USA > Minnesota > Waseca County > Child's history of Waseca County, Minnesota : from its first settlement in 1854 to the close of the year 1904, a record of fifty years : the story of the pioneers > Part 10
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The complete organization of the Fourth regiment followed and on the 23rd of December the regiment was ready for service. Wasera county was represented in this regiment by Maj. W. T. Kiftredge, Capt. E. M. Broughton, Capt. S. T. Isaac, Capt. D. L. Wellman, Augustus Lintler, Sam Alexander, Orin Coats, James L. Connor, N. T. Foster, Silas Hubbell, T. B. JJackson, Moses Nor- ris, C. W. Quiggle, Jonas Whitcomb, John Teas, Charles Parvin, Myron Sheldon, Loren C. Wood, Waldo Lyon, Aaron Bragg, James S. Camp, Erastus Fish, James Hanes, Jonathan Isaac, S. A. Norris, J. N. Powers, D. P. Stowell.
THE FIFTH MINNESOTA.
The Fifth regiment was the last to organize under the Presi- dont's July call for 400,000 men. The regiment was mustered in December 19, 1861, but was not complete in numbers until March 20, 1862. This county was represented in the Fifth by the following men :
Capt. E. A. Rice, M. P. Ide, Alex Wentworth, Wm. Blaisdell, G. F. Rice, John Barden, Moses Camp, Edward Guise, Wm. Hard- ing, Wm. Hoover, John Jenkins, S. M. Merrill, Lieut. G. W. John- son, (. R. Loveland, J. W. Pierce, G. HI. Bishop, E. M. Atwood, Patrick Burns, S. W. Franklin, W. H. Gray, E. R. Horton, Harvey
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Lawrence, John Murphy, E. H. Stiles, B. F. Weed, P. Davis, Peter Olson, James E. Crook, David Skinner, H. H. Wallace, Wm. Doug- las, Chris. Sampson, Jonathan Hardy. Of these Wm. Douglas enlisted as a recruit Jan. 4, 1864.
While farm products were abundant, prices thereof were not remunerative. The local prices were as follows :
Wheat, forty to forty-five cents per bushel; corn, 1 wenty cents; beans, forty ; oats, eighteen; potatoes, twenty; lard, ten cents per pound; eggs, five cents a dozen; dressed pork, from $3.50 to $4.00 per cwt .; brown sugar, ten cents per pound; coffee sugar, a shil- ling a pound; plug tobacco, thirty to forty cents; smoking tobac- co, fifteen cents; coffee, from twenty to twenty-five cents; syrup, and molasses, eighty cents per gallon; salt, per barrel, $4.75; tallow candles, eighteen cents per pound; dried apples, ten cents ; calico, from seven to twelve and a half cents per yard; delaines, twenty to twenty-five cents; sheeting, eight to twelve cents; den- ims, twelve to twenty cents; Kentucky jeans, twenty-five to thirty-five cents; cassimeres, from forty cents to two dollars; cot- ton flannel, from twelve to eighteen cents; wool flannel, from thirty-five to fifty cents per yard.
In closing the history of the year, it is proper to refer to the first newspaper established in the county. While it is true that a paper, called "The Home Views," a six column folio, made its appearance in Wilton, then the county seat, March 13, 1860, it was in fact an Owatonna publication, issued by Mr. A. B. Cornell, in the name of Mr. J. W. Crawford, of Wilton, as editor. Yet the first real newspaper printed, published and edited in the county was
"THE WASECA HOME VIEWS."
