'■"X \i ^' »^ A M5<^^5{^ COUX'I^Y, jViii^i^e^^oa. FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT TO JULY 4th, 1S76. BY A. C.SMITH, PRESIDENT OF THE BAR AND OLD settler's ASSOCIATIONS FOR SAID COUNTY. WITH AN ACCURATE 'maP BY HENRY L. SMITH. LITCHFIELD, MINN. BELFOY & JOUBERT, PUBLISHERS. 1S77. PREFACE. or manuscript, be filed iu the office of the Librarian of Congress, to the intent that a complete record may thus be obtained of the progress of our institu- tions duringf the first century of their existence. And whereas, It is deemed proper that such rec- commendation be brought to the notice and knowl- edge of the peojDle of the United States — Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, do hereby declare and make known the same, in the hope that the object of the resolution inay meet the approval of the people of the United States, and that proper steps may be taken to carry the same into effect. Given under my hand at the city of Washington this 35th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1S76, and of the Independence of the United States, the looth. U. S. GRANT. By the President, HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State. CHAPTER I. The region known as the " Big Prairie '" west of the •' Big Woods " has been known to white set- tlers but 2 1 years, and yet the twilight of uncer- tainty has already thrown its shadows, and the night of forgetfulness seems about to descend and forever obscure many little incidents which, al- though in detail seem of little consequence, vet all go to make up a readable history of anv commu- nity. The Centennial year of our great Republic seems to open up an opportunity, which the Pres- ident of the United States recommended to our people to improve and place in permanent shape for preservation, the historical data of the various counties and towns of the Republic. 2 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. In a little while the venerable gentlemen who composed our first settlers will all be gathered to their fathers — "their children engrossed by the emp- " ty pleasures or insignificant transactions of the '• present age (or in the greedy pursuit of the "almighty dollar.) will neglect to treasure up the " recollections of the past and posterity will search " in vain for memorials of the days of the Patri- "archs" (Knickerbocker's History of New York.) Our history will be but a shadow, and the names of Ripley, Hall, Whitney, DeCoster, Campbell, Fitzgerald, Weymer, Salisbury, Dougherty, Atkin- son, VanNess, Mitchell, Dorman, Taylor, Evans, Skinner, Jewett, Kennedy, Stevens, Harvey, Pi- per, Caswell, Angier, Willis, Dart, Whitcomb, King, Greenleaf, Branham. Fitch, Ball, Hoyt, Gris- wold, Grayson, Stanton, Robson, Richards, Gorton, Wakefield, Heath, Warren, Willie, Kruger, Ralston, Schultz and a score of others will soon be enveloped in doubt and fi.ction, like those of " Romulus and Remus of Charlemagne. " Prior to 1855 the country now embraced within the boundaries of Meeker and Kandiyohi counties, in the State of Minnesota, was occupied by those denizens of the forest known as the Sioux Indians. This is their old stamping ground. The Mississippi River was the dividing line between the Sioux and HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 3 Chippewas, and for centuries they are said to have nursed a deadly feud. The former heroes of this territory, the Sioux, were and still are, perhaps among the most powerful of the Indian tribes in the northwest. These, like all other ti'ibes are gradually losing their prestige and compelled to leave their reservations granted at some prior pe- riod, in apparent good faith. Their fate is inevita- ble. The only practical lav/ of what we call civilization is, that the inferior in prowess, yield to the superior race. The doctrine is cruel and inhu- man, not to say " savage, " but unavoidable and im- perative. Crowd the Indian to the wall — wait a time for further decimation, then drive them into still narrower limits and so on, till the Indian canoe with its solitary occupant, disappears toward the setting sun, and is finally lost to sight and sense, and the life of one race, whose glory was to hunt and fish, gives place to another more powerful, but with as little regard to moral and intellectual attainment except so far as it is enforced by law falsely denominated the law of civilization. Sta- tistics of the Indian war in Meeker county alone will justify what we say. The course and policy of the United States toward the Indian tribes, has ever resulted in peculation to the operators and death to the Indian, with no more prospect of civil- 4 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. ization or christianization to-day, than one hundred vears ago. Government might quite as well en- force the practice of the '' Oneida Institute " on the American people, as to drive Christianity or civilization into the Indian in the manner it has sought to do for more than a century past. The w^ar-like Sioux — driven to the Rocky Moun- tains, are compelled to make their last fight (and no insignificant one at that,) for tribal existence. — In just one hundred years after the Declaration of our National Independence, the Government is engaged in the expensive, perplexing and perilous effort to drive the last nail in the coffin of Ameri- can Pagan existence. It will ultimately succeed Init at what cost time alone can determine. We are besfinninsf to realize the enormous con- tract we are pledged to fill. The strength, as well as the bravery of the Sioux, has been greatly mis- represented. They can certainly bring into the field 30,000 warriors, and twice as many troops will be required to thoroughly and quickly subdue them. With homes in the wilderness of the moun- tains and forests, strange to say they are better mounted [for this country and purpose than the United States' Army backed with 500 millions of annual revenue and 40 millions of people. They are equally well armed and superior shots. Finally, HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 5 from thacked a liberty-pole out 34 HISTORY OF MEEKE){ COUXTY. of the woods and raised it in Forest City, prepar- atory to the 4th. A small tin pan was well scoured with muck, and nailed on the top for a ball, and the stars and stripes were duly raised. . The flag was made of white cotton furnished by T. C. Jew- ett ; red flannel by Matt. Standish, and blue den- ims by John W. Huy — at a loss to each, respec- tively, of a "biled" shirt, one pair red flannel drawers, and o%e pair of overalls. What took place on the 4th of July, was never recorded. The first child born fti the count}^ in July, 1856, was Miss Sarah Jane — born in a camp wagon — to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Dougherty. The next, and first male child born, was Ole T. Halverson, to Henry Halverson. Both childien still live in the county. The first death in the county was a young man by the name of Frank Parsons, Nov. 12th, 1856, aged 20 years. He was buried on the town-site of Forest City. The first marriage in the county was Joseph Weymcr to Mary Dorman, in August, 1857, by the Rev. John Robson. They " still live. '" The first sermon preached was by Rev. John Robson, (Methodist) Nov. 1S56. He was from Boston, and in 1859 he returned to that city, and died at Melrose, March 5th, 1867. He erected, and HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 35 operated the first saw mill at Forest City — it was run by steam. On the 33nd of March, 1858, A. C. Smith, Reg- ister of the U. S. Land Office, and John D. Evans. Receiver, arrived, with the archives of said office, at Forest City, and with others to the number of a baker's dozen, were feasted with fresh oysters in the log cabin of his honor the President of the Town Company, T. H. Skinner, and which w^as demolished some years since, by the vandal hand^ of Mr. Mallory. who now^ owns the ground on which it stood. The arrival of the U. S. Land Office at Forest City was considered an important era in the histo- ry of the county, and gave quite an impetus to its settlement. Of the early settlers in the county, many of them remain, while others have gone to parts unknown. or paid the debt of nature. There are from 75 to 135 voters who now reside in the county who were here prior to the commencement of the Indian War. The financial crisis of 1857 and '58 did not facili- tate a very rapid growth to Meeker County. At the commencement of the civil war, she had about 300 voters. No county in the State furnished more men in proportion to its population, than 36 HISTORY OK MEEKER COUNTY. Meeker — the first installment in 1861 and the sec- ond in 1S62-3. Over 125 men from the county found their way into the Union armies, many of whom were not credited to the countv or State, as they had previously removed therefrom, in conse- quence of the Indian hostilities — none were ever drafted — and Meeker County is yet credited with six three-year men, or 18 years service in the next WAR ! But three were known of the entire num- ber, to have been killed in battle, viz : Reuben Wait, Wellington S. Gates and William Johnson — some 10 or 15 died in hospital. The following is belie\ ed to be a very correct list of volunteers from Meeker County, with the number of their regiment in the State, so far as known : NAMES. REG. &c. NAMES. REG. kc. Angier, Albert Third. Kennedy, VP Fifth Allen, L. D Fourth- Atkinson, J B Capt. Artil. Lavi'rence, A C Fourth Luton, Henry Cavalry Bradshaw, J H Third. Little, G W P Cavalry Butler, Daniel Fourth Larson, Andrew Cavalry Brink J A Scout Fourth Mixter, Horace Baldwin. SD L Sharp Shoot Borjiusrode, R Fifth McCaun, Michael.... Fourth Bennett, Wm P Hatch Bat. 'McGraw. Daniel Hatch Bat. Branham, EF Seconii McGiaw, Cornelius.. Hatch Bat. Branham, Wm 2d Cavalry Murphy, James Eighth Mattson.Paul Sixth Campbell, Dim Second iMickelsoii, H Cavalry Campbell Wm M Cavalry Maybee, Chas Hatch Bat. (re-enlisted as Vet'n) McGafly, Henry Sharp Shoot Campbell E A Cavalry (re-enlisted as Vet'n) Second Second Nichols. Seth Fourth CI inton, H Nelson, Andrew Chapin Isaac Gates \VS Fourth Oaks, Second HISTORY OF MEPJKER COUNTX. 37 Cas-well, William Deiiry, Jiimes Deloiig, Albert DeCoster, F V .... Dunn, James W. Evans, Ed Eastman, Rul'us Fisher, Ja.sper Fitzgerald, John Flynn, Mif-hael Fallon. Thomas Fallon, John Foster, William Grayson, Thomas Howe, Frank Howe, Hfinry S Hutchins, Samuel Hall, Wm H Hutchins, Charles Hutchins, Moses Hoyt, Azro Buck Johnson, Lorain Johnson, William Jackson, Gilbert Johnson, Chris Koch, Wm Koch, Maximilian... Koch, Louis Cavalry Oleson, A. 2d Cavalry Sc< ut 4th, Ca) Fourth Brack'- Bat First 2nd Cavalry nd Cavalry 2ud Cavalry Fourth Fourth Third Hatch Bat. Hatch Bat. Hatch Bat Cavalry Fourth Second Second iGth Wis. Third Cavalry Second Second Cavalry Cavalry Heavy Artil Page, Phillip... Pal'e. Gecrge.. Pottle, Ben Pea body, Chas. Peterson, Ole . Peterson, John. Reef, Emanuel. .. Rhodes, Dan R'f!:, J(.s T Rogers, Leverson . Rogers, Jerome.. . Sholes jr., Geo. S. Stearii, Peter Schnltz, Carl.... Sahsbnry, J B.... Slark, Ftli.x Stinchiield, CH.. Taylor, Dudley. Taylor, All)ert.. Taylor, Joel Todd, Jerome... Waite, Reuben Walker, J W Whitconib, Geo. C. Whitney, Augustus. Wigle,JolHi Williariis, August us. Willis. William I Tenth Sharp shoot Cavalry Vet Fifth Hatch Bat. Si.xth Third Hatch Bat. Fourth Second Sharp Shoot Cavalry Second Cavalry 5tli Cavalry IHatch Bat. Third Captain Fourth Tliird Fourth Third I Sharp Shoot ICapt. Cava] Fourth 1 1st Cavalry Si.vth Third CHAPTER IV The Indian War formed a tragical episode in the history of Meeker County About II o'clock A. M., of Sunday, the i7tli of August. 