1862 — Aug 17-23 especially, Dakota “Insurrection,” southcentral MN; also IA –750-779

— 779 Heard. History of The Sioux War and Massacres of 1862…. 1864, p. 243. As of Nov 3.*
–644 civilians, as of Nov 3, mostly in first week of the “insurrection.”
— 93 soldiers
— 42 native insurrectionists (p. 248).
–~750 Harrington. Geography, History and Civil Government of Minnesota. 1883, p. 42.
— ~650 civilians
— ~100 soldiers
–>700 Civilians, during first week. Heard. History of The Sioux War and Massacres of 1862…. p. 96.
–>600 MN Historical Society. The US-Dakota War of 1862. “Aftermath.” Accessed 12-31-2022
— 500 Harper’s Book of Facts. “Indian History.” 1895, p. 372.
–~300 Childs. A History of the United States In Chronological Order…1492…1885. 1886, 184.

*Blanchard note: This represents the largest loss of life against whites by Native Americans event we are aware of. We are aware of at least three massacres of Native Americans with a higher loss of life – Oct 18, 1540 De Sota expedition massacre of Natives near Mabila, AL (2,500-6,000 lives lost); Dec 19, 1675 massacre of Narragansetts by English colonists at the Great Swamp in present-day Rhode Island (365-1,100 deaths); and the Spanish massacre of Acoma Natives in New Mexico on Jan 21, 1599 (300-800 deaths). There were many other massacres with a lower death toll.

Narrative Information

Childs: “Late in the summer the State of Minnesota was the scene of Indian cruelties and atrocities, so much so as to compel the Governor of the State to call an extra session of the legislature for means to be adopted to stop them. United States troops under General Pope were also dispatched in the emergency. In September, a large body of the Indians was overtaken at Wood Lake and, after a sharp battle, about five hundred of the savages were taken prisoners, and after being tried by court-martial, three hundred of them were sentenced to be hung, but the President [Lincoln] directed that but thirty-eight of them should be executed, and the remainder placed in confinement. By this insurrection it was estimated that not less than three hundred whites were killed, and two and a half millions of dollars in property destroyed. For some months between six and seven thousand persons, mostly women and children, were dependent upon charity.” (Childs 1886, 184)

Harper’s: “Sioux in Minnesota, led by Little Crow, massacre 500 persons, including women and children…17 Aug. et seq. 1862.” (Willsey and Lewis. Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, p. 372.)

Heard: “In the month of August, 1862, the Indians of the Upper Minnesota initiated a massacre which stands prominent in the bloody drama which attends the advance of the white race across the continent. The atrocities by which it was attended…the course of their great orator and chief, Little Crow, who was not second to Philip, Pontiac, or Tecumseh – the perilous condition of the captive whites, their shameful treatment…the trial of over four hundred of the accused, and the simultaneous execution of thirty-eight of their number, are full of…interest.

“Those engaged in the massacre were, with but few exceptions, members of the M’dewakanton, Wahpekuta, Wahpeton, and Sisseton tribes of the great Sioux or Dakota nation. They formerly occupied the northeastern portion of Iowa, part of the western border of Wisconsin, the southwestern half of the State of Minnesota, and adjoining possessions in Dakota; a vast, [end of p13] fertile, and beautiful land, with great undulating plains, over which herds of buffalo roamed; with groves and woodlands in which the deer found a hiding-place; with countless lakes, and streams, and mighty rivers filled with choicest fish, and swarming with myriads of wild-fowl…and their shores alive with the otter, the min, and the beaver….[p14]

“…in 1851 the Indians were induced to sign treaties by which they transferred to the United States over thirty millions of acres, embracing all their lands in Iowa, Dakota, and Minnesota, except a tract along the Upper Minnesota, which they reserved for their future occupancy and home. This commenced just below Fort Ridgely, and extended 150 miles to Lake Traverse, with a width of ten miles on each side of the river.

“The Senate in 1852 approved the treaty, provided that the Indians would agree to an amendment by which the reservation should also be ceded, and they be located in such land as the President should select; and to this the Indians assented. The President never having made the selection contemplated, and the Indians having moved upon the reservation made in the first treaties, the government recognized their right to its possession, and in 1858, by treaties which were approved in 1860, purchased from them all that portion of the tract on the north ide of the river. They continued to reside on the remainder until the outbreak, the M’dewakantons and Wahpekutas occupying in common all below the Yellow Medicine River, which was called the ‘Lower Reservation,’ and the other two tribes the part above the river, which was styled the ‘Upper Reservation.’

“Pursuant to the various treaties, large amounts of [end of p19] money and goods were annually delivered to them, and labor performed for their benefit. For the super-intendence of these matters, an agent resided among them, and two places for the transaction of business were established, one fourteen miles above Fort Ridgely, on the Minnesota River, and known as the ‘Lower’ or ‘Redwood Agency,’ and the other at the mouth of the Yellow Medicine, and designated as the ‘Upper’ or “Yellow Medicine Agency.’…. [p.21]

“The agent, Mr. Galbraith, who was energetic and faithful, visited the whole reservation shortly before the outbreak, and congratulated himself on the thriving appearance of affairs. A conversation which he had with Little Crow, their head chief, three days before the fatal 18th of August, furnished no indication of what was about to transpire. Being aware of Crow’s influence among the Blanket Indians, Mr. Galbraith had previously promised to build him a good house if he would aid in bringing around the idle young me to habits of industry and civilization, and would abandon the leadership of the Blanket Indians. Crow assented to this, and the carpenter-work had been ordered and nearly completed; and in the conversation before alluded to, Little Crow selected a location for it, and seemed to be well pleased with its position. He had shortly before been defeated [end p. 25] for the speakership of the Lower Indians, but he said he cared nothing about this, for, if elected, the other Indians would be jealous of him. He stated he had a store, a yoke of oxen, a wagon, and plenty of corn and potatoes, and was now living more comfortably than ever before. He said he had just been grinding his scythe to cut hay, and that two or three of his young relatives were coming to help him, and that they would soon cure enough for winter. There was a young Indian of his band present who, Crow said, could make good gunstocks, and he showed a well-finished stock which he had made, and requested that he should have sent to him a set of tools with which to work. Crow had spoken of this before, and Galbraith told him he had sent for a complete set, and that they would soon arrive. These, he said, were all the requests he had to make, and believed they would be complied with. So far removed from the agent’s thoughts was the terrible tragedy which afterward ensued, that the day before its occurrence, leaving his family at Yellow Medicine among the Indians, he started for Fort Snelling with some forty-five men whom he had recruited on the reservation, consisting of half-breeds, employes of the government, and went as far as St. Peter’s.

“Over the soil which Indians had sold, civilization had made rapid strides. From Ireland, Germany, Norway, and Sweden, and many another country of the Old World, and from every part of the New, had come a quarter of a million of people, and made the land their home. Through the once quiet waters of Lake Pepin, past the tall cliff from which Winona had taken her death-leap, countless steam boats puffed their way, [end p26] and within earshot of the cave where Carver heard the Dakotas moaning and weeping for their departed, the locomotive uttered its harsh scream….

“….Almost within a stone’s throw of the reservation was the prosperous town of New Ulm, and emigrants even crowded upon the land invacated by the treaty of 1858… [p.27]

“Chapter II. Causes of the Outbreak

“The Indians were predisposed to hostility toward the whites. They regarded them with that repugnance which God has implanted as an instinct in different races for the preservation of their national integrity, and to prevent the subjection of the inferior in industry and intelligence to the superior. When they first caught sight of Hennepin they saluted him with a discharge of arrows.

“This inborn feeling was increased by the enormous prices charged by the traders for goods, by their debauchery of their women, and the sale of liquors, which were attended by drunken brawls that often resulted fatally to the participants. Death to the whites would have followed years ago had not commercial dealings with them, as before stated, become a matter of necessity.

“The prohibition by our government of their sanguinary wars upon the Chippeways [Chippewa] was another source of grievance. To them it appeared a tyrannical act. When upbraided during last summer for evading this command, they answered with this home thrust: ‘Our Great Father, we know, has always told us it was wrong to make war, yet now he himself is making was and killing a great man [Civil War]. Will you explain this to us? We don’t understand it.’ This prohibition was not only distasteful on account of its [end p31] imputed unreasonableness and tyranny, but because if also closed up the main avenue to distinction.

“The imagination of the Indian can not exercise itself in painting, sculpture, and literature, or in any of the arts or sciences which gain renown in civilized climes. His crown comes from the red hand of war. As their agent correctly says, ‘The young Indian from childhood is taught to regard ‘killing’ as the highest of virtues. In the dance and at the feasts, the warriors recite their deeds of theft, pillage, and slaughter as precious things, and, indeed, the only ambition of the young Indian is to secure the ‘feather,’ which is but the record of his having murdered, or participated in the murder of some human being – whether man, woman, or child is immaterial; and after he has secured his first feather, his appetite is whetted to increase the number in his hair, as an Indian brave is estimated by the number of his feathers. Without the feather the young Indian is regarded as a squaw, and, as a general rule, can not get a wife, and is despised, derided, and treated with contumely by all. The head-dress filled with these feathers and other insignia of blood is regarded as ‘wakan’ (sacred), and no unhallowed hand of man nor any woman dare touch it.’

“If you enter an Indian encampment you will notice the little boys engaged in shooting arrows, or in hurling miniature spears; and over the platform upon which bleaches the bones of one of one of their heroic dead you will find suspended the scalp of some slaughtered foe. Honorable wounds are considered a sure passport to ‘the happy hunting grounds,’ and the slaughter of an enemy by a friend of a dead warrior is regarded as a powerful propitiation to the Deity on his [end p.37] behalf. By his side, in his last resting place, are laid the weapons of the fray, and friends periodically visit it to recite his gallant deeds.

“The hostility arising from these causes was but trivial in comparison with that which arose out of the sale of their lands and the treaties therewith connected. The cession of their territory is necessarily enforced upon the Indians by the advance of the white race. Hunting and farming can not exist together, and the Indian can not and will not change his mode of life in a day, if ever. The whites cut down the trees; their steam-boats frighten the beaver and the wild-fowl, and their presence drives the deer and the buffalo far to the west. Were the treaties fairly obtained, and all their stipulations fully carried out, regrets for the homes they had lost, and the narrow limits, soon destitute of game, into which they are crowded, would soon bring repentance of their bargain, and force a bloody termination of the conflict of the races. But the treaties are born in fraud, and all their stipulations for the future are curtailed by iniquity.

“The traders, knowing for years before that the whites will purchase the lands, sell the Indians goods on credit, expecting to realize their pay from the consideration to be paid by the government. They thus become interested instruments to obtain the consent of the Indians to the treaty; and by reason of their familiarity with their language, and the assistance of half-breed relatives, are possessed of great facilities to accomplish their object. The persons deputed by the government to effect a treaty are compelled to procure their co-operation, and this they do by providing that their debts shall be paid. The traders obtain [end p33] the concurrence of the Indians by refusing to give them further credit, and by representing to them that they will receive an immense amount of money of they sell their lands, and thenceforth will live at ease, with plenty to eat and plenty to wear, and plenty of powder and lead, and of whatever else they may request. After the treaty is agreed to, the amount of ready money is absorbed by the exorbitant demands of the traders and the expenses of the removal of the Indians to their reservation. After that, the trader no longer looks to the Indian for his pay; he gets it from their annuities. He therefore does not use the same means to conciliate their good will that he did when he was dependent on their honesty. Claims for depredations upon white settlers are also deducted out of their moneys before they leave Washington, on insufficient testimony; and these are always, when based on fact, double the actual loss, for the Indian Department is notoriously corrupt, and the hand manipulating the machinery must be crossed with gold. The ‘expenses’ of obtaining a claim enter into the amount demanded and allowed. The demand is not only generally unjust, but, instead of its being deducted from the moneys of the wrong-doer, it is taken from the annuities of all. This course punishes the innocent and rewards the guilty, because the property taken by the depredator is of more value than the slight percentage he loses.

“Many of the stipulations as to establishing schools, and furnishing them with farming utensils, are never carried out. Building and supply contracts are entered into at outrageous prices, and goods belonging to the Indians are put into the traders’ stores, and sold [end p34] to their owners, and the moneys realized shared by the trader and the agent. About four hundred thousand dollars of the cash payment due the Sioux under the treaties of 1851 and 1852 were paid to the traders on old indebtedness. So intense was the indignation of the Indians that there was serious apprehension that they would attack the government officials and traders. The opposition of Red Iron, the principal chief of the Sissetons, became so boisterous that he was broken of his chieftainship by Governor Ramsey, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and one of the commissioners who made the treaties…. [p.35]

“Over $55,000 of the moneys paid under this treaty [of 1851-1852] for debts of the Indians went to one Hugh Tyler, a stranger in the country, for getting the treaties through the Senate, and for ‘necessary disbursements’ in securing the assent of the chiefs…. [p41]

“In 1858 the chiefs were taken to Washington, and agreed to the treaties before referred to for the cession of all their reservation north of the Minnesota River [end p41], under which, as ratified by the Senate, they were to have $166,000; but of this amount they never received a penny until four years afterward, when $15,000 in goods were sent to the Lower Sioux, and these were deducted out of what was due them under former treaties.

“The Indians, discovering the fraud, refused to receive them for several weeks, and only consented to take them after the government had agreed to rectify the matter. Most of the large amount due under these treaties went into the pockets of traders, government officials, and other swindlers.

“The Indians were grievously disappointed with their bargains, and from that time the control of affairs passed from the chiefs, who it was believed had been bribed, to the young men. They had now nearly disposed of all their land, and received scarcely any thing for it. They were 6200 in number, and their annuities, when pain in full, were hardly fifteen dollars apiece.

“Their sufferings from hunger were often severe, especially during the winter and spring previous to the massacre. This was owing to the lightness of the crops, for the cut-worms destroyed all the corn of the Sissetons, and greatly injured that of the other tribes; and also to an unprecedented fall of snow late in the season, which delayed the spring hunts. The Sissetons of Lac Traverse subsisted only by eating all their horses and dogs, and at least 1500 of the old men, women, and children had to be supported at an extra expense to the government, and this was so very parsimoniously done that some died from starvation.

“Then the wild Indians were very much incensed at [end p42] the abandonment by the Farmer Indians of their ancient customs, their assumption of the white dress, and adhesion to the Christian religion. They styled them opprobriously ‘whitewashed Indians’ and ‘Dutchmen,’ whom they designated as ‘ea seicha’ (the bad language). These ‘Farmer’ Indians did very little work, had their lands plowed for them by the whites, and were much better supplied with food and clothing than the others, and the extra expense was deducted out of the common fund. This the latter thought very unjust, especially as they engaged themselves in hunting, and did much more than the other toward earning their living. Every favor that was granted the ‘Farmers’ they looked upon with jealous eyes, and accused the agent and the missionaries with gross injustice in making any distinction between them. This feeling was fanned by the medicine or wakan (supernatural) men…. [p43]
“The dissatisfaction thus engendered was fearfully augmented by the failure of the government to make the annual payment, which had before taken place in June, and by the traders refusing them credit at a time when they needed it the most. They were informed by the traders, as a reason for their not trusting them, that it was doubtful, on account of the difficulties the government had to encounter to sustain itself [paying for Civil War], whether they would receive more than a half payment during that year, and that that would probably be the last.

“Just before the massacre took place we had met with great reverses in Virginia, and half-breeds and others who could read kept telling them all kinds of exaggerated stories about the war…that the Father was ‘whipped out;’ that the Indians would get no more money…

“….The Indians who hunted toward the Big Woods, and [end p.44] those who attended the payment from Faribault, said, as they passed along, they saw nothing but old men, women, and children, and that all that were fit to be soldiers had gone to the wars. This, together with the enlistment of half-breeds and employés of the government upon the reservation, strengthened the idea that the country had nearly exhausted its fighting material, and was going to ruin, and they would receive nothing more….

“These tribes were well armed with double-barreled shot-guns, and could get plenty of powder and lead, and could call into the field 1300 warriors. The Yanktons, the Yanktonais, and the Tetawn Sioux, who would naturally sympathize with them on account of their relationship, and some of whom had recently been at war with the whites, could muster 4000 more.

“The Winnebagoes, their near neighbors, were their frequent visitors, and most potent in mischief-making, and they promised their assistance in case a difficulty arose. The Chippeways were as dissatisfied as the Sioux from similar causes. Mysterious messages passed from tribe to tribe of that nation during the summer, and it was asserted that Little Crow corresponded with their great chief, Hole-in-the day, in regard to [end p45] their mutual grievances. These could furnish 4000 men, and, with such a force, it was believed they could regain their ancient possessions, if they made the attempt.

“Hopes of assistance from the English were also entertained. They recollected that they had in former days been their allies and anxious for their trade, and that they hated the Americans, and that, on account of the Trent affair, a war would probably take place. Medals and flags presented by the British were still in existence among them, and some of the old men said that during the war of 1812 they had taken a cannon from one of our posts and presented it to the English; that they called it the ‘Little Dakota,’ and promised, if the Sioux were even in trouble and wanted help, they would bring this cannon to them, with men to work it….

“In June a number of chiefs and head men of the Sissetons and Wahpetons visited the Upper Agency, and inquired about the payment, whether they were going to get any money, saying that they had been [end p46] told that they would not. When the agent informed them that it would take place, although he could not say when, or whether it would be a full payment, and that he would send them work when the money arrived, they returned to their homes; but on the 14th of July all came down again, to the number of 5000, and camped. They said they were afraid they would not get their money, and that they had been again told so by the whites. Here they remained for some time, all pinched for food, and several dying from starvation. They dug up roots to appease their hunger, and when was turned out to them, like animals, they devoured it uncooked.

