History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 49

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198

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The military campaign of 1863 was planned by Major General Pope, with headquarters at Milwaukee. His department was called the Military Department of the Northwest. In brief his plan was :

I. General Sibley, of Minnesota, with a force of 4,000 troops to pursue a northwest course crossing from Minnesota into Dakota at Big Stone Lake, where it was expected he would find the hostiles and bring them to battle, and if not could drive them to the Missouri River, where

2. General Sully with a force nearly equal but chiefly cavalry, was ordered to keep along the left bank of the Missouri River and intercept any communica- tion between the Little Crow forces and the Sioux west of the Missouri, known generally as Tetons. Sully's troops were to be mainly supplied by steamboats keeping along with his army and guarded by a force of infantry.

General Sibley got away from Fort Ridgely near the head of the Minnesota River, about the ist of July. His force consisted of the Sixth, Seventh and Tenth Minnesota Infantry, one regiment of mounted riflemen enlisted for the Indian war only, and the Third Minnesota Battery. He was accompanied by a train of 250 teams carrying supplies. The march across the plains of North Dakota was attended with many difficulties, caused principally by the extreme drouth which had deprived the plains of their customary covering of nutritions grasses, while many of the smaller streams had dried up completely. The Indians had retired well toward the Missouri taking a southwest direction from Devil's Lake, evi- dently aiming to cross opposite the mouth of Ileart River, a favorite valley with the savages, should they find themselves outmatched by the troops, and Sibley came up with them on the 24th of July about thirty miles from the river.

BATTLE OF BUFFALO LAKE

The enemy had planned to invite Sibley and his officers to a council under a promise to make peace, and while thus engaged to fall upon them and massacre the whole party. One of Sibley's half-breed scouts learned of this from a Sisse- ton relative and notified him. In confirmation of this plot, a number of the hostiles by gestures and fine words secured the attention of a number of the scouts, and conveyed to them their strong desire for peace and their willingness to become friendly with the "Great Father" and abandon the war. While this was transpiring, Surgeon Weiser, in full uniform, rode up to the council and joined the scouts. A few minutes later a shot was heard and great confusion was observed in the council. The Indians were retreating and the scouts were

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GENERAL H. H. SIBLEY

Commander of expedition from Minnesota against hostile Indians in Northern Dakota in 1863

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flying back to the main body. It seems that a young Indian, observing Surgeon Weiser's glittering uniform, supposed he was the commander, and in his eager- ness to commence the slaughter, shot the surgeon through the heart. This was the signal for a battle.

A general engagement followed, the Indians commencing the attack behind the shelter of the surrounding ridges. They were dislodged by the Mounted Rangers and the battery and retreated for several miles, fighting and retreating alternately, until finally they broke and fled in apparent confusion. Alonzo G. Edgerton, afterward chief justice of Dakota, was a captain in the Tenth Minne- sota, and his company was one of the first to be engaged at the opening of the fight. Hon. Abe Van Osdel, of Mission Hill, was a member of the Mounted Rangers and participated in this campaign, a full account of which from his observation, he has given to the public through the press. The battle now raged for hours, the Indians fighting from behind the ridges and gradually falling back, until late in the evening when they appeared to have broken up in disorder and hastily retreated, pursued by the troops until dark. An order to bivouac was then given, but was mistaken for an order to return, and the entire night was consumed by the advance in picking their way back to camp, which they reached just at day- light and just as Sibley was about to move forward to their support. The van- guard of the Indians had reached the Missouri River in the evening of the 24th and the squaws and papooses had been sent across to the west bank. Owing to the fatigue of a portion of the troops who had made the all night return march, Sibley did not move forward until the 26th, when he found the Indian camp of the 24th deserted; but there and for miles beyond the prairie was strewn with dried buffalo meat, tallow, cooking utensils and buffalo robes, which were collected and burned by the troops. After a march of twelve miles the army reached Dead Buffalo Lake and went into camp. Indians began to appear in large numbers soon after and the troops were thrown out to meet them. The enemy had been reinforced since the first fight, and every effort was made to divide Sibley's forces with the intention of falling upon them by piece- meal. Sibley was too wise to be caught in a trap of this kind. Another running and halting fight similar to that of the 24th was the result, the Indians keeping well out of the way, and darkness fell upon the troops still in pursuit, who bivouacked in the field, and in the early morning of the 28th the battle was re- sumed.

