USA > Minnesota > Concise history of the state of Minnesota > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22
"Sergeant Burgess. the color-bearer. was shot dead; he was the man that brought the colors off from the battle-field at Bull Run: he was a fine fellow as well as brave. Every man in the regiment was his friend. He was shot by a minnie ball through the lungs, and killed instantly, and the color- fell to the ground. They were raised by one of the gnard. Our company was very fortu- nate not to lose any one. Joseph MeDonald, a son of McDonald that lives op- posite Elk River, was wounded, but not seriously. Judson Jordon, a brother of C. B. Jordon, was killed; he was a member of the first Michigan. This was Sunday's fight at Savage's Station. About 10 p. M. we started on the march, leaving the wounded, that could not walk, in old build ngs; surgeons and hos- pital stewards stopped with them."
.
218
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
After Pope's repulse, General Mcclellan resumed command of the army, and Sumner's corps, with others, were advanced north of Washington to meet Lee, who had crossed the Potomac with the insurgent army. By forced marches Sedgwick's Division arrived near Sharps- burg, Maryland, and took part in the great battle of the seventeenth of September. After an active contest the Ist Regiment was flanked by the enemy, and they were obliged to fall back. Captain Russell's company of sharp-shooters was attached to the regiment during this fight.
The 4th Regiment and 2d Minnesota Battery, on April twenty-first left St. Paul for Benton Barracks, Missouri. They were both assigned to the Army of the Mississippi. The 5th Regiment also departed on the thirteenth of May, and on the twenty-third took position with their comrades of the 2d and 4th Regiments near Corinth, Mississippi. In less than a week they were brought into action, and Second Lieutenant David Oakes was killed. A correspondent writes:
"On Wednesday, the twenty-eighth, there was heavy cannonading during the entire day. At ten o'clock in the morning a force of Federal infantry was thrown out to plant a twenty-four pound Parrot gun upon an eminence commanding a piece of timber on our left, which sheltered the rebel regiment who so continually annoyed us. The enemy discovering our intentions advanced a body of troops to take the gun. Our forces were immediately drawn up in line of battle. Not a man stirred from the ranks until the enemy approached within fifty yards of our line, when Colonel Purcell, of 10th Iowa, acting brigadier, ordered the 5th Minnesota to charge bayonets. Terribly did they revenge their fallen
219
BATTLE OF IUKA.
comrades. The casualties to the 5th Minnesota did not exceed forty killed and wounded. This is a new regi- ment, and this is the first occasion they have been able to show the material of which they have been made." 1
On the eighteenth of September, Colonel Sanborn, acting as brigade commander in the Third Division of the Army of the Mississippi, moved his troops, includ- ing the 4th Minnesota Regiment, to a point on the Tus- cumbia road, and the next day advanced towards Iuka, driving pickets to enemy's position. Under the fire of the enemy's battery he placed his troops in line of battle, and the 4th Minnesota was stationed on the crest of a ridge. Captain Legro, in command of the regiment, reported as follows:
"At 5 P. M. I moved my command at double-quick to a position on the left of the 4Sth Indiana, which regi- ment was in support of the 11th Ohio Battery, com - manded by Lieutenant Sears. Shortly after, the battle was opened by the battery, and raged fiercely along the line for half an hour, when the 4Sth Indiana, being com- pelled to give way, fell back to the edge of the woods,
1. STAFF OFFICERS OF FOURTH REGIMENT.
John B. Sanborn, Colonel. Made Brigadier-General in 1863, B't Major Gen. U. S. Vols. 1564.
Minor T. Thomas, Lieutenant-Colonel. Made Colonel 8th Regiment, August 24, 1562.
A. Edward Welch, Major. Died at Nashville, Feb. 1. 1864.
John M. Thompson, Adjutant. Promoted Captain Company E, November 20, 1:62.
Thomas B. Hunt, Quartermaster. Made Captain and Assistant-Quartermas- ter April 9, 1-63.
John H. Murphy, Surgeon. Resigned July 9, 1863.
Elisha W Gross, Assistant-Surgeon. Promoted July 9, 1863.
Asa S. Fiske, Chaplain. Resigned Oct. 3, 1964.
STAFF OFFICERS OF FIFTH REGIMENT.
Rudolph Borgensrode, Colonel. Resigned Aug. 31, 1-62.
Lucius F. Hubbard, Lieutenant-Colonel. Promoted Colonel Ang. 31, 1962. William B. Gere, Major. Promoted Lieutenant-Colonel.
