History of Fillmore County, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 35

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > Minnesota > Fillmore County > History of Fillmore County, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota > Part 35

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HISTORY OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

pointed to them, when my comrade assisted me in getting down stairs.

"The name of this Indian is Wakinyatawa, or, in English, 'His Thunder.' He was, up to the time of the outbreak, the head soldier of Little Crow, and, some four or five years ago, went to Wash- ington with that chief to see their Great Father. He is a fine-looking Indian, and has always been noted for his bravery in fighting the Chippewas. When we reached the foot of the stairs, some of the Indians cried out, 'Kill him!' 'Spare no Americans!' 'Show mercy to none!' My friend, who was unarmed, seized a hatchet that was lying near by, and declared that he would cut down the first one that should attempt to do me any further harm. Said he, 'If you had killed him before I saw him, it would have been all right; but we have been friends and comrades for ten years, and now that I have seen him, I will protect him or die with him.' They then made way for us, and we passed out; he procured a wagon, and gave me over to a couple of squaws to take me to his lodge. On the way we were stopped two or three times by armed Indians on horseback, who inquired of the squaws ' What that meant? Upon being answered that 'This is Wakinyatawa's friend, and he has saved his life,' they suffered us to pass on. His lodge was about four miles above the Agency, at Little Crow's village. My friend soon came home and washed me, and dressed my wounds with roots. Some few white men succeeded in making their escape to the fort. There were no other white men taken prisoners."

The relation of "comrade," which existed be- tween Mr. Spencer and this Indian, is a species of Freemasonry which is in existence among the Sioux, and is probably also common to other In- dian tribes.

The store of Louis Robert was, in like manner, attacked. Patrick McClellan, one of the clerks in charge of the store, was killed, There were at the store several other persons; some of them were killed and some made their escape. Mr. John Nairn, the Government carpenter at the Lower Sioux Agency, seeing the attack upon the stores and other places, seized his children, four in num- ber, and, with his wife, started out on the prairie, making their way toward the fort. They were accompanied by Mr. Alexander Hunter, an at- tached personal friend, and his young wife. Mr. Nairn had been among them in the employ of the Government, some eight years, and had, by his

urbane manners and strict attention to their in- terests, secured the personal friendship of many of the tribe. Mr. Nairn and his family reached the fort in safety that afternoon. Mr. Hunter had, some years before, frozen his feet so badly as to lose the toes, and, being lame, walked with great difficulty. When near an Indian village below the Agency, they were met by an Indian, who urged Hunter to go to the village, promising to get them a horse and wagon with which to make their es- cape. Mr. Hunter and his wife went to the Indian village, believing their Indian friend would re- deem his promises, but from inability, or some other reason, he did not do so. They went to the woods, where they remained all night, and in the morning started for Fort Ridgely on foot. They had gone but a short distance, however, when they met an Indian, who, without a word of warning, shot poor Hunter dead, and led his distracted young wife away into captivity.

We now return once more to the scene of blood and conflagration at the Agency. The white- haired interpreter, Philander Prescott (now verg- ing upon seventy years of age), hastily left his house soon after his meeting with Little Crow, and fled toward Fort Ridgely. The other members of his family remained behind, knowing that their relation to the tribe would save them. Mr. Pres- cott had gone several miles, when he was overtaken. His murderers came and talked with him. He reasoned with them, saying: "I am an old man: I have lived with you now forty-five years, almost half a century. My wife and children are among you, of your own blood; I have never done you any harm, and have been your true friend in all your troubles; why should you wish to kill me?" Their only reply was: "We would save your life if we could, but the white man must die; we cannot spare your life; our orders are to kill all white men; we cannot spare you."

Seeing that all remonstrance was vain and hope- less, and that his time had come, the aged man with a firm step and noble bearing, sadly turned away from the deaf ear and iron heart of the sav- age, and with dignity and composure received the fatal messenger.

Thus perished Philander Prescott, the true, tried, and faithful friend of the Indian, by the hands of that perfidious race, whom he had so long and so faithfully labored to benefit to so little purpose.

The number of persons who reached Fort Ridge- ly from the agency was forty-one. Some are

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AT REDWOOD RIVER.

known to have reached other places of safety. All suffered incredible hardships; many hiding by day in the tall prairie grass, in bogs and sloughs, or under the trunks of prostrate trees, crawling stealthily by night to avoid the lurking and wily toe, who, with the keen scent of the blood-hound and ferocity of the tiger, followed on their trail, thirsting for blood.