1862, the first deliberate massacre of the brutal Sioux outbreak, took place 13 miles west of Forest City in the town of Acxox. Six Indians came first to the house of Robinson Jones, and thence to that of of Mr. Howard Baker, where they deliberately shot five persons, viz : Robinson Jones, Howard Baker, Mrs. Ann Baker. Viranus Webster and Miss Clara D. Wilson, (the last named, at Jones' house). This was the com- mencement of that terrible Indian scourge, which resulted in the massacre of about nine hundred whites, on the frontier of Minnesota in the fall of 1862. (3S) HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 39 The preliminary tragedy at Acton, was not the result of a drunken riot — but was the commence- ment of a premeditated design to extenninate the whites from this region of country, although prob- ably this early commencement, by an insignificant band, was not a part of the programme of Little Crow and other leaders. I allude to this, to correct errors which appear to have already been manu- factured into departmental history. The Secreta- ry of War reported to Congress, and all the pre- ♦ tended histories yet written, craw fish to the fur traders, and allege a drunken broil as the commence- ment of the affair,and also make statements credited to the reports of a child afterwards found in Jones' house on the eve of the 17th, about 8 o'clock. Mr. John Blackwell, a reliable citizen, now- de- ceased, found a little grand child of Mrs. Ann Ba- ker, 18 months old, on the floor in Jones' house (the only one left or found in the house) and took it away — this child was too young to talk and was totally unconscious of its tragic surroundings. It was lying upon the floor where it appeared to have cried itself to sleep. Whether the Indians considered the child too in- significant to kill, or did not see it at all, cannot be known, the latter supposition is probably cor- rect. so HISTORY OF MEEKER COIXTY. One writer sa3'S that the child lay on the bed and witnessed the scalping of his sister, but this is a mistake. The bed had not been tumbled and no other act done indicating that the Indians ever went into the house, and the girl had not been scalped or mutilated in any way but lav partlv up- on her back in a pool of blood just wdiere she fell. After Baker and Webster ceased to breathe, theii- wives started for the house of Mr. John Blackwell. their nearest neighbor, Mrs. Baker carrving in her ♦ arms an infant child preserved from the massacre. When they reached Blackwell's they found no one at home, and proceeded on to the next neighbor, named Olson, a blacksmith, whom the Indians af- terwards killed. Late in the afternoon Blackwell, on horseback, came riding leisurely home, and learned from Ole H.Ness, Esq., whom he met on the prairie, the ter- rible news, which he at first could not believe, but Mr, Ness advised him to go to the house of Olson where the women then were and learn the particu- lars from them which he did, and learned from them that their husbands were dead before they left the house, and that two other persons, Robinson Jones and Mrs. Baker (mother of Ho wai'd Baker) were both shot, were both in great agony and evidently dying; that Mrs. Baker was lying in the house and HISTOKY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 41 Jones in the yard near the house; that the latter came there from his own house but a short time before where he had left the said niece and child. The fate of those children was then problemat- ical, fearing the worst, the Indians having gone in that direction, Blackwell concluded at once, that to find out what had become of them was an im- perative dut}', and immediately rode back to where he had left Ole H. Ness and found him with Hen- ry Hulverson, A. Nelson Fosen and several others who had assembled and were discussing the mat- ter. The men were all in favor of going at once to the scene of the ti"agedy and securing, if alive, the girl and child. It was after dark when they arrived at Jones house and the child was found alive — the remainder of the story has been told, and needs not to be re- peated. The child was brought to Forest City and kept some months by Mr. and Mrs. Jewett and subse- quently placed in charge of Mr. Charles H. Ellis of Otsego, Wright county, since which time we have lost track of him. Jones gave the Indians no liquor, and while there was liquor in Jones' house, up to the time of the inquest on Monda}- afternoon, there was no ap- 43 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. peanince of its having hec>n molested. At the time of the inquest all the liquor in the house was poured on the ground. To show the evident design of these Indians to commit the tragedy at this point, we give the tes- timony of the wife of Mr Howard Baker at the coroner's inquest conducted by A. C. Smith, then Judge of Probate and acting County Attorney. Her testimony was as follows: "About II o'clock A. M. four Indians came into our house, staid about 15 minutes, got up and looked out. had the men take down their gfuns and shoot them off at a mark, then bantered for a trade with Jones. About 12 o'clock two more Indians came and got some water; our guns were not reloaded; the Indians loaded their guns in the dooryard; I went back into the house, did not suspect anything at the time; supposed the}- were going away; next I knew I heard the report of a gun and saw Web- ster fall; he stood and fell near the door; another Indian came to the door and aimed at Howard Baker and shot; did not kill him at that time; he shot the other barrel of his gun at Howard and he fell. "My mother walked to the door and another In- dian shot her; she turned to run and fell into the buttery; thev shot at lier twice as she fell. IirSTORV OF MEEKER COUNTY. 43 I tried to g^et out of the window, but fell down cel- lar; saw Mrs. Webster pulling her husl)and into the house, dont know where she was prior to this: Indians immediately left the house: while I was in the cellar I heard firing out of doors. Jones said the}" were Sioux Indians and that he was well acquainted with them. Two of the In- dians had on white men's coats; one quite tall, one quite small, one thick and chubby and all middle aged Indians, one had two feathers in his cap and one had three. Jones said "they asked me for whisky but I would not give them any.'" This testimony shows a deliberate intention to massacre Jones' family. The facts are, that Rob- inson Jones kept a sort of frontier public house and kept various articles of groceries, &c., with which he used to traffic with the Indians, with whom he was well acquainted, and obtained their furs and other proceeds of their hunting expeditions, and they had by some means got into his debt 40 or ^o dollars, which sum Jones had made arrangements to have paid out *;/ their annuities. Certain Indian traders claimed the monopoly of the fur trade, and had for some years been in the habit of making advances to the Indians with the un- derstanding that the Indians were to return to the traders the proceeds of the chase — the balance if 44 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY, any to be jerked (in a manner only known to In- dian traders) out of the next succeeding annuities. Jones little traffic was interfering quite mater- ially with those traders, and was setting a bad pre- cedent, and this may, perhaps, furnish a better clue than whisky, to the destruction of Jones' family, and which in its results, produced far more than the traders bargained for. The Indians were dis- satisfied witli all the traders, and Jones with the rest. Any one who understands the Indian trading system, as sanctioned by the Indian Department at Washington, can fill up the balance of the picture — those who do not, will never know any more about the origin of the Indian massacre than they^ do now. • On Monday morning the iSth of August, news of the Acton massacre reached Forest City, and in less than an hour A. C. Smith. J. B. Atkinson, Milton Gorton and a few others accompanied by Airs. Gorton and Mrs. Jewett, were on their way to the scene of the tragedy — with increasing numbers they arrived at Acton some sixty strong — held an inquest and buried the dead. On their return in the evening, the whole community was in a pan- ic and appeared to be in Forest City. An inquest was held as above stated and while HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 45 engaged with the inquest a" band of eleven mount- ed Indians came in sight of the place where the people were assembled, whereupon a detail oi our mounted men gave chase and drove them off into Kandiyohi county. Subsequent developments rendered it certain that those Indians had no hand in the Acton trag- edy, and in fact knew nothing about it at that time. On Tuesday, news arrived of the outbreak on the Minnesota River and Mr. Smith prepared a letter to Gov. Ramsey, demanding guns and ammu- nition, and of six or seven hundred people in For- est City, Jesse V. Branham sen., then 60 years of age, was the only one to volunteer and obligate himself to take it to the Governor in St. Paul — 100 miles in twenty-four hours. Father Branham performed the service in nine- teen hours on Wednesday, on horseback, riding the first nineteen miles bareback ! The following is a copy of the somewhat laconic letter of the Judge. Forest City, Aug. 20th, (6 a. m.) 1S62, His Exellency, Alexander Ramsey, Gov- ernor, &c. — Sir — In advance of the news from the Minnesota River, the Indians have opened on us in Meeker. It is war ! A few propose to 46 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. make a stand here. -Send us, forthwith, some good guns, and ammunition to match. , Yours Truly, A. C. SMITH. On receiving this letter about i o'clock A. M. . of the 2 1st, Governor Ramsey with a prompti- tude which has ever distinguished him in his offi- cial business, found Mr. Geo. C. Whitcomb in St. Paul (County Treasurer of Meeker County) and directed 75 stand of Springfield muskets with a suitable amount of fixed ammunition, to be placed in his charge, with transportation to Forest City, where he arrived about 1 1, a. m. of the 23d, In the meantime about all the people had left Forest City and but few were known to be in the County. On the morning of the arrival of these guns there were but thirteen men and three women on the townsite of Forest City, and nobody west of us. Their names are worth recording, for it was the decision of the little band at this point on the morn- ing of August 23d that saved all there was worth saving west of the Mississippi River. Their names areA. C. Smith. J. B. Atkinson, T. C. Jewett, Milton Gorton, Geo. S. Sholes, sen,, Thos. H. Skinner, James M. Harvey, Wm. Towler, Henry L. Smith, Thomas Grayson, Judson A. Stan- ton, Hamlet Stevens, Sylvester Stevens, Mrs. HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTX. 47 Jewett, Mrs. Whitcomb and Mi's. Brown. During the week previous one hundred and seventy teams — mostly double,passed through For- est City on their way "out to the Mississippi River" — averaging from five to twelve persons to a team, with such goods and chattels as could be hastily packed on the wagon for immediate use. Seventy two of these had left on the morning of the 22d, and before the arrival of the guns — the persons above named had also discussed the propriety of