“With these Indians came a number of families of the Yanktonais, living near Big Stone Lake. This tribe claimed, and rightfully, an interest in the lands which the annuity Indians had sold, but none of them ever received any pay except those belonging to the Wanata’s band, and this was unauthorized. Wanata was half Sisseton and Yanktonais, and his band was composed of Indians from both tribes. They Yanktonais were told that they should receive nothing in the future. When they became satisfied of this, they persuaded the other Indians, on the 4th of August, to break into the government warehouse, and take away the provisions there. This was done in the most boisterous manner, in the presence of one hundred soldiers with two twelve-pounder howitzers. The American flag was cut down, and the Indians stood around with their guns loaded, cocked, and leveled. Finally a council was held with them, and by the issuance of a large quantity of provisions they were induced to return to their homes. [end of p. 47]

“….The night before the outbreak a large council was held at Rice Creek, fifteen miles above the agency, at which a number of Winnebagoes were present; and here it was determined that on the next day they would go down to the Lower Agency, camp there that night, then go to Fort Ridgely, and to St. Paul if necessary, to urge the making of the payment, and if they did not succeed more violent measures should be adopted.

“Thus, on the 17th day of August, 1862, we find the instinctive hatred of this savage and ferocious people, who are able to bring into the field 1800 well-armed warriors, the most expert and daring skirmishers in the world, fanned to a burning heat by many years of actual and of fancied wrong, and intensified by fears of hunger and of cold. We find this feeling belligerent, and manifesting itself in acts through the possibilities of success. We see the authority of the chiefs and older men set aside, and the energetic and turbulent spirit of youth assuming the direction of affairs. We see violence determined upon if a certain contingency should happen, and the more violent declaring for a general war. We find on the reservation the stores of the hated traders filled with goods which they have long sought to obtain, and within easy access the unarmed people upon whom rage and mania for the ‘feather’ may wreak itself in slaughter. [end of p. 50]
….
CHAPTER III. A Spark of Fire.

“….The first house they [four Upper Dakota men residing at with Shakopee’s band at the mouth of Rice Creek] came to [on Aug 17] was untenanted. The next was that of Mr. Robinson Jones, whom they found at home with his wife and a young lady, a Miss Clara D. Wilson. This house they reached about eleven o’clock in the morning. Here they got into a contention with Jones about his refusal to give them liquor, and about the failure of one of them to return a gun which he had borrowed of Jones the previous winter, in consequence of which Jones compelled them to leave the house.

“From there they went to Mr. Howard Baker’s a quarter of a mile distant, where they found Mr. Baker, and a Mr. Webster and his wife….When the Indians came to Baker’s they asked for water, which was given them. They then wanted tobacco, and Mr. Webster handed them some tobacco, and they filled their pipes and sat down and smoked. They acted perfectly friendly until Jones came over with his wife and began talking with them. Jones [end p54] again accused the Indian of having taken his gun to shoot deer, and having never returned it, and again the Indian denied it. Mrs. Baker asked Mrs. Jones if she had given them any whisky, and she said ‘No, we don’t keep whisky for such black devils as they.’ The Indians appeared to understand what she was saying, for they became very savage in their appearance, and Mrs. Webster begged Mrs. Jones to desist.

“The Indians, irritated by Jones, had now determined on murder. Presently Jones traded Mr. Baker’s double-barreled gun with one of the Indians for his, and the Indians proposed that they should go out and shoot at a mark for the purpose of having the white men discharge their guns. Jones accepted the banter saying ‘that he wasn’t afraid to shoot against any damned Redskin that ever lived,’ and they went out and fired at a mark. Webster had a gun, but did not go out with the party, and one of the Indians said the lock of his own gun was defective, and persuaded Webster to take the lock off, and to loan him his own. After they had discharged their pieces they carefully loaded them again, which Jones and Baker omitted to do.

“Then one of the Indians started in the direction of Forest City for the purpose of ascertaining if there were any whites near. On his return the four counseled together, and acted as if they were going away, when they suddenly turned and fired, thee shots taking effect upon Jones and his wife, and Baker and Webster. Jones started for the woods, but a second shot brought him to the ground. The others were mortally wounded at the first fire. Mrs. Baker and Mrs. Jones were in the house…. [end p55] The Indians went immediately to Jones house, broke it open, shot Miss Wilson, and departed. Mrs. Baker, who had a child in her arms, in her fright fell down cellar, and was not noticed; nor was Mrs. Webster, who was in the covered wagon….

“When the wounded were dead, Mrs. Baker and Mrs. Webster hastened to the house of a Norwegian a few miles distant, and, half dead with freight, narrated what had occurred. There was no man at home, and a boy was dispatched to give the alarm at Ripley, twelve miles distant, where a meeting was then being held to [end p56] raise volunteers for the war. So incredulous were the people of any hostility on the part of the Indians, that they did not credit what the boy said for some little time, but finally they sent a messenger with the news to Forest City, twelve miles distant, where Captain Whitcomb had a number of recruits; and twelve or fifteen horsemen rode to Acton, which they reached at dusk. They placed a wagon-box over Jones, but did not disturb the bodies until next morning, after an inquest was held…. [p57]

“….Messengers were dispatched at once to the governor at Saint Paul for assistance.

“The four Indians who committed the murders immediately proceeded to the house of a Mr. Eckland, near Lake Elizabeth, and stole two horses, one of them engaging the owner in conversation while it was done, and then mounting, two on each horse, rode at a rapid pace to Shakopee’s village, at the mouth of Rice Creek, which they reached before daylight, and stated what had occurred.” [End of p. 58.]

“CHAPTER IV. Commencement of the Massacre and the Battle of Red-Wood Ferry.

“When the relatives of the murderers heard their story, they determined at once to commence the massacre, knowing that unless they did so, the guilty parties would be caught and delivered up to justice. The more cautions of the band were opposed to this; but it was finally understood that, as it was agreed in the council of the previous evening to camp at the agency that night on their way to Fort Ridgely and Saint Paul, they would start for there as soon as it was light, and consult with Crow and the other Indians about the best course to pursue.

“So down they came in the early morning, their numbers increasing rapidly with accessions from the different villages, and when they reached Crow’s house, two miles above the agency, they mustered one hundred and fifty men, most of them armed and well mounted, and all shouting and mad with enthusiasm, and anxious and eager for the fray….they told him what had transpired, and asked what they had better do. The exigency of the occasion was startling; and so fully alive was he to the perils to which a decision either way would expose him, that, as he afterward stated, the perspiration came [end p59] out in great beads upon his forehead. It was evident that the minds of those before him were made up, and that they would be joined by all the young men of the tribes. Suspicion of bribery by the whites had already attached to him and defeated his election for speakership, and his influence was fast waning. This nettled his scheming, ambitious spirit, and he knew that if he fell in with this movement his eloquence and superior intellect would secure him the leadership of the nation.

“On the other hand, in his various trips to Washington, he had acquired a knowledge of the immense forces of the whites and the danger of a hostile collision with them. But the fear of imminent personal [end p60] danger which his refusal might then incite – the dream of possible success – the ties and affinities of kindred – the mad excitement of the hour, decided him, and he said, ‘Trouble with the whites is inevitable sooner or later. It may as well take place now as at any other time. I am with you. Let us go to the agency, and kill the traders and take their goods.’

“Then sending the news down by swift messengers to the bands of Wabashaw, Waconta, and Red Legs, the Indians hastened with Crow to the agency, breaking up, as they entered the village, into small parties, and surrounding the different houses and stores. It was agreed that the attack upon the houses and stores should be as nearly simultaneous as possible, and that upon the discharge of the first gun the massacre should commence.

“Nothing save the presence of an overawing force of armed men could now have restrained their purpose. Such there was not. On the contrary, as before stated, many of t he men at the agency were on the way to Fort Snelling to be mustered into one of the new regiments for the Southern war, and those who were left were unprepared for defense and unsuspicious of danger. The doom of the people was sealed; the signal gun sounded….The first shot was fired at Myrick’s store, in the upper part of the town, between six and seven o’clock [end p61] in the morning. James Lynde was the first victim. He was standing in the door….Then they killed in the same store, almost immediately, Divall, a clerk, and Fritz, the cook. Young Myrick was upstairs…he clambered up through the scuttle, slipped down the lightning-rod to the roof of a low addition used as a warehouse, and jumped to the ground, and ran toward the brush covering the steep bank of the Minnesota River, which was near…As he ran, some Winnebagoes discharged their arrows at him without effect; but just as he reached the thicket a Sioux shot him with his gun and brought him to the ground, where he was found days afterward with a scythe and many arrows sticking in his body.

“At Forbes’s store they killed Jo. Belland and Antoine Young; at Roberts’s store, Brusson; and at La Batte’s old La Batte and his clerk. The superintendent of farms was shot, and the workman who was digging the well for a brick-yard for his destroyers’ benefit. Many others perished at the same time. At Forbes’s store they wounded George Spencer in the arms and side, but he was saved by an Indian friend. [end p62] ….

“The Indians being much engaged inn plundering the stores, many escaped uninjured…. [p.65]

[A witness, Reverend Mr. Hindman, when interviewed by Heard, stated that he saw Little Crow say to a group of warriors who were stealing horses and were trying to be stopped by three white men] ‘What are you doing? Why don’t you shoot these men? What are you waiting for?’ Immediately the Indians fired, wounding Wagner, who escaped across the river to die, and killing Lamb and the other man.” [p. 66]

“….The bands of Wabashaw and of the other chiefs below the agency soon came up and joined in the plundering and murdering. When the work was completed at the agency, the savages rapidly betook themselves to the surrounding country. The ferryman, Mauley, who resolutely ferried across the river at the agency all who desired to cross, was killed on the other side just as he had passed the last man over. He was disemboweled; his head, hands, and feet cut off, and thrust into the cavity….William Taylor, a colored man, flying from the agency, was also shot on the opposite side of the river, two miles below [and killed]…. [p. 67]

“Dr. Humphreys, the physician to the Lower Indians, fled with his wife and three children, two boys and a girl, the eldest aged twelve years, and reached the house of one Magner, two miles from the river. The doctor sent one of the boys down a little hill to bring some water, as they were very thirsty. While the child was gone the Indians killed his father, and burned his mother and the other two children in the house….

“All the buildings at the agency but two were committed to the flames.

“Down the river, on each side, below the fort, and within six miles of New Ulm, and up the river to Yellow Medicine, the massacres that day extended. At Beaver Creek, and at the Sacred Heart Creek, large numbers perished. Parties gathering together for flight with their teams and movables, and partially armed, would be suddenly met by large bands of Indians, and, seeing the futility of resistance, would give up everything, thinking that thereby they would appease the wrath of their opponents, and be allowed to escape, but all in vain. Quick and barbarous destruction was their portion. Occasionally some would be allowed to indulge in a hope of escape, and to pass a little distance on their way, but soon a gunshot [end p68] would bring them to the ground, and death would teach them that their foes were only toying with them as the cat toys with the mouse….

“A gentleman living near New Ulm with his family went to the town without apprehending any danger. While he was gone the Indians came and killed two of his children before their mother’s eyes, and were quickly dispatching her infant son, when she seized it and fled to her mother’s house, a few yards distant. They pursued her and shot at her a number of times, but without success. They killed her mother, her sister, and servant-girl, but she escaped with her infant…. [p.69]

“Another little boy, whom they left for dead, was brought into the settlements badly wounded. They had driven a knife into his right eye, and it had fallen from its socket…upon his cheek.

“A farmer and his two sons were engaged in stacking wheat. Twelve Indians approached unseen to a fence, and from behind it shot the three. Then they entered the farmer’s house and killed two of his young children in the presence of their mother, who was ill with consumption, and dragged the mother and a daughter aged thirteen years miles away to their camp. There, in the presence of her dying mother, they tripped off her clothes, fastened her upon her back to the ground, and one by one violated her persons until death came to her relief.

“One Indian went into a house where a woman was making bread. Her small child was in the cradle. He split the mother’s head open with his tomahawk, and then placed the babe in the hot oven, where he kept it until it was almost dead, when he took it out and beat out its brains against the wall.

“Children were nailed living to tables and doors, and [end p70] and knives and tomahawks thrown at them until they perished from fright and physical pain. The womb of the pregnant mother was ripped open, the palpitating infant torn forth, cut into bits, and thrown into the face of the dying woman. The hands and heads of the victims were cut off, their hearts ripped out, and other disgusting mutilations inflicted. Whole families were burned alive in their homes.

“Before noon the news of the outbreak reached the fort, and Captain Marsh, of the 5th regiment of Minnesota Volunteers, started at one for the agency with forty-eight men. He was mounted on a mule, and his men were in wagons.

“Mr. Hindman, with ten fugitives from the agency, met him at two o’clock a mile from the fort. Mr. Hindman asked him if he was going to the ferry at the agency. He said he was, and the former cautioned him against it, telling him if he went there he would be sure to get into trouble; that the Indians were killing everybody, and that he had better go no farther than the bluff opposite the ferry, and there collect what women and children he could, and bring them into the fort. He replied that he had plenty of powder and lead, and enough men to whip all the Indians between there and the Pacific Ocean, and that he was not only going to the ferry, but across the ferry. Hindman told him that it was none of his business, but that the Indians outnumbered him three to one, and that certain death awaited him. The other fugitives with Hindman coincided in his admonitions; but Marsh, naturally a brave, daring fellow, and experienced in war by his service in a Wisconsin regiment during the Virginia campaign, and sharing in the [end p71] common contempt of Indian valor, thanked them for their suggestions and rode on.

“Five miles from the ferry they met John Magner, a member of Marsh’s company, who had been visiting his home near the agency on furlough. It was in his house that Dr. Humphrey’s wife and children were burned. He had lain secreted in a cornfield, and had witnessed the flames of his house, and had seen many of the people slain. Marsh ascertained from whim what had happened, but, nothing dauted, boldly advanced to the ferry.

“On the road they saw many dead bodies. Dr. Humphrey’s little boy, who had remained concealed until now, joined them, as also did another fugitive, and accompanied them to the ferry. When they reached the ferry, which was at sundown, the Indians came to the opposite bank, and a conversation ensued between them and Marsh, through his interpreter Quinn.

“Marsh told them he was coming over to look into things, and ascertain what the trouble was. Some said he must not, and that they would shoot any one who tried it. White Dog advised him to cross. While this parley was going on, many Indians had secretly crossed over and surrounded Marsh. It was a long distance across the bottom to the bluff. Both banks were wooded, and thick with tall grass and bushes. On the opposite shore, around the saw-mill, were many logs, behind which Indians lay concealed.

“Marsh saw nothing of the Indians on his side of the river, and sent Magner a little distance below to where he could get a good view to ascertain the numbers on the other side, and sent another man into the water to bring in the ferry-boat, which was a few feet from [end p77] shore. Magner soon returned, and told him it was certain death to cross. Others sided with Magner, and Marsh said he would this time yield his own judgment to that of others, and ordered his men who were fronting the ferry to an about face. The Indians evidently desired all the soldiers to get upon the boat and partly across the river before they fired, as then all could be killed. As soon as it became manifest that the idea of crossing was abandoned, Little Crow gave the signal to White Dog to fire. White Dog passed it to others, and from every side, amid hideous yells, burst on the terror-stricken whites the storm of bullets. Nearly half of their number fell at the first fire, and those who were not killed outright perished by the tomahawk.

“Quinn, the interpreter, who was standing with his band on the corner of the ferry-house, received twenty balls in his body, and, at the same time, an Indian standing close by shot him with arrows. The survivors sought safety in flight, discharging, however, before they left, several volleys at their enemies, by which one was killed and five wounded.

“Captain Marsh was uninjured, although he stood close beside Quinn, and had his mule killed under him. Gathering nine of his men together, among whom was Magner, he succeeded in getting two miles down the river, but, discovering that the Indians were cutting off his way to the fort, he ordered his men to cross the stream at a point where it was supposed to be fordable, and bravely led the way himself, holding over his head his revolver in one hand, and his sord in the other. He was soon beyond his depth, and it [end p73] was perceived that he was drowning. Magner and another man went to his assistance, but too late. He sank from their sight, and his corpse was found in the river miles below some days afterward. He must have suddenly been taken with cramp, as he was an expert swimmer.

“His nine companions safely made their way into the fort. Others also escaped; among them was Dr. Humphreys’s son. Twenty-four of the number perished.

“Nine Winnebagoes were present, and participated in the battle. Little Priest, one of their most distinguished chiefs, was seen to fire upon the whites. The Indians were highly jubilant over this success. Whatever of doubt there was before among some as to the propriety of embarking in the massacres disappeared, and the Lower Indians became a unit upon the question. Their dead enemies were lying all around them, and their camp was filled with captives. They had taken plenty of arms, and powder, and lead, and provisions, and clothing. The ‘Farmer’ Indians and members of the Church, fearing, like all other renegades, that suspicion of want of zeal in the cause would rest upon them, to avoid it became more bloody and brutal in their language and conduct than the others.

“During the day three messengers were dispatched with the news to the Upper Indians at Yellow Medicine. The first messenger was not believed. When his report was confirmed by the second messenger, the Indians assembled together in council to the number of one hundred or more. Among them were thirty of the young Yanktonais. They were divided in sentiment as to what action should be taken. Some advised the killing of all the whites, and the taking of their [end p74] goods, as they would all be considered by the whites as embroiled in the difficulties which had already taken place. The others insisted that the whites should be sent to the settlement, with their horses and what they could carry away.

