brave who would have dared to stand within the 
 council circle and plead for moderation. Standing 
 Buffalo stood in the breach as the foremost advo- 
 cate of peace and patience. He did not believe in 
 all white men, nor had he lost faith in all. He be- 
 lieved the white people in the main were friendly 
 to the Indians, and wished to see justice done them. 
 Other speakers were in favor of violent retaliation 
 for the wrongs inflicted on their race, and doubted 
 that the white people were any of them honest or 
 friendly, since the people chose their officers, and 
 these officers were too often dishonest. Six weeks 
 of indefensible dalliance on the part of represen- 
 tatives of the Government had made the contention 
 of Standing Buffalo unpopular, and his predicament 
 not in all respects enviable. The council finally 
 terminated with a vote in favor of resorting to arms 
 as a means of righting wrongs inflicted upon the 
 thousands who had been kept in camp for weeks, 
 and who were finally at the point of starvation. 
 This vote committed all the chiefs, without regard 
 to their personal views or preferences. The final 
 decision of the council spread throughout the camp 
 with great rapidity, awakening intense excitement. 
 Standing Buffalo, realizing that trouble was im- 
 minent, went at once to the headquarters of the 
 troops near the warehouse where the stores 
 were locked up, and under guard of the soldiers, 
 and related what had taken place in the council of 
 chiefs. He stated he had bitterly opposed the 
 course adopted, but that he was out-voted ; but in 
 the final decision was tacitly bound -by the council's 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 179 
 
 action ; but he said he had come to warn the soldiers 
 to be prepared and on the alert. 
 
 Here was the Alexander Stephens of the Sioux 
 nation. His judgment and sympathies impelled 
 him to stand with the whites, and he had been reso- 
 lute to the end of the council, but having: taken 
 part in the deliberations, he was, under the customs 
 of his people, committed to abide by the result of 
 the council. Nevertheless, there was no law or 
 custom that could restrain him from at once warn- 
 ing: the soldiers of their dangler. 
 
 This was characteristic of Standing Buffalo, and 
 the same spirit animated him throughout the mas- 
 sacre. When, after the massacre, the Indians were 
 making northward, pressed by the army, a demand 
 was made upon Little Crow by General Sibley for 
 the surrender of all the prisoners held by him. This 
 demand produced great agitation, and the wonder 
 is, that during the excitement and fierce contention 
 that resulted, the prisoners were not all slain. A 
 great council was held to determine what should 
 be done whether the prisoners should be mas- 
 sacred or surrendered unconditionally. Standing 
 Buffalo, whose people, so far as he was able to con- 
 trol them at least, had kept out of the Massacre, 
 was in this council, and urged the delivery of the 
 white prisoners unharmed, and he took occasion in 
 his speech to upbraid, in no uncertain terms, the 
 Lower Indians, as those were termed south of the 
 Yellow Medicine River, for bringing on the mas- 
 sacre, saying in this speech in part : *' I am * young 
 man, but I have always felt friendly to the whites, 
 because they were kind to my father. You have 
 
180 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 brought me into great danger without my knowing 
 of it beforehand (the massacre.) By killing the 
 whites is just as if you had waited for me in ambush 
 and had shot me down. You Lower Indians feel 
 very bad because we have all got into trouble, but 
 I feel worse, because I know that neither I nor my 
 people have killed any of the whites, but that yet 
 we have to suffer for the guilty." 
 
 But Standing Buffalo, notwithstanding his manli- 
 ness and friendship for the white race, was ever 
 kept in the false light of an enemy. The Sibley Ex- 
 pedition of 1863 made its long, toilsome incursion 
 into the Devil's Lake and Missouri River regions, 
 to either secure the surrender of all the Sioux east 
 of the Missouri, or drive them by force of arms 
 across that stream. On the 24th of July, 1863, as 
 related fully in another chapter, the Sibley army 
 overhauled a large body of Indians, who must have 
 known a day or two in advance of the approach of 
 the expedition, but who were evidently influenced 
 not to fly the country, by a conviction that it would 
 be best to peaceably surrender and throw them- 
 selves upon the mercy of the authorities. But this 
 plan, if such it was, was thwarted by a cowardly sav- 
 age who shot Surgeon Weiser in the back, killing him 
 instantly when he had ridden among the Indians un- 
 attended and unsupported. There was no sign of 
 approval of this cold-blooded and treacherous deed, 
 on the part of the savages, but it had so provoked 
 the wrath of the soldiers that hostilities were open- 
 ed at once, without an opportunity for explanations 
 or redress. Standing Buffalo's band was supposed, 
 though not positively known, to have been a part of 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 181 
 
 this large group, but it is safe to say the offender 
 neither belonged to nor was excused by this chief's 
 people. 
 
 Here was Standing Buffalo probably again made 
 the victim of bad company and untoward circum- 
 stances, and placed in a position where, for self- 
 preservation and the existence of his family and 
 his people, he was forced to fight those whom he 
 had never broken faith with, and whom he had al- 
 ways befriended and defended in angry councils. 
 That he was not made the prince of outlaws by ad- 
 verse conditions, is a matter of wonder ; but he was 
 not, as no unprovoked cruelty has ever been charg- 
 ed to the name of Standing Buffalo, who, though 
 never justly appreciated at his worth, was never- 
 theless much of a man among men, Indian that he 
 was. 
 
 On June 5, 1871, Standing Buffalo met a tragic 
 death. His life long friendship for the whites, even 
 under adverse conditions, made him an object of 
 derision among the lawless element of his race. It 
 was near the Milk River Agency, in Montana, that 
 Standing Buffalo was solicited by the Yanktons to 
 join them in a raid on the Gros Ventres and Upper 
 Assiniboines. Standing Buffalo urged that he had 
 no occasion to join in such an attack ; and further, 
 that the whites would be displeased with such a 
 wanton raid. This fired the Yanktons, who accused 
 Standing Buffalo of a regard for the whites that 
 made him unworthy of the respect of his own blood 
 and bone, and unworthy of his chieftainship. Tired 
 of a life of perplexing conditions whose improve- 
 ment, ever, circumstances seemed to forbid, Stand- 
 
182 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 ing Buffalo silently resolved to end all. He an- 
 nounced his willingness at last to join the Yanktons 
 and lead his warriors against their enemies ; but 
 his silent resolution was not one of conquest. He 
 announced to his family that he would go on the 
 war-path. He then made disposition of his horses 
 and other personal effects, giving, with great delib- 
 eration, all his earthly possessions to his relatives 
 and friends. He counseled his brother and his son, 
 and all his people, to keep faith with the whites, 
 saying he was going into battle, and that he would 
 never return. With a small party of his warriors 
 he went forth and met the Gros Ventres and Assini- 
 boines in large numbers. It was on an open plain, 
 and Standing Buffalo led a wild charge into the 
 midst of the superior forces, striking harmlessly 
 with his "coo-stick," but never firing a shot. He 
 fell from his horse in the midst of the enemy, his 
 body pierced with upwards of thirty bullets. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 
 
 183 
 
 Little Crow. 
 
 Little Crow, in 
 many respects, was 
 the most remark- 
 able man the Sioux 
 nation ever devel- 
 oped. He was not 
 merely an Indian 
 chieftain of the 
 hereditary type a 
 king by divine fiat, 
 but was a man of pe- 
 culiar intellectual 
 force. In fact, en- 
 dowed with educa- 
 tion and purgfed of 
 cruel instincts, he 
 would have taken rank among: able men. Civili- 
 zation was no enigma to him. He was a student 
 of human-nature, and of all his race was the most 
 masterful in diplomacy with the agents of the Gov- 
 ernment. He was erratic and overbearing:, and 
 was not especially loved by his people, who regard- 
 ed him as a tyrant. He did not sway them by rev- 
 erence or admiration, but by his indomitable will- 
 power. This dominated him, and through it he 
 dominated them. Faithful and self-sacrificing mis- 
 sionaries who came into Minnesota early in the 
 past century, developed some very excellent char- 
 
 LITTLE CROW. 
 
184 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 acters among the Sioux, who were tribesmen of 
 Little Crow, and who had grown up with him from 
 childhood. These and many of the sub-chiefs would 
 gladly have curtailed Little Crow's influence and 
 authority, but the latter was far and away ahead of 
 all his race, through craft and intellectual force, 
 when it came to dealing with the Government and 
 its representatives, and he thus always held the 
 whiphand ; this collateral to his will-power making 
 his authority supreme. Something of his nature 
 may be judged and some of the reasons why his 
 people had a dread of him may be appreciated when 
 it is stated that he had fought with his brothers in 
 earlier life, and had murdered two of them. In his 
 violent encounters both of his arms were broken, 
 and Indian surgery had not so reduced the fractures 
 as to prevent deformity in the appearance of his 
 arms when these members were exposed to view. 
 It was this known fact that in part led to the iden- 
 tification of Little Crow after he was fortunately 
 and almost miraculously killed by a farmer near 
 Hutchinson, Minnesota. 
 
 Little Crow was a skilled warrior and a man of 
 unquestioned courage. He had been impressed 
 with civilization, and had adopted many customs 
 of the whites ; yet these were all put off in a twink- 
 ling when bloody hands were raised against the de- 
 fenseless settlers. 
 
 Whatever Little Crow engaged in he excelled in. 
 Indians are born gamblers. Gambling is the pas- 
 time of Indian life. Men, women and children, with- 
 out exception, with one device or another, are inr 
 vetcrate gamblers. All are skilled gamblers, but 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 185 
 
 Little Crow was an adept in the art. Card-playing, 
 in fact, was a science with him. He knew the rules 
 of all games, exacted an observance of them of all 
 who sat in a game with him, would forecast the 
 hands of his adversaries with unerring judgment, 
 checkmate every device for his undoing, play with 
 the greatest skill where his hands were the poorest, 
 and quit when his opponents had nothing more to 
 put up. 
 
 After the Indians had received their annuities 
 from the Government, professional gamblers would 
 flock in like buzzards at a feast, but Little Crow al- 
 most invariably pauperized them. Three of these 
 professional gamblers, who went to the Redwood 
 Agency in the early summer of 1862, taking money 
 enough along with them to "start them in business," 
 engaged in poker with Little Crow. They wore 
 diamonds and fine raiment, and hired a liveryman 
 at a good round sum to carry them from St. Peter 
 to the Agency, a distance of nearly sixty miles. 
 Two or three days later they reached Fort Ridgely 
 on foot, on their way back to civilization, destitute 
 and dusty, but full of wisdom. They asked the act- 
 ing post commissary, A. W. Williamson, to inter- 
 cede in obtaining for them a ration of bread and 
 coffee, telling him frankly what had happened. 
 Williamson detested gambling, but sympathised 
 with the hungry. He asked the men if they met 
 Little Crow on their trip, and they readily admit- 
 ted he was the author of their sorrows. Williamson, 
 from his infancy, had known Little Crow, and made 
 the fact known with a smile, at which the travelers 
 accorded the wily chieftain the distinction of being 
 
186 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 by all odds and in all respects the shrewdest gamb- 
 ler they had ever met. 
 
 Not only was the noted chieftain a man of su- 
 perior mental mould, but he was physically su- 
 perior as well. A remembered feature of his de- 
 velopment was, that his front teeth, above and be- 
 low, were double. 
 
 Whatever may be truthfully written of Little 
 Crow's vices and sins in general, it is to his honor 
 that he protested with his warriors against the kill- 
 ing of women and children as wrong and cowardly ; 
 but his cut-throat followers were none the less cruel 
 and merciless. 
 
 Little Crow met a tragic death as related in the 
 succeeding chapter. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 187 
 
 The Man who Killed Little Crow. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE TRAGEDY. 
 
 Of no other man who achieved notoriety during 
 the period of the Sioux Massacre, is there so little 
 known or has there been so little, written as of 
 Nathan Lampson, the aged farmer who, in company 
 with his son, Chauncey, killed Little Crow. Feel^ 
 ing: that, for the sake of history, something should 
 be recorded of the man who was the principal actor 
 in the culminating tragedy of the Indian war, I 
 spent two years by correspondence and inquiry in 
 an earnest endeavor, after over forty-five years had 
 elapsed, to obtain a brief historical sketch of Nathan 
 Lampson, and had about given up in despair when 
 I located a daughter, Mrs. Francis B. Ide, of Belling- 
 ham, Washington, from whom and her husband I 
 obtained a brief sketch of the life of her father, 
 whose portrait appears in this book, and who was 
 the hero of the berry patch near Hutchinson, Minne- 
 sota, on the evening of July 3, 1863. In an inter- 
 view I found both Mr. and Mrs. Ide, former resi- 
 dents of Minnesota, very familiar with the scenes 
 where the tragedy was enacted, with the story in 
 detail of the killing of the Sioux chief, and with 
 the personal history of the victors in that conflict, 
 and in possession of a photograph of the principal 
 actor. 
 
 From them I learned that Nathan Lampson was 
 born near Bennington, Vermont, September 6, 1800. 
 
188 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 At the age of twenty-one he went to Brattleboro, 
 Vermont. From there he went to the State of New 
 York, where he married Hannah Bugfbee, who, with 
 all their children with a single exception, died after 
 a few years. He later married Roxana Chambers, 
 and removed to Michigan. Seven children were 
 the result of the second marriage. After the death 
 of the second wife Mr. Lampson married a Mrs. 
 Bigelow, and shortly after removed to McLeod 
 County, Minnesota, settling six miles north of 
 Hutchinson. Mr. Lampson had always followed 
 the occupation of a farmer, and while he had lived 
 a retiring life, he was a devoted lover of his country, 
 and a strong Union man, and gave to the Union 
 army during the Civil War, his sons Nathan, Mar- 
 shall, James, Chauncey, J. B., his step-son, Albert, 
 and his sons-in-law. John French, Francis B. Ide 
 and John Adams, his family thus contributing nine 
 soldiers to the Union cause. 
 
 While for safety the Lampson family, like scores 
 of others, lived within the Hutchinson stockade 
 during the spring and summer of 1863, the father, 
 Nathan, and son, Chauncey, spent most of their 
 time looking after the farm, six miles north of town, 
 though to do so they risked their lives. Provisions 
 were scarce, and in the latter part of the afternoon 
 of Friday, July 3, 1863, the father and son started 
 out with the hope of being able to kill a deer. Hav- 
 ing tramped to within an hour of sunset, they struck 
 the Greenleaf and Waterville road, which they fol- 
 lowed a short distance when they espied two In- 
 dians in a wooded clump near by, picking wild rasp- 
 berries. Lampson and son had old-fashioned muzzle- 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 189 
 
 loading rifles, and the stock of the gun of the father 
 was broken and tied up with twine, but the barrel 
 was serviceable, and both Lampsons were good 
 marksmen. Half a dozen steps from where the 
 Lampsons saw the Indians, grew a popple tree, 
 about which was entwined a. drooping grapevine, 
 under the cover of which Nathan Lampson, level- 
 ing his gun on the larger Indian, who stood with 
 his side toward him, fired, his bullet passing into 
 the body of Little Crow just above the hips. The 
 Indians were taken by surprise, and although Little 
 Crow went down, he regained his feet, and both 
 himself and son sent a volly of buckshot after 
 Nathan Lampson, who had dropped upon his knees, 
 and not knowing how many Indians there might be 
 in the party, was attempting to make his way out 
 of the berry patch. One buckshot plowed through 
 the surface flesh of his shoulder. Though mortally 
 wounded, Little Crow made his way to the road, 
 and seeing Chauncey, leveled his gun upon him, 
 but Chauncey was equal to the emergency, and 
 both he and Little Crow fired at the same instant, 
 the bullet from Chauncey's gun killing the famous 
 Sioux chief. Chauncey had a close call, but escap- 
 ed without a mark. Nathan Lampson had the 
 powder-horn, and as Chauncey supposed his father 
 had been killed when the three shots were fired, 
 and as he himself had no powder with which to re- 
 load his gun, he set out for the farm home, which 
 he reached completely exhausted, a condition due 
 to ill health, the presumption that his father had 
 been killed, to the belief that many Indians made 
 up the war party, and to the highly exciting experr 
 
190 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 ence he had just passed through. He prostrated 
 himself upon the bed, and had lain there but a few 
 moments when there came a rap at the door. He 
 believed the Indians had followed him, but he was 
 exhausted, and his gun was empty. Resigned to 
 his fate he responded, "Come in," and to his great 
 relief a hunter entered, who prepared supper while 
 Chauncey rested. Having been refreshed and re- 
 cuperated, Chauncey and the hunter set out for 
 Hutchinson, which they reached in safety. 
 
 Nathan Lampson supposing his son had been kill- 
 ed by the Indians, went directly from the scene of 
 the tragedy to Hutchinson, reaching the stockade 
 late in the night, as he did not expose himself until 
 the darkness surrounded his movements with safety. 
 There to his great surprise and joy he learned of 
 Chauncey's escape ; and the father, who for hours 
 had been mourned as dead, was welcomed by his 
 family as one returned from the grave. 
 
 On the morning of July 4th a team was sent out, 
 and the body of the dead Indian was taken to Hutch- 
 inson, where it was later recognized as that of the 
 great war chief, Little Crow. 
 
 Nathan Lampson died at Wilmot, South Dakota, 
 in November, 1896, over 96 years of age, and his 
 son Chauncey died in Minnesota in February, 1865. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 191 
 
 Death of Chaska. 
 
 In my diary, under date of August 3, 1863, I find 
 the following notation : "Hearts were saddened this 
 morning by the report that one of our faithful scouts, 
 Chaska, a full-blood Sioux, but an ever-true friend 
 of the whites, and one who was largely instrument- 
 al in saving the missionaries during the massacre, 
 was taken suddenly ill after reaching camp last 
 evening, and died during the night." 
 
 This event was a mere incident in the army life 
 of that day. Officers and men of the ranks had 
 fallen on those wild, desolate plains during our 
 operations, to sleep the sleep of death in a land in 
 which no mark of civilization had ever been raised, 
 and we were compelled to desert their lifeless forms 
 in their loneliness, to follow the stern mandates of 
 war. When Chaska was seized with the illness that 
 terminated his life, we had just completed our 
 second day's march, August 2, 1863, on our return 
 from the Missouri river, from a point opposite where 
 Fort Lincoln was in later years founded. At no 
 time on all the expedition were the spirits of the 
 soldiers in so high a state of effervescence as now. 
 After long and weary marching, fighting, scouting, 
 after days, weeks and months of suffering from the 
 merciless sun of midsummer on scorching, treeless 
 plains, famishing for water and worn with fatigue, 
 our faces were at last turned homeward, or at least 
 toward civilization, and the influence of the fact 
 
192 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 upon the spirits of the men, is indescribable, and 
 particularly was this true of the morning we filed 
 out of our Missouri river camp ; and none were more 
 highly elated over the hopeful prospects than were 
 the sixty Sioux scouts. I saw the scouts that morn- 
 ing as they mounted their horses to take the ad- 
 vance, and having met and frequently talked with 
 Chaska on the expedition, I could not help noticing 
 the broad smile on his stoical face, as he lithely 
 sprang into his saddle, recognizing us with a nod, 
 a smile and the usual "Ho!" The scouts were full 
 of the infectious joy that swept over the vast camp, 
 and gave expression to their feelings in a low, In- 
 dian chant as they rode away, beating time with 
 their moccasined heels against the bellies of their 
 horses. Chaska had left a wife and children in the 
 valley of the Minnesota river, and his thoughts 
 were of them, but the fates had unsuspectingly de- 
 creed that he should see and welcome the rising 
 sun of but one more day. My diary states that our 
 first day's march from the Missouri covered a dis- 
 tance of eighteen miles, and that the second day's 
 march covered fifteen miles. So, if the old trail, 
 made by our expedition, is still traceable, the clay 
 of Chaska, who saved the missionaries during the 
 massacre, may be found near it, thirty-three miles 
 east of the Missouri river, and no Indian more truly 
 deserved a monument than he. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 193 
 
 Gallant Sons of Fillmore-Freeborn Counties. 
 
 CREDIT NEVER HERETOFORE HISTORICALLY GIVEN. 
 
