History of Kossuth County, Iowa, Part 27

Author: Reed, Benjamin F
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 879

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CHAPTER XII

DEFENSE AGAINST THE SIOUX

THE NEW ULM MASSACRE

The military record of the county does not pertain alone to the Civil war, but to the Sioux Indian war of that period as well. The next day after the departure of the volunteers from the Irvington town hall the report reached the river settlements that Little Crow and his band of savages were butchering the settlers in the region of New Ulm, Minnesota, and that they were on their way southward massacring helpless victims and burning their homes. The Irvington community was much excited over the report and in a state of fear and great anxiety. On their way home from Webster City, where they had delivered the soldiers, the teamsters met several families fleeing from the county. When Samuel Reed reached home at two o'clock at night, he found before the door a team harnessed and hitched to a wagon on which was a rack slightly filled with hay. On the floor lay the members of a few neighboring families who had gathered, and in the room were axes, hatchets, pitchforks, corncutters and other similar weapons for defense if necessary.

In the vicinity of Algona the settlers were also alarmed for their safety. A meeting was called at the town hall to consider what was best to be done, August 27, which resulted in a volunteer company being formed for protec- tion, and in Lewis H. Smith being sent to Des Moines for arms and ammuni- tion. This action prevented a general stampede of the settlers from the county. Mr. Smith soon returned with the information that Governor Kirkwood had given S. R. Ingham of Des Moines full power to dictate all movements for the defense of Northern Iowa.

Among the number of settlers of that period who were always cool and considerate in time of danger, and who were used to mingling with the In- dians, were W. H. Ingham and W. B. Carey. These two pioneers were chosen at the meeting to scout through Southern Minnesota, learn the magnitude of the massacre, and the probable chances of attack upon the settlers of this region. They immediately started on their perilous trip at a time when their adventure seemed to many to be rash and reckless. After six days' absence they returned with their interesting report :

On horseback they had gone to Blue Earth where they found a militia company and the citizens preparing for defense, and then on through Winne- bago where they had seen a mounted field piece by the roadside, with about a bushel of small broken pieces of cast iron by its side to be used in place of

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shot and shell. At Mankato they learned that the Sioux had abandoned their attacks on New Ulm and that some two thousand people from that vicinity had fled for safety. Fugitives from the blood-curdling scenes came pouring into the town while they were there. The hospital contained several whom they interviewed, who had been wounded at Lake Shetek. Leaving the town while the greatest excitement prevailed, they rode past scenes of desolation to New Ulm, where the blackened ruins of former homes and the bullet marked build- ings bore evidence of the Sioux attack and its awful consequences. Here they received full information of what had really happened. The Sioux had begun their murderous work on the morning of August 18, at Lower Mission and had continued their butchery down the river to within six miles of New Ulm, when on learning of their near approach the citizens of that place began barri- cading the square for protection, and farmers with their families came rush- ing into town. On the evening of the next day more than one hundred Indians entered town and began burning buildings and fighting with citizens from house to house as they went, while the barricaded people were wild with excitement. The arrival of sixteen mounted men from St. Peter, who came charging down the street and firing as they rode, so inspired all the people that they suc- ceeded in driving back the savages, who evidently thought that larger rein- forcements were about to arrive. In the encounter several Indians as well as several citizens were killed.

The two scouts, Ingham and Carey, furthermore, learned that joy had come to the camp during the next twenty-four hours after this attack upon New Ulm, first by the arrival of Judge Flandreau from St. Peter with a force of one hundred men, then by an equal force from Mankato and Le Sueur, and then by Judge Flandreau's taking entire command. The dead were then buried and the barricade strengthened. This was done none too soon for on the 23d of August, Little Crow and his band of about five hundred savages entered the town and, after skirmishing on the outskirts, compelled all the inhabitants to seek shelter within the barricade. The Sioux then, nearly surrounding the town, began a desperate assault to capture the stronghold, where about two thousand people were huddled together. The fight lasted till dark, but the next morning after a feeble attempt to dislodge the people, the Indians left, going towards the north. After burying the dead the whole town was evacuated the next day, five days before Mr. Ingham and Mr. Carey reached that place. They saw that the barricade had consisted of cordwood, lumber, wagon wheels, kegs of nails, trunks and boxes filled with goods from the stores, one hundred and fifty wagons and other available obstructions. Such was the construction of the barricade in the region where about eight hundred innocent victims were massacred. Our informants coming by the way of Iowa Lake, reached home September 2, 1862.