The Indians, about two thousand strong, came over the hills soon after day- break and advanced to attack. They came so near that they were overheard to say "we are too late ; they are ready for us," showing that they had expected to surprise the camp. A scont overheard another Indian shouting, "remember our wives and families ; we must not let them get them." The Tenth Minnesota was the first to receive the shock of battle, and the Indians spread out on the right and left outflanking the regiment at both extremes. The firing was very spirited and Sibley's train of supplies which just began moving from the corral was in danger. The Tenth was called back when the Indians made a dash for the rear of the troops but were met with such a galling fire from the battery that they were com- pelled to abandon their project and retire. This was a close call for the destruc- tion of Sibley's army, and the utmost caution and good generalship became neces- sary to get in shape for further operations. Finally the Sixth Regiment with a battalion of cavalry held the center and deploying to the right successfully re- sisted the onslaught from that quarter, while the left wing of the Sixth stretched out toward Dead Buffalo Lake, completely baffling the tactics of the enemy. The troops then moved forward driving the savages before them, and soon turning their retreat into a rout. The Indians struck for the river, passing through a heavy skirt of timber. Sibley followed but before entering the woods, ordered the battery and the Tenth Regiment to clear the timber of the enemy. In the meantime the Indians had reached the river, and tumbling into their light canoes, had made their way to the opposite shore where they ranged

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up fifteen hundred to two thousand strong and greeted the soldiers when they appeared with a storm of bullets, but at too long a range to be at all dangerous. This ended Sibley's three days' fight without definite results. The Indians had lost a large number in killed and wounded, and an immense quantity of supplies and tepees. Sibley's losses were slight, four killed, two of whom were led astray by taking a wrong trail and were shot down and scalped. One of these was Lieutenant Beever, aid-de-camp to General Sib- ley, who had been sent forward with orders to General Crooks. Another was Private Nicholas Miller, Company K, Sixth Regiment. A stroke of lightning killed Private John Murphy of Company B, Eighth Cavalry. One wounded Indian tried to escape by seizing the horse's tail but the pony got a shot that disabled him. John Platt, private, of Company L, dashed out to finish the Indian with his revolver but his weapon missed fire and before he could check his horse he was upon the Indian, who had reserved a shot in his gun which he fired into the thigh and bowels of Platt, inflicting fatal wounds. Joe Campbell, one of the scouts, tried to save Platt, but too late. Campbell's shot was fired at the same instant that the Indian fired the fatal shot at Platt and went through the savage and killed him. The Indians in many instances fought desperately. One stalwart warrior with an American flag wrapped around him fired twice while the cavalry were within twenty rods charging upon him, his balls taking effect in the saddle and overcoat of two of the cavalrymen. He got the powder in his gun, but not the ball, for a third shot, which he discharged at the heart of one of the soldiers, but did not injure him. The Indian then clubbed his gun and struck one of the troopers, nearly throwing him out of the saddle. A dozen shots from as many carbines struck him at this moment, but did not kill him, and the resolute brave had to be sabered in order to dispatch him.

General Sibley's part in the campaign terminated when he reached the river. Ile had no facilities for crossing the stream, and his supplies and ammunition were getting low ; he therefore set out without delay on his return to Minnesota. He had not been able to gain a decisive victory, but he had weakened the enemy by destroying his camp equipments, a large store of provisions and buffalo robes, and no doubt had impressed upon them the utter futility of their strength and prowess when brought in contact with the pale face soldiers. The Indian loss in killed and wounded had been considerable, but their custom of carrying their slain and injured comrades from the field makes it impossible to tell how serious their losses were.

It is not clear that Sibley knew anything of the whereabouts of General Sully, who at the time Sibley was chasing the Sioux was holding his command near Fort Pierre awaiting the arrival of supplies which were toiling slowly up the river on steamboats.