vacating home and country, when Whitcomb hove in sight "over the hill by "Uncle Ikes" a bakers dozen of caps and stove pipe hats went up about as high as single arms could toss them. Whitcomb passed through Hutchinson and find- ing the boys there about as destitue as we, allowed them to subtract 31 of the guns and a part of the ammunition from his ambulance, leaving us but 44 cruns and 2000 rounds. On Sunday the 24th, a military organization was effected and by the next day over thirty had joined and a portion were mounted, all comers were thereafter politely required to do military duty. The following is a copy of the article of com- pact, viz. "We the undersigned do solemly swear to bear true allegiance to the United States and the State of Minnesota and the officers which may be elec- 48 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. ted or appointed over us, to the best of our ability. in accordance with Captains commission issued TO G. C. Whitcomb, by Col. H. H. Sibley ! I bearing date August 20th, 1862, (mustered in, Au- gust 24th, 1862.) J. B Atkinson, O. B. Todd. J. HeMth, J. V. Bi-anhnm jr., S. W. White, Jas. Lang. Samuel Hutchins, A'bert Sperry, A. 0. Smith, J. B. Garrison, Thos. Grayson, Jos. Thomas, Oslog Olson, F. G. Gould, E. A. Ghapin, R. B. Ralston, Henry Jahn.son, A. Hamilton, H. Lutons, H. Behrmann, M. Gorton. A. F. Heath, Wm. Caswell, G. S. Sholes sen., Chas. D Mayhee, Sylvester Stevpns, Patrick Condon, J. H. Bradsliaw, Andrew Nelsor Dan. WfGraw, C. E. Payson, Thos. Ragan, H. Stevens, Alga Olson, Wm. Branham, Eli Gihbins, H. S, Howe, Lory Smith, Chas. Kruger, Nels Tornom, Jas. M. Harvey, O. W. Waggoner H.J. Hill, ; Jerome Rogers, Herman Kriiscr. Oliver Gibbins. T. C. Jewett, W. Johnson, Michael McGraw, Geo. R. Page, , Jesse F. Cobb/ Henry L. Smith, Alfred Mou.sley, A. B. Hoyt, D. Chapin, Wm. Wilcox, H. Mickelson, N H. Wliite D. M. Holbrook, E. Swoiitart, G. C. Whitcomb claimed to be Captain by virtue his receipt for the p under any other of Col. Sibley's commission and guns and refused to give them u circumstance. The following were thereupon elected officers, VIZ 1st Lieutenant J. B. Atkinson, 2nd do 1st. Sergeant 2nd do 3d do 4th do 1st CorporHl H. Stevens, Wm. Branham, H. S. Howe, Dan. McGraw, F. G. Gould, A. F. Heath, 2nd Corporal H. J.Hill, 3d 4th fitb 6th 7lh 8th do do do do do do T. C. Jewett, Sam Hutching, J. M. Harvey, R. B. Ralston, N. H. White. A.B. Hoyt. The 44 Springfield Muskets were distributed to the men as far as they went — remainder unarmed, except with a few Belgian guns that had been re- HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 49 ceived from some quarter, and as it was thought best to have the men armed, all mounted, and as we had but 1 5 horses and it was ascertained that a a party of skedadlers wei'e yet lingering in King- ston, a detail was made to the extent of all the horses on hand, with a man and gun on each, to go to Kingston and seize horses. The following were detailed for that pleasing duty. 1st Lieutenant .T. B. Atkinson, 2nd Corp'l H. J. Hill, 1st Sergeant Wm . Branham, 3rd do T. C. Jewett, 2nd Serjeant H S.Howe, 4th, do Sam Hutchins, 1st Corp'l A. V. Hoath, 5th do R. B. Ralston, O. B. Todd, G. W. Waefroner, C. McGraw. * Michael McGraw, H. Krnger, F. G. Gould A. Hamilton. Eight officers and seven privates — and this was the first militarv movement in the countv, and was made of the right material. They went to Kingston armed and equipped, whereupon the first Lieutenant declared martial law! ordered T. C. Jewett to occupy the Clear Water bridge and allow none to escape unless they could speak the word plain — very, very plain, w^hich one or two are said to have done — cab- baged 23 horses (the best to be had) and returned with their bootv to Forest Citv. Forage detail; B. Cobb, J. A. Stanton, DeLama- ter and Oliver Gibbins. Stock guard; W. H. Towler and Gottlip Reef Thus ended Sunday's exploits August 24th 1862. CHAPTER V, The Adjutaut General migilit well be excused in styling us "Irregular" when connected with the fact that the horses were cal^baged upon demo- cratic principles — no partiality being shown among horses or men — all were taken that could be found — in size of horses, from the Indian pony to the trace horse weighing i,6oo, with switches from 8 inches to 3 feet long, and soldiers to match from five feet two, to six feet eight, with weight from no to 240 lbs., some in stoga boots, and oth- ers in nature's moccasins. The Adjutant General must have been a man of extraordinary genius to have found any other name for us than "irregular." On Monday morning, August 25th, a detail of 27 men was made for the purpose of visiting Monon- galia county — now part of Kan-di-yo-hi — in pursuit (50) HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 5I of Indians, returning on the 27th, having penetra- ted some thirty-five or forty miles west, and having seen no Indians but buried seven mutilated bodies in all and passed the ruins of three dw^ellings and quite a number of mutilated carcasses of dead cattle. The following is a copy ot Qiiarter Master's commission issued to James M. Harvey, Esq. Forest City, Aug. aSth, 1S62. I hereby appoint Jas. M. Harvey to serve as Qiiarter Master for "Meeker County Volunteers," and he is hereby authorized and empowered to exercise the duties of the office. On Wednesday the 27th ot August, the follow- ing named persons, residents of Manannah, left Forest City to obtain stoves bedding, provis- ions, stock, etc., to- wit: Linus Howe, David Hoar, Chauncy Wilson, Moody Caswell, Thomas Ryckman, James Nelson, Phillip H. Deck, Wil- mot Maybee, N. C. Caswell, Joseph Page and R. D. C. Cressy. Arriving at the house of Maybee the party took dinner, thence went to Manannah to the house of Carlos Caswell — saw no Indians — left a yoke of cattle in CaswelTs barn, intending to return and pass the night there, thence the par- ty went two miles to the house of Silas Caswell, and loaded Mavbee's two-horse waofon with bed- 52 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. cling and provisions, whereupon Maybee and Page started with Maybee's team, and Deck and Howe with Deck's one-horse vehicle, on their return to the residence of Carlos Caswell, the balance of the party scattering for the purpose of recovering stock. Just as Maybee's and Deck's teams went into Caswell's door-yard, they were fired upon by a party of Indians concealed behind a pile of lumber and a fence, and some in a corn-field. Page was killed, and fell from the wagon, Deck and Howe rode about twentv rods, when they too fell, fatally pierced by bullets. Maybee ran his horses about forty rods, when he was headed off by the savages, whereupon he left his team and ran about thirty rods further, in the direction of the river, where he was shot and instantly killed. Those exciting scenes were witnessed by Wil- son and Ryckmanat a distance of about sixty rods, but they were in no condition to render the least assistance, their guns being on the wagon. The Indians about fifteen in number, after secu- ring the horses and wagons, started west, passing within thirty yards of Nelson and N. C. Caswell, who mistaking them for white men let them pass unmolested — but followed at a safe distance behind for about a mile, the redskins stopping once, ap- parently to form an acquaintance, but soon drove HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 53 ofF at a rapid rate and were seen no more. The remainder of the party returned to Forest City — Wilson and Ryckman — via Main Prairie, which thev deemed quite the safest route. Howe, Alaybee, Deck and Page were among the best men in the county. Mr. Howe had been a county commissioner most of the time for three years previous. On the morning of the 28th, Lieut. Atkinson with a detail of 24 men was sent to Manannah; charged with the melancholy duty of burying the dead. On the 23d. Mark Warren Esq., county Atty. for Meeker county, was arrested at Monticello and returned to Forest City under guard, on the grave charge of being a '"Copperhead." Copperheads were supposed to be in league with the Indians as well as the South. Warren was furloughed at Forest City. On the night of the 27th, while Jesse V. Bran- ham jr., was standing guard at the creek just out of Forest City on the south, A. C. Smith, E. S. Fitch and Mark Warren taking^ a circuit of the guard, came up to sentinel Branham, and while conversing with the sentinel, Warren disappeared in the star-light and was not seen again till the next spring. When Warren departed Jesse duly CA HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. exercised his lungs in affectionate efforts for his return, but concluded not to follow him many miles south that night as it was too dark to use a needle gun! When Warren returned he had a couple of In- dian ponies and said he had been off on the plains as a guide for Col. Sibley. He was a singular genius — the world would nev- er have been complete without him. Educated as a lawyer in the office of Hon. J. M. McShafter, then of Vermont-r-since of California — he early settled on a pre-emption claim in the town of Rice City in this County, where he lived a number of years, was County Commissioner at times, exhibiting in business transactions a good sound judgment, made but little improvement on his farm, was at peace with all the world, no ene- mies, a democrat from childhood, his time was principally divided in his cabin between praying and swearing — 'twas difficult to tell which service he engaged in with the most zeal. He was one fall a Democratic candidate for the Legislature and instead of electioneering for votes, kept steady at his work, and one day while he was carrying the hod, tending mason at Greenleaf, the Hon. Thomas Cowan from St. Peter, who was that season stumping this Congressional District, HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 55 arrived at Greenleaf and running against a man working mortar with a hoe, enquired for Hon. Mark Warren, candidate for the Legislature from this District. Mark looked at Cowan for a moment encased in black broad cloth and kid gloves, then dropping his hoe, raised both hands above his head and ex- claimed, loud enough to be heard half a mile, "I'm your man by G — d sir." Should friend V/arren still be in the land of the living,and his eye chance to meet this, he will be after us with a sharp stick for some part of his "descriptive roll." On the 30th, (Saturday) a detail was made of 24 men to go to Hutchinson with the view of ob- taining the guns left there by Whitcomb, but the paucity of their defensive impliments Induced the Hutchinson boys to hold on to the guns. The detail returned to Forest City on Sunday the 31st. On the first of September another detail was made of 17 men of the company and several citi- zens for the purpose of visiting Green Lake, and for the ostensible purpose of relieving a family said to be on the island in said lake in a helpless condition. It probably should have been Nor- way Lake as there are no islands in Green Lake where a family could have been secreted. 