Soon families, fleeing from the Minnesota district where some of the brutal Indian atrocities had been perpetrated, came and passed through Algona for points further south and east. On Sunday September 7, ten teams conveying families and household goods from Jackson, Minnesota drove into town and stopped long enough to tell the tales of cruelty, death and destruction caused by the Sioux in the region of their homes. The story they told about the treat- ment of the farmers' wives and their daughters by the fiendish savages is too

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revolting to be repeated. These disheartened families were on their way to Winneshiek county, their former home. They were taking along about eighty head of stock, which with their teams constituted their entire wealth. They had abandoned their homes which they never desired to see again. In a few days other families from the same section of country arrived, telling the same sorrowful story.

About three months after this stampede, thirty-eight of the savages were swung into eternity for having taken part in the general massacre. Five times that number ought to have met the same fate, and probably would have, had the Civil war at that time not been absorbing the attention of the govern- ment officials. These thirty-eight had been duly convicted of the most bar- barous crimes that they could devise, and as a result died hanging on the scaf- fold at Mankato, December 27, 1862. The scene was witnessed by many set- tlers and soldiers. The condemned Sioux marched through the lines of the soldiers to the place of their doom with apparent unconcern. Some of them were not over sixteen years old, and others were evidently seventy. On the scaffold some smoked, and all joined in the death chant. After Captain Libby had slipped the noose over their necks, Major Brown struck the drum three times, and then Mr. Duly cut the rope and the trap fell. The rope around the neck of Rattling Runner broke and let the body fall to the ground, but he was put on the scaffold again and hanged until dead. The spectators cheered when the trap was sprung and otherwise displayed their feelings of approval. The bodies were wrapped in the blankets, cast into one grave and then covered over with dirt. The hole dug amid willows on the sandbar near by, to receive the bodies. was thirty feet long, twelve feet wide and four deep. The plan of the executions was successfully carried out without the least trouble from begin- ning to end. It was Mankato's most memorable event, and one that gave a feel- ing of relief to thousands of settlers in the northwest. M. B. Dalton is the only resident of Kossuth who witnessed the hanging of these savages. He was liv- ing at that time in Minnesota, and drove a long distance to be present at that historic event.

NORTHERN IOWA BORDER BRIGADE.

The first movements by state authority for the protection of the inhabitants of the frontier began August 29, 1862, when Governor Kirkwood gave S. R. Ingham full power to raise, muster and equip companies and to place them where he thought best for the safety of the people. Complying with this order he came to Algona and after being informed about the situation, a meeting of the citizens was called for the following day, September 3, 1862, at the town hall. This meeting was full of interest from the start. After several had expressed their views as to what was best to be done, S. R. Ingham directed that a company of forty men should be raised from the counties of Kossuth, Humboldt, Palo Alto and Emmet. In about five days the company was re- cruited, mustered in and the officers elected. William H. Ingham was chosen captain, Edward Mcknight of Dakota City, first lieutenant, and Jesse Cover- dale of Estherville, second lieutenant. On the 9th of September, the company left for the northwest with orders that Captain Ingham should proceed to Iowa Lake with all the force excepting twenty of the men who were to be sent to Esther-

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ville under command of Lieutenant Coverdale. The latter on reaching his desti- nation took quarters in the schoolhouse which the citizens had already stockaded with two inch planks, and the former at Iowa Lake, found temporary quarters at the Thompson home while hay was being made and stabling erected for the horses. At this time about forty soldiers of Captain Millard's Sioux City Cavalry, under the command of Lieutenant Sawyer, were at Spirit Lake, where the brick courthouse had been stockaded for quarters.