This paper made its appearance about the first of March, 1861, and was owned, edited, printed and published by Alexander John- ston and Spencer J. Willis at the village of Wilton. It was con- ducted as a neutral in politics, Johnson being a democrat and Wil- lis a republican. It was a very good local paper largely devoted to the local interests of the town and county. They continued to publish the paper until the ensuing fall, when Mr. Johnston be- came sole proprietor and removed the plant to Faribault. From that town, Mr. Johnston continued the publication of the "Home
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Views" at Wilton, under the local management of Buel Welch, Esq., until the fall of 1863, as a "Union Democratic" paper. Mr. Johnston sold his interest in the plant in 1863, and went to St. Paul where he became a reporter for the "Pioneer," which after- wards consolidated with the "Press," both papers becoming one and adopting the name of Pioneer Press. He remained in the em- ploy of the daily press in St. Paul until the time of his death, about 1894.
CHAPTER XXIX, 1862.
NEW OFFICIALS-CANFIELD, WARD AND BALDWIN SCHOOL LAND APPRAISERS-SCHOOL EXAMINERS, WOODRUFF, MOSHER, SMITH-HORSETHIEVES, HORSES OF ORRIN PEASE STOLEN- HORSETHIEF DETECTIVES-INDIAN MASSACRE-COMPANY F, 10th REGIMENT, ROSTER THEREOF-THE OUTBREAK AUG. 18- TRIP TO MANKATO AND THE AGENCY-PEOPLE PANIC STRICK- EN-BRISBANE'S ACCOUNT OF TRIP-MOUNTED RANGERS FROM WASECA COUNTY-INDIANS HANGED AT MANKATO, DEC. 26.
The new offieers of the county, viz. : S. J. Willis, auditor; Geo. T. White, treasurer; Tarrant Putnam, register of deeds; D. L. Whipple, sheriff; H. D. Baldwin, judge of probate and county attorney; Geo. P. Johnson, surveyor; J. A. Canfield, court com- missioner ; H. P. West, clerk of court; Nathaniel Wood, eoroner; and John S. G. IIonor, of Ioseo, B. A. Lowell, of Otisco, and J. B. Jackson, of Wilton, county commissioners, met at the court house in Wilton, Jan. 7th 1862, filed the necessary official bonds and duly qualified for their respective duties.
The eounty commissioners were in session but a short time. Mr. Lowell was elected chairman for the ensuing year. The board of county commissioners at that time, under the statute, fixed the salaries of a number of the county officers.
It was ordered that the salary of the county attorney. II. D. Baldwin, be fixed at $180 per annum; the salary of the county auditor, S. J. Willis (no clerk hire) be fixed at $425 per annum- salaries payable monthly in equal installments. Quite a change from that day to this.
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It was also ordered that $275 be allowed to S. J. Willis & Co., proprietors of the "Home Views," for doing the county printing for the year 1862, "said printing to include all printing of tax notices and delinquent tax sales, except only assessors' tax rolls, payment for same to be made quarterly."
The county board met again February 28, but nothing of gen- eral interest was transacted. The next meeting of the board was held June 26th upon call of the county auditor. At this meeting of the board, John G. Ward, of Ioseo; J. A. Canfield, of Otisco, and H. D. Baldwin, of Wilton, were appointed by the board as land commissioners to appraise the school lands of the county. At this session of the board the saloon keepers put in some work on the license question, and, "on motion, B. A. Lowell was appointed to receive and aecept pro- posals for liquor licenses, the amount to be paid for the same, where liquors were to be sold by the glass, pint or quart, not to be less than $10 for each license granted."
The next meeting of the county board was held Sept. 2d. Be- sides the usual routine of allowing bills, etc,. the following gentle- men were appointed to serve as school examiners (superinten- dents) in their respective commissioner districts, to-wit: Philo Woodruff, of Blooming Grove; H. G. Mosher, of Otiseo; and Rev. E. S. Smith, of Wilton.
