USA > Minnesota > Cottonwood County > History of Cottonwood and Watonwan counties, Minnesota : their people, industries, and institutions, Volume I > Part 33
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pardon of these merciless outlaws who had shed the blood of innocent women and children in the time of peace.
Senators Wilkinson and William Windom made eloquent, urging appeals to the President for the proper execution of sentence in the case of these Indians. One quotation from one of these distinguished statesmen's address is sufficient to show the trend of sentiment in Minnesota at that time :
"The people of Minnesota, Mr. President, have stood firmly by you and your administration. They have given both you and it their cordial support. They have not violated any law. They have borne their suffer- ings with patience, such as few people have ever exhibited under extreme trials. These Indians are now at their mercy ; but our people have not risen to slaughter because they believed the President would deal with them justly. We protest against the pardon because if they are not executed the people of Minnesota will dispose of these wretches without law. These two peoples cannot live together. We do not wish to see mob law inaugurated in Minne- sota, as it certainly will be if yon force the people to it. We tremble at the approach of such a condition of things in our state.
"You can give us peace or you can give us lawless violence. We pray you. sir. as in view of all we have suffered, and the danger that still awaits us. let the law be executed. Let justice be done to our people."
Early in December, 1862, while the final decision of the President was delayed. the valley towns of Minnesota, led off by the city of St. Paul, held meetings addressed by the most intelligent speakers of various locations. Among other speakers was United States District Attorney George A. Nouse, of Minnesota, who framed a petition as follows :
"To the President of the United States-We, the citizens of St. Paul, in the state of Minnesota, respectfully represent that we have heard with regret the reports of an intention on the part of the United States govern- ment to dismiss without punishment the Sioux warriors captured by our soldiers; and further allow the several tribes of Indians lately located upon reservations within the state to remain upon the reservations.
"Against any such policy we respectfully protest in all firmness. The history of this continent presents no event that can compare with the late Sioux massacre outbreak in wanton, unprovoked and fiendish cruelty. All that we have heard of the Indian warfare in the early history of this country is tame in contrast with the atrocities of this late massacre. Without warn- ing, in cold blood, beginning with the murder of their best friends, the whole body of the annuity Sioux Indians commenced a deliberate scheme to
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exterminate every white person upon the land once occupied by them and by them long ago sold to the United States. In carrying out this bloody scheme they have spared neither age nor sex, only reserving, for the gratifica- tion of their brutal lust, the few white women whom the rifle, tomahawk and the scalping knife spared. Nor did their fiendish barbarities cease with death, as the mutilated corpses of their victims, disemboweled, cut limb from limb, or chopped into fragments, will testify. These cruelties, too, were in many cases preceded by a pretense of friendship; and in many instances the victims of more than murderers were shot down in cold blood as soon as their backs were turned, after a cordial shaking of the hand and loud pro- fessions of friendship on the part of the murderers.
"We ask that the same judgment should be passed and executed upon these deliberate murderers, these ravishers, these mutilators of their mur- dered victims, that would be passed upon white men guilty of the same offense. We ask this not alone for vengeance, but much more as a matter of future safety for our border settlers.
"We further ask that these savages be removed from close proximity to our settlements, to such a distance and such isolation as shall make the people of this state safe from their future atacks."
The final decision of the President. on the 17th of December, 1862, ordering the execution of thirty-nine of the three hundred condemned mur- derers, disappointed the people of Minnesota. The thirty-nine were to be hung at Mankato on the 26th of December-on Friday.
In pursuance to an act of Congress on the 22nd of April. 1863, and for the purpose of carrying it into execution, the remaining Indians were first taken from the state, on board the steamer "Favorite," carried down the Mississippi, and confined at Davenport, lowa, where they remained, with only such privileges as are allowed to convicts in the penitentiary. In May. the same year, about two thousand Indians were sent to their reservations in the "land of the Dakotas." Then the 1863 military expedition removed the scattering bands from the borders of Minnesota.
FACTS CONCERNING THE FINAL EXECUTION.
Pictures of the execution of the thirty-eight Indians at Mankato in December, 1862, adorn the shops, public halls and residences of many hun- dred towns and cities in the great Northwest-almost as well known and often seen as "Custer's Last Fight.
