USA > Minnesota > Meeker County > Album of history and biography of Meeker County, Minnesota > Part 57
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Chambers, of Hutchinson, having arrived in Forest City, and mentioning the movements of Captain Strout and his company, it was determined to intercept his column and bring it to Forest City direet, and, the dispatch having been prepared, a volunteer foree of three to carry it was asked, in response to which J. V. Branham, Jr., Albert Sperry and Thomas Holmes came forward and offered their services, which were accepted. As the summer sun was setting behind the western horizon, and flooding the land with its erim- son light, the three brave and gallant men put foot in the stirrup and started on their lonely, perilons ride. They started toward Rice City, with the intention of saving the command from running into the Indian eamp at Swede Grove, which they were approaching so ineautiously.
They found, on reaching what was known as the Henderson trail, that Captain Strout and his men had passed that point, so they pushed on in the intense darkness, surrounded by peril, toward Acton, and found the eom- mind peacefully sleeping, with no guard or pieket set. The party at once communicated their tidings, and instantly the excitement grew intense. The Belgian muskets that the company had been armed with, for lack of better pieces, were overhauled, when it was discovered that most of the ammunition was of a different caliber from the guns, and would not fit, so the balance of the night was spent in preparing it for service in the best manner possible. As daylight dawned, and breakfast was being eaten, the firing of guns in their neighborhood alarmed all hands, as it was well known that there were no white men in that entire neighborhood. All made ready for the march to Hutchin- son, which was necessary for their safety, for it was plainly apparent that their camp was untenable against any foree of Indians. The five mounted men rode ahead of the col- umn, which marehed in a southerly direction
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for about two miles, when the glistening of gun-barrels through the foliage announced an ambush. This was upon a hill opposite Kelley's bluff, and our troops moved steadily on until they had arrived within half a mile of the enemy, and then halted. They were then formed in line of battle, and advanced until they were about two hundred yards from the savage foe, when they were saluted by a storm of bullets, which was bravely and promptly returned, and the firing thus commenced was kept up rapidly with some effect. Our troops, who were formed in four sections, in open order, pressed on as skir- mishers toward the foe. Shortly after this a fresh body of mounted Indians were dis- covered in their rear, and, the two forces being united, and the lake being on the left of the company, the little body of soldiers were effectually surrounded. A charge in the direction of Hutchinson was ordered, and, the bayonets dropping to a level, the men bravely charged the red horde, who fell back, for the savage can not stand cokl steel. Like many another battle, the troops were endangered by the misconduct of the team- sters, who, thinking that the road to the south was now opened, started on the run for Hutchinson, and their panic soon spread to the scarcely-disciplined soldiers, who had behaved so bravely but a few minutes before. and away they all went, pell-mell, after the teams. In a few minutes order was restored, and the retreat conducted in a more orderly manner. During this movement Jesse V. Branham, Jr., one of the scouts and messen- gers of the previous night, was seriously wounded, being shot under the shoulder blade, the ball passing through his lungs. Three men were killed in this engagement. and some eighteen wounded; the latter were all brought from the field. The dead were afterward buried by the detail from the Third Regiment. On their arrival at Hutchinson the wounded were properly
cared for, and the command obtained some rest.
Early on the morning of the 3d of Septem- ber. the entire force, both of the Home Guards and the citizens of Forest City, finished the erection of a stockade for their defense, and labored hard and faithfully all that day. It was a parallelogram of 120 feet square, and was made of a double row of logs on end, planted in the ground some three feet, and projecting upward some ten feet. Bastions on the corners and numerous loopholes through the timbers afforded ample means for sweeping down any assailants that attacked it, and would shelter the marksmen from the bullets of the savages. Every one being turned out, the company were marched to the principal hotel of the place, where they were quartered, and all settled down to a peaceful slumber, and, with the excep- tion of the armed guard. seemed totally ob- livious of the proximity of the savages.