The summer of 1862 revealed the fact that we had in our midst a gang of horsethieves. In the month of June, Orrin Pease, who had just settled in the town of St. Mary, had a fine pair of horses stolen. After considerable search by Sheriff Whipple and others, the horses were found in the possession of men named Eno, Beatty and Anderson, a colored person. All three of these were convicted of the lareeny, but, pending an appeal to the supreme court, broke jail at Wilton and made good their escape. The stealing of these horses, the escape of the thieves, and the expense attending their arrest and trial created a strong feeling of indignation on the part of our people against thieves in general, and against horse thieves in particular, and were the primary cause of the organi- zation of the Waseca County Horsethief Detective Society, which still exists and the history of which appears elsewhere in this volume.
The next meeting of the county board was held Oct. 4, 1862.
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No business of importance was transacted except that Mr. Willis, having engaged in the drug business, tendered his resignation as county auditor. This was not accepted, at the time, but at a special meeting called Nov. 22nd, the resignation of Mr. Willis was accepted, and Col. J. C. Ide was appointed in his place.
THE WAR AND THE INDIAN MASSACRE.
On the first day of July President Lincoln called for six hundred thousand more men, volunteers, to more vigorously prosecute the war; and on the 4th of Angust a draft was ordered of three hun- dred thousand men to serve nine months. The draft order was never enforced in Minnesota. But the stirring events of the war, the call of the president for volunteers, and the draft ordered created great activity in enlistments and military organization throughout the whole state.
Several publie meetings were held at Wilton. They were largely attended, and much enthusiasm and real patriotism were mani- fest among all the people. From August 12 to August 18, com- pany F of the Tenth Minnesota infantry, Capt. George T. White's company, was largely increased by the following men from this eounty :
('apt. George T. White, II. A Mosher, John A. Wheeler, Robert Beith, Nels Bergosen, James Glendenning, Geo. Dreever, Knute Hansen, August Krieger, M. M. Morgan, John Pickett, Benjamin Swan, Barney Vosberg, Wm. R. Brisbane, Isaac Lyng, C. W. Rob- erts, S. A. Goodwin, Wm. Bliven, Sammel Gleason, A. D. Gregory, Thos. Eldredge, Christian Hattesaul, John King, Jacob Newkirk, Samuel Preston, S. P. Satterlee, Lieut. Isaae Hamlin, David Me- Daniels, J. R. Whitman, G. E. Brubaker, Chas. Grover, J. A. Can- field, Fred Emery, G. W. Ives, L. A. Lafayette, Chas. Olebauch, J. S. Riee, Martin Spankley, (. H. Woodbury, Hans Hansen, J. B. Hill, M. A. Francis, Richard Ayres, Edward Brossard, S. M. Grov- er, Chas. Chadwick, James Gallagher, H. A. Jones, G. W. Lee, Hans Oleson, M. V. B. Storer, W. W. Taylor, P. J. D. Wood, Henry Yarigan, Robert Quiggle, Nathan Satterlee, Ole Johnson, A. H. Coddington, Francis Lincoln, M. A. Robbins.
On the 18th day of August, 1862, the people on the western frontier of the state were startled by the Sioux Indian massacre of white people at both of the Sioux agencies and in their imme-
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diate neighborhoods. These massacres were followed each succeed- ing day for a week by the indiscriminate slaughter of men, women and children all along the frontier, from Glencoe and Hutchinson, on the north, to Spirit Lake, in Iowa, on the south. More than two thousand white settlers were murdered in cold blood, and some two hundred fifty women and children were carried away as captives.
The trouble commenced at Acton, Meeker county, on August 17, 1862, when several settlers were murdered by a few roving Indians, said to have been partially intoxicated. Upon receipt of the news of the Acton murders by the Indians at the Upper Agency, on the 18th, the work of death was at once commenced.
After the slaughter of the white people at both the Indian agencies, early on the morning of the 18th, a wounded settler with a team drove immediately to Fort Ridgely, thirteen miles be- low, and gave the alarm. Captain Marsh, with eighty-five men, oc- cupied the fort. With forty-five men he started for the Lower Agency, having with him a six mule team, hauling supplies and ammunition. Upon reaching the river at the agency his little com- pany was surprised and surrounded by Indians in great numbers, who opened a deadly fire. About half of his company were instant- ly killed, and then followed a desperate hand to hand fight, in which the white soldiers fought to the death. Only fifteen of the forty-five survived and returned to the fort-Captain Marsh him- self being drowned while crossing the river.