Perhaps no better account of the execution and the crimes for which
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the Indians executed were charged with can now be obtained than the account narrated by the editor of the St. Peter Tribune, he being present. He writes as follows :
Having been ordered to Mankato on business, we were included among witnesses of an execution, the most extensive which has ever been known in the United States, and in punishment of crimes the most atrocious and revolting. Our account must necessarily be brief, and we shall therefore only give such particulars as will prove of interest to our readers and for many of these we are indebted to the Mankato Record.
The day was remarkably pleasant for this season of the year, and at early dawn people began to arrive at Mankato on a new and-so far as Minnesota is concerned-unprecedented errand. The streets were already resounding to the tread of the soldiery and citizens, and both were evidently preparing for an event which will always be an important chapter in our history. The great square gallows, standing on the river bluff, showed readiness for the work it was to execute at a later hour of the day. At nine o'clock the military formed a girdle of bayonets around the gallows, and no citizen was permitted inside the enclosure. Captain Burt's company of the Seventh regiment conducted the execution of the following Indians found guilt of crimes charged by the military commission :
The-he-hdo-ne-cha (One who Forbids his House) .- Engaged in the massacre : took a white woman prisoner and ravished her.
To-zoo, alias Plan-doo-ta (Red Otter) .- Convicted of participating in the murder of Mr. Patwell, and of ravishing a young girl.
Wy-a-tah-ta-wa ( His People) .- Confessed to have participated in the murder of Mr. Patwell, and to have taken part in three battles.
Hin-han-shoon-ko-vag-ma-ne (One who walks clothed with an Owl's Tail) .-- Convicted of murder of Alexander Hunter, and having taken and had Mrs. Hunter as a prisoner until she was rescued from him by another Indian.
Ma-za-boon-doo (Iron Blowker) .- Convicted of the murder of an old man and two children.
Wan-pa-doo-ta (Red Leaf) .- Confessed that he was engaged in the massacre, and that he shot a white man.
Wa-he-kna (meaning unknown) .- Convicted of murder.
Rwa-ma-ne (Tinkling Water) .- Convicted of two murders.
Rda-in-yan-ka (Rattling Rounder ) .-- Took a prominent part in all the battles, including the attack at New Ulm, leading and urging the Indians forward.
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Do-wan-za ( The Singer ) .- Convicted of the murder of a white woman, and of the design to ravish her daughter, who was wounded by him and killed by another Indian, before he carried his design into execution.
Ha-pan ( Second Child) .- Confessed that he was in all the battles and at the murder of Mr. Patwell, and that he aided in taking a white woman ( Miss Williams ) prisoner.
Shoon-ka-ska ( White Dog ) .- Was the leader of the party that attacked Captain Marsh's company and was the man who detained Captain Marsh in conversation until the Indians crossed the river and surrounded the com- mand and then gave them the signal to fire.
Toon-kan-e-chah-tah-ma-ne (One who walks by his Grandfather) .- Said in presence of witnesses that he shot a man in an ox wagon, and was in several battles.
E-tay-doo-ta ( Red Face ) .- Told witness that he killed Divoll and seven white persons across the river; that the second day after crossing the river he killed a man and a woman.
.Am-da-cha ( Broken to Pieces ) .- Took witness David Faribault prisoner, who says Am-da-cha shot two persons at his house.
Hay-pe-dan ( The Third Child) .-- Cut Mrs. Thieler with a hatchet after she had been shot by another Indian, and fired many shots at the fort.
Mah-pe-o-ke-ne-jin (Who Stands on the Cloud) .- Convicted of the murder of Antoine Young, and of participating in the murder of a white man and woman.
Henry Milord (A half-breed) .- Convicted of participating in the mur- der of a white man and woman.
Chas-ka-dan ( The First Born if a Son) .- Convicted of shooting and cutting a woman who was with child.
Baptiste Campbell ( A half-breed) .- Confessed that he was one of the party who murdered a man and woman, and that he shot first.
Ta-tay-ka-gay ( Wind Maker ) .- Convicted of murdering or of partici- pating in the murder of Amos W. Huggins.
Hla-pin-kpa ( The Tip of the Ilorn) .- Convicted of the murder of Garvie.
Ilypolite Ange ( AA half breed) .- Confesses that he was one of the party that murdered a white man, and that he fired at him.
No-Pay-Skin ( One who does not Flee) .- Convicted of participating in the massacre and bosted that he had killed nineteen persons.