 As the processes of time the more deeply etch 
 the story of the famous defense of Fort Ridgely, the 
 salient facts will become the more prominent, the 
 non-essentials dissolving" and the essentials stand- 
 ing forth in relief. To students of history who pur- 
 sue their investigations, the query will naturally 
 propound itself : Whence came the men who bore 
 the brunt of the fiery ordeal whose crucial forces 
 were converged about the isolated military post, 
 now merely a memory ? In the analyzation will be 
 found sons of foreign landsmen born under the 
 the proud standards of kings and emperors, Eng- 
 land, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden, con- 
 tributing stalwart defenders to the Fort. Many 
 brave civilians took refuge at the Fort at the begin- 
 ning of the outbreak, and rendered valiant service, 
 but the burden of responsibility and brunt of battle 
 fell upon the soldiers. 
 
 Fillmore county, peopled by a brave and hardy 
 class of pioneers, who had come into Minnesota 
 Territory and founded the first settlements within 
 less than a decade previous to the Civil War, had 
 the honor, and one of which its appreciation will 
 grow as the years roll on, of contributing from her 
 noble sons the principal force of soldiers for the de- 
 fense of Fort Ridgely and incidentally to the Min- 
 nesota frontier in the incipiency of the outbreak. 
 
194 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Company B of the Fifth Minnesota was almost ex- 
 clusively a Fillmore County body in its original 
 personnel, and no other company raised in the State 
 of Minnesota during: the Civil War, contributed so 
 many lives in battle on the sacrificial altar of war 
 as did this Fillmore County company of men and 
 boys. No company of even the famous First Min- 
 nesota, that was in blood from Bull Run to Gettys- 
 burg:, sustained so heavy a loss in killed in action 
 during: its years of service as did Company B of the 
 Fifth, and when Minnesota shall have grown g:ray 
 in history, Fillmore County's name, earned at the 
 sacrifice of lives in the defense of Fort Ridg:ely and 
 the Minnesota frontier, will still live brilliantly and 
 imperishably. Than those of Company B who sank 
 to earth in the Aug:ust tragedies along: the Minne- 
 sota River in 1862, no braver or better men ever 
 lived, and no grander tribute was ever paid a state 
 or nation than that conferred by Fillmore County in 
 the contribution of these heroic men. While all 
 parts of Fillmore County contributed to the mem- 
 bership of Company B, the enlistments at Chatfield, 
 so far as any single locality was concerned, pre- 
 dominated, with Preston second in the number of 
 men furnished. 
 
 Next to Fillmore, Freeborn County stands envia- 
 bly in the lime-lig:ht of history, for Lieutenant Shee- 
 han's fifty men of Company C of the Fifth Minne- 
 sota, earned a glorious name for themselves and 
 their county in their heroic part in the defense of 
 Fort Ridg:ely. In nothing: were these men second 
 to those of Company B, except in numbers and op- 
 portunity. Fortunately they were on the march to 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 195 
 
 Fort Ripley when the massacre began, else they 
 would no doubt have been sacrificed at Redwood 
 Ferry, for surely they would have been taken to 
 that disastrous field had they been at Fort Ridgely 
 when the outbreak occurred, instead of having start- 
 ed homeward the day before. History records few 
 more glorious deeds than that performed by these 
 Company C men when they made a forced march 
 by night of forty-two miles to relieve the distress- 
 ed garrison of Fort Ridgely, after having marched 
 all the previous day on their homeward journey. 
 Lieutenant Sheehan, in all his career, never did 
 an act that redounded more to his honor than did 
 this memorable feat of twenty-four hours of con- 
 tinual marching^ but this accomplishment was mere- 
 ly an index to the character of the men as soldiers, 
 who covered the name of Freeborn County with 
 everlasting glory, by their deeds of heroism, where- 
 ever duty called. 
 
 The Renville Rangers, under Lieutenant James 
 Gorman, were new recruits, enlisted at the Red- 
 wood Indian Agency less than a week before the 
 outbreak. The men were seasoned, hardy frontiers- 
 men. They were brave and athletic. Their en- 
 vironment had familiarized them with Indian char- 
 acter, and had made them past-masters in the art 
 of alertness. They had not enlisted to fight Indians, 
 but their services in the defense of Fort Ridgely 
 can never be overestimated. They knew the tricks 
 of war at which the Sioux were adepts. They knew 
 the Sioux language, which they overheard and re- 
 peated to the garrison. They were brave, daring 
 and efficient men. They were organized and under 
 good leadership. 
 
196 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 These three military organizations, about one 
 hundred and fifty strong:, received and repelled the 
 shock of battle, kept tireless vigil, inspired the 
 weak, consoled the bereaved, and by the aid of 
 brave souls from among: the refugees, saved Fort 
 Ridgfely and hundreds of lives in and out of the 
 gfarrison, dependent upon the valor of these men. 
 
 Miraculous Escape of the Reynolds Family. 
 
 The ordinary imagination is hardly elastic enougfh 
 to grasp the condition of the surprised and panic- 
 stricken settlers, when without warning, they were 
 swooped down upon by the cruel, redhanded Sioux, 
 who took extreme delight in their tantalizing, tor- 
 menting methods, to be followed by death itself. 
 
 Usually there was but one thing to do, and that 
 was for the hapless, helpless settlers to fly for their 
 lives. In these attempts hundreds were shot down 
 as they ran, but occasionally a poor mortal would 
 drop unobserved in the high weeds and grass, or in 
 a patch of corn, and escape by hiding. In the ex- 
 citement of clubbing, scalping and mutilating the 
 fallen victims, and in plundering the buildings, and 
 finally in the burning of them, some members of a 
 family or party would be lost track of, and would 
 make their way under cover of night, to some place 
 of safety, usually to the Fort, if not detected on the 
 way and murdered. Frequently these escaping 
 wretches would walk into the very jaws of death, 
 and often, when not entrapped, were beset on every 
 hand by dangers that were terrifying. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 197 
 
 Joseph B. Reynolds and wife, Valencia Reynolds, 
 were in the employ of the Government as instruc- 
 tors at a school back some ten miles from the Red- 
 wood Agency, where there were no other whites 
 employed or residing. On the morning of August 
 18th, Francis Patoile and a companion of Yellow 
 Medicine drove up to the Reynolds home and asked 
 if they could have breakfast. Mrs. Reynolds repli- 
 ed affirmatively, and as the meal was about ready 
 she had the men sit down to the table. While they 
 were eating Antonia La Blaugh, a half blood who 
 resided with a neighboring half-breed, John Moore, 
 came to the house and asked to see Mr. Reynolds, 
 to whom he stated that Moore had sent him to warn 
 him of the outbreak at the Agency that morning. 
 Mr. Reynolds sent La Blaugh after Moore, and as 
 he departed, the news was broken to the men at 
 breakfast, and Mr. Patoile asked to take the family 
 to New Ulm, he having a team with him, while Mr. 
 and Mrs. Reynolds had but a one-horse rig. In the 
 Reynolds family were three girls, Mary Schwandt, 
 Mattie Williams and Mary Anderson. These Mr. 
 Patoile took into his wagon, together with a Mr. 
 Davis and the companion who accompanied him 
 from Yellow Medicine. Moore came hastily, and 
 warned the people to fly for their lives in the direc- 
 tion of New Ulm, and pointed out the way least 
 likely to be beset with Indians. Mr. and Mrs. Rey- 
 nolds climbed into their buggy, but before they 
 were out of the house a party of squaws had reach- 
 ed, entered and begun to plunder it. 
 
 Now began a wild chase for life. The parties be- 
 came separated after a short distance from the 
 
198 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 house, and were not together again. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Reynolds drove to within sight of the Redwood 
 Agency, meeting a half-breed by the way whom 
 they questioned as to the extent and seriousness of 
 the outbreak. They were informed that matters 
 could not well be worse, from reports received from 
 the Indians themselves. They now met Shakopee, 
 near whose village their home was, and asked him 
 the meaning of the direful rumors. He said little 
 to them, but told them to keep back on the open 
 prairie. Indians were seen hastening toward the 
 Agency, giving new color to the shocking stories 
 that had spread like wildfire over the surrounding 
 country. They dropped back to the southwestward 
 so as to conceal themselves behind a ridge as much 
 as possible. When at the nearest point to the 
 Agency behind this ridge Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds 
 abandoned their horse and buggy long enough to 
 creep to the top of the ridge and peer over it, only 
 to discover that a party of Indians were but a short 
 distance away, gathering up cattle. They could 
 see that the doors of the buildings at the Agency 
 were all open, and that the Indians were very nu- 
 merous and in great confusion. They now felt con- 
 fident the rumors of a general massacre at the 
 Agency were too true, and returning to their buggy 
 hastily set out for New Ulm, as to reach the Fort 
 they must cross the Minnesota River, which was 
 not fordable. They took the open prairie instead 
 of following the road, and saw many Indians to 
 their left, hastening to the Agency. They at length 
 overtook the Government carpenter of the Agency, 
 who with his family was hastening in a flight for 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE 199 
 
 life. His wagon was overloaded with his family 
 and neighbors, so Mr. Reynolds took two of the 
 carpenter's children in his rig:. This was at a point 
 very nearly opposite Fort Ridgely. They met two 
 parties of Indians, and Mr. Reynolds attempted to 
 enter into conversation with one of them, but could 
 elicit no word of response. They also met two 
 parties of squaws, one of which tried to persuade 
 the fugitives to return to the Agency. Getting 
 down to the settlement below the reservation, a 
 large party of Indians was discovered on the side 
 towards the River. This party was about a hun- 
 dred rods away, and on foot. There were mounted 
 Indians nearer, on either hand, and a naked Indian 
 but a few rods to the front of the fugitives, who 
 now felt that their doom was sealed. Reynolds 
 called to the naked Indian, trusting for some friend- 
 ly response, but the savage lifted his gun and snap- 
 ped both barrels at Reynolds and his wife, without 
 the piece being discharged. In despair Mrs. Rey- 
 nolds turned her head, when she saw an Indian 
 riding swiftly toward them. He called to them to 
 turn back, and excitedly motioned to them to hurry. 
 This Indian got between the Reynolds rig and the 
 Indian on foot who was trying to recharge his gun 
 to get a shot at the fugitives. Now dangers thick- 
 ened. The Indian who came to befriend and help 
 the fugitives rode a white horse, so that he was 
 easily distinguished from all others. He kept all 
 pursuers at bay, and the race was a wild one, with 
 little hope of escape. After a two-mile ride Rey- 
 nolds and wife ran into a large party of squaws, 
 accompanied by one man. That they would here 
 
200 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 be detained if not killed, they had little doubt, 
 Reynolds, as he passed the Indian in the party of 
 squaws, asked him if he intended to kill them, and 
 he said "No; go on," and offered no resistance. 
 Reynolds and his wife now turned to the Minne- 
 sota River, and being: opposite Fort Ridgfely decided 
 that their only hope, since they were still pursued, 
 was to reach that place of refugfe. Their horse be- 
 ing jaded unto exhaustion, they drove to the river 
 at its nearest point, and hastily unhitching, Mr. 
 Reynolds swam the stream with the horse, it hav- 
 ing been agreed that Mrs. Reynolds should conceal 
 herself and the two Nairn children and await the 
 return of Reynolds, who was to go to the Fort and 
 obtain assistance and a boat if possible, with which 
 to make a safe crossing. The Indians followed the 
 trail to the river, but evidently concluded the 
 Reynolds party had escaped safely to the opposite 
 side of the stream or had been drowned. Mrs. 
 Reynolds wore moccasins, and shrewdly had the 
 two children precede her, and she then covered 
 their tracks with her own, toeing-in squaw fashion, 
 along the soft earth of the river bottom. Owing to 
 this forethought on her part the pursuing Indians 
 did not follow her trail, and she went into hiding 
 and remained in concealment until a party from 
 the Fort arrived, and calling to her to come to the 
 water, she was taken over and herself and the two 
 children safely conveyed to the Fort, more than a 
 mile away, and thus saved. Mrs. Reynolds was a 
 very capable woman, and rendered great assistance, 
 once at the Fort, in caring for the wounded, making 
 cartridges, etc. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 201 
 
 The other party that left the Reynolds home with 
 Francis Patoile met a sad fate in their flight after 
 being separated from Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds on 
 the 18th. The Patoile party, after many, frightful 
 experiences, reached a point about eight miles 
 above New Ulm, when they ran into a large party 
 of Indians from which there was, from the first, 
 little hope of escape. These Indians had been 
 raiding the settlements, and with wagons loaded 
 with plunder and their hands reeking with blood, 
 were journeying toward the Redwood Agency. 
 They had someplace obtained liquor, and many of 
 them were under its influence. They surrounded 
 the Patoile team and shot its owner, Francis Patoile, 
 who fell out of the wagon, dead. The other occu- 
 pants of the wagon jumped out and ran for a neigh- 
 boring slough. All the men, however, were shot 
 down before reaching the high grass of the marsh, 
 and Mary Anderson, one of the girls, received a 
 bullet which brought her to earth, the missile pene- 
 trating her abdomen. She was picked up however, 
 and carried and put in a wagon, when the other two 
 girls, Mattie Williams and Mary Schwandt, were 
 followed into the slough and captured and borne 
 away in the wagons. They all reached the Agency 
 at night, and went into camp near Little Crow's 
 house, where they were kept for several days, sub- 
 jected to nameless treatment. With a knife Mary 
 Anderson cut the bullet from her body, after Wau- 
 couta, an Indian who had tried to assist her, had 
 failed to extract the missile. Poor Mary Anderson 
 died from her wound and from exposure, but her girl 
 companions remained with her to the last, and did 
 
202 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 all their kind hearts and generous hands could 
 suggest to the last. She lay in a tepee, on the 
 ground, and as it rained hard all night, death claim- 
 ed her during the silent hours, while the little cloth- 
 ing she had on was saturated and her body cold and 
 wet from the flooded earth, and thus her spirit left 
 her. Joseph Campbell, a half-breed, directed a 
 party of Indians who wrapped the form of Mary in 
 a piece of canvas and buried it near where she died. 
 Mattie Williams and Mary Schwandt remained in 
 captivity, the victims of fiendish outrages, until 
 rescued at Camp Release. These girls were told 
 by the Indians that Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds were 
 killed while trying to escape on the 18th, and it was 
 believed among the Indians that this was true, as 
 escape seemed impossible. 
 
 Mary Schwandt was released from her cruel cap- 
 tivity at the surrender of Camp Release, but only 
 to learn that her father, mother, two brothers and 
 her only sister had been murdered at their home on 
 Beaver Creek at the beginning of the outbreak. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 203 
 
 The Remarkable Experience of a Remarkable 
 Woman. 
 
 How FAMILIES WERE WIPED OUT. 
 
 As far above Fort Ridgely as twenty-seven miles 
 was a new, vigorous settlement, an extension of 
 that known as the Beaver Creek settlement. All 
 along this region the country was most promising, 
 the soil rich and responsive to cultivation, the 
 natural pastures luxuriant, the water excellent and 
 the region in all respects attractive. Hardly a day 
 passed, up to the very hour of the massacre, that 
 a new family was not added to this promising, happy 
 community. Fort Ridgely was known well to this 
 and all other surrounding settlements. While none 
 dreamed of the hostility of Indians, still all appre- 
 ciated they had cast their lot in an Indian country, 
 or at least adjacent to an Indian reservation, and 
 this fact made the military post seem a place of 
 friendly refuge in case of any threatened danger, 
 and it thus became associated with every-day life, 
 and its location was well in mind as a result of pru- 
 dent thought, though comparatively few of the 
 settlers had ever visited the Fort. 
 
 The settlements at and above Beaver Creek were 
 so earnestly devoted to home-making that little note 
 was taken of matters not immediately associated 
 with patient industry, and hence the outbreak 
 caught the people unawares, with no time for or- 
 ganization or preparation when once the gleaming 
 knife of the savage was unsheathed. 
 
204 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 On Monday, August 18th, August Fross and 
 Eckmel Groundman, of the settlement above Beaver 
 Creek, started to the Redwood Agency, ignorant of 
 the awful tragedy that had been enacted in the early 
 part of that day at that point. When within a few 
 miles of the Agency these men were startled to 
 find the lifeless forms of a women and her two chil- 
 dren by the roadside, every indication pointing to 
 the fact that a foul murder had been committed, 
 and there were signs that Indians had committed 
 the horrible deed. The men were so aroused that 
 they resolved to report the discovery to the 
 neighbors in the vicinity, and to their amaze- 
 ment they found that at the homes of the sev- 
 eral settlers which they visited, were stark in death, 
 entire families. There could no longer be a particle 
 of doubt as to the meaning of all this. The first 
 house they visited was that of a Mr. Buss. Here 
 they found the husband, wife and three children 
 cruelly murdered. The next house was that of a 
 settler named Monweiler, and here the family was 
 slain. Hurrying to the home of John Rusby, they 
 found the entire family, consisting of husband, wife 
 and three children, dead, the latters, with their 
 skulls split open. The men, filled with horror, now 
 realized the danger that not only threatened their 
 own lives and those of their defenseless families, 
 but also of the entire settlement. They returned 
 homeward in great haste, and informed the settlers 
 of the impending danger. Hastily word was pass- 
 ed from house to house, with a view to assembling 
 all who could be reached, for flight. The place 
 selected for assembling the neighborhood was the 
 home of Paul Kitzman. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 205 
 
 What followed here could not be better told than 
 in the language of Mrs. Justina Kreiger, sister of 
 Paul Kitzman, who related the facts to the Sioux 
 Commission, appointed after the Massacre. Mrs. 
 Kreiger said : "It was about 8 o'clock p. m., of Mon- 
 day, August 18, 1862, when we all determined to flee 
 to Ft. Ridgely. One of the neighbors, Mr. Schwandt, 
 (Father of Mary Schwandt referred to in the pre- 
 ceding chapter) had not been informed of the raid 
 and our intended flight, and on this account a delay 
 took place to enable messengers to reach and in- 
 form him. When the messengers arrired at the 
 house they found Mr. Schwandt's oxen standing 
 at the door eating flour. Feathers were seen lying 
 around the yard, and the house seemed to have been 
 plundered. John Waltz, son-in-law of Mr. Schwandt, 
 was lying in the door, dead, shot through with three 
 balls, causing, no doubt, instant death. It was now 
 dark, and no other dead bodies were then discover- 
 ed. The house had the smell of fire, as though 
 something had been burning and had gone out. The 
 daughter of Mr. Schwandt, encienfe, was cut open, as 
 was learned afterward, the child taken alive from 
 its mother, and nailed to a tree. The son of Mr. 
 Schwandt, aged thirteen years, who had been beaten 
 by the Indians until dead as was supposed, was 
 present, and saw the entire tragedy. 
 