Before leaving the fort on the 18th, Captain Marsh wisely sent a messenger to Lieutenant Tim J. Sheehan, who was on his way to Fort Ripley with fifty men, to return at once. This Sheehan did, arriving at Fort Ridgely on the 19th. Indian Agent Galbraith had raised a company of fifty men for the United States service and was on the way to Fort Snelling to be mustered in, having reached St. Peter on the evening of the 18th when news arrived of the massacre at the Upper and Lower Agencies. Taking the mus- kets of the militia company of St. Peter he immediately returned with his company to Fort Ridgely, where he arrived on the 19th. This increased the number of men at the fort to about one hundred fifty, under command of Lieutenant Sheehan.
A desperate assault was made upon the fort by the Indians on the 20th, which continued from time to time until the 22d. The
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fort was heroically and successfully defended by Lieutenant Shee- han and his command. Only four men were killed and fifteen wounded in the fort during the siege. At the time of the attack on the fort it contained $72,000 in gold and silver, which had been sent out by the government to make Indian payments.
Then followed the assault apon New Uhn and its defense on the 23d, where the Indians were severely repulsed after burning a part of the town. In one of the battles at New Ulm ten white men were killed and fifty wounded.
The news of the massacre did not reach the settlers of Waseea county until the 23d, about noon, when the stage came into Wilton from the west. A large number of enlisted men of Company F, Tenth regiment, under command of Captain White, had left Wil- ton that morning to join their regiment at Fort Snelling.
What was to be done ? was the burning question of the hour. Few of our citizens had anything better than muzzleloading shot- guns, in the way of firearms, and very little ammunition of any kind. As usual on such occasions there was great diversity of opinion as to the best course to pursue. While others were deliberating upon and discussing the subject, S. P. Child, Buel Welch, Esq., John Greening, and the writer each obtained a horse, a shotgun, a small amount of ammunition and started for Mankato about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The roads were slippery and slow progress was made, but we reached the Win- nebago Ageney about 7 o'clock in the evening. We there found Hon. St. A. D. Balcombe, the agent, and a number of white men residing at the ageney, all of them more or less excited in fear of an nprising among the Winnebago Indians. They desired us to remain over night in order to help defend the place should there be an uprising of the Winnebagoes; but S. P. Child, who had spent over a year as a resident among these Indians, coneluded from what he could see and hear that there was no danger from the Winnebagoes, so long as they should remain sober. Hence we concluded to push on to Mankato. Shortly after we left the Ageney, clouds came up from the west and about dark rain com- meneed to fall. After we had crossed the LeSueur river and reached the Mankato woods, it became so dark that it was impos- sible to see the road. In order to keep the road, I pulled off my boots and walked in the road leading my horse, feeling my way as
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CHILD'S HISTORY OF WASECA COUNTY.
