Full text of "History of Rice County"

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HISTORY

O F

RICE COUNTY

INCLUDING

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS of MINNESOTA,

OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA

By Rev. Edward D. Neill;

ALSO

SIOUX MASSACRE OF 1862,

AND

State EDU(3y\TiON,

BY CHARLES S. BRYANT.

MINNEAPOLIS:

MINNESOT.A. IIISTOKIC.\L COMPANV,
1SS2.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.

4/'-/

■0-

'/-^

PREFACE.

In the conipibitioii of the IfisToRY of Rice (Bounty it h.'is been the aim of the
I'rm.isHERS to pvfscut ;i local liistorv, eoiiijirisiiio-, in a single volume of convenient
form, a varied fuml of information, not only of interest to the present, hut from wliich the
comiut^- searcher for historic data may draw without the tedium incurred in its preparation.
There is always more or less difficulty, even in a historical work, in selectin.^' tli<jse things
which will interest the greatest number of readers. Individual tastes differ so widely, that
wliat may be of aljsorbing interest to one, has no attractions for another. Some ai'e inter-
ested in that which concerns themselves, and do not care to read of even the most thrilling
adventures where they were not participants. Such persons are apt to conclude that what
they are not interested in is of no value, and its preservation in history a useless expense.
In the settlement of a new Count\' or a new Township, there is no one jierson entitled to all
tl>e credit for what has been accomplished. Every individual is a part of the great whole,
id this work is prepared for the })urpose of giving a general rcHiime of what has thus far
been thine to plant the civilization of the present century in Rice County.

That our work is wholly errorless, or that nothing of interest has been omitted, is more
than we dare hope, and more than is reasoaaldi' to e.Kpect. In closing our labors we have
the gratifying consciousness of having used our utmost endeavors in securing reliable data,
and feel no hesitancy in submitting the result to an intelligent public. The impartial
critic, to whom only we look for comment, will, in passing judgment upon its merits, be
governed by a knowledge of the manifold duties attending the jirosecution of the under-
taking.

We have been especially fortunate in enlisting the interest of Rev. Edward D. Neill
and Charles S. Bryant, whose able productions are herewith presented. We also desire to
e.xpress our sincere thanks to Prof. J. L. Noyes. who. assisted by Prof. J. J. Dow and Dr. CI.
H. Knight, furnished the able sketch of " The Minnesota f nstitute for the Education
of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, and the School for Imlieciles and Idiots."' Oui- ac-
knowledgements are likewise tendered to the County, Town, and Village officials for their
nniform kindness to us in our tedious labors: and in general terms we express our indebted-
ness to the Press, the Pioneers, and the Citizens, who have extended universal encourage-
ment and endorsement.

That our efforts ma\' prove satisfactory, and this volume receive a welcome commensu-
rate with the care bestowed in its preparation, is the earnest desire of the publishers,

ELLIS C. TURNER.
F. W. HARRINGTON.
B. F. PINKNEY.

CONTENTS,

I'lilfC.

Pbeface . - - . .

III

CHAPTER I-XXIII.

Explnrers and Pioueers uf Minnesota

1-128

CHAPTER XXIV-XXVII.

Oiitliue History of the State of Minnesot;

129-160

CHAPTER XXVIII-XXIX.

State Education . . . .

161-176

CHAPTER XXX-XLIII.

History of the Sioux Massacre

177-256

CHAPTER XLIV.

Chronology . ■ _ _ .

257-262

CHAPTER XLV-XLIX.

Rice County - . . . .

263-817

CHAPTER L-LI.

City of Fariliault - . . .

318-396

CHAPTER LII-LIII.

City of Xorthfield - - - .

396-437

CHAPTER LIV.

Bridgewater Township

437-453

CHAPTER LV.

Wheeling Township

454-464

CHAPTER LVI.

Richland Township

464-470

I'lr;/!'.
CHAPTER LVII.
Walcott Township - - - 470-477

CHAPTER LVIII.
Forest Township - - - - 478-490

CHAPTER LIX.
Wells Township . - . . 491-504

CHAPTER LX.
Warsaw Township - - - 505-517

CHAPTER LXI.
Cannon City Township - - - 518-534

CHAPTER LXII.
Webster Township - - - 534-544

CHAPTER LXIII.
Wheatland Township - - - 545-553

CHAPTER LXIY.
Erin Township - _ . . 554-564

CHAPTER LXV.

Northfield Township - - - 564-574

CHAPTER LXVI.
Shieldsville Township - - - 575 -582

CHAPTER LXVII.
Morristown Township - - - 583-595
Index 596-603

EXPLORERS

PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTER I.

FOOTrKINTS OF CIVILIZATION TOWAUD THE EXTREMITY OF LAKE SUPERIOR.