Alpheus R. French. Adjutant. Resigned March 19, 1-63.
Wm. B. MeGrorty, Quartermaster. Resigned Sept. 15. 1564.
Francis B. Etheridge, Surgeon. Resigned Sept. 3, 1-02.
Vincent P. Kennedy, Assistant-Surgeon Promoted Surgeon Sept. 3, 1962. James F. Chaffee, Chaplain. Resigned June 23, 1-62.
John Ireland, Chaplain, Appointed June, 1862. Resigned April, 1863.
220
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
leaving my regiment exposed to an oblique fire in the rear from the advancing enemy.
"I then ordered the right wing to fall back ten rods to the timber, which was accomplished in good order, notwithstanding the galling and incessant fire of the enemy. *
"I was then ordered to move by the right flank about forty rods up the road, at nearly a right angle to my for- mer position, then by the left flank to a point near the battery, which I did immediately. *
"Throughout the whole both officers and men behaved with coolness and courage, conducting themselves in a manner highly commendable.
"Too much praise cannot be awarded to Surgeon J. H. Murphy and his assistants for their unceasing at- tention to the wounded through the action and during the night. I enclose a list of the killed, wounded, and missing."
The battle of Iuka was but the beginning of the move- ment that in a few days culminated at Corinth in which conflict the 1st Minnesota Battery and the 4th and 5th Regiments participated. At Corinth the Union army faced northward. On the left center the ground was quite hilly, and here the Chevally road entered the town. Fort Robinett with Fort Williams enfiladed the Chevally and Bolivar roads, and another fort on the extreme left near the seminary, protected the left and strengthened the center.
Hamilton's Division, to which the 4th Regiment was attached, was on the extreme right, and Stanley's Divis- ion, to which the 5th belonged, was on the left.
Captain Munch, in a communication to Governor Ramsey, says:
221
BATTLE AT CORINTH.
"On the first [of October ] the battery, then stationed in town, was ordered out to take up camp at Fort No. F, one of the forts on our western line of defence, about two miles from town. Not yet fairly in camp there, we received orders to send two of the pieces ( two 12-pound howitzers) to Chevally to support a brigade of infantry then at that place. * * As I was not le- gally reinstated in my command yet, and almost too lame for any hard work, Lieutenant Clayton was sent with that section, I retaining the other in the fort. They went as far as Chevally that evening, when they found the enemy entering the town from the opposite side. Not strong enough to offer much resistance, our forces fell back about a mile, and took up camp for the night. On the second day there was skirmishing all day along the road, no artillery engaged on the same.
"Early on Thursday morning, the third, our boys opened the ball with the two howitzers, and to judge from the rapid succession of reports, they must have been well to work, and by their cool and unflinching at- tention to their duty earned the praise of the command- ing general. Lieutenant Clayton has shown good judg- ment in taking positions, and by the general manage- ment of affairs gave evidence that he well earned the confidence you kindly reposed in him.
"In the meantime I was placed in command of the re- maining sections of our battery, together with a section of the 3d Ohio Battery. I planted them all in the fort. At S o'clock P. M., a report was sent in that one of the howitzers was disabled, not by the fire of the enemy, but by the weakness of the carriage, which broke by the recoil of the piece. As they could not drag it along fast enough, the enemy being in hot pursuit with great.
222
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
ly superior numbers, they spiked the piece, throwing it into a deep creek, rendering it useless to the enemy.
"Another piece was immediately sent to replace it. This after a few rounds was disabled and brought to the rear, when the last piece of the battery was sent for- ward. The battery then had an excellent position across the railroad, and did great execution. By and by the little command became so exhausted by heat, thirst, and hard work, that it became necessary to order them to the rear, and replace them by new troops. But the enemy soon became so numerous that it made any further re- sistance at that place useless, and a general retreat was ordered, which was carried out in good shape. The musketry became general along the line, and we could discover heavy columns moving forward. The enemy planted a battery in range for our fort, and commenced throwing shells, which were well directed, but could not injure ns much behind the breastworks; we, of course, were not lazy to answer, and our second shot silenced their battery.
"At four o'clock P. M. all the forces were drawn into the inner line of defences, and both armies rested for the night. Our battery took a good position near the semi- nary, and during the second day of the fight assisted the big guns of the forts to clear the woods across the abattis. After the enemy were so deadly repulsed in their effort to take the town, they commenced retreating in their common way, by sending in a flag of truce pur- porting to bury their dead."