best I could. A drizzling rain continued until we reached Man- kato, making the latter part of our journey a very slow and tedious one. We arrived at the town about 11 o'clock that night. Although guards had been placed at different points about the city, we proceeded to the Mankato House without being discovered or challenged by the city guards. The Mankato House was able to furnish lunch but no beds. Fred Kittredge then had charge of the hotel and did the very best he could for our eom- fort. Every hotel and house was crowded with people who had come in from the country panie-stricken. About daylight the next morning, news was received from the battle at New Ulm and of the repulse of the Indians. At the same time there were many rumors of a threatened outbreak by the Winnebagoes who, as was ciaimed, had made an alliance with the Sioux. The more level-headed gave little credence to these reports regard- ing the Winnebagos, but the masses actually believd that there was great danger of an immediate outbreak by them. It was argued by the people of Mankato that inasmuch as the troops from Fort Snelling had reached St. Peter there was really no danger from the Sioux, while there was no protection whatever to the people of Blue Earth and Waseca counties from an outbreak by the Winnebagoes. After consultation, those of us who went from Wilton consented to return to the Winnebago Agency and watch for further developments. Upon our arrival there about noon, we found a number of men from Wilton, under the command of Colonel Ide, who had arrived a short time before. The excitement at the Agency was still intense owing to fear of an outbreak on the part of the Winnebagoes. After we had discussed the matter with Colonel Ide and others of the Wilton company, it was thought best for me to return to Waseca county to inform the people of the situation and to assure them that there was really no danger of further outrages by the Indians. I immediately returned to Waseca county and traveled the settle- ment from Janesville to New Richland, assuring the people that there was no real danger, and that it was for their interest to remain at their homes and save their crops; that the Indians had been repulsed at New Ulm and driven west, and that armed men were then guarding the whole frontier.
While most of our people became satisfied with these assur- 7
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ances, still quite a number could not be reasoned with and they determined to leave their homes, crops, and cattle to go to de- struction. There was a general stampede from the southwestern porton of Waseca county and from the northern portion of Fari- bault county. The people of Wilton and St. Mary deemed it best to place a guard at the Wilton bridge to prevent the fleeing peo- ple from going further east. No doubt this drastic measure saved many families from losing nearly all they possessed and suf- fering in consequenee, for many returned to their homes, saved their crops, and recovered their cattle.
The following from the pen of the late Hon. Wm. Brisbane, of Wilton, who remained at the Agency a day and a night, will be of interest. It reads :
"A report had come to the Agency that the Indians had burned Man- kato. The stage coach being some two hours late, gave color to the report. John Greening started on horseback for Mankato to make a reconnoissance and report as quickly as possible. John started off in gallant style, an excellent caricature of Don Quixote charging windmills. Shortly after, he came galloping back shouting: 'Mankato all right; no burn, and stage a comin'.' A few of us promptly seized the stage when it drove up and demanded to be taken back to Wilton. This caused considerable flutter. One woman said she wouldn't give that -snapping her fingers-for her life if the Waseca county men went away. Dyer, head farmer at the Agency, bareheaded and excited, came and told me that Balcombe wanted to see me. I told him to tell Balcombe to go to -. Col. Ide said: 'You will be very sorry when you hear that we are all killed.' 'Yes,' said I, 'very.' * * * You may judge of our surprise when we came to Wilton to find Mrs. Balcombe and Mrs. Hubbell there waiting for the stage. I learned long afterward that they bad taken a team at the Agency early in the morning and traveled by what they called the timber road. A day or two after all the Wilton men returned home.
"As there were no troops in this section, and our own homes were ex- posed to danger, a military company was formed at Wilton, called the 'Home Guards.' James E. Child was elected captain and drilled us in the manual exercises. He was assisted by Col. Ide, when difficult mili- tary maneuvers were to be executed. I remember that Warren Smith was one of the lieutenants. I often thought that I would die of laughing when the Colonel was teaching us how to march through a narrow defile. We had to march sidewise, which gave us a limping kind of gait, so that a stranger would have thought that we had all been wounded in battle and crippled for life. We were dressed in blue-jean jackets and pants. I am sure that if such a military company were to appear on the streets
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of Waseca today they would be taken for foolish school-boys playing soldier for the fun of the thing."
Aside from Capt. White's company which participated in the In- dian war, the following named men served a year in the First Min- nesota Mounted Rangers : S. P. Child, John Cunningham, Gullick Knutesen, Egle Olson, J. H. Elliston, W. M. Fay, Louis W. Kras- sin, John Murphy, Jordan Smith, L. F. Preston, A. J. Williams. Jonas Whitcomb, Lieutenant T. F. West. They enlisted immedi- ately after the outbreak.