Between two and three o'clock in the morning, the sentinels discovered the ap- proach of a body of Indians and gave the alarm, at which the Sioux, with wild yells, charged forward and fired a volley at the hotel, where the troops were in quarters. These latter, sallying out with most of the citizens, retired to the stockade, but in their hurry forgot or neglected to take with them the horses or the bulk of the ammunition, the former being in J. B. Atkinson's stable and the powder and balls in the store of Judson A. Stanton. Within the palisaded en- closure stood a frame honse and a well, and had they one-half the ammunition with them they could have held out for some time. But, not expecting the redskins so soon, they were taken by surprise, and in the excitement much was overlooked. No sooner had they reached the fort and been safely ensconced therein than the savages opened upon it with some forty or fifty rifles, for it was both a sur- prise and a disappointment to the red fiends
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to find the stockade built, for they never dreamed of such a thing and anticipated an easy victory. The intense darkness of the night rendered aim very uncertain, so, to save their ammunition, but very little firing was done upon the part of the beleaguered gar- rison. Nels Elofson, a resident of the county, in speaking of that night says: that " the captain told him to be saving of his ammu- nition, as they had but a small supply." He adds that " while one part of the savages, early in the morning, continned to harass the settlers within the enclosure, the others were employed in burning the buildings and hay- stacks, and in running off the horses, oxen, wagons and other property." Most of the property burned was situated at a distance from the fort, for if an Indian stepped into the circle of light from a burning building, the leaden missives warned him that he was seen, and, if he did not drop, he hastily re- treated. Once the incendiaries approached the more central part of the village, but the torches in their hands betrayed them to the troops, and a discharge of their muskets laid some half a dozen upon the ground, and the rest fled. As the light of day once more dawned upon the settlers. they found the most of the Indians had retired, while an Indian was perceived stealing out from be- hind the barn of .I. B. Atkinson, and Thomas Grayson, who was an excellent shot, deter- mined to kill him. The distance was about three hundred yards, and in the gray light of early morn the savage stood sharply out- lined against a bright background. Slowly the death-dealing rifle of the settler rose to his shoulder, an instant, as he tightened his grip, as the aim became sure, the sharp, whip- like report rang out with wondrous clear- ness. and the Indian threw up his hands with a yell and pitched to the ground.
As the light of day grew more bright the beleaguered citizens and soldiers saw with delight that most of their savage foes had
retired, while a small body of them were driving away some of the captured stock. A number of volunteers, among whom were Nels Elofson, Aslog Olson and William Bran- ham, made a charge upon the latter, when the Indians tled over the hills, but, when the party arrived at the brow of the eminence, they were fired upon from an ambush in the school-house, and Aslog Olson and William Branham were wounded. The settlers re- treated to the stockade, carrying their crip- pled comrades with them, and some of the stock for which they had ventured their lives. A few days subsequently the command es- corted their wounded to Hutchinson to have their wounds dressed and be taken care of, and both recovered in time.
On the 17th of September, Caleb Sanborn, a settler in the neighborhood of Cedar Lake, was murdered by the Indians, who were prowling around in that locality, murdered in cold blood, through a general hatred of the white race and being filled with the malice and cruelty of the Evil One himself. The next day a party, consisting of Lewis Harrington, Daniel Cross. T. R. Webb, Silas Greene. Frank Jewett, David Hern and Nathaniel Pierce. left the town of Hutchin- son to get the body and to bury it decently. After their arrival north of the lake, while skirting the forest, they were startled by the discharge of three rifles, and saw with dis- may one of their number, Daniel Cross, fall to the ground, mortally wounded. Five of the party jumped into their wagon and left for a more secure place, whilst T. R. Webb found his way to a small boat in the lake and paddled for the island, where he spent the night. The next morning he escaped and reached Ihutchinson, meeting on the way a posse of about fifty, who had started in search for the bodies of Cross and himself .. This party marched on to the scene of the ambush, and recovered the bodies of both Sanborn and Cross, and returned safely to
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their homes. It seems that it was discovered then that there were thirteen redskins in the body, who had fired on the little squad.
On the 5th of September Lient. William Byrnes, of the Tenth Minnesota Infantry, with a part of a company of that regiment, numbering some forty-five muskets, started to reinforce any troops that then might be in Meeker county, and took up their quar- ters at Kingston, turning the storehouse of HIall & Co., of that place, into a barrack for his men. This he strengthened by means of earthworks, and during the same time ear- ried on scouting expeditions all over the vicinity. Captain Pettit, of the Eighth Min- nesota Infantry, with his company, had rein- forced Captain Whiteomb's command at For- est City, and was there on the reappearance of the Sioux on the 22d of September. Word that day was brought to the county seat that the red fiends were again committing out- rages, this time at Lake Ripley (now Litch- field), and Captain Pettit asked the coopera- tion of his comrade, Lieutenant Byrnes, in a movement to the neighborhood of the hos- tiles. The next morning the latter sallied out with some thirty-six men, and, nniting his command with that of Captain Pettit, who had eighty-seven, and five of Captain Whitcomb's mounted rangers as guides. started for Lake Ripley. On their arrival they found the body of poor Olson, the black- smith mentioned in the first part of this arti- cle. He had been shot three times through the body and once through the hand, was scalped, his brains beaten out, his throat cut from ear to ear, and his tongue cut out by the roots.