Wa-kan-tan-ka (Great Spirit) .-- Convicted of the murder of a white man not named.
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Toon-kan-ko-yag-ena-gin (One who stands clothed with his Grand- father ) .- Convicted of participating in the murder of a white man at the Big Woods.
Ma-ka-ta-e-ne-jin (One who Stands on the Earth) .- Convicted of par- ticipating in the massacre near New Ulm, and encouraging the red men to do so.
Paza-koo-tay-wa-ne (One who walks prepared to Shoot) .- Convicted of participating in the murder of eight white men.
To-tay-hde-dan (Wind comes Home) .- Convicted of participating in the massacre at Beaver Creek, and of taking captive a white woman.
Wa-she-choon ( Frenchman) .- Convicted of the murder of Le Butt's SO1).
Aeche-ga (To Grow Upon) .- Convicted of the murder of an old man and two girls.
Ho-tan-in-koo (Voice that Appears Coming) .- Convicted of the mur- der of a man at Green Lake, admits that he struck him with an ax after he had been shot by others of the party.
Chay-tan-hoon-ka ( The Parent Hawk) .- Proved to have been one of the party that committed the massacre at Beaver Creek.
Chan-ka-hda ( Near the Woods) .- Is proven to have been one of the party and was present when Patwell was killed, and to have saved Mary Anderson, who had been wounded, from being killed and to have taken her prisoner.
O-ya-tay-a-koo ( The Coming People) .- Convicted of the murder of Patwell.
Ma-hoo-way-wa ( He comes for Me) .- Convicted of participating in the massacres at Travelers Home and of murdering a man on the road near there.
Wa-kin-yan-ne ( Little Thunder) .- Convicted of participating in the murder, near the Travelers Home, of an old man and two young girls and two boys.
Shas-ka.
THE EXECUTION.
At ten o'clock the prisoners ascended the steps of the gallows, as uncon- cerned as if they were going to a feast. and after reaching the platform commenced chanting one of their peculiar "he-ahs". Several were smoking, and continued to do so until the rope was cut and they were launched into eternity. One (Shas-ka) manifested his indifference or contempt by expos-
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ing his person to the soldiers, and another by throwing his cigar at them and uttering some words which were not understood by those standing near him. The singing was kept up until the platform dropped, and the singular "thug" of the ropes furnished another style of music, and stilled their voices which seemed bold even in the very face of death.
A few showed signs of emotion after the rope had been adjusted, but a majority hardly noticed this part of the execution. Some even fixed the ropes around their own necks and persistently raised their caps from their faces, until their arms were paralyzed by the fatal plunge.
It was a strange, pitiful sight, but the conduct of the prisoners was enough to remove all feelings of pity in their behalf, and not one of the multitude of spectators expressed regret at the terrible death of these men who had been savages in life and remained apparently defiant or careless to the end.
THE FINAL SCENE.
When all was ready, Major Brown, signal officer, beat three distinct taps upon the drum. At the third stroke. William J. Duly, of the mounted scouts ( who lost three children during the massacre ) cut the rope, the drop fell and thirty-eight savage murderers were launched into eternity.
Some fears had been entertained as to the working of the drop, but it was successful. In a second all but one were suspended by the neck. The rope broke with one, and he fell to the ground, but his neck had been broken in the jerk and fall. Ile was instantly strung up again. The majority died easily, with scarcely a struggle. A few kicked savagely. We noticed two with clasped hands. remaining in the same position until cut down. Another old man nervously clutched for the hand of the one adjoining, just before the drop fell. As the drop fell a loud huzza went up from the soldiers and spectators.
Doctors Seignorette and Finch were detailed to examine the bodies, and after all signs of life had disappeared, communicated the death of the prisoners to the officer of the day. The bodies were then taken down.
Four teams were driven to the scaffold. The bodies were deposited in the wagons and an escort conveyed them to the place of burial. Company K, under Captain Burk, without arms, acting as a burial party. The place of burial was the low flat between Front street and the river, which was overgrown by swamp willows. The burial escort and guard were under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Marshall.