Sibley in his report, speaking of the country traversed, says :

The region traversed by my column between the crossing of the Cheyenne River (a tributary of Red River) and the coteau of the Missouri, is for the most part uninhabitable. If the devil were permitted to select a residence upon the earth, be would probably choose this particular district for an abode with the redskin murdering and plundering bands as his ready ministers to verify by their ruthless deeds his diabolical hate to all who belong to a Christian race. Through the vast desert, lakes fair to the eye abound, but generally their waters are strongly alkaline, or intensely bitter or brackish. The valleys between them frequently reek with sulphurous and other disagreeable vapors. The heat was so intolerable that the earth was like a heated furnace, and the breezes that swept along its surface were as scorching and suffocating as the famed Sirocco.

This region which Sibley pronounced uninhabitable is now quite thickly settled by a happy and prosperous people.

Gen. II. IT. Sibley, who was in command of the Minnesota pursuing forces in 1862. fought an intermittent skirmishing fight for weeks in the Yellow Medicine country, Minnesota, took a large number of prisoners, rescued hundreds of captives, women and children, and much of the time was seriously hindered by lack of troops, his command being largely composed of settlers who had suf-

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fered from the atrocities of the Indians, without cavalry, and short of rations and ammunition. The only conflicts in Dakota under Sibley during that year appear to have been on the Red River in the vicinity of the headwaters, in September, in which the general was able to hold his own. He succeeded, how- ever, in restoring a measure of security to that borderland. The main body of the hostiles escaped, and entering Dakota in the country adjacent to Big Stone Lake and Lake Traverse, took their course northwest by way of the Cheyenne Valley and went on to Devil's Lake. Small war parties separated from the main body and came down the Big Sioux and James River valleys late in August and early in September, killing Amidon and son at Sioux Falls, and compelling the evacuation of the place. This outrage, with their depredations near Yankton, created general alarm in all the Dakota settlements, which for a time threatened the depopulation of the territory. The particulars of these frays are elsewhere narrated.

Report of Gen. H. H. Sibley, United States Army, commanding the Sioux Indian expedition through the northern part of Dakota Territory :

June 16 to September 13, 1863. Headquarters District of Minnesota, Camp Carter, Bank of James River, Dakota Territory, August 7, 1863.

Major : My last dispatch was dated 21st ultimo., from Camp Olin, in which I had the honor to inform Major General Pope that I had left one-third of my force in an in- trenched position at Camp Atchison, and was then one day's march in advance, with 1,400 infantry and 500 cavalry, in the direction where the main body of the Indians were sup- posed to be. During the three following days I pursued a course somewhat west of south, making fifty miles, having crossed the James River and the great coteau of the Missouri. On the 24th, about 1 P. M., being considerably in advance of the main column with some of the officers of iny staff engaged in looking out for a suitable camping ground, the com- mand having marched steadily from 5 A. M., some of my scouts came to me at full speed and reported that a large camp of Indians had just before passed and great numbers of warriors could be seen upon the prairie two or three miles distant. I immediately corralled my train upon the shore of a salt lake near by and established my camp, which was rapidly intrenched by Colonel Crooks, to whom was intrusted that duty, for the security of the transportation in case of attack, a precaution I had taken whenever we encamped for many days previously. While the earthworks were being pushed forward parties of Indians, more or less numerous, appeared upon the hills around us, and one of my half-breed scouts, a relative of Red Plume, a Sisseton chief, hitherto opposed to the war, approached sufficiently near to converse with him. Red Plume told him to warn me that the plan was formed to invite me to a council with some of my superior officers, to shoot us without ceremony, and then attack my command with a great force, trusting to destroy the whole of it. The Indians ventured to a spot where a portion of my scouts had taken position, three or four hundred yards from our camp, and conversed with them in an apparently friendly manner. some of them professing a desire for peace. Surgeon Josiah S. Weiser, of the First Regiment, Minnesota Mounted Rangers, incautiously joined the group of scouts, when a young savage, doubtless supposing from his uniform and horse equipments that he was an officer of rank, pretended great friendship and delight at seeing him, but when within a few feet treacher- ously shot him through the heart. The scouts discharged their pieces at the murderer, but he escaped, leaving his horse behind. The body of Doctor Weiser was immediately brought into camp, unmutilated, save by the ball that killed him. He was universally esteemed. being skillful in his profession and a courteous gentleman. This outrage precipitated an immediate engagement. The savages, in great numbers, concealed by the ridges. had en- circled those portions of the camp flanked by the lake referred to, and commenced an attack. Col. Samuel McPhaill, with two companies, subsequently reenforced by others, as they could be spared from other points, was directed to drive the enemy from the vicinity of the hill where Doctor Weiser was shot, while those companies of the Seventh Regiment, under Lieut. Col. W. R. Marshall and Maj. George Bradley, and one company of the Tenth Regi- ment, under Capt. Alonzo J. Edgerton, were dispatched to support them. Taking with me a six-pounder. under the command of Lieut. John C. Whipple. I ascended a hill toward the big mound, on the opposite side of the ravine, and opened fire with spherical case shot upon the Indians, who had obtained possession of the upper part of the large ravine and of smaller ones tributary to it, under the protection of which they could annoy the infantry and cavalry without exposure on their part. This flank and raking fire of artillery drove them from their hiding places into the open prairie, where they were successively dislodged from the ridges, being utterly unable to resist the steady advance of the Seventh Regiment and the Rangers, but fled before them in confusion. While these events were occurring on the right, the left of the camp was also threatened by a formidable body of warriors Col. William Crooks, whose regiment, the Sixth, was posted on that side, was ordered to deploy