. Colonel J. B. Sanborn, in his report to his superior officer, says:
"At about a quarter before five o'clock I advanced my line by your order across the field in my front, toward a
223
SANBORN'S REPORT.
heavy growth of timber, where our skirmishers had en- countered the enemy in some force. Company K was again deployed forward as skirmishers, and had ad- vanced but a short distance in a westwardly direction, before they drew a very heavy musketry fire from the enemy concealed in the timber. In the meantime Ihad wheeled my battalion to his left, so that I was fronting the southwest. At that time, the fire of the enemy was brisk and enfiladed nearly my whole line. At this mo- ment Captain Mowers beckoned to me with his sword, as if he desired to communicate important information, and I started toward him upon a gallop, but had rode but a few steps when I saw him fall dead-shot through the head. From the course of the ball and the position the enemy seemed to occupy, I interpreted the informa- tion that Captain Mowers desired to give, to be that the enemy were passing to my rear by my right, my com- mand at this time holding the right of the infantry in
the whole army. These impressions were immediately communicated to the general commanding the brigade, and I received orders to dislodge the enemy from the woods on my right. I at once changed the front of my battalion to the rear on the tenth (10th ) company; this was done under a heavy fire of musketry, in 'double- quick' time, but with as much coolness and precision as if on ordinary battalion drill.
"This movement completed, I ordered the regiment forward at 'quick time' until within about one hundred and fifty paces of the enemy's line of battle at this point, when I gave the further command, "forward one hundred and fifty paces, double quick.' This was exe- cuted in the most gallant and splendid manner. The regiment, in perfect line and with triumphant shouts,
224
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
rushed forward against a most murderous fire, and when within fifty yards of the enemy's line, he fled to the rear with the greatest precipitancy, receiving two or three volleys from my regiment as he retired. Immediatly after this was accomplished, I received your order to fall back and join Colonel Alexander (5th Indiana) on his right, which order was at once obeyed, and skirm- ishers thrown forward one hundred paces to my front, and around my right flank.
"It was now night. We were exhausted, and obe- dient to orders, I moved to the first position held in the morning and bivouaced there at 11 p. M. During the day my loss was one commissioned officer and one pri- vate killed, and four wounded. The heat during the engagement of my command was most intense, said to be 108º in the shade, and more men were carried off the field on litters from the effect of sunstroke than from wounds.
"Ammunition was distributed to the men, so that each had seventy five rounds, between eleven and one o'clock at night, and at half-past one I received your order to move my command to. the right, accross the Pittsburg and Hamburg road, and about one hundred yards to the rear, which was done at once, and the regiment stood to arms, fronting the north, for the remaining part of the night.
"My command remained in this position until half past ten o'clock on the following morning, when I re- ceived your order to move by the left flank into position on the ridge of my left, in support of the 11th Ohio Bat- tery. This order was at once executed and my front changed to the west. I formed my regiment about fifty feet in rear of this battery, which masked the six centre
·
225
SANBORN'S REPORT.
companies. These six companies were ordered by me to fix bayonets, and charge the enemy whenever he should charge upon the battery. Two companies on the right and two on the left were moved forward on the line of the guns of the battery, with instructions to en- gage the enemy with musketry whenever he might appear, and meet him with the bayonet in case of a charge.
"The enemy retired from the ground covered by the valley, and from the front of my regiment, in about forty minutes after the firing commenced. I maintained the same relative position to the battery in its movements upon the field, to get in rear of the enemy, until your orders came to occupy again the ground left, when I went into action. I at once reoccupied that position, where I remained until the morning of the 5th inst., at four o'clock, when the pursuit commenced.
"In the engagement on the fourth I lost one commis- sioned officer, and five privates wounded.
"Of the pursuit it is enough to report that it was commenced on Sunday morning, the fifthi inst., and con- tinued without cessation or delay, except such as was absolutely necessary to rest the men temporarily, until the following Saturday night, the troops having marched during the time about one hundred and twenty miles.
"I cannot speak too highly of the patient endurance and valor of my command. During a period of nine days of the most heated and uncomfortable weather, my regiment marched one hundred and thirty miles, and for two days and nights of that time were engaged in one of the most extensive and desperate battles of the war. The conduct of all officers was satisfactory. Captain Tour-
226
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
· tellotte and Edson conducted themselves with most ex- traordinary coolness and determination.
