NARRATION OF SOME OF THE EXCITING EVENTS THAT OCCURRED DURING THE
GREAT SIOUX OUTBREAK IN 1862--FORT RIDGELY, NEW ULM AND BIRCH
COULIE--OTHER DAY AND WABASHA--GREAT EXCITEMENT IN ST. PAUL.
In July and August, 1862, President Lincoln issued proclamations
calling for the enlistment of 600,000 volunteers for the purpose of
reinforcing the army, then vainly endeavoring to suppress the Southern
rebellion. It was probably one of the most gloomy periods in the
history of the Civil war. McClellan had been compelled to make a
precipitous and disastrous retreat from the vicinity of Richmond;
the army of Northern Virginia under Pope had met with several severe
reverses; the armies in the West under Grant, Buell and Curtis had not
been able to make any progress toward the heart of the Confederacy;
rebel marauders under Morgan were spreading desolation and ruin in
Kentucky and Ohio; rebel privateers were daily eluding the vigilant
watch of the navy and escaping to Europe with loads of cotton, which
they readily disposed of and returned with arms and ammunition to aid
in the prosecution of their cause. France was preparing to invade
Mexico with a large army for the purpose of forcing the establishment
of a monarchical form of government upon the people of our sister
republic; the sympathies of all the great powers of Europe, save
Russia, were plainly manifested by outspoken utterances favorable to
the success of the Confederate cause; rumors of foreign intervention
in behalf of the South were daily circulated; the enemies of the
government in the North were especially active in their efforts
to prevent the enlistment of men under the call of the president;
conspiracies for burning Northern cities had been unearthed by
government detectives, and emissaries from the South were endeavoring
to spread disease and pestilence throughout the loyal North. It was
during this critical period in the great struggle for the suppression
of the Rebellion that one of the most fiendish atrocities in the
history of Indian warfare was enacted on the western boundaries of
Minnesota.
* * * * *
It can readily be seen that the government was illy prepared to cope
with an outbreak of such magnitude as this soon proved to be. By the
terms of the treaty of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota in 1851 the
Sioux sold all their lands in Minnesota, except a strip ten miles wide
on each side of the Minnesota river from near Fort Ridgely to Big
Stone lake. In 1858 ten miles of the strip lying north of the river
was sold, mainly through the influence of Little Crow. The selling of
this strip caused great dissatisfaction among the Indians and Little
Crow was severely denounced for the part he took in the transaction.
The sale rendered it necessary for all the Indians to locate on the
south side of the Minnesota, where game was scarce and trapping poor.
There was nothing for them to live upon unless they adopted the habits
of civilization and worked like white men. This was very distasteful
to many of them, as they wanted to live the same as they did before
the treaty--go where they pleased, when they pleased, and hunt game
and sell fur to traders. The government built houses for those who
desired to occupy them, furnished tools, seed, etc., and taught them
how to farm. At two of the agencies during the summer of the outbreak
they had several hundred acres of land under cultivation. The
disinclination of many of the Indians to work gradually produced
dissension among themselves and they formed into two parties--the
white man's party, those that believed in cultivating the soil; and
the Indian party, a sort of young-man-afraid-of-work association, who
believed it beneath the dignity of the noble Dakotan to perform
manual labor. The white man's, or farmer's party, was favored by the
government, some of them having fine houses built for them. The other
Indians did not like this, and became envious of them because they
discontinued the customs of the tribe. There was even said to have
been a secret organization among the tepee Indians whose object it was
to declare war upon the whites. The Indians also claimed that they
were not fairly dealt with by the traders; that they had to rely
entirely upon their word for their indebtedness to them; that they
were ignorant of any method of keeping accounts, and that when the
paymaster came the traders generally took all that was coming, and
often leaving many of them in debt. They protested against permitting
the traders to sit at the pay table of the government paymaster and
deduct from their small annuities the amount due them. They had at
least one white man's idea--they wanted to pay their debts when they
got ready.
