SIEGE OF NEW ULM.
Little Crow, finding himself baffled in his attempt to capture the fort,
and learning from his scouts that Colonel Sibley was on his way with
two regiments to relieve the garrison, concentrated all his forces and
proceeded to New Ulm, about thirteen miles distant, which he intended to
wipe out the next morning. Here, again, he was disappointed. The hero of
New Ulm was Hon. Charles E. Flandreau, who deserves more than a passing
notice. By profession he is a lawyer, and at this time was a judge on
the bench, and is now enjoying a lucrative practice in St. Paul. By
nature he is an organizer and a leader, and to his intrepid bravery and
wise judgment New Ulm and her inhabitants owe their salvation from the
savagery of Little Crow and his bloodthirsty followers. He had received
the news of the outbreak at his home near St. Peter in the early morning
of August 19, and at once decided what should be done to save the people.
His duty to wife and children was apparent, and to place them in safety
was his first thought, which he did by taking them to St. Peter. He
then issued a call for volunteers, and in response to this soon found
himself surrounded by men who needed no second bidding, for the very air
was freighted with the terror of the situation. Armed with guns of any
and all descriptions, with bottles of powder, boxes of caps and pockets
filled with bullets, one hundred and twenty men, determined on revenge,
pressed forward to meet this terrible foe.
Where should they go? Rumors came from all directions, and one was that
Fort Ridgely was being besieged and had probably already fallen. Their
eyes also turned toward New Ulm, which was but thirteen miles distant and
in an absolutely unprotected condition. Its affrighted people were at the
mercy of this relentless enemy. The work Judge Flandreau performed in
perfecting an organization was masterful, for the men who flocked in and
offered their services he could not control in a military sense, because
they were not enlisted. The emergency was very great and it was necessary
to do the right thing and at the right time and to strike hard and deadly
blows, and trusted men were sent forward to scout and report. Hon. Henry
A. Swift, afterwards governor of Minnesota, rendered good service in
company with William G. Hayden as they scouted the country in a buggy.
It was a novel way to scout, but horses were too scarce to allow a horse
to each. An advance guard was sent forward about noon, and an hour later
the balance of the command was in motion, eagerly pushing forward and
anxious to meet the enemy wherever he might be found. The advance guard
which Flandreau sent out to determine whether Fort Ridgely or New Ulm
should be the objective point had not yet been heard from, and, that no
time might be lost, he determined that he would push forward to New Ulm,
and if that village was safe he would turn his attention to Ridgely. He
found his guard at New Ulm, and they had been largely reinforced by other
men who came in to help protect the place. They arrived just in time
to assist in repelling an attack of about two hundred Indians, who had
suddenly surrounded the little village. Before the arrival of Flandreau
and his command they could see the burning houses in the distance, and
by this they knew that the work of devastation had commenced, and the
forced march was kept up. The rain was pouring in torrents, and yet they
had made thirty-two miles in seven hours and reached the place about 8
o'clock in the evening.
The next day reinforcements continued to come in from various points
until the little army of occupation numbered three hundred effective
and determined men. A council of war was called and a line of defense
determined upon by throwing up barricades in nearly all the streets.
The situation was a very grave one and it was soon apparent that a
one-man power was necessary--that a guiding mind must control the actions
of this hastily gathered army of raw material; and to this end, Judge
Flandreau was declared generalissimo, and subsequent events proved that
the selection was a most judicious one. In a few days subsequent to this
he received a commission as colonel from Governor Ramsey and was placed
in command of all irregular troops. There were fifty companies reported
to him all told; some were mounted and others were not. His district
extended from New Ulm, Minnesota, to Sioux City, Iowa. It was a most
important command, and Colonel Flandreau proved himself a hero as well
as a competent organizer. He is so modest about it even to-day that he
rarely refers to it.
A provost guard was at once established, order inaugurated, defenses
strengthened and confidence partially restored. Nothing serious
transpired until Saturday morning at about 9 o'clock, when 650 Indians,
who had been so handsomely repulsed at Fort Ridgely, thirteen miles
above, made a determined assault upon the town, driving in the pickets.
The lines faltered for a time, but soon rallied and steadily held the
enemy at bay. The Indians had surrounded the town and commenced firing
the buildings, and the conflagration was soon raging on both sides of
the main street in the lower part of the town, and the total destruction
of the place seemed inevitable. It was necessary to dislodge the enemy
in some way, so a squad of fifty men was ordered out to charge down the
burning street, and the Indians were driven out. The soldiers then
burned everything and the battle was won. The desperate character of
the fighting may be judged when we find the casualties to be ten men
killed and fifty wounded in about an hour and a half, and this out of a
much depleted force, for out of the little army of three hundred men,
seventy-five who had been sent under Lieutenant Huey to guard the ferry
were cut off and forced to retreat towards St. Peter. Before reaching
this place, however, they met reinforcements and returned to the attack.
The Indians now, in turn, seeing quite a reinforcement coming, thought it
wise to retreat, and drew off to the northward, in the direction of the
fort, and disappeared.
The little town of New Ulm at this time contained from 1,200 to 1,500
non-combatants, consisting of women and children, refugees and unarmed
citizens, every individual of whom would have been massacred if it
had not been for this brave band of men under the command of Colonel
Flandreau. Not knowing what the retreat of the Indians indicated, the
uncertainty and scarcity of provisions, the pestilence to be feared from
stench and exposure, all combined to bring about the decision to evacuate
the town and try to reach Mankato. In order to do this a train was made
up, into which were loaded the women and children and about eighty
wounded men. It was a sad sight to witness this enforced breaking up of
home ties, homes burned and farms and gardens laid waste, loved ones dead
and wounded, and this one of the inevitable results of an unnecessary
and unprovoked war. The march to Mankato was without special incident.
Especially fortunate was this little train of escaping people in not
meeting any wandering party of hostile Indians.
The first day about half the distance from Mankato to St. Peter was
covered; the main column was pushed on to its final destination, it
being the intention of Colonel Flandreau to return with a portion of his
command to New Ulm, or remain where they were, so as to keep a force
between the Indians and the settlements. But the men of his command,
not having heard a word from their families for over a week, felt
apprehensive and refused to return or remain, holding that the protection
of their families was paramount to all other considerations. It must be
remembered that these men were not soldiers, but had demonstrated their
willingness to fight when necessary, and they did fight, and left many
of their comrades dead and wounded on the battlefield. The train that
had been sent forward arrived in Mankato on the 25th of August, and the
balance of the command reached the town on the day following, when the
men sought their homes.
The stubborn resistance the Indians met with at Fort Ridgely and New Ulm
caused them to withdraw to their own country, and this temporary lull
in hostilities enabled the whites to more thoroughly organize, and the
troops to prepare for a campaign up into the Yellow Medicine country,
where it was known a large number of captives were held.
[Illustration: Colonel Charles E. Flandreau,
Who was in command at New Ulm, Minn., during the Siege from August 20th
to 25th, 1862.]