 He saw the child taken alive from the body of his 
 sister, Mrs. Waltz, and nailed to a tree in the yard. 
 It struggled some time after the nails were driven 
 through it ! This occurred in the forenoon of the 
 18th. Mr. Schwandt was on the house, shingling, 
 and was there shot, and rolled off, falling to the 
 
206 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 ground, dead. The mother of this boy was taken 
 a few yards from the house, into newly-plowed 
 ground, and her head severed from her body. Mr. 
 Fross, a laborer, was lying dead near Mrs. Schwandt. 
 The boy remained in his retreat until after dark, 
 when he came over to a settlement three or four 
 miles distant, and stopped at a Mr. Suche's house, 
 on the prairie. Here he found about thirty dead 
 bodies, and a living child, two or three years old, 
 near its mother, wounded and unable to walk. He 
 took the child and traveled with it toward Fort 
 Ridgely. After carrying his burden three or four 
 miles, and being exhausted, he placed it in a house, 
 promising to come after it the next day. He did 
 this to get rid of the child, so that he might possibly 
 make his own escape. The child was afterward 
 found, a prisoner, at Camp Release, and brought to 
 Fort Ridgely, and there died from the effects of 
 wounds and the hardships endured among the In- 
 dians. The lad, August Schwandt, arrived at the 
 Fort, nearly thirty miles from his home, after travel- 
 ing four nights and lying by of days. The messen- 
 gers returning from the Schwandt home, thirteen 
 families, with eleven teams, now started, and mov- 
 ed forward as fast as possible toward Fort Ridgely. 
 We first made toward the Chippewa River, on the 
 prairie, for safety. We journeyed until 2 or 3 o'clock 
 of Tuesday morning, the 19th, and then inclined 
 our course toward Beaver Creek, heading toward 
 the Fort. In this direction we went until the sun 
 was some two hours high, and found we had made 
 about fourteen miles. Eight Indians, on horseback- 
 some naked and some with blankets on, all armed 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 207 
 
 with guns now came up with us. In our train were 
 eleven men, armed with such guns as they had in 
 the neighborhood. Our teams, including the wagons 
 and oxen, were so arranged as to afford the best 
 protection. The men, at first, determined to fight 
 the Indians, but, as they came within about one 
 hundred yards, and our men were about to fire upon 
 them, the Indians put down their guns and made 
 signs not to fire, pretending that they were friendly 
 Indians ; and sad to relate, our men, believing them 
 to be friends, did not fire. One Indian, with whom 
 all were acquainted, who had frequently been at 
 my brother's house, and spoke good English, came 
 up to us. Paul Kitzman, my brother, stepped out 
 from behind the wagons, and shook hands with this 
 savage. The Indian kissed my brother, and show- 
 ed great friendship. Judas-like he betrayed us with 
 a kiss ! This Indian inquired after our concerns, 
 and where the teams were going. Paul Kitzman 
 replied that * We are in a flight to the Fort, as all 
 the people in the neighborhood had been killed by 
 the Indians'. The Indian answered that 'the Sioux 
 did not kill anybody ', that 'the people had been 
 murdered by the Chippewas '; and that 'they were 
 now on their way after the Chippewas, to kill them ;' 
 and wished our folks to return, as the Chippewas 
 were down near Beaver Creek, or toward the Fort, 
 and that we would probably be killed if we went on. 
 At the same time this pretendedly good Indian 
 placed his hand on Kitzman's shoulder, saying, 
 'You are a good man ; it is too bad to kill you '. 
 Our folks were still determined to go on, and would 
 not yet consent to return. This Indian then went 
 
208 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 around and shook hands with all of us, and said he 
 would not hurt us, and that he was going to save 
 us from harm. Paul Kitzman had great confidence 
 in this man. He had frequently hunted with him, 
 and thought him a good Indian. 
 
 Seeing now his advantage over us, he beckoned 
 to the others to come up. When they came they 
 were exceedingly friendly, shaking hands with the 
 men and women, and telling the women to quiet the 
 children, who were frightened at the sight of the 
 savages. All of us were now fully assured that 
 they were really friendly. 
 
 Seeing their success, the Indians put up their 
 guns into cases kept for that purpose, and the whites 
 put up their guns in the wagons. All now joined 
 in a friendly meal of bread and milk, and our folks,, 
 each of them, gave them some money ; and as they 
 had given such conclusive evidence of friendship, 
 a return was agreed upon. All the teams were 
 turned around, and we began to retrace our steps, 
 the Indians traveling in company with us for some 
 five or six miles. Our men now asked the Indians 
 if they could unyoke the oxen and let them feed. 
 The Indians made no objection and seemed pleased 
 with the idea. Our pretended friends now wished 
 something to eat. We gave them some bread and 
 butter and watermelon. They retired about a 
 quarter of a mile, and ate their meal alone. 
 
 After dinner they motioned us to go on. Paul 
 Kitzman, going toward them, was again requested 
 to go on, the Indians saying they would follow di- 
 rectly. And again assuring us they would not leave 
 us, but would protect us from the Chippewas, and 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 209 
 
 see us safe to our homes, we moved on. The In- 
 dians coming up, some took position alongside of 
 the train, the others in front and rear. This new 
 manner caused some suspicion, and the whites talk- 
 ed to each other in German, and thought it was best 
 to fire on the Indians ; but all the guns were in the 
 wagons, and no one dared to touch them, lest the 
 motion should be recognized by the savages as a 
 commencement of hostilities. Notwithstanding the 
 difficulty, all the men, at one time, except Paul 
 Kitzman, were determined to fire upon the treacher- 
 ous foe. He persuaded them not to do it, as he had 
 all confidence in them. 4 Besides,| our guns are in 
 the wagons, and each Indian has his in his hand, 
 ready to fire in an instant, and every white man 
 would be killed at the first shot, before a gun could 
 be got out of the wagons. * 
 
 We had now, by various stages, arrived at the 
 place where Fross and Groundman had discovered 
 the dead bodies on the afternoon of Monday, the 
 18th. Our hitherto friendly Indians now showed 
 signs of anger, became impudent and frantic, and 
 drew in line of battle behind our train, all having 
 double-barrelled guns except one. Our enemy 
 could make fifteen shots at one round, without re- 
 loading. They now came up and demanded our 
 money. Our fears, in regard to their real and ulti- 
 mate intentions, became a certainty in the minds 
 of every one of our party. One savage came forward 
 and received the money ; the others all remained 
 drawn up in battle-line. I had a pocket-book, and 
 my husband came to me for the money. I gave 
 him five dollars and kept the rest. He told me at 
 
210 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 this time he was going: to be killed, and gave me a 
 pocket-knife by which to remember him. After the 
 Indians had received all the money, they started 
 off to the settlements where the white people had 
 been killed. 
 
 We still went on with our train towards our homes, 
 and within a mile and a half of our house we found 
 two men dead, who had been recently killed. These 
 men were not recognized by any of our folks, but 
 had evidently been killed by the same Indians. We 
 now all concluded our race was about ended. We 
 were to die by these fiends. The men took the guns 
 out of the wagons, and concluded if they could 
 reach a house, they could protect themselves pretty 
 well ; but while going forward toward our house, 
 thirteen or fourteen Indians came up behind us, 
 when within one hundred yards of the house. The 
 Indians immediately surrounded us and fired, all 
 the men but three falling at the first fire. It was 
 done so quickly I could not see whether our men 
 fired at all ; yet I believe some of them did. No 
 Indians however, were killed by our party. Mr. 
 Fross, a Mr. Gotlieb Zable, and my husband, were 
 yet alive. 
 
 The Indians then asked the woman if they would 
 go along with them, promising to save all that 
 would go, and threatening all who refused with in- 
 stant death. Some were willing to go, others re- 
 fused. I told them I chose to die with my husband 
 and my children. My husband urged me to go with 
 them, telling me they would probably not kill me, 
 and that I could perhaps get away in a short time. 
 I still refused, preferring to die with him and the 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 211 
 
 children. One of the women, who had started off 
 with the Indians, turned around, hallooed to me to 
 come with them, and, taking a few steps to ward me, 
 was shot dead. At the same time two of the men 
 left alive and six of the women were killed, leaving, 
 of all the men, only my husband alive. Some of 
 the children were also killed at this last fire. A 
 number of children yet remained around the wagons ; 
 these the savages beat with the butts of their guns 
 until they supposed all were dead. Some soon 
 after rose up from the ground, with the blood stream- 
 ing down their faces, when they were beaten again 
 and killed. This was the most horrible scene I had 
 yet witnessed. 
 
 I stood yet in the wagon, refusing to get out and 
 go with the murderers, my own husband, meanwhile, 
 begging me to go, as he saw they were about to kill 
 him. He stood by the wagon, watching an Indian 
 at his right, ready to shoot, while another was quite 
 behind him, with his gun aimed at him. I saw them 
 both shoot at the same time. Both shots took effect 
 in the body of my husband, and one of the balls 
 passed through his body and struck my dress below 
 the knee. My husband fell between the oxen, and 
 seemed not quite dead, when a third ball was shot 
 into his head, and a fourth into his shoulder, which 
 probably entered his heart. 
 
 Now I determined to jump out of the wagon and 
 die beside my husband ; but as I was standing up 
 to jump, I was shot, seventeen buckshot, as was 
 afterward ascertained, entering my body. I then 
 fell back into the wagon-box. I had eight children 
 in the wagon-bed, and one in a shawl. All these 
 were either my own children or else my step- 
 
212 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 children. What had now become of the children 
 in the wagon I did not know, and what was the fate 
 of the baby I could only surmise. 
 
 All that I then knew was the fact that I was seized 
 by an Indian and very roughly dragged from the 
 wagon, and that the wagon was drawn over my 
 body and ankles. I suppose the Indians then left 
 me for a time, how long I do not know, as I was for 
 a time almost if not quite insensible. When I was 
 shot the sun was still shining, but when I came to 
 it was dark. My baby, as my children afterward 
 told me, was, when they found it, lying about five 
 yards from me, crying. One of my step-children, 
 a girl thirteen years of age, took the baby and ran 
 off. The Indians took two with them. These were 
 the two next to the youngest. One of them, a boy 
 four years old, taken first by the Indians, had got 
 out of the wagon, or in some other way, made his 
 escape, and came back to the dead body of his 
 father. He took his father by the hand, saying to 
 him, 4 papa, papa, don't sleep so long ! * Two of the 
 Indians afterward came back, and one of them, 
 getting off his horse, took the child from the side 
 of his father and handed it to the other on horse- 
 back, who rode off with it. This child was after- 
 ward recovered at Camp Release. The other one 
 I never heard of. Two of the boys ran away on the 
 first attack, and reached the woods, some eighty 
 rods distant. One climbed a tree; the younger, 
 aged seven, remaining below. This eldest boy, 
 aged eight, witnessed the massacre of all who were 
 killed at this place. He remained in the tree until 
 I was killed, as he supposed. He then came down 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 213 
 
 and told his brother what he had seen, and that 
 their mother was dead. While they were crying 
 over the loss of their parents, August Gest, a son 
 of a neighbor, cautioned them to keep still, as the 
 Indians might hear them, and come and kill them 
 too. 
 
 Here these boys remained for three days hiding 
 as well as they could from the savages, who were 
 passing and repassing. The boys went to neigh- 
 boring houses and turned out cattle and horses, and 
 whatever live stock was shut up in stables, sheds 
 or pens, and in this way occasionally found some- 
 thing to eat. On Wednesday morning, the 20th, 
 they saw our house on fire. On the third night 
 after the massacre, they concluded to go to the Fort, 
 twenty-seven miles distant, in reaching which they 
 spent eight days and nights, traveling only at night, 
 and hiding by day in the grass. They all reached 
 the Fort in safety, but had some very narrow escapes. 
 They often saw Indians, but were not themselves 
 discovered. 
 
 At one time these children, hungry and lonely, 
 found a friendly cow, on whose rich milk they made 
 a delicious meal. Another time on their journey, 
 while lying hid in the prairie grass, they discover- 
 ed a team coming on a road near by. It carried, 
 most likely, some white family to the Fort. They 
 were almost ready to jump up and shout for joy at 
 the sight ; and now, when about to run toward the 
 team, what an awful shock these little children were 
 doomedto experience ! Behold, a company of paint- 
 ed savages arose from a clump of grass close by 
 them, who ran and captured the team, and, turning 
 
214 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 it the other way, drove off, the screams of a woman 
 in the wagon rending the air as long as her cries 
 could be heard in the distance ! Thus disappoint- 
 ed they hid closer than ever in the grass until night, 
 and again took up their weary march to the Fort. 
 They knew not how many dangers unseen they had 
 escaped. They saw on the route many dead bodies 
 of men, women, children and animals. In one place 
 seven dead Indians were all placed in a row. This 
 was near Beaver Creek, as they supposed. There 
 were also many white people dead at the latter 
 place. 
 
 I must now turn back a moment, to trace the fate 
 of my baby. My step-daughter, aged thirteen, as 
 soon as the Indians had left the field, started off 
 for the woods. In passing where I lay, and suppos- 
 ing me dead, and finding the baby near, crying, she 
 hastily took it up, and bore it off the field of death 
 in her arms. The other girl, my own child six 
 years old, arose out of the grass, and two of the 
 other children that had been beaten over the head 
 and left for dead, now recovered and went off to- 
 ward the woods, and soon rejoined eacli other there. 
 These last two were also my step-children. I was 
 still lying on the field. 
 
 The three largest of the children who went to the 
 woods returned to the place of massacre, leaving 
 the boy in charge of the six-year-old girl. As they 
 came to the field they found seven children and 
 one woman, (referred to in a previous chapter as 
 found by Freniere,) evincing some signs of life, 
 and who had to some extent recovered. These 
 children were a son of Paul Kitzman, aged two and 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 215 
 
 a half years ; two sons of August Horning:, one and 
 three years old ; a son and daughter of Mr. Ground- 
 man, the daughter aged four and the son one year, 
 the girl having her hand shot off ; two sons of Mr. 
 Tille, one and two years old, and a son of Mr. Urban, 
 aged thirteen. All these were covered with blood, 
 had been beaten by the butt of the gun and hacked 
 by the tomahawk, except the girl, whose hand had 
 been severed by a gun-shot. The woman found was 
 Anna Zable. She had received two wounds a cut 
 in the shoulder and a stab in the side. These were 
 all taken to the house of my husband by these three 
 girls. It was now on the evening of Wednesday, 
 August 20th. They remained in the house all night, 
 doing all that could be done for each other. This 
 was a terrible place ! a hospital of invalid children, 
 with no one older than thirteen years to give di- 
 rections for the dressing of wounds, nursing the 
 infant children, and giving food to the hungry, in a 
 house that had already been plundered of every- 
 thing of value. 
 
 The children cried piteously for their mothers, 
 who were dead, or in a bondage worse than death. 
 The poor child with its hand off moaned and sigh- 
 ed, saying to its suffering fellows : * Mother would 
 always take care of me when I was hurt, but now 
 she will not come to me.' Poor child ! her mother 
 was already among the dead. 
 
 When daylight dawned, Mrs. Zable, thinking it 
 unsafe to remain in this place, awoke the eldest 
 girls and on consultation, concluded to leave the 
 young children and go into the woods, or into the 
 prairie. The girl of thirteen, and principal de- 
 
216 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 pendence of the little company, awoke my two step- 
 children, and the one six years old who had taken 
 charge of the baby in the woods the day previously, 
 and August Urban, aged thirteen. These, taking 
 with them the baby, quietly left the house, and 
 went to the place of the massacre to look after me, 
 as they knew I had been left on the field the pre- 
 vious day. As this little company were looking 
 over the field, they saw a savage, as they supposed, 
 coming on horseback, who turned out, fortunately, 
 to be Ant oine Freniere, the interpreter, who was 
 riding for life to save if possible his own family. 
 These children and Mrs. Zable, after seeing 
 Freniere, went about eighty rods from the field of 
 the late massacre, and hid in the grass near a small 
 creek. They were here but a very short time , when 
 the savages from the river, with the ox-teams pre- 
 viously taken from the party now dead, came to the 
 field, and stripping off the clothing from men and 
 women, went toward the houses. They were soon 
 seen at our house, gathering plunder ; and when 
 this was completed, they set fire to the house, and 
 with its destruction perished the seven children 
 left there a short time before ! To this awful scene 
 the escaping party were eye-witnesses! The In- 
 dians departed while the house was in flames, and 
 the children came to Mrs. Tille's house near the 
 woods, and being very hungry, diligently hunted 
 the house over, and found flour and butter, and 
 there cooked their dinner. Here, too, they fed the 
 baby. They remained in the woods around the 
 houses of the settlement for three days. The third 
 day they sa\v a body of Indians go to the house of 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 217 
 
 August Pros, plunder it of all valuables, and carry 
 them away in a wagon. The baby had been left at 
 Mr. Tille's house, asleep on the bed, where the 
 party had last taken dinner. 
 
 The little girls and Mrs. Zable, being frightened 
 by the sight of these Indians, hid themselves in the 
 woods until dark. They then started for the Fort, 
 and soon passed by our house, yet smouldering. 
 They also passed the field of death, resting by day 
 and traveling by night. In this way they journey- 
 ed eleven days. 
 
 The incidents of this wonderful journey would be 
 worthy of a long description. They saw many dead 
 bodies, both of white people and Indians. Indians, 
 in small parties, were frequently seen prowling 
 over the prairie and in the timber. The food of the 
 children was principally corn, eaten raw, as they 
 had no means of making a fire. They found a camp 
 kettle, which they used in carrying water a part of 
 the time. They left the baby at the house of Mr. 
 Tille, and no further tidings has ever been heard 
 of it. 
 
 Our escaping party, when in sight of the Fort, 
 did not know the place. They feared it was an In- 
 dian camp. Before this, one had come near being 
 left for dead. The child six years old, on the last 
 day of their travel, had fallen down from exhaustion 
 and hunger, and Mrs. Zable advised the eldest girl 
 to leave her and go on, but the other children scream- 
 ed and cried so piteously at the very idea, that the 
 advice was not heeded. The little sufferer, too, 
 showed signs of life. They all halted, and the ad- 
 vanced ones came back, and being near a creek the 
 
218 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 child was taken to it, and was soon revived by the 
 free use of water on its head. Here they remained 
 for some time, and, finding: the rind of a melon in 
 the road, gave it to the fainting child, and by rest 
 and the tender care of the other children, it was 
 again able to journey on with the others. 
 
 They had ascended the hill, near the Fort, and 
 there sat down to deliberate what to do. Whether 
 what they saw was an Indian encampment, or Fort 
 Ridgely, they could not readily determine. The 
 children believed the discovery to be Fort Ridgely, 
 but Mrs. Zable thought it a camp of savages. Fi- 
 nally the children declared they saw the troops 
 plainly. This turned out to be true, as the troops 
 soon came toward them, having discovered this 
 little company on the prairie. The five children 
 were soon in the wagon brought for their rescue, 
 but the doubting Mrs. Zable, supposing the Indians 
 coming, made off from the rescuers as fast as she 
 could. The troops soon caught her, and all were 
 brought into the Fort. They were a forlorn-looking 
 company some wounded by hatchet-cuts, others 
 beaten by the butts of guns, and others still bleed- 
 ing from wounds made by gun-shots, and all nearly 
 famished by hunger and thirst, and scantily cover- 
 ed by a few rags yet hanging to their otherwise 
 naked persons. 
 
 As for myself, I remained on the field of the 
 massacre, and in the place where I fell when I was 
 shot, until about midnight of Tuesday, August 19th. 
 All this time or nearly so, unconscious of passing 
 events I did not even hear the boy cry. All that 
 part of the narrative covered by this period of time 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 219 
 
 I relate upon the testimony of my children, who re- 
 ported the same to me. At this time of night I 
 arose from the field of the dead, with a feeble abil- 
 ity to move at all. I soon heard the tread of savage 
 men, speaking in the Sioux language. They came 
 near, and proved to be two savages only. These 
 two went over the field, examining the dead bodies, 
 to rob them of what yet remained upon them. They 
 soon came to me, kicked me, then felt my pulse, 
 first on the right hand, then on the left, and, to be 
 sure, felt for the pulsation of the heart. I remain- 
 ed silent, holding my breath. They probably sup- 
 posed me dead. They conversed in Sioux for a 
 moment. I shut my eyes, and awaited what else 
 was to befall me with a shudder. The next moment 
 a sharp-pointed knife was felt at my throat, then, 
 passing downward, to the lower portion of the abdo- 
 men, cutting not only the clothing entirely from my 
 body, but actually penetrating the flesh, making but 
 a slight wound on the chest, but, at the pit of the 
 stomach, entering the body to the intestines ! My 
 arms were then taken separately out of the clothing. 
 I was seized rudely by the hair, and hurled head- 
 long to the ground, entirely naked, How long I 
 was unconscious I cannot imagine, yet I think it 
 was not a great while. When I came to I beheld 
 one of the most horrible sights I had ever seen, in 
 the person of myself ! I saw, also, these two savages 
 about eight rods off ; a light from the north, prob- 
 ably the aurora, enabling me to see objects at some 
 distance. At the same time I discovered my own 
 condition, I saw one of these inhuman savages 
 seize poor Wilhelmina Kitzman, who was my niece, 
 and yet alive, hold her up by the foot, her head 
 downward, her clothes falling over her head ; while 
 
220 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 holding: her there by one hand, in the other he grasp- 
 ed a knife, with which he hastily cut the flesh around 
 one of the legs, close to the body, and then, by 
 twisting and wrenching, broke the ligaments and 
 bone, until the limb was entirely severed from the 
 body, the child screaming frantically, 4 O, God, O, 
 God. ' When the limb was off, the child, thus muti- 
 lated, was thrown down on the ground, stripped of 
 her clothing, and left to die ! The other children of 
 Paul Kitzman were then taken along with the In- 
 dians, crying most piteously. I now lay down, and 
 for some hours knew nothing more. 
 