The extra session of the legislature during the second week in September, took a hand in directing the movements already begun. It authorized the main- tenance of five companies-one to be raised at each of the following named places : Sioux City, Denison, Fort Dodge and Webster City. The fifth, then at Estherville and Iowa Lake, was recognized as a part of the required military force. These companies were first located at points by S. R. Ingham and later by Lieut. Col. James A. Sawyer, who was elected November 7, 1862, to have com- mand over all the companies. About 250 men all told had been mustered into state service for the protection of the northern Iowa border, and had been provided with arms and ammunition. One full company was to be stationed at Iowa Lake, one at Estherville, one at Spirit Lake, and portions of companies at Ocheyedan, Peterson, Cherokee, Ida, Sac City, West Fork, Little Sioux and Correctionville, forming a line of cavalry defense from Chain Lakes to Sioux City.

Under the new arrangements, Captain Ingham's entire Company A was to be stationed at Estherville, while Iowa Lake was to be the location of Company B from Fort Dodge. On the second day of October, this latter company, commanded by Captain (Major) Williams, passed through Algona on its way to its place of designation. On arriving at the northern edge of the Black Cat timber, the soldiers dismounted and were furnished dinner by Mrs. Michael Reibhoff, that estimable 1856 pioneer woman who has long since fallen asleep, but whose generous nature is still remembered by many.

On the arrival of Company B, at Iowa Lake, Lieutenant McKnight who had been busily engaged fitting up the quarters as directed by Captain Ingham, who had gone over to Estherville to see how the work there was progressing, evacuated the camp and joined Captain Ingham's force, thus making the company consolidated for the first time since its organization. The Fort Dodge company, after completing Fort Schuyler at Iowa Lake, remained but a short time. Early in January, 1863, it passed through Algona on its way home disbanded.

Owing to the fact that by far the largest settlements were on the river, the fortifications, erected at Estherville under the immediate direction of Captain Ingham, were made on a much more extensive and durable plan than those at any other post on the line of defense. They were built on three lots, deeded free to the state by Robert E. Ridley and his wife, Esther, after whom the town had been named. Day by day the work went on until Fort Defiance was completed. It was a substantial stronghold that would have afforded satis- factory protection to all the assembled settlers had the Sioux made an attack upon that frontier town. The inclosure was 132 feet square with a splendid well in the center walled with boulders. On the north line were the barracks proper, 18x52 feet, and 8 feet high, and the commissary building. 14x32 feet, both made of timbers 8 inches square and both having shingle roofs. The

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former also was covered with black walnut siding. Substantial bastions were provided by allowing the barracks to extend beyond the east line six feet, and the other building the same distance beyond the west line. The space between the two was stockaded with eleven foot planks, four inches thick, the whole line being amply provided with port holes, etc. The shingle-roof barn was 26 feet wide, with 12 foot posts, occupying the south line, 120 feet long. The east and west lines were substantially stockaded with planks having port holes. How well Captain Ingham had the whole work done may be learned, if from no other source, from the report of Lieutenant-Colonel Sawyer to the governor after his inspection of the fortification: "It reflects much credit upon the taste, ability and untiring energy of the commandant of this post."

The fort was worthy of the name "Defiance." But fortunately the time never came when there was a necessity for using its port holes for firing on the advance of the savages. General Sully's scouting cavalry and the Minne- sota regiments, which followed the Sioux far up in the Dakotas, prevented a repetition of the New Ulm atrocities in this section of the state. During the time the various companies of the Border Brigade were stationed along the line Quartermaster Lewis H. Smith rode from post to post supplying the sol- diers with all required commissaries. He provided ways for procuring pro- visions and for forage for the horses, as well as performing manifold other duties pertaining to his position.

Such salutary regulations were enforced during the existence of the com- pany as were conducive to securing the required discipline, and as had a tend- ency to prevent camp life from becoming demoralized. Religious services on Sundays were conducted whenever suitable persons to do so could be secured. So far as compensation was concerned each soldier received the same pay from the state that he would have drawn from the government if he had been in the United States army. Each, however, had to furnish his own horse to become entitled to this pay for his services.