56 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUXTY. The history of this detail is not material as it re- turned the same day reporting a skirmish at Swede Grove with the Indians. Two Indians reported killed and one of our men Sam. Hutchins. w^oun- ded in the thigh by a musket ball. On the morning of the second day of September another detail of twenty soldiers and twenty citi- zens was sent out for the purpose of rescuing the family mentioned before, and as all could not be mounted it was thought best to go in wagons. The detail had proceeded as far as where Hoken Peterson formerly resided when they halted for dinner. Some of the boys being near home obtained leave to visit the house about one mile from camp, on promise that they would bring back watermel- ons for the whole company — after being gone a short time one of them came running back with his arms full of melons and crying Indians! In- dians ! ! The company being unable to see any Indians from their location in the low ground one of the party was ordered "to run his head out on the knoll," near by "and take a look." He did so and reported twelve Indians advancing from the timber near by, in the direction of camp, and after being ordered back by the CajDtain, looking around he saw some twenty or more mounted In- HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. <*] dians approaching on our west, and the teams were at once ordered to retreat in the direction of Forest City, And they did retreat for a fact. It was a race forUfe and home. Their ma-ma's didn't know they were out! Horses that were a Uttle slow, were renewed in their activity by the point of the bayonet. In the flight our amiable Captain lost his hat and was un- able to recover it, on account of two or three In - dians that were within a half mile of them. After this wild flight of some two miles, the teams were ordered to halt, as some of the horses were about giving out, and being considered safe, as the enemy were left at least one mile behind. They had only been halted for a moment when one of the teams came rushing by and one of the boys thinking he would be left, sprang for the wagon, striking the back of his gun on the side of the box — the gun "went oft"' wounding 0. B. Todd in the leg and barely missing D. Chapin, tearing his cartridge box and bayonet scabbard, to shreds. After resting a few minutes the party proceeded toward Forest City, without any further accident except the miring and leaving of one of E. O. Britt's horses, while with the other Mr. Britt came to Forest City in advance of the party and ordered all the women and children into the hotel of Lieut. 58 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. Atkinson, and for the remainder of the men left in Forest City to come out and meet the company; as the Indians were coming into town. There were about a baker's dozen of men and boys left in Forest City, and arming themselves with whatever thev could find marched out towards "L'hicle Ikes" with Judge Smith at their head armed with an old double barrel bogus stub and-twist-shot gun, and three butcher-knives un- der the waist-bands of his pants. This was be- lieved to be the first, last and only time that the Judge ever commanded a company of Irregular Volunteer Militia, and is a full report of all of his military exploits. At the time Capt. Whitcomb made his last "double quick" toward Forest City and thought it safe to leave Britt's horse sticking in the mud with forty men at command — there were just two Indians in sight. There were various men among our people, who "lived fast", between the 17th of August and the 4th. of September, 1^862 — some in tragedy and som.e in comedy — far more peril to individuals than to companies of men, assembled for mutual protection. We could wish that we had a sketch of all such, including the hair-breadth escapes of men and fam- HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 59 ilies; but the facts are not furnished us, and we cannot do justice to the parties in interest from rumors obtained at the time, or from our recollec- tion of circumstances. Few men had more difficulty in getting out of the prairie than our townsman Andrew Nelson — the following is but one week of his life: Mr. N. a native of Sweden and but slightly ac- quainted in this county, at the time, was a single man and residing in Monongalia county. On the 2ist of August 1862 he was engaged at Foot's place haying, with several other parties. About 4 p. M. his brother-in-law. Swanson, passed Foot Lake and gave the first alarm — Nel- son spent some time in assisting Swanson, who had a wife and three children to get under way — with but an ox-team — a load of hay had to be dumped and wagon body substituted for the hay rack — Nelson took charge of some 40 head of cattle, has- tily collected, which he intended to drive to. a place of safety. In all this he was delayed till dark and he had hardly got off the premises when the Indians were on the ground. Two cow-bells — 40 cattle and the darkness fa- vored Nelson and preserved his scalp. The Indi- ans were first^ discovered within ten paces and suppossing them to be white men, Nelson en- 6o HISTORY OF MEEKER COUXTY. quires "how goes it ?" getting no answer, but hear- ing steps approaching he quietly slid into a corn- field close by. From the cornfield he ran into Mud Lake, where he found a desirable resting place for fifteen or twenty minutes, representing Aloses in the bulrushes — thence he started for Diamond Lake, but soon got lost, and Xelson is ready to swear, that he, that evening, sounded every "sloo" in the vicinity. In the morning he found himself on the bank of a creek — the outlet of Eagle Lake and but about 40 rods from the house of Oscar Erickson, in which were four families, and the house surroun- ded by Indians. It was here that Mr. and Mrs. Foot, Erickson, Swanson and Carlson defended themselves until the Indians raised the siege, after killing Carlson- Nelson made a direct shoot for Diamond Lake, reaching there about 7 A. m.. — proceeding to the farm of J. H. Gates, where he found a number of Diamond Lake people who were preparing break- fast, but 'n\ consequence of the close proximity of the Indians, they started for Forest City without stopping to eat. Nelson lost his boots on the road and his feet be- came so sore that he wa? compelled to ride part of the way — From Forest City he went to Kingston, / HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 6l where his feet were dressed up with rags, and moccasins by Mr. Davidson, the miller. On his return to Forest City, Swan Munson gave him one of his horses to ride and when almost half v^'ay back, met Atkinson with his squad, who ordered him to halt and sought to levy on his horse — Nel- son responded that he could not have the horse unless he took him dead or alive — A. said "come along" and Nelson joined the crowd and was sub- sequently out on every detail till the company was disbanded — at one time in Foot Lake region, Nel- son lay by the side of a log in the dark, with the Indians passing on the side of it in the road. He lost all trace of Swanson and family, and did not see them again until he met them in St. Pau' where they now reside. He did not, of course, succeed in getting any of the cattle. Swanson and family were in the house with Foot and Erickson, and was several times lost on the prairie in getting to Paynesville with his family. We have said there were four families in Erick- sons' house — they were Erickson's, Foot's, Swan- son and Carlson. When the Indians first came to Erickson's they asked for provisions, and young Carlson went with them into the potatoe patch to dig the pota- 62 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUXTV. toes — it was here that young Carlson was shot,and when found he was dead, with the hoe in one hand and a couple of potatoes in the other. While defending themselves in the house, Foot was shot through the breast and Erickson through the bowels — Foot killed an Indian after he was shot, standing on his knees. The defence of Mr. and Mrs. Foot was so hero- ic that the Indians raised the siege and left. Sub- sequently Mrs. Foot came to Forest City and re- ported her husband in a dying condition, but strange to say, Foot was, two days later, brought into Forest City on a load of goods, where he was kindly cared for for a couple of days and sent to St. Cloud. Foot and Erickson still live. Our fellow townsman N. A. Viren and family, were in close proximity to these tragical scenes — his legs and his oxen did him good service. Fall- ing behind the crowd in consequence of the loss of an ox, ha besought his company to wait for him a little while, which they refused to do — when he overtook them, they were all stuck fast in the mud in the outlet of the lake just East of Master's place. Viren sounded the bank of the lake and finding hard bottom he drove into the lake and around the HISTORY OF MEEKER COUKY. 63 SLOO, and started ahead — the 'company called him to come to their assistance and haul them out. but he politely informed them that what "was sauce for goose was sauce for gander" and passed on and arrived at Forest City a day or two in advance of his company, who in consequence of the -delay lost most of their cattle and goods, and two of their company, Lawrenson and Backland who were killed and mutilated. Viren "still lives," a portly well fed gentleman, and Nelson says that while he repente'd of all his sins by the side of that log — he gave no prefer- ence to any particular sin ! ! and has no desire to live that week over again. CHAPTER VI. On the 34fth of August Capt. Strout was ordered to Forest City via Glencoe and Hutchinson but deeming Forest City the safest place, from his stand point, came up the Mississippi direct to the latter place, arriving on^the eve. of the 27th, and went into camp near the law office of Judge Smith. From a casual conversation, Capt. Strout re- marked that he was authorized to make a stand where he could do the most good and should stay at Forest City a week or ten days, if deemed nec- essary. On being informed during the evening that all the Indians then in the country were prob- ably at Swede Grove about ten miles out, the Cap- tain very suddenly came to the conclusion that Glencoe was a safer place for him, and therefore decamped at sun rise next morning for the latter (64) HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 65 place, 44 miles south-east, and where no Indians had, at that time, been seen. On this fact being reported to head quarters, Capt. S trout was immediately ordered to return to Forest City via Acton, which he attempted to do, and arrived and camped in Jones' door yard in Acton on the eve. of September 2d, surrounded by timber and as was afterwards found out to his sorrow, two hundred and fifty Indians camped within two miles of him. Learning of Capt. Strout's movements by the arrival of a scout from Hutchinson (Thos. Cham- bers, Esq.,) and knowing that, at this particular time, a large force of Indians had suddenly ap- peared at Swede Grove, it was deemed advisable to intercept Strout, and divert his command to Forest Cilv w'ithout going to Acton, and as this was deemed a pretty hazardous undertaking a vol- unteer detail was invited, when J. V. Branham jr., Albert Sperry and Thomas Holmes immediately seated themselves in the saddle and just before sun set on the eve of the 2nd of September they started south through Rice City with the view of heading Capt. Strout on the Hutchinson and Acton road and inform him of the nest of hornets he was unconsciously running his men into. The rjute of Capt. Strout was principally on 66 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. the old Pembina and Henderson Indian trail, and on the arrival of our men at that point, sufficient signs were discovered to satisfy them that Strout had already passed, and the boys had nothing to do but follow up the trail, and