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It was generally understood that the prisoners had made a confession to the Rev. Mr. Riggs ( the old Presbyterian missionary among the Indians). That gentleman has furnished reports of the conversation with them, but they are simply denials of the charges made at the trial before the military commission. Most of them acknowledged either to have been at the battles or present at some massacre, but said they only used tomahawks on those who had been killed by others, or they shot wide of the mark when com- pelled to shoot. They all seemed to indorse this sentiment: "Do not think that I killed anyone." But few Indians were present at the execution and not many half-breeds either. Among the number was one Winnebago chief (Baptiste), dressed in white men's clothes. He appeared deeply interested in all the proceedings, and hardly one movement escaped his notice.
PENSIONERS OF THE SIOUX UPRISING.
About 1902 the state of Minnesota passed an act by which all defend- ers at the time of the Indian massacre who were in any way injured or became afflicted by bodily ailment as a result of that war, subsequently, should receive a pension, which was fixed at twelve dollars per month. In miany instances this small pension from the state has materially aided those who fought for their homes and families in 1862.
DR. B. H. HAYNES' CONTRIBUTION.
The files of the Plaindealer, published at St. James, has the following from the pen of Dr. Haynes, touching on the New Ulm massacre :
John Kasberger tells of seeing his father shot by a skulking band of Indians on the afternoon of August 16, 1862, near New Ulm. A neighbor named Hanley had ridden by shortly before and gave the warning that the Indians were coming. The elder Mr. Kasberger with a hired man and a yoke of oxen were engaged in stacking wheat. The warning was thought to be an idle rumor. A party of Indians approached the woods and fired a volley. killing Mr. Kasberger. They then fled. As they went they killed two hogs in a pen near the ambush. Mrs. Kasberger took lier son of twelve years and a daughter of five, and securing some valuables hurried to New Ulm, two miles away. On their way to town they passed the still warm bodies of two people who had just been killed by the same band of Indians that had killed Mr. Kasberger. The Indians began their attack that even-
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ing on New Ulm. At the end of three days, soldiers arrived from Ft. Snelling and the Indians withdrew.
The relator of this story. it is said, was the first white child born in the present limits of Brown county. His sister, now Mrs. Edman Rice, resides at St. Paul. An Indian named White Pigeon, warned Mrs. Kas- berger several days before the massacre: she supposed the warning was false and only the result of too much "firewater." The same warning was given to another white woman by the Indians and with the same results. White Pigeon fought with the Indians against the whites and was finally killed in battle.
INDIANS' LAST RAID HERE.
In the spring of 1864 the Indians made another raid into this section and it was during this raid that Ole Boxrud was killed. There were some troops stationed at Ole Jorgenson's house, and Boxrud undertook to go there one evening to notify them that there were signs of the presence of Indians in the neighborhood. On the way he was attacked by Indians and shot in the back with an arrow which lodged between the joints of the vertebrae, causing his death. This was the last visit of the Indians in Watonwan county. The settlers who had fled before the tomahawk and the torch returned to their homes, and others soon came in to join them in the work of building up the country by peaceful industry, undisturbed by the war- whoop of the red man.
INDIANS AND THEIR PECULIAR CUSTOMS.
Before the whites took possession of this part of Minnesota, it was the home of the Indian. More especially will the reader of this volume be interested in knowing something concerning the tribes which lived here and took part in the great uprising of 1862. Those Indians all belonged to the Sioux or Dakota tribe. Those were divided into four great sub-divisions- Medawakonton, Wahpekuta, Wahpeton and Sisseton, and occupied a large territory west of the Mississippi; from the borders of Iowa along the Missis- sippi, up to the Minnesota, and stretching into the "Land of the Dakotas." One well posted in the customs and habits of these particular Indians wrote of them before Watonwan county was ever visited by its first settlers in this fashion :
They are, like most of the Indian tribes, of great bodily strength, a
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slim and pleasing stature, and remarkable for their shrewdness and deceit. Their features are rather long, and they have dark, but not repulsive, com- plexions. They are continually wandering about, and consequently use for means of subsistence whatever Nature affords them. Fishing and hunting are their principal means of support. In the spring of the year they often make sugar and syrup from the juice of the maple and other trees, and dur- ing the summer they gather wild rice and berries. This work is done by the squaws. The Indian regards his wife as a slave, and he thinks it beneath his dignity to do hard work. When they travel, the women not only carry the papooses and baggage, but also lead the beasts of burden, which in the absence of a wagon or sled, carry the tepee, etc., upon their backs. He often compels her, though weighed down under a heavy burden, to carry even his gun, so that he can trot along with greater ease. When they find a place where fuel and water are convenient, or where hunting is good, the women will have to go to work and set up the tepee and bring in whatever is neces- sary except the game which he provides. A few so-called civilized Indians till the soil, but they seldom raise anything except corn and potatoes. These dress like the whites and they were formerly supplied by the government with farming implements, horses and cattle, etc. They are very proud of the dress of the whites, which in their case often consists of merely a high hat and a shirt. They are generally despised, however, by the real Indians, who treat every kind of head-dress with contempt except their own peculiar one, and whose only covering consists of a woolen blanket or a buffalo robe; and they live in tents or tepees. These prefer to dress gayly, cover them- selves with all manner of trumpery and fold the skin of an animal around their body so as to look as much as possible like the animal itself. In sum- mer they appear mostly in Adam's costume, with the additional gun and a pipe
THE VERSATILE INDIAN.