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part of his command as skirmishers and to dislodge the enemy. This was gallantly done, the colonel directing in person the movements of one part of his detached force and Lieut. Col. John T. Averill the other, Maj. Robert N. McLaren remaining in command of that portion of the regiment required as part of the camp guard.

The savages were steadily driven from one strong position after another under a severe tire, until feeling their utter inability to contend longer with our soldiers in the open field, they joined their brethren in one common flight. Upon moving forward with my staff to a commanding point which overlooked the field, I discovered the whole body of Indians, numbering from one thousand to one thousand five hundred, retiring in confusion from the combat, while a dark line of moving objects on the distant hills indicated the locality of their families. J immediately dispatched orders to Colonel McPhaill, who had now received an accession of force from the other companies of his mounted regiment, to press on with all expedition and fall upon the rear of the enemy, but not to continue the pursuit after night- fall, and Lieutenant Colonel Marshall was directed to follow and support him with the company of the Seventh and Captain Edgerton's company of the Tenth, accompanied by one six-pounder and one section of mountain howitzers under Captain Jones. At the same time all of the companies of the Sixth and Tenth regiments, except two from each, which were left as a camp guard. were ordered to rendezvous and to proceed in the same direction, but they had so far to march from their respective points before arriving at the spot occupied by myself and staff, that I felt convinced of the uselessness of their proceeding further, the other portions of the pursuing force being some miles in advance, and ] accordingly ordered their return to camp. The cavalry gallantly followed the Indians and kept up a running fight until nearly dark, killing and wounding many of their warriors; the infantry under Lieutenant Colonel Marshall being kept at a double quick in their rear. The order to Colonel McPhaill was improperly delivered as requiring him to return to camp instead of bivouacking on the prairie. Consequently he retraced his way with his weary men and horses, followed by the still more wearied infantry, and arrived at camp early the next morning as I was about to move forward with the main column. Thus ended the battle of the "Big Mound." The severity of the labors of the entire command may be appreciated when it is considered that the engagement only commenced after the day's march was nearly completed, and that the Indians were chased at least twelve miles, making altogether at least forty miles performed without rest.