During the winter of 1862-3, most of the enlisted men from Waseea county, in the Fifth and Tenth regiments, were stationed at Mankato and the Winnebago Ageney, and had the satisfaction -if it were a satisfaction-of being present in their military ca- pacity at the hanging of the thirty-eight Sioux murderers, at Mankato, Dee. 26, 1862.
CHAPTER XXX, 1862.
THE INDIAN MASSACRE AT LAKE SHETEK-THE MURDER OF MRS. WM. EVERETT AND OTHERS-THE SHOOTING OF VOIGHT -THE TERRIBLE BATTLES OF 1862-CAPTIVITY OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN-MR. EVERETT'S WOUNDS AND SUFFERING-RE- LEASE OF THE CAPTIVES, AMONG THEM LILLY EVERETT.
It would be impracticable in a work of this kind to introduce any considerable report of the thrilling and terrible ineidents that transpired during the Indian outbreak; but it seems appropri- ate to give some of the ineidents in the experience of Mr. Wil- liam Everett, so long a useful and respected eitizen of this county, who was a suffering participant and an eye-witness of the massa- cre at Lake Shetek. The following account is taken from the Was- eca Herald of several years ago.
THE INDIAN MASSACRE AT LAKE SHETEK.
Intimately connected with the early history of this state and the sad and tragie scenes of the Sioux massacre of 1862, is the name of our townsman Win. Everett. Ile was born near Newton, Sus- sex county, New Jersey, in 1828, where he lived until about twen- ty-two years of age. In 1850 he settled at Haywarth, Iowa county, Wisconsin, on the Wisconsin river. Ile owned and operated a saw mill, in connection with some logging camps on that river. At the age of twenty-four he married Miss Almira Hatch of that place. He removed with his family to Minnesota, in May, 1859, coming by way of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers on Capt. Davidson's packets. They stopped at South Bend, near Mankato, during the summer, looked over the country, and in the following
WM. EVERETT.
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October located at the south end of Lake Shetek. At that time the lands were not yet surveyed-the survey taking place in 1861. Mrs. Everett's brother, Chas. ITateh, came in the spring of 1861.
There were very few settlers at the lake-some three or four- when Messrs Everett and Wright made their claims. Hateh was a single man, Wright had a wife and two children and Mr. Ev- erett and wife had two children, one of them Lilly, now Mrs. Curtis.
The next season Everett and Wright opened farms, the former breaking thirty acres. He also made arrangements to build a saw mill and had the material all on the ground at the time of the Indian outbreak.
New Ulm, sixty miles away, was their nearest village and trad- ing point. They were about one hundred miles from Mankato, the next nearest point. There were no settlers west of them nearer than Sioux Falls, and only three families there.
The next year a few settlers came in, and in 1861 there was considerable immigration. Quite a number settled at the lake, and others settled north and west of them. Occasionally parties of Sioux Indians went through there on hunting expeditions. In the fall of 1861, a party of Sioux, numbering some twenty, old and young, who had been south hunting elk, eamped at the lake on their return, and were caught by an early snow storm which de- tained them there till February. The Indians had very little to live on, and were fed by the settlers. In January, provisions began to fail, and Mr. Everett and two others started out with ox- teams for New Ulm. The snow being deep and crusted, they made only eight miles the first day. They pitehed their tent, or tepee, on the prairie. During the night a high wind arose which blew down their tent and nearly buried them with drifting snow. They found it impossible to proceed in the morning and returned to the lake. They had raised considerable buckwheat, and this they ground in eoffee mills, sifted and made it into eakes. Thus they lived until February when there eame a thaw. The Indians then left for their ageneies, and Mr. Everett and two other men, with two sleighs, went to New Ulm for provisions and groceries for the settlement. On their return, while crossing Mound Creek, near where Burns station now is, the water, being high, carried off one sleigh box filled with supplies which they were unable
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