Among those who escaped into the fort were Mr. J. C. Whipple, of Faribault; Mr. Charles B. Hewitt, of New Jersey. The services of Mr. Whipple were recognized and rewarded by the Government with a first lieutenant's commis- sion in the volunteer artillery service.

James Powell, a young man residing at St. Peter, was at the Agency herding cattle. He had just turned the cattle out of the yard, saddled and mounted his mule, as the work of death com- menced. Seeing Lamb and Wagner shot down near him he turned to flee, when Lamb called to him for help; but, at that moment two shots were fired at him, and, putting spurs to his mule he turned toward the ferry, passing close to an In- dian who leveled his gun to fire at him; but the caps exploded, when the savage, evidently sur- prised that he had failed to kill him, waved his hand toward the river, and exclaimed, "Puckachee! Puckachee!" Pcwell did not wait for a second warning, which might come in a more unwelcome form, but slipped at once from the back of his an- imal, dashed down the bluff through the brush, and reached the ferry just as the boat was leaving the shore. Looking over his shoulder as he ran, he saw an Indian in full pursuit on the very mule he had a moment before abandoned.

All that day the work of sack and plunder went on; and when the stores and dwellings and the warehouses of the Government had been emptied of their contents, the torch was applied to the var- ious buildings, and the little village was soon a heap of smouldering ruins.

The bodies of their slain victims were left to fes- ter in the sun where they fell, or were consumed in the buildings from which they had been unable to effect their escape.

So complete was the surprise, and so sudden and unexpected the terrible blow, that not a sin- gle one of all that host of naked savages was slain. I. thirty minutes from the time the first gun was fired, not a white person was left alive. All were cither weltering in their gore or had fled in fear and terror from that place of death.

REDWOOD RIVER.

At the Redwood river, ten miles above the Agency, on the road to Yellow Medicine, resided Mr. Joseph B. Reynolds, in the employment of the Government as a teacher. His house was within one mile of Shakopee's village. His family consisted of his wife, a niece-Miss Mattie Wil- liams, of Painesville, Ohio-Mary Anderson and Mary Schwandt, hired girls. William Landmeier, & hired man, and Legrand Davis, a young man from Shakopee, was also stopping with them tem- porarily.

On the morning of the 18th of August, at about 6 o'clock, John Moore, a half-breed trader, resid- ing near them, came to the house and informed them that there was an outbreak among the In- dians, and that they had better leave at once. Mr. Reynolds immediately got out his buggy, and, taking his wife, started off across the prairie in such a direction as to avoid the Agency. At the same time Davis and the three girls got into the wagon of a Mr. Patoile, a trader at Yellow Medi- cine, who had just arrived there on his way to New Ulm, and they also started out on the prairie. William, the hired man, would not leave until he had been twice warned by Moore that his life was in danger. He then went down to the river bot- tom, and following the Minnesota river, started for the fort. When some distance on his way he came upon some Indians who were gathering up cattle. They saw him and there was no way of escape. They came to him and told him that if he would assist them in driving the cattle they would not kill him. Making a merit of necessity he complied, and went on with them till they were near the Lower Agency, when the Indians, hear- ing the firing at the ferry, suddenly left him and hastened on to take part in the battle then pro- gressing between Captain Marsh and their friends. William fled in an opposite direction, and that night entered Fort Ridgely.

We return now to Patoile and his party. After crossing the Redwood near its month, he drove some distance up that stream, and, turning to the left, struck across the prairie toward New Ulm, keeping behind a swell in the prairie which ran parallel with the Minnesota, some three miles south of that stream.

They had, unpursued, and apparently unob- served, reached a point within about ten miles of New Ulm, and nearly opposite Fort Ridgely, when they were suddenly assailed by Indians, who

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HISTORY OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

killed Patoile and Davis, and severely wounded Mary Anderson. Miss Williams and Mary Schwandt were captured unhurt, and were taken back to Waucouta's village.

The poor, injured young woman survived her wounds and the brutal and fiendish violation of her person to which she was subjected by these devils incarnate, but a few days, when death, in mercy, came to her relief and ended her sufferings in the quiet of the grave!

Mattie Williams and Mary Schwandt were af- terwards restored to their friends by General Sib- ley's expedition, at Camp Release. We say, res- stored to their friends; this was hardly true of Mary Schwandt, who, when release came, found alive, of all her father's family, only one, a little brother; and he had witnessed the fiendish slaugh- ter of all the rest, accompanied by circumstances of infernal barbarity, without a parallel in the his- tory of savage brutality.

