USA > Minnesota > Freeborn County > History of Freeborn County, including explorers and pioneers of Minnesota, and outline history of the state of Minnesota > Part 40
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SERGEANT JOHN JONES.
We feel that the truth of history will not be fully vindicated should we fail to bestow upon a brave and gallant officer that meed of praise so justly due. The only officer of experience left in the fort by the death of its brave commandant was Ser- geant Jolin Jones, of the regular artillery; and it is but just to that gallant officer that we should say that but for the cool courage and diserction of Sergeant Jones, Fort Ridgely would, in the first day's battle have become a funeral pyre for all within its doomed walls. And it gives us more than ordinary pleasure to record the fart, that the services he then ren lered the Government, in the defense of the frontier were fully recognized and rewarded with the commission of Captain of the Second Minnesota Battery.
225
CAPTAIN WHITCOMB AT FOREST CITY.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
CAPTAIN WHITCOMB'S ARRIVAL AT ST. PAUL-PASSES THROUGH MEEKER OOUNTY-A FORT CONSTRUCTED -ENGAGEMENT WITH INDIANS-ATTACK ON FOREST CITY-CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY-CAPTAIN STROUT AT GLENCOE-ATTACKED NEAR ACTON BY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY INDIANS-ATTACK ON HUTCHINSON.
This chapter will be devoted to the upper por- tion of the state, and the movements of troops for the relief of the frontier, not immediately con- nected with the main expedition under Colonel Sibley; and to avoid repetition, the prominent in- cidents of the massacre in this portion of the state will be given in connection with the movements of the troops. We quote from the Adjutant-Gen- eral's Report :
The 19th day of August the first news of the outbreak at Redwood was received at St. Paul. On the same day a messenger arrived from Meeker county, with news of murders committed in that county by the Indians, and an earnest demand for assistance. The murders were committed at Ac- ton, about twelve miles from Forest City, on Sun- day, the 17th day of the month. The circum- stances under which these murders were committed are fully detailed in a previous chapter.
George C. Whitcomb, commander of the state forces raised in the county of Meeker, was sta- tioned at Forest City. On the 19th of August, Mr. Whitcomb arrived at St. Paul, and received from the state seventy-five stand of arms and a small quantity of ammunition, for the purpose of enabling the settlers of Meeker county to stand on the defensive, until other assistance could be sent to their aid. With these in his possession, he started on his return, and, on the following day he met Col. Sibley at Shakopee, by whom he was or- dered to raise a company of troops and report with command to the Colonel, at Fort Ridgely. On ar- riving at Hutchinson, in McLeod county, he found the whole country on a general stampede, and small bands of Indians lurking in the border of Meeker county.
Captam Richard Strout was ordered, under date of August 24, to proceed with a company of men to Forest City, in the county of Meeker, for the protection of that locality.
In the meantime Captain Whitcomb arrived at Forest City with the arms furnished him by the
state, with the exception of those left by him at Hutchinson. Upon his arrival he speedily en- listed, for temporary service, a company of fifty- three men. twenty-five of whom were mounted, and the remainder were to act as infantry.
Captain Whitcomb, with the mounted portion of his company, made a rapid march into the county of Monongalia, to a point about thirty miles from Forest City, where he found the bodies of two men who had been shot by the Indians, who had muti lated the corpses by cutting their throats and scalping them. In the same vicinity he found the ruins of three houses that had been burned, and the carcasses of a large number of cattle that had been wantonly killed and devoted to destruction.
Owing to rumors received at this point, he pro- ceeded in a north-westerly direction, to the distance of ten miles further, and found on the route the remains of five more of the settlers, all of whom had been shot and scalped, and some of them were otherwise mutilated by having their hands cut off and gashes cut in their faces, done apparently with hatchets.
On the return to camp at Forest City, when within about four miles of Acton, he came to a point on the road where a train of wagons had been attacked on the 23d., He here found two more dead bodies of white men, mutilated in a shocking manner by having their hands cut off, being dis- emboweled and otherwise disfigured, having knives still remaining in their abdomens, where they had been left by the savages. The road at this place was, for three miles, lined with the carcasses of dead cattle, a great portion of which belonged to the train upon which the attack had been made. On this excursion the company were abont four days, during which time they traveled over one hundred miles, and buried the bodies of nine per- sons who had been murdered.
