USA > Mississippi > History of the upper Mississippi Valley, pt 2 > Part 24
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The years 1856-57 are also well remembered by the mania then manifest in the promisenous loca- tion of town-sites. Hitherto the principal explo- rations and settlements had been confined to the northern part of the county; but now it reached to portions more remote from the Mississippi, which, being the route pursued in reaching the county, had governed its previous settlements. These town- sites have each its local history, and those of im- portance will receive due mention in the town his- tories to which they belong.
POLITICAL CHANGES. -- Passing the common- place events of the intervening time, we find the County Commissioners chosen under the Territorial organization, in session at Monticello on the 5th day of April, 1858. The board consisted of Dudley P. Chase, H. W. McCrory, and Joel Flor- ida, the latter elected chairman. This was their last meeting. Minnesota had taken her place among the States, and in accordance with a legis- lative enactment, the board elosed its official labors by the establishment of the following towns :
Albion-Township 120, ranges 27 and 28.
Buffalo-South half of township 120, range 26, and township 120, range 25, and seetions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, in township 119, range 25.
Clearwater -Townships 122 and 123, range 27, und township 121, ranges 27 and 28.
Frankfort Township 120, ranges 23 and 24. ' Franklin -Township 118, range 25.
Monticello -- West half of township 121, range 24, and townships 121 and 122, range 25.
Middleville-Township 118, ranges 27 and 28, and township 119, ranges 27 and 28.
Maple Lake- South half of township 121, range 26, and north half of township 120, range 26.
Otsego -- Township 121, range 23, and east half of township 121, range 24.
Roekford-Township 119, range 24, and all of of township 119, range 25, except that portion mentioned in Buffalo.
Silver Creek-Township 122, range 26, and north hall of township 121, range 26.
Woodland-Townships 118 and 119, range 26.
Under the new organization the Chairman of enel board constituted the board of County Com- missioners. The new board held its first meeting at Montieello, on the 14th of September, 1858, with the following representation: Albion, Robert S. Holmes; Buffalo, Jackson Taylor; Clearwater, J. D. Wheeloek; Frankfort, J. M. MeAlpine; Franklin, C. A. Wright; Monticello, H. H. Helm; Middleville, J. L. King; Otsego, Thomas Ham; Roekford, S. R. Workman; Silver Creek, John O. Haven.
The towns of Maple Lake and Woodland were not represented, having failed to eleet officers at the required time. The board elected Jolm O. Haven, Chairman, and C. B. Jordan, Clerk.
An application for license to sell spiritnons liquors was received from S. H. Hotchkiss, and re- jeeted, after a lengthy discussion. This was the first application made in Wright county.
OTHER SETTLEMENTS .- By the close of the year 1857, settlements had sprung up in the central, southern, and eastern portions of the county, but during the general depression of business follow- ing the financial crash of 1857, many of the carly settlers were driven to the necessity of abandon- ing their claims, and seeking more favored loeali- ties, where labor offered a reward commensurate with their wants.
In 1859, the lands eamc into market, and from inability to pay the usual Government price, many claimants were obliged to quit their partially developed homes, and seek locations elsewhere. With the meager opportunities for lucrative em- ployment outside, and the difficulty attending the opening of a farm in the dense woodlands, it is not strange that many found it impossible to maintain their families while as yet their seanty clearings furnished so little with which to keep the wolf from the door. And so they departed, and were snc- eceded by others more fortunate, who reaped whatever of reward their toils prodneed.
THE WRIGHT COUNTY WAR .. The tragic events to which the foregoing title have been erronconsly applied, ure alluded to on page 130, but demand
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additional mention here. The scene of the trug- edy was in the present town of Rockford, and both the murderer and his victim among the first officers of that town.
Henry A. Wallace, an unmarried man, was a na- tive of New Hampshire, and eame here in 1857. He took a claim on section two, township one hun- dred and nineteen, range twenty-five. His age was something less than thirty years. He was ge- nial, well educated, and reputed wealthy. By the spring of 1858, he had several aeres eleared, and had built a substantial log house.