“Other Day, a civilized Indian, addressed the council, telling them that they might easily kill a few unarmed whites – five, ten, or a hundred – but the consequence would be that their whole country would be soon filled with soldiers of the United States, and all of the Indians would be killed or driven away. ‘Some of you,’ he said, ‘say you have horses, and can escape to the plains; but what, I ask you, will become of those who have no horses?’ Their reply was that they would have to suffer for [end p75] what the others had done in any event. Then came the other messenger with news of Marsh’s disaster, and the council broke up in a row, and the Yanktonais, Sissetons, and a few of the Wahpetons moved toward the house of the whites for an attack.

“Then Other Day seized his wife, who was a white woman, by the arm, took his gun, and went to the houses of the whites, who knew nothing of the assembling of the council, to warn them of their danger, and they assembled in the warehouse to the number of fifty, with the determination to defend themselves to the last extremity. Other Day and four of his relations stood on the outside of the building all night, to watch for and give notice of any attack. While there, squads of Indians hovered around, watching an opportunity to catch them unawares. At ten o’clock they went to Garvie’s store, and found him there, as he supposed they were only bent upon pillage. They fired seven shots at him, two of which took effect. He ran upstairs, got his gun, jumped out of thee second story window, and made his way to the warehouse. Two others were killed on the bottom lands near the agency buildings.

“Abou daybreak they heard a gun go off near a warehouse a mile away, followed by others in rapid succession, and then a general yell as the Indians broke into the building. Then those who were watching the whites ran for this warehouse, and the whites, under the guidance of Other Day, crossed the river and made their way to the settlements. The party consisted of forty-two women and children, and twenty men. Among the former was the wife and children of the Agent, Mr. Galbraith. Garvie was left at [end p76] Hutchinson, and died soon after from the effects of his wounds….
CHAPTER V. The Attacks Upon New Ulm and Fort Ridgely.

“Agent Galbraith, with his company of forth-five men, who were known as the ‘Renville Rangers,’ were in St. Peter’s when the news arrived. That night was spent in running bullets, and getting ready for the relief of the fort and New Ulm….The Renville Rangers…started between six and seven o’clock for the fort, and it was determined [in St. Peter’s] to send a detachment to the succor of New Ulm….[p. 78.]

“Little Crow, with three hundred and twenty warriors, left the agency for the fort during the morning, pursuant to an understanding had the previous evening, but on the way dissensions arose, which resulted in a division of the force. One hundred and twenty, under Little Crow, went to the vicinity of the fort, but made no attack that day. While they were concealed in the neighborhood, Shehan and Galbraith, with their [end p79] men, made their way into the fort unmolested. Had the design of attacking the fort, which was proposed by Crow, been carried out, it could easily have been taken, as the garrison only numbered about thirty effective men, before the arrival of the re-enforcements.

“The remainder of the party, intent upon plunder, scattered themselves through the settlements around New Ulm and on the Cotton-Wood.

“At four o’clock one hundred of them gathered together, and made an attack upon the town, burning the buildings on the outskirts, and killing several persons in the street. This town contained a population of some 1500 souls, principally Germans, and this number was now largely increased by the fugitives….The houses were scattered over a long extent of ground, and this rendered the place difficult of defense. While the attack was progressing, Boardman, with his fifteen mounted men, arrived at the ferry, and dashed into the town at full gallop….As soon as Boardman’s men arrived, they [the citizens] went outside of the barricades, and, by vigorous firing, drove the Indians away at dark with a loss of several killed and wounded. It is conceded that these men saved the town…. [p. 80.]

“….No Indians appearing [in New Ulm the next day] the men commenced roaming about the prairie. A mile and a half from town they found nine men, some dead and others nearly so – all horribly mutilated. These were a portion of a party of sixteen who had started for their homes at Leavenworth, on the Cotton-Wood, and, being beset by Indians, endeavored to make their way back during the attack on the previous day….Many dead bodies were found and buried. There were no farther signs of Indians for several day.

“At a quarter past three o’clock P.M. on Wednesday, Little Crow, being re-enforced by those who had been at New Ulm on the previous day, made an attack upon Fort Ridgely. The garrison were not expecting anything of the kind, and were at once thrown into the utmost confusion. The first announcement that the Indians were in the neighborhood was a volley fired through one of the openings, which was attended with fatal effect. Sergeant Jones, the ordinance sergeant, attempted to use the cannon, but found, to his surprise, that they could not be [end p82] discharged. On removing the charges, they were found to be stuffed with rags, the work of some half-breeds, who had left the fort under pretense of going to cut kin-ne-kin-nic [willow bark used for smoking] and had deserted to the enemy. They were reloaded, and a brisk fire kept up. At half past six o’clock in the evening the attack ceased, with a loss to the garrison of three killed and eight wounded, and to the Indians of several killed and wounded. Among the latter was Little Crow, who was grazed across the breast by a cannon ball.

“On Thursday morning, at half past nine o’clock, the attack was renewed, and lasted for about half an hour. At ten minutes before six o’clock P.M. the attack was again renewed, and continued about the same length of time. The assailants were by no means as numerous as before, as many had left upon marauding excursions through the surrounding neighborhood.

“Little Crow returned that night with his men to the agency, and found that the Upper Indians, whom he had sent for by Little Six, had arrived; and next morning, enthusiastic with the hope of success, 450 warriors, Little Crow among the number, started for the fort with a long train of wagons in which to carry their plunder. Leaving these on the reservation side of the river, they crossed over and concealed themselves in the ravines around the fort. The first intimation to the garrison of the presence of the Indians was the appearance of about twenty warriors on the prairie, who began waving their blankets and uttering shouts of derision and defiance. This was done for the purpose of luring the whites from the fort, when [end p83] a rush was to be made to the inside. In this they failed; and as soon as it became apparent that this stratagem would not succeed, a shower of bullets rained upon the for from every direction…The attack continued until a quarter before seven P.M., nearly five hours, and was most determined, bitter, and persistent….During the fight one white was killed and seven slightly wounded….

“Among those in the fort were the Sioux agent, Mr. Galbraith, and Messrs. Ramsey, Hatch, and Wykoff, who had with them some $72,000 in coin to make the payment. They had reached the fort with it on Monday, the first day of the outbreak…. [p. 84.]

Heard goes on to note on pages 85 and 86, the deaths of two soldiers who had been away from the fort and were killed while trying to get back.

On pages 86-93 Heard describes a second attack on New Ulm and its defense. “The whites lost about ten killed and fifty wounded. The loss of the Indians in killed and wounded was also considerable.

CHAPTER VI. Farther Outrages During the First Week of the Outbreak.

“Some of the individual outrages which occurred on Monday were detailed in the fourth chapter; but while New Ulm and Fort Ridgely were attacked, the depredations extended throughout the whole western frontier of Minnesota, and into Iowa and Dakota. During this week over seven hundred people perished and about two hundred were made captive. On Tuesday two Indians killed Mr. Amos W. Huggins at Lac qui Parle. He was there engaged in conducting a school for their children, and was born and bred among them. Mr. Galbraith thus speaks of him: ‘Mr. Huggins exercised nothing but kindness toward the Indians. He fed them when hungry, clothed them when naked, attended them when sick, and advised and cheered them in all their difficulties. He was intelligent, industrious, energetic, and good, and yet he was one of the first victims of the outbreak, shot down like a dog by the very Indians whom he had so long and so well served.’ His wife and child, and a Miss Julia La Fromboise, also a teacher, were dragged into captivity.

“Early on Wednesday, Antoine Freniere, the Sioux interpreter, who had been dispatched from Fort Ridgely on Tuesday, by the agent Galbraith, to ascertain the condition of affairs at the Yellow Medicine Agency [end p96], where he had left his family, went into a house a few miles below the agency to get a match to light his pipe. There he saw seven little children, the eldest not over eight years of age, Germans. One of them a girl, was wounded in the hand. They appeared to be stupid and unconscious of their condition. Freniere asked the eldest where her mother was, and she pointed out of doors in a particular direction. He went out, and, passing down a little path toward the spot indicated, suddenly came upon a sight which froze his veins with horror. There, closely grouped together, were twenty-seven dead bodies, pierced with bullets, and hacked with knives and hatchets, pale and ghastly, and clotted with blood. The only living creature was a little child on the breast of a woman, probably its mother, vainly seeking for nourishment. Terrified by the sight, knowing that the savages were close around him, and that he could not save the children, he hastened away, leaving them to their fate.

“On the same day they began murdering at Lake Shetek and Spirit Lake, in Iowa, and also in the neighborhood of Forest City [IA], one hundred and twenty miles apart.

“About seven o’clock four Indians came to the house of a farmer named Anderson, residing with his family thirty miles west of Forest City, on Eagle Lake. They had often visited there before, were well acquainted with the family, and had received many favors from them. One was called John, and could talk English a little. They were all dressed in white men’s clothes, wore hats, and had their hair cut short. Each one carried a double-barreled shot-gun. When they came [end p97] to the door they shook hands with Anderson, and asked for some mild to drink, which he brought them in a pan. They drank it and handed the pan back, and he set it down and passed out the door. Then two of the Indians fired and killed him instantly. A son of Anderson had gone into the garden to dig potatoes for the Indians at their request, and they fired and killed him. Another son, standing in the door, was wounded in the shoulder and left for dead. The mother, with her little child rushed down cellar and escaped notice. A daughter, named Julia, ran into the high trass with a little sister aged ten years. The Indians, after a long search, discovered them, and, placing them on a pony, carried them west a mile and a half, where they camped, one of their number keeping watch upon the captives during the night. Early in the morning their ponies ran away, and the Indians started in pursuit. Julia and her sister ran into the bush, and reached Forest City two days afterward, ‘camping,’ to use her own words, on the open prairie at night, and sucking the cows for sustenance.

“Four other Indians on the way pursued and discharged their guns at them, but without effect. They escaped these by again getting into the brush. They saw lying dead along the road two acquaintances named Buckland and Peterson. Both had their heads cut off. All the skin was torn from Peterson’s face, and many long gashes, running lengthwise, were cut into his body, and two knives inserted in his stomach. When the Indians left the house, the mother, carrying her child, went to Green Lake, ten miles distant, expecting to find assistance, but the Indians had preceded her. Two days afterward she returned to her house, [end p.98] and found the wounded son, whom she had left for dead, composedly baking bread….

“The Lake Shetek settlement [MN] was about seventy miles west of Mankato, and numbered about forth-five persons, men, women, and children. They were attacked by Lean Bean and eight of his men, and by the bands of White Lodge and Sleepy Eyes. Ten or eleven of the party were taken captives, about twenty escaped, mostly severely wounded, and about fifteen were killed. Three women and six children were shot by one man, who was the recipient of frequent charities from the hands of the whites whom he killed. Among the persons killed was a child of Mr. Duly, four and a half years old, who was pounded to death by a squaw. Among those who escaped was the father, Mr. Duly; but, before he did so, he managed to put an end to the mortal career of one of his assailants – Lean Bear.

“The prisoners were carried to the Missouri River, and were afterward ransomed….The distance is estimated to be seven hundred and fifty miles by the route which they traveled. The women were [end p99] compelled to witness the murder of most of their children. The children who accompanied them are believed to be the only survivors of their respective families, with one exception.

“One of the lady captives was severely wounded in the foot by a gunshot, from which she suffered excruciatingly. She was enceinte [pregnant] at the time; but, notwithstanding her delicate condition, had the dreadful alternative presented to her of submitting to the vile embraces of her captors, or seeing her only surviving child brutally murdered. This brutality produced premature labor; but even this did not relieve her from the foul treatment to which she was continually subjected. From the time of her captivity to her release she was five times sold to different Indians, and has often been compelled to submit to the gratification of their brutal passions.

“The other lady, a very intelligent and respectable woman, who, at the time of her capture, had an infant several months old, after having been compelled to submit to the same heartless indignities for the sake of saving the life of her infant, had it wrested from her arms and its brains dashed out against the wagon she was driving. She, too, was changed from owner to owner in the same manner as the other, and forced to submit to the same treatment.

“One little girl, ten years old, who had received several wounds at the hands of the savages, was held prostrate on the ground by four of her captors, and violated by more than twenty young men of the tribe at a time. This treatment was kept up from day to day, until her system became completely prostrate, and herself well-nigh lifeless. [end of p. 100.]

“Another little girl, nine years of age, was subject to treatment still more brutal. In consequence of her tender years, the savages resorted to horrid mutilations of her person to enable them to gratify their lustful desires. It is improper to detail publicly all the cruelties to which they were subjected…

“At the time the little girl last mentioned was subject to these inhumanities, she was suffering from the effects of a compound fracture of the bones both above and below the elbow, produced by a gunshot wound, from which she has not yet recovered. During the massacre in Minnesota, and while on their journey to the Missouri, the savage practices of the younger Indians far surpassed in atrocity that of the older members of the tribe. Neither age, condition, nor sex among them were exempt from participation in these cruelties. The practice of shooting arrows into defenseless women and children constituted their favorite amusement.

“The meeting between Mr. Everett and his little daughter, many weary months afterward, was most affecting. His wife had been murdered, a son four years old had been killed before his eyes, and another still younger, was alive when last seen. He himself was then suffering from his wounds…. [p. 101]

“On the 2d of June last, Mr. Hurd, with another man, left home on a trip to Dakota Territory, to be absent a month…thus leaving Mrs. Hurd alone with her two children a Mr. Voigt, who had charge of the farm. On the morning of the 20th of August, about five o’clock, while Mrs. Hurd was milking, some twenty Indians rode up to the house and dismounted. She discovered among the horses one of their own that was [end p102] taken away by Mr. Hurd. She got into the house before the Indians, who entered and began smoking, as was their custom. Five of these men she knew, one being a half-breed that could speak English. Her children were in bed, and at the time of the entrance of the Indians asleep. The youngest, about a year old, awoke and cried, when Mr. Voigt took it up and carried it into the front yard, when one of the Indians stepped to the door and shot him through the body. He fell dead with the child in his arms. At this signal some ten or fifteen more Indians and squaws rushed into the house, they having been concealed nearby, and commenced an indiscriminate destruction of everything in the house, breaking open trunks, destroying furniture, cutting open feather-beds, and scattering the contents about the house and yard….While this destruction was going on, Mrs. Hurd was told that her life would be spared on condition that she would give no alarm, and leave the settlement by an unfrequented path or trail leading directly east across the prairie, in the direction of New Ulm, and was ordered to take her children and commence her march. Upon pleading for her children’s clothes, she was hurried off, being refused even her sun-bonnet or shawl. She took her youngest in her arms and led the other, a little boy of about three years, by the hand, and being escorted by seven Indians on horseback, she turned her [end p103] her back on her…home. The distance across the prairied in the direction which she was sent was sixty or seventy miles to a habitation. The Indians went with her three miles, and before taking leave of her repeated the condition of her release, and she was told that the whites were all to be killed, but that she might go to her mother. Thus she was left with her two children almost naked, herself bareheaded, without food or raiment, not even a blanket to shelter here and her children from the cold dews of the night or the storm.

“After the Indians left her…‘we took our way,’ said Mrs. Hurd….Two guns were fired when I was a short distance out, which told the death of my neighbor, Mr. Cook…. [p. 104]

“….on the morning of the third day, I again set forth on my weary road for the residence of Mr. Brown, twenty-five miles distant. This distance I reached in two days….When within about three miles of the residence of Mr. Brown, two of our neighbors from [end p107] Lake Shetek settlement overtook us, under the escort of the mail-carrier. Both of them had been wounded by the Indians and left for dead in the attack on the settlement. Thomas Ireland, one of the party, had been hit with eight balls, and, strange to say, was still able to walk, and had done so most of the way. Mrs. Estlick, the other person under escort, was utterly unable to walk, having been shot in the foot, once in the side, and once in the arm. Her husband had been killed, and her son, about ten years old, wounded. The mail-carrier had overtaken this party after the fight with the Indians at the lake, and, placing Mrs. Estlick in his sulky, he was leading his horse.

“….a little before sunset…we all arrived at the residence of Mr. Brown…This house was also deserted and empty….we took possession of the house and remained ten days. There we found potatoes and green corn. The mail-carrier, accompanied by Mr. Ireland, lame as he was, proceeded on the next morning to New Ulm, where they found there had been a battle with the Indians, and one hundred and ninety-two houses burned. A party of twelve men were immediately sent with a wagon to our relief. It was now that we learned the fate of Mr. Brown and family – all had been murdered! … [end of p. 108]

“Such instances of heroic fortitude [Mrs. Hurd] were not common. Many strong, burly men basely deserted their friends to save their own lives. Many were armed and did not fire a shot, so paralyzed were they by terror. Not over three Indians fell except in battle.

“Five persons were burning charcoal for the department on Big Stone Lake, at the upper extremity of the reservation, on Thursday. They had their tents pitched on the edge of a ravine near some woods. Toward morning they heard several war-whoops, and rushed out to see what was the matter, when fifty or sixty Indians, some on foot and some on horseback, surrounded them, and when they got within ten paces fired and killed all but one – Anthony Menderfield. He plunged in the ravine and made his escape amid a shower of bullets….

“On Saturday they massacred settlers and committed depredations in the Norwegian Grove settlements back of Henderson. There they committed one of their grossest outrages. Stripping a captive naked, they fastened her arms and legs to the ground by tying them to stakes. Then a dozen of them ravished her; and while she was almost fainting with exhaustion, they sharpened a rail and drove it into her person. This soon ended her life with the most horrible of tortures. On the same day, while the second battle at New Ulm was progressing, the Upper Sissetons commenced their ravages in the valley of the Red River of the North, murdering several persons at Breckinridge, and threatening Fort Abercrombie.