On the next day after having returned to the camp, being the 28th of the month, the same party made a circuit through the western portion of Meeker county, and buried the bodies of three more men that were found mutilated and disfigured in a similar manner to those previously mentioned. In addition to the other services rendered by the company thus far, they had discovered and re- moved to the camp several persons found wounded and disabled in the vicinity, and two, who had been very severely wounded, had been sent hy them to St. Cloud for the purpose of receiving surgical attention.
15
226
HISTORY OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.
The company, in addition to their other labors, were employed in the construction of a stockade fort, to be used if necessary for defensive purposes, and for the protection of those who were not capa- ble of bearing arms. It was formed by inserting the ends of pieces of rough timber into the earth to the depth of three feet. and leaving them from ten to twelve feet above the surface of the ground. In this way an area was inclosed of one hundred and forty feet in length and one hundred and thirty in width. Within the fortifieation was in- cluded one frame dwelling-honse and a well of water. At diagonal corners of the inclosure were erected two wings or bastions provided with port- holes, from each of which two sides of the main work could be guarded and raked by the rifles of the company.
Information was received by Captain Whitcomb that a family at Green Lake, in Monongalia county, near the scenes visited by him in his expedition to that county, had made their escape from the In- dians, and taken refuge upon an island in the lake. In attempting to rescue this family Captain Whit- comb had a severe encounter with Indians found in ambush near the line of Meeker county, and after much skirmishing and a brisk engagement, which proved very much to the disadvantage of the Indians, they succeeded in effecting their es- cape to the thickly-timbered region in the rear of their first position. The members of the company were nearly all experienced marksmen, and the Springfield rifles in their hands proved very gall- ing to the enemy. So anxious was the latter to effeet his retreat, that he left three of his dead upon the ground. No loss was sustained on the part of our troops, except a flesh-wound in the leg received by one of the company. As it was deemed unadvisable to pursue the Indians into the heavy timber with the small force at command, the detachment fell back to their camp, arriving the same evening.
On the following day, Captain Whitcomb, taking with him twenty men from his company, and twenty citizens who volunteered for the occa- sion, proceeded on the same route taken the day previous. With the increase in his forces he expected to be able. without much difficulty, to overcome the Indians previously encountered. After proceeding about ten miles from the camp, their further progress was again disputed by the Indians, who had likewise been reinforced since their last encounter. Owing to the great superi-
ority of the enemy's forces, the Captain withdrew his men. They fell gradually back, fighting steadily on the retreat, and were pursued to within four miles of the encampment. In this contest, one Indian is known to have been killed. On the part of the whites one horse and wagon got mired in a slough, and had to be abandoned. No other injury was suffered from the enemy; but two men were wounded by the accidental discharge of a gun in their own ranks.
A fortification was prepared, and the citizens, with their families, were removed within the inclosure. Captain Whitcomb quartered his com- pany in the principal hotel of the place, and guards were stationed for the night, while all the men were directed to be prepared for any contin- gency that might arise, and be in readiness for using their arms at any moment.
Between 2 and 3 o'clock the following morning, the guards discovered the approach of Indians, and gave the alarm. As soon as the savages per- ceived that they were discovered, they uttered the war-whoop, and poured a volley inte the hotel where the troops were quartered. The latter immediat, ly retired to the stockade, taking with them all the ammunition and equipments in their possession. They had scarcely effected an en- trance when fire was opened upon it from forty or fifty Indian rifles. Owing to the darkness of the morning, no distinct view conld be obtained of the enemy. and, in consequence, no very effective fire could be opened upon him.