Oscar F. Jackson, who came about the same time, from Pennsylvania, located on section three, between one and two miles from the residence of Mr. Wallace, built a small log house, and began a clearing. He was married, but had no children. Like most of the settlers of that period, he was a man of limited means, and often worked for Mr. Wallace and other neighbors to obtain money for incidental expenses. About the first of August, Wallnce and Jackson began hying together, on a meadow, on and near the east line of the former's claim. On the eighth of September a rumor spread through the settlement that Wallace was missing. A suspicion arose that all was not right, and with the promptness common to frontier life, a search was speedily instituted. The house and immedi- ate premisis were searched in vain, then the party repaired to the hay meadow, where the nauseons steneh emanating from a small clump of willows, guided them to the spot where lay the body of their missing companion, now in an advanced state of putrefaction, and bearing evidence of death from a blow with some blunt instrument upon the back of the head; after which the body had been taken to this place of imperfeel conceahnenl. The corpse was removed to n point not far distant, und there given a decent interment. Suspicion rested upon Oscar F. Jackson, why, it is unnecessary here to state, nor is it essential that these pages be encumbered with the manifold details following the discovery. Suffice it to say that Jackson was arrested upon a complaint by G. D. George, before Justice of the Peace C. W. Jeuks, and after a preliminary examination, committed to await the action of the Grand Jury at the next term of the distriet court, which was held at Monticello, in March, 1859. The Grand Jury found a bill of in- dietment against Jackson for murder in the first degree. The Trial commeneed on the 29th of March, the case went to the Jury in the afternoon
of April 2d, and late the following morning an agreement was effected; when, to the surprise of most of those in attendance, the verdict rendered was, "Not Guilty," and the prisoner was discharged. He left the county at onee, going to Stillwater, but unwisely returned during the latter part of the month, when he was arrested upon a charge of lar- ceny, and while in the custody of Sheriff G. M. Ber- tram, was taken charge of by an armed body of en- raged citizens, and hung to a beam projecting from the upper part of the late residence of Mr. Wallace. Relatives removed the body to Stillwater for burial, and the family quit the county.
Jackson protested innocence to the last, but his extravagant use of money after the murder, and that on an eastern bank only introduced here by Wallace, together with other peenliar cirenm- stances, gave ample ground for suspicion that he was the guilty party, an opinion fully justified by the events of later years. A gold watch, owned by Wallace, was found about four years ago, ou the former claim of Jackson, now the farm of A. Roloff. The cases were in a perfect state of pre- servation, but the works were, of course, destroyed. Still later, in May, 1881, the rifle formerly owned by Wallace, was found on the farm now owned by Hon. Nathan Warner a short distance south of the Roloff farm. The muzzle had been carefully plugged, and though the stoek was mnuch decayed, and the outer surface of the barrel somewhat dam- aged, it was re-stocked and is now owned by Owen Davis, of Rockford, who considers it an excellent firearm.
The news of Jackson's tragic death, after his acquittal, spread rapidly and cansed the greatest excitement, both press and populace elamoring for the maintenance of law and order, and the arrest and punishment of the " lynchers," or " mob." Accordingly, on the 2d of May, 1859, a procla- mation was issued by Gov. H. HI. Sibley, offering a reward of five hundred dollars for the arrest and conviction of the participants in the summary exe- ention of Jackson.
On the 26th day of July following, during a large public gathering at Minnehaha Falls, Mr. A. W. Moore was identified by one of Mrs. Jack- son's brothers as a member of the party who ef- feeted Jackson's death, a fact he at once reported to Mrs. Jackson, then at St. Paul, and on her com- pluint before the proper authorities, Moore was ar- reslod and sent to Monticello, where he was placed in the cuslody of the sheriff of Wright county, to
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
await examination on the day following. News of the arrest had reached Rockford and Buffalo, and a large mumber of citizens, who had also partici- pated in the hanging, fearing that Moore's tim- idity might cause their exposure by a forced con- fession, met, arranged various disguises, and at night visited Monticello, and quietly effected Moore's release. Attorney General Berry, who had, with the prosecuting witnesses, repaired to Monticello in behalf of the State, finding the pris- oner gone, returned to St. Panl, and reported the case to Governor Sibley, who at once issued the following :--
PROCLAMATION.
By the Governor of the State of Minnesota :
For the first time in the history of the State it has become the stern and imperative duty of the exceutive of the State to employ a military force to suppress a combination against the laws in one of the counties in the State. Twice has an armed mob in Wright county outraged publie sentiment, first by the unlawful hanging of Oscar F. Jackson after he had an impartial trial and had been ae- quitted by a jury of that conuty, and subsequently on the 3d inst., by resening an alleged participant in that crime from the civil authorities. To assert the majesty of the law and to subdne the spirit of muffianism which has manifested itself by overt acts, prompt measures will be taken.