* * * * *
For several weeks previous to the outbreak the Indians came to the
agencies to get their money. Day after day and week after week passed
and there was no sign of paymasters. The year 1862 was the the second
year of the great Rebellion, and as the government officers had been
taxed to their utmost to provide funds for the prosecution of the war,
it looked as though they had neglected their wards in Minnesota. Many
of the Indians who had gathered about the agencies were out of money
and their families were suffering. The Indians were told that on
account of the great war in which the government was engaged the
payment would never be made. Their annuities were payable in gold and
they were told that the great father had no gold to pay them with.
Maj. Galbraith, the agent of the Sioux, had organized a company to go
South, composed mostly of half-breeds, and this led the Indians to
believe that now would be the time to go to war with the whites and
get their land back. It was believed that the men who had enlisted
last had all left the state and that before, help could be sent they
could clear the country of the whites, and that the Winnebagos and
Chippewas would come to their assistance. It is known that the Sioux
had been in communication with Hole-in-the-Day, the Chippewa chief,
but the outbreak was probably precipitated before they came to an
understanding. It was even said at the time that the Confederate
government had emissaries among them, but the Indians deny this report
and no evidence has ever been collected proving its truthfulness.
* * * * *
Under the call of the president for 600,000 men Minnesota was called
upon to furnish five regiments--the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth
and Tenth--and the requisition had been partially filled and the men
mustered in when the news reached St. Paul that open hostilities had
commenced at the upper agency, and an indiscriminate massacre of the
whites was taking place.
* * * * *
The people of Minnesota had been congratulating themselves that
they were far removed from the horrors of the Civil war, and their
indignation knew no bounds when compelled to realize that these
treacherous redskins, who had been nursed and petted by officers
of the government, and by missionaries and traders for years, had,
without a moment's warning, commenced an indiscriminate slaughter of
men, women and children. It was a singular fact that farmer Indians,
whom the government officers and missionaries had tried so hard
to civilize, were guilty of the most terrible butcheries after
hostilities had actually commenced.
* * * * *
A few days previous to the attack upon the whites at the upper agency
a portion of the band of Little Six appeared at Action, Meeker county.
There they murdered several people and then fled to Redwood. It was
the first step in the great massacre that soon followed. On the
morning of the 18th of August, without a word of warning, an
indiscriminate massacre was inaugurated. A detachment of Company B of
the Fifth regiment, under command of Capt. Marsh, went to the scene
of the revolt, but they were ambushed and about twenty-five of their
number, including the captain, killed. The horrible work of murder,
pillage and destruction was spread throughout the entire Sioux
reservation, and whole families, especially those in isolated portions
of the country, were an easy prey to these fiendish warriors.
* * * * *
The Wyoming massacre during the Revolution and the Black Hawk and
Seminole wars at a later period, pale into insignificance when
compared to the great outrages committed by these demons during this
terrible outbreak. In less than one week 1,000 people had been killed,
several million dollars' worth of property destroyed and 30,000 people
rendered homeless. The entire country from Fort Ripley to the southern
boundary of the state, reaching almost to the mouth of the Minnesota
river, had been in a twinkling depopulated. How to repel these
invaders and drive them back to their reservations and out of the
state as they had forfeited all rights to the land they had occupied,
was the problem that suddenly confronted both the state and national
authorities.
* * * * *
Shortly after the news of the outbreak at Redwood had been received,
word was sent from Fort Ripley to the effect that the Chippewas were
assuming a warlike attitude, and it was feared that the Sioux and
Chippewas--hereditary enemies--had buried the hatchet, or had been
influenced by other causes, and were ready to co-operate in an
indiscriminate massacre of the whites. Indian Agent Walker undertook
to arrest the famous chief Hole-in-the-day, but that wily warrior had
scented danger and suddenly disappeared, with his entire band, which
caused grave apprehension among the settlers in that locality, and
they were in daily dread of an attack from these hitherto peaceable
tribes.
* * * * *
The suddenness with which the outbreak had occurred and the
extraordinary rapidity with which it spread, driving the defenseless
settlers from their homes and causing desolation and ruin on every
side, rendered it necessary for the governor to call an extra session
of the legislature for the purpose of devising means to arm and equip
volunteers, and assist the homeless refugees in procuring places of
shelter where they would be safe from molestation by these dusky
warriors. Could anything be more terrible than Gov. Ramsey's picture
of the ravages of these outlaws in his message to the legislature?