On Sunday, the 17th, George Gleason, Govern- ment store-keeper at the Lower Agency, accompa- nied by the family of Agent Galbraith, to Yellow Medicine, and on Monday afternoon, ignorant of the terrible tragedy enacted below, started to re- turn. He had with him the wife and two children of Dr. J. S. Wakefield, physician to the Upper Sioux. When about two miles above the mouth of the Redwood, they met two armed Indians ou the road. Gleason greeted them with the usual s'ilntation of "Ho!" accompanied with the inquiry, in Sioux, as he passed, "Where are you going ?" They returned the salutation, but Gleason had gone but a very short distance, when the sharp crack of a gun behind him bore to his ear the first intimation of the death in store for him. The bullet passed through his body and he fell to the ground. At the same moment Chaska, the Indian who had not fired, sprang into the wagon, by the side of Mrs. Wakefield, and driving a short dis- tance, returned. Poor Gleason was lying upon the ground, still alive, writhing in mortal agony, when the savage monster completed his hellish work, by placing his gun at his breast, and shoot- ing him again. Such was the sad end of the life of George Gleason; gay, jocund, genial and gen- erous, he was the life of every circle. His pleas- ant face was seen, and his mellow voice was heard in song, at almost every social gathering on that rude frontier. He had a smile and pleasant word for all; and yet he fell, in his manly strength, by the hands of these bloody monsters, whom he had

never wronged in word or deed. Some weeks af- terward, his mutilated remains were found by the troops under Colonel Sibley, and buried where he fell. They were subsequently removed by his friends to Shakopee, where they received the rites of Christian sepulture.

Mrs. Wakefield and children were held as pris- oners, and were reclaimed with the other captives at Camp Release.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

MASSACRE ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE MINNESOTA- BURNING OF MRS. HENDERSON AND TWO CHILDREN -ESCAPE OF J. W. EARLE AND OTHERS-THE SET- TLERS ENDEAVOR TO ESCAPE-MURDER OF THE SCHWANDT FAMILY-WHOLESALE MASSACRE-UP- PER AGENCY-THE PEOPLE WARNED BY JOSEPH LAFRAMBOIS AND OTHER DAY-ESCAPE OF THE WHITES FROM YELLOW MEDICINE-SETTLEMENT ON THE CHIPPEWA-MURDER OF JAMES W. LIND- SAY AND HIS COMRADE.

Early on the morning of the 18th, the settlers on the north side of the Minnesota river, adjoining the reservation, were surprised to see a large num- ber of Indians in their immediate neighborhood. They were seen soon after the people arose, simul- taneously, all along the river from Birch Coolie to Beaver Creek, and beyond, on the west, apparent- ly intent on gathering up the horses and cattle. When interrogated, they said they were after Chippewas. At about 6 or 7 o'clock they sudden- ly began to repair to the various houses of the set- tlers, and then the flight of the inhabitants and the work of death began.

In the immediate vicinity of Beaver Creek, the neighbors, to the number of about twenty-eight, men, women, and children, assembled at the house of Jonathan W. Earle, and, with several teams, started for Fort Ridgely, having with them the sick wife of S. R. Henderson, her children, and the family of N. D. White, and the wife and two children of James Carrothers.

There were, also, David Carrothers and family, Earle and family, Henderson, and a German named Wedge, besides four sons of White and Earle; the rest were women and children. They had gone but a short distance when they were surrounded by Indians. When asked, by some of the party who could speak their language, what they wanted, the Indians answered, "We are going to kill you."

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When asked why they were to be killed, the In- dians consented to let them go, with one team and the buggy with Mrs. Henderson, on giving up the rest. They had gone but a short distance when they were again stopped by the savages, and the remaining team taken. Again they moved on, drawing the buggy and the sick woman by hand but had gone but a few rods further, when the In- dians began to fire upon them. The men were with the buggy; the women and children had gone on ahead, as well as the boys and Carrothers.

Mr. Earle, seeing the savages were determined to kill them, and knowing that they could not now save Mrs. Henderson, hastened on and came up with the fleeing fugitives ahead. Mr. Henderson waved a white cloth as a flag of truce, when they shot off his fingers, and, at the same time, killed Wedge. Henderson then ran, seeing that he could not save his wife and children, and made his es- cape. They came up with his buggy, and, taking out the helpless woman and children, threw them on the prairie, and placing the bed over them, set it on fire, and hastened on after the fleeing fugi- tives.