 Hearing nothing now, I tried to get up, and labor- 
 ed a long time to do so. I finally succeeded in 
 getting up on my left side and left arm, my right 
 side being dead and useless. I now discovered, too, 
 my clothing was all off. I tried to find some dead 
 person, to get clothing to cover me. I could not 
 get any, for when I found a dead person with clothes 
 yet on, I saw Indian ponies close by, and fearing 
 Indians were near, I made no further attempt. I 
 then crawled off toward my own house, to hunt 
 something to put on me, and, when near the house, 
 I discovered something dark, close by, which turn- 
 ed out to be my own clothes, which had been torn 
 from me. I bound them around me as well as I 
 could, and, not daring to enter the house, which 
 was not yet burned, I turned my course toward Fort 
 Ridgely. It was yet night, but was light, from the 
 aurora perhaps ; at least I saw no moon. 
 
 I made first to a creek, some five hundred yards 
 from the house, and washed the blood from my 
 person, bathed my wounds and drank some water. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 221 
 
 This night I made six miles, according: to my es- 
 timate. I here came to a settlement in the timber, 
 on some creek that put into the Minnesota River. 
 I did not know the name of the settlement. It was 
 now near daylight. Here I remained, weak, sick, 
 wounded and faint from loss of blood, for three long 
 days, drinking water, and this was my only nourish- 
 ment all this time. At the end of these three days 
 I heard Indians around, and being afraid of still 
 other injuries, made my way to the left, through 
 the prairie, and thought to find the Chippewa In- 
 dians, but I found none. I saw plenty of Sioux In- 
 dians. 
 
 I think it was Saturday, the 23rd of August, I lay 
 down and thought I should die of hunger. I then 
 took to eating grass, and drank water from the 
 sloughs. In this way I traveled at night, and lay 
 by during the day. On Sunday night I came to a 
 creek and found many dead persons. I turned over 
 one of these to see whether he was a white man or 
 an Indian, but he smelled so badly I turned him 
 down again without ascertaining. He had on a 
 white shirt and dark pants, and I suppose he was 
 a white man. I saw great quantities of bedding, 
 furniture and books scattered and torn in pieces, at 
 a creek far out on the prairie. It was not Beaver 
 Creek. The same night I crossed this creek. The 
 water was up to my armpits, and the cane grass tall 
 and thick. Here again I saw more dead persons. 
 One woman was lying on her back, and a child near 
 by, pulled asunder by the legs. I then traveled 
 around on the prairie, saw no roads, had nothing to 
 eat. and no water for three days. 
 
222 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 During: my wanderings, early in the morning:, I 
 gathered the dew from the grass in my hand, and 
 drank it ; and when my clothes became wet with 
 dew, I sucked the water from them. This gave me 
 great relief from the burning thirst I experienced. 
 Finally, at the end of these three days of terrible 
 suffering, I came to a road. This road I followed, 
 and in a low place found some standing water in 
 puddles in the mud, and tried to get it in my clothes, 
 but the water was too shallow. I then got down 
 and sucked up and eagerly drank the water from 
 the mud. My tongue and lips were now cracked 
 open from thirst. After this I went on and found 
 two dead bodies on the road, and, a few steps farther, 
 a number of men, women and children, all dead ! 
 On the thirteenth day I came to Bearer Creek, and, 
 for the first time found out for certain where I was. 
 Here I discovered a house in a field, went to it, and 
 saw that everything had been destroyed. The dog 
 was alive, and seemed to be barking at some one, 
 but showed friendship for me. Being afraid that 
 savages were around, I went again into the woods. 
 After staying there for a short time a shot was fired, 
 and then I heard some person calling, I thought in 
 German. I did not answer the call as I did not 
 think it was for me. But, after alf was still I went 
 on, and passed Beaver Creek, went up the hill, and 
 then saw an Indian, with a gun pointed at some ob- 
 ject. He soon went off in an opposite direction 
 without discovering me. Fearing others were about, 
 I went to the woods, and being wearied, lay down 
 and slept. I do not know how long I slept, but 
 when I awoke it was about noon. 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 223 
 
 I was again lost, and did not know where to go. 
 I wandered about in the woods, hunting for my 
 way, and finally, as the evening star appeared, I 
 found my direction, taking an eastern course until 
 1 came to a creek again. I now saw I must be near 
 the Minnesota River. I went into a house near by, 
 took a piece of buffalo-robe, went to the river bot- 
 tom and lay down to rest. Here I found wild plums, 
 and ate some of them. This night it rained long 
 and hard. On the next morning I found that I was 
 too weak and tired to travel, and so remained all 
 that day and all the next night, wishing that the 
 savages might come and put an end to my sufferings. 
 It rained all this day. 
 
 Here I felt sure I must die, and that I should 
 never leave this place alive. The cold sweat was 
 on my forehead. With great effort I raised up to 
 take one more look around me, and to my surprise 
 I saw two persons with guns, but could not tell 
 whether they were white men or Indians. I rejoiced 
 however, because I thought they would put an end 
 to my sufferings. But, as they came near I saw 
 they had bayonets, and knew they were white sol- 
 diers, and made signs for them to come to me. The 
 soldiers, fearing some trick, seemed afraid to come 
 near me. After making sundry examinations they 
 finally came up. One of my neighbors, Lewis Daily, 
 first advanced, and seeing I was a white woman, 
 called to his partner, who also came. They soon 
 brought me some water, and gave me a drink, and 
 wet my head, washed my face and carried me to a 
 house near by. Here they proposed to leave me 
 until the other troops came up, but yielding to my 
 
224 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 earnest entreaty they carried me along until the 
 other portion of the soldiers arrived. One of them 
 went into a house and found a dress, and put it on 
 me, the clothes I had on being all torn to pieces. 
 Dr. Daniels came along directly, examined my 
 wounds, and gave me some water and wine, made 
 a requisition for a wagon, fixed up a. bed and had 
 me placed upon it. Now the train followed along 
 the river bottom some distance, then took to the 
 open prairie. Here we found a woman cut into four 
 pieces, and two children by her, cut in pieces also. 
 They buried these bodies, and passed down from 
 Henderson's house in the direction of the Fort. All 
 the soldiers seemed to take great care of me. The 
 doctor dressed my wounds, and did all that could 
 be done for me. The wagon I was in soon came in- 
 to company with the burial party who were going 
 into camp at Birch Coulie. 
 
 The savages attacked this burial party oh the 
 same night after I was rescued by the soldiers, or 
 rather on the following morning, Tuesday, Sep- 
 tember 2nd. In that disastrous affair (the battle of 
 Birch Coulie) it was thought proper to overturn all 
 the wagons, as a means of better security against 
 the murderous fire of the Indians. When they came 
 to the wagon in which I lay, some one said, 'do not 
 overturn that wagon, for it contains a sick woman,' 
 and they passed by. This was the only wagon left 
 standing. Behind the wagons and dead horses, kill- 
 ed by the Indians, our men lay on the ground and 
 fought the savages with a determination seldom If 
 ever equaled. It was victory or death. I was in a 
 good position to see and hear all that went on dur- 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE. 225 
 
 ing the battle. I was, too, in a most exposed position. 
 The wagon was a fine mark. Standing up as it did 
 above everything: else on the open prairie, it afford- 
 ed the best possible target for savage marksmen. 
 The wagon was literally shot to pieces. Some of 
 the spokes were shot off. The cover was complete- 
 ly riddled with ball-holes. The cup in which I at- 
 tempted to take my medicine during the fight, was 
 knocked away from my mouth by a passing rifle ball. 
 I did not attempt to reclaim it. The smell of gun- 
 powder almost took my breath away. Some five 
 slight wounds was all the damage I sustained in 
 this awful battle. I saw it all, from the commence- 
 ment to the close. Sleep was impossible, and my 
 hearing was wonderfully acute. The battle lasted 
 all the day Tuesday, and all the night following, 
 until about midnight, when the firing ceased for a 
 while on both sides. Whether the weary white men 
 or the savage Indians slept, I do not know, but I 
 could not sleep. About daylight on Wednesday, 
 September 3rd, the firing commenced again on both 
 sides. Some time in the forenoon I heard our sol- 
 diers crying aloud for joy. The shout went up : 
 * Reinforcements coming.' 
 
 When the Indians left to go toward the reinforce- 
 ments, the doctor and an officer came to look after 
 me, supposing I could not have escaped so murder- 
 ous afire. They seemed perfectly astonished at 
 finding me alive, and unhurt, except by the slight 
 marks made by some five balls merely drawing 
 blood from the skin. How I escaped must ever re- 
 main a mystery to myself and others. The blanket 
 given me by a soldier, and in which I was wrapped 
 
226 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 up in the wagon during the battle of Birch Coulie, 
 was found, on examination, to have received over 
 two hundred bullet-holes during the fight, and yet 
 I was not hit except as stated. Who can imagine 
 such an escape ? Yet, I did escape, and am now 
 (June, 1873,) alive to tell the story. 
 
 When the troops had buried their dead we return- 
 ed to Fort Ridgely. Here I was placed under charge 
 of Dr. Muller, surgeon of the post. I hardly knew 
 whether I was in the hospital or at the doctor's 
 home, but I shall never forget the kind care taken 
 of me by Mrs. Dr. Muller. The doctor extracted 
 some nine buckshot from my shoulders, and the 
 other eight are yet there, as they could not be taken 
 out. My various wounds did not trouble me much, 
 and were soon all healed. 
 
 At the Fort I found four of my children, all ex- 
 cept one, children of my first husband. Two of my 
 own boys, eight and nine years old, who had escap- 
 ed with the thirteen-year-old August Urban, had 
 reached the Fort and been sent to St. Paul. At the 
 Fort I also found the five girls who came in with 
 Mrs. Zable. Three of these were my first husband's 
 children, and one of them my own by my first hus- 
 band. My children had all been taken to my mother's, 
 in Wisconsin, where I hastened, after a few days 
 at the Fort, to find them. I later recovered the 
 child that had been taken prisoner by the Indians, 
 which was delivered to Col. Sibley at Camp Re- 
 lease." 
 
 The heroine of this most remarkable experience 
 was a native of Posen, Prussia, born July 13, 1835, 
 and was the youngest daughter of Andrew Kitzman, 
 
THE SIOUX MASSACRE 227 
 
 who, with his family of fourteen children, immigrat- 
 ed to America and located near Green Lake, Mar- 
 quette County, Wisconsin, in territorial days. Mrs. 
 Kreiger and husband, with a large family of children, 
 had taken up their new home in the beautiful Minne- 
 sota valley less than ninety days preceding the 
 Sioux Massacre. History knows no more thrilling 
 experience than that of this remarkable woman and 
 her family friends on the Minnesota border. 
 
Lieut. T. J. SHEEHAN, Commander of Lieut. T. P. GERE, Who Commanded 
 Fort Ridgely During Siege. at Fort Ridgely Aug. 18, 1862. 
 
 Sergeant JAMES G. McGREW, Sergeant JOHN F. BISHOP. 
 
 Officers Who were Prominent in the Defense of 
 Fort Ridgely. 
 
 Pictures were taken during Civil War, shortly after the Sioux Massacre. 
 
Private WILLIAM J. STURGIS, 
 
 Who bore the first dispatch to Gov. Ramsey, announcing the massacre. Photo 
 taken 43 years after close of Civil War. See page 107. 
 
 W. H. BLODGETT, 
 
 Taken just before the outbreak. See foot-note, page 63. 
 
NATHAN LAMPSON. 
 
 The man who, with his son Chauncey, killed 
 Little Crow. See page 187. 
 
ONLY LIVING MEMBERS OF COMPANY B, FIFTH MINNESO- 
 TA, WHO DEFENDED FORT RIDGELY. 1, Christopher Boyer; 2, O. 
 G. Wall: 3, Lieut. T. P. Gere; 4, E. F. Nehrhood ; 5, M. H. Wilson; 6, C. 
 M. Culver. On these two pages (4 and 5) are shown the only known living 
 members of Company B, Fifth Minnesota Infantry Volunteers, who were defend- 
 ers of Fort Ridgely during the Sioux Massacre. Of the 1 2 survivors the six on this 
 page were of the party of Lieut. T. P. Gere, who commanded Fort Ridgely Au- 
 gust 18, 1862. (Pictures shown in groups are numbered from left to right.) 
 
SURVIVORS OF COMPANY B WHO WERE AT REDWOOD 
 FERRY AUG. 18, 1862. 1, Sergeant John F. Bishop; 2, W. H. Blodgett; 
 3, Levi Carr ; 4, W. B. Hutchinson ; 5, Ole Svendson ; 6, Stephen Van Buren. 
 
 The six survivors shown above were with Capt. Marsh at the Redwood Ferry, 
 August 18, 1862, when 24 out of 47 of Marsh's men were killed. After the death 
 of Marsh, a remnant of his detachment was conducted skilfully under great diffi- 
 culties to Fort Ridgely by that efficient officer and always capable soldier, Sergeant 
 John F. Bishop, of above group. 
 
FORT RIDGELY MONUMENT. 
 
BIRCH COULIE and GOOD^INDIAN Monuments at Morton, Minnestoa. 
 
"OLD BETZ." 
 
 A frequent visitor of Fort Ridgely up to time of outbreak. Was said to be 
 120 years old. See page 148. 
 
Sibley Expedition of 1 863. 
 
 During the fall of 1862 and 
 winter of 1863 an army was 
 collected at the various posts 
 and temporary stockades of 
 the state, preparatory to a 
 strong movement into the ene- 
 my's country northwestward 
 in the early summer of 1863. 
 Only a few of the guilty In- 
 dians had been apprehended 
 and punished in the autumn 
 of 1862, hundreds of them 
 having escaped to the plains 
 lying between the Red River 
 and the Missouri, with the up- 
 per boundary of their range extending to the Devils Lake 
 country. 
 
 The Sioux Reservation, at the time of the outbreak, 
 extended from a point not far below Fort Ridgely, but 
 on the opposite, or south and west side of the Minnesota 
 River, to the head of Big Stone or Eah-ton-ka lake. This 
 reservation was ten miles in width, and about one hundred 
 and fifty miles in length, and was divided by the Yellow 
 Medicine River, flowing into the Minnesota. That por- 
 tion below the Yellow Medicine was known as the Lower 
 Reservation, whose "capital" was the Redwood Agency, 
 and was occupied by the M'daywakanton and Wakpakuta 
 Indians, and that above the Yellow Medicine as the Up- 
 
238 
 
 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 MAP SHOWING ROUTE OF THE SIBLEY EXPEDITION OF 
 1863, AS ADJUSTED TO THE DAKOTAS OF TO- 
 DAY, THE EXPEDITION PASSING PRIN- 
 CIPALLY OVER WHAT IS NOW 
 NORTH DAKOTA. 
 
 per Reservation, with headquarters at the Yellow Medi- 
 cine Agency, occupied by the Sissetons and Wahpaytons. 
 It was the lower Indians who precipitated the outbreak, 
 and though many of the upper Indians were involved, 
 there were, however, many who were kept out of it 
 through the influence of Standing Buffalo and other 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 239 
 
 northern chiefs. Driven from the scenes of their awful 
 depredations, the lower Indians retreated into the land 
 of the Sissetons and Wahpaytons, much to the displeas- 
 ure of the latter, and particularly to that portion of the 
 latter who had refused to stain their hands with the blood 
 of the whites. 
 
 A civilized Indian, and one who did great service for 
 the whites, when to do it imperiled his own life, gave it 
 as his opinion that a very large number of the upper 
 Indians resisted the temptations and entreaties of their 
 lower brethren to join in the uprising. Some of the up- 
 per chiefs and many of the old and better disposed war- 
 riors were outspoken against the massacre, and these 
 men, though unpopular with the less sturdy element, 
 exerted a strong influence during the outbreak and later 
 in the delivery to the authorities of the white captives. 
 
 It has always been regretable that all the northern In- 
 dians were put upon practically the same basis by the 
 Government in the prosecution of the campaigns of 
 1863-4. The decades that have since flown permit of a 
 rational analysis of that bloody chapter in Minnesota his- 
 tory known as the Sioux Massacre. The whole Dakota 
 race was under distrust. The Indians who were true at 
 heart,, and who against strong pressure from the domi- 
 nant element, opposed the heartless massacre, were In- 
 dians, and in the inflamed condition of the public mind 
 fine distinctions were not drawn. The better element of 
 Indians felt this indiscriminate censure, save in a very 
 few notable instances. The lawless had brought the entire 
 race under the ban. The few loyal and faithful who were 
 under the public eye received full credit for their good 
 deeds, but not so those who were entirely beyond the 
 horizon of the seat of carnage. The great mass whose 
 hands were stained with innocent blood, and whose 
 monstrous crimes had gone on lightning wings to appall 
 humanity in the remotest limits of the globe, spread to the 
 plains of the Northwest like a loathsome pestilence, after 
 their defeat, to overwhelm with disgrace and contamina- 
 tion the bands who had stood aloof. Those whose souls 
 
240 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 were the deepest dyed in crime pushed northward to near 
 the British border, where they spent a winter of hard- 
 ships (1862-3) that gave them ample opportunity to 
 reflect upon the ways of the transgressor ; but they 
 dropped southward in the spring and merged themselves 
 into all other elements of their race indiscriminately, so 
 all were hunted alike and all put upon the same basis in 
 whatever punishment was administered. 
 
 The campaign of 1863 was organized by Gen. John 
 Pope, the plan being to completely subdue the Sioux 
 hordes. Two expeditions were designed to execute the 
 plans of the Department Commander, one under Gen. H. 
 H. Sibley, organized in Minnesota, and the other under 
 the command of Gen. Alfred Sully, the latter organized 
 and outfitted at Sioux City, Iowa. 
 
 In the spring of 1863 the troops in Minnesota were 
 shifted about from post to post to inure the men to hard- 
 ships and exposure. The conditions were indeed trying, 
 and may well be illustrated by the experience of one 
 company of cavalry, as a sample of what all endured 
 through this shifting process. 
 
 Hardships of Frontier Military Service Hauling 
 Wagons by Man-power. 
 
 On April 8, 1863, Co. F of the First Minnesota Cavalry 
 (Mounted Rangers) left Fort Snelling for Sauk Center 
 to relieve a company ordered elsewhere. The weather 
 was cold, the ground still full of frost, and lingering 
 snow-drifts were visible. The sky was obscured by dull 
 clouds throughout the 8th, the first day out, while a pene- 
 trating north wind blew a gale. This the men faced. 
 At night, instead of turning into the dry bunks to which 
 all had been accustomed for months, the soldiers lay upon 
 frozen ground with one rubber and one woolen blanket 
 beneath them, and a blanket over them, a tent sheltering 
 them from the night wind. The next day's march was 
 under partially clear skies, but in weather full of chill. 
 The wind had sufficiently abated by night to make it 
 possible to extract comfort from a camp fire, but sleep- 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 241 
 
 ing with comfort was quite out of the question. In the 
 latter part of the night a tempest sprang up from the 
 northeast. Breakfast was prepared in a blinding snow- 
 storm and howling wind. There was no shelter for the 
 fires, and nothing of which to make a successful shelter. 
 Coffee could not be brought to the boiling point, and 
 was "good" only in the degree of warmth to which it 
 had attained. A pelting storm continued throughout the 
 day's march, rain and snow alternating at intervals. 
 There was not a dry thread in the company, and the 
 men were benumbed with cold. St. Cloud, then an un- 
 pretentious village, was reached late in the afternoon, and 
 the village of St. Joseph at night. Capt. Joseph R. 
 Daniels requested the citizens of the latter place to open 
 their houses to the men, but they absolutely refused to 
 do so. The people were utterly dead to sympathy or 
 feeling. In fact, there appeared a general anti-Union 
 spirit, heightened by the presence of soldiers. The re- 
 quest being met with a negative on all sides, Capt. Daniels 
 ordered his men to take possession of all the barns in 
 the village, if needs be turning out everything they con- 
 tained. The people heard the order with a sullen scowl, 
 and started for their stables in several instances to pre- 
 vent the execution of the order; but they were swept 
 aside by the wet and shivering men, who only needed a 
 tip of authority from their commander, for a refusal of 
 a reasonable request for their comfort under the cir- 
 cumstances had angered the men to the limit of endur- 
 ance. The same all-day storm still raged at night, mak- 
 ing it impossible to start or maintain fires. The men, 
 drenched to the skin and benumbed, took care of their 
 horses, and in the darkness that had gathered climbed 
 into the haymows to lunch off the cold rations fished 
 from their haversacks. 
 