“Tens of thousands of acres of crops… [end p111] were abandoned to destruction. Cattle, wantonly shot down, lay rotting upon the prairies beside their owners….From Fort Abercrombie to the Iowa line, a frontage of two hundred miles, and extending inwardly from Big Stone Lake to Forest City, an area of over twenty thousand square miles, the torch and the tomahawk asserted themselves supreme….with…[little] exception, in this vast district there was no white person save the flying fugitive….

“The news of the first murders at Acton, on Sunday, and of the outbreak at Red-Wood, on Monday, reached St. Paul on Tuesday, the messengers notifying all the settlements through which they passed. It spread quickly throughout the country. Not credited at first, fearful confirmation was received in every passing hour. The frightened fugitives poured into the towns by thousands; large numbers of them crowding even to St. Paul, Hastings, and Winona, and many of them not stopping until they had left the state far behind them. St. Peter’s Mankato, Henderson, St. Cloud, Forest City, and Glencoe, and all the towns along the immediate frontier, were jammed with the sufferers. On every street corner they bared their wounds and told their piteous tales…. [p. 112.]

“….The Chippewa…commenced plundering the government property at their agency on the Upper Mississippi, and taking captives, and assembling their warriors at Gull Lake, twenty miles north of Fort Ripley, and sending their families to points remote from danger. Mysterious messages had been passing between their reservations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan during the previous year, and it was known that they complained of the same class of grievances as the Sioux. Hole-in-the-Day, a wise, brave, and distinguished chief, openly advocated a junction with the Sioux, and he himself had a personal encounter with the whites, in which shots were exchanged. He urged an exterminating war in the councils of his people, and only waited for the arrival of warriors from Leech Lake to attack Fort Ripley…Walker, the agent for the Chippewa at Crow-Wing, fled from the agency, and, the troubles so weighing upon his mind as to produce insanity, committed suicide near Monticello on the day of the second attack on New Ulm…. [p. 113.]

“Thus but faintly seen in the outline were the first week’s ravages of that fierce hurricane that strode forth… [p. 115.]

“CHAPTER VII. Forces Dispatched To The Frontier.

“….under the recent call of the President for volunteers, there were in the state several thousand men organized into regiments, and partially armed. These were at once hurried toward the frontier. Mounted volunteers were also called out by proclamation of the governor to join in pursuit of the foe. Officers in command, and the sheriffs of different counties, were authorized to impress horses and teams, and whatever else was judged necessary in the emergency.

“Upon the receipt of the news on Tuesday, Governor Ramsey hastened to Mendota, and requested the Hon. H. H. Sibley to take command, with the rank of colonel, of an expedition to move up the Minnesota Valley. He at once accepted the position, to which he was peculiarly fitted by reason of his long residence [end p117] among the Indians and his sound judgment, and the next morning started with four companies of the 6th regiment for St. Peter’s where he arrived on Friday, the day of the last battle at the fort. On Sunday this force was increased by the arrival of some two hundred mounted men, called the Cullen Guard, under the command of W. J. Cullen. These, with about one hundred more mounted men, were placed under the command of Colonel Samuel M’Phaill. On the same day arrived six more companies of the 6th regiment, of which Wm. R. Crooks was colonel. Several companies of volunteer militia had also congregated here, which swelled Sibley’s command to some 1400 men.

“Large as this force was, a total ignorance of the whereabouts, number, and designs of the enemy, and the vast importance of not suffering a defeat, rendered their movements slower than the fiery impatience of the people demanded. Besides, though arms and ammunition were more accessible than in time of peace, they were not such as the magnitude of the occasion required. The mounted men had no experience in was and were only partially armed, and that only with pistols and sabers, about whose use they knew nothing. A portion of the guns of the infantry were worthless, and for the good guns there were no cartridges that would fit. The foe was experienced in war, well-armed, confident of victory, and wrought up to desperation by the necessity of success. Colonel Sibley’s upward march was through scenes calculated to impress him with the importance of caution. The stream of fugitives down the valley far outnumbered those who marched up for their relief. [end of p. 118.]

A column reached St. Peter’s… Here they learned what had become of the people of New Ulm. On Monday, the 25th of August…the people, numbering about two thousand persons, comprising the women and children, the sick and the wounded, with a train of one hundred and fifty-three wagons, had abandoned the town and gone to Mankato… [p. 127]

“CHAPTER VIII. Birch Coolie. [Beginning p. 131]

As one detachment reached Birch Coolie where gunfire had been heard from a distance a group of tents was seen. “The tents proved to be those of Major Brown, and the scene presented was most horrible. The camp was surrounded by the dead bodies of the horses, over ninety in number, perforated with balls. The tents were riddled with bullets, as many as one hundred and four being found in a single one. Ditches were dug between the tents, and the horses and the dirt piled on them so as to form a breastwork. Within this circuit lay thirteen of the soldiers dead, and a number sounded, many of them mortally, and a few feet distant were more dead bodies. Among the wounded were Major Brown, Captain Anderson, Agent Galbraith, and Captain Redfield, of Colonel [end p.133] Sibley’s staff…..William Irvine, of west St. Paul, presented a terrible spectacle. He had been shot in the head…and yet he lived for a number of hours…

From survivors, Heard recounts how the attack commenced: “Just as it began to grow a little gray in the east, one of the sentinels thought he saw something creeping toward him in the grass. He fired at it, and before the echoes of the report had died away, a volley from three hundred guns, within a hundred yards of the slumbering camp, raked the tents ‘ fore and aft.’ [end p.134] For more than three hours this firing was kept up with scarcely an intermission, and in that fatal three hours some twenty men were killed or mortally wounded, some sixty severely wounded, and over ninety horses killed. The Indian guns were mostly double-barreled, and there was a perfect rain of lead upon the little camp; the tents were riddled with balls, and the scene beggared description. After the effect of the first fire was partially over the men commenced to ‘dig,’ and dig they did with one pick, three spades, a couple of old axes, knives, bayonets, and sticks, and by four o’clock P.M. they had holes enough in the ground to protect them from shooting at a distance. When they were relieved by Colonel Sibley that had been thirty-one hours without food or water, with but thirty rounds of ammunition to the man when they commenced, and with less than five when relieved. This was the most severe battle of the war in proportion to the number engaged. Twenty-three men were killed or mortally wounded, forty-five more severely wounded, and the remainder had been hit or received bullet-holes in their garments. One horse alone survived – a powerful stallion, who had been impressed at Henderson, and he was wounded.

“Captain Grant had found a woman the day before near Beaver Creek, who, though badly wounded by a discharge of buckshot, had made her escape from the massacre near Patterson’s Rapids. She had been fourteen days without seeing a human being, and had eaten nothing during this time but a few berries, obtained by dragging herself through the briers. When found she was nearly dead, and in such an exhausted [end p135] state as to be almost unable to speak, and could give but little account of herself or her sufferings. She was lying in a high wagon in the centre of the camp during the attack, and, strange to say, received no injury, though a number of balls passed through the wagon from different directions…. [p. 136.]

“CHAPTER IX. The War Party To The Big Woods. [top of p. 138.]

“Little Crow’s party to the Big Woods traveled thirty miles on Monday, and camped near Acton. Twenty of them were mounted, and Little Crow rode in his own wagon….They traveled together until noon of the next day, when a quarrel arose. Little Crow, with thirty-four Indians and the half-breeds, started for Cedar Mills to get flour, after which they were to return to Yellow Medicine. They camped a mile and a half from Acton. The other party determined to make a raid through the country to St. Cloud, and camped within half a mile of Crow, without either being aware that night of the presence of the other, or of their proximity to any white men.

“There was a party of white men, equally ignorant of the presence of these Indians, encamped at Action, about a mile distant, in the yard of Howard Baker, one of the victims of the outrage which preceded the massacre. They were enlisted men and volunteer militia from Hennepin County, numbering in all about seventy-five men, under the command of Captain Richard Strout, of company B of the 9th Minnesota regiment. In the night several scouts came through [end p138] from Forest City, informing them that on the preceding morning Captain Whitcomb had been attacked near that place by Indians…and to be on the lookout for them, and to hurry to the defense of the town. Early in the morning they started toward Hutchinson, intending to go from there to Forest City, as the direct road was more dangerous.

“They passed by the larger body of Indians unperceived. As they approached Crow’s camp, one of his Indians caught sight of them, and told the others there were three hundred whites coming. Then the Indians sent the half-breeds with the horses into the woods, and stripped themselves for battle. Just then the other part of Indians discovered the white men, and followed them up, whooping and firing. Crow’s party appeared in their front, and the whites charged through them, firing as they advanced, and made their way to Hutchinson, closely followed by the Indians for fur or five miles, losing nine horses, and several wagons containing arms, ammunition, cooking utensils, tents, etc., together with three killed and fifteen wounded.

“Among the killed was Edwin Stone, a respectable merchant of Minneapolis. He was on foot when wounded, and endeavored to get into a wagon, but fell backward exclaiming, ‘My God, they will butcher me.’ Little Crow’s son, a boy between fifteen and sixteen, ran up and shot him, and another Indian riding past jumped off his horse, sunk his tomahawk into his brain with a force that made him bound from the ground, leaped on his horse again, and joined in the pursuit…. [p. 139]

“On the preceding day (the 3d), about two o’clock in the morning, the Indians…numbering some fifty warriors, attacked Forest City, wounded two men, burned several buildings, and carried off a great deal of plunder.

“The Hutchinson party, after skirmishing most of the day around that place, returned to their camping-place near Cedar Mills. They were joined during the night by the party who had attacked Forest City the preceding day. One of these, Kah-shak-a-wa-kan, brought Mrs. Adams as a prisoner, He had taken her child with her, but afterward murdered it in her presence.

“Next morning the Indians again divided and returned home – Little Crow, with his party, by way of the Lower Agency, which he reached that night.

“One of the scouts, while riding along, was startled by his horse jumping aside. He looked for the cause, and saw a white man lying in a pile of grass, which [end p.140] he had pulled up and heaped around him for concealment. Close to him were ears of green corn partially eaten. He was a young man; his hands were small; his hair was long and fair; but his garments were tattered and torn with long journeyings, and the face was haggard and pale. He was asleep, with his cheek resting on his hand; so soundly asleep…that the trampling of the Indian’s horse did not arouse him. ‘What do you hear, my friend?’ sounded in his ear in the loud voice of the savage. The sleeper raised his head and gazed with startled apprehension in the face of his threatening foe…and before that expression had time even to change, the whirring axe dashed out the brains which gave it life. The murderer, dismounting, with his knife cut off the head…Crow said, ‘Poor fellow! his life ought to have been spared; he was too starved to have done us harm.’…. [p. 141.]

“Fort Abercrombie had been in a continued state of siege by the Sissetons since the 25th of August, and communication with it cut off, but the remainder of the country had been but little visited by the Indians since they left New Ulm on the 24th of August; and this fact, and the presence of the force on the frontier, had quieted the fears of the people, and induced many to return to their homes; but the attacks at Birch Coolie, Action, Hutchinson, Forest City and the massacre of citizens at Hilo [now Courtland], twenty miles above St. Peter’s, and in the Butternut Valley, far within Sibley’s lines, occurring on the 2d, ed, and 4th of September, threw the whole country again into the most intense excitement. Portions even of Ramsey County was depopulated, and citizens on the outskirts of St. Paul moved into the interior of the city. General Sibley’s family, living in Mendota, went one night to Fort Snelling for protection. Far and wide the wild news spread… [inserts a footnote here noting that “on the 3d September Fort Abercrombie was attacked in force by several hundred Sissetons and Yanktonais.”] [end p142]

“CHAPTER X. The Captives. [top of p. 143.]

“Colonel Sibley was compelled to remain many days inactive at Fort Ridgely for want of ammunition and supplies; nor did the Indians commit any extensive outrages in the meantime, for the reason that a correspondence was being carried on for the delivery of the captives and a cessation of hostilities.

“Little Crow, could he have followed his own inclinations, would have been willing, even at the commencement of the outbreak, to have made terms of peace. He did not join in the was as a matter of choice, but was forced into it by circumstances, as has already been shown. His reputation was that of a great liar, but he was not naturally a cruel-hearted man. It is said that many an Indian, who went by his door without sufficient covering, received from the chief a blanket, though he had to take it from his own back. He rejoiced, it is true, that the traders and employés of the government had been killed, because he considered that they had been the cause of all the troubles of his people, but it is not believed that he was guilty of the murder of any unarmed whiter person. He informed Chaska of the peril of his friend Spencer, and tried to save Myrick’s life, and, at the risk of his own, assisted Charles Blair to escape. He openly opposed the slaughter of unarmed settlers and their families. At the agency the next day after the [end p.143] massacre commenced, assembling his warriors together in council, he addressed them as follows:

‘Soldiers and young men, you ought not to kill women and children. Your consciences will reproach you for it hereafter, and make you weak in battle. You were too hasty in going into the country. You should have killed only those who have been robbing us so long. Hereafter make was after the manner of the white men.’

“Desirous as he might have been for the cessation of a hopeless contest, he dared not broach the subject in the beginning to his braves. They plunder that had acquired, the numerous bloody deeds that had committed, and the belief of success infused them with fierce joy, and determined them upon a continuance of the war. After the defeat at Fort Ridgely and New Ulm, the chief was mor thoroughly convinced than before of the certainty of defeat; and Joseph Campbell told the writer that at his (crow’s) dictation, on their way to the Big Woods, on the 1st of September, he wrote letters to Governor Ramsey and Colonel Sibley, requesting a cessation of hostilities and a treaty of settlement, and that these litters Crow exhibited to his braves, and that they would not allow them to be sent.

“From the first there was trouble between the Upper and Lower Indians. Besides the feeling of semi-hostility which exists between separate communities, and especially among Indians, who are always quarreling with one another, the pride of the former was hurt by the failure of the others to counsel with them before commencing the war. There was another ground of complaint more serious than this. The latter had [end p144] acquired a large amount of plunder before the Upper Indians came down, and their chiefs sent word if they would join in the war there should be an equal distribution of the spoils. This promise the braces of the Lower Indians refused to carry out, on the ground that it would be unfair to share with those who had done nothing that which they had periled their lives to obtain. They did not surrender for a long time even that which belonged to the half-breed relatives of the others, nor until a ‘Soldiers’ Lodge’ was formed, and demanded it in an interview which seriously threatened a bloody termination.

“Prominent among the disaffected was Paul Ma-za-ku-ta-ma-ne, a civilized Indian, and head deacon of Mr. Rigg’s church. Paul was a man of great oratorical powers and unflinching nerve. He was the chief speaker of the Sissetons. Like Crow, and other intelligent and aged men, he believed in the hopelessness of the context; nor was he at all chary in so expressing himself, for he had the protection of his people, who had not been so deeply implicated in the troubles as the others. At a council at the Lower Agency, soon after the Yellow Medicine Indians came down, Paul made the following speech to the Lower Indians:

‘Warriors and young men! – I am an Indian, and you are Indians, and there should be no secrets between us. Why, then, did you not tell us that you were going to kill the whites? All of us will have to suffer for what you have done. The preachers have told us that there is to be an end of the world. The end of the world is near at hand for the nation of the Dakotas. Every Indian knows that we can not live without the aid of the white man. Why, [end p145] then, have you acted like children? You have spoken, too, with false tongues. Two days ago you sent a message by Sha-ko-pee, one of your chiefs, that you had laid aside for us half of your plunder. We have come to get it, and we see nothing. If you choose to act by yourselves in this way, every man must do the same, and henceforth I shall think and look out for myself.’

“Little Crow was statesman enough to know that a main lever to the procurement of peace was the prosecution of a formidable war; and he was Indian enough to desire, if peace was not obtained, to inflict as much injury as possible upon his opponents. Policy, therefore, required that the Upper Indians should be encouraged and conciliated, and their aid secured.

“….Paul’s speech produced some effect among his people, but it was done away with by Crow, who addressed them at length, telling them that they could easily conquer the whites; that there was plenty more plunder in the country; and that all they had to do was to persevere, and they could camp the next winter with their squaws in St. Paul….

“Colonel Sibley, on leaving the battle-ground at Birch Coolie with a view of obtaining the release of the captives, had attached to a stake a communication in the following words:

‘If Little Crow has any proposition to make, let him send a half-breed to me, and he shall be protected in and out of camp.
H. H. Sibley, Col. Com’g Mil. Ex’n.’

“This was found and delivered to Crow on his return from Hutchinson, and he at once dispatched, with the consent of his braves, whom the Birch Coolie affair had disheartened, two mixed bloods under a flag of truce, with a letter, of which the following is substantially a copy:

‘Yellow Medicine, September 7th, 1862.
‘Dear Sir, — For wat reason we have commenced this war I will tell you. It is on account of Major Galbraith. We made a [end p148] treaty with the government, and beg for what we do get, and can’t get that till our children are dying with hunger. It is the traders who commenced it. Mr. A. J. Myrick told the Indians that they would eat grass or dirt. Then Mr. Forbes told the Lower Sioux that they were not men. Then Roberts was working with his friends to defraud us out of our moneys. If the young braves have pushed the white men, I have done this myself. So I want you to let Governor Ramsey know this. I have a great many prisoners, women and children. It ain’t all our fault. The Winnebagoes were in the engagement, and two of them were killed. I want you to give me an answer by the bearer. All at present.
‘Yours truly,
Friend Little Crow.’
Addressed, ‘Gov. H. H. Sibley, Esq., Fort Ridgeley.’

“By these messengers Colonel Sibley sent the following reply:

Little Crow, — You have murdered many of our people without any sufficient cause. Return me the prisoners under a flag of truce, and I will talk with you then like a man.
‘H. H. Sibley, Col. Com’g Mil. Exp’d.’