I, Henry H. Sibley, Governor of the State of Minnesota, in view of the fact that the civil ofli- cers of Wright county are perfectly powerless to enforce and execute the laws, do hereby declare the said county of Wright in a state of insurrection, and I enjoin upon all the good citizens of that and adjoining counties, that they lend their aid to sup- press violence and disorder, and solemnly warn the actors in these outrages in Wright county, that any further attempts on their part to obstruet or resist the course of publie justice with bring inevi table ruin on their own heads, and may be desola- lion and misery on their families.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and cansed the great seal of the State to be ať- fixed this fifth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight Imudred and fifty-nine, and of the State the second.
By the Governor HENRY H. SIBLEY.
FRANCIS BAASSEN,
Secretary of State.
[SEAL.]
On the same day, August 5th, the Pioneer Guards, numbering forty-two, under command of Capt. Western, commenced their journey to Mon- tieello, armed and uniformed in fult military fash- ion. They were provided with large army wagons, and finis saved the laligue of The march. The next day the Stillwater Guards, numbering forty-five
men, under Capt. Loomis, with similar provisions for travel and battle, followed the route of the Pio- neer Guards, being in turn followed by the City Guards, of St. Paul, forty in number, under Capt. O'Gorman.' 'Puree additional companies of Infan- try, and one of Cavalry, were also ordered to hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment's notice. A Police force of thirty-five men were also sent out under Chief of Police Corsley, by way of Rockford. They bivouaced one night near the vil- lage, but discovered no signs of riot and rebellion, and pushed on through Buffalo, to Monticello, where several arrests were made without the military aid, the prisoners left with the civil authorities, and on the 11th of August, the veterans returned to their friends without bloodstied or the loss of one of their number. Three persons were heldl to answer to the complaint at the October term of Court: A. W. Moore, H. S. Angelt, and J. E. Jenks. Bail was given, to the amount of five hundred dollars each, and the prisoners released from cus- tody. This was in point of fact the closing scene, as nothing followed at the October term of Court other than that indicated by the following order issued by the Court under date of October 4tli, 1859:
"Ordered by the Court, that Aymer W. Moore, H. S. Angell, and J. E. Jenks, be discharged from their recognizance, for the said Aymer W. Moore, H. S. Angell, and J. E. Jenks having appeared before the Grand Jury at the October term of the Court of the Fourth Judicial District at Monti- cello, Wright county, Minnesota, 1859, and they having appeared before said Grand Jury during the entire sitting of said Grand Jury and until said Conrt was adjourned.
Now, therefore, the said Aymer W. Moore, H. S. Angell, and J. E. Jenks are discharged according to law and their recognizances are hereby ro- leased."
And so the drama ended; the curtain fell; and the so-called " Wright county war " was a thing of the past. Its effects, however, long remained in the enormous expense incurred, which, with ottier criminal cases of less magnitude, created an indebtedness almost resulting in bankruptcy, and depreciating county orders to less than thirty-five cents on the dotlar.
THE GINSENG TRADE .-- The sudden and extra- ordinary demand for this article, with which the woods abounded, marks an important ora in the annals of Wright county, and will exist in his-
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WRIGHT COUNTY.
tory as one of the land-marks of the past. Many a prosperous citizen of to-day owes his present estate and happy home to this lucrative tratlic which transformed a . destitute and half-beggared region into one of comparative wealth. In ahost, every town a purchasing agent was employed, and cash was promptly paid for every pound of gin- seng root brought in. Whole families would go into the woods, and work for days gathering this staple commodity, to the utter abandonment of all other work.
In some instances this effected a marked hind- rance in the matter of improving and developing farms; but in the aggregate, the effect was quite the reverse; as many were wholly without means, and must otherwise have abandoned their claims altogether. In later years the trade dwindled to meager proportions; but the crisis was passed, agriculture had advanced, and its necessity had ceased. Its mission was fulfilled-the settlements were saved.
THE OLD JAIL .- On the 15th of July, 1859, the County Commissioners decided upon the erection of a jail, at Monticello, at a cost not exceeding $1,500 - to be paid in county bonds bearing interest at the rate of twelve per eent. On the 15th of September following, the board voted to issne the bonds, plac- ing them in the hands of the County Auditor, ex- cept three hundred dollars advance payment to the contractor. The building was of hewed tam- arac logs, elap-boarded outside and lathed and plastered inside. It was furnished with six cells, situated on either side of a hall running through the center. The size of the jail was abont 20x24, and was built on land deeded for that purpose by Smith and Brown so long as used for county pur- poses. When the building was completed it had cost the county $2,500, instead of the sum before named, and when, in later years, the county seat was removed to Buffalo, the land reverted to the original owners, and with it the old jail, in which few prisoners had ever been confined. It is still standing on the old ground, a little southwest of the village Academy, in Monticello, a weather- beaten hulk, soon to be removed to give place for the Inture depot of the new railroad.