In September 1863, sixteen counties of northwestern Iowa were included in Brigadier General Sully's district, so that further use of the Border Brigade was not deemed necessary by the state authorities. On the 26th of that month the Brigade was ordered to be disbanded by Adjutant General Baker, who directed that all the arms and other state property should be turned over to Quartermaster Smith. Three days later Adjutant General Baker notified General Sully that all the companies had been disbanded except Company A, which at that time was scattered over the 160-mile line to Sioux City, but which would be mustered out by Captain Ingham, January 1, 1864, or sooner if relieved by the United States Troops. An order to this effect coming to Captain Ingham, Company A, was dis- banded December 30, 1863 and all the arms and state property turned over to Quartermaster Smith, who was continued in office until the property could be turned over to the state as by law required.

Half a century has gone by since the attack of the Sioux upon our neighbors on the north, and since the Border Brigade was organized to protect the frontier settlers of northwestern Iowa from the tomahawk and scalping knife of Little Crow and his blood-thirsty band. Fifty years of progress and civilization have banished forever from the minds of our citizens all fears of savage Indian invasions with their attending consequences.

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NORTHIERN JOWA BORDER BRIGADE

James A. Sawyer, Lieut. Col., Sioux City.

Lieut. Lewis H. Smith, Quartermaster, Algona (is now cashier of Kossuth County State Bank at Algona).

COMPANY A

William H. Ingham, Captain, age 34, Kossuth Center. (Is now president of Kossuth County State Bank at Algona.)

Edward McKnight, First Lieut., Dakota City.

Jesse Coverdale, Second Lieut., Estherville.

MEMBERS FROM KOSSUTH COUNTY

Jacob Altwegg, age 26, Private, Kossuth Center; is living now on his Plum Creek farm.

J. R. Armstrong, age 33, Second Sergeant, Irvington; now deceased.

John M. Brown, age 23, Private, Algona; now deceased.

Thomas J. Clark, age 19, Private, Irvington; was later with Second Iowa Cavalry, and is now living at New Carlisle, Indiana.

William Crook, age 25, Irvington, promoted to First Corporal, then to Second Corporal and later to Third Corporal; now deceased.

Addison Fisher, age 41, Irvington, promoted from First Corporal to First Ser- geant ; now deceased.

James G. Green, age 35, Private, Irvington ; now deceased

Christian Hackman, age 40, Bugler, Algona; now deceased.

John Hegarty, age 24, Private, Algona; now deceased.

Andrew J. Jones, age 21, Private, Algona; now residing at same place.

Henry H. Patterson, age 32, Private, Irvington ; was later with Second Iowa Cavalry and is now deceased.

Thomas Robison, age 38, Private, Irvington; now deceased.

George F. Schaad, age 37, Private, Algona; now deceased.

Michael Smith, age 28, Private, Algona; now deceased.

John W. Summers, age 30, Private, Algona; whereabouts now unknown.

Havens S. Watson, aged 32, First Sergeant, Algona; now a retired merchant at that place.

James Young, age 23, Private, Algona; now deceased.

August Zahlten, age 45, Algona, advanced from Fourth Corporal to Fourth Sergeant ; now deceased.

ADDENDA

The writer never was at Estherville during the time the soldiers were stationed at that post, but was several times at the barracks at Iowa Lake, and has a vivid remembrance of what he saw and of how he was impressed. In the fall of 1862, his father, Samuel Reed, had a contract for delivering grain, provisions, arms,

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ammunition, etc., to the soldiers at that place. He drove one team, Albe Fife another and the writer the third. The first trip was made soon after Company A left Algona, for all of our local soldiers of the company appear to have been there, including Captain Ingham. After passing through the Reibhoff grove, five miles north of Algona, the teamsters turned northwest across a long, houseless and almost trackless prairie. Soon they were overtaken by Quartermaster Lewis H. Smith who rode slowly along beside the teams until they came to the "lone rock" where, many years later, the little village of that name sprang into ex- istence, nearby. On this boulder the three teamsters and Quartermaster Smith ate their dinners. The latter then rode on leaving the others to follow at their leisure. The river was crossed at some point in what is now Seneca township, at a place where the banks were so steep that about one fifth of each load was dumped into the river. Out into the water the teamsters jumped and then gathered up as best they could the corn and bacon that had fallen overboard. They camped that night on a lonesome spot with not a house in view, neither had one been seen since leaving Michael Reibhoff's in the morning. That night no Indians came to molest the campers but in their stead myriads of mosquitoes made life miser- able. The soldiers' camp was reached at noon the next day.