“On the 12th of September, the same messengers ho had appeared on the previous occasion made a second entry into camp as bearers of dispatches from the same source as before. The following is a literal copy of the communication:

‘Red Iron Village, or May awaken.
‘To Hon H H Sibley
‘We have in mawakanton band One Hundred and fifty five prisoners – not include the Sisseton & Wahpeton prisoners, then we are waiting for the Sisseton what we hare going to do with the prisoners they are coming down. They are at Lake quiparle now. The words that il [I’ll?] to the government il want to here from him also, and I want to know from you as a friend what way that il can make peace for my people – in regard to prisoners they fair with our children or out self jist [sic] as well as us.
Your truly friend Little Crow
‘per A J Campbell’

“To this communication Colonel Sibley penned the [end p148] following reply, and sent it forward by the messengers of Little Crow upon their return to the encampment of that chief:

‘Head-quarters Military Expedition, September 12, 1862.
‘To Little Crow, Sioux Chief:

‘I have received your letter of to-day. You have not done as I wished in giving up to me the prisoners taken by your people. It would be better for you to do so. I told you I had sent your former letter to Governor Ramsey, but I have not yet had time to receive a reply. You have allowed your young men to commit nine murders since you wrote your first letter. This is not the way for you to make peace.
H. H. Sibley, Col. Com’g Mil. Exp’n.’

“At the same time that the last letter was received from Little Crow, Mr. Robertson, one of the messengers from that chief, brought privately and in a clandestine manner the following note from Wabashaw and Taopee, one of the Farmer Indians:

‘Mayawukan, September 10th, 1862.
‘Col. H. H. Sibley, Fort Ridgely:

‘Dear Sir, — You know that Little Crow has been opposed to me in every thing that our
people have had to do with the whites. He has been opposed to every thing in the form of civilization or Christianity. I have always been in favor of, and of late years have done everything of the kind that has been offered to us by the government and other good white people – he has now got himself into trouble that we know he can never get himself out of, and he is trying to involve those few of us that are still the friend of the American in the murder of the poor whites that have been settled in the border, but I have been kept back by threats that I should be killed if I did any thing to help the whites; but if you will now appoint some place for me to meet you, myself and the few friends that I have will get all the prisoners that we can, and with our family go to whatever place you will appoint for us to meet. I would say further that the mouth of the Red-Wood, Candiohi, on the north side of the Minnesota, or the head of the Cotton-wood River – one of these places, I think, would be a good place to meet. Return the messenger as quick as possible. We have not much time to spare.
‘Your true friends, Wabashaw, Taopee.’ [end of p. 149.]

“To this letter Colonel Sibley returned by the same messenger the following answer:

‘Head-quarters Military Indian Expedition, September 12th, 1862.
‘To Wabashaw and Taopee:

‘I have received your private message. I have come up here with a large force to punish the murderers of my people. It is not my purpose to injure any innocent person. If you and others who have not been concerned in the murders and expeditions will gather yourselves, with all the prisoners, on the prairie in full sight of my troops, and when a white flag is displayed by you a white flag will be hoisted in my camp, and then you can come forward and place yourself under my protection. My troops will be mounted in two days’ time, and in three days from this day I expect to march. There must be no attempt to approach my column or my camp except in open day, and with a flag of truce conspicuously displayed. I shall be glad to receive all true friends of the whites, with as many prisoners as they can bring, and I am powerful enough to crush all who attempt to oppose my march, and to punish those who have washed their hands in innocent blood. I sign myself the friend of all who were friends of your great American Father.
‘H. H. Sibley. Colonel commanding Expedition.’

“Wabashaw and Taopee were Lower Indians, and dared not to do anything openly in favor of a delivery of he prisoners; but there began now a fierce controversy on the subject between a part of the Upper Indians, headed by Paul, and the others. The Lower Indians saw from Colonel Sibley’s letters that he demanded an unconditional surrender of the captives, and that he would not make terms by which any of the guilty might escape, and, knowing that they were all deeply implicated, determined that the captives should share whatever fate they suffered. Paul thought, if the Upper Indians could get possession of the captives and deliver them to the whites, most of them would escape with impunity. He sought to detach them from the others, and make them a unit [end 150] on this point, and, to accomplish it, cunningly fanned the elements of separation which already existed.

“While the discussion proceeded, the Lower Indians, in order to counsel about the matter, made a feast, and invited the others to attend. Nearly all the Annuity Sioux were present. The following speeches were made. Mazza-wa-mnu-na, of Shakopee’s band, a Lower Indian, made the first speech.

‘You men who are in favor of leaving us and delivering up the captives, talk like children. You believe, if you do so, the whites will think you have acted as their friends, and will spare your lives. They will not, and you ought to know it. You say that the whites are too strong for us, and that we will all have to perish. Well, by sticking together and fighting the whites, we will live, at all events, for a few days, when, by the course you propose, we would die at once. Let us keep the prisoners with us, and let them share our fate. That is all the advice I have to give.’

“Rda-in-yan-ka, Wabashaw’s son-in-law, and a soldier of Crow’s band, spoke next as follows:

‘I am for continuing the war, and am opposed to the delivery of the prisoners. I have no confidence that the whites will stand by any agreement they make if we give mem up. Ever since we treated with them their agents and traders have robbed and cheated us. Some of our people have been shot, some hung; others placed upon floating ice and drowned; and many have been starved in their prisons. It was not the intention of the nation to kill any of the whites until after the four men returned from Acton and told what they had done. When [end 151] they did this, all the young men became excited, and commenced the massacre. The older ones would have prevented it if they could, but since the treaties they have lost all their influence. We may regret what has happened, but the matter has gone too far to be remedied. We have got to die. Let us, then, kill as many of the whites as possible, and let the prisoners die with us.’

“Paul was the next speaker. A great many Indians were present; and as he was anxious that all should hear, he stood up on a barrel, and spoke in a loud voice as follows:

‘I am going to tell you what I thin, and what I am ready to do, now and hereafter. You, M’dewakanton and Wahpekuta Indians, have been with the white men a great deal longer than the Upper Indians, yet I, who am an Upper Indian, have put on white men’s clothes, and consider myself now a white man. I was very much surprised to hear that you had been killing the settlers, for you have had the advice of the preachers for so many years. Why did you not tell us you were going to kill them? I ask you the question again, Why did you not tell us? You make no answer. The reason was, if you had done so, and we had counseled together, you would not have been able to have involved our young men with you. When we older men heard of it we were so surprised that we knew not what to do. By your involving our young men without consulting us you have done us a great injustice. I am now going to tell you something you don’t like. You have gotten our people into this difficulty through your incitements to its rash young soldiers without a council being called and our consent obtained, and I shall use all the means I can to [end 152] get them out of it without reference to you. I am opposed to their continuing this war, or of committing farther outrages, and I warn them not to do it. I have heard a great many of you say that you were brave men, and could whip the whites. This is a lie. Persons who will cut women and children’s throats are squaws and cowards. You say the whites are not brave. You will see. They will not, it is true, kill women and children, as you have done, but they will fight you who have arms in your hands. I am ashamed of the way that you have acted toward the captives. Fight the whites if you desire to, but do it like brave men. Five me the captives, and I will carry them to Fort Ridgely. I hear one of you say that if I take them there the soldiers will shoot me. I will take the risk. I am not afraid of death, but I am opposed to the way you act toward the prisoners. If any of you have the feelings of men, you will give them up. You may look as fierce at me as you please, but I shall ask you once, twice, and ten times to deliver these women and children to their friends. That is all I have to say.’

“White Lodge’s eldest son, one of those engaged in the Lake Shetek massacre, was the fourth speaker. He said:

‘I am an Upper Indian, but I am opposed to what Paul advises. I hope our people will not agree with him. We must all die in battle, or perish with hunger, and let the captives suffer what we suffer.’

“This was all that was said in this council Paul had no other speaker to assist him, and the Lower Indians would not consent that the captives should be delivered. [end of p. 153]

“Paul went home and communicated the result to those who coincided with him, and by their advice he killed an ox and invited the Indians to another feast and council. They met, and a similar discussion took place, in which Paul, in addition to what he had formerly stated, said that the captives should not be taken into the battle, as some of them threatened; that if he had to die, as they said he must, he would die in endeavoring to deliver them; and that, as one third of the Upper Indians would stand by him in this, they had better deliver them, if they desired to prevent a quarrel among themselves.

“The danger of collision was imminent. Had it occurred, the prisoners would all have been murdered. The Upper Indians, who were opposed to a junction with the Lower ones, formed a Soldiers’ Lodge, and commanded them not to proceed any farther into their country; and at Red Iron’s village, that chief, and a hundred and fifty Sissetons on horseback, formed a line in front of their column, and fired their guns off as a signal to halt. They were afraid that they were going through to Big Sone Lake [between western MN and northeastern SD], and leave them to stand the brunt of the rage of the whites; for they had said at first that they would make a stand at Yellow Medicine, and die there if necessary.

“On being assured that they would not go as far as Lac qui Parle, and giving Red Iron’s men some of their plunder, the chief allowed them to camp at a spot which he selected. The plunder was at first refused, and only a small portion turned over, and that under a threat from Red Iron and his men, that unless it was done, when Standing Buffalo, who was on his way, came down with the other Sisssetons, they [end 154] would join together and take the prisoners by force, and make peace with the whites, and leave the others to shift for themselves.

“At this time the prisoners stood in great peril, because many of the Lower Indians were in favor of killing them to remove the inducement they offered to thee others to separate and make peace. As an additional argument they said that the whites had starved them before, and that there was no use to take the bread from their own mouths to feed so many captives. [end p. 155]

“When Standing Buffalo and his warriors arrived, another council was called. The Sissetons were ranged on one side, the Wahpetons on another, and the Lower Indians by themselves. Paul was the first speaker. He said.

‘Soldiers and young me of the Sissetons! – I told the Lower Indians my mind before your arrival, and am now going to repeat what I have said in your hearing. First of all, they commenced war upon the whites without letting us know anything about it. The Sissetons didn’t hear of it until several days afterward. Why should we assist them? We are under no obligations to do so. I am part Sisseton and part Wahpeton, and I know that they have never interested themselves in our affairs. When we went to war against the Chippeways they never helped us.

‘Lower Indians! – Your are fools. We want nothing to do with you. We belong to the same nation, but you started the massacre without telling us about it, and have bribed our young men to kill the whites, and thought that by so doing you could involve us all in the same trouble. You are mistaken. You must give up the prisoners, or we will fight you. I and a hundred others have made up our minds to wait here for the soldiers.’

“Some of the younger Indians, who were fully armed, made so many angry demonstrations here that it was feared that the council would have a bloody termination; but they were persuaded to leave the grounds, and, after quiet was restored, Paul continued:

‘I want to know from you Lower Indians whether you were asleep or crazy. In fighting the whites, you are fighting the thunder and lightning. You will all [end 156] be killed off. You might as well try to bail out the waters of the Mississippi as to whip them. You say you can make a treaty with the British government. That is impossible. Have you not yet come to your senses? They are also white men, and neighbors and friends to the soldiers. They are ruled by a petticoat, and she has the tender heart of a squaw. What will she do for men who have committed the murders you have? Your young men have brought a great misfortune upon us. Let them go and fight the soldiers. But you, who want to live and not die, come with me. I am going to shake hands with the whites. I hear some of your young men talking very loud, and boasting that you have killed so many women and children. That’s not brave. You dare not. When you see their army coming on the plains, you will faint with fright. You will throw down your arms, and fly in one direction and your women in another, and this winter you will all starve. You will see that my words will come true. Go back from the lands of the Sissetons. They have not buffaloes enough for themselves, and can not feed you. Fight the whites on your reservation if you are not afraid of them. Make your boast good, and stop your lies.’

“Here the excitement of the Lower Indians became so great that some of them cried out, ‘Kill him! Kill him!’ But Paul, unfaltering, continued in a loud voice:

‘Some of you say you will kill me. Bluster away. I am not afraid. I am not a woman, and I shall not die alone. There are three hundred around me whom you will also have to kill before you have finished.’ [end of p. 157]

“Wabashaw’s son-in-law, Rda-in-yan-ka, made the next speech. He said:

‘We all heard what Paul said the other day, and we have had several councils to decide what to do, but have arrived at no conclusion, and we desire a little longer time to think over it. Before the treaties the old men determined these questions, but now I have no influence, nor have the chiefs. They young soldiers must decide it.’

“Wakin-yan-to-ci-ye, of Crow’s band, was the next speaker. He said:

‘You have asked for the prisoners several times and you must make up your minds not to ask any more. We are determined that the captives shall die with us.’

“Mah-pi-ya-na-xka-xka, a soldier of the Lac Qui Parle band, made the next speech. He spoke as follows:

I am an Upper Indian, and have heard what Paul has said, and do not agree with him. He is for giving up the captives and making peace. It can not be done. We have gone too far. Since the treaties, when did we do the least thing, either in stealing cattle or in harming a white man, that we did not get punished for? Now the Indians have been killing men, women, and children, how many God only knows, and if we hive ourselves up we shall all be hung. I have heard that there were four stores full of goods for us here. O come and find nothing. How is this?’

“Little Crow was the next speaker. He said:

‘Paul wants to make peace. It is impossible to do so, if we desired. Did we ever do the most trifling [end 158] thing, and the whites not hang us? Now we have been killing them by hundreds in Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa, and I know that if they get us into their power they will hang every one of us. As for me, I will kill as many of them as I can, and fight them till I die. Do not think you will escape. There is not a band of Indians from the Red-Wood Agency to Big Stone Lake that has not had some of its members embroiled in the war. I tell you we must fight and perish together. A man is a fool and a coward who thinks otherwise, and who will desert his nation at such a time Disgrace not yourselves by a surrender to those who will hang you up like dogs, but die, if die you must, with arms in your hands, like warriors and braves of the Dakota.’

“Standing Buffalo, hereditary chief of the Upper Sissetons, spoke next, as follows:

‘I am a young man, but I have always felt friendly toward the whites because they were kind to my father. You have brought me into great danger without my knowing of it beforehand. By killing the whites, it is just as if you had waited for me in ambush and 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, and that yet we have to suffer for the guilty. I was out buffalo-hunting when I heard of the outbreak, and I felt as if I was dead, and I feel so now. You all know that the Indians can not live without the aid of the white men, and therefore I have made up my mind that Paul is right, and my Indians will stand by him. We claim this reservation. What are you doing here? If you [end 159] want to fight the whites, go back and fight them. Leave me at my village at Big Stone Lake. You sent word to my young me to come down, and that you had plenty of oxen, and horses, and goods, and powder, and lead, and now we see nothing. We are going back to Big Stone Lake, and leave you to fight the whites. Those who make peace can say that Standing Buffalo and his people will give themselves up in the spring.’

“Wanata, the mixed Sisseton and Yanktonais chief, from the vicinity of Lac Traverse, was the next speaker. He said:

‘You ask me to fight the whites. I want to ask you a question. You said you had plenty of powder and lead for us. Where is it? You make no answer. I will. You have it all. Go, then, you, and fight the whites with it. You are unreasonable to aske me to do so, for two reasons: first, I have no powder and lead; second, I can’t live without the whites. You have cut my throat, and now you ask my assistance. You can’t have it. I am going home. Above Lac 1uo Parle the country belongs to us. Stay on you own lands and don’t come on ours. You can fight, and I will give myself up in the spring and shake hands with the whites. I have finished.’

“Wasou-washta and Wa-kein-to-wa, Spencer’s friend, were the only ones, besides Paul, who spoke openly in favor of delivering the prisoners. After this council the Lower Indians held one by themselves, and sent four Indians to Paul to know if his party would join them in the war, and he gave them the same answer. Then they accused him and the others of cowardice, and the interview ended in a quarrel. Paul also told them that he had heard that Wabashaw and Taopee had written a letter to Colonel Sibley, but they said that it was not true; that they had heard the same thing, and had asked Wabashaw about it, but he denied it.

“As time progressed the excitement increased, and the fate of the captives grew more hopeless. After Standing Buffalo arrived, a large number of Sissetons came in from Abercrombie. One of the squaws was loud in her incitements to battle. She had a white man’s whiskers tied to a pole, which she had obtained at the fort, and flourished over her head while she [end 161] sang a song to the purport that the whites had made the Indians mad, and that they would cut them into bits.

“Little Crow did not cease to encourage his men, for he perceived that there was no other course left open but battle. He stated that there were from two to three thousand British soldiers at Lac Traverse, who would soon be down to assist them, and that he believed, from signs he had seen at the Big Woods, that the Chippeways were co-operating with them. He urged that the Winnebagoes would also rise and go down the west side of the Mississippi, while he would take care of the country on the east, and that the other Sioux would capture the forts on the Missouri.

“There was a Yankton present who was a very fluent speaker. He addressed the Indians at great length in support of Crow’s views. He traced on the ground a map of the country, showing the course of the Missouri, and the locality of the different forts. He also marked out the ocean, and stated that a great nation was coming across this to help them, and its people would bring them plenty of ammunition. Crow’s brother ridiculed the courage of the whites, and narrated, with much glee, how he cut off the limbs of the men with one stroke of a cleaver, and that they made no resistance, but stared at him like poor dumb beasts. The young braves kept themselves in a high state of excitement by their war orgies. These then no longer conducted on foot, but upon the horses which they had stolen and trained to dance.