The burned and blackened remains of both the mother and her two children were afterward found by a burial party, and interred.

Coming up with the escaping women and chil- dren, they were all captured but two children of David Carrothers. These they had shot in the chase after Carrothers, Earle, and the sons of Earle and White. They killed, also, during this chase' and running fight, Eugene White, a son of N. D. White, and Radner, son of Jonathan W. Earle.

Carrothers escaped to Crow River, and thence to St. Paul. Mr. Earle and two of his sons, and one son of Mr. White, after incredible hardships, es- caped to Cedar City, and subsequently made their way back to St. Peter and Fort Ridgely. All the captives taken at this time were carried to Crow's village, and, with the exception of Mrs. James Carrothers and her children, were recovered at .Camp Release.

After they had captured the women and children, they returned to the houses of the settlers, and plundered them of their contents, carrying off what they could, and breaking up and destroying the balance. They then gathered up the stock and drove it to their village, taking their captives with them.

Some two or three miles above the neighborhood of Earle and White was a settlement of German

emigrants, numbering some forty persons, quiet, industrious, and enterprising. Early on tho morning of the 18th these had all assembled at the house of John Meyer. Very soon after they had assembled here, some fifty Indians, led by Shakopee, appeared in sight. The people all fled, except Meyer and his family, going into the grass and bushes. Peter Bjorkman ran toward his own house. Shakopee, whom he knew, saw him, and exclaimed, "There is Bjorkman; kill him!" but, keeping the building between him and the sav- ages, he plunged into a slough and concealed himself, even removing his shirt, fearing it might be the means of revealing his whereabouts to the lurking savages. Here he lay from early morning until the darkness of night enabled him to leave with safety-suffering unutterable torments, mos- quitoes literally swarming upon his naked person, and the hot sun scorching him to the bone.

They immediately attacked the house of Meyer, killing his wife and all his children. Seeing his family butchered, and having no means of de- fense, Meyer effected his escape, and reached Fort Ridgely. In the meantime the affrighted people had got together again at the house of a Mr. Sitzton, near Bjorkman's, to the number of about thirty, men, women, and children. In the after- noon the savages returned to the house of Sitzton, killing every person there but one woman, Mrs. Wilhelmina Eindenfield, and her child. These were captured, and afterward found at Camp Re- lease, but the husband and father was among the slain. From his place of concealment Mr. Bjork- man witnessed this attack and wholesale massacre of almost an entire neighborhood. After dark he came out of the slough, and, going to his house, obtained some food and a bundle of clothing, as bis house was not yet plundered; fed his dog and calf, and went over to the house of Meyer; here he found the windows all broken in, but did not enter the house. He then went to the house of Sitzton; his nerves were not equal to the task of entering that charnel-house of death. As he passed the yard, he turned out some cattle that the Indians had not taken away, and hastened toward Fort Ridgely. On the road he overtook a woman and two children, one an infant of six months, the wife and children of John Sateau, who had been killed. Taking one of the children in his arms, these companions in misfortune and suffer- ing hurried on together. Mrs. Sateau was nearly naked, and without either shoes or stockings.

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The rough prairie grass lacerated her naked feet and limbs terribly, and she was about giving out in. despair. Bjorkman took from his bundle a shirt, and tearing it in parts, she wound it about her feet, and proceeded on.

At daylight they came in sight of the house of Magner, eight miles above the fort. Here they saw some eight or ten Indians, and, turning aside from the road, dropped down into the grass, where they remained until noon, when the Indians disap- peared. They again moved toward the fort, but slowly and cautiously, as they did not reach it until about midnight. Upon reaching the fort Mrs. Sateau found two sons, aged ten and twelve years respectively, who had effected their escape and reached there before her.

Mrs. Mary, widow of Patrick Hayden, who re- sided about one and a half miles from the house of J. W. Earle, near Beaver Creek, in Renville county, says:

"On the morning of the 18th of August, Mr. Hayden started to go over to the house of Mr. J. B. Reynolds, at the Redwood river, on the reser- vation, and met Thomas Robinson, a half-breed, who told him to go home, get his family, and leave as soon as possible, for the Indians were coming over to kill all the whites. He came im- mediately home, and we commenced to make preparations to leave, but in a few minutes we saw some three or four Indians coming on horse- back. We then went over to the house of a neighbor, Benedict June, and found them all ready to leave. I started off with June's people, and my husband went back home, still thinking the Indians would not kill any one, and intending to give them some provisions if they wanted them. I never saw him again.