While one party of the Indians remained to keep up a fire upon the fort and harass the garrison, another portion was engaged in setting fire to buildings and haystacks, while others, at the same time, were engaged in collecting horses and cattle found in the place, and driving them off. Oeca- sional glimpses could be obtained of those near the fires, but as soon as a shot was fired at them they would disappear in the darkness. Most of the buildings burned, however, were such a dis- tance from the fort as to be out of range of the guns of the garrison. The fire kept up from that point prevented the near approach of the incen- diary party, and by that means the principal part of the town was saved from destruction. On one occasion an effort was made to carry the flames into a more central part of the town, and the torches in the hands of the party were seen approaching the office of A. C. Smith, Esq. Directed by the light of the torches, a volley was
227
CAPTAIN STROUT'S PARTY ATTACKED.
poured into their midst from the fort, whereupon the braves hastily abandoned their incendiary implements and retreated from that quarter of the village. From signs of blood afterward found upon the ground, some of the Indians were sup- posed to have met the fate intended for them, but no dead were left behind.
The fight continued, without other decided re- sults, until about daylight, at which time the prin- cipal part of the forces retired. As the light in- creased, so that objects became discernible, a small party of savages were observed engaged in dri- ving off a number of cattle. A portion of the garrison, volunteering for the purpose, sallied out to recover the stock, which they accomplish- ed, with the loss of two men wounded, one of them severely.
This company had no further encounters with the Indians, but afterward engaged in securing the grain and other property belonging to the set- tlers who had abandoned, or been driven from, their farms and homes. Nearly every settlement be- tween Forest City and the western frontier had, by this time, been deserted, and the whole country was in the hands of the savages. In speaking of his endeavors to save a portion of the property thus abandoned, Captain Whitcomb, on the 7th of September, wrote as follows:
"It is only in their property that the inhabitants can now be injured; the people have all fled. The country is totally abandoned. Not an inhab- itant remains in Meeker county, west of this place. No white person ( unless a captive) is now living in Kandiyohi or Monongalia county."
On the 1st of September, Captain Stront, who had previously arrived at Glencoe, made prepara- tions for a further advance. Owing to the vigor- ous measures adopted by General John H. Stevens, of the State militia, it was thought unnecessary that any additional forces should be retained at this point. Under his directions no able-bodied man having deserted the country further to the westward, had been permitted to leave the neigh- borhood, or pass through. All such were re- quired to desist from further flight, and assist in making a stand, in order to check the further advance of the destroyers of their homes. The town of Glencoe had been fortified to a certain extent, and a military company of seventy-three members had been organized, and armed with sueli guns as were in possession of the settlers. With Glencoe thus provided for, General Stevens did
not hesitate to advise, nor Captain Strout to at- tempt a further advance into the overrun and threatened territory.
The company of the latter, by this time, had been increased by persons, principally from Wright county, who volunteered their services for the ex- pedition, until it numbered about seventy-five men. With this force he marched, as already stated, on the 1st day of September.
Passing through Hutchinson on his way, no op- position was encountered until the morning of the 3d of September. On the night previous, he had arrived at and encamped near Acton, on the west- ern border of Meeker county.
At about half-past five o'clock the next morning his camp was attacked by a force comprising about one hundred and fifty Indians. The onset was made from the direction of Hutchinson, with the design, most probably, of cutting off the retreat of the company, and of precluding the possibility of sending a messenger after reinforcements. They fought with a spirit and zeal that seemed determ- ined to annihilate our little force, at whatever cost it might require.
For the first half hour Captain Strout formed his company into four sections, in open order, and pressed against them as skirmishers. Finding their forces so much superior to his own, he concentra- ted the force of his company, and hurled them against the main body of the enemy. In this manner the fight was kept up for another hour and a half, the Indians falling slowly back as they were pressed, in the direction of Hutchinson, but maintaining all the while their order and line of battle. At length the force in front of the compa- ny gave way, and falling upon the rear, continued to harrass it in its retreat.
About one-half of the savages were mounted, partly on large, fine horses, of which they had plundered the settlements, and partly on regular Indian ponies. These latter were so well trained for the business in which they were now engaged, that their riders would drive them at a rapid rate to within any desirable distance of our men, when pony and rider would both instantly lie down in the tall grass, and thus become concealed from the aim of the sharp-shooters of the company.