Their arms are bows and arrows, guns, knives and a sort of hatchet called a tomahawk. Their necessaries of life are very few and simple. They never wash their meat and seem to have a dislike for all water except fire-water (whisky). Still, they admire a clean white shirt very much. A kettle, a few pots and the skins of animals compose all their furniture, and they eat their food, especially meat, half raw and devour even the entrails raw. Their appetite is prodigious. Whenever they obtain anything palat-
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able they eat, and cat without regard to their real needs or the coming day. Hence, it not unfrequently happens that they are compelled to fast for days at a time. They are not much troubled with any disease except small-pox and their medicine men have in vain tried by all manner of sorceries and star-gazing exorcisms to banish the dreadful visitor. A cripple, lame, or deaf and dumb is seldom found. They love their ponies and keep a large number, if at all possible. But during the winter they lose a good many because in their improvidence they do not save any hay and having no barns or shelter for them the poor creatures perish from cold and starvation. They believe in a Great Spirit, Manitou, and hold a great deal of ceremony over their dead, but hang them up on a post exposed to the sun until they are dried up. Their romantic life, their fidelity, their friendship and strength of character, which some writers tell us about, make very pleasant senti- mental reading-that is all. The Indian is always serious, seldom laughs or jokes and is an uncomfortable and mistrustful companion. He under- stands begging above all things. He never forgets an offense, but is very apt to forget acts of kindness, for which the year 1862 furnished ample proof. With the Indians revenge is a virtue. They practice polygamy. Their hospitality, however, is worthy of all praise. The stranger receives the best pelt for his bed and the host keeps up a warm fire with his own hands if the paleface happens to remain in his tent over night, during winter.
If you have never had an opportunity to see an Indian you may look at a gipsy ; there is a great similarity between them; many of them show real artistic taste in the making of trinkets. They are skillful in the use of arms, keen in the chase and relentless in pursuing an enemy; love noisy musical instruments and they dance after their own fashion. Their natural senses are sharp and more fully developed than those of the whites. They are cruel in war and prefer deceit and strategem to an open battle. After a fight they scalp their dead enemies before they think of carrying off their booty; for they take great pride in taking a large number of scalps, because they indicate the number of enemies they have killed; they ornament their heads with feathers which they consider "wakan" (holy). They can endure more hardships than the whites and are wonderful runners, many of them being able to overtake a swift horse. In hiding their feelings and in self- control they can do wonders. They suffer pain with stolid indifference and their wounds heal quickly. To leave one of their dead in the hands of the enemy is looked upon as foreboding evil and the greatest ignominy that could happen to them.
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INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE INDIAN WAR.
In September or October, 1862, a war party of Sioux Indians attacked the white settlements north of Grogan, near Ft. Wilkin. Here they killed a woman named Peterson and captured two of her children, a small boy and a girl of eighteen years. They also killed a man named Person and cap- tured his little boy. The three children were afterward traded to friendly Indians for ammunition. They were later returned to their friends by soldiers who had captured the Indians. News of the presence of Indians was soon brought to the Rosendale settlement. A messenger went from the Jorgenson farm to Madelia, to give the alarm. The Rosendale settlement lay along the river east of St. James, and comprised the following families : Mrs. Mariah Torsen, Herman Madson, Knute Larson, Halvar Knudson, Mads Boxrude, Hans Peterson, Otto Jenson and Ole Jorgenson.
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