“Other letters, indicating the condition of affairs in the camp, and the anxiety and peril of the captives, were received from the friendly Indians from time to time, of which the following are copies; [end of p. 162]
….
‘Red Iron’s Village, September 15th, 1862.
‘Ex. Governor Sibley:
‘Hon. Sir, — I have just seen your letter to Wabaxa and the other two chiefs. They intend to raise the white flag. It is our intention to join these bands; but if your troops do not reach here till then last of the week, it may be too late for our rescue. The Red Iron and the lower bands have held two councils already about killing off the captives, which includes the whites, half-breeds, and all those that have dressed like the whites. I have tried all that I could to get the captives free; have held two councils with the lower bands, but Little Crow won’t give them up. Eight have come to me for protection till they can get better from their own people. I keep them in my family. I have tried to send a letter to you several times, but am watched very close. This letter, or rather a copy of it, was sent one day by a young man, but he could not get away from the other Indians in safety, so he returned. The half-breeds, and all the white captives, are in the greatest danger, for they declare they will put them to death as soon as your troops appear. We shall do as you requested as soon a practicable (that is, to raise the flag). Now, dear sir, please let me know what time we many expect you, for our lives are hazarded if we move before we can receive aid. I am glad you are powerful and strong, for, if God helps, you will conquer. As Christians, we are looking to him, and trust he will send you to free us. We have held meetings every Sabbath since the missionaries [end 163] left. Oh! Deliver us, if possible, from our savage foes, and we shall try to show you how much we honor our great American Father.
‘Very respectfully, Ma-za-ku-ta-ma-ne, or Paul.’ [p. 164]
….
‘CHAPTER XI. Upward March and Battle of Wood Lake. [top of p. 167]

“On the afternoon of the 18th of September the camp at Fort Ridgely was broken up, and the expedition, disgusted with the long inactivity, joyfully started on its upward march after the foe. As crossing above might be attended with an ambuscade, a boat was constructed near the fort, and the expedition there ferried over. Just as the last of the train was leaving, a man was seen coming from the west. The scouts rode toward him to ascertain who he was. He proved to be a fugitive German almost starved. When they approached he supposed that they were Indians, and was hacking away at his throat with his knife to commit suicide, but the edge was too dull to effect his purpose.

“The first camp was two miles above, and darkness came on before we were all across. Next morning we started with the dawn, and camped early in the afternoon a few miles below the agency. None of the enemy appeared during the day. Some of the men visited the houses of the ‘Farmer Indians,’ which were in the edge of the woods, and returned lade with buffalo robes and trinkets. A few miles above they found and buried the remains of Mr. Prescott, the government farmer. He had been concealed at the agency by his wife, a mixed blood, in an over during the massacre, and then started for the fort. [end of p. 167] The Indians met him. He pleaded long and earnestly for his life, but without avail. He was killed, and his head cut off and placed upon a pole, with the face toward St. Paul, ‘in order,’ as his murderers said, with grim facetiousness, ‘that he might watch for their money.’ He was an old man, and had lived many years among them. Soon after dark the presence of Indians was made manifest by their firing one of the buildings in the woods a mile from the camp. It was done to lure our men into an ambush, but it failed of success.

“Early the next morning we proceeded on our way. On passing Prescott’s grave we found several hundred little sticks thrust in the fresh dirt, indicating the number of Indians who had visited it. All that day about a dozen of the enemy, well mounted, were seen two or three miles ahead. They were scouts from the camp above Yellow Medicine. Our route lay over a rolling prairie. Up every high hillock before us these scouts would gallop, watch our movements until we approached near, and then scud away. All objects on a prairie seem larger by reason of the absence of standards of comparison, and are more distinctly limned against the sky than elsewhere….On a fence near the Red-Wood River they left a message of defiance, telling us to come on, and that the braves were ready for us at Yellow Medicine. They [end 168] also amused themselves with firing several bridges to impede out progress. These were smoking when we came up, but not materially injured.
….
“The next day we found George Gleason’s body on the prairie, and buried it….Two heavy stones were imbedded in his skull. He was Mr. Galbraith’s clerk at the Lower Agency, and well known throughout the state.

“On the evening of the 22nd we camped on the Lone-tree Lake, two miles from Wood Lake, and two from the Yellow Medicine River. Next morning, between six and seven o’clock, as we were taking breakfast, several foraging teams, with their guards, when about half a mile from camp, were fired upon by Indians, who lay concealed in the grass. The guards returned the fire, while the teams were urged to their utmost speed. The 3d regiment, under Major Welch, which had joined us at the fort, hurried out, without orders from the commander of the expedition, crossed a ravine, and was soon engaged with the foe. The general impression at first was that the attack was by a small number of the enemy, and that the soldiers were wasting their ammunition, for the firing soon became rapid. The 3d were ordered back into camp; and just then the enemy appeared in great numbers on all sides, and were gathering in the ravine between [end 173] the regiment and the camp. The battle, which was known as that of Wood Lake, had now fairly begun. The balls flew think and fast, some of them penetrating the tents.

“Captain Hendrick’s cannon now opened fire, as did the howitzer, under the direct supervision of Colonel Sibley. Then Hendricks boldly advanced his gun to the head of the ravine, and the brave Lieutenant Colonel [R.W.] Marshall, with three companies of the 7th, and Captain Grant, of the 6th, charged amid a shower of balls, on the double-quick, through the ravine, and put the foe to rout. The contest lasted for an hour and a half. The number actually engaged on each side [end 174] was about eight hundred, many of our men being held in camp in reserve. Our loss was four killed and between forty and fifty wounded. Among the wounded was Major Welch, who was shot in the leg early in the fight while bravely leading his men forward. The command then devolved upon Lieutenant Olin, who distinguished himself by his gallant conduct….

“Other Day nobly redeemed the pledge he had made two days before. He took with his own hand two horses from the enemy, and slew their riders. He was often in their midst, and so far in advance of our men that they fired many shots at him, in the belief that he was one of the foe. No person on the field compared with him in the exhibition of reckless bravery…. [p. 175.]

“It was the taunts of the Friendly Indians who forced on the fight while we were in camp. Little Crow’s plan was to ambuscade us while passing through the deep gorge of the Yellow Medicine. Had this advice been followed many of our number would have been slain. They insisted that if the Lower Indians were really brave they ought to attack us on the open plain. Just before the battle their medicine-man went through certain incantations and predicted success. In one of the wagons the Sioux carried a British flag. Had they been a unit in their feelings the battle would [end 176] have continued much longer; but the Upper Indians, as soon as they found the day was going against them, abandoned the field, and were followed by the others.

“Simon, a Sioux who had joined us at Fort Ridgely, went from Colonel Sibley’s forces during the progress of the fight to ascertain what the friendly-disposed Indians were going to do. It will be recollected that they had sent word that they would display a white flag and leave the others. He distinctly stated it would be better for them to abandon the others, and that the innocent ones would not be punished. The young braves evinced great hostility, and threatened to kill him; but he said that they might do so; that he was an old man, but would do his duty whatever might happen. His conduct is represented to have been cool and daring in the extreme. At the conclusion of the contest they requested leave to carry away their dead, but were refused. Fifteen Indians were found upon the battle-field, and a wounded one brought in as a prisoner. The dead ones were gathered together and buried. They were all scalped. One person, in his eagerness, tore off the entire skin from the face with the scalp, and carried it to his tent under his vest. It seemed a hard thing to exult over the dead, but the soldiers could not help feeling satisfaction that the hunt after the miscreant who had committed so many murders with impunity was having a practical result….[p. 177]

“The wounded Indian lived several days. He was shot through the lungs, and the breath and the bubbling blood could be heard issuing from the wound. He was lying in a tent, guarded, shivering with cold, and almost perishing for water. James Gorman, of the Renville Rangers, and another person, gave him some water, and threw an overcoat over him. A grateful look came into his dying eyes. He had not expected this. The soldiers on the outside thought this acct of charity an outrageously culpable thing. How precious a cup of cold water many sometimes be, and what contumely attend its bestowal! Among the fatally wounded of the Indians who were carried away was one of the ‘Farmers,’ who had been a devoted fried of the captives. He was not engaged himself, but took a club and drove some of the cowardly Lower Indians into the midst of danger, saying, ‘You said we were not brave, and now I will show you where to go.’ Red Iron, who had also been our friend, was with him.

“After burying our dead and remaining one day at Wood Lake, we marched to the Indian camp near Lac qui Parle, which, by the route we had taken, was about two hundred and twenty-five miles from St. Paul. [end of p. 178.]

“CHAPTER XII. Camp Release. [Top of p. 181.]

“On the 26th of September we reached the Indian camp. It was located nearly opposite the mouth of the Chippeway [Chippewa] River, and numbered about one hundred tepees. Just before we arrived, a war party, composed of a portion of those who had placed the sticks on Prescott’s grave had passed by, leaving a prisoner with the inmates.* [*Original footnote: “This party had murdered several persons in the neighborhood of Hutchinson on the day of the battle of Wood Lake. The others committed depredations at Medalia {Medelia}.”]
Little Crow and some two hundred men and their families hurriedly fled the day after the battle. Some of the fugitives were still in sight when we came up. A few hundred cavalry could easily have captured these, and put an immediate end to the war.

“Colonel Sibley frequently urged the necessity of a mounted force, and Governor Ramsey was energetic in his endeavors to comply with his demand. The failure to do so resulted from the preoccupation of the federal government in a more important war. General Pope, who was placed in command of the department some time afterward, dispatched several hundred cavalry to Colonel Sibley, but the season was too far advanced to follow Crow. It was unfortunate that the energetic and influential ex-Senator Rice had not been placed early in charge of the [end 181] department, as was suggested. He was fully alive to the necessity of such a force, and would have taken care that Colonel Sibley should have had the requisite number in time.

“Our own camp, which was called ‘Camp Release,’ was pitched about a quarter of a mile from that of the Indians, which our annon commanded. Their camp was filled with wagons and cattle which they had stolen. The tents were well supplied with carpets, and different kinds of goods and household utensils. Soon after our arrival, the commander, with his staff and body-guard, rode over and took formal possession. [end of p. 182.]

“….tall, gayly-painted braves were profuse in their declarations of friendship….A formal demand which was made for the captives was instantly complied with. They were nearly two hundred and fifty in number. They had been compelled to wear the Indian dress during their captivity, but had now been permitted to resume their former habiliments. The poor creatures wept for joy at their escape….The woe written in the faces of the half starved and nearly naked women and children would have melted the hardest heart….

“George Spencer, who was saved by his Indian friend at Red-Wood (the only white man among the captives), said, if we had marched to the camp immediately after the battle, most of the prisoners would have been killed….

“The apprehensions of the captives after the first rage of their captors was over were greater than their actual sufferings. They fared as well as the Indians in the main. Only one person was killed – a little boy whom a warrior had adopted. The Indian was in the habit of painting his face, and one morning the little fellow cried because it was not done, and, enraged, the savage shot him. He was only wounded, and the Indian boys beat him to death with clubs and pitched him over the bluff. The grosser outrages were mostly committed by the younger portion of the tribe. [end p186] Indians are not all lost to humanity. Simon, Lorenzo Lawrence, Robert Hopkins, Paul, Spencer’s comrade, Chaska, and the noble Other Day, risked their lives in behalf of their white friends….

“Many of our men insisted that Colonel Sibley would be justifiable in making any treaty he could to obtain the captives, and when that was done, kill all the Indians, men women, and children….Our people, luckily, are disciplined; and the broad, sober sense of the leaders, which reaches beyond the present hour, generally restrains acts of atrocity.

“Indians pay little regard to the chiefs and older men. Prominent intellects they have, but no commanders – no men with power to enforce their views. Passion, unrestrained by judgment, therefore rules….The murder of white soldiers who have surrendered in good faith is due to the inability of the chiefs to enforce obedience to their orders. [end of p. 187.]

“A military commission of inquiry was at once appointed to ascertain the guilty parties, and testimony against about a dozen obtained. A commission for the trial of these and of any others who might be accused was then organized, and some thirty or forty immediately arrested. The remainder in camp were sent down to the Yellow Medicine Agency under charge of Agent Galbraith, as the stock of provisions was fast becoming exhausted.

“Many other Indians came in voluntarily with their squaws from time to time, and gave themselves up; and others were surprised in the night by our expeditions, and placed with the others in a second camp near our own.

“The evidence before the commission indicating that the whole nation was involved in the war, Colonel Crooks, by order of the commander, silently surrounded the second camp in the night, disarmed the men, and placed them in a log jail which had previously been erected in the midst of our camp. The guns taken from them were nearly all loaded with ball, and the shot-pouches also filled with them. Among the guns were some of the rifles which had been taken from Marsh and Strout. A similar proceeding was ordered at Yellow Medicine, and safely accomplished by assembling all the braves within the walls of the agency buildings, under pretense of holding a council. Rattling Moccasin, taking alarm, had decamped from there a few days before with a portion of his band.

“The prisoners were linked together in pairs by chains forged to their ankles…. [p. 188.]

“A number of Half-breeds were among the accused, and these were looked upon with more hatred than the Indians, because related to the whites. The object of most bitter malediction was the negro, or, rather, mulatto Godfrey or Gussá, who was also a prisoner and chained to an Indian. He had been foremost among the attacking party at New Ulm, and Indians said he was braver than any of them. He had boasted that he had killed nine adults and a number of children, but of the latter he said he kept no account, because he thought they did not amount to anything. The Indians had given him the name of Otakle, i.e., ‘he who kills many.’ He admitted being in the battles, but denied that he had killed anyone. Where persons are murdered in a house, the Indians give the credit of the affair to the man who first enters, on account of the superior daring thereby indicated, just as for the same reason, they say a brave who first touches the body of the slain kills the person, although the deed may have been committed by another. The man attacked may be only feigning death. Indians often do so. Godfrey said he acquired his name by entering first into a house near New Ulm by direction of the Indians, where a number were killed by them. I have but little doubt that he entered into the massacres with as much zest as the Indians themselves after he once commenced. He was brought up among them, could speak their language, and was married to a squaw. Two very intelligent girls, who were captured by a party of Indians on the first day of the massacre, between Reynold’s place on the Red-Wood [end 189] and New Ulm, said that Godfrey, who was with the Indians, driving the team in which they were placed, was painted for war, and wore a breech-clout; and that he chuckled over their captivity, and seemed to enter fully into the spirit of their captors. He was leaning composedly against a wagon-box when we entered the Indian camp. He was about the medium height, stoutly build; had very dark complexion, curly hair…He wore moccasins, but otherwise had resumed the dress of the whites. An old plush cap, with large ear-flaps, was placed on one side of his head…. [p. 190.]
….
CHAPTER XVI. Homeward Bound. [top of p. 231.]

“On the 21st of October a perfect hurricane swept over our camp….Through this storm Lieutenant Colonel Marshall and two hundred men, who had been on an expedition into Dakota Territory, arrived with a crowd of prisoners, whom he had captured upon Wild-Goose-Nest Lake. We were only waiting his arrival to break up our camp, and on the 23d the tents were struck, and, with the Indian prisoners in wagons, we commenced our homeward march. At Yellow Medicine we took in the other prisoners…. [p. 231.]

“That night we pitched our tents in the valley of the Red-Wood.

“The Indian camp, consisting principally of women and children, had been previously removed to this place from Yellow Medicine….Antoine Frenier, the interpreter, told them that there were forty-five white men, women, and children lying unburied on the other side of the Minnesota, who had been cruelly murdered by these same men….[p. 232.]
….
“Several weeks were spent at the Lower Agency, the trials still progressing…. [p. 235]

“We still continued to find victims of the massacre. On the 29th a foraging party crossed the river, and eleven miles above discovered the remains of twelve persons….The next day they went out again, and, a short distance above the same place, found the bones of thirteen more bodies….Many other bones were found in that neighborhood, and among them those of the persons which Antoine Frenier saw on his way to Yellow Medicine. The house where the little children were had been burned, and the charred remains were in the ruins… [p. 236.]
….
“Soon after our arrival the Indians were brought down from the Red-Wood River, and their camp placed near ours, around the walls of the church which charitable and pious hands had reared for their benefit. The male prisoners were confined in the jail which had recently been constructed, and the trials were conducted in a log building heretofore occupied by the murdered mixed-blood, La Batte, for unromantic kitchen purposes….A few hours after our arrival the charred bones of a victim were taken from the ruins of one of the houses, and the unburied remains of one of Marsh’s men found near the ferry. Almost within a stone’s throw was the battle-ground of Birch Coolie…. [p. 239.]

“On the 7th of November, Colonel Marshall, with the inmates of the Indian camp, about 1500 in all consisting of women and children, and a few innocent males, started for Fort Snelling. When the outrage broke out the Indians said that they would winter their squaws near St. Paul. The prediction was to be accomplished, but the fact was not to be as agreeable as supposed…. [p. 240.]

“The expedition soon reached Mankato, near which a permanent camp for the winter was established, called ‘Camp Lincoln.’ Here the trial of a number of the Winnebagoes [sic] was held.

“As no other murders were committed until the following spring, this is an appropriate place to state the estimated losses in 1862. I take Mr. Galbraith’s figures.

‘Citizens massacred: In Renville County, including Reservations, 221;
in Dakota Territory, including Big Stone lake, 32;
in Brown County, including Lake Shetek, 204;
in the other frontier counties, 187 –
644 [civilians as of early Nov, mostly in first week of the “uprising.”

‘Soldiers killed in battle: Lower Sioux Agency, Captain Marsh’s command, 24
Fort Ridgely and New Ulm, 29;
Birch Coolie, 23;
Fort Abercrombie, Acton, Forest City, Hutchinson, and other places, including Wood Lake, 17—93

‘Total, 737.