"My commissioned staff, First Lieutenant Thomas B. Hunt, Regimental Quartermaster, and First Lieutenant John M. Thompson, Adjutant, behaved with coolness and judgment, and in the absence of other field officers rendered me efficient service, repeating commands and communicating orders.
"Quartermaster-Sergeant Frank E. Collins, for dis- tinguished valor and services on the field in aiding me in every movemeut, and in arresting and bringing pris- oners from the field near the close of the engagement, deserves special mention. Commissary-Sergeant T. P. Wilson remained under fire all the time directing litter carriers to the wounded, and furnishing water to the famishing soldiers, as well as repeating my commands when near the' lines.
"Sergeant-Major Kittredge was among the coolest men on the field, and most efficient until he was overcome by sunstroke.
"Surgeon Dr. J. H. Murphy, and second Assistant Surgeon Dr. H. R. Wedel, conducted their department with perfect order and method. Every wound was dressed in a few moments after it was received, and the wounded cared for at once in the most tender manner."
Colonel L. F. Hubbard, of the 5th Regiment, reported . as follows:
"We were aroused before dawn on the morning of the fourth inst. by the discharges of the enemy's guns, and the bursting of his shells in the immediate vicinity of where we lay. One man of my regiment was quite severely wounded here by a fragment of a shell. At about nine A. M., I was ordered by General Stanley to
227
COL. HUBBARD'S REPORT.
deploy one company, as skirmishers, into the edge of the timber towards the front and right; in obedience to which Company A was sent forward under command of Captain J. R. Dart. A few moments later the advance of the enemy along our entire line was made. I soon observed that the part of our line running from near my right towards the rear was giving way, and that the enemy was rapidly gaining ground toward the town. I immediately changed front, moving by the right flank by file right, and took a position at right angles to my former one. The movement was just completed, when I was ordered by General Stanley, through Major Coleman, to support a battery which had been in posi- tion about four hundred yards towards the front and right, but which was being driven from the field. I moved by the right flank at double-quick, a distance of perhaps two hundred yards. By this time the battery mentioned had retired from the field entirely. Captain Dee's Michigan Battery, occupying the crest of a ridge near the Mobile and Ohio railroad towards the left, had been abandoned and fallen into the hands of the enemy. Our line for the distance of several hundred yards had been repulsed, became scattered, and was rapidly retreat- ing. The enemy, in considerable numbers, had already entered the streets of the town from the north, and was pushing vigorously forward. His flank was presented to the line I had formed, which exposed him to a most destructive fire, and which the 5th Minnesota delivered with deadly effect. After receiving and returning a number of volleys, the enemy began to fall back. I then moved forward in line, at a run, pressing hard upon the enemy, who was flying in great confusion. I moved on outside the town, and halted on the crest of a ridge
22S
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
to the left of, and on a line with, the former position of the battery I was ordered to support, regaining, mean- time, possession of the abandoned guns of the Michigan Battery. The enemy continued his retreat under a galling fire from our guns, and the artillery of the forts on the left, until lost sight of in the woods in our front, when he re-formed, and again advanced in considerable : force. I at once opened upon him a hot fire, which, with the fire from along the line upon my right, which had now rallied and was re- forming, arrested his pro- gress, and soon drove him back under cover of the timber.
"About forty prisoners fell into our hands, and large numbers of killed and wounded marked the line of the enemy's retreat. The regiment expended near fifty rounds of ammunition. I feel authorized in referring especially to the coolness and courage of the officers and men of my command, and their general good con- duct during the action."
A few days after the battle of Corinth, Buell's army attacked Bragg at Perryville, Kentucky, and here the 2d Minnesota Battery, Captain W. A. Hotchkiss, did good service. A correspondent of the Cincinnati Ga- zette, describing the conflict says:
"The 2d Minnesota Battery, Captain Hotchkiss, came up nearly at the same time with the 2d Missouri Infan- try, and by delivering a well-directed fire upon the flank of the rebels, assisted materially in driving them from the woods."
In the battle of Fredericksburg, on the thirteenth of December, the 1st Regiment supported Kirby's Battery, and retired to camp near Falmonth, Virginia, without serious loss.
229
THIRD REGIMENT HUMILIATED.