After burying the dead and picking up three women who had been hiding several days in the woods, and sending them on to Forest City, an extended reconnoissance was made toward Diamond Lake, in Monongalia county, through a deserted country, covered with the ruins of the settlers' cabins and
wantonly-killed stock. On the morning of the 25th, while on their return to Forest City, they surprised a party of Indians with some stock, which they took in charge, the Sioux fleeing on catching sight of them.
On the 23d of September, Capt. Richard Strout, having sent out a party to scout around, was alarmed by the report of the little band who returned with the information that they had had a skirmish with the enemy at Greenleaf, and one of their number slain. Other parties of scouts came in with the information of having seen parties of red- skins, who seemed to have flocked here in great numbers.
From this time on the country was safe, for troops, having been organized, now came forward to fill the places held by the Irregu- lars, and cahn settled down on the land. Still the strained nerves of the citizens would vibrate at the slightest sound, and they saw and heard an Indian in every suspicious noise or movement.
We now come to the concluding phase of this tragedy, the death of Little Crow, the prime instigator of the conspiracy, with whose demise, and the hanging of the thirty- eight at Mankato, terminated the terrible massaere of 1862.
On the 1st of July, 1863, nearly ten months after the first blow was struck, James MeGannon was killed between Kingston and Fair Haven, by some Indian, said to have been Little Crow. On Friday, July 3d, follow- ing, Mr. Lampson and his son Channey were out hunting and suddenly came in sight of two Indians pieking berries on section 30, Col- linwood township, on a little prairie opening in the woods, interspersed with elumps of bushes and a few poplar trees. These sav- ages were Sioux, and were Little Crow and his son Wowinapa. Mr. Lampson and his son erept up within gunshot, and being the best shot took aim at Little Crow, his son covering the boy, who was about sixteen
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years old. Two reports rang out upon the still air, and the Indian chief fell to the ground, hit just above the hip. He, how- ever. snatched up his gun and fired it and his son's piece in the direction where the curling smoke betrayed the presence of the enemy, but another report came from the settler's gun and the ball hit the savage in the side and he fell over. After asking his son for water, which was given him, he ex- pired. The son, who had on the clothes of the murdered MeGannon, escaped, and after wandering around was finally captured some twenty-six days after in the neighborhood of Big Stone Lake.
During the eventful year there were killed by the red fiends, of the settlers in Meeker county, the following twelve persons : Rob- inson Jones, Mrs. Ann Baker, Viranus Web- ster, Clara D. Wilson, Philip Deck, Joseph Page, Linus lowe, Wilmot Maybee, Nels Olsen, Caleb Sanborn, Daniel Cross and Thomas MeGannon. To the first five vic- tims of the murderons Sioux there has been erected a monument by the State. commem- orative of the beginning of the fearful out- break that deluged this fair land with blood and fire. Besides the soldiers who lost their lives in this county, of whom there is no per- sonal record. two Swedes were slain within the limits of Acton, as they were fleeing thither for safety. Their names were Lorin- son and Backlin, who had settled at Eagle Lake, Kandiyohi county, but had left there with a train of Heeing citizens and were over- taken just this side of the county line and murdered. Oneof them had a number of butcher knives sticking in his body when found.
The monument, which stands in the Ness Norwegian Lutheran Church cemetery, on
section 20. Litchfield township, bears the fol- lowing inscriptions, and was erected by the State, in 1878 :
SOUTHI SIDE.
IN MEMORY OF THE FIRST FIVE VICTIMS OF THE GREAT INDIAN MASSACRE IN 1862, AND BURIED HERE IN ONE GRAVE.
WEST SIDE.
ROBINSON JONES, VIRANUS WEBSTER, HOWARD BAKER, ANN BAKER, CLARA D. WILSON.
EAST SIDE.