 The skies were more auspicious on the morning of 
 the fourth day, April 11, but the roads were bad in the 
 extreme. The company, however, reached its destina- 
 tion and found warm and dry quarters awaiting it with- 
 in the Sauk Center stockade. Later it was ordered to 
 
242 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 Fort Ridgely over roads incomparably bad, by the way 
 of Forest City, Hutchinson, etc. Much of this region, 
 owing to heavy spring rains and lack of drainage and 
 bridges, was a mere bog, in which mule-teams were ut- 
 terly useless, and cavalry horses, even without their 
 mounts, were gotten through with difficulty. The won- 
 derful efficiency of man-power was well illustrated on 
 this trip. When the soft spot to be crossed was more 
 than two or three rods wide, the teams were unhitched 
 and the animals separately gotten across in the most con- 
 venient way possible. A long line was attached to a 
 wagon and sixty to eighty men would bend to the task 
 of pulling it through. At times the sloughs to be crossed 
 were twenty to forty rods in width. Across these one 
 heavily-loaded wagon was taken at a time, mired now 
 and then to the hubs. The long line made it possible, 
 however, for some of the men to be at all times on fairly 
 decent footing, and human intelligence made it possible 
 to take advantage of every favoring foothold. The load 
 men will thus move over otherwise impassable roads is 
 scarcely believable: but the days devoted to this sort 
 of service told heavily, for not only was the service itself 
 arduous, but the men were in mud and water to their 
 hips for hours at a time, for usually the sloughs were 
 only separated by narrow ridges. Add to this march- 
 ing, scouting and guard duty, and the reader has a basis 
 for forming an idea what frontier military service con- 
 sisted of. 
 
 Assembling an Army for the Sibley Expedition. 
 
 Early in June the process of assembling an army in 
 the valley of the Minnesota, three or four miles above 
 the mouth of the Redwood River, began. This place 
 of rendezvous was designated Camp Pope, in honor of 
 the major general commanding the department. From 
 all the military posts of the state, including the many 
 frontier villages where stockades had been erected, every 
 available man was drawn, leaving only a force sufficient 
 for garrison and patrol duty. The army thus assembled 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 243 
 
 consisted of the following organizations: The Sixth 
 Minnesota under Col. William Crooks; nine companies 
 of the Seventh Minnesota under Lieutenant Colonel Will- 
 iam R. Marshall; eight companies of the Tenth Minne- 
 sota under Col. James H. Baker ; one company of Pio- 
 neers under Capt. Jonathan Chase ; nine companies of the 
 First Minnesota Cavalry, or Mounted Rangers, under 
 Col. Samuel McPhail ; eight pieces of artillery with one 
 hundred and forty-eight men under Capt. John Jones; 
 seventy-five Indian scouts under Maj. Joseph R. Brown, 
 George McLeoud and Major Dooley, in all 4,075 men. 
 There was a train of 225 six-mule teams, as there was 
 no point in the wild country to be penetrated during the 
 all-summer campaign at which supplies could be re- 
 plenished. 
 
 Camp Pope Personnel of the Army. 
 
 Of this expedition Gen. H. H. Sibley was placed in 
 command, with the following staff: Assistant Adjutant 
 General, R. C. Olin; Brigade Commissary, William H. 
 Forbes; Assistant Commissary and Ordnance Officer, 
 Atchison; Commissary Clerk, Spencer; Quartermaster, 
 Corning; Assistant Quartermaster, Kimball; Aides-de- 
 Camp, Lieutenants Pope, F. J. H. Beever, A. St. Claire, 
 Flandrau and Hawthorn; Chaplain, Rev. S. R. Riggs. 
 
 The campaign to be entered upon would unavoidably 
 be an arduous one, and men were selected very largely 
 for their general fitness for the duties to be performed 
 and the hardships to be encountered. Many of the 
 men had for months done duty along the border that 
 constantly brought under their observation the blackened 
 ruins of homes destroyed the previous autumn, as a part 
 of the work of the massacre, and were anxious to pene- 
 trate the enemy's country beyond these grim reminders 
 of crimes and wickedness never to be atoned for. The 
 ruined and abandoned fields of the settlers, the bloated, 
 blackened and mutilated corpses of men, women and 
 children, the deserted farms along a frontier of two 
 or three hundred miles in length, with their crops rotting 
 
244 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 where they had grown, were scenes that clung to the 
 minds of all who had witnessed them the previous fall, 
 like a repulsive nightmare. 
 
 Camp Pope was in the heart of the country occupiecf 
 by those who had blighted with gun and torch as fair 
 a land as the sun had ever kissed. Charred ruins were 
 visible from its site, awful tragedies had been enacted 
 within hearing of the spot, their agonies still echoing 
 from fresh graves. There was, in fact, something 
 sepulchral about this whole valley region, and the men 
 longed for new fields of operation. 
 
 June 16, 1863, A Memorable Day How Small 
 Pox Restored Quiet 
 
 On the morning of June 16, 1863, the "Sibley Expedi- 
 tion," as it was widely known, started on its long mis- 
 sion. On the previous night, after the heat of the day 
 had .subsided, a detachment of infantry moved out on 
 the highlands to the westward to take the advance the 
 following morning. The night of the 15th was ideal. 
 The gentle zephyrs were laden with the incense of wild 
 flowers. Overhead the sky was serene and star-bedecked. 
 The earth, warmed into new life, had sent into banish- 
 ment many of the perplexities incident to military life 
 in the open. The day had been warm, and along the 
 southwestern horizon lightning flashes danced fitfully in 
 a distant embankment of clouds, whose outlines were 
 distinctly revealed by the quivering, shimmering electrical 
 gymnastics, reflected by the glistening armor of the in- 
 fantry detachment that filed up the western slopes of the 
 valley in the dusk of evening to assume its place for 
 the morrow. Those who witnessed the beautiful spec- 
 tacle have probably never forgotten it. Under benign 
 conditions the camp was unusually merry on the night 
 of the 15th, only, however, to receive a shock that pro- 
 duced a profound sensation. The surgeons had discov- 
 ered a well defined case of smallpox, and the news of the 
 discovery swept over the vast camp like wildfire. Men 
 had expected to be shot at had enlisted, in fact, with the 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 245 
 
 full understanding that they would be called upon to 
 pose as targets for an unscrupulous and careless enemy, 
 but both the parties of the first and second parts had 
 utterly forgotten to mention smallpox in the original 
 contract, and the omission led to serious reflection and 
 eloquent silence. Fortunately the disease did not spread. 
 
 General Sibley's Habits of Early Rising Our First 
 Day's March The Mules and the Blues. 
 
 Gen. Sibley was a man of pronounced habits, and not 
 the least among these habits was that of early rising. 
 The rose tints of early dawn were never an unfamiliar 
 sight to his men. The blare of trumpets woke the echoes 
 of the Minnesota valley at 3 o'clock on that beautiful 
 morning of June 16, 1863. At 4 o'clock one of the 
 grandest military pageants ever witnessed in Minnesota, 
 before or since, filed out with the precision of clock- 
 work, and wending its way for a time among the mam- 
 moth granite boulders of the valley, gradually ascended 
 the hills to the westward. The head of the column had 
 reached a distance of nearly six miles on its journey ere 
 the rear guard could move. Four thousand men do not 
 constitute a very large army, but here were all the trap- 
 pings and equipments of war, and not caparisoned for 
 review, for there was not a soul in the desolate valley to 
 witness the spectacle except the soldiers themselves. The 
 artillery, ambulances and wagon train covered a distance 
 of nearly four miles. A part of the column, and one 
 the soldiers regarded with jealous interest, was George A. 
 Brackett's large herd of beef cattle, taken along under 
 contract to supply the army during the months it should 
 campaign in the northwestern wilds. 
 
 We had now entered upon one of the most interesting 
 phases of human experience. Savage hordes had made 
 their last supreme effort to stay the advance of civiliza- 
 tion. Minnesota was but partially peopled, and Dakota 
 Territory (now North and South Dakota) was utterly un- 
 inhabited by the white race, save a settlement at Yank- 
 ton; and one might journey, as our command did in 1863, 
 
246 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 for weeks and even months in the vast territory now 
 covered with flourishing cities and thousands of rural 
 houses without, beyond our own numbers, once seeing 
 the face of a white man. 
 
 A hot June day tested the mettle of the infantry the 
 first day out, and jaded the animals not a little. The 
 .weather was dry and the process of evaporation active, 
 and as a result the column was enveloped in a cloud of 
 dust, with no favoring wind to bear it away. While the 
 long summer's campaign was one of unremitting hard- 
 ships, this was perhaps the most trying day the expedi- 
 tion as a whole experienced during the season, and man 
 and beast welcomed the opportunity to go into camp in 
 the late afternoon, where a bountiful supply of excellent 
 water and an abundance of good forage for the animals 
 were found. A great white city sprang up on a beautiful 
 plain ere the purple had succeeded, the gold in the west, 
 the vast camp covering more than a square mile in ex- 
 tent. 
 
 Many grim ruins, the scenes of blasted hopes, cruelty 
 and death, were witnessed during the day's march. Out- 
 side of the expedition itself not a sign of life was visible. 
 The hardy pioneers east of the Minnesota had perished 
 during the massacre, while on the Reservation side the 
 picture of desolation could not have been more complete 
 had the whole region been transformed into a desert. 
 Where a building had graced the wild wastes on the 
 reservation, a deserted, blackened ruin, mute and for- 
 bidding, remained to tell of the hatred that had attached 
 to every mark of civilization. The whites had everywhere 
 been slain, and the murderers had gone, leaving desola- 
 tion in their wake. Many men in the command had lost 
 friends and relatives during the massacre, and they con- 
 templated the prevalent signs morosely. 
 
 But the spell was broken at supper time, for then 
 it was that several hundred mules, scattered throughout 
 the vast camp, apparently discovered for the first time 
 their strange environment, and the tale of the discovery 
 was wafted back and forth until even the grave Gen. Sib- 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 247 
 
 ley for an instant lost his grip on a facial composure al- 
 ways suited to the sanctuary on solemn occasions. The 
 incident was not without its value, for it cut off all re- 
 treat to moodiness. 
 
 Camp on the Battlefield of Wood Lake. 
 
 Five o'clock on the morning of June 17th found the 
 head of the column in motion, although the rear guard 
 did not move for three hours later. Nature was at its 
 best. The fresh green that carpeted hill and dale had 
 reached the prime of luxuriance. The bending blades of 
 grass sparkled with their jewels of dew, while every- 
 where were new-born roses that, but for ourselves, were 
 "born to blush unseen." A short march of eleven miles 
 sufficed for the day, Gen. Sibley selecting the Wood Lake 
 battle ground as the location of our camp. It took little 
 stretch of the imagination to repeople with savages and 
 soldiers the plains about, and Col. Marshall of the Sev- 
 enth Minnesota pointed out the place of the charge and 
 graphically described the action itself, which won the 
 day at Wood Lake on the 23rd of the previous Septem- 
 ber, and where he received his baptism of fire as a soldier. 
 
 The Desolate Yellow Medicine AgencyCamp at 
 Hazelwood. 
 
 On the morning of the 18th, after an hour's march, 
 we reached the Yellow Medicine Agency, dismal and for- 
 lorn. The buildings that had been spared were aban- 
 doned to the elements. The windows had been smashed 
 and the doors burst open, while unsightly weeds grew 
 where active feet had borne proud and ambitious souls 
 in better days. Nothing could disturb the reverie of the 
 men who rode or walked over this historic spot that 
 beautiful June morning, for here were the final seeds 
 sown the previous year out of which grew the discontent 
 that ripened into the massacre. Here it was the six 
 thousand Sioux were assembled in July, 1862, and kept 
 in waiting for weeks for their annuities, until starvation 
 invaded their lodges. The march was short again today, 
 
248 SIBLEY EXPEDITION, 
 
 the expedition going into camp at "Hazlewood," the 
 home and mission of Rev. Dr. Thomas Williamson, five 
 miles northwest of the Yellow Medicine Agency. Here 
 the general remained in camp during the 19th. To those 
 with an inquiring turn of mind this was a spot absorb- 
 ingly interesting. Dr. Williamson had come into the 
 wilds of Minnesota before the majority of the men on 
 this expedition were born had come years before the 
 founding even of a territorial form government, and out 
 of his faithful labors had come, for an hour of calamity, 
 such characters as Other Day, Chaska, Paul, etc. The 
 mission buildings were wrecked and desolate. Doors 
 had broken from their hinges in the wind, windows had 
 succumbed to gun and arrow practice, the premises were 
 grown up to weeds, the garden fences were broken down, 
 and general dilapidation ruled where order had reigned. 
 This had been a social and spiritual oasis in a desert of 
 savage life, but alas for the decrees of Fate, it had gone 
 the ways of Tadmor, stricken to earth by those who 
 owed it most. Rev. Dr. Williamson and his co-worker, 
 Rev. Dr. S. R. Riggs, together with their families and 
 friends, escaped with their lives by what seemed little 
 less than a miracle. 
 
 Camp Release A Cold June Day. 
 
 An early hour of June 20th found the expedition in 
 motion, still traversing historic ground, passing Camp 
 Release among other points of interest. We indulged in 
 an uncomfortable experience today. The sky was ob- 
 scured by cold, leaden clouds, with a cold north wind 
 blowing stiffly. The men, and particularly the cavalry 
 and artillery, suffered from _the benumbing cold, and all 
 gladly sought the shelter of tents or the comforts of 
 sheltered camp-fires after a march of fourteen miles. 
 Fuel and water were plentiful here, and we remained 
 in camp over the 21st, during which time the scouts 
 thoroughly reconnoitred the surrounding country to make 
 sure there were no Indians in these their old-time haunts 
 to drop back after our passage to disturb the settlements 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 249 
 
 to the southward. 
 
 The Beautiful Lac qui Parle. 
 
 The 22nd we crossed the Lacqui Parle River, a stream 
 that, from time immemorial, had been almost sacred to 
 the hearts of the red race. Its brilliant waters and its 
 stretches of woodland appealed tauntingly to Gen. Sibley 
 to raise his portable city here, but the distance, after 
 the previous day's rest, was not sufficiently great, and 
 we pushed on to the "Big Mound" (now "Big Tom"), 
 at which we camped for the day. This is a beautiful 
 spot and is distinguished from all others in the region for 
 its widely-seen promontory 
 
 A Beautiful Country Big Stone Lake. 
 
 The 24th we traversed a beautiful country, camping 
 in the evening on the highlands west of Big Stone Lake. 
 We found a scarcity of good water on today's march, but 
 the country was charmingly attractive. Our camp-ground 
 this eve (Camp Marshall, in honor of Lieut. Col. William 
 R. Marshall) is one which Little Crow's hosts had occu- 
 pied the previous fall, a fact discovered by the finding 
 of many pits in which the Indians had cached their cum- 
 bersome plunder from the settlements that had been 
 raided during the massacre. In these we found great 
 quantities of dishes, tinware, harness, chains, straps, pails 
 and an occasional piece of furniture, and not a little corn, 
 the latter being well preserved and useful. Teamsters 
 found numerous "prizes" among the hidden harnesses, 
 many of which were of excellent quality. The dishes 
 were badly broken, due to lack of knowledge in their 
 packing and handling, yet they seemed valuable in the 
 estimation of the savages. 
 
 Celebrating a Birthday First Buffalo Hunt. 
 
 We were in the saddle at 4 o'clock on the morning of 
 June 25th. The weather was propitious, buffalo were 
 sighted off to the westward towards the coteau, and 
 there was a troublesome spirit of adventure constantly 
 
250 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 preaching treason to discipline. Our battalion was on the 
 flank. I communicated to a good-hearted and companion- 
 able officer riding near me that this was my nineteenth 
 birthday, and that I would like to celebrate it on a buffalo 
 hunt. I was agreeably surprised when he arranged that 
 three of us should drop out, one at a time at intervals, 
 and join each other when half a mile or so from the 
 command and ride out at least in plain view of the first 
 herd of buffalo we had discovered, several miles away. 
 Following a ravine leading in the proper direction, we 
 galloped away until sufficiently distant from the expedi- 
 tion, when we rode out on the highlands to get our bear- 
 ings. We could plainly discover three horsemen nearer 
 the herd than ourselves, and quickened our pace, cautious 
 lest we fall into the hands of an enemy, however. The 
 other trio proved to consist of cavalrymen on nearer ap- 
 proach, and separating a huge bull from the herd we 
 secured jointly, after many shots and much wild excite- 
 ment, meeting every adventurous requirement, a prize 
 worthy of all effort. The three cavalrymen fortunately 
 proved to be members of our own company, who had 
 fallen victims to the infection that tempted men on the 
 left flank that day. We filled our haversacks with choice 
 cuts from the loins of the noble beast and hastened to 
 join the command, now many miles away, but the loca- 
 tion of which we could fix to a certainty by the great 
 white cloud of dust that rose from and hung over the 
 command like the token that guided the children of 
 Israel. We had ridden but a few miles when the cloud 
 ceased to exist notice that camp had been established. 
 We must now ride to the trail and follow it in. For- 
 tunately one of the officers of our party possessed the 
 countersign, and we were thus enabled to pass the lines 
 on arriving at camp. Every man in our company had a 
 ration of buffalo steak that evening, with enough on hanct 
 with which to cautiously bribe any powerful superior 
 whose influence might be desired in case of trouble. 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 251 
 
 Finding of Human Skeletons. 
 
 This camp was near an old trading post. Here were 
 found the bleaching skeletons of six men who had been 
 killed by the Indians the previous year. Gen. Sibley 
 caused the skeletons to be collected and buried. Nothing 
 whatever could be found whereby the identity of these 
 men could be determined. It is known, however, that of 
 the few men at this place Henry Manderfeldt, George 
 Loth, John Schmerch and two Frenchmen were killed 
 here on the morning of Thursday, August 21st, 1862. 
 This was at or near the Myrick store. An Indian came 
 and warned the men very early in the morning of their 
 danger, and told them to fly for their lives, but they had 
 heard nothing of the massacre below and paid little re- 
 gard to what the Indian had counselled them to do. 
 Only a brief space of time elapsed when a party of In- 
 dians were on the trading post in force. They opened 
 on the helpless men and only two succeeded in escaping 
 by plunging into the timber near at hand. One of these, 
 Hilliar Manderfeldt, was pursued a short distance and 
 killed, while the other, Anton Manderfeldt, made his 
 way to the settlements after twelve days of almost un- 
 paralleled hardships. 
 
 This was Camp Jennison, named in honor of Lieut. 
 Col. S. P. Jennison of the Tenth Minnesota. On scaffolds 
 supported by four crotches were many Indian dead found 
 here, the Sioux method of "burial." These scaffolds were 
 eight to ten feet high, the whole structure made of poles, 
 and on top of each, wrapped in a blanket, lay a dead In- 
 dian, awaiting his or her turn to disappear into and 
 become a part of the elements. Not infrequently tfie 
 boughs of trees were used to support the dead, and par- 
 ticularly the bodies of children, along the border of the 
 lake. Big Stone Lake .proved to be an attraction worthy 
 of the compliments on every hand bestowed upon it, 
 stretching away for a distance, from end to end, of thirty- 
 six miles. 
 
252 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 Camp Between Lakes Big Stone and Traverse. 
 
 Breaking camp at 4 on the morning of the 26th, 
 amid the usual blare of bugles, we were soon in motion 
 on our journey northward. We were now entering a 
 region that had suffered from prolonged drought. The 
 earth was hot and parched, water scarce on the march, 
 grass short and dry and the dust well nigh suffocating. 
 In the early afternoon we camped between Lakes Big 
 Stone and Traverse, on the site of the B'rowns Valley of 
 today. This became Camp McLaren, after Major Robert 
 N. McLaren of the Sixth Minnesota. This beautiful 
 spot was lavishily endowed with gifts suited to the com- 
 forts of an army. Despite the drought that had parched 
 the highlands, the growth of red-top between the lakes 
 was luxuriant, while there was an abundance of good 
 water everywhere. There was, to all, something unique 
 about this camp. We were between two lakes, the waters 
 of which flow- in exactly opposite directions those of 
 Lake Traverse into the Red River of the North, and 
 thence on into Hudson Bay, while those of Big Stone flow 
 into the Minnesota on their way to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 Traverse in that day was fed by numerous great springs 
 in the lake bed, as was readily discovered by the men 
 who bathed and swam in its waters. We remained in 
 this camp the 27th, 28th and 29th, during which time the 
 cavalry thoroughly scouted the surrounding country. In- 
 dians had occupied the region during the winter and 
 early spring, but had pushed off towards Devils Lake. 
 