"Nothing which the brutal lust and wanton cruelty of these savages
could wreak upon their helpless and innocent victims was omitted from
the category of their crimes," said the governor. "Helplessness and
innocence, indeed, which would inspire pity in any heart but theirs,
seemed to inspire them only with a more fiendish rage. Infants hewn
into bloody chips of flesh or torn untimely from the womb of the
murdered mother, and in cruel mockery cast in fragments on her
pulseless and bleeding breast; rape joined to murder in one awful
tragedy; young girls, even children of tender years, outraged by
these brutal ravishers till death ended their shame; women held into
captivity to undergo the horrors of a living death; whole families
burned alive; and, as if their devilish fancy could not glut itself
with outrages on the living, the last efforts exhausted in mutilating
the bodies of the dead. Such are the spectacles, and a thousand
nameless horrors besides which this first experience of Indian
warfare has burned into the minds and hearts of our frontier people;
and such the enemy with whom we have to deal."
* * * * *
The old saying that the only good Indians are dead ones had a noble
exception in the person of Other Day, who piloted sixty-two men,
women and children across the country from below Yellow Medicine to
Kandiyohi, and from there to Hutchinson, Glencoe and Carver. Other Day
was an educated Indian and had been rather wild in his younger days,
but experienced a change of heart about four years before the outbreak
and had adopted the habits of civilization. Other Day arrived in St.
Paul a few days after he had piloted his party in safety to Carver,
and in the course of a few remarks to a large audience at Ingersoll
hall, which had assembled for the purpose of organizing a company of
home guards, he said: "I am a Dakota Indian, born and reared in the
midst of evil. I grew up without the knowledge of any good thing. I
have been instructed by Americans and taught to read and write. This
I found to be good. I became acquainted with the Sacred Writings, and
thus learned my vileness. At the present time I have fallen into great
evil and affliction, but have escaped from it, and with sixty-two men,
women and children, without moccasins, without food and without a
blanket, I have arrived in the midst of a great people, and now my
heart is glad. I attribute it to the mercy of the Great Spirit." Other
Day had been a member of the church for several years and his religion
taught him that the Great Spirit approved his conduct.
* * * * *
It was apparent that the Indian war was on in earnest. Ex-Gov. Sibley,
on account of his long familiarity with Indian character, was placed
in command of the troops ordered to assemble at St. Peter, and in
a few days, with detachments of the regiments then forming,
half-uniformed, poorly armed and with a scant supply of ammunition,
commenced offensive operations against the murderous redskins. The
newspapers and the people were crying "On to Ridgely!" which was then
beleaguered, with the same persistency as did Horace Greeyley howl "On
to Richmond!" previous to the disaster at Bull Run.
* * * * *
Any one who has seen the thrilling realistic Indian play of "The Girl
I Left Behind Me" can form some idea of the terrible suspense of the
little garrison at Port Ridgely previous to being relieved by the
forces under command of Gen. Sibley. Fort Ridgely was a fort only
in name, and consisted of two or three stone and several wooden
buildings, surrounded by a fence, which did not afford much protection
when attacked by a large force. The garrison was under the command of
Lieut. T.J. Sheehan. His force consisted of about 150 men from the
Fifth regiment, fifty men of the Renville Rangers, and a number of
civilians. He was surrounded by 700 or 800 Sioux, fully armed and
equipped. Although there were only two attempts made to capture the
garrison by assault, yet the siege was kept up for several days. In
addition to about 300 refugees who had gathered there for support
and protection, the $72,000 of annuity money, which had been so long
expected, arrived there the day before the outbreak. After bravely
defending the fort for more than a week, the little garrison was
relieved by the arrival of about 200 mounted volunteers under command
of Col. McPhail, being the advance of Gen. Sibley's command. During
the siege many of the men became short of musketry ammunition, and
spherical case shot were opened in the barracks and women worked with
busy hands making cartridges, while men cut nail rods in short pieces
and used them as bullets, their dismal whistling producing terror
among the redskins.
Almost simultaneously with the attack on Fort Ridgely the Indians in
large numbers appeared in the vicinity of New Ulm, with the evident
intention of burning and pillaging the village. Judge Charles E.