WAR MAPPERS .-- With the first call to arms, at the beginning of the late civil war, about twenty volunteers responded from different portions of the county, and during the next year many en- listed in the Regiments then forming, owing to which, several towns were exempt from the carly
drafts. But in 1862, when, following close upon the battle before Richmond, and MeClellan's mem- orable retreat, there came a call for six hundred thousand additional troops, Wright county was prompl to respond, and on the 12th of Angust, 1862, al a mass meeting held ut the Academy Imilding in Monticello, at which prominent citi- zens were present from cach town, it was resolved that the county should offer a bounty of twenty- five dollars each to volunteers, and thus avoid the possible necessity of a draft. Accordingly, at a special meeting of the county board held on the day last mentioned, the following was adopted:
"Resolved, That we, according to resolutions passed by the citizens of Wright county in con- vention assembled this day at Monticello, issue orders bearing legal interest, for the sum of twen- ty-five dollars each, to the supervisors of each town in the county, equal to the number of Wright county volunteers presented by each town, and who shall not have received any bounty from any other county or town; and provided, that this resolution shall not apply to any person who has enlisted in the service of the United States previ- ons to August 1, 1862."
ISAAC HAGER, Chairman,
J. W. MULVEY, County Anditor. Without the loss of even a day, the organization of a company began, which, two days later, August 14th, reported at Fort Snelling, where they en- countered their first foe in the wretched quality of the rations furnished. However, they survived, passed the required medical examination, were duly sworn in, and the same day elected their company officers. This was Wright county's first military organization, and by assignment beeame Company E, Eighth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. Following is the roster and muster roll of that date:
Captain-Edward Hartley, Monticello.
First Dientenant -- Micha Croswell, Monticello. Second Lientenant .-- Harvey S. Brookins, Silver Creek.
First Sergeant-Thomas Tollington, Clearwater. SERGEANTS. Edward Woodworth, Clearwater.
James F. Bradley, Minneapolis. John B. Parvin, Monticello.
Albert F. Barker, Monticello.
CORPORALS.
Asel E. Houlett, Silver Creek.
Charles E. Post, Monticello.
William H. Lord, Monticello.
Henry W. Fuller, Orono.
Charles L. Smith, Monticello.
Emerson 'T. Woodward, Richtiold.
William II. Houlton, Monticello.
George W. Carpenter, Silver Creek.
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HISTORY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
NAMES OF PRIVATES.
William D. Lane, Musician, Minneapolis. Charles W. Merrill, Musician, Monticello. Thomas Anderson, Wagoner, Monticello. John Albright, Monticello.
James Ambler, Buffalo. Christopher 1. Bailey, Monticello.
William F. Bagley, St. Anthony. Michael Batterburg, Maple Lake. Andrew H. Bertram, Monticello.
John J. Boyd, Monticello. Edward P. Bradbury, Clearwater. Henry S. Braughton, Clearwater.
Milton B. Brown, Monticello.
Alonzo Bryant, Monticello. George T. Campbell, Lynden. Lewis L. Chaffin, Monticello.
Franklin W. Clifford, Clearwater.
Dexter E. Collins, Silver Creek.
HIenry R. Crawford, Monticello. William Dallas, Lynden.
John W. Day, Orono.
Daniel Desmond, Monticello. Timothy Desmond, Monticello.
Thomas 1. Dill, Big Lake. Joseph Duprey, Albion.
William Eberman, Clearwater. Charles G. Ells, Clearwater.
Albert Erath, Buffalo. Herman Erath, Buffalo. Albert C. Fairbrother, Monticello. John H. Felch, Elk River.
Nicholas Flynn, Buffalo.
Joseph I. Fisher, Monticello.
Charles H. Gibbs, Clearwater.
Louis Goyette, Buffalo.
John Hartley, Monticello. Henry C. Helm, Monticello.
Randolph Holding, Clearwater, Debering Holgate, Elk River.
Daniel W. Kreidler, Rockford. George W. Kreidler, Rockford. Samuel G. Kreidler, Rockford.
David L. Kingsbury, Monticello. Joseph N. Locke, Silver Creek. Martin Lord, Monticello. John Louisiana, Rockford. John W. Lyons, Clearwater. Homer Markham, Clearwater. William McPherson, Buffalo. Henry A. Mitchell, Monticello. Mathew Murphy, Clearwater. Alphonzo Nickerson, Monticello. Ellett P. Parcher, Lynden. Frank M. Parcher, Lynden. Joseph Perkins, Monticello. Amid E. Philbrook, Monticello. John D. Ponsford, Clearwater. Elisha C. Sabin, Silver Creek. John Swain, Monticello, Cramer Swartont, Woodland.