With the intention, most likely, of creating a panie in our ranks, and causing the force to scat- ter, and become separately an easy prey to the pursuers, the Indians would at times, uttering the most terrifie and unearthly yells of which their
228
HISTORY OF THE SIOUX MASS.ICRE.
lungs and skill were capable, charge in a mass upon the little band. On none of these occasions, however, did a single man falter or attempt a flight; and, after approaching within ono Imudred yards of the retreating force, and perceiving that they still remained firm, the Indians would halt the charge, and seek concealment in the grass or elsewhere, from which places they would continue their fire.
After having thus hung upon and harrassed the rear of the retreating force for about half an hour, at the end of which time the column had arrived within a short distance of Cedar City, in the extreme north-west corner of McLeod county, the pursuit was given up, and the company continued the retreat without further opposition to Hutchin- son, at which place it arrived at an early hour in the same afternoon.
The loss of the company in the cneonnter was three men killed and fifteen wounded, some of them severely. All were, however, brought from the field.
In addition to this they lost most of their ra- tions, cooking utensils, tents, and a portion of their ammunition and arms. Some of their horses became unmanageable and ran away. Some were mired and abandoned, making, with those killed by the enemy, an aggregate loss of ninc. The loss inflicted upon the enemy could not be de- termined with any degree of certainty, but Cap- tain Strout was of the opinion that their killed and wounded were two or three times as great as ours.
At Hutchinson a military company, consisting of about sixty members, had been organized for the purpose of defending the place against any attacks from the Indians. Of this company Lewis Har- rington was elected captain. On the first appre- hension of danger a house was barricaded as a last retreat in case of necessity. The members of the company, aided by the citizens, afterward con- structed a small stockade fort of one hundred feet square. It was built after the same style as that at Forest City, with bastions in the same position, and a wall composed of double timbers rising to the height of cight feet above the ground. The work was provided with loop-holes, from which a musketry fire could be kept up, and was of suffi- cient strength to resist any projectiles that the sar- ages had the means of throwing. At this place Captain Strout halted his company, to await fur- ther developments.
At about nine o'clock on the next morning. the
4th of September, the Indians approached the town thus garrisoned and commenced the attack. They were replied to from the fortification; but as they were careful not to come within close range, and used every means to conceal their per- sons, but little punishment was inflicted upon them. They bent their energies more in attempts to burn the town than to inflict any serious injury upon the military. In these endeavors they were so far successful as to burn all the buildings sit- uated on the bluff in the rear of the town, includ- ing the college building, which was here located. They at one time succeeded in reaching almost the heart of the village, and applying the incendiary torch to two of the dwelling-houses there sitnated, which were consumed.
Our forces marched out of the fort and engaged them in the open field; but, owing to the superior numbers of the enemy, and their scattered and hidden positions, it was thought that no advantage could be gained in this way, and, after driving them out of the town, the soldiers were recalled to the fort. The day was spent in this manner, the Indians making a succession of skirmishes, but at the same time endeavoring to maintain a sufficient distance between them and the soldiers to insure an alnost certain impunity from the fire of their muskets. At about five o'clock in the evening their forces were withdrawn, and our troops rested on their arms, in expectation of a renewal of the fight in a more desperate form.
As soon as General Stevens was informed of the attack made upon Captain Strout, near Acton, and his being compelled to fall back to Hutchinson, he directed Captain Davis to proceed to the com- mand of Lieutenant Weinmann, then stationed near Lake Addie, in tho same county, to form a junetion of the two commands, and proceed to Hutchinson and reinforce the command of Captain Strout.
On the morning of the 4th of September the pickets belonging to Lieutenant Weinmann's com- mand reported having heard firing in the direction of Hutchinson. The Lieutenant immediately as- eended an eminence in the vicinity of his camp, and from that point could distinguish the smoke from six different fires in the same direction. Being satisfied from these indications that an at- tack had been made upon Hutchinson, he deter- mined at once to march to the assistance of the place. Leaving behind him six men to collect the teams and follow with the wagous, he started with
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229
MORE SAVAGE BARBARITIES.
the remainder of his force in the direction indi- cated.
Some time after he had commeneed his march the company of Captain Davis arrived at the camp he had just left.