Flandrau of this city, who was then residing at St. Peter, organized a
company of volunteers and marched across the country to the relief of
that place. The judge received several acquisitions to his force while
en route, and when he arrived at New Ulm found himself in command of
about 300 men, poorly armed and wholly without military experience.
They arrived at New Ulm just in time to assist the inhabitants in
driving the Indians from the upper part of the village, several
citizens having been killed and a number of houses burned. Two or
three days afterward the Indians appeared in large force, surrounded
the town and commenced burning the buildings on its outskirts. After
a desperate encounter, in which the force under command of Judge
Flandrau lost ten killed and about forty wounded, the Indians retired.
There were in the village at the time of the attack about 1,200 or
1,500 noncombatants, and every one of them would have been killed had
the Indian attack been successful. Provisions and ammunition becoming
scarce, the judge decided to evacuate the town and march across the
country to Mankato. They made up a train of about 150 wagons, loaded
them with women and children and the men who had been wounded in the
fight, and arrived safely in Mankato without being molested. Nearly
two hundred houses were burned before the town was evacuated, leaving
nothing standing but a few houses inside the hastily constructed
barricade. The long procession of families leaving their desolated
homes, many of them never to return, formed one of the saddest scenes
in the history of the outbreak, and will ever be remembered by the
gallant force under the command of Judge Flandrau, who led them to a
place of safety.
* * * * *
As soon as Gen. Sibley arrived at Fort Ridgely a detail of Company A
of the Sixth regiment, under command of Capt. H.P. Grant of St. Paul,
and seventy members of the Cullen Guards, under the command of Capt.
Jo Anderson, also of St. Paul, and several citizen volunteers,
all under the command of Maj. Joseph R. Brown, was sent out with
instructions to bury the dead and rescue the wounded, if any could
be found, from their perilous surroundings. They were St. Paul
organizations and most all of their members were St. Paul boys. They
never had had an opportunity to drill and most of them were not
familiar with the use of firearms. After marching for two days, during
which time they interred a large number of victims of the savage
Sioux, they went into camp at Birch Coulie, about fifteen miles from
Fort Ridgely. The encampment was on the prairie near a fringe of
timber and the coulie on one side and an elevation of about ten feet
on the other. It was a beautiful but very unfortunate location for the
command to camp, and would probably not have been selected had it been
known that they were surrounded by 400 or 500 hostile warriors. Maj.
Brown had about one hundred and fifty men under his command. About 4
o'clock on the following morning the Indians, to the number of 500 or
600, well armed and most of them mounted, commenced an indiscriminate
fire upon the almost helpless little command. For two days they
bravely defended themselves, and when relief finally arrived it was
found that about half their number had been killed or wounded. When
the news of the disaster reached St. Paul there was great excitement.
Relatives and friends of the dead and wounded were outspoken in
their denunciation of the civil and military authorities who were
responsible for this great sacrifice of the lives of our citizens. It
was feared that the city itself was in danger of an attack from the
savages. Home guards were organized and the bluffs commanding a view
of the city were nightly patrolled by citizen volunteers. There was no
telegraph at that time and rumors of all sorts were flying thick
and fast. Every courier reaching the city would bring news of fresh
outrages, and our panic-stricken citizens had hardly time to recover
from the effect of one disaster before the news of another would be
received. Settlers fleeing from their homes for places of safety were
arriving by the score, leaving crops to perish in the field and their
houses to be destroyed. The situation was appalling, and many of our
citizens were predicting the most direful results should the army fail
to check the savage hordes in their work of devastation and ruin.
Every boat from the Minnesota river would be crowded with refugees,
and the people of St. Paul were often called upon to assist in
forwarding them to their place of destination.
Home guards were organized in almost every village of the threatened
portion of the state, but the authorities could not furnish arms
or ammunition and their services would have been of little account
against the well-armed savages in case they had been attacked.
Advertisements appeared in the St. Paul newspapers offering rewards of
$25 a piece for Sioux scalps.