Minne6otji*s Cenlriil Position.— D'AvaEour's Prediction.— Nicoiefs Visit to (!rcpn
Bay.— First White Men in Minnpsota. — Notices of Groselliers and Radisson.—
Uurons Flee to Minnesota. — Visited by Frenchmen. — Father Menard Disap-
pears. — Groselliers Visits Hudson's Bay, — Father Allouez Describes the Sioux
Mission at La Pointe.— Father Marquette.- Sioux at Sault St. Marie. — Jesuit
Missions Fiiil,— Groselliers Visits England.— Captain Gillani, ot Boston, at Hud-
son's Bay. — Letter of Mother Superior of Vrsulines., at Quebec.- Death oT
Groselliers.

The Dako talis, called by the Ojibways, Nado-
waysioux, or Sioux (Soos), as abbreviated by the
French, used to claim superiority over other peo-
ple, because, their sacred men asserted that the
mouth of the Minnesota River was immediately
over the centre of the earth, and below the centre
of the heavens.

While this teaching is very different from that
of the modem astronomer, it is certainly true,
that the region west of Lake Superior, extending
through the valley of the lilinnesota, to the Mis-
souri lliver, is one of the most healthful and fer-
tile regions beneath the skies, and may prove to
be the centre of the republic of the United States
of America. Baron D'Avagour, a brave officer,
who was killed in fighting the Turks, while he
was Governor of Canada, in a dispatch to the
French Government, dated August 14th, 1663,
after refei-ring to Lake Huron, wrote, that beyond
" is met another, called Lake Superior, the waters
of which, it is believed. How into Kew Spain, and
this, according to general opinion, ought to he the
centre of the country.''^

As early as 1635, one of Champlain's interpre-
ters, Jean Nicolet (Nicolay), who came to Cana-
da in 1618, reached the western shores of Lake
Michigan. In the summer of 1634 he ascended

the St. Lawrence, witli a party of Ilurons, and
probably during the next winter was trading at
Green Bay, in Wisconsin. On the ninth of De-
cember, 1635, he had returned to Canada, and on
the 7th of October, 1637, was married at Quebec,
and the next month, went to Three Rivers, where
he lived until 1642, when he died. Of him it is
.said, in a letter written in 1640, tliat he had pen-
etrated farthest into those distant comitries, and
that if he had proceeded " three days more on a
great river which flows from that lake [Green
Bay] he would have found the sea."

The first white men in Minnesota, of whom we
have any record, were, according to Garneau, two
persons of Huguenot affinities, Medard Chouart,
known as Sieur Groselliers, and Pierre d'Esprit,
called Sieur Radisson.

Groselliers (pronoimced Gro-zay-yay) was born
near Ferte-sous-Jouarre, eleven miles east of
Meaux, in France, and when about sixteen years
of age, in the year 1641, came to Canada. The fur
trade was the great avenue to prosperity, and in
1646, he was among the Huron Indians, who then
dwelt upon the eastern shore of Lake Huron,
bartering for peltries. On the second of Septem-
ber, 1647, at Quebec, lie was married to Helen,
the widow of ('laude Etienne, who was the daugh-
ter of a pilot, Abraham Martin, whose baptismal
name is still attached to the suburbs of that city,
the " Plains of Abraham," made famous by the
death there, of General Wolfe, of the English
army, in 1759, and of General Montgomery, of
the Continental armv, In December, 1775; at the

EXPLOBURS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

commencement of the " War for Independence."
His son, Medard, was bom in 1657, and the next
year his mother died. The second wife of Gro-
selliers was ilarguerite nayet(IIayay) Ratlisson,
tlie sister of his associate, m the exploration of
the region west of Lalie Superior.

Kadisson was born at St. Malo, and, while a
boy, went to Paris, and from thence to Canada,
and in 1()56, at Three Rivers, married Elizabeth,
the daughter of Madeleine Hainault, and, after
her death, the daugliter of Sir David Kirk or
Kerkt, a zealous Huguenot, became his wife.