 Adieu With Regrets to Camp McLaren Buffalo 
 "Chips" for Fuel. 
 
 Regretfully did we turn our backs on Camp McLaren 
 on the morning of June 30th and set out northwesterly 
 on our journey, the Indian guides leading the way into 
 an unknown country. We now entered upon a bound- 
 less, treeless plain. The earth was dry and compact, 
 great cracks an inch or two in width and a foot or more 
 in depth scarring the surface of the ground and running 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 253 
 
 uninterruptedly for rods. About the scattering shallow 
 lakes there was a fairly good growth of coarse grass, but 
 on the higher ground the grass was short and lifeless 
 though "cured," so as to be relishable to the animals. 
 Grasshoppers were numerous, and in some places during 
 the marches of the summer had well nigh robbed our 
 animals of their needed forage. Finding good grazing, 
 conditions considered, the expedition went into camp after 
 a march of sixteen miles. Here for the first time we 
 became wholly dependent for fuel on "buffalo chips/' the 
 excrement of the "cattle of the plains" that in that day 
 roamed the prairies in countless thousands. Without 
 these chips no expedition could have been maintained on 
 the plains of Dakota. This fuel, in the form of thin 
 discs, eight to ten inches in diameter, and scattered over 
 the parched earth, was as dry and combustible as tinder. 
 When it is stated that on a single camping ground enough 
 buffalo chips could be gathered to cook the food of four 
 thousand men for three meals or more, some idea may 
 be had of the innumerable animals that made up the 
 herds of buffalo that possessed the country in that day. 
 The infantrymen used their bayonets and the cavalrymen 
 their sabres in gathering this indispensable fuel, which 
 served the expedition exclusively for months. 
 
 No camp was now established that was not thoroughly 
 fortified with breastworks made of prairie sod. Hence- 
 forth every camp was thus protected, the first duty after 
 terminating a day's march being the selection of details 
 for work on the trenches and breastworks, the latter of 
 which were about two feet high. Gen. Sibley never 
 worried about what the enemy might do, but rather pre- 
 pared himself well beforehand, and let the enemy do the 
 worrying. 
 
 July 1st we marched eighteen miles, the 2nd sixteen, 
 the 3rd sixteen and the 4th eighteen miles, going into 
 camp at 1 o'clock P. M. after a march of nine hours 
 under trying- conditions, in the big bend of the Cheyenne 
 River, on the south side of that stream, a few miles 
 southeast of what of this day is the flourishing town of 
 
254 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 Lisbon, North Dakota. Gen. Sibley here established 
 Camp Hayes, so named after Major Orrin T. Hayes of 
 the cavalry. 
 
 July Fourth on the Cheyenne River. 
 
 This was indeed a strange Fourth of July. No man 
 in the command had ever before seen one like it. No 
 mark of civilization had ever been raised in this country. 
 No surveys had been made. No white men had disturbed 
 the solitude into which we had entered. Herds of buffalo 
 were visible in almost any direction. Aside from these 
 nothing was seen but arched skies and boundless plains. 
 And the "best girl" and red lemonade, the "prominent 
 citizens in carriages and on foot," the brass band, the 
 shady grove, the "car of liberty," the orator, the reader 
 of the Declaration of Independence how painfully ab- 
 sent, and how eloquently silent ! The best girl was prob- 
 ably the most missed of all, for during all the months of 
 that campaign no member of the expedition ever saw the 
 face of a white woman, nor could a letter or any other 
 sort of message reach us. 
 
 Late in the day in celebration of the occasion McCole 
 and myself visited the camp of the Indian scouts, and 
 learned many things regarding the massacre of the previ- 
 ous year from the Indian point of view. The Indian 
 narrator, once he bends to his work unrestrained by sur- 
 roundings, is intensely interesting. My comrade and 
 interpreter was intimately acquainted with many of the 
 scouts, and knew the art of obtaining a voluble flow 
 from the fountains usually concealed beneath a look of 
 stoicism. A story once launched, its trend may easily be 
 followed by carefully regarding the smiles, frowns, the 
 intensity of gesture and the modulations of tone of the 
 narrator, for an intelligent Indian is not an artful, but 
 a natural raconteur. Some of the more interesting in- 
 formation obtained at this interview is made use of in 
 an earlier part of this book. One of the narratives, full 
 of animation, fiery flashes of the eye and graceful move- 
 ments of the hand, accompanied with intensity of expres- 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 255 
 
 sion, related to a battle fought on the ground partially 
 occupied by our camp. We were principally in the val- 
 ley, while the engagement was largely fought on the 
 table-land in the southeastern part of our camping ground. 
 
 Story of an Ancient Battle The Indian As a 
 Raconteur. 
 
 The story was that while a large band of Cheyennes were 
 camped on the spot where our tents were pitched, a war- 
 party of Pottawattomie hunters who had invaded the 
 country attacked the Cheyennes. The battle was graphic- 
 ally portrayed from beginning to end. The Pottawat- 
 tomies came down on the Cheyennes like the wind, taking 
 the camp by surprise and producing a reign of consterna- 
 tion and terror; but the Cheyennes flew to arms and 
 checked the bloody work of their enemy. The Pottawat- 
 tomies were driven to the table-land, and the party there 
 practically exterminated in a fierce battle that lasted a 
 whole afternoon. Asked how long since this battle was 
 fought, Chaska counted back twenty-one years, which 
 would make the year of the engagement 1842. 
 
 We remained in this camp from the 4th until the llth 
 day of July, awaiting the arrival of a detachment from 
 Fort Abercrombie. The entire surrounding country was 
 explored by the scouts and the cavalry, under various 
 officers detailed for the purpose, and during these ex- 
 plorations many a choice buffalo and antelope steak found 
 its way into camp, although hunting was among the 
 things tabooed, theoretically, as dangerous both to hunt- 
 ers and military discipline. 
 
 Gymnastic Weather Heat, Cold and Chill. 
 
 On the 9th a hot wind swept up from the south and 
 the earth being hot and dry the conditions were almost 
 suffocating. Tents were like ovens, and as there was no 
 other shelter and as the midsummer sun was torrid all 
 suffered in the extreme. The following day the wind 
 shifted to the northeast and brought down a volume of 
 smoke from burning pine forests many leagues away in 
 
256 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 northern Minnesota, no doubt, that was almost insuffer- 
 able. Tents were invisible at a distance of fifty yards. 
 Then the weather had still another stunt in store for us, 
 for on the morning of July llth the wind was squarely 
 from the north and uncomfortably cold. The smoke was 
 less dense than on the 10th, but the cold was penetrating 
 and drove all but the infantry into overcoats, for we took 
 up the line of march again this morning, much to the 
 gratification of all, since forage and fuel were becoming 
 scarce at Camp Hayes, with no compensating attractions. 
 Reveille was sounded at 2 o'clock this morning and the 
 command was in motion at 3. At the end of eighteen 
 miles Gen. Sibley established Camp Wharton, where we 
 remained during the 12th. 
 
 At 3 o'clock on the morning of July 13th the expedition 
 was again in motion, traversing a beautiful country and 
 establishing camp after a march of twenty miles. 
 
 Beautiful Country Taunt of the Mirage The 
 Balm of Air-Castles. 
 
 One of the attractions of the day has been the ever- 
 recurring, ever-vanishing mirage, which has lured us on, 
 day after day, with its beautiful setting just a few miles 
 farther ahead a beautiful apparition that justifies the 
 assertion that there is something commendable in air 
 castles. Day after day on the treeless plains, when the 
 vertical rays of a summer sun revived memories of cooling 
 shades and refreshing waters, the mirage would assert 
 itself on the horizon and grow from a tiny first view to a 
 vast landscape. Were we deluded by this apparition yes- 
 terday ? Yes ; but the one now before us is so realistic 
 that we know those beautiful groves and that vast, placid 
 lake are real, and that we shall camp tonight amid scenes 
 such as we have dreamed of since the days of home life 
 and civilization. But like the end of the rainbow, the 
 taunting landscape was not real, or it would fade away 
 gradually, hour by hour, leaving the impression, despite 
 the pranks of past delusions, that we had descended into 
 a depressed area, and that presently we would mount 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 257 
 
 the opposite rim to find ourselves in full view of an ideal 
 camping ground. But today's lakes and groves were 
 no more real than were yesterday's. A day would then 
 pass with no taunting apparition just the dull monotony 
 of boundless plain and bending sky. Then gradually 
 would come into view again visions of woodland and 
 waters that kept men, wearied and worn with travel and 
 hardships, in almost childish good humor, so true to 
 nature would this beautiful picture rear itself within easy 
 range of our vision. Even the wary, who had been so 
 often deluded, feeling there must be, somewhere, grove- 
 girt lakes, were caught time and again with the convic- 
 tion that at last we beheld the real thing wood-girt 
 waters. The mirage will ever remain vigorous in the 
 memory of the men who gazed upon and discussed it day 
 after day, for it was always profuse in its promises, and 
 not infrequently was the basis of a wager, involving a 
 month's pay, and no less frequently it happened, on ac- 
 count of some rare new feature, more promising than 
 ever, that the most skeptical were the loosers. Today we 
 witnessed the most unusual and remarkable of all mirage 
 freaks. Whatever else the mirage spreads before its on- 
 lookers on the plains, the grove and lake feature is never 
 wanting. In this instance, beyond the lake, which itself 
 was apparently distinct, was plainly visible a moving 
 animal mass, raised quite above the horizon of the mirage. 
 Apparently the mass was crossing a point of high ground, 
 with the figures seemingly inverted. The mass came 
 within the scope of vision out of nothing definable, and 
 disappeared toward the westward at a vanishing point 
 apparently above and beyond the mirage proper, but it 
 was a part of the phenomenon, and made, for its variety 
 and its mysterious transition, a profound impression upon 
 the many who witnessed it and speculated upon its cause, 
 which was most generally believed to be traceable to the 
 fact that a herd of buffalo were crossing a point of land 
 embraced within the zone of the mirage. And so I repeat, 
 air castles are not without benefits sufficient to justify 
 their existence. These, at least, while they made promises 
 
258 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 they never redeemed, made many a man forget his pains 
 for a day. 
 
 The weather has become normal again, and we enter 
 camp at midday, located between three small lakes, all of 
 which afford excellent water, much to the enjoyment of 
 man and beast, as poor water is the rule, all being im- 
 pregnated with alkali. We saw numerous herds of buf- 
 falo today, and, as an every-day occurrence, many bands 
 of antelope. 
 
 In the Saddle at 2 in the Morning Tolac Lake 
 Beautiful Camp Ground. 
 
 "July 14th. Pretty early in the morning, but the bugles 
 ring out brilliantly at 2 o'clock, the disturbance starting 
 at Gen. Sibley's headquarters. The aim of the com- 
 mander is to be well on our journey before the heat of 
 a midsummer day becomes oppressive, and then to enter 
 camp about midday. We make eighteen miles today and 
 establish Camp Weiser, in honor of Dr. Weiser, surgeon 
 of the Mounted Rangers." 
 
 July 15th we made seventeen miles, camping on a 
 beautiful lake in the shape of a horseshoe, with the open- 
 ing to the westward. The land within the almost com- 
 plete circle was sufficiently extensive to accommodate the 
 entire command by compactly forming the camp. This 
 lake was on the east side of the Cheyenne River and 
 could not have been far from the site of Valley City. 
 Tolac was the name by which the lake was known to 
 the expedition. No maps to be found show its existence, 
 and it has no doubt long since disappeared as a result of 
 the cultivation of the country in which it was located, as 
 its waters were shallow, though apparently permanent, 
 for the season of our visit to it had already most severely 
 tested its endurance. The waters of Tolac were so im- 
 pregnated with alkali that they were almost unendurable 
 to man or beast, despite the beauty of the lake. 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 259 
 
 Killing an Elk Within the Lines Founding Camp 
 Atchison. 
 
 The command was out at 2 on the morning of the 16th, 
 and made good progress over the pathless plains, the 
 early morning being delightfully cool and refreshing. At 
 about 9 o'clock in the forenoon the flankers on the west, 
 who were riding along the banks of the Cheyenne, started 
 an elk out of a clump of brush. The frightened beast 
 turned from the flankers, who were near it, and ran 
 towards the main column of the expedition. Half a dozen 
 flankers charged in pursuit. When the animal was dis- 
 covered, bearing down on the solid lines of infantry, dis- 
 cipline was severely tested, but not disgraced. Lieutenant 
 Ara Barton of Co. F, Mounted Rangers, who had a dis- 
 tinguished part in later years as the sheriff of Rice county 
 in capturing most of the James-Younger bandits who es- 
 caped from Northfield, executed a flank movement on the 
 charging elk and with a well-directed shot brought it to 
 earth. 
 
 We crossed the Cheyenne River today about fifteen 
 miles north of where Valley City is located, going into 
 camp after a march of eighteen miles. On the 17th we 
 made eighteen miles ; on the 18th seventeen miles, found- 
 ing Camp Atchison, the most northerly point reached by 
 the expedition as a body. From this point scouting parties 
 were sent to Devils Lake and elsewhere to the north- 
 ward. From 7 to 11 o'clock today a drenching rain 
 poured down, but the march was uninterrupted and the 
 innovation rather enjoyed in fact, for it was most wel- 
 come, and especially as the sun came out later to dry 
 the clothing and blankets of the men. 
 
 Cowardly Deed of Lieut. Field Furor in Camp. 
 
 Lieutenant Albert R. Field of Co. G, Mounted Rangers, 
 created a sensation in the newly-established camp by 
 shooting a private soldier. The act was cowardly and 
 malicious, and produced a furor of indignation through- 
 out the command, which was only allayed by the assur- 
 
260 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 ance that Field should be dealt with promptly. The man 
 was not seriously wounded, but that he was not killed 
 was due more to poor markmanship than to good dis- 
 position. 
 
 Camp Atchison was named in honor of Ordnance Offi- 
 cer Atchison of the expedition, as was also the beautiful 
 little lake on whose shores the camp was established. 
 The location of this camp can be more definitely deter- 
 mined on the map of today than any other (save pos- 
 sibly Camp Hayes, at the first crossing of the Cheyenne) 
 east of the James River. Gen. John C. Fremont had 
 once visited this region on a tour of exploration and 
 had named a beautiful little lake in honor of his wife, 
 Jessie, and Camp Atchison was established on a lake two 
 to four miles southwest of Lake Jessie. This would make 
 its location in township 147, range 60. 
 
 General Sibley's Busy Day A Dash for the 
 Missouri. 
 
 The 19the of July was Gen. Sibley's busy day. He had 
 resolved to make Atchison a permanent camp, to the end 
 that a vigorous campaign might be prosecuted in the 
 direction of the Missouri River. The Indian scouts were 
 satisfied the main body of. Sioux were on the plains west 
 of the James. These scouts had extended their observa- 
 tions well into the Devils Lake country, and had learned 
 enough through their keen Indian discernment to fore- 
 cast the movements and location of the body of which 
 Gen. Sibley was in search. 
 
 The General called the commanders of his subdivisions 
 together and upon their information selected 2,056 men 
 for a forced march westerly, the expedition to consist 
 of 1,436 infantry, 520 cavalry and 100 artillery and pio- 
 neers, with a sufficient number of the best teams to carry 
 necessary ammunition and twenty-five days' rations. 
 This left the post of Camp Atchison with about an equal 
 number of men and at least two-thirds of the cumber- 
 some train of wagons. All disabled men and animals 
 were left in camp, which was fortified with breastworks 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 261 
 
 and made thoroughly defensible. The men slated to re- 
 main at the new post were not pleased with the idea of 
 being marooned thus, isolated from civilization by hun- 
 dreds of miles of distance, in a treeless country entirely 
 cut off from communication with the world. Those 
 selected for the forced march were to enjoy no privileges 
 not accorded their comrades, except that they were to be 
 favored with activity a life always preferred by soldiers. 
 
 A Visit from Chippewa Buffalo Hunters Pointers 
 They Gave Us Reaching the James River 
 Indian Signs. 
 
 Gen. Sibley had littk use for the sluggard. He be- 
 lieved every man should so time his habits as to be at 
 his best for any duty at an early hour in the morning. 
 He placed great value on the early part of the day for 
 any mental or physical duty devolving on a man. There 
 were other reasons why, on this expedition, excessively 
 early rising was practiced, but they were simply in har- 
 mony with the habits of this sturdy and generally beloved 
 man; so there was no surprise when reveille broke ovei 
 the plains at 2 o'clock on the morning of July 20th. A 
 southwesterly course was taken up promptly at 3, and 
 by noon a distance of twenty miles had been covered over 
 the trackless country, when camp was established. At 
 evening a large party of Chippewa half-breeds, said to 
 be three hundred in number, came into camp, producing 
 something of a sensation for a time. Father Andre, a 
 Catholic priest, was the spokesman of the party. When 
 it was learned the visitors were of the Chippewa nation 
 the soldiers viewed the innovation with a different, 
 though not an indifferent, interest. The party was com- 
 posed of a lot of hardy, swarthy, robust buffalo hunters, 
 all mounted and well armed. There was a generous 
 sprinkling of full-bloods among them, but the former pre- 
 dominated. They were very friendly, and were especially 
 so since, like ourselves, they were in the enemy's country. 
 They gave Gen. Sibley much valuable information, among 
 
262 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 other things stating that 4,000 to 5,000 Sioux were in 
 camp some miles west of the James River, where they, 
 too, were buffalo hunting. After a march of eight miles 
 on the 21st we went into camp on the James River, the 
 location affording a good camping ground, and the Gen- 
 eral desiring to "feel" the country to the westward with 
 scouting parties, but no Indians were discovered, 
 
 At the usual early hour on the morning of the 22nd 
 we were again in motion. The scouts discovered Indian 
 signs today. The country is somewhat rough and rolling, 
 but we nevertheless covered twenty miles before going 
 into camp. 
 
 In the saddle at 3 on the morning of the 23rd, we 
 made good progress, though traversing a hil'y and some- 
 what difficult country for hasty military operations. At 
 2 P. M. we went into camp after a march of twenty 
 miles. The Indian scouts manifest a feeling that we are 
 in the immediate country of the enemy, though no In- 
 dians were seen during the day. Night finds our camp 
 well intrenched and well picketed. 
 
 Finding the Sioux Battle of Big Mound Death of 
 Dr. Weiser Escape of George A. Brackett- 
 All Day and All Night in the Saddle Indian 
 Holds Up Stars and Stripes Running Figh t of 
 Fifteen Miles. 
 
 The command moved out of camp at 3 o'clock sharp 
 on the morning of July 24th. About noon, having cov- 
 ered twenty miles or more, the command came upon a 
 large body of Indians. The train was at once corralled 
 and steps taken to intrench the camp. 
 
 Suddenly, from the right flank, we discovered great 
 bodies of Indians gathering in groups on what Gen. 
 Sibley named Big Mound, which, however, when we were 
 on top of it proved to be an extensive hill, quite bluff-like 
 on the north and west, with a considerable table-land on 
 the summit, sweeping to the south and southeast. 
 
 The spot was one of the most charming we had thus 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 263 
 
 far found in Dakota Territory. The beautiful grove that 
 skirted the mound did not dissolve from view on our 
 approach, as the taunting mirage had done so many times 
 previously, but remained real and substantial. Trees we 
 were unaccustomed to see, and to find on this vast, bound- 
 less plain like a jewel, this handsome setting, with a back- 
 ground of lakes, challenged the admiration of every lover 
 of nature, even if we were not permitted to enjoy it in 
 peace. Here, at this beauty spot, 5,000 Indians had their 
 homes in the midst of great buffalo haunts. 
 