The position of the 3d Regiment during this year was most unfortunate. On the morning of the thirteenth of July, near Murfreesboro, Kentucky, the rebels attacked a Michigan regiment, and after their commanding officer was wounded, and they lost nearly half their number, they surrender- ed. The 3d Minnesota, which was a little more than a mile off, and a battery of four guns, as soon as they heard of the attack, marched up the turnpike and took position in an open field, and in a little while fell back a half mile. The colonel called a council of officers to decide whether they should fight, and the first vote was to fight; a subsequent vote being taken, by ballot, was in favor of surrender; Lieutenant-Colonel C. W. Griggs, Captains Andrews1 and Hoyt, voted on both occasions to fight. In September the regiment returned to the State humiliated by the lack of judgment upon the part of their colonel, and was assigned to duty in the Indian country.
1. Lt. Col. Dec. 1, 1862. Colonel Aug. 9, 1863. Brig General U. S. Volunteers January 5, 1864. Bt. Major Gen. U. S. Volunteers, March 9, 1865.
16
230
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
CHAPTER FOURTEENTH.
SIOUX MASSACRE.
Two hundred and forty years after the first great mas- sacre in the valley of the James River, in Virginia, another occurred in the valley of the Minnesota just as unexpected, accompanied by barbarities as revolting, and which would have been more extensive had it not been for the influence of a converted Indian, Paul Mazakuta- mani, a member of the Presbyterian Mission Church.
There have been many theories advanced to account for the Sioux outbreak of 1862, but they are for the most part superficial and erroneous. Little Crow, in his written communications to Colonel Sibley, explaining the cause which had provoked hostilities on the part of the Indians, makes no allusion to the treaties, but stated that his people had been driven to acts of violence by the suffering brought upon them by the delay in the payment of their annuities, and by the bad treatment they had received from their traders. In fact, nothing has transpired to justify the conclusion that when the bands first assembled at the agency, there was nothing more than the usual chronic discontent among them, superinduced by the failure of the government, or its agents faithfully to carry out the stipulations of the dif- ferent treaties. During the trial of the prisoners before the military commission hereinafter mentioned, every ef- fort was made to elicit evidence bearing upon the out-
231
CAUSES FOR SIOUX UPRISING.
break and the motives which actuated the leaders in in- augurating the bloody work. The only inference that can be drawn from all of these sources of information is, that the movement was not deliberate and predeter- mined, but was the result of various concurrent causes, to wit: long delay in the payment of the annuities after the Indians were assembled, and an insufficient supply of food in the interim; dissatisfaction with the traders; alleged encroachment of settlers upon the Indian reser- vation; ill-feeling of the Pagan Indians against the missionaries and their converts; and predictions of the medicine-men that the Sioux would defeat the Ameri- cans in battle, and then reoccupy the whole country after clearing it of the whites. Add to these the facts, well known to the Indians, that thousands of young and able- bodied men had been despatched to aid in suppressing the rebellion, and that but a meagre force remained to garrison Forts Ridgely and Abercrombie, the only mili- tary posts in proximity to their country, and it will be perceived that, to savages who held fast to their tradi- tional attachment to the British crown, and were there- fore not friendly to the Americans, the temptation to regain their lost possessions must have been strong. It was fresh in their minds, also, and a frequent subject of comment on their part that the government had taken no steps to punish Ink-pah-du-tah and his small band, who had committed so many murders and other outrages upon citizens of the United States, at Spirit Lake.
It is, however, by no means certain that all of these considerations combined would have resulted in open hostilities but for an occurrence which proved to be the application of the torch to the magazine. Five or six young warriors, wearied of the inaction of a stationary
232
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
camp life, made an excursion along the outer line of the Big Woods in a northern direction, with the avowed in- tention of securing the scalp of a Chippewa, if practic- able. Being unsuccessful in their search, they retraced their steps to Acton, a small settlement in Meeker Coun- ty, on the seventeenth of August, 1862, and through some means they obtained whisky, and drank freely. They made a demand for more liquor from a man named Jones, and were refused, whereupon the infuriated sav- ages fired upon and killed not only him but two other men, Webster and Baker by name, and an elderly lady and a young girl. Terrified at their own violence, and fearful of the punishment due to their own crimes, these wretches made their way back to the camp at the Lower Agency, confessed their guilt to their friends, and im- plored protection from the vengeance of the outraged laws. They all belonged to influential and powerful families, and when the whole affair had been discussed in solemn conclave in the "Soldiers' Lodge," it was de- termined that the bands should make common cause with the criminals, and the following morning was fixed upon for the extermination of the unsuspecting whites at the agencies, and of all the white settlers within reach. How secretly and how faithfully the orders of the "soldiers" were executed, remains briefly to be told.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.