they did so, and found Strout as above related, in Jones' door yard, in one of the most dangerous positions that could possibly be taken, particularly with 250 savages in Swede Grove, two or three miles off, and no pick- ets set. The balance of the story we give in the lan- guage of one of the three scouts. About four miles out from Forest City they saw- coming toward them a party of five mounted men and not being able to tell whether they were friends or foes they halted — one of the boys says: 'well what do you think ?" That looks blue,boys, but we won't run from five Indians anyhow — the five halted — we advanced a few steps and we halted — then the five advanced, and to our joy we discovered John S. Shields and four others re- turning from Rice City, where they had been looking after crops and not aware of the close proximity of Indians. Feeling greatly relieved we bade the boys good- by, after fully posting them up in regard to the operations of the Indians. HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 67 On our wav to Acton we passed across^'tlie prairie East of Round Lake and West of Minne- belle, with darkness well settled upon us. We necessarily avoided all the groves of timber, not knowing what minute we would he'sent to our long home by a friendly missile from the gun of the red gentlemen. On they went until reaching the old Red River and Henderson trail (so called), when they com- menced to search for the tracks of Capt. Strout and his company — of whicl% they found no evi- dence until reaching the outlet of the lake near Evenson's when they halted and got down on their knees (for once in their lives) to look for tracks. Here they discovered tracks sufficient to fully sat- isfy them that Strout's company had passed as above related on their way to Acton. On they go, in darkness doubly dark, with nothing to change the midnight silence until theyreached the edge of the timber and the cabin where, on the 17th ult., poor Jones and the Baker ftimily met their fate without a moment's notice. On reaching the timber the darkness, which was total before, became a great deal more so, and only for our faithful horses the party would have been unable to keep the road, and right here two 68 HISTORY MEEKER COUNTY. dogs sprang out with a howl that would have startled men in ordinary times — but at that time and under the circumstances narrated, hair had to be well rooted to hang to the scalp. After a silent ride of half a mile to where Strout was camped, with thoughts flitting from the loved ones m Minneapolis, to the anticipated danger that hovered over us, we came close up to the tents — but what do they contain? Friend or foe? — no picket cried "halt!" So we says "Tom* let us halt and sing out to them." Says Tom. "agreed." So we sang out "Who's there? Friend come up." When we halted we could have struck the tents with a stone, and no picket interposed. People may say what they please, but if there is any period in man's existence, in which the heart will voluntarily and uncalled for, go up to God in thankfulness for a safe deliverance, it will be under circumstances in which that little band of three had been placed between sundown and midnight during the travel of twenty miles. CHAPTER VII. HOW THE BOYS GOT OUT OF ACTOX. When Captain Strout was informed that a par- ty of Indians were camped about three miles off there was considerable excitement among the boys, -but few slept that night. The old condemned Bel- gian guns furnished Captain Strout's men by Uncle Sam to scare the red men with, and which most of the men thought they would have no use for, were quickly examined, and it was found that only about one m five had ammunition that would fit, and the boys were kept busy till daylight preparing ammunition that might soon be needed. By the time it was fairly daylight, breakfast was called, and while they were yet eating, they heard the firing of guns about two miles off, and knowing that they were the only white men near- (69) 70 HISTORY OK MEEKKR COl-XTY. er than Forest City or Hutchinson, it was no hard matter to guess where the firing came from. On such an invitation it is needless to sav break- fast was cut short off, and all made ready for a march. Strout had 1iut five mounted men and these were ordered to advance and keep a half a mile in advance of the company and teams. Albert Sper- ry one of the five was to keep about two hundred yards in advance of the other four. The mounted men had proceeded about two miles m a southerly direction, when thev discov- ered the bright barrels of guns glistening on a hill about a mile ahead, and on the farm pre-empted by the wndow Baker just opposite Kelley's Blufi". Our meij continued to advance until within a quar- ter of a mile when they halted, and sent word back to Captain Strout that the Indians were just ahead and to prepare for a fight. As soon as the company came up the men were formed in open line and ordered to advance, which they did until they came within about two hundred yards of where the Indians had been seen, • when the Indians opened fire on the company, which the company promptly returned. About the third volley, private Getchell fell mor- tal! v wounded bv a ball through the head. About HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. ^\ this time a party of mounted Indians were discovered approaching us in the rear, on the road we had just traveled, and as they came down over the rolHiig prairie single file with horses and po- nies at full speed, whooping and yelling as only wild Indians can, it made a picture long to be re- membered by those who saw it. Instantly the second Lieutenant was ordered back with twenty men to protect the rear of the train. Fearing to make a charge most of the mounted Indians rode around and formed on the right of the comj^any, and a lake being on the left, Strout with his little band of sixty three men were com- pletely surrounded. After fighting some time, without any particular damage to either party, reminding the comman- der of what the Frenchman said of some of the first great battles of the rebellion, where nobody was killed on either side, "that it was one very civil war" but fearing Mr. Sioux Indians would soon receive reinforcements from another band known to be less than five miles off",, the captain ordered a charg^e in the direction of Hutchinson with fixed bayonets. This order w^as immediately obeyed under the lead of Lieutenant Clarke, every man came up to 73 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. the scratch hke old v'eterans. So savs the official report. This was prohably the bravest act of the day — when we take into consideration that "Captain Strout's company was mosth'^ made up of business and commercial men and dapper-fingered clerks from Minneapolis and St. Paul, many of them hardly knowing enough about fire arms to load their own pieces, but the red men on the south did not like close quarters, and scattered in all direc- tions, and for a time it seemed as though the little- unpleasantness had ceased, and the teamsters think- ing: the road clear, started their teams on the run for Hutchinson, leaving all the compau}- that were not fortunate enough to climb behind, and the boys thinking it would be a poor show for broken- legged men, all hands started pell-mell after the teams, and for a short time it seemed as though it was a "Bull Run" on a small scale, and that, too. after they had beat the red man on a bayonet charge. The men did not want it understood that thev were running away from the Indians, at all, at all. but when they made the bayonet charge they came very near not stopping till they got to Hutch- inson, which reminds us again of an incident at "Bull Run," when one of the boys of a ^'erm6nt HISTORY OK MEEKER COUNTY. 73 Resfimeiit was Ditleied to retreat; he obeyed or- ders and (no counter order being received,) he kept on retreating until he reached the north Der- by line and only halted then, in order that he misrht not do violence to international law. The Captain and his few mounted men soon broueht the boys to a halt, and order was restored in less time than it usualh took McClellan to re- orgfanize the army of the Potomac. The Indians seeing the Company on the run, put after them in full uniform, that is to say, they divested themselves of all that makes the man, to- w'it, "good clothing." Many of them \vhen first seen, had on black cloth suits and "biled" shirts. Before proceeding any further in the descrip- tion of the "days doings," we wish to mention one bright and noble oasis in the catalogue of Indian character usually made up of ambush and tr eachery. While the skirmish was hottest and just before the charge was made, one of the Indians, supposed to have been Little Crow, deliberately stepped upon the top of a fence, about one hundred and fifty yards in front of the Company, and waving his blanket, save some orders to the Indians in our rear. As soon as he mounted the fence Captain 74 HISTORY OF MHHKEU COUNTY. Strout asked for some good marksman to take him oft. Two or three of his boys tried and all missed him, when the whole Company was ordered to fire at him, but it seems to have' been foi-e-ordered that he was not to die on that fence, for he stood the torrent of, and received the whole volley of sixty-three old Belgian bullets unscathed, where- upon Mr. Indian coolly stepped down from the fence, made a graceful bow, with a waive of the hand, as much as to say "thank you gentlemen." The whole affaii was so bold and graceful that our men could hardly refrain from giving the old red-skin three rousing cheers. About this time order was restored among the men, private Jes^se V. Branham Jr., one of the three volunteer scouts from Forest City the night before, having stopped to load his gun, was shot from behind, the ball passing through his left lung. Fortunately he did not. fall, but had strength enough to walk until he overtook the teams. He was supposed to be mortally wounded, but on the contrary he is now on his pegs and in fact healthy, residing at Litchfield. From this time a running fight was kept up for about seven miles, during which time Stone of Minneapolis and another pri- vate whose name we do not now recollect, were killed, and about one third of the entire company wounded. mSTOin' OF MEEKER COUNTY. 75 When the company hailed at Cedar Mills for water and a little rest for the wounded, they found they had lost three men killed and left on the ground. The remains were afterward buried by the 3d Regiment boys. There were eighteen wounded, Captain Strout in his official report says: "The loss of the com- pany in this encounter was three men killed and fifteen wounded, some of them severely, all were, howe^'er, brought from the field." The reader will notice a material discrepancy in regard to the dead. That the 3d Regiment boys did not bury them, or Strout did not take them with him, requires no proof. Captain Strout continues, "in addition to this, the}" lost most of their rations, cooking utensils, tents, and a portion of their ammunition and arms. Some of their horses became unmanageable and ran away. Some weie abandonded, making with those killed by the enemy, an aggregate loss of nine. The loss inflicted on the enemy could not be determined with any degree of certainty, but Captain Strout was of the opinion that their killed and wounded was two or three times as great as ours,,"- — doubtful. About one half the savages were mounted, partly • 76 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. on large fine horses, plundered from the settle- ments, and partly on Indian ponies. The latter were so well trained, that their riders would drive them at a rapid rate to within any desirable dis- tance, when both pony and rider would instantly lie down in the tall grass and thus conceal them- selves from the sharp-shooters of the Company, (of which there must have been manv, judging from the effect of the volley fired at the Indian on the ^ence.) The Indians engaged in the skirmish were esti- mated at about one hundred and fift}- to two hun- dred. From Mr. Cross of Cedar Lake our men pro- cured lint for the wounded, and proceeded on their way to Hutchinson, arriving at that point Wednes- day afternoon. Mr. Cross was killed by the Indians a few days after, as heretofore related. On arriving at Hutchinson, the wounded were placed in the Sumner House, where they received all the kind attention from both men and women ot Hutchinson that could be asked or desired, for all of which the boys united in a "•God bless them with long life and plenty of this world's goods to make them happy both here and hereafter." We have given a somewhat detailed account HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 77 of the Acton conflict, as it was the only one that took place in the County deserving the name of a battle. Our report is made up partly from the official report of Captain Strout, but principally, and more reliably from the vivid recollection of Jesse V. Branham, Jr. Esq. one of the Forest Citv scouts sent out to head off Strout, and who was with him the day of the battle and supposed to have been mortally wounded by an Indian bullet. Strout's official report was a mixture of truth and folly, inconsistent with a just regard for the character of his soldiers, who cheerfully volunteered to take the field under all the adverse circumstances atten- dant on a hasty collection of men from work shops and the counter, totally ignorant of the art of war, and unused to the discipline of a military camp. Strout himself was as little qualified for the post he occupied, as were any of the men for the prac- tice of war. His pusillamious course when he first entered on Indian Territory, marked him as an ill-qualified and unsafe leader. Alluding to the different onsets of the Indians during the day, Strout says in his official report, 78 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. "on none of these occasions, however, did a single man falter or attempt a flight." Branham says the teamsters ran with their teams and the men ran "pell-mell to keep up" and when Strout adds, in his report, that he had lost, during the battle, most of their rations, cooking utensils, tents, ammunition and arms, and nine or ten hor- .ses, it certainly looks as though Branham had the TRUTH on his side. The fault was with the Captain, not the men. It pains us deeply to feel compelled, in the light of historical truth, to speak of Capt. Strout as we do, well remembering the old adage, that to avoid speaking ill of those of whom we have but little reason to speak well, is the temperance of aversion, and seldom found in ordinary minds. CHAPTER Vlir. On the 24th, of Augvist, orders were issued to Col. B. F. Smith, commandant at Fort SnelHng, directing him to arm and equip the company of troops under command of Captain Strout then of the loth Regiment, and detail them to proceed "to Foi'est City and such other places in the vicinity as expediency might requnx, for the purpose of pro- tecting and assuring the inhabitants of that re- gion." As heretofore narrated in Chap. VI, p. 64, Strout arrived at Forest City on the eve of the 27th of August, and w^ent into camp near the res- idence of Judge Smith, and stated that he could remain there if necessary till further orders. He was reliably informed that all the Indians then known to be on the frontier were at Swede Grove about ten miles west of Forest City. (79) So HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. On the 3d of September the stockade was built by the citizens then in Forest City — about 120 feet square, by planting a double row of logs on end, three feet in the ground and about ten feet high, with bastions — it was built and finished up in less than 24 hours and I venture to say on the quick- est time that any such edifice was ever erected in the United States — and well that we did so — for we were treated to a ceremonious call at 3 o'clock on the morning of the 4th by about two hundred and fifty Savages. Our hasty uncarpeted accommodations took the red devils by surprise. They had not previously discovered our accommodations, and at once gave up the idea of assailing us in quarters, and con- fined their operations to a little promiscous, careless shooting of old guns, and stealing horses, which unfortunately we had not secured within the stockade prior to their polite arrival. Some ten or twelve Indians lost their lives here that morning in consequence of the inexperience, and un-soldier-like careless shooting by our boys. The boys all meant well but they didn't know any better, and notwithstanding the assertion of dapper-fingered historians to the contrary, the In- dians falsified said history by carrying their dead from the field of carnarge before day. Only one white man was seriously wounded. A gentleman from Canada had arrived at For- HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 8l est City but a day or two before and was sleeping in the back of Mr. Hoyt's house and awoke just in time to see the Indians firing the front end of the house, and had the good kick to sHp out at a back window and secrete himself in a corn patch in the garden, and while in this interesting position saw five dead Indians piled into a double wagon by the side of the burning house. The next morning, at the request of this gentle- man, we gave him a letter to Gov. Ramsey which enabled him to get out of Minnesota, and have not seen him since, but we have heard that he is not a believer in "going west." The celebrated "crazy" Irishman came stroUingr into town some days prior to the attack, as a spy for the Indians, and had he been allowed to return to his employers, the attack would probably have been more successfully made some days earlier. Not being able to pronounce the word "Shibbo- leth" he was placed in 'durance vile' and ultimate- ly shipped under guard to Monticello — thence to St. Paul where he was magnified into a harmless martyr by the moccasin aristocracy of the Saintly City and thence was allowed to depart to parts unknown. This was the same "crazy" Irishman described by Mrs. Baker, and who passed Howaixl Baker's 82 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. house just after the Indians, and who robbed the dead body of Baker of 50 to 70 dollars in gold. Six dwelling houses and one barn were burned at Forest City on the morning of the 4th, of Sep- tember, viz: of Wm. Richardson, Milton Gorton, James P. Hewlett. Dudley Taylor, A. B. Hoyt, William Richards and A. C. Smith. Mrs. T. C. Jewett, Mrs. Whitcomb and Mrs. Brown were the only ladies that remained at For- City the entire period of these exciting times. There were 12 persons killed in Meeker County and 13 in Monongalia the names of which were, in Meeker, Robinson Jones, Ann Baker. Viranus Webster, Clara D. Wilson, Philip Deck, Joseph Page, Linus Howe, Wilmot Maybee, ,NeIs Olsen, Caleb Sanborn and Cross, and in July 1863 James McGannon. In Monongalia three Olsen's, father and two sons, Anderson and son, Carl Carlson and son, Mr. Backland, Mr Lawrenson and the Lumberg family, and nine in McLeod County, contiguous to Meeker, viz: Mr. Spondy, wife and two children, one child of John Adams (taking John Adams prisoner) and four of the White fam- ily at Lake Addie. Mr. Adams was taken priso- ner Sept. 4th. Total killed in Meeker and vicinity, thirty-three, and probably some who have never been reported. HISTORY OF xMEEKER COUNTY. 83 July I St, 1S63 McGannon was shot between Kingston and Fair Haven, probably by Little Crow in person, as this distinguished chieftain was a few days after shot by Mr. Lamson on sec- tion 30 Town iiS — 39 (Collinwood) Meeker County, and was found in possession of McGan- non's coat. The section on which he was killed is indicated on the map accompanying this book. The great native warrior, together with his son — young Crow, were quietly making a dinner of raspberries, when the Irishman's bullet called him to his final account. Little Crow and son were dining tosfethel- — and Lamson and son were out huntingr together — the hunters came suddenly in sig-ht of the In- dians and seeing them first, quickly resolved that white man must scoop Indian, or Indian would scoop white man, and suiting the action to the word, and being a good shot, Lamson scooped Crow — while his son aimed at young Crow, miss- ing him, but disabling his gun — whereupon young Crow fled and left the country — subsequently fol- lowed the trail of Gen. Sibley's army across the plains, as we were informed, and finally ran into Gen. Sibley's camp in pretty much the condition of Lee's army when he ran in into Gen. §4 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNT V. Grant's camp — to get something to to eat ! Little Crow was buried at Hutchinson without much ceremony, and without full knowledge at that time that it was in fact Little Crow. Little Crow was a small sized man and a savage chieftain of singular power and genius, always evil disposed to the whites, as was his father 30 or 40 years before. With strong intellect and an un- l)ending will, but had become disgusted with the management of the war by the other chieftains of the hostile tribes. We have not heard of any new speculations in regard to Little Crow's remains for some years. The last we heard of them some live Yankee near Hutchmson had his bones in an old soap- box, and was trying to drive a sharp bargain by selling them to the Minnesota Historical Society — with what success we never learned — alas for hu- man — or rather inhuman fame and greatness. Re- port has it, that said Society is in possession of Little Crow's scalp (we doubt whether he was ever scalped) which had been carefully tanned and consequently will not decay — so that future generations can look on the polished top knot with a due amount of reverence. So far as the fact is concerned, it is of little con- sepuence whether the tanned scalp now in the HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 85 archives of the State Historical Society ever covered Little Crow's pate or not, if after-genera- tions only think so, it is just as well, and the man who scalped Christopher Columbus, and could not find where John Rogers was burned Feb. 14th, 1554, will be dead long before the fraud will be dis- covered, and as there is no prospect of his leaving any male heirs, posterity will not be likely to trouble itself about the fact. Another report has it, that one J. D. Farmer, of Spring Valley, Minn, became possessor of Little Crow's skull soon after his death and presented it to Dr. Powell of Lanes- boro, and that one Dr. Twitchell of Chatfield has thefbalance of Little Crow's "frame work," — doubt- ful. CHAPTER IX. The morning of the 4th, of September 1S62, was celebrated in Forest City by the early arrival of about 200 Indians They were evidently unaware of the existence of our stockade and appearances in- dicated that they intended to take the people b}' surprise. Coming into town at 3 a. m., some twenty or more mounted Indians advanced to about the cen- ter of the town-site and discharged a volley in the air — evidently intending to rouse the sleeping set- tlers, and during the panic, have things their own way. In this they were disappointed. With what we knew of the Indians in the coun- t}', an attack had for some two days, been deemed a moral certainty and we were as well prepared for them as we could have been — Guided solely h\ (86) HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 87 the light of the '-volley In the air" some twenty of our men fired over the pickets of the stockade and five Indians 'bit the dust" and were subsequently loaded into a wagon at Hoyt's house. A picket guard surrounded the town, and most of them continued on the second beat, a list of the men standing guard that night has not been pre- served but J^mong them we find H. Stevens, Chaun- cy Dart, Andrew Nelson, Henry L. Smith Wm. Branham and Sylvester Stevens, with others. The Indians forded the river on the west and came in betwee;i sentinels Smith and Dart, who were the first to give the alarm, by the discharge of their pieces — this was immediately passed round the town by the entire guard and all started for the stockade, the Indians in the mean time giv- ing a grand war whoop and discharged a volley apparently in the air, as above stated. The moon having just gone down, it was re- markably dark and sentinel Dart in taking a b — for the stockade, suddenly found hiinself in a "coal- pit hole" where he lost his hat and gun — being some-what in a hurry he had passed along a few rods, when the ludicrous in his composition got the better of his fears, and he went back and recov- ered his hat and gun. Henry L. Smith in his b — passed his fathers 88 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. law office and brought up at the Hotel barn, where the mail boy was fruitlessly endeavoring to saddle and bridle his horse, preparatory to starting to Monticello with the mail. Sentinel Smith assisted the boy in getting the horse properly equipped and started off, by which time diverse and sundry bullets, were remmding H. L. that no further delays were allowable. The Indians finding a pretty formidable stock- ade did not attempt to enter it, but confined them- selves to stealing such household goods as could be most easily carried off. Sixty horses were stolen that morning and four or five buildings ransacked and burned. The mail carrier came back from Kingston about 7 o'clock a. m. in company with C. F. Davis, to ascertain the result of the attack. A report of the nights doings was drawn up by A. C. Smith and signed by Whitcomb and sent that morning by mail to Gov. Ramsey. A little before daylight two families came to the stockade, from the school house, where they hat spent the night, viz: N. E. Tornbom, wife and four children — one of tliem Sophia — now the wife of John Lundberg (Sheriff^ (jf Stevens County) and Charles Magnus, wife and two children; also Mrs. (Hodgeson,) mothe of Ole (Ilodgeson.) HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 89 The school house had been the nucleus for a band of the Indians, but not anticipating that any one was in the house, its occupants remained un- molested for nearly two hours. In the stockade that morning there were some 40 men armed with Springfield muskets and about 200 old men, women and children — most of them un- able to get out of the country. General Isaac Fletcher of Lyndon — late a mem ber of Congress from Vermont, once boasted on the floor of the House of Representatives at Washington that "no hostile flag ever entered on the soil of Vermont and returned to its original abode". We don't claim that the Sioux Indians entered Meeker County with a hostile flag — but we had a very good one at the top of our liberty pole, which entirely escaped our memory that night and the Indians took it down and ran off' with it. After day light some Indians were in the act of driving off" cattle when Sergeant Wm. Bran- ham, called for a squad of men to go out and head them off — six went out — three in a squad — the foremost consisting of Wm. Branham, H. L. Smyth and Aslog Olson; the cattle were saved, but Olson was shot through the breast, Branham in the arm, while vSmith remained unharmed. The rear 90 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. squad countermarched to the stockade without waiting for orders,, the wounded men recovered. Lieut. Atkinson was on his way from Clearwat- er with suppHes, and was two or three miles out, when he learned of the attack and in the exercise of a sound discretion, conchided to start a new ho- tel in the hushes, and dumped his provisions and supplies and himself into the biggest grove of hazel brush and prickly-ash to be found. He sub- sequently changed.his mind and 'returned to Forest City. The Indians retired from Forest City about five o'clock in theynorning, dividing into three parties. The first took the Manannah road — the second due south (m the Greenleaf road and the third the Rice City road — simultaneously firing the residen- ces of Dudley Taylor, Milton Gorton and Wm. Richardson, situated each about a mile from town, one house on each road. . We have since been told, that at the Indian tri- als at Mankato, the chiefs admitted a loss of eleven at Forest Citv. We cannot vouch for its truth. From what was seen, and from examina- tions subsequently made we guarantee that seven were killed — how or where the other four lost their breathing apparatus, is more than we can tell. About ten o'clock on the morning of the 4th, HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 9I and about fi^-e hours after the disappearance of the Indians, Capt. Nelson and Lieut. J. B. Blanchard with Thomas Dunham, Henry Brad- ford, Fred Hilter Elder Brooks and some 30 oth- ers came in from Manannah, where it appears they were encamped the night before. They were from Monticello, Wiight County and came by way of St. Cloud and Paynesville to Manannah. Whether the object of their mission was for more than a tour of inspection is unknown. They made no stop at Forest City, and rendered us no service. Apprehensive of a renewal of the attack on the night of the 5th, or 6th, there was no sleep to the eye or slumber to the eyelid for the two succeed- ing nights, by those in Forest City, but no fur- ther demonstration was made by the Indians. On the 9th, of September Maj. Welch with aI)out 300 men — a portion of the 3rd. Regiment passed torough Forest City on their way to the Minnesota River, remaining at Forest City but one night, Capt. Petitt's company B. 8th Regiment hastily organized at Faribault, Rice Coimty, ai rived at Forest City, went into quarters there on the 15th, of September and was the first military organiza- tion sent to our assistance — twenty-_iine days after 92 HI«TORV OK MEEKER COUNTY. the massacre at Acton, and after the main bod}' of the Indians had returned to the vicinity of the Minnesota River.. Forest City liad thus presented the only suc- cessful barrier to the passage of the Indians to Kingston — Fairhaven and Clearwater on the Miss- issippi River. The Indians show^ed no disposition to pass and leave m their rear the post at Forest City, unless they could first wipe it out of existence or take its possession from the whites. Capt. J. C. Whitney's Company C. 6th Regi- ment arrived at Forest City, Nov. 22nd, iS6a, and went into winter quarters in the stockade while Capt. Petilt's company occupied the hotel. Capt. Whitney's company was ordered to Fort Snelling, Feb. 26th 1S63, and again Sep. 25th '63 he returned to Kingston — remaining about one month, when his command went across the plains to the Missouri River, as an escort to a supply train — returned to Kingston Jan. 5th 1S64, and thence for the south the following June. On the 27th of Feb. the day after Capt. Whit- ney left for Fort Snelling — Capt. O. C. Meriman arrived with Company B, 6th, Regiment and re- mained till the 26th, of April following. On the 24th, two days prior to the departure of HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 93 Merimain's compan} , Lieut. Clark Keysor arrived with 21 privates and 4 non-commissioned officers of Capt. Dane's company E 9th, Regiment and occupied the stockade. Capt. Wilson's company of cavalry passed Forest City on the 8th, of May '63, for Fort Ridg-elv. On ther 9th, of June Little Crow and son crossed the Forest City and Clearwater turnpike, about four miles out from Forest City, with two horses stolen at vSilver Creek in the county of Wright. Lieut. Keysor being apprised of the fact, took eight men and went out on the Clearwater road with the view of following their trail, but returned next morning without success, having been in the woods all night and passed the places where Lit- tle Crow and son had eaten both dmner and sup- per. Little Crow and son forded the river three or four miles above Forest City early'on the morning of the loth, and passed on west — the trail could b£ easily followed. Knowing that two Indians were in the woods west of Forest City and that they would necessar- ily cross the river at or near the old fords, Thos Grayson, H. L. Smith, Jas.M. Harvey and Robert Holmes, volunteered to watch two fording places 94 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY on the river between Forest City and Manannah on the night of the 9th, — but for some purpose un- known these parties went to Manannah and spent the night, on returnmg found the fresh trail as above stated, and at the same time appeared Capt. John Cady and five of his men en-rt)u(e for Paynes- ville. Cady selected two of his men and took the trail and finally overtook the Indians on the nth, on the bank of Lake '-Arthur" in Kandiyohi county, when a skirmish immediately took place in which Capt Cady was shot through the breast and killed, the balance of the party returned, bringing the re- mains of Cady to Forest City, where they were properly cared for and forwarded to his friends in Anoka. July Sth, Capt. Dane appeared and removed his men to the west bank of Long Lake near Kelly's bluff — the company \vent South in September. One or two companies occupied Kingston in the winter of 1S62-3 and a detachment under Lieut. O'Brien, was the last military organization stationed at Forest City. After the arrival of Capt. Petitt's company, the Forest City boys devoted most of their time in caring for personal property — stock, grain, &c., in different parts of the county and in which they HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. C)C did good service. Tlie company was disbanded by Gov. Ramsey on the 15th of October, 1S62. While in active service and until disbanded, the Government recognized and paid the officers and men. After the arrival of regular troops, many of our men, knowing our organization to be a mere rope of sand, pi'oposed to, and did go about their bus- iness, endeavoring to get ready for winter — get their families back — most of them had families which had been broken up, all of which seemed a very important duty. On the 6th, Whitcomb met the writer in St. Paul and informed him that he and a portion of his command had "nominated a candidate for the Legislature," the knowledge of which coming to the ears of Gov Ramsey, he promptly ordered the company to be disbanded. This proceeding deeply offended our doughty captain, who, on his return, took the orderly's book and marked the word "deserted" against the names of all his men, who were engaged in looking 'after their own property. Thirteen of the best men of the company were thus marked, why or wherefore is unknown, un- less the captain drawing pay for his entire com- pany neglected to pay the deserters, an easy way 96 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUXTY. to net about $300.00. One of the last raids of the Indians in the county took place in August 1863. Jesse V. Branham, sen. Wni. Kruger, Charles Kruger and William Branham, one dog and two horses, visited the farm of Wm. Kruger, eight miles south of Forest City, for the purpose of harvesting wheat. The first night out, the men slept m the house, the horses were picketed within a rod of the house and dog stood sentinel — Kruger said he could be trusted. During the night a tremendous thunder storm rent the skies, and the dog deserted his post and returned to Forest City and two Indians ran oft' with the horses — the trail run a due west course passing Pipe Lake Station, when seventeen soldiers took the trail and followed it past the Kandij'ohi Lakes, overhauling the Indians about twenty miles out — the horses were picketed and the red men fast asleep. Thinking to have more fun with them than fighting — the soldiers surrounded the sleeping Indians before waking them up. As soon as the Indians discovered their posi- tion they pitched in among the soldiers and came very near whipping the crowd and died game, and father Bi^anham says, the soldiers sclaped the HISTORY OF MEEKEK COUXTV. Qh Indians and left their bodies on the prairie. Fath- er Branham has a poor opinion of "dogs" as a picket guard, and still less o'f Indians as play-mates. CHAPTER X. A WILD WOMAN S HISTORY THE SLAYER OF HUN- DREDS OF BEARS AND WILD-CATS. HoNESDALE, Pa., July 20th, 1S76. — "There" said Sheriff Spencer, as he pushed open the ponderous door of one of the cells of the county jail in this place, "There is a woman with a history." On a low chair in a cell in the jail at Honesdale, Pa., July 2oth, 1S76, sat a most singular looking person. A round, wrinkled, sun-burned face, small head crowned with thick, shaggy gray hair, that fell down over and almost concealed the blackest and sharpest of eyes; a slender body clothed in scant and shabby female garb, and lower limbs encased in tattered trousers. This was the occupant of the cell — Lucy Ann Lolxlell (98) HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 99 XEE Slater, 1:)ette]" known thereabouts as "the fe- male hunter of Long Eddy." About 4=; years ago a family named Loljdell lived in Delaware county, N. Y., at what is now the village of Long Eddy on the Delaware river and Erie railway, then sparsely settled. Lumber- ing was the main business of the settlers of the vi- cinity. The Lobdells dwelt m a cabin in the woods where a daughter, the subject of our sketch, was born. Fyom the time this child was old enough to walk she was a great favorite among the hardy woodchoppers and raftsmen. They often took her off to the logging camp and kept her there for days at a time, and she early became inured to the hardships of their life. The lumbermen in those days were all good hunters, and always carried their rifles with them. Before Lucy Ann was eight years old ^they had taught her the use of the rifle, and she soon became as good a shot as there was in the settlement. At the age of twelve she could out- shoot any of the men, and handled the ax with the ease of an old chopper. Before she had reached the age of sixteen she had killed nutnerous deer, and an absence of two or three davs alone in the woods was for her not an uncommon thing. She once killed a full sized panther, and the hide of the animal is now in the possession of an ex-sheriff of g563i.6 lOO HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. Wayne Co. Pa. Notwithstaning her masculine tastes Lucy Ann's name, as a girl and woman, was free from reproach. The breath of slander never reached her, and she could have had her choice of a husband from the most exemplary young men in the vicinity. But she had no incli- nation to marry and she rejected all offers. A raftsman named Henry Slater came into the settlement abouti 850. He formed the acquaint- ance of Lucy Ann and to the surprise of everybody, they were married Slater proposed to liucy Ann. and she told him that they would shoot at a mark with a rifle. If he beat her shots she would marry him, if not she would stay with her parents. The trial of skill took place and Slater was victorious. Slater proved a worthless scape-grace and neg- lected and abused his wife. A year after they were married Mrs. Slater gave birth to a daughter. Before the child was two weeks old Slater desert- ed both child and wife, leaving them in des- titute circumstances. Slater never returned, but was occasionally heard of in New York city, and on the Hudson river, a worthless, drunken, vaga- bond. The sorrowing wife wentiback to her parents, and after two years spent in trying to get along and maintain herself respectably by doing wo- man's work, but with poor success, she laid aside i HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. lOI the apparel of her sex, donned men's clothing, and taking her rifle went into the woods to earn a liv- ing for herself and child. For eight or ten long years she roamed the for- ests of Sullivan and Delaware counties, in New York, and Wayne and Pike in Pennsylvania, and spent two years in Meeker county Minnesota. She had cabins in various places, and would visit the old home about once a year, and only ap- peared in the settlements and villages to sell her game and furs and to procure ammunition. On one of her visits to her child when it was about four years old, her parents complained of having its care on their hands. She therefore took it away and placed it in the Delhi poor-house, and left her old stamping ground for New York and thence up the Hudson river — still in men's apparel — and, strange to say passed and repassed her husband on the Hudson River railroad without being recognized by him, her disguise was so com- plete. From Albany she passed west over the Central New York, and finally turned up in Minnesota, and says she taught three singing schools on the way, to provide means of transportation. She spent a short time in St. Paul, where she made but few acquaintances and among them was I02 HISTORY OP MEEKKR COUNTY. an Edwin Gribbel, who had' some dealings with her, but Edwin hadn't the remotest suspicion that she was a female, or he would perhaps have been less free with her. Gribble had reason to know that Lucy Ann was somewhat eccentric, not onl> on account of the wildness of her tastes, but in the way she dressed, her costume in the summer of 1856 having consisted of a pair of calico pants, a calico coat and a calico vest and hat. In this cool but rather odd suit of clothes, Lucy Ann hung around for some time waiting for a chance to make a strike. At this time Gribble occupied a claim on the upper shore of Lake Minnetonka, near Cook's and adjoining him was a claim which had been jumped by a man, who employed Lobdell to oc- cupy it in his absence, and both of whom spent some time together upon that claim. The claim- jumper, however, finally disappeared, leaving Lob- dell alone to watch his land. This was about the time that Gribble and Lucy got pretty thick, tramp- ing together through the woods in pursuit of game, and sleeping together under the same blank- et when they woed the gentle goddess of slum- ber under the umbrageous forest trees around Minnetonka. But Gribble didn't dream that Lu- cy was a lone female, and hence he felt that his familiarity with her entitles hini to a suspension HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. IO3 of public opinion until he can prove his innocence of any evil intention. Well, after hunting with Lucy for a while, and pleasing her with the elo- quence of his tales of love, and his experiences as a jurist and politician, Lucy got tired of waiting for the return of the claim-jumper and also of Gribble's pretty talk, and expressed an inclination to strike out further into the wilderness. And rio-ht here, Gribble did a handsome stroke of bus- iness. The claimant of the land failing to appear, it naturally became the property of the occupant, and Gribble thereupon purchased Lucy's right to the soil, and gave her that seventy-five dollar rifle, which she can-ied for so many years afterwards in consideration of a quit-claim to the land, which she made out and transferred to Gribble. Then Lu- cy with Gribble's gun on her shoulder, set out for Meeker County. She had the I75 rifle, and spent her first winter (1856-7) with another person both in male attire, on the old Kandiyohi town-site on the north of Kandiyohi lakes. The two were employed to reside on and thus hold possossion of the new town-site, by the Min- neapolis proprietors. Her companion spent the winter with her, but never for a moment suspected that he was wintering with a woman. lO-l- HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. At times, when provisions fell short, thev were compelled to live on squirrels for their meat. And on one occasion, her companion was com- pelled to visit the Mississippi river settlements for supplies, and before his return, she, failing to find the necessary squirrel, relied upon those brought in by the cat, her only companion, for supplies — the cat furnished squirrels when the rifle could not reach them. The last we heard of "puss" he was in the care of Noah White, of Kandiyohi countv; he was a fa- vorite in that settlement for a number of \ears and died of old age. The Summer of '57 Lucy Ann appeared in Man- annah, boarding a short time in a place, doing chores, chopping wood, hunting, washing dishes, etc., for her board. She was handy at anything: those with whom she was acquainted seemed to enjoy her company — her male apparel often re- quiring her to sleep in close proximity with others of the male gender — but with no indiscretion and with no suspicion that she was other than what appeared on the surface. For the purpose of completing her disguise she had assumed the name of La-Roi Lobdell. She ever seemed well pleased with her disguise, and the difficulty that would naturally interpose HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. 105 in resuming, without loss of character, her natural and appropriate raiment probably induced her to continue the deception. She claimed to have as- sumed this disguise, originally in order to better get away from home, without detection by a drunk- en husband. • vShe had but little money and was a splendid hunter and was offensive to none, and, as before remarked, was good company and a "hale fellow well met" with all the young people in the neighborhood, committing no indiscretions. In the summer of 1S5S, by accident. "Satan, with the aid of original sin,'' discovered and ex- posed her sex. The blue code of Connecticut was consulted, and the law was invoked to purge the community of the scandal. The county attorney, Wm. Richards, now of the city of New Yoik, filed an information against Mrs Slater before John Robson, Esq. J. P., then contesting the jurisdiction of this county with J. B. Atkinson, Esq., as judge of the only court we had, alleging "that, whereas, one Lobdell, being a woman, falsely personates a man, to the great scandal of the community, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Minnesota," and asked that she be dealt with according to law, that so pernicious an example might not be repeated in fo6 HISTORY OF MEEKER COUNTY. this land of bteady habits. U. S.