James G. Green being one of the cooks, had placed several kettles full of cabbage in a row in the temporary quarters. While several were watching him, Lieutenant McKnight, who was noted for his joviality, and who happened to be in his bare feet at that moment, deliberately walked across the row of kettles, putting his feet into each. The spectators roared with laughter while the cook looked disgusted. No other member of the company would have dared to do what he had done with seeming approval. Soon the boys from the hay field arrived with their horses on a brisk gallop. The halt was so sudden that William Crook went over his horse's head and in striking the ground a stone cut a gash on his throat. After his whiskers had been clipped a little with the scissors, Mike Smith put a court plaster over the wound and helped him into the camp. Thomas J. Clark was riding a rainbow-backed horse, which he had hired for the purpose from an Irvington neighbor. It was noticeable that this rough rider's style of bobbing up and down while in the saddle had skinned the back of old Rainbow for a space of a foot or more. Quartermaster Smith then seeing this made a requisition for "one bottle of Gargling oil for the use of soldiers horses."

Kinsey Carlon had a contract for mowing the grass that was then being rapidly made into hay by the soldier force. He was there with his Kirby machine cutting "slathers" of it and taking more pride in doing so than any one else could have taken who had quarters at the camp. The term "slathers" he used with great frequency when speaking about the amount of hay that was being procured. As he very much enjoyed working with a large force of men when he could have some voice in directing their movements, the position of haymaster was quite to his liking. It was not all sunshine with him, however, for occasions came when his patience was taxed to the limit. Small stones would dull his sickle and larger ones would break the guards, and at times the tall grass would wind around the end of the reel. He gave up in despair one day when the Kirby began to "cave." It roared and rattled, and bumped and jerked until he was afraid to sit on the seat any longer. On examination it was found that the pitman journal

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had become so heated that the Babbitt-metal melted and disappeared. After new bushings had been inserted he went on his way rejoicing "slathering" down the hay for the soldiers' horses.

The remaining trips the writer made, in company with the other teamsters to this post, were after all of Company A had gone to Estherville, and after the Fort Dodge company had taken possession and completed substantial fortifica- tions. The name of this stronghold as given to it by the authorities-Fort Schuyler-has seldom appeared in print since that time. Neither is it generally understood that the fort had a designated name recognized by the state military authority. The story of this fort pertains not only to the history of Emmet county, where it was located, but to Kossuth as well, and should be historically preserved.

On one of his trips to Fort Schuyler the writer well remembers when he first saw that grand old man, Major Williams, whom the Fort Dodge company had elected as captain. He seemed to feel perfectly at home in camp and to enjoy his surroundings. It was plainly evident that this was not his first military experience. He had a martial bearing that distinguished him from all the others. While he was friendly with the members of his company he at the same time kept them under subjection with seeming ease. One evening in the barracks one of the soldiers told some story, that was a little off grade, at which his comrades roared with laughter. The old major rebuked him by saying calmly, "such stories tend to demoralize camp life and should not be permitted." Judg- ing from the silence that followed, that remark was a beneficial one, producing the desired results.

Yes, it is fifty years since the citizens of Kossuth along with those of Hum- boldt, Emmet and Palo Alto counties, began making military history apart from the Civil war. The Indian outbreak coming as it did in the fall of 1862 came at a time when this county was least prepared to spare its workmen from the shops and farms, as it was then sending to the battle front in Lincoln's army more than its quota of volunteers. By the first of January, 1863, the number of men able to perform active labor was indeed small. There were so many citizens in the service of the United States and of the state, whose wives and mothers were left as best they could to manage the affairs of their respective families, that the term "war widows" was applied to a considerable number of the women of the county. But gone are the days of the recruiting officers and of enlistments, gone are the days when fears of Indian invasions were enter- tained, and gone are the days when local history was largely such as pertained in some manner to military affairs.

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History of Kossuth County, Iowa, Part 27

Author: Reed, Benjamin F Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 879

Author: Reed, Benjamin F
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 879