"We had gone about four miles, when we saw a man lying dead in the road and his faithful dog watching by his side.

"We drove on till we came to the house of David. Faribault, at the foot of the hill, about one and a halt miles from the Agency ferry. When we got here two Indians came out of Faribault's house, and stopping the teams, shot Mr. Zimmerman, who was driving, and his two boys. I sprang out of the wagon, and, with my child, one year old, in my arms, ran into the bushes, and went up the hill toward the fort. When I came near the house of Mr. Magner, I saw Indians throwing furniture out of the door, and I went down into the bushes

again, on the lower side of the road, and staid there until sundown.

"While I lay here concealed, I saw the Indians taking the roof off the warehouse, and saw the buildings burning at the Agency. I also heard the firing during the battle at the ferry, when Marsh and his men were killed.

"I then went up near the fort road, and sitting down under a tree, waited till dark, and then started for Fort Ridgely, carrying my child all the way. I arrived at the fort at about 1 o'clock A. M. The distance from our place to Ridgley was seventeen miles.

"On Tuesday morning I saw John Magner, who told me that, when the soldiers went up to the Agen- cy the day before, he saw my husband lying in the road, near David Faribault's house, dead. John Hayden, his brother, who lived with us, was found dead near La Croix creek. They had got up the oxen, and were bringing the family of Mr. Eisen- rich to the fort, when they were overtaken by In- dians. Eisenrich was killed and his wife and five children were taken prisoners.

"Mrs. Zimmerman, who was blind, and her re- maining children, and Mrs. June and her children, five in number, were captured and taken to the house of David Faribault, where they were kept till night, the savages torturing them by telling them that they were going to fasten them in the house and burn them alive, but for some inexpli- cable reason let them go, and they, too, reached the fort in safety. Mr. June, who with one of his boys, eleven years old, remained behind to drive in his cattle, was met by them on the road and killed. The boy was captured, and, with the other prisoners, recovered at Camp Release."

The neighborhoods in the vicinity of La Croix creek, and between that and Fort Ridgely, were visited on Monday forenoon, and the people either massacred, driven away or made prisoners. Ed- ward Magner, living eight miles above the fort, was killed. His wife and children had gone to the fort. He had returned to look after his cat- tle when he was shot. Patrick Kelley and David O'Connor, both single men, were killed near Mag- ner's.

Kearn Horan makes the following statement.

"I lived four miles from the Lower Sioux Agency, on the fort road. On the 18th of August Patrick Horan, my brother, came early from the Agency and told us that the Indians were murder- ing the whites. He had escaped alone and crossed

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STATEMENT OF KEARN HORAN.

the ferry, and with some Frenchmen was on his way to the fort. My brothers and William and Thomas Smith went with me. We saw Indians in the road near Magner's. Thomas Smith went to them, thinking they were white men, and I saw them kill him. We then turned to flee, and saw men escaping with teams along the road. All fled towards the fort together, the Indians firing upon us as we ran. The teams were oxen, and the In- dians were gaining upon us, when one of men in his excitement dropped his gun. The savages came up to it and picked it up. All stopped to examine it, and the men in the wagons whipped the oxen into a run. This delay enabled us to elude them.

"As we passed the house of Ole Sampson, Mrs. Sampson was crying at the door for help. Her three children were with her. We told her to go into the bush and hide, for we could not help her. We ran into a ravine and hid in the grass. After the Indians had hunted some time for us, they came along the side of the ravine, and called ;o us in good English, saying, 'Come out, boys; what are you afraid of? We don't want to hurt you.' After they left us we crawled out and made our way to the fort, where we arrived at about 4 o'clock P. M. My family had gone there before me. Mrs. Sampson did not go to the bush, but hid in the wagon from which they had recently come from Waseca county. It was what we call a prairie schooner, covered with eloth, a genuine emigrant wagon. They took her babe from her, and throwing it down upon the grass, put hay un- der the wagon, set fire to it and went away. Mrs. Sampson got out of the wagon, badly burned, and taking her infant from the ground made he. w y to the fort. Two of her children were burned to death in the wagon. Mr. Sampson had been pre- viously killed about eighty rods from the house.

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History of Fillmore County, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 35

Author: Edward D. Neill Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: