History of Fillmore County, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 36

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 36

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In the neighborhood of La Croix creek, or Birch Coolie, Peter Perean, Frederick Closen, Piguar, Andrew Bahlke, Henry Keartner, old Mr. Closen and Mrs. William Vitt, and several others were killed. Mrs. Maria Frorip, an aged Ger- man woman, was wounded four different times with small shot, but escaped to the fort. The wife of Henry Keartner also escaped and reached the fort. The wife and child of a Mr. Gardenelle were taken prisoners, as were also the wife and child of Frederick Closen.

William Vitt came into Fort Ridgely, but not

until he had, with his own hands, buried his mur- dered wife and also a Mr. Piguar.

A flourishing German settlement had sprung up near Patterson's Rapids, on the Sacred Heart, twelve miles below Yellow Medicine.

Word came to this neighborhood about sun- down of the 18th, that the Indians were murder- ing the whites. This news was brought to them by two men who had started from the Lower Agency, and had seen the lifeless and mutilated remains of the murdered victims lying upon the road and in their plundered dwellings towards Beaver Creek. The whole neighborhood, with the exception of one family, that of Mr. Schwandt, soon assembled at the house of Paul Kitzman, with their oxen and wagons, and prepared to start for Fort Ridgely.

A messenger was sent to the house of Schwandt but the Indian rifle and the tomahawk had done their fearful work. Of all that family but two survived; one a boy, a witness of the awful scene of butchery, and he then on his way, covered with blood, towards Fort Ridgely. The other, a young girl of about seventeen years of age, then residing at Redwood, who was captured as previously stated.

This boy saw his sister, a young married wo- man, ripped open, while alive, and her unborn babe taken, yet struggling, from her person and nailed to a tree before the eyes of the dying mother.

This party started in the evening to make their escape, going so as to avoid the settlements and the traveled roads, striking across the country to- ward the head of Beaver creek.

They traveled this way all night, and in the morning changed their course towards Fort Ridge- ly. They continued in this direction until the sun was some two hours high, when they were met by eight Sioux Indians, who told them that the murders were committed by Chippewas, and that they had come over to protect them and punish the murderers; and thus induced them to turn back toward their homes. One of the savages spoke English well. He was acquainted with some of the company, having often hunted with Paul Kitzman. He kissed Kitzman, telling him he was a good man; and they shook hands with all of the party. The simple hearted Germans believed them, gave them food, distributed money among them, and, gratefully receiving their assurances of friendship and protection, turned back.

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They traveled on towanl their deserted homes till noon, when they again halted, and gave their pretended protectors food. The Indians went . away by themselves to eat. The suspicions of the fugitives were now somewhat aroused, but they felt that they were, to a great extent, in the power of the wretches. They soon came back, and or- dered them to go on, taking their position on each side of the train. Soon after they went on and disappeared. The train kept on toward home; and when within a few rods of a house, where they thought they could defend themselves, as they had. guns with them, they were suddenly surrounded by fourteen Indians, who instantly fired upon them, killing eight (all but three of the men ) at the first discharge. At the next fire they killed two of the remaining men and six of the women, leaving only one man, Frederick Kreiger, alive. His wife was also, as yet, unhurt. They soon dispatched Kreiger, and, at the same time, began beating out the brains of the screaming children with the butts of their guns. Mrs. Kreiger was standing in the wagon, and, when her husband fell, attempted to spring from it to the ground, but was shot from behind, and fell back in the wagon-box, although not dead, or entirely unconscious. She was roughly seized and dragged to the ground, and the teams were driven off. She now became insensible. A few of the children, during this awful scene, escaped to the timber near by; and a few also, maimed and mangled by these horrible monsters, and left for dead, survived, and, after enduring incredible hardships, got to Fort Ridgely. Mrs. Zable, and five children, were horribly mangled, and almost naked, entered the fort eleven days afterward. Mrs. Kreiger also survived her unheard-of suffer- ings.

Some forty odd bodies were afterward found and buried on that fatal field of slaughter. Thus per- ished, by the hands of these terrible scourges of the border, almost an entire neighborhood. Quiet, sober, and industrious, they had come hither from the vine-clad hills of their fatherland, by the green shores and gliding waters of the enchanting Rhine, and had built for themselves homes, where they had fondly hoped, in peace and quiet, to spend yet long years, under the fair, blue sky, and in the sunny clime of Minnesota, when suddenly, and in one short hour, by the hand of the savage, they were doomed to one common annihilation.

During all the fatal 18th of August, the people at the Upper Agency pursued their usual avoca- .

tions. As night approached, however, an unusual gathering of Indians was observed on the hill just west of the Agency, and between it and the house of John Other Day. Judge Givens and Charles Crawford, then acting as interpreters in the ab- sence of Freniere, went out to them, and sought to learn why they were there in council, but could get no satisfactory reply. Soon after this, Other Day came to them with the news of the outbreak below, as did also Joseph Laframbois, a half- breed Sioux. The families there were soon all gathered together in the warehouse and dwelling of the agent, who resided in the same building, and with the guns they had, prepared themselves as best they could, and awaited the attack, deter- mined to sell their lives as dearly as possible. There were gathered here sixty-two persons, men, women, and children.

Other Day, and several other Indians, who came to them, told them they would stand by them to the last. These men visited the council outside, several times during the night; but when they were most needed, one only, the noble and hervic Other Day, remained faithful. All the others dis- appeared, one after another, during the night. About one or two o'clock in the morning, Stewart B. Garvie, connected with the traders' store, known as Myrick's, came to the warehouse, and was ad- mitted, badly wounded, a charge of buckshot hav- ing entered his bowels. Garvie was standing in the door or his store when he was fired upon and wounded. He ran up stairs, and jumping from the window into the garden, crawled away, and reached the Agency without further molestation. At about this time Joseph Laframbois went to the store of Daily & Pratt, and awakened the two men in charge there, Duncan R. Kennedy and J. D. Boardman, and told them to flee for their lives. They hastily dressed and left the store, but had not gone ten rods when they saw in the path be- fore them three Indians. They stepped down from the path, which ran along the edge of a rise in the ground of some feet, and crouching in the grass, the Indians passed within eight feet of them. Kennedy went on toward Fort Ridgely, determined to reach that post if possible, and Boardman went to the warehouse. At the store of William H. Forbes, Constans, book-keeper, a na- tive of France, was killed. At the store of Pa- toile, Peter Patoile, clerk, and & nephew of the proprietor, was shot just outside the store, the ball entering at the back and coming out near the nip-

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ple, passing through his lungs. An Indian came to him after he fell, turned him over, and saying, "He is dead," left him.

They then turned their attention to the stores. The clerks in the store of Louis Robert had effect- ed their escape, so that there were now no white men left, and when they had become absorbed in the work of plunder, Patoile crawled off into the bushes on the banks of the Yellow Medicine, and secreted himself. Here he remained all day. After dark he got up and started for a place of safety; ascending the bluff, out of the Yellow Med- icine bottom, he dragged himself a mile and & half further, to the Minnesota, at the mouth of the Yellow Medicine. Wading the Minnesota, he entered the house of Louis Labelle, on the oppo- site side, at the ford. It was deserted. Finding a bed in the house he lay down upon it and was soon fast asleep, and did not awake until morning. Joseph Laframbois and Narces Freniere, and an Indian, Makacago, entered the house, and finding him there, awoke him, telling him there were hos- tile Indians about; that he must hide. They gave him a blanket to disguise himself, and going with him to the ravine, concealed him in the grass and left him, promising to return, as soon as it was safe to do so, to bring him food, and guide him away to the prairie. He lay in this ravine until toward night, when his friends, true to their promise, returned, bringing some crackers, tripe, and onions. They went with him some distance out on the prairie, and enjoined upon him not to attempt to go to Fort Ridgely, and giving him the best directions they could as to the course he should take, shook hands with him and left him. Their names should be inscribed upon tablets more enduring than brass. That night he slept on the prairie, and the next day resumed his wanderings, over an unknown region, without an inhabitant. After wandering for days without food or drink, his little stock of crackers and tripe being exhaust- ed, he came to a deserted house, which he did not know. Here he remained all night, and obtained two raw potatoes and three ears of green corn. These he ate raw. It was all the food he had for eight days. Wandering, and unknowing whither to go, on the twelfth day out from Labelle's house, he heard the barking of dogs, and creeping nearer to them, still fearing there might be Indians about, he was overjoyed at seeing white men. Soon making himself and his condition known, he was taken and kindly cared for by these men, who had

some days before deserted their farms, and had now returned to look after their crops and cattle. He now learned for the first time where he was. He had struck a settlement far up the Sauk Val- ley, some forty miles above St. Cloud. He must have wandered, in these twelve days of suffering. not less than two hundred miles, including devia- tions from a direct course.

He was taken by these men, in a wagon, to St. Cloud, where his wound was dressed for the first time. From St. Cloud the stage took him to St. Anthony, where he took the cars to St. Paul. A case of equal suffering and equal eudurance is scarcely to be found on record. With & bullet wound through the lungs, he walked twelve days, not over a smooth and easy road, but across a trackless prairie, covered with rank grass, wading sloughs and streams on his way, almost without food, and for days without water, before he saw the face of a man; and traveled by wagon, stage, and cars, over one hundred miles.

His recovery was rapid, and he soon enlisted in the First Regiment Minnesota Mounted Rangers under General Sibley, in the expedition against the Sioux. Patoile was in the battles on the Mis- souri in the summer of 1863, where his company, that of Captain Joseph Anderson, 18 mentioned cs having fought with great bravery.

We now return to the warehouse at Yellow Med- icine, which we left to follow the strange fortunes of young Patoile. Matters began to wear & seri- ous aspect, when Garvie came to them mortally wounded. Other Day was constantly on the watch outside, and reported the progress of affairs to those within. Toward daylight every friendly Indian had deserted save Other Day; the yells of the savages came distinctly to their ears from the trading-post, half a mile distant. They were ab- sorbed in the work of plunder. The chances of escape were sadly against them, yet they decided to make the attempt. Other Day knew every foot of the country over which they must pass, and would be their guide.

The wagons were driven to the door. A bed was placed in one of them; Garvie was laid upon it. The women and children provided a few loaves of bread, and just as day dawned, the cortege started on its perilous way. This party consisted of the family of Major Galbraith, wife and three children; Nelson Givens, wife, and wife's mother, and three children; Noah Sinks, wife, and two chil- dren; Henry Eschelle, wife, and five children; John

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Fadden, wife, and three children; Mr. German and wife; Frederick Patoile, wife, and two children; Mrs. Jane K. Murch, Miss Mary Charles, Miss Lizzie Sawyer, Miss Mary Daly, Miss Mary Hays, Mrs. Eleanor Warner, Mrs. John Other Day and one child, Mrs. Haurahan, N. A. Miller, Edward Cramsie, '4. Hawkins, Oscar Canfil, Mr. Hill, an artist from St. Paul, J. D. Boardman, Parker Pierce, Dr. J. L. Wakefield, and several others.

They crossed the Minnesota at Labelle's farm, and soon turned into the timber on the Hawk river, crossed that stream at some distance above its mouth, and ascended from the narrow valley through which it runs to the open prairie beyond, and followed down the Minnesota, keeping back on the prairie as far as the farm of Major J. R. Brown, eight miles below the Yellow Medicine. Mr. Fadden and Other Day visited the house and found it deserted. A consultation then took place, for the purpose of deciding where they should go. Some of them wished to go to Fort Ridgely; oth- ers to some town away from the frontier. Other Day told them that if they attempted to go to the fort they would all be killed, as the Indians would either be lying in ambush on that road for them, or would follow them, believing they would at- tempt to go there. His counsel prevailed, and they turned to the left, across the prairie, in the direction of Kandiyohi Lakes and Glencoe. At night one of the party mounted a horse and rode forward, and found a house about a mile ahead. They hastened forward and reached it in time to escape & furious storm. They were kindly re- ceived by the only person about the premises, a man, whose family were away. The next morn- ing, soon after crossing Hawk river, they were joined by Louis Labelle and Gertong, his son-in- law, who remained with them all that day.

On Wednesday morning they left the house of the friendly settler, and that night reached Cedar City, eleven miles from Hutchinson, in the county of McLeod. The inhabitants had deserted the town, and gone to an island, in Cedar Lake, and Lad erected a rude shelter. From the main land the island was reached through shallow water. Through this water our escaping party drove, guided by one of the citizens of Cedar City, and were cordially welcomed by the people assembled there.

That night it rained, and all were drenched to the skin. Poor Garvie was laid under a rude shed, upon his bed, and all was done for him that

man could do; but, in the morning, it was evident that he could go no further, and he was taken to the house of a Mr. Peck, and left. He died there, a day or two afterward. Some of the company, who were so worn out as to be unable to go on be- yond Hutchinson, returned to Cedar City and saw that he was decently interred.

On Thursday they went on, by way of Hutchin- son and Glencoe, to Carver, and thence to Shako- pee and St. Paul. Major Galbraith, in a report to the department, says of this escape:

"Led by the Noble Other Day, they struck out on the naked prairie, literally placing their lives in this faithful creature's hands, and guided by him, and him alone. After intense suffering and privation, they reached Shakopee, on Friday, the 22d of August, Other Day never leaving them for an instant; and this Other Day is a pure, full- blooded Indian, and was, not long since, one of the wildest and fiercest of his race. Poor, noble fel- low! must he, too, be ostracized for the sins of his nation ? I commend him to the care of a just God and a liberal government; and not only him, but all others who did likewise."

[Government gave John Other Day a farm in Minnesota. He died several years since univer- sally esteemed by the white people.]

After a knowledge of the designs of the Indians reached the people at the Agency, it was impossi- ble for them to more than merely communicate with the two families at the saw-mill, three miles above, and with the families at the Mission. They were, therefore, reluctantly left to their fate. Early in the evening of Monday, two civilized In- dians, Chaskada and Tankanxaceye, went to the house of Dr. Williamson, and warned them of their danger, informing them of what had occurred be- low; and two half-breeds, Michael and Gabriel Renville, and two Christian Indians, Paul Maxa- kuta Mani and Simon Anaga Mani, went to the house of Mr. Riggs, the missionary, at Hazel- wood, and gave them warning of the danger im- pending over them.

There were at this place, at that time, the family of the Rev. Stephen R. Riggs, Mr. H. D. Cun- ningham and family, Mr. D. W. Moore and his wife (who reside in New Jersey ), and Jonas Petti- john and family. Mr. Pettijohn and wife were in charge of the Government school at Red Iron's village, and were now at Mr. Riggs'. They got up a team, and these friendly Indians went with them to an Island in the Minnesota, about three

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miles from the Mission. Here they remained till Tuesday evening. In the afternoon of Tuesday, Andrew Hunter, a son-in-law of Dr. Williamson, came to him with the information that the family of himself and the Doctor were secreted below. The families at the saw-mill had been informed by the Renvilles, and were with the party of Dr. Wil- liamson. At night they formed a junction on the north side of the Minnesota, and commenced their perilous journey. A thunder-storm effectually ob- literated their tracks, so that the savages could not follow them. They started out on the prairie in a northeasterly direction, and, on Wednesday morn- ing, changed their course south-easterly, till they struck the Lac qui Parle road, and then made di- rectly for Fort Ridgely. On Wednesday they were joined by three Germans, who had escaped from Yellow Medicine. On Wednesday night they found themselves in the vicinity of the Upper Agency, and turned to the north again, keeping out on the prairie. On Friday they were in the neighborhood of Beaver Creek, when Dr. Wil- liamson, who, with his wife and sister, had re- mained behind, overtook them in an ox-cart, hav- ing left about twenty-four hours later. They now determined to go to Fort Ridgely. When within a few miles of that post, just at night, they were discovered by two Indians on horseback, who rode along parallel with the train for awhile, and then turned and galloped away, and the fugitives has- tened on, momentarily expecting an attack. Near the Three-Mile creek they passed a dead body lying by the road-side. They drove on, passing the creek, and, turning to the left, passed out on to the prairie, and halted a mile and a half from the fort. It was now late at night; they had heard firing, and had seen Indians in the vicinity. They were in doubt what to do. It was at length decided that Andrew Hunter should endeavor to enter the fort and ascertain its condition, and learn, if possible, whether they could get in. Hunter went, and, although it was well-nigh sur- rounded by savages (they had been besieging it all the afternoon), succeeded in crawling by on his hands and knees. He was told that it would be impossible for so large a party, forty-odd, to get through the Indian lines, and that he had better return and tell them to push on toward the towns below. He left as he had entered, crawling out into the prairie, and reached his friends in safety. It seemed very hard, to be so near a place of fan- cied security, and obliged to turn away from it,

and, weary and hungry, press on. Perils beset their path on every hand; dangers, seen and un- seen, were around them; but commending them- selves to the care of Him who "suffereth not a sparrow to fall to the ground without His notice," they resumed their weary march. They knew that all around them the work of death and deso- lation was going on, for the midnight sky, on every side, was red with the lurid flame of burn- ing habitations. They heard from out the gloom the tramp of horses' feet, hurrying past them in the darkness; but they still pressed on. Soon their wearied animals gave out, and again they encamped for the night. With the early dawn they were upon the move, some eight miles from the fort, in the direction of Henderson. Here, four men, the three Germans who had joined them on Wednesday, and a young man named Gilligan, left them, and went off in the direction of New Ulm. The bodies of these unfortunate men were afterward found, scarcely a mile from the place where they had left the guidance of Other Day.

They traveled on in the direction of Henderson, slowly and painfully, for their teams, as well as themselves, were nearly exhausted. That day the savages were beleaguering New Ulm, and the sounds of the conflict were borne faintly to their ears upon the breeze. They had flour with them, but no means of cooking it, and were, consequently, much of the time without proper food. On the afternoon of this day they came to a deserted house, on the road from Fort Ridgley to Hender- son, the house of Michael Cummings, where they found a stove, cooking utensils, and a jar of cream. Obtaining some ears of corn from the field or gar- den near by, and "confiscating" the cream, they prepared themselves the first good meal they had had since leaving their homes so hastily on Mon- day night.

After refreshing themselves and their worn ani- mals at this place for some hours, their journey was again resumed. That night they slept in a forsaken house on the prairie, and, on Sabbath morning early, were again on their way. As they proceeded, they met some of the settlers returning to their deserted farms, and calling a halt at a de- serted house, where they found a large company of people, they concluded to remain until Monday, and recuperate themselves and teams, as well as to observe in a proper manner the holy Sabbath. On Monday morning they separated, part going to Henderson and part to St. Peter, all feeling that

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the All-seeing Eye that never slumbers or sleeps had watched over them, and that the loving hand of God had guided them safely through the dan- gers, seen and unseen, that had beset their path.

In the region of the State above the Upper Agency there were but few white inhabitants. Of all those residing on the Chippewa river, near its mouth, we can hear of but one who escaped, and he was wounded, while his comrade, who lived with him was killed. This man joined the party of the missionaries, and got away with them.

On the Yellow Medicine, above the Agency about twelve miles, was a settler named James W. Lindsay. He was unmarried, and another single man was "baching it" with him. They were both killed. Their nearest white neighbors were at the Agency, and they could not be warned of their danger, and knew nothing of it until the savages were upon them.

CHAPTER XXXV.

LEOPOLD WOHLER AND WIFE-LEAVENWORTH - STATEMENT OF MRS. MARY J. OOVILL-STORY OF MRS. LAURA WHITON-MILFORD-NICOLLET COUN- TY-VEST NEWTON-LAFAYETTE-COURTLAND- . SWAN LAKE-PARTIAL LIST OF THE KILLED IN NICOLLET COUNTY-INDIANS SCOURING THE COUN- TRY-A SCOUTING PARTY SEEN AT ST. PETER.

The news of the murders below reached Leo- pold Wohler at the "lime-kiln," three miles be- low Yellow Medicine, on Monday afternoon. Taking his wife, he crossed the Minnesota river. and went to the house of Major Joseph R. Brown.

Major Brown's family consisted of his wife and nine children; Angus Brown and wife, and Charles Blair, a son-in-law, his wife, and two children. The Major himself was away from home. Includ- ing Wohler and his wife, there were then at their house, on the evening of the 18th of August, eighteen persons.

They started, early on the morning of the 19th, to make their escape, with one or two others of . their neighbors, Charles Holmes, a single man, re- siding on the claim above them, being of the party. They were overtaken near Beaver Creek by Indi- ans, and all of the Browns, Mr. Blair and family, and Mrs. Wohler, were captured, and taken at once to Little Crow's village. Messrs. Wohler and Holmes escaped. Major Brown's family were of mixed Indian blood. This fact, probably, accounts

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History of Fillmore County, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 36

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

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