 Standing Buffalo's band constituted a part of this 
 nomadic group, and no doubt there would have been a 
 peaceful surrender of the Indians without the firing of a 
 shot but for the act of a treacherous red in whose mental 
 construction there had been no provision made for dis- 
 cretion. The Indians swarmed in great numbers on the 
 hilltop to the eastward as the expedition approached on 
 the plain below along the western base of the mound. 
 Dr. J. S. Weiser, surgeon of the Mounted Rangers, and 
 whose home was at Shakopee in the Minnesota valley, 
 rode up the hill beyond the lines of the expedition, where 
 he met and mingled with the Indians, shaking hands with 
 many he had known in his home town, of which they 
 had in early days been frequenters. Here a cowardly 
 Indian stepped behind Dr. Weiser and shot him in the 
 back at short* range, killing him instantly. The whole 
 proceeding was witnessed by the entire army on the 
 plain, as if it had been purposely staged for the occasion. 
 The puff of blue smoke and Dr. Weiser's fall, stricken 
 with death, was the signal for attack, and the Indians 
 were put upon the defensive instantly, with a feeling of 
 revenge so intent that even a flag of truce would have 
 received scant courtesy for a time, though as an evi- 
 dence that the shooting was not generally approved of, 
 Dr. Weiser's body was protected from mutilation. 
 
 But this was a declaration of war admitting of no ex- 
 planations, had explanations been offered. The cavalry 
 was ordered to the scene posthaste, and for its availability 
 was quickly engaged under Col. McPhail, though the 
 
264 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 whole body of troops was moved actively, save the Tenth 
 under Col. Baker, to whose lot it fell to protect the in- 
 trenched camp should it be attacked. The Sixth under 
 Col. Crooks and Lieut. Col. Averill, the Seventh under 
 Lieut. Col. Marshall and the cavalry under Col. McPhail 
 moved up the hill in a battle-front of over a mile in 
 length, while the artillery under Capt. Jones and Lieu- 
 tenant Whipple took positions to facilitate the movement 
 of the troops up the slope. The engagement opened air 
 along the line, and from the plain below was said to be 
 imposing and dramatic such as would appear a seven- 
 day wonder to the peaceful and enlightened North Dakota 
 of this age. 
 
 The Indians made a determined stand, realizing the 
 advantage of their position, but the troops pressed them 
 back steadily until the brow of the hill was gained, where 
 the real crux came. The warriors numbered fully fifteen 
 hundred, and their entire strength was summoned to stay 
 the troops ere they gained the summit, knowing that once 
 the hill was lost there was no longer hope of holding the 
 expedition in check. While all the forces had not now 
 gained the uplands, a sufficient number had done so to 
 determine the battle, which had raged for two hours, 
 in favor of Gen. Sibley. 
 
 The Indians fell back in great haste, crossing a plateau 
 of a mile in extent and making a stand at the brow of the 
 hill breaking to the southwestward. Once on the sum- 
 mit, Col. McPhail sensed the situation and seeing it was 
 the purpose of the Indians to take shelter below the crest 
 of the southwestern slope, ordered Lieutenant Barton of 
 Co. F of the cavalry to charge the savages at the ex- 
 treme left, and Captain Horace Austin, Co. B, to similarly 
 charge a body taking shelter farther to the right. The 
 cavalry bounded off at full speed with sabres ablaze and 
 the parched earth resounding like thunder beneath the 
 hoofs of the flying column. The Indians quaked as the 
 columns approached them, holding their fire, however, 
 and delivering a furious volley before disappearing over 
 the hill, down which they were found scampering in great 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 265 
 
 confusion. The slope was too steep for the charging 
 columns, but the men delivered a fire that brought down 
 a number of the fleeing savages. At the sound of the 
 bugle these two companies galloped to the position taken 
 by Col. McPhail to the right. Inactivity now pervaded 
 the whole field for some unknown reason, but because of 
 orders it was asserted, while immediately below us, half 
 a mile away, at the foot of the long hill, the Indians, men, 
 women, children, dogs, ponies and all personal effects, 
 were compressed within narrow limits between two lakes 
 in a state of panic, bent on escape. A column thrown 
 around the westernmost of the two lakes would have com- 
 pletely checkmated this, resulting in the capture of the 
 entire camp. The cavalry, occupying the most advanced 
 position, and the only one in view of the retreating foe, 
 were held very unwilling spectators while this move- 
 ment was going on. Officers and men were almost un- 
 controllable as it became apparent the enemy was suc- 
 cessfully eluding the grasp of the soldiery, but Col. Mc- 
 Phail, brave and aggressive, counselled obedience. While 
 thus lined up a furious thunderstorm broke over us, 
 heaven and earth resounding with the echoing thunder. 
 A blinding flash of lightning that made every horse 
 crouch knocked Col. McPhail's sword from his hand and 
 killed Private John Murphy and his horse, of Capt. 
 Austin's company (B 1 ), on our immediate right. An 
 orderly at this moment rode up and delivered a message 
 which Col. McPhail eagerly glanced at. The bugle 
 sounded the charge, and the two companies bounded 
 away, A and L quickly joining. Now began a spec- 
 tacular movement without a rival even in fiction. The 
 Indians had successfully escaped beyond their confine- 
 ment between the lakes and were a mile on their way 
 in the open, headed southwesterly. The progress of the 
 cavalry was impeded at the restricting point between the 
 lakes, but the force was quickly formed into fours and 
 lost little time in making the passage, reassuming again 
 a line of battle and sweeping over the plains in pursuit 
 of the fleeing savages. 
 
266 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 A supporting column, consisting of the Seventh and a 
 portion of the Tenth, and a section of artillery under 
 Lieutenant Whipple, was sent forward promptly, but to 
 overtake and keep up with the cavalry and the flying 
 enemy was a physical impossibility. The Indians, seeing 
 they could not escape, put their entire fighting force at 
 the rear to protect their retreat, and a running battle, 
 covering a distance of fifteen miles, was fought at close 
 range. No such spectacle was ever witnessed before in 
 Indian warfare, the cavalry pressing hard to force a 
 stand and the Indians fighting stubbornly to prevent it, 
 and keep up the movement towards the Missouri. Sev- 
 eral companies of cavalry (H, J and D) that had fought 
 in the earlier engagement dismounted and were thus hin- 
 dered in the chase, came up and joined in the running 
 fight, though companies A, B, F and L had maintained, 
 single-handedly, the running battle for ten miles before 
 the reinforcements reached the scene of hostilities. 
 
 Two incidents of this running battle were shocking and 
 should never have occurred even in the heat and passion 
 of an engagement, though these cavalrymen had wit- 
 nessed the unprovoked murder of their surgeon earlier 
 in the day. One of these incidents was the appearance 
 from the ranks of the enemy of a stalwart, muscular In- 
 dian, who had wrapped about him a beautiful American 
 flag. He so displayed this that it could not be mistaken, 
 evidently intending to meet and deliver himself up to 
 his pursuers, possibly with a message asking for terms 
 of surrender; but he became the target for a hundred 
 shots, and realizing as the column neared him that he 
 must fall he began to shoot, bent upon selling his life 
 dearly if he must. Though hit many times, with the 
 national emblem still about his shoulders, he loaded and 
 fired his gun with great dexterity. His weapon was a 
 double-barreled shotgun. His mouth was filled with 
 buckshot. He poured the powder into the muzzle of his 
 piece for his last shot and without wadding spat a charge 
 of bullets into the gun, apparently getting but one cap 
 on. Raising his weapon, he swept it along, covering half 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 267 
 
 a dozen men of the company before he was able to dis- 
 charge it, finally exploding the cap and burying the 
 charge of buckshot in an overcoat rolled up on the pom- 
 mel of the saddle of Private Ezra W. Green. The charge 
 was fired at so short a range, not exceeding ten feet, that 
 the bullets did not scatter, but buried themselves deeply 
 in the rolled coat, thus saving the life of Green. The 
 stalwart Indian now clubbed his gun, and with a desperate 
 blow very nearly unhorsed Private Andrias Carlson, rid- 
 ing next to Green. The Indian had now more than a 
 dozen bullet wounds in his body and still fought des- 
 perately, and was only finally finished by Private Archi- 
 bald McNee, at Carlson's left, who rode out of the ranks 
 and killed the savage.* 
 
 The other incident was that in which an old gray-haired 
 warrior gave emphasis to the law of the survival of the 
 fittest. His years, probably four score in number, had 
 made him a noncombattant. He had kept up with his 
 people until his frail body had failed him, then dropping 
 back helplessly through the lines he kept up his feeble 
 trot, but to all appearances exhausted. He was as de- 
 fenseless in the matter of arms as he was in the matter 
 of age. A soldier rode out of the ranks of Co. B with 
 drawn sabre. The old man heard his approach and glanc- 
 ing up and realizing his fate pulled his blanket up over 
 his head and trudged on until the cavalryman brought 
 his sword down with such a blow as only stalwart youth 
 can deliver across the back of the old man's neck, which 
 must have well nigh beheaded him.* 
 
 Many warriors fell in the running fight, and their 
 comrades were too hotly pursued to bear them from the 
 field. These were ridden over by the cavalry and most 
 of them scalped by those of the soldiers who had a pen- 
 chant for bloody trophies. 
 
 *A11 this occurred immediately in front of the set of 
 fours in which I rode. 
 
 *These incidents were abhorrent to me, and have al- 
 ways seemed inhuman, if not criminal. 
 
268 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 The remarkable fight was continued into the night, and 
 until the darkness was so intense the enemy on either 
 side only knew the location of his adversary by the flash 
 of the guns of pursued and pursuer. At about 10 o'clock 
 at night Lieutenant Beever of General Sibley's staff, 
 guided by the sound of the running engagement, brought 
 a verbal message from the commanding general order- 
 ing the return of all the forces to Big Mound. This or- 
 der was displeasing to the officers and men, but was 
 obeyed.f Five miles back we found the infantry ancf 
 artillery, sensibly bivouacked. They fell in and were able 
 with their hour of rest to keep pace with our reeling, 
 jaded horses. But the night was densely cloudy and 
 intensely dark, and with nothing whatever to guide us in 
 this strange country we lost our way, running into annoy- 
 ing obstacles now and then to impede our progress and 
 divert us into greater confusion of mind. The artillery 
 was brought into use and several shots fired, but no 
 response came. Our wanderings were continued until 
 daylight, when, at about 4 o'clock, we got a response 
 from a shot fired at that time by Lieut. Whipple. Thus 
 guided, we reached camp at 7 o'clock in the morning. 
 Rarely are soldiers put to a severer test than that en- 
 dured by these men. The cavalrymen had been con- 
 stantly in the saddle for twenty-eight hours and a con- 
 siderable portion of that time actively engaged in con- 
 flict, with nothing to eat and without water since in the 
 forenoon of the previous day. The infantry had fared 
 but little better, except that, so much, in the nature of 
 things, was not expected from that arm of the service. 
 The horses were in a pitiable condition, having been 
 ridden excessively hard without food, drink or rest. Get- 
 ting in, they were watered and picketed out. The camp 
 had been broken and everything packed for the march 
 
 fit was insisted by Gen. Sibley this order was in> 
 properly delivered by Lieut. Beever. "Bivouac where 
 night overtakes you if you can hold your ground; return 
 to camp if you cannot," is said to have been the order. 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 269 
 
 when we entered it, so the exhausted men fell upon their 
 faces on the plain, without waiting to prepare food, and 
 with nothing to shelter them slept in the broiling sun 
 until late in the day. The chief bugler sounded the as- 
 sembly, which was caught and repeated, rousing the men 
 from their stupor to again take up the march. Making 
 a distance of five miles, the command went into camp 
 for the night, and here it was that many a soldier ate his 
 first meal and drank his first cup of coffee in forty hours. 
 Here the remains of Eh% Weiser and Private John Murphy 
 were buried with military honors. Our day's rest and our 
 square meal in the evening had fitted us for picket duty 
 for the night, which was made anything but pleasant by 
 a drizzling rain and a northeast wind full of chill.* 
 
 Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake. 
 
 July 26th we moved out of camp at an early hour, fol- 
 lowing the trail over which the cavalry had fought the 
 enemy on the 24th. As we reached Dead Buffalo Lake 
 at 2 P. M. the Indians revealed themselves across the 
 
 *On the morning of the 24th Lieutenant Ambrose Free- 
 man of Co. D, cavalry, and George A. Brackett, beef con- 
 tractor, dropped out of the lines for a buffalo hunt, not 
 an uncommon thing for officers and men to do, though 
 forbidden. They were five miles or more from the com- 
 mand, to the left and rear, on the day the Indians were 
 encountered, but were cut off by savages while the Big 
 Mound engagement was in progress, and Lieut. Free- 
 man killed. Brackett had a most sensational experience, 
 escaping and returning eastward on foot, his horse having 
 been taken at the time Freeman was killed, reaching Camp 
 Atchison after five days of wandering, more dead than 
 alive and the hero of experiences and" triumphs unparal- 
 leled. It was supposed that both men had been slain by 
 the savages until meeting a party of Chippewa hunters 
 within a day's march of Camp Atchison on our return. 
 The Chippewas had visited Camp Atchison and told of 
 Brackett's safe arrival there. 
 
270 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 path of the expedition, well in advance. They were at 
 long range and Lieut. Whipple's battery was turned upon 
 them. They were observant rather than belligerent for 
 a time, plotting deviltry as was suspected by those familiar 
 with their tricks. Their purpose was later revealed when 
 from the cover of a hill on the right a mounted force 
 swept down like a hurricane on the hundreds of grazing 
 horses and mules that had by this time been picketed 
 out. The game was a bold one and would have proved 
 a great triumph had it succeeded, but the mere presence 
 of the enemy was enough to warn commanders of their 
 danger. This bold dash led to a hot fight between the 
 savages on one side and the Indian scouts and the cavalry 
 on the other. The Indians, as a counter move, attacked 
 the left and front, but the Sixth Minnesota handled them 
 roughly, with the assistance of the artillery. The battle 
 lasted two hours, during which the Indians were worsted 
 at every point of the field. The camp was well intrenched 
 and strongly picketed for the night, but was undisturbed 
 by the savages, and on the following day the command 
 after a hard march of twenty miles over a rolling coun- 
 try, man and beast suffering greatly for want of water, 
 reached Stony Lake. While on this expedition extremely 
 early rising was the rule, early retirement was no less 
 the practice. Camp was necessarily established with ref- 
 erence to grass and water, but these conditions were 
 usually found at from 11 A. M. to 2. P. M. 
 
 Battle of Stony Lake Spectacular Scene. 
 
 Stony Lake was a very small body of alkali water 
 situated in camp, but immediately south of our line of 
 march. 
 
 The morning of July 28th was one of exceptional 
 beauty. At the usual early hour the command taking up 
 its line of march from the lake, surrounding the train as 
 was customary, was slowly wending its way up a long 
 slope in a westerly course with the rear guard just ready 
 to move, when, as if by magic, the plain swarmed with 
 savages. The atmosphere was tinted with smoke, as on 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 271 
 
 an autumn morning, giving the flood of sunlight now en- 
 veloping the earth, a ruddiness that added spirit to one 
 of the most picturesque military encounters ever wit- 
 nessed. The Indians were naked, except as to the cus- 
 tomary breechclout, and were all mounted. Their num- 
 bers had been largely augmented from along the Missouri, 
 Sitting Bull being among the new accessions, and here 
 for the first time "measuring swords" with the white race. 
 Fully two thousand warriors were in this spectacular en- 
 gagement, dramatic beyond description. As if springing 
 spontaneously out of the earth, these scurrying, painted 
 demons, hair streaming and bending forward as if to 
 accelerate the speed of their flying ponies, completely en- 
 veloped Gen. Srbley's little army, with yells calculated to 
 make the soldiers "sit up and take notice." The Mis- 
 souri was but thirty miles distant, and the expedition must 
 be held in check until the families and personal effects of 
 the Indians could be successfully transferred to the west- 
 ern shores of that river. Hence this was a battle of des- 
 peration on the part of the savages, who fought with a 
 bravery admired even by their enemies. The engage- 
 ment opened around the entire great circle, the object 
 evidently being to find a vulnerable point into which it 
 was plainly intended to pour a stream of savages at any 
 sacrifice, but Gen. Sibley's forces were well disposed and 
 fought gallantly, every soldier being engaged. 
 
 The ruddy sunlight gave the naked demons, in their 
 desperate assaults, a weird appearance, smacking of ro- 
 mance rather than of real human endeavor, and the only 
 hardship of which any man could complain was that of 
 being required to perform duty while so tragic ancf 
 graphic an exhibition was spread along the slope ancf 
 over the plains in the depths of that wild, boundless soli- 
 tude. 
 
 Mingled with hideous yells were the rattle of musketry 
 and the roar of cannon, amid which, with bounding dashes 
 here and there, the savages endeavored to break our lines, 
 but these brave endeavors only resulted in increased losses 
 to the enemy, and after more than two hours of fierce 
 
272 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 fighting the Indians disappeared as mysteriously as they 
 had swooped down upon us, leaving many dead on the 
 field, but rescuing by acts of admirable daring most of 
 their wounded, whom they bore away on their ponies. 
 Lines were now reformed for the march, and the expedi- 
 tion covered a distance of over twenty-two miles over a 
 difficult country before establishing camp. After the close 
 of the morning engagement not an Indian was seen dur- 
 ing the day's march. 
 
 Great Quantities of Dried Buffalo Meat Robes 
 
 Galore. 
 
 When the expedition reached Big Mound, where the 
 first engagement was fought, the Indians were in camp 
 near the foot of the southwestern exposure of the 
 "mound." When the battle was precipitated, and the 
 Indians finally forced to retreat, this camp was hastily 
 broken and movables packed for flight. As the running 
 fight warmed up, the flying Indians began to sacrifice one 
 impediment, then another, until the path of the fleeing 
 savages was easily traced thence to the Missouri River, 
 the greater quantities being sacrificed in the first forty 
 or fifty miles of the eighty-mile flight. The Indians had 
 spent the summer up to the time Gen. Sibley overhauled 
 them in buffalo hunting. They had already obtained 
 and dried their winter's supply of buffalo meat, and had 
 accumulated and tanned great quantities of fine robes. 
 These products were surplusage on such an occasion as 
 this, and as they impeded the progress of the retreating 
 savages were sacrificed by degrees as necessity compelled, 
 so that the ground was strewn for miles with the dried 
 meat and valuable robes. The soldiers gathered great 
 quantities of the dried but unsalted buffalo meat, which 
 they carried in their haversacks for lunch on the march, 
 not questioning its preparation by hands never washed 
 except by accident. The dried meat was very nutritious, 
 and, salted, highly palatable. Of the hundreds of robes 
 many choice ones were gathered, but being cumbersome 
 the soldiers, like the Indians, were obliged, sooner or 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 273 
 
 later, to discard them. In packing for the flight, even 
 the dogs had been loaded to the limit of their carrying 
 capacity. One poor canine, late in the afternoon of our 
 running fight of the 24th, fell out of the race with his 
 enormous load, which contained, among other things, a 
 heavy ax, lashed to his body. A soldier kindly cut the 
 thongs with which his load was bound up and fastened 
 to him, allowing him to escape and join his friends. 
 
 The Indians had thrown away their entire stock of pro- 
 visions in their panic, and the last day or so of their flight 
 were compelled to subsist on "bread root," which grew 
 abundantly on the hills and which had been dug in great 
 quantities, as the freshly-made holes, with some pointed 
 instrument, attested. 
 
 Breaking camp early on the morning of the 29th, the 
 command took up the pursuit. A numerous body of 
 mounted Indians suddenly appeared on the right, left and 
 front, but as suddenly disappeared without offering battle, 
 and without leading the expedition a wild chase, as they 
 had hoped to do, and were not seen again. The Sioux 
 are skilled in the art of concealing their movements, even 
 in a comparatively open country. 
 
 Entering the Missouri Valley Striking the Missouri 
 Death of Lieut. Beaver. 
 
 As we descended into the valley of the Missouri at 
 about 9 in the forenoon we could see the massed savages 
 climbing the hills on the opposite side of the river, they 
 having reached and successfully crossed that great stream 
 during the night and early morning by the aid of rafts 
 of hasty and rude construction, and even by plunging 
 frantically into the turbid river and swimming for life. 
 Those who witnessed the scurrying mass as it ascended 
 the hills beyond the river, a few miles distant, will never 
 forget the spectacle. The slanting rays of the forenoon 
 sun were reflected from hundreds of mirrors hung as in- 
 dispensable personal trappings to the bodies of these 
 strange, wild people, producing an effect of the occasion's 
 own peculiar exclusiveness. 
 