The march of the cavalry of the Seventh Regiment and of Company B of the Tenth Regiment, in returning to camp after the tremendous efforts of the day is almost unparalleled, and it told so fearfully upon men and animals that a forward movement could not take place until the 26th, when I marched at an early hour. Col. J. H. Baker had been left in command of the camp, named by the officers Camp Sibley, during the engagement of the previous day, and all the arrangements for its security were actively and judiciously made, aided as he was by that excellent officer, Lieut. Col. Samuel P. Jennison, of the same regiment. Upon arriving at the camp from which the Indians had been driven in such hot haste, vast quantities of dried mcat, tallow and buffalo robes, cooking utensils, and other indispensable articles were found concealed in the long reeds around the lake, all of which were, by my direction, collected and burned. For miles along the route the prairie was covered with the evidences of a hasty flight. Colonel McPhaill had previously informed me that beyond Dcad Buffalo Lake, so far as his pursuit of the Indians had continued, I would find neither wood nor water. I consequently established my camp on the border of that Jake, and very soon afterward parties of Indians made their appearance threatening an attack. I directed Capt. John Jones to repair with his section of six-pounders, supported by Capt. Jonathan Chase, with his company of pioneers, to a commanding point about six hundred yards in advance, and I proceeded in person to the same point. I there found Colonel Crooks, who had taken position with two companies of his regiment, commanded by Captain Grant and Lieutenant Grant, to check the advance of the Indians in that quarter. An engagement ensued at long range, the Indians being too wary to attempt to close, although greatly superior in numbers. The spherical case from the six-pounders soon caused a hasty retreat from that locality, but perceiving it to be their intention to make a flank movement on the left of the camp in force, Capt. Oscar Taylor, with his company of mountain rangers, was dispatched to retard their movements in that quarter. He was attacked by the enemy in large numbers, but manfully held his ground until recalled and ordered to support Lieutenant Colonel Averill, who, with two companies of the Sixth Regi- ment, deployed as skirmishers, had been ordered to hold the savages in check. The whole affair was ably conducted by these officers, but the increasing numbers of the Indians, who were well mounted, enabled them by a circuitous route to dash toward the extreme left of the camp, evidently with a view to stampede the mules herded on the shores of the lake. This daring attempt was frustrated by the rapid motions of the companies of the mounted Rangers commanded by Capt. Eugene M. Wilson and Peter B. Davy, who met the enemy and repulsed them with loss, while Major McLaren, with equal promptitude, threw ont, along an extended line, the six companies of the Sixth Regiment, under his immediate command, thus entirely securing that flank of the camp from further attacks. The savages, again foiled in their design, fled with precipitation, leaving a number of their dead upon the prairie, and the battle of the "Dead Buffalo Lake" was ended.

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On the 27th I resumed the march, following the trail of the retreating Indians until I reached Stony Lake, where the exhaustion of the animals required me to camp, although grass was very scarce. The next day, the 28th, there took place the greatest conflict between our troops and the Indians, so far as the numbers were concerned, which I have named the "Battle of Stony Lake." Regularly alternating each day, the Tenth Regiment, under Colonel Baker, was in the advance and leading the column, as the train toiled up the long hill. As I passed Colonel Baker I directed him to deploy two companies of the Tenth as skirmishers. Part of the wagons were still in the camp, under the guard of the Seventh Regiment, when I perceived a large force of mounted Indians moving rapidly upon us. I immediately sent orders to the several commands promptly to assume their positions, in accordance with the program of the line of march; but this was done and the long train completely guarded at every point by the vigilant and able commanders of regiments and corps, before the orders reached them. The Tenth gallantly checked the advance of the enemy in front; the Sixth and cavalry on the right, and the Seventh and cavalry on the left, while the six-pounders and two sections of mountain howitzers, under the efficient direction of their respective chiefs, poured a rapid and destructive fire from as many different points. The vast number of the Indians enabled them to form two-thirds of a circle, five or six miles in extent, along the whole line of which they were seeking for some weak point upon which to precipitate them- selves. The firing was incessant and rapid from each side, but as soon as I had completed the details of the designated order of march, and closed up the train, the column issued in line of battle upon the prairie, in the face of the immense force opposed to it, and I resumed my march without any delay. This proof of confidence in our own strength completely destroyed the hopes of the savages, and completed their discomfiture. With yells of dis- appointment and rage, they fired a few parting volleys, and then retreated with all expedition. It was not possible, with our jaded horses, to overtake their fleet and comparatively fresh ponies.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 49

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198