* * * * *
Gov. Ramsey endeavored to allay the apprehensions of the people and
published in the papers a statement to the effect that the residents
of the Capital City need not be alarmed, as the nearest approach of
the Indians was at Acton, Meeker county, 80 miles away; Fort Ripley,
150 miles away, and the scenes of the tragedy in Yellow Medicine
county, 210 miles distant. This may have been gratifying to the
residents of the Capital City, but was far from reassuring to the
frontiersmen who were compelled to abandon their homes and were
seeking the protection of the slowly advancing militia.
* * * * *
About 12 o'clock one night during the latter part of August a report
was circulated over the northern and western portion of St. Paul that
the savages were near the city, and many women and children were
aroused from their slumber and hastily dressed and sought the
protection of the city authorities. It was an exciting but rather
amusing episode in the great tragedy then taking place on the
frontier. Rumors of this character were often circulated, and it was
not until after the battle of Wood Lake that the people of St. Paul
felt that they were perfectly safe from raids by the hostile Sioux.
* * * * *
As soon as Gen. Sibley had collected a sufficient force to enable
him to move with safety he decided upon offensive operations. He had
collected about 2,000 men from the regiments then forming, including
the Third regiment, recently paroled, and a battery under command of
Capt. Mark Hendricks. The expedition marched for two or three days
without encountering opposition, but on the morning of the 23d of
September several foraging parties belonging to the Third regiment
were fired upon in the vicinity of Wood Lake. About 800 of the command
were engaged in the encounter and were opposed by about an equal
number of Indians. After a spirited engagement Col. Marshall, with
about 400 men, made a double-quick charge upon the Sioux and succeeded
in utterly routing them. Our loss was four killed and forty or fifty
wounded. This was the only real battle of the war. Other Day was with
the whites and took a conspicuous part in the encounter. After
the battle Gen. Pope, who was in command of the department of the
Northwest, telegraphed the war department that the Indian war was
over and asked what disposition to make of the troops then under his
command. This request of Gen. Pope was met with a decided remonstrance
by the people of Minnesota, and they succeeded in preventing the
removal of any of the troops until they had made two long marches
through the Dakotas and to Montana. Gen. Sibley's command reached Camp
Release on the 26th of September, in the vicinity of which was
located a large camp of Indians, most of whom had been engaged in the
massacres. They had with them about two hundred and fifty mixed bloods
and white women and children, and the soldiers were very anxious to
precede at once to their rescue. Gen. Sibley was of the opinion that
any hostile demonstration would mean the annihilation of all the
prisoners, and therefore proceeded with the utmost caution. After a
few preliminary consultations the entire camp surrendered and the
captives were released. As soon as possible Gen. Sibley made inquiries
as to the participation of these Indians in the terrible crimes
recently perpetrated, and it soon developed that a large number of
them had been guilty of the grossest atrocities. The general decided
to form a military tribunal and try the offenders. After a series of
sittings, lasting from the 30th of September to the 5th of November,
321 of the fiends were found guilty of the offenses charged, 303 of
whom were sentenced to death and the rest condemned to various terms
of imprisonment according to their crimes. All of the condemned
prisoners were taken to Mankato and were confined in a large jail
constructed for the purpose. After the court-martial had completed
its work and the news of its action had reached the Eastern cities,
a great outcry was made that Minnesota was contemplating a wholesale
slaughter of the beloved red man. The Quakers of Philadelphia and the
good people of Massachusetts sent many remonstrances to the president
to put a stop to the proposed wholesale execution. The president,
after consulting his military advisers, decided to permit the
execution of only thirty-eight of the most flagrant cases, and
accordingly directed them to be hung on the 26th of December, 1862.
* * * * *
Previous to their execution the condemned prisoners were interviewed
by Rev. S.R. Riggs, to whom they made their dying confessions. Nearly
every one of them claimed to be innocent of the crimes charged to
them. Each one had some word to send to his parents or family, and
when speaking of their wives and children almost every one was
affected to tears. Most of them spoke confidently of their hope of
salvation, and expected to go at once to the abode of the Great
Spirit. Rattling Runner, who was a son-in-law of Wabasha, dictated the
following letter, which is a sample of the confessions made to Dr.
Riggs: "Wabasha, you have deceived me. You told me if we followed the
advice of Gen. Sibley and gave ourselves up, all would be well--no
innocent man would be injured. I have not killed or injured a white
man or any white person. I have not participated in the plunder of
their property; and yet to-day I am set apart for execution and must
die, while men who are guilty will remain in prison. My wife is your
daughter, my children are your grandchildren. I leave them all in your
care and under your protection. Do not let them suffer, and when they
are grown up let them know that their father died because he followed
the advice of his chief, and without having the blood of a white man
to answer for to the Holy Spirit. My wife and children are dear to me.
Let them not grieve for me; let them remember that the brave should be
prepared to meet death, and I will do as becomes a Dakotah."
Wabasha was a Sioux chief, and although he was not found guilty of
participating in any of the massacres of women and children, he was
probably in all the most important battles. Wabasha county, and
Wabasha street in St. Paul were named after his father.
After the execution the bodies were taken down, loaded into wagons and
carried down to a sandbar in front of the city, where they were all
dumped into the same hole. They did not remain there long, but were
spirited away by students and others familiar with the use of a
dissecting knife.
Little Crow, the chief instigator of the insurrection was not with the
number that surrendered, but escaped and was afterward killed by a
farmer named Lamson, in the vicinity of Hutchinson. His scalp is now
in the state historical society. Little Crow was born in Kaposia, a
few miles below St. Paul, and was always known as a bad Indian. Little
Crow's father was friendly to the whites, and it was his dying wish
that his son should assume the habits of civilized life and accustom
himself to the new order of things, but the dying admonitions of the
old man were of little avail and Little Crow soon became a dissolute,
quarrelsome and dangerous Indian. He was opposed to all change of
dress and habits of life, and was very unfriendly to missionaries and
teachers. He was seldom known to tell the truth and possessed very few
redeeming qualities. Although greatly disliked by many of the Indians,
he was the acknowledged head of the war party and by common consent
assumed the direction of all the hostile tribes in their fruitless
struggle against the whites.
* * * * *
Between the conviction and execution of the condemned Indians there
was great excitement throughout the Minnesota valley lest the
president should pardon the condemned. Meetings were held throughout
the valley and organizations were springing into existence for the
purpose of overpowering the strong guard at Mankato and wreaking
summary justice upon the Indians. The situation became so serious
pending the decision of the president that the governor was compelled
to issue a proclamation calling upon all good citizens not to tarnish
the fair name of the state by an act of lawlessness that the outside
world would never forget, however great was the provocation. When
the final order came to execute only thirty-eight there was great
disappointment. Petitions were circulated in St. Paul and generally
signed favoring the removal of the condemned Indians to Massachusetts
to place them under the refining influence of the constituents of
Senator Hoar, the same people who are now so terribly shocked because
a humane government is endeavoring to prevent, in the Philippines, a
repetition of the terrible atrocities committed in Minnesota.
* * * * *
The balance of the condemned were kept in close confinement till
spring, when they were taken to Davenport, and afterward to some point
on the Missouri river, where a beneficent government kindly permitted
them to sow the seed of discontent that finally culminated in the
Custer massacre. When it was known that the balance of the condemned
Indians were to be transported to Davenport by steamer. St. Paul
people made preparations to give them a warm reception as they passed
down the river, but their intentions were frustrated by the government
officers in charge of their removal, as they arranged to have the
steamer Favorite, on which they were to be transported, pass by the
city in the middle of the night. St. Paul people were highly indignant
when apprised of their escape.
Little Six and Medicine Bottle, two Sioux chiefs engaged in the
outbreak, were arrested at Fort Gary (Winnipeg), and delivered at
Pembina in January, 1864, and were afterward taken to Fort Snelling,
where they were tried, condemned and executed in the presence of
10,000 people, being the last of the Indians to receive capital
punishment for their great crimes. Little Six confessed to having
murdered fifty white men, women and children.
* * * * *
One of the most perplexing problems the military authorities had to
contend with was the transportation of supplies to the troops on the
frontier. There were, of course, no railroads, and the only way to
transport provisions was by wagon. An order was issued by the military
authorities requesting the tender of men and teams for this purpose,
but the owners of draft horses did not respond with sufficient
alacrity to supply the pressing necessities of the army, and it
was necessary for the authorities to issue another order forcibly
impressing into service of the government any and all teams that could
be found on the streets or in stables. A detachment of Company K of
the Eighth regiment was sent down from the fort and remained in the
city several days on that especial duty. As soon as the farmers heard
that the government was taking possession of everything that came over
the bridge they ceased hauling their produce to the city and carried
it to Hastings. There was one silver-haired farmer living near the
city limits by the name of Hilks, whose sympathies were entirely with
the South, and he had boasted that all of Uncle Sam's hirelings could
not locate his team. One of the members of Company K was a former
neighbor of the disloyal farmer, and he made it his particular duty
to see that this team, at least, should be loyal to the government. A
close watch was kept on him, and one morning he was seen to drive down
to the west side of the bridge and tie his team behind a house, where
he thought they would be safe until he returned. As soon as the old
man passed over the bridge the squad took possession of his horses,
and when he returned the team was on the way to Abercrombie laden
with supplies for the troops at the fort. Of course the government
subsequently reimbursed the owners of the teams for their use, but in
this particular case the soldiers did not think the owner deserved it.
Gov. Ramsey's carriage team was early taken possession of by the
military squad, and when the driver gravely informed the officer in
charge that the governor was the owner of that team and he thought it
exempt from military duty, he was suavely informed that a power
higher than the governor required that team and that it must go to
Abercrombie. And it did.
* * * * *
It was necessary to send out a large escort with these supply trains
and It was easier to procure men for that purpose than it was for the
regular term of enlistment. On one of the trains that left St. Paul
was a young man by the name of Hines. He was as brave as Julius
Caesar. He said so himself. He was so heavily loaded with various
weapons of destruction that his companions called him a walking
arsenal. If Little Crow had attacked this particular train the Indian
war would have ended. This young man had been so very demonstrative of
his ability to cope with the entire Sioux force that his companions
resolved to test his bravery. One night when the train was camped
about half way between St. Cloud and Sauk Center, several of the
guards attached to the train painted their faces, arrayed themselves
in Indian costume and charged through the camp, yelling the Indian war
hoop and firing guns in every direction. Young Hines was the first to
hear the alarm, and didn't stop running until he reached St. Cloud,
spreading the news in every direction that the entire tribe of
Little Crow was only a short distance behind. Of course there was
consternation along the line of this young man's masterly retreat,
and it was some time before the panic-stricken citizens knew what had
actually happened.
* * * * *
In response to the appeal of Gov. Sibley and other officers on the
frontier, the ladies of St. Paul early organized for the purpose of
furnishing sick and wounded soldiers with such supplies as were not
obtainable through the regular channels of the then crude condition of
the various hospitals. Notices like the following often appeared in
the daily papers at that time: "Ladies Aid Society--A meeting of the
ladies' aid society for the purpose of sewing for the relief of the
wounded soldiers at our forts, and also for the assistance of the
destitute refugees now thronging our city, is called to meet this
morning at Ingersoll hall. All ladies interested in this object are
earnestly invited to attend. All contributions of either money or
clothing will be thankfully received. By order of the president,
"Mrs. Stella Selby.
"Miss M.O. Holyoke, Secretary."
Mrs. Selby was the wife of John W. Selby, one of the first residents
of the city, Miss Holyoke was the Clara Barton of Minnesota, devoting
her whole time and energy to the work of collecting sanitary supplies
for the needy soldiers in the hospitals.
Scores of poor soldiers who were languishing in hospital tents on
the sunburnt and treeless prairies of the Dakotas, or suffering from
disease contracted in the miasmatic swamps of the rebellious South
have had their hearts gladdened and their bodies strengthened by being
supplied with the delicacies collected through the efforts of
the noble and patriotic ladies of this and kindred organizations
throughout the state.
Many instances are recorded of farmers leaving their harvesters in the
field and joining the grand army then forming for the defense of the
imperilled state and nation, while their courageous and energetic
wives have gone to the fields and finished harvesting the ripened
crops.
* * * * *
By reason of the outbreak the Sioux forfeited to the government, in
addition to an annual annuity of $68,000 for fifty years, all the
lands they held in Minnesota, amounting in the aggregate to about
750,000 acres, worth at the present time something like $15,000,000.
Had they behaved themselves and remained In possession of this immense
tract of land, they would have been worth twice as much per capita as
any community in the United States.