George Tourtellotte, Orono. Joseph Vadner, Jr., Maple Lake.
Charles H. Vorse, Lynden. Edson D. Washburne, Otsego. Elbridge F. Washburne, Otsego. George R. L. Wedgewood, Monticello. Samnel Wilder, Monticello.
A brief outline of this company's history is due as a matter of general interest. The facts here given are gathered from the address of Hon. Wm. Houlton, at Monticello, December 7th, 1879. Fol- lowing close upon the dates mentioned, came the Sioux massacre, and the general panic caused by flying and exaggerated rumors, and Company E, was sent to Monticello to afford necessary protec- tion to that locality. They remained but a short time, then returned to Fort Snelling, where they were mustered in, armed with Austrian rifles, and in November, ordered to Fort Ripley, where they went into winter quarters. The next spring they were ordered to Paynesville, Stearns county, where they remained nearly a year, in the meantime send- ing out small scouting parties in various direc- tions. In the summer of 1863, a party under Ser- geant John B. Parvin (now a resident of Monti- cello) were sconting in Wright county, and while stopping at the house of Joseph Locke, in Silver Creek, on the evening of Angust 1st, a distressing circumstance occurred, which cost the life of one of their number, and cast a gloom over the whole company. Bears were reported numerous in that section, and for the purpose of perpetrating a joke upon a comrade, one of the party, Christopher I. Bailey, secreted himself in the bushes, and by imi- tating the growl of a bear, and moving slowly on his hands and feet, purposed searing A. H. Ber- tram, a comrade who was about to pass that way on his way to a spring of water near by. He was sue- cessful in deceiving Bertram, but alas! for that success. A quick retreat to the house, and as quick a return with his musket, a hasty but too fatal aim in the gathering shadows, a Hash, a re- port ringing ont on the still night nir, and a com- rade-not a wild beast-lay dead at his feet. The event is still referred to with deepest regret on the part of all, and by none so much as the mifortni- ate, though unintentional cause of the tragedy.
In the spring of 1864, the company was mounted, and accompanied Gen. Sully on his march across the plains westward, crossing the Missouri river at Fort Rice, abont the 4th of July. Two weeks later, they struck west, and when one hundred and twenty- five miles ont, encountered a party of Sioux with whom they had an engagement, putting
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WRIGHT COUNTY.
them to ront, and destroying their village. On the 12th of August, after subsisting for several days upon half rations, they arrived at the Yellow Stone, where steamboats laden with rations awnited them. Returning soon to Fort Rice, thener to Fort, Snelling, which they reached hte in October, they turned over their cavalry outfit, and on the 4th of the month following, started South.
The exposure and suffering incident to limited facilities for transporting troops, were borne in a true soldierly manner, which may not always in- dieate cheerful submission. Be this as it may, they arrived not long after at Nashville, Tenn., thence to Murfreesboro', and later, to Fort Rosen- cranz. On the 7th of December, they joined in the march against Hood's army, and participated in the battle of the Cedars, near Murfreesboro', where they lost two killed and three wounded. After the defeat of Hood, they were ordered to North Carolina, arriving at Wilmington a few days after the surrender of Fort Fisher. After several temporary encampments they were stationed at Charlotte, from whence they were ordered home about the middle of July, 1865. They reached St. Paul the last of the month, and after a recep- tion and public dinner at the Capitol, the Regi- ment disbanded. Company E returned to Monti- eello, where they were warmly welcomed, and from which place they separated, each following his chosen occupation. But the old memories are not suffered to grow dim,nor the friendships then formed to be forgotten, for on each succeeding year they meet on the 7th of December to revive old mem- ories, perpetnate oll friendships, and commemo- rate their first battle in the Sonth- the battle of the Cedars in the far-off state of Tennessee.
THE INDIAN SCARE. Following the hurried or- ganization of Company E, there came another call not for men to defend their country, but their homes and families. Rumors of outrage, ra- pine and murder, at Acton, at Yellow Medicine, and elsewhere, by the treacherous and merciless Sioux, startled the hitherto peaceful communities, and spread through the settlements the wildest panie and alarm. As though the simple truth were not enough, the most exaggerated rumors were wildly circulated, and as readily believed. Buffalo, Waverly, and the entire country west, were reported as one great scene of blood, and carnage, and ruin. From every cabin in the Big Woods, the frightened settlers came pouring in, fleeing in pitiful alarm from an imaginary ready foe, rush-
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