Upon learning the state of affairs, the mounted company followed in the same direction, and, in a short time, came up with Lieutenant Weinmann. A junction of their forces was immediately effect- ed, and they proceeded in a body to Hutchinson, at which place they arrived about 6 o'clock in the evening. No Indians had been encountered on the march, and the battle, so long and so diligently kept up during most of the day, had just been terminated, and the assailing forces withdrawn. A reconnoissance, in the immediate vicinity, was made from the fort on the same evening, but none of the Indians, who, a few hours before, seemed to be everywhere, could be seen; but the bodies of three of their victims, being those of one woman and two children, were found and brought to the village.
On the following morning, six persons arrived at the fortification, who had been in the midst of and surrounded by the Indians during the greater part of the day before, and had succeeded in con- cealing themselves until they retired from before the town, and finally effected their escape to the place.
The companies of Captain Davis and Lieuten- ant Weinmann made a tour of examination in the direction that the Indians were supposed to have taken. All signs discovered seemed to indicate that they had left the vicinity. Their trail, indi- cating that a large force had passed, and that a number of horses aud cattle had been taken along, was discovered, leading in the direction of Redwood. As the battle of Birch Coolie had been fouglit two or three days previous, at which time the Indians first learned the great strength of the column threatening them in that quarter, it is most likely that the party attacking Hutchinson had been called in to assist in the endeavor to repel the forces under Colonel Sibley.
On the 23d of September the Indians suddenly reappeared in the neighborhood. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon a messenger arrived, with dis- patches from Lieutenant Weinmann, informing Captain Strout that Samuel White and family, residing at Lake Addie, had that day been brutally murdered by savages.
At abont 11 o'clock P. M., the sconts from the
direction of Cedar City came in, having been at- tacked near Greculeaf, and one of their number, a member of Captain Harrington's company, killed and left upon the ground. They reported having seen about twenty Indians, having killed one, and their belief that more were in the party. The scouts from nearly every direction reported having scen Indians, some of them in considerable num- bers, and the country all around seemed at once to have become infested with them.
On the 5th of September, Lieutenant William Byrnes, of the Tenth Regiment Minnesota Volun- teers, with a command of forty-seven men, started from Minneapolis, where his meu were recruited, for service in Meeker and McLeod counties. Upon his arrival in the country designated, he was finally stationed at Kingston, in the county of Meeker, for the purpose of affording protection to that place and vicinity. He quartered his men in the storehouse of Hall & Co., which had been pre- viously put in a state of defense by the citizens of the place. He afterward strengthened the place by means of earth-works, and made daily examina- tions of the surrounding country by means of scouts.
Capt. Pettit, of the Eighth Regiment Minnesota Volunteers, was, about the same time, sent to re- inforce Captain Whitcomb, of Forest City, at which place he was stationed at the time of the sudden reappearance of the Indians in the country. On the 22d of September word was brought to Forest City that the Indians were committing depreda- tions at Lake Ripley, a point some twelve miles to the westward of that place. Captain Pettit there- upon seut a messenger to Lieutenant Byrnes, re- questing his co-operation, with as many of his command as could leave their post in safety, for the purpose of marching into the invaded neigh- borhood.
In pursuance of orders, Lieutenant Byrnes, with thirty-six men, joined the command of Capt Pettit on the same evening. On the next morning, the 23d of September, the same day that Captain Strout's scouting party was attacked at Greenleaf, Captain Pettit, with the command of Lieutenant Byrnes aud eighty-seven meu, from the post at Forest City, marched in the direction in which the Indians had been reported as committing depre- dations on the previous day. Four mounted men of Captain Whitcomb's force accompanied the party as guides.
On arriving at the locality of reported depreda-
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HISTORY OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.
tions, they found the inntilated corpse of a citizen by the name of Oleson. He had received three shots through the body and one through the hand. Not even satisfied with the death thus in- flicted, the savages had removed his scalp, beaten out his brains, ent his throat from ear to ear, and cut out his tongue by the roots. Leaving a de- tachment to bury the dead, the main body of ex- pedition continued the march by way of Long Lake, and encamped near Acton, where Captain Strout's command was first attacked, and at no great distance from the place where his sconts were attacked.
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