.
"FIRST BLOOD."
NORTHI SIDE.
ERECTED BY TIIE STATE, IN 1878, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE
MEEKER CO. OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.
The personal experiences of the settlers of this and the adjacent connties during the exciting times of the outbreak and massacre are given in detail in their sketches in the biographical department of this work, to which the reader is referred. The subject is one of great interest to every one, and, as the data from which these narratives are written are taken down from the participants them- selves, strongly portray the trials and perils endured by the pioneers of this region. Stamped with the plain accents of truth, these personal biographies make up the full history of these perilous times, and finish out the tale of woe, of life upon the border, in the fateful year 1862.
MEEKER COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
549
Before dismissing this tragie episode in the history of Meeker county, at the desire of many of the survivors of those fearful days, it is proper to say that the prompt and hearty aid accorded to the imperiled settlers by Gov. Alexander Ramsey, has won him a place in their esteem and affection that is undying, and the mention of his honored name touches a chord in the breasts
of the participants in the Indian war that vibrates with gratitude for his noble actions and efficient work at that time. A truly respected and beloved inan in this com- munity, he needs no monument to recall him to the children's children of the old settlers of Meeker county ; their regard has built up one in their hearts that is more enduring than stone or bronze.
TOWNSHIP
HISTORIES.
CHAPTER VIII.
FOREST CITY TOWNSIIIP.
@HE subdivision of the county which bears the above name is one of the oldest settled and one of the most pietur- esquely beautiful. It
embraces what is techni- cally known as congressional township 120, north of range 30 west, and contains 22,- 846.87 acres in all, only 884.37 of which are covered with water of any descrip- tion. It is for the most part extremely fertile, and the timber which covers a por- tion of the territory is of the finest character.
It was upon the shores of the north branch of the Crow River, that meanders through the emerald prairies and leafy groves of this town, that John Huy and Thomas H. Skin- ner, the first settlers of the county, passed the lonesome and dreary winter of 1855, as related in the history of the early settlement of the county, in a former portion of this volume.
D. M. Hanson, a talented young lawyer of
Minneapolis, and Rudolph Shultz had come here with Iluy and Skinner, but on the ap- proach of winter returned to the " Flour City," where Hanson died the following April. Shultz returned to this county in the spring, and took up a claim in what is now Ilarvey township.
With the advent of the new year of 1856 came new settlers, the first to arrive being possibly Milton G. Moore and Elijah Bemis. The exact date of their arrival can not be ascertained at the present moment, but the former was appointed register of deeds and the latter sheriff at the time of the organiza- tion of the county, that same spring. Nei- ther of them remained long, both leaving the county a few years after their settle- ment, probably in 1858.
During the year 1856, others made settle- ments in the township, among whom were the following named, some of whom still live here, some have moved away, while still another portion have passed to their reward beyond the grave :
Joseph Weymer, Sr., Jacob Weymer, T. Carlos Jewett. Samuel and Dudley Taylor, Isaac C. Delamater, David Mitchell, Wait HI. Dart, Charles E. Cutts, Walter Bacon, Lean- der L. Wakefield, John Whalen, John A. Quick, James Bramhall, Mathew Miles Stan- dish, John W. Johnson, Charles McAron,
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MEEKER COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
John Patterson, Henry Clinton, Loring Huy, Ogden T. Tuttle. W. H. Vaness, John Kim- ball, Edward Fitzgerald, J. W. Griswohl, Judson A. Stanton, Harrison G. O. Thoms, Charles N. Shed, Rev. John Robson, John Flynn, John Wigle and Wyman Ryan.
Most of these first settlers took up claims and commenced to improve their land, erect- ing log cabins in which to live. Their near- est market being St. Paul, they were, of a necessity, compelled to deprive themselves of all the comforts and conveniences of life, but game was in abundance in these pristine wilds, and they did not suffer from hunger at least.
The year 1857 witnessed a still further in- flux of settlers into this township, prominent among whom were the following: Milton Gorton, John Sullivan, John Murray, James B. Atkinson, Jacob Knapp, Jacob Ball, James Willis, John Heath, A. F. Heath, L. F. Ilaines, Isaac Perrine, Allen Teachont, H. N. Baker, H. M. Angier, William Rich- ards, W. W. Woodman, Hamlet Stevens, A. B. Hoyt, G. M. Blandin, II. Walker, B. F. Butler, Thomas Grayson, D. P. Dela- mater, Charles and William Willis, N. O. Griffin, Michael Lenhart and W. S. Chap- man. Many of those, also, have left the county, but a few are still residents, either of the farms upon which they settled or in the village of Litchfield.