“Mr. Galbraith says, ‘Here, then, we have seven [end 243] hundred and thirty-seven persons whom I am certainly convinced have been killed by the Indians. More there may be, and I think there are, yet I confine myself to the facts I have. Are they not enough? Many of this number were full-grown men, and boys over twelve years of age; the rest women and children….?

“In the month of September alone, 8231 persons [white refugees mostly], who had been living in comparative affluence, were dependent of the support which the state furnished. Many charitable donations were received from abroad [elsewhere in the U.S.]

“On the Reservation the property destroyed has been estimated by the agent at over one million of dollars. [end p. 244] The direct and indirect loss to the remainder of the state can hardly be estimated. Millions will not cover it.

“If the stories told by the whites of the number of Indians killed in different encounters during the season were correct, their loss would be several hundred. But the number was grossly exaggerated. An Indian with his head bound with grass, and hugging the prairie, and availing himself, with practiced eye, of every inequality in its surface for protection, and shifting his position every time he discharges his gun, is a very difficult mark for an experienced shot, let alone for those who were not accustomed to the use of arms.

“In order to get, if possible, other information upon the subject, at Fort Snelling I gathered the Indians of different bands together, and asked them to enumerate their losses. They did so willingly, and the manner in which they did it convinced me of their sincerity. They went over the bands one by one, and gave the names of the slain, each refreshing the recollections of the others. An Indian ascertains and remembers such things much better than a whit man, because there are comparatively few things to occupy his mind, and prominent among these is what pertains to battles. They do not confine themselves to one place, but are continually wandering around and associating with one another, and can tell the locality of every band. Their knowledge of distances, and of what Indians went upon different war paths, and their numbers, and what they did, I found to be astonishingly correct.

“The conversation and details of the affair at Acton was narrated to me by an Indian, who told me he had [end 247] heard it many times. It was from one of them, too, that I obtained the speeches which were made.

“Their estimate of the killed upon the field corresponded with the number found by us at the different places of contest. I have heard some say that there were more found at New Ulm, Ridgely, and Abercrombie, but I looked in vain for a man who could tell me had seen them. I was at Ridgely myself shortly after the battles, and was told that more than here stated had been discovered, but I could not find them after a diligent search.

“Here are the figures as give by the Indians. They include those who were carried away wounded from the battle-field, and afterward died.

Admitted loss of the enemy in 1862:

At the battle of Red-Wood Ferry, 1;
at New Ulm (including half-breeds), 5;
at Fort Ridgely, 2;
at Birch Coolie, 2;
Big Woods, at or near Forest City, 1;
at battle of Acton with Strout, 1;
at Hutchinson, 1;
at Spirit Lake, 1;
at Lake Shetek, by Duly, 1;
near Omahaw [sic], where several went to steal horses, not knowing of the outbreak, 1;
at Abercrombie, 4;
between Fort Ridgely and New Ulm, half-breed, 1;
at Wood Lake, 22.
Total, 42. ….(end of p. 248.)

“CHAPTER XVII. Trials Of The Prisoners [top of p. 251]

“The Military Commission, which organized, as stated in the order creating it, ‘to try summarily the mulatto, mixed bloods, and Indians engaged in the Sioux raids and massacres,’ consisted at first of Colonel Crooks, Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, Captains Grant and Bailey, and Lieutenant Olin. The writer acted as recorder.

“After twenty-nine cases were disposed of, Major Bradley was substituted for Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, who was absent on other duty.

“The prisoners were arraigned upon written charges specifying the criminating acts. These charges were signed by Colonel Sibley or his adjutant general, and were, with but few exceptions based upon information furnished by Rev. S. R. Riggs. He obtained it by assembling the half-breeds, and others possessed of means of knowledge, in a tent, and interrogating them concerning suspected parties. The names of the witnesses were appended to the charge. He was, in effect, the Grand Jury of the court. His long residence in the country, and extensive acquaintance with the Indians, his knowledge of the character and habits of most of them, enabling him to tell almost with certainty what Indians would be implicated and what ones not, either from their disposition or their relatives being engaged, and his familiarity with their language, eminently qualified him for the position. [end of p. 251.]

“Major Forbes, of General Sibley’s staff, a trader of long standing among the Indians, acted as provost marshal, and Antoine Frenier as interpreter. The charges were first read to the accused, and, unless he admitted them, evidence on oath introduced.

“Godfrey was the first person tried. The following was the charge and specifications, which will serve as a sample of the others:

‘Charge and Specifications against O-ta-kle, or Godfrey, a colored man connected with the Sioux tribe of Indians.
‘Charge. Murder.

‘Specification 1st. In this, that the said O-ta-kle, or Godfrey, a colored man, did, at or near New Ulm, Minnesota, on or about the 19th day of August, 1862, join in a war party of the Sioux tribe of Indians against the citizens of the United States, and did with his own hand murder seven white men, women, and children (more or less), peaceable citizens of the United States.

‘Specification 2d. In this, that the said O-ta-kle, or Godfrey, a colored man, did, at various times and places between the 19th of August, 1862, and the 28th day of September, 1862, join and participate in the murders and massacre committed by the Sioux Indians on the Minnesota frontier. By order of
Col. H. H. Sibley, Com. Mil. Expedition.
S. H. Fowler, Lt. Col. State Militia, A.A.A.G.
Witness: Mary Woodbury, David Faribault, Sen., Mary Swan, Bernard la Batte.’ [end p. 252]

“On being asked whether he was guilty or not guilty, he made a statement similar to the one heretofore detailed.

“Mary Woodbury testified that she saw him two or three days after the outbreak at Little Crow’s village with a breech-clout on, and his legs and face painted for a war party, and that he started with one for New Ulm; that he appeared very happy and contented with the Indians; was whooping around and yelling, and apparently as fierce as any of them. When they came back there was a Wahpeton, named Hunka, who told witness that the negro was the bravest of all; that he led them into a house and clubbed the inmates with a hatchet; and that she was standing in the prisoner’s tent door, and heard the Indians ask him how many he had killed, and he said only seven; and that she saw him, once when he started off, have a gun, a knife, and a hatchet.

“Mary Swan and Mattie Williams testified that when the war party took them captive, though the prisoner was not armed, he appeared to be as much in favor of the outrages as any of the Indians, and made no intimation to the contrary in a conversation the witnesses had with him….

“David Faribault, Sen., a half-breed, testified as to his boasting of killing seven with a tomahawk, and some more – children; but these, he said, didn’t amount to anything, and he wouldn’t count them. Witness saw him at the fort and at New Ulm, fighting and acting like the Indians; and he never told him (Faribault) that he was forced into the outbreak…. [p. 253]

“The court held his case open for a long time, and, while the other trials were progressing, asked every person who was brought in about him, but could find no person who saw him kill anyone, although the Indians were indignant at him for having disclosed evidence against a number of them, and would be desirous of finding such testimony.

“Finally, the court found him not guilty of the first specification, but guilty of the charge and the second specification, and sentenced him to be hung, accompanying the sentence, however, by a recommendation of a commutation of punishment to imprisonment for ten years. It was afterward granted by the President.

“The trials were elaborately conducted until the commission became acquainted with the details of the different outrages and battles, and then, the only point [end p254] being the connection of the prisoner with them, five minutes would dispose of a case.

“If witnesses testified, or the prisoner admitted that he was a participant, sufficient was established. As many as forty were sometimes tried in a day. Those convicted of plundering were condemned to imprisonment; those engaged in individual massacres and in battles, to death.

“If you think that participation in battles did not justify such a sentence, please to reflect that any judicial tribunal in the state would have been compelled to pass it, and that the retaliatory laws of war, as recognized by all civilized nations, and also the code of the Indian, which takes life for life, justified it. The battles were not ordinary battles. The attacks upon New Ulm were directed against a village filled with frightened fugitives from the surrounding neighborhood, and the place was defended by civilians, hastily and indifferently armed, and were accompanied by the wanton burning of a large portion of the town, and by the slaughter of horses and cattle, and the destruction of all property which came within the power of the enemy. A number of persons from the country, who endeavored, while the attack was progressing, to make their way into the town, where alone was possible safety, were shot down and horribly mutilated. The attacks upon the forts were also accompanied by similar acts.

“The battle of Birch Coolie commenced with an attack, just before daylight, upon a small party of soldiers and civilians who had been engaged in the burial of the dead at the Red-Wood Agency, by over three hundred Indians, who started for the purpose of [end p255] burning the towns of New Ulm, Mankato, and St. Peter, and butchering the inhabitants. The war party to the Big Woods march a distance of eighty miles on a general raid through the settlements. They murdered and mutilated a number of unarmed fugitives, burned many houses, stole a large quantity of horses and cattle, killed a portion of Captain Strout’s company at Acton, and partially destroyed the town of Hutchinson. On all these occasions, as they were attacked by largely superior numbers, the whites would have surrendered could ‘quarter’ have been expected. It was with the utmost resistance of despair that the defense of Fort Ridgely and New Ulm was sustained after the burning of all the outbuildings, and an attempt to set fire to the fort itself. The timely arrival of re-enforcements alone saved the party at Birch Coolie from total massacre. One hundred and four bullet-homes through a single tent, the slaughter of over ninety horses, and the loss of half the party in killed and wounded, indicate the peril of their situation. The purpose of these Indians, as frequently stated, was to sweep the country as far as St. Paul with the tomahawk and with fire, giving the men ‘no quarter;’ and these battles were but a part of the general design, and rendered the acts of one the acts of all. The fact that those engaged in such a mode of warfare acted together in organized bands, and directed their attempts against a large number of whites, was not a matter of mitigation, but of aggravation, arising from increased ability and opportunity to accomplish their purpose.

“Besides, most of these Indians must also have been engaged in individual massacres and outrages. Those [end p256] who attacked New Ulm on the second day after the outbreak, and Fort Ridgely on the third day, were undoubtedly parties who had scattered through the neighborhood in small marauding bands the day before. The extent of the outrages, occurring almost simultaneously over a frontier of two hundred miles in length and reaching far into the interior, and whereby nearly one thousand people perished, can not be accounted for without their participation. The fact that they were Indians, intensely hating the whites, and possessed of the inclinations and revengeful impulses of Indians, and educated to the propriety of the indiscriminate butchery of their opponents, would raise the moral certainty that, as soon as the first murders were committed, all the young men were impelled by the sight of blood and plunder – by the contagion of example, and the hopes entertained of success – to become participants in the same class of acts.

“In at least two thirds of the cases the prisoners admitted that they fired, but in most instances insisted that it was only two or three shots, and that on one was killed; about as valid an excuse as one of them offered who was possessed of an irresistible impulse to accumulate property, that a horse which he took was only a very little one, and that a pair of oxen which he captured was for his wife, who wanted a pair. In regard to the third who did not admit that they fired, their reasons for not doing so were remarkable, and assumed a different shape every day. One day all the elderly men, who were in the vigor of manly strength, said their hair was too gray to go into battle; and the young men, aged from eighteen to twenty-five insisted that they were too young, and [end p. 257] their hearts too weak to face fire. The next day would develop the fact that great was the number and terrible the condition of those who were writhing in agony with the bellyache on the top of a big hill. A small army avowed that they had crept under a wonderfully capacious stone (which nobody but themselves ever saw) at the battle of the fort, and did not emerge therefrom during the fights; and a sufficiency for two small armies stoutly called on the Great Spirit {Wakan-tonka), and the heavens and the earth (patting the latter emphatically with the hand), to witness that they were of a temper so phlegmatic, a disposition so unsocial, and an appetite so voracious and greedy, that, during the roar of each of the battles at the fore, New Ulm, Birch Coolie, and Wood Lake, they were alone, within bullet-shot, roasting and eating corn and beef all day! A fiery-looking warrior wished the commission to believe that he felt so bad at the fort to see the Indians fire on the whites, that he immediately laid down there and went to sleep, and did not awake until the battle was over! Several of the worst characters, who had been in all the battles, after they had confessed the whole thing, wound up by saying that they were members of the Church!

“One young chap, aged about nineteen, said that he used always to attend divine worship at Little Crow’s village, below St. Paul, and that he never did anything bad in his life except to run after a chicken at Mendota a long time ago, and that he didn’t catch it. The evidence disclosed the fact that this pious youth had been an active participant in some of the worst massacres on Beaver Creek.

“All ages were represented, from boyish fifteen up [end p358] to old me scarcely able to walk or speak, who were ‘fifty years old,’ to use the expression of one, ‘a long time ago, and then they stopped counting.’…. [p.259]

“The most repulsive-looking prisoner was Cut-nose, some of whose acts have been detailed by Samuel Brown. He was the foremost man in many of the massacres. The first and second days of the outbreak he devoted his attention particularly to the Beaver Creek settlement, and to the fugitives on that side of the river. I will give a single additional instance of the atrocity of this wretch and his companions. A party of settlers were gathered together for flight when the savages approached; the defenseless, helpless women and children, huddled together in the wagons, bending down their heads, and drawing over them still closer their shawls. Cut-nose, while two others held the horses, leaped into a wagon that contained eleven, mostly children, and deliberately, in cold blood, tomahawked them all – cleft open the head of each, while the others, stupefied with horror, powerless with fright, as they heard the heavy, dull blows crash and tear through flesh and bones, awaited their turn. Taking [end p. 261] an infant from its mother’s arms, before her eyes, with a bolt from one of the wagons they riveted it through its body to the fence, and left it there to die, writhing in agony. After holding for a while the mother before this agonizing spectacle, they chopped off her arms and legs, and left her to bleed to death. Thus they butchered twenty-five within a quarter of an acre. Kicking the bodies out of the wagons, they filled them with plunder from the burning houses, and sending them back, pushed on for other adventures.

“Many of those engaged in the Patville murder were tried. Patville started from Jo. Reynolds’s place, just above Red-Wood, for New Ulm, on the morning of the outbreak, with three young ladies and two other men, and on the way they were attacked by the Indians, as detailed by Godfrey. Patville was killed near the wagon, and the other men at the edge of the woods, while trying to escape. One of the girls was wounded, and all three taken prisoners and brought to Red-Wood. Here the three were abused by the Indians; one a girl of fourteen, by seventeen of the wretches, and the wounded young lady to such an extent that she died that night. Jo. Campbell ventured to place her in a grave, but was told that if he did no, or for any of the other bodies which were lying exposed, his life should pay the forfeit. The two other young ladies were reclaimed at Camp Release, and sent to their friends, after suffering indignities worst than death, and which humanity shudders to name.

“Others were tried who belonged to a band of eight that separated themselves from the main body which attacked the fort in the second battle, and went [end p262] toward St. Peter’s, burning the church, the Swan Lake House, and other buildings, and murdering and plundering. They attacked one party, and killed all the men, and then one of them caught hold of a young girl to take her as his property, when the mother resisted and endeavored to pull her away. Then Indians then shot the mother dead, and wounded the girl, who fell upon the ground apparently lifeless. An Indian said she was not dead, and told her first captor to raise her clothes, which he attempted to do. Modesty, strong in death, revived the girl, and she attempted to prevent it, but as she did so the other raised his tomahawk and dashed out her brains – a blessed fate in comparison with that which was otherwise designed.

“An old man, shriveled to a mummy, one of the criers of the Indian camp, was also tried, and two little boys testified against him. One of them, a German and remarkably intelligent for his years, picked him out from many others at Camp Release, and had him arrested, and dogged him till he was placed in jail, and when he was led forth to be tried, with the eye and fierceness of a hawk, and as if he feared every instant that he would escape justice.

“These boys belonged to a large party, who came from above Beaver Creek to within a few miles of the fort, where the Indians met them, and said if they would go back with them to where they came from, and give up their teams, they should not be harmed. When they were some distance from the fort, they fired into the party, and killed one man and a number of women, and took the remainder prisoners. The [end p.263] ole wretch was made to stand up, looking cold and impassable, and as stolid as a stone, and the boys, likewise standing, placed opposite. They stood gazing at each other for a moment, when one of the boys said, ‘I saw that Indian shoot a man while he was on his knees at prayer;’ and the other boy said, ‘I saw him shoot my mother.’

“Another was recognized by Mrs. Hunter as the Indian who had shot her husband, and then took out his knife and offered to cut his throat in her presence, but finally desisted, and carried her away into captivity.

“A party of five was also tried, who all fired and killed a white man across the river. The party consisted of three half-breeds, Henry Milard, Baptiste Campbell, and Hippolyte Auge, and two Indians. One of the Indians was first examined, and, as he was going out of the door, said hastily that there was a white man with him, and gave the name of Milard. He was at once arrested, and brought before the court the next day, and the Indian called as a witness. On being interrogated as to whether he knew the prisoner, he turned around, and, after leisurely scanning him from head to foot, said he never saw him before. Milard had previously made some rather damaging admissions, and being asked whether he desired any witnesses, mentioned the name of Campbell, who being brought in, stolidly told the whole thing, saying that they were sent over the river by Little Crow after cattle, and saw the white man, and all fired at the same time, and the man mess, and that he was sure the Indian shot him, as he had gotten where he could bet a better shot. He said, with the utmost sang froid, [end p264] that he aimed to hit, but unfortunately failed. Auge had gone to St. Peter’s but was arrested and convicted.

“Several of the Renville Rangers were also arraigned, who deserted from the fort, and were in all the battles. One of these, about eighteen, built like a young Hercules, stated that he went from the fort to cut kin-ne-kin-nic, and the Indians, surrounding the fort while he was out, prevented his getting in, and that his presence in the battles was compulsory, and stoutly denied having been guilty of any wrong act. The evidence showed that he was of a decidedly belligerent character, having been engaged in war parties against the Chippeways [sic], and that at Wood Lake he had scalped the first man killed, one of the Renville Rangers, an old gray-headed German (and very likely was the one who had cut his head and hands off), and had received therefor one of two belts of wampum which Little Crow had promised to those who should kill the first two white men. He called his Indian uncle in his defense, but he, much to his disgust, admitted that he had received the wampum.