274 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 At about 11 o'clock in the forenoon the expedition 
 reached the Missouri River at the mouth of Apple Creek, 
 about four miles below the present city of Bismarck. 
 Above the mouth of Apple Creek a mile or so is the point 
 at which the Indians had made their crossing of the Mis- 
 souri. The river bottom on the east side was here quite 
 heavily timbered, and the Sixth Minnesota, under Col. 
 Crooks, was ordered to explore the woods and place of 
 crossing. Numerous warriors were concealed in the tim- 
 ber, and spirited skirmishing resulted from their presence, 
 during which Lieut. Beever* of Gen. Sibley's staff entered 
 the woods .with an order to Col. Crooks, which he de- 
 livered, but the Lieutenant was ambushed and killed on 
 his return. His body was not found until the following 
 day, when it was discovered where it had fallen, pierced 
 with bullets and arrows. He wore his hair cropped closely 
 or was slightly bald, and his murderers removed the skin 
 from the lower part of his face, bearing the trimmed 
 beard, instead of taking his scalp. His body was interred 
 in a lonely grave within the camp-ground, hundreds of 
 miles from civilization, as was that of Private Nicholas 
 Miller of Co. K of the Sixth, who was also killed in the 
 woods. 
 
 Col. Crooks found about one hundred wagons the In- 
 dians had abandoned in their hasty crossing during the 
 night, together with camp equipage, all of which he col- 
 lected and burned. On the night of the 29th the Indians 
 attacked our camp, but retired after firing a volley or two, 
 and very properly, for the night was beautiful such as 
 would have set the heart of Tom Moore atune with its 
 summer breath, full moon and floating clouds too beau- 
 tiful for this incivility. 
 
 Here ended the campaign of the Sibley Expedition 
 
 *Lieutenant Beever was an Englishman who had se- 
 cured a position on Gen. Sibley's staff at his own request, 
 and on the recommendation of influential friends who 
 knew him, and was not, it was said, a naturalized citizen 
 an( | not an American soldier. 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 275 
 
 of 1863. With barely rations enough left to make the 
 return to Camp Atchison, and with animals in a state of 
 collapse, further pursuit of the savages was out of the 
 question. It had been arranged before leaving Camp 
 Pope that Gen. Alfred Sully should meet Gen. Sibley on 
 the Missouri, if possible, he to proceed from Sioux City, 
 Iowa, at least a part of the way by river transports, with 
 an army similar to that commanded by Sibley ; but noth- 
 ing could be learned of Gen. Sully, he, as was later 
 known, having been detained at many points by low 
 water. Rockets and the battery were used on the nights 
 of July 30th and 31st in the hope that by this signalling 
 communication might be established with the Sully ex- 
 pedition, but no response came. 
 
 On the Ground Where Bismarck Stands. 
 
 On the 30th and 31st the cavalry and scouts recon- 
 noitered the country up the Missouri, riding over the 
 ground where Bismarck is located, but in a day when 
 that city was not so much as a figment in the mind of 
 any dreamer. 
 
 The Indians had been severely punished, while their 
 property loss had reduced them to a state of destitution, 
 and not the least of their losses was the exhaustion very 
 largely of their supply of ammunition, for upon this they 
 must depend principally for their subsistence. 
 
 Inkpaduta Not a Leader Lean Bear Dead. 
 
 It has been said recently by a writer that Inkpoduta 
 was the "Napoleon" who led the savages from the open- 
 ing of the battle at Big Mound until the passage of the 
 Missouri, and that Lean Bear was one of his lieuten- 
 ants. Inkpaduta was never more than a horse-thief and 
 cut-throat, dreaded and despised by the Sioux in gen- 
 eral, who were never known to give him any following, 
 except from among the outlaws and oucasts whom the 
 Indians in general could not tolerate with patience. As 
 for Lean Bear, he had been dead nearly a year when 
 the battle of Big Mound was fought, having been killed 
 
276 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 August 20, 1862, by a settler named Duly, at Lake She- 
 tek, Minnesota. It was one of Inkpaduta's outlaws who 
 shot and killed Dr. Weiser, and brought upon the Indians 
 the hardships, suffering and losses they sustained from 
 that hour on, making Inkpaduta more despised than ever 
 before, for without any doubt it was the purpose of the 
 Indians as a body to surrender peaceably to Gen. Sibley 
 and trust to his clemency. They knew of his presence 
 in the immediate country they occupied, but did not even 
 move their families, meeting the approach of the general 
 when within cannon shot of their great camp, not as war- 
 riors, but as spectators, and sending him word by the 
 Indian scouts they wished to hold a council with him, 
 which would no doubt have taken place but for the treach- 
 erous act of a follower of Inkpaduta. 
 
 Turning Homeward Great Joy in Camp. 
 
 I find in my diary, under date of August 1st, 1863, 
 this entry: "All is joy this morning, for we turn our 
 faces once more toward civilization. At no time has there 
 been such rejoicing before, and the boys manifest their 
 pleasure in everything they do, and at every turn. Never 
 again will the hills of the Missouri echo the strains of 
 'Home, Sweet Home' with all the emphasis, feeling 
 and meaning they are wafted over the valley this morn- 
 ing. And how sad the thought so many have been de- 
 prived by death from sharing this jubilee and the fond 
 hopes that have inspired it. It is now forty-seven days 
 since we saw a mark of civilization, and with our well- 
 nigh exhausted animals we can hardly hope to make civ- 
 ilization in less than another forty-seven days. Not once 
 have we seen the face of a woman during the long sum- 
 mer's campaign, and it is the hope of greeting again, 
 some day, the kind-faced mother, sister or sweetheart that 
 has made so joyful the hearts of the soldier boys today." 
 
 We left camp on the Missouri this morning, our com- 
 pany, with another, acting as rear guard, thus lingering 
 until the command had taken up the march. But for the 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 277 
 
 lonely graves we were leaving the farewell would not have 
 been a sad one. 
 
 Death of Chaska A Really Noble Indian. 
 
 We made twenty-two miles on the first day of our 
 return march, and fifteen on the second day. On the 
 evening of the second day, that of August 2nd, Chaska, 
 one of the valued Sioux scouts and a good man was 
 taken violently ill and died. He had left a family in Min- 
 nesota which he had fondly, and that we had turned back, 
 reasonably hoped to see again. 
 
 Crystal Springs Name Given by Gen. Sibley Back 
 at Camp Atchison Capture of Little Crow's 
 Son. 
 
 At our camp ground on the 3rd we found springs of 
 delicious water the best we had been permitted to enjoy 
 since leaving Camp Pope. The Missouri River was not 
 accessible to us, and the water of Apple Creek was the 
 personification of moisture and alkali. There were no 
 empty canteens when we left this camp on the morning 
 of the 4th. We reached Big Mound on the 4th. On the 
 6th we met a party of Chippewa half-breeds, who had 
 been at Camp Atchison, and who informed us George A. 
 Brackett, after a heroic struggle, had reached that camp 
 on the 29th of July. This was occasion for general re- 
 joicing, for there was little hope that Brackett had es- 
 caped death. 
 
 We got out of the coteau at 10 o'clock on the fore- 
 noon of the 7th, to our great relief, as henceforth we 
 should traverse a comparatively level country. On Au- 
 gust 10th we marched into Camp Atchison, and were 
 given a soldiers' welcome by our comrades, who served 
 to us a royal supper of baked beans, fried hardtack and 
 coffee, with cream from the milk of human kindness in 
 it. This was a royal supper from the fact that we had 
 been kept too busy to practice cookery in so high a style 
 of the art. The men were impatient for the story of 
 
278 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 our adventures, swapping their stock of information, 
 which consisted of that of the capture of Little Crow's 
 son by them in our absence, for the tales of an adventur- 
 ous campaign. To us the news of the capture of the 
 young Indian was equal in interest to any single event 
 we could recount, for through the boy was gathered the 
 first knowledge we had of the killing of his distinguished 
 father by Lampson. The boy was hunted up and curi- 
 ously scanned. He was a youth of sixteen, wan and 
 slender, and gave his name as Wa-Wi-Nap-a, which he 
 pronounced very musically. His father had wearied of 
 fighting the whites, and with a small party of Indians, 
 fifteen men and one squaw in all, had walked all the way 
 from the Devils Lake country to the Minnesota frontier, 
 his father's mission being principally to steal horses, of 
 which he was in great need. The boy had accompanied 
 his father to assist in carrying his "pack." Little Crow 
 and his* son were separated from the other members of 
 the party. They were five or six miles north of Hutchin- 
 son, Minnesota, on the evening of July 3rd, and were 
 picking berries, unconscious of the presence of white men. 
 Nathan Lampson and son Chauncey as was later 
 learned were passing the spot, and discovered the In- 
 dians. Both Lampsons were armed, as were all who ex- 
 posed themselves on the frontier after the massacre. Lit- 
 tle Crow and son were in comparatively open ground, 
 while the Lampsons were less exposed. The latter were 
 in doubt as to the best course to pursue, not knowing how 
 many Indians constituted the party, but the senior Lamp- 
 son resolved to creep forward to a tree, and from its 
 shelter kill, if possible, the older of the two Indians. 
 
 Camp Atchison Abandoned Homeward Bound. 
 
 On the morning of August 12th, 1863, Camp Atchison 
 passed out of existence, the entire command taking up its 
 long march to civilization. Here came a parting of the 
 ways, too, for those who had so long been associated with 
 each other, Gen. Sibley returning with the main body of 
 the expedition by our former trail as far as the big bend of 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 279 
 
 the Cheyenne, thence to Abercrombie and on to Fort 
 Snelling, while Col. McPhail, with companies B, E, F, I, 
 and M of the cavalry, was ordered to the southward, 
 west of the Cheyenne. This lilliputian offshoot was given 
 one piece of artillery and a scant supply of provisions, and 
 worst of all, Col. McPhail, knowing the great anxiety of 
 the men to again reach civilization, informed his officers 
 and men, when camp was established at the end of the 
 first day's march, that his orders were to make an expe- 
 dition into the Snake River country, and that he felt he 
 had been unfairly shunted for such a perilous undertak- 
 ing with so small a force. The Colonel betrayed no sign 
 of the fact, but he must have suffered in his endeavors 
 to suppress his pent-up feelings when he discovered what 
 a hit he had made, for the outburst of the wrath of the 
 disappointed men pretty nearly set the prairie afire. He 
 cautioned moderation and obedience. He expressed ear- 
 nest indignation himself, but the personal feelings of a 
 soldier was as nothing, he said, when an order to perform 
 a duty had once been given. He then repaired to his 
 tent. 
 
 The men were furious. Where was Snake River east 
 or west of the Missouri? No one could tell, and for- 
 tunately for the Colonel, no map of this region had ever 
 been made. Twenty-eight hours of fighting was nothing 
 as compared with this outrage, for it was supposed the 
 season's campaigning was over, and there was to be a re- 
 turn to civilized life ; and now this infamous Snake River 
 expedition had been sprung, with five companies and a 
 wheelbarrow load of provisions. The old earthen bed 
 upon which the men had slept all summer was unusually 
 hard that night, but the boys became resigned to their 
 fate. 
 
 Timely Capture of Cattle Old Council Ground- 
 On Quarter Rations Capt. Allen Kills Buffalo 
 Where Redwood Falls Now Stands. 
 
 On the 14th we discovered and captured six head of 
 
280 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 cattle, of which we made excellent use. They were 
 probably from Brackett's herd, though this fact could not 
 be established. A buffalo was killed on the 15th, just 
 as we were establishing camp about three miles west of 
 the Cheyenne River. On the night of the 16th we camped 
 where in 1853 was held a monster Sioux council, attend- 
 ed by all the Dakotas east of the Missouri, and by many 
 from beyond that stream. Our Indian guide could tell 
 us little of the council, except that it had some reference 
 to the treaty of 1851, with which the Missouri River In- 
 dians were dissatisfied. On the 17th we camped on the 
 spot on the Cheyenne where Fort Ransom was after- 
 wards founded. On the 20th, after completing our 
 march, four buffalo passed along the outer edge of our 
 camp. A party of men mounted their horses and gave 
 chase, killing two of the fine animals, and returning to 
 camp loaded with choice steaks. On the 22nd we struck 
 our old trail amid great rejoicing. The Snake River 
 hoax now positively revealed itself, and for the first time 
 really had a funny aspect. The 23rd we had our first 
 wood fire since leaving the Missouri, bidding finai adieu 
 to buffalo chips. The 24th we camped near Big Stone 
 Lake, and were put on half rations. Fortunately a party 
 from Capt. Austin's company killed a buffalo just before 
 going into camp. A team was sent out and brought in 
 the entire carcass. The 25th we camped on the Wheat- 
 stone River. The event of the 26th was that of being 
 put on quarter rations. A diary notation suggests that 
 "this beats Snake River." At the crossing of the Lacqui 
 Parle River, on the 28th, we found a great abundance of 
 wild plums, the first fruit in any form we had been priv- 
 ileged to enjoy for months. The last important event 
 before terminating our return march occurred on the 31st, 
 when Capt. Dwight W. Allen, of Co. I, killed a buffalo 
 near the site of the present little city of Redwood Falls. 
 The country had been deserted for a year, and the ex- 
 cellent pastures of the region had tempted the "cattle of 
 the plains" to repossess themselves of it once more. Our 
 camp was on the Redwood River on the night of the 31st. 
 
SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 281 
 
 Capt. Allen and a companion brought in what steak they 
 could carry, and a team was sent out to bring in the re- 
 mainder of the animal, which, to the hungry men, was like 
 a shower of manna. Passing the abandoned Redwood 
 Agency on the morning of September 1st, we arrived at 
 Fort Ridgely before noon of that day. 
 
 Behold the TransformationThe End. 
 
 Behold the transformation that followed restlessly in 
 the wake of this campaign the evolution of an empire 
 from a wilderness in the life-time of hundreds of those 
 who assisted in the onerous tasks of wresting from the 
 idle and indolent savage, as fair a land as the sun ever 
 kissed, or the breath of summer ever caressed, moulded 
 now into the magnificent commonwealth of North Da- 
 kota, with its cities and its towns, its schools and its 
 churches^ its net-work of railroads, its thousands of rural 
 homes, many of them in all respects modern, its vast herds 
 that have displaced the buffalo and the antelope, and its 
 golden fields a great state in a word, subdued, beautified, 
 glorified, and made rich from the fertility of its own 
 matchless soil. What a privilege to have witnessed such 
 a transformation, inconceivable in any but our own won- 
 derful country, for such a transition one could not wit- 
 ness on the Continent of Europe were he permitted to 
 live a thousand years. 
 
 Blessed is the memory when we ranged with free hand 
 in the work of reclamation, amid scenes forever vanished, 
 or now obscured by the stage-settings of civilization. 
 
 There was ever an inspiration in the vast, rolling 
 plains a spirit of freedom never to be purged from the 
 blood when once taken into it. Oceans and mountains 
 challenge our admiration, and no less do great treeless 
 expanses of boundless green, that roll away like the 
 bounding billows of an emerald sea, to kiss the bending 
 skies of our horizon. So far as the works of man were 
 concerned, all was desolation. Buffalo and antelope scur- 
 
282 SIBLEY EXPEDITION. 
 
 ried over the great, wild pastures in herds and bands in- 
 numerable, while the Indian, in all his pride and glory, 
 roamed as the undisputed master of the great region that 
 to man was merely a solitude of limitless possibilities. 
 
INDEX 
 
 My Excuse 1 
 
 Sioux Massacre Cause of the Outbreak 9 
 
 Yellow Medicine Incident 17 
 
 Beginning of the Outbreak Desperate Work at Redwood Ferry 29 
 
 Miraculous Escape of Blodgett, Sutherland and Others 55 
 
 Determined to Attack Fort Ridgely 77 
 
 Courier Sturgis Breaks the News to St. Peter, 80 
 
 First Attack on Fort Ridgely 88 
 
 Second Attack on Fort Ridgely 99 
 
 Fort Ridgely Never Surprised by Sioux 106 
 
 Daring Service of Messengers Sturgis and McLain 107 
 
 Noble Men and Women Among the Refugees 118 
 
 New Ulm 122 
 
 Birch Coulie 129 
 
 Wood Lake and Camp Release 135 
 
 Attack on Fort Abercrombie 140 
 
 Escape of Missionaries 142 
 
 An Incident Preceding the Outbreak 146 
 
 Incidents of the Siege of Fort Ridgely 1 50 
 
 About Losses 153 
 
 Talks of Cruelty as told by Refugee* 156 
 
 Execution of Thirty-Eight Indians 164 
 
 Dr. Alfred Muller 167 
 
 A Woman in Battle 169 
 
 The Grand Old Ferryman 1 73 
 
 John McCole 175 
 
 Standing Buffalo 177 
 
 Little Crow 183 
 
 The Man Who Killed Little Crow 187 
 
 Death of Chaska 191 
 
 Gallant Sons of Fillmore and Freeborn Counties 1 93 
 
 Miraculous Escape of the Reynolds Family 1% 
 
ii INDEX. 
 
 Remarkable Experiences of a Remarkable Woman 203 
 
 Sibley Expedition of 1863. 
 
 Assembling an Army for the Sibley Expedition 242 
 
 Hardships of Frontier Military Service Hauling Wagons by Man-power. . 240 
 
 Camp Pope Personnel of the Army 243 
 
 Jime 16, 1853, A Memorable Day How Small Pox Restored Quiet. . 244 
 General Sibley 's Habits of Early Rising Our First Day's March The 
 
 Mules and the Bluet 245 
 
 Camp on the Battlefield of Wood Lake 247 
 
 The Desolate Yellow Medicine Agency Camp at Hazelwood 247 
 
 Camp Release A Cold June Day 248 
 
 The Beautiful Lac qui Parle 249 
 
 A Beautiful Country Big Stone Lake 249 
 
 Celebrating a Birthday First Buffalo Hunt 249 
 
 Finding of Human Skeletons 25 1 
 
 Camp Between Lakes Big Stone and Traverse 252 
 
 Adieu With Regrets to Camp McLaren Buffalo "Chips" for Fuel 252 
 
 July Fourth on the Cheyenne River 254 
 
 Story of an Ancient Battle The Indian as a Reconteur 255 
 
 Gymnastic Weather Heat, Cold and Chill 255 
 
 Beautiful Country Taunt of the Mirage The Balm of Air-Castles 256 
 
 In the Saddle at 2 in the Morning Tolac Lake Beautiful Camp Ground . . 258 
 
 Killing an Elk Within the Lines Founding Camp Atchison 259 
 
 Cowardly Deed of Lieut. Field Furor in Camp 259 
 
 General Sibley's Busy Day A Dash for the Missouri 260 
 
 A Visit from Chippewa Buffalo Hunters Pointers They Gave Us 
 
 Reaching the James River Indian Signs 261 
 
 Finding the Sioux Battle of Big Mound Death of Dr. Weiser Escape 
 of George A. Brackett All Day and AH Night in the Saddle- 
 Indian Holds Up Stars and Stripes Running Fight of Fifteen Miles 262 
 
 Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake 269 
 
 Battle of Stony Lake Spectacular Scene 270 
 
 Great Quantities of Dried Buffalo Meat Robes Galore 272 
 
 Entering the Missouri Valley Striking the Missouri Death of Lieut. 
 
 Beaver. 273 
 
 On the Grouud Where Bismarck Stands 275 
 
 Turning Homeward Great Joy in Camp 276 
 
 Death of Chaska, a Really Noble Indian 277 
 
INDEX. iii 
 
 Inkpaduta Not a Leader Lean Bear Dead 275 
 
 Crystal Springs Name Given by Gen. Sibley Back at Camp Atchison 
 
 Capture of Little Crow's Son 277 
 
 Camp Atchison Abandoned Homeward Bound 278 
 
 Timely Capture of Cattle Old Council Ground On Quarter Rations 
 
 Capt. Allen Kills Buffalo Where Redwood Falls Now Stands 279 
 
 Behold the Transformation- The End. 281 
 
 Illustrations. 
 
 Red Iron 12 
 
 Plan of Fort Ridgely 37 
 
 Two Views of Fort Ridgely 38 
 
 Cut Nose 146 
 
 Dr. Alfred Muller 167 
 
 Standing Buffalo 1 77 
 
 Little Crow 183 
 
 Gen. H. H, Sibley 237 
 
 Officers who distinguished themselves in the defense of Fort Ridgely, and 
 other prominent characters, on pages following page 227 properly indicated.