The hard times that followed the financial crisis of 1857 had a discouraging effect upon all emigration. and the tide of settlers flow- ing into Meeker connty was not so strong dur- ing the year 1858 as might have been expected. Still there were a few that came to Forest City township, and made settlements that year. Among them were : Sylvester Stevens, Charles McPartheon. L. W. Henry, Patrick Finnegan, Rev. J. C. Whitney, R. W. Brown, U. S. Willie, a lawyer: George S. Sholes Sr., George S. Sholes Jr., J. A. Baird, Thomas E. Massey, A. C. Smith ; John D. Evans,
Charles and Samnel Getchell, E. K. Wright, James Merrill, Levi Getchell, F. M. Scott, Dennis Cronin, G. W. Parker, and N. W. Bannister. But few came here after this, until about the close of the war, and the condition of the country was more settled.
The terrible outbreak and Indian massacre of 1862, a history in detail of which has been given in an earlier portion of this work, not only caused the cessation of settlement in this portion of the State, but nearly all that were here left to seek secure quarters for their families. Some never returned and others only after considerable absence. During the year 1863, there were but few, if any, new settlers to locate in this town, and the population was much reduced in number, both by the people leaving and by the many men being absent with the Union armies.
FIRST ITEMS.
The first birth was that of Sarah Jane Dougherty, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Dougherty, who was born here while her parents were camped July 15, 1856. The first birth among the settlers of this township was that of a son to John Whalen, born in the early part of 1857.
The first death was that of Frank Parsons, a young man, who died November 12, 1856, and was buried on the town site.
The first religious services were held by Rev. John Robson, a Methodist minister, in November, 1856.
The first steam saw-mill was put up by John Robson, near the village, in 1858.
The first school-house was built in 1857, on section 17, and the first teacher was T. Carlos Jewett.
FOREST CITY VILLAGE.
The village of Forest City was originally laid out by Standish and Moore, surveyors, in the summer of 1857, for the proprietors, T. II. Skinner, W. S. Chapman, J. W. Huy,
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MEEKER COUNTY, MINNESOTA.
A. M. Fridley. A. Jackson Bell, and E. E. Wilson. This plat is described as covering the northeast quarter of section 17, and the northeast quarter of section 20, and was filed for record August 13, 1857. For some reason this was replatted, and other territory added in the latter part of 1858. The plat was filed for record March 23. 1859, and covered the south half of section 17 and the west half of the northwest quarter of section 21. The proprietors are described officially to have been W. P. Curtis, of Hen- nepin county, and Thomas H. Skinner, pres- ident of the Forest City Company. To this Hines, Kimball and Beedy laid ont an addi- tion on the northeast quarter of section 17. in September, 1871, the plat being filed on the 6th of that month.
Dudley Taylor and his wife had a large log building put up, in which they kept the first hotel in the village and in the county. A few other cabins were put up by the few settlers here, and thus the county seat was commenced.
Early in the spring of 1857, James B. Atkin- son came to the village with a load of goods. and putting up a building, about the 1st of March of that year opened a general stock of goods. This was the first store in the township, and in the connty. This estab- lishment he presided over until the summer of 1862, when he took in as partner. Mark W. Piper, who ran it while Captain Atkin- son was fighting in defense of his country. In 1866. Piper soll out to Atkinson, he hay- ing acquired sole possession, and the latter gentleman ran the store until 1879, when it was closed out.
The second store was opened in the village in 1858, by Fitch & Stanton, who ran it until the time of the Indian outbreak. when the goods were removed to a safer place by their owner.
Others in trade after this were : Thomas H. Skinner, who started in 1862. who afterward
sold it to Chauncey Dart : Campbell & Flynn, Wait H. Dart, Jesse V. Branham, Sr., Hines, Kimball & Beedy, O. C. McGray, C. D. Boom, Brost & Rodgers, William Hardy, Frank McCumber, William Knight and Nicholas Schreiner.
J. A. Baird established a brickyard here in 1858, and made the first brick in the county, but. finding but little chance for his business at that time, returned to Minneapolis the same year.
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