“The female sex was represented in the persons of one squaw, who, it was charged, had killed two children. The only evidence to be obtained against her was camp rumor to that effect among the Indians, so she was discharged. Her arrest had one good effect, as she admitted she had taken some silver spoons across the river, and ninety dollars in gold, which she had turned over to an Indian, who, being questioned concerning it, admitted the fact, and delivered the money over to the general.

“But the greatest institution of the commission, and [end p265] the observed of all observers, was the negro Godfrey. He was the means of bringing to justice a large number of the savages, in every instance but two his testimony being substantiated by the subsequent admission of the Indians themselves. His observation and memory were remarkable. Not the least thing had escaped his eye or ear. Such an Indian had a double-barreled gun, and other a single-barreled, another a long one, another a short one, another a lance, and another one nothing at all. One denied that he was at the fort. Godfrey saw him there preparing sis sons for battle, and recollected that he painted the face of one red, and drew a streak of green over his eyes. Another denied that he had made a certain statement to Godfrey which he testified to. ‘What!’ said Godfrey, ‘don’t you recollect you said it when you had your hand upon my wagon and your foot resting on the wheel.’ To a boy whom he charged with admitting that he had killed a child by striking it with his spear over the head, and who denied it, he said ‘Don’t you remember showing me the spear was broken, and saying that you had broken it in striking the child?’ To another, who said he had a lame arm at New Ulm, and couldn’t fire a gun, and had such a bad gun that he could not have fired if he desired, he replied, ‘You say you could not fire, and had a gad gun. Why don’t you tell the court the truth? I saw you go and take the gun of an Indian who was killed, and fire two shots; and then you borrowed mine, and shot with it; and then you made me reload it, and then you fired again.’

“I might enumerate numberless instances of this kind, in which his assumed recollection would cause [end p.266] his truthfulness to be doubted, if he had not been fully substantiated….When a prisoner would state, in answer to the question of ‘Guilty or not guilty,’ that he was innocent, and Godfrey knew that he was guilty, he would drop his head upon his breast, and convulse with a fit of musical laughter; and when the court said, ‘Godfrey, talk to him,’ he would straighten up, his countenance become calm, and, in a deliberate tone, would soon force the Indian, by a series of questions in his own language, into an admission of the truth….

“The number of prisoners tried was over four hundred. Of these, three hundred and three were sentenced to death, eighteen to imprisonment. Most of those acquitted were Upper Indians. There was testimony that all these left their homes and went upon war parties, but the particular acts could not be shown, and they were therefore not convicted. Some people have thought that the hast with which the accused were tried must have prevented any accuracy as to the ascertainment of their complicity. I have already shown that the point to be investigated being a very simple one, viz., presence and participation in battles and massacres which had before been proven, and many of the prisoners confessing the fact, each case need only occupy a few moments. I was completed [end p267] when you asked him if he was in the battles of New Ulm and the fort, or either, and fired at the whites, and he said ‘yes.’ The officers composing the court were well known to the community as respectable and humane gentlemen. They resided a long distance from the scene of the massacres, and had no property destroyed or relatives slain. They were all men of more that average intelligence, and one of them (Major Bradley) was not only a gallant soldier, but had long been rated among the first lawyers of the state. Before entering upon the trials they were solemnly sworn to a fair and impartial discharge of their duties. It would scarcely be supposed that such men as these, after such an oath, would take away human life without the accused were guilty.

“The fact that in many instances the punishment of imprisonment was graduated from one to ten years, and that in nearly one quarter of the cases the accused were acquitted, argues anything but inattention to testimony and blind condemnation.

“Mr. Riggs, their missionary, who furnished the grounds for the charges, had free intercourse with them, and as he was well known to all of them personally or by reputation for his friendship and sympathy, those who were innocent would be likely, of their own accord, to tell him of the fact, and those who were members of his church, or those whose characters were good, specially interrogated by him as to their guilt; and a gentleman of such kind impulses, and who took such a deep interest in their welfare, would not have hesitated to have had the defensive or excusatory fact brought to the attention of the court, and he did not. One instance was that of [end p268] Robert Hopkins, ca civilized Indian, and a member of the Church. He helped to save the life of Dr. Williamson and party, and when he was tried Mr. Riggs had this adduced in his favor….

“….in no instance was there suggestion made of any defensive testimony but what the court had it produced, and gave to it due weight and consideration.

“No one was sentenced to death for the mere robbery of goods and not to exceed half a dozen for mere presence in a battle, although the prisoner had gone many miles to it, or on a general raid against the settlements. It was required that it should be proved by the testimony of witnesses, unless the prisoner admitted the fact, that he had fired in the battles, or brought ammunition, or acted as commissary in supplying provisions to the combatants, or committed some separate murder.

“While defensive testimony was offered, the defendant’s [end p269] case generally appeared worse against him….

“Sone have criticized the action of the court because of the great number of the condemned. Great also was the number of crimes of which they were accused. [There were reported to be 737 settler and soldier lives taken and 38 “insurrectionists” hanged – one for each 19.4 deaths.]

“Many of the presses in the East condemned the demands of the people of Minnesota for their execution as barbarous in the extreme. For their benefit let me cite a few instances from the history of their own ancestors under similar circumstances. See how the investigation and trial above detailed, and the refraining of the people to visit death summarily upon the criminals, or upon any one of them, compares with their conduct, and then judge.

“In 1675 [Dec 19] the New England army broke into King Philip’s camp in the southern part of Rhode Island [the Great Swamp], [end p.270] and fired five hundred wigwams; and hundreds of the women and children, the aged, the wounded, and the infirm, perished in the conflagration.

“On the 5th of June, 1737 [we show May 26], the soldiers of Connecticut forced their way into the Pequod [Pequot] fort, in the eastern part of the state, and commenced the work of destruction. The Indians fought bravely, but bows and arrows availed little against weapons of steel. ‘We must burn them,’ shouted Mason, their leader; and applying a firebrand, the frail Indian cabins were soon enveloped in the flames. The whites hastily withdrew and surrounded the place, while the savages, driven from the inclosure [sic], became, by the light of the burning fire, a sure prey for the musket, or were cut down by the broadsword. As the sun shone upon the scene of slaughter it showed that the victory was complete. About 600 Indians, men, women and children, had perished, most of them in the hideous conflagration. Of the whole number within the fort, only seven escaped, and seven were made prisoners. Two of the whites were killed and twenty wounded. The remainder of the Pequods scattered in every direction; straggling parties were hunted and shot down like deer in the woods; their territory was laid waste, their settlements burned, and about 200 survivors, the sole remnant of the great nation, surrendered in despair, were enslaved by the whites, or forced to live with their allies. [end of p. 271]

“CHAPTER XVIII. Execution. [top of p. 272]

“The records of the testimony and sentences of the Indians was sent to the President at an early day, but no action was taken for several weeks. Finally, thirty-eight were ordered to be executed at Mankato on the 26th day of February, 1863. On Monday, the 22d, the condemned were separated from the other prisoners to another prison. On the afternoon of the same day, Colonel Miller, the officer in command at Mankato, visited them, and announced the decision of the President…. [p272]

“All the prisoners, shortly before their execution, made statements to the Rev. Mr. Riggs as to their participation in the massacre. In the first eleven cases on his list I retained copies of the records of the trial, and in these I will give the statements made to Mr. Riggs, and what appeared against them before the commission.

“1. Te-he-hdo-ne-cha (he who forbids his house) confessed, on trial, to having gone east of Beaver River with a party who committed murders, and that he took a woman prisoner, with whom he slept; and that he was in five battles, but denied firing a gun or killing anyone. A woman swore he ravished her against her will, and was delighted with the acts of [end p279] the war party. (Statement made to Mr. Riggs.) He said he was asleep when the outbreak took place at the Lower Agency. He was not present at the breaking open of the stores, but afterward went over the Minnesota River and took some women captives. The men who were killed there were killed by other Indians.

“2. Ta-zoo, alias Ptan-doo-tah (Red Otter). Prisoner was a professional juggler and medicine-man, and was convicted of rape upon the testimony of the violated woman herself, and of participation in the murder of Patville. He tied her hands. They lady testified that he acted as if delighted upon the acts of the others of the war party, and helped to plunder. Her testimony was fully corroborated by others, and her own reputation was stainless. Godfrey refers to this Indian in his account of the Patville murder. (Statement.) Prisoner said he had very sore eyes at the commencement of the outbreak, and was at that time down opposite Fort Ridgely. He was with the party that killed Patville and others. Maza-bom-doo killed Patville. He himself took Miss Williams captive. Said he would have violated the women, but they resisted. He thought he did a good deed in saving the women alive.

“3. Wy-a-tah-ta-wa (his people) confessed to having participated in the murder of Patville, and to have been in three battles. (Statement.) He said he was at the attack on Captain Marsh’s company, and also at New Ulm. He and another Indian shot a man at the same time. He does not know whether he or the other Indian killed the white man. He was wounded in following up another white man. He was at the [end p279] battle of Birch Coolie, where he fired his gun four times. He fired twice at Wood Lake.

“4. Hin-han-shoon-ko-yag-ma-ne (one who walks clothed in an owl’s tail). Convicted on the testimony of an eye-witness, Mrs. Alexander Hunter, of the murder of her husband, and with taking herself prisoner. Her testimony was corroborated. (Statement.) He said he was charged with killing white people, and so condemned. He did not know certainly that he killed anyone. He was in all the battles.

“5. Ma-za-bom-doo (iron-blower). Convicted of the murder of an old woman and two children at the Travelers’ Home, near New Ulm, on the testimony of Godfrey. At the time he was with the party who killed Patville. (Statement.) He stated he was down on the Big Cottonwood when the outbreak took place; that he came to New Ulm and purchased various articles, and then started home. He met the Indians coming down. Saw some men in wagons shot, but did not know who killed them. He was present at the killing of Patville and others, but denied having done it himself. He thought he did well by Mattie Williams and Mary Swan in keeping them from being killed. They lived and he had to die, which he thought not quite fair.

“6. Wah-pa-doo-ta (Red Leaf). This was Godfrey’s father-in-law. Confessed that he was engaged in the massacres, and that he shot a white man. (Statement.) He said he was on old man. He was moving when he heard of the outbreak. He saw some men after they were killed about the agency, but did not kill anyone there. He started down to the fore, and went on to the New Ulm settlement. There he shot at a man through the window, but does not think he killed him. He was himself wounded at New Ulm.

“7. Wa-he-hna (meaning not know). Prisoner confessed that he had been in three battles and fired at white people, ‘but never took good air;’ that he belonged to the Soldier’s Lodge. David Faribault testified that he heard him say that he had shot a messenger (Richardson) going to the fort. (Statement.) He said that he did not kill anyone. If he had believed he had killed a white man he would have fled with Little Crow. The witnesses lied on him.

“8. Sna-ma-me (Tinkling Walker). Convicted of the murder of two persons on the testimony of a boy, an eye-witness (Statement.) He said he was condemned on the testimony of two German boys. They say he killed two persons. The boys told likes; he was not at the place at all.

“9. Rda-in-yan-ka (Rattling Runner). David Faribault swore that prisoner was very active among those who shot at Marsh’s men, and that he saw him firing in the battles of the fort, New Ulm, and Wood Lake; that he took a prominent part; was the exhorter, and did all he could to push the others ahead; that, before going to Wood Lake, he ran through the camp, urging the Indians to kill everybody and take their goods; and that he made a speech, in which he offered two bunches of wampum, which he displayed, for the first scalp, and two bunches of crow’s feathers (very precious) for the scalp of Sibley or of Forbes. Paul and Lorenzo testified that he opposed giving up the white captives. (He was a son-in-law of Wabashaw.) (Statement.) He said he did not know of the uprising on Monday, the 18th of August, until [end p281] they had killed a number of men. He then went out and met Little Crow, and tried to stop the murders, but could not. The next day his son was brought home wounded from Fort Ridgely. He forbade the delivery up of the white captives to Paul when he demanded them, and he supposed that he was to be hung for that.

“10. Do-wan-sa (the Singer) confessed to having been in the battles of New Ulm, the fort, Birch Coolie, and Wood Lake, an on the war party of eight that went to the Swan Lake House, in Nicollet, and committed murders on the road. This was the party which committed one of the outrages detailed in the chapter upon the trials. Godfrey, who first stated the facts which led to the arrest, testified that prisoner told him that there were three women and two men in a wagon, and these were all killed; that he (prisoner) wanted to take one good-looking young woman home, and her mother interfered, and he told the others to shoot the mother, which they did, and, in doing so, wounded the daughter, who fell as if dead. That he went away, and one of the Indians said she wasn’t dead; and on his running to her and pulling up her clothes, she jumped up, and another Indian split her head open with his tomahawk. The prisoner confessed that what Godfrey stated was true, only he didn’t kill anybody. (Statement.) He said he was one of six who were down in the Swan Lake neighborhood. He knew that they killed two men and two women, but this was done by the rest of the party, and not by himself.

“11. Hapan (second child if a son). He confessed he was with the war party that killed Patville, and [end p282] that he took hold of one of the women by the arm ‘to save her life.’ (Statement.) He said he was not in the massacre of New Ulm nor the agency. He was with the company who killed Patville and his companions. He took one of the women. O-ya-tay-ta-wa killed Patville.

“Among the others were White Dog, who was said to have given the order to fire on Marsh’s men at the Red-Wood ferry (he insisted on his innocence to the last), Cut-nose, Chaska, one of the two who shot George Gleason, and the half-breeds Baptiste Campbell, Henry Milard, and Hippolyte Auge, who was engaged in the murder of the white man opposite Crow’s village, and Na-pe-shue, convicted of participating in the massacres, and who boasted of having killed nineteen persons. Those who were simply engaged in battles, with the exception of White Dog, were not included in the order. Mr. Riggs, in closing up his written account of their statements, says: ‘And now, guilty or not guilty, may God have mercy upon these poor human creatures, and, if it be possible, save them in in the other world through Jesus Christ his Son. Amen…. [p283]

Heard then goes into details on the executions, which we cover in a separate document.

Chapter XIX (starting at p. 296) is devoted to the death of Little Crow the next year.

Within this chapter Heard notes that there was a resumption of murders in 1863:

“Early in the spring small squads of Indians made their way back to the state, and, penetrating far into the interior through our defensive lines, renewed the massacres of the previous years. They continued their depredations throughout most of the season, killing some thirty whites, with a loss of about a dozen of their own number. So bold did they become, that they lighted their camp-fires within twelve miles of St. Paul….” [We have a separate small document concerning 1863, in the Chronology document and Spreadsheet under 1863 — early Spring to July, MN.]

(Heard, Isaac V. D. History of The Sioux War and Massacres of 1862 and 1863. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1864.)

MN Historical Society: “Of the more than 600 white people killed during the war, just over 70 were soldiers, and about 50 more were armed civilians. The others were unarmed civilians–mostly young men, women, and children who were recent immigrants to Minnesota. Historian Curtis Dahlin, who has extracted figures from public and cemetery records as well as from media reports, estimates that 30 per cent of the civilians killed were children aged ten and under. Another 40 per cent were adults between the ages of 20 and 40.

“Historians have names for 32 of the estimated 75-100 Dakota soldiers who died during the war (and before the executions on December 26). These names have been gleaned primarily from the testimony of Dakota eyewitnesses.

“More than one-quarter of the Dakota people who surrendered in 1862 died during the following year.
After their exile from Minnesota, the Dakota faced concentration onto reservations, pressure to assimilate, and opening of reservation land for white settlement….
“A small number of Dakota people remained in Minnesota after the war. In the 1880s, more began to return from exile. Several families purchased land that eventually became the Lower Sioux community. In 1887 some Sissetons settled near Granite Falls; in 1910 they were joined by some Mdewakantons and Yanktons, forming the basis for today’s Upper Sioux community. Other communities eventually developed at Prairie Island and Shakopee.” (Minnesota Historical Society. The US-Dakota War of 1862. “Aftermath.” Accessed 12-31-2022.)

Sources

Childs, Emery E. A History of the United States In Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885. NY: Baker & Taylor, 1886. Google digitized. Accessed 9-4-2017: http://books.google.com/books?id=XLYbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Dominican University Rebecca Crown Library. “Sioux – Native American & Indigenous Studies.” River Forest, IL. Accessed 12-28-2022 at: https://research.dom.edu/rcl/aboutus

Harper’s Book of Facts. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ

Harrington, Frederick W. Geography, History and Civil Government of Minnesota: and Abstracts of the Constitutions of Minnesota and the United States of America (School Edition). Minneapolis: Turner & Harrington, 1883, 161 pages. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=yZ8tAAAAYAAJ&dq=November+14+1880+St.+Peter+Asylum+Fire+Minnesota&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Heard, Isaac V. D. History of The Sioux War and Massacres of 1862 and 1863. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1864. Google digital copy accessed 12-26-2022 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_the_Sioux_War_and_Massacres_o/nCsFw3vCLiMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=isaac+heard+history+of+the+sioux+war+and+massacres+of+1862+and+1863&printsec=frontcover

Minnesota Historical Society. The US-Dakota War of 1862. “Aftermath.” Accessed 12-31-2022. at: https://www.usdakotawar.org/history/aftermath

Wikipedia. “Isaac V. D. Heard.”6-25-22 edit. Accessed 12-30-2022 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_V._D._Heard

Wikipedia. “Trent Affair.” 11-27-2022 edit. Accessed 12-28-2022 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Affair