The Iroquois of New York, about the year 1650,
drove the Hurons from their villages, and forced
them to take refuge with their friends the Tinon-
tates, called by the French, Petuns, because they
cultivated tobacco. In time the Iliuons and
their allies, the Ottawas (Ottaw-waws), were
again driven by the Iroquois, and after successive
wanderings, were found on the west side of Lake
Michigan. In time they reached the Mississippi,
and ascending above the Wisconsin, tliey found
the Iowa Kiver, on the west side, which they fol-
lowed, and dwelt for a time with the Ayoes
(loways) who were very friendly ; but l)eing ac-
customed to a country of lakes and forests, tliey
were not satisfied with the vast prairies. Return-
ing to the Mississippi, they ascended this river,
in search of a better land, and were met by some
of the Sioux or Dakotahs, and conducted to their
villages, where they were well received. The
Sioux, delighted with the axes, knives and awls
of European manufacture, which had been pre-
sented to them, allowed the refugees to settle
upon an island in the Itlississippi, below the
moutli of the St. Croix River, called Bald Island
from the absence of trees, about nine miles from
the site of the present city of Hastings. Possessed
of firearms, the Hurons and Ottawas asserted
their superiority, and determined to conquer the
country for themselves, and having incurred the
hostility of the Sioux, were obliged to flee from
the isle in the Mississippi, Descending below
Lake Pepin, they reached the Black River, and
ascending it, found an unoccupied country around
its sources and that of tlie Chippeway. In this
region the Hurons established themselves, while
their alhes, the Ottawas, moved eastward, till
they found the shores of Lake Superior, and set-
tled at Chagouamikon (Sha - gah - wah - mik - ong )

near what is now Bayfield. In the year 1659,
GroselUers and Radisson arrived at Chagouamik-
on, and determined to visit the Hurons and Pe-
tuns, with whom the former had traded when
they resided east of Lake Huron. After a six
days' journey, in a southwesterly direction, they
reached their retreat toward the sources of the
Black, Chippewa, and AViseonsin Rivers. From
this point they journeyed north, and passed the
winter of 1659-60 among the "Nadouechiouec,"
or Sioux villages in the ilille Lacs (Mil Lak) re-
gion. From the Hurons they learned of a beau-
tiful river, wide, large, deep, and comparalile with
the Saint Lawrence, the great JNIississippi, which
flows through the city of Mumeapolis, and whose
sources are in nortliern Minnesota.

jS'ortheast of Mille Lacs, toward the extremity
of Lake Superior, they met the " Poualak," or
Assiniboines of the prairie, a separated band of
the Sioux, who, as wood was scarce and small,
made fire with coal (eharbon de terre) and dwelt
in tents of skins ; although some of the more in-
dustrious built cabins of clay (terre grasse), like
the swallows liuild their nests.

The spring and summer of 1660, Groselliers and
Radisson passed in trading aroimd Lake Superior.
On the 19th of August they returned to Mon-
treal, with three hundred Indians and sixty ca-
noes loaded with " a wealth of skins."

" Furs of bison and of beaver,
Furs of sable and of ermine."

The citizens were deeply stirred by the travelers'
tales of the vastness and richness of the region
they had visited, and their many romantic adven-
tures. In a few days, they began their return to
the far West, accompanied by six Frenchmen and
two priests, one of whom was the Jesuit, Rene ile-
nard. His hair whitened by age, and his mind
ripened by long experience, he heemed the man
for the mission. Two hours after midnight, of the
day before departure, the venerable missionary
Ijenned at " Three Rivers," the following letter
to a friend :

'Reverend Father:
" Tlie peace of Christ be with you : I write to
you probably the last, which I hope will be the
seal of our friendship luilil eternity. Love whom
the Lord Jesus did not disdain to love, though
the greatest of sinners; for he loves whom he

FATHER MENAUD LOST IN WISCONSIN.

loads with bis cross. Let your friendsliip, my
good Fatlier, be useful to me by the desii-able
fruits of your daily sacrifice.

" In three or foiu' mouths you may remember
me at the memento for the dead, on account of
my old age, my weak constitution and the hard-
ships I lay under amongst these ti'ibes. Never-
tlieless, I am in peace, for I liave not been led to
this mission by any temporal motive, but I think
it was by the voice of God. I was to resist tlie
grace of God by not coming. Eternal remorse
would have tormented me, had I not come when
1 had the opportunity.

" We have been a little surprized, not being
able to provide ourselves with vestments and oth-
er things, but he who feeds the little birds, and
clothes the lilies of the fields, will take care of
his servants; and though it should happen we
should die of want, we would esteem ourselves
happy. I am burdened with business. \Vliat I
can do is to recommend our journey to your daily
sacrifice, and to embrace you with the same sen-
timents of heart as I hope to do in eternity.
" My Eeverend Father,

Your most humble and affectionate
servant in Jesus Christ.

E. MENARD.
"From the Three Elvers, this 2tith August, 2

o'clock after midnight, 1660."

On the loth of October, the party with which
he journeyed reached a bay on Lake Superior,
where he foimd some of the Ottawas, who had
fled from the Iroquois of New York. For more
than eight months, surroimded by a few French
voyageurs, he lived, to use his words, " in a kind
of small hermitage, a cabin built of fir branches
piled one on another, not so much to shield us
from the rigor of the season as to correct my im-
agination, and persuade me I was sheltered."

During the summer of 1661, he resolved to visit
the Ilurons, who had fled eastward from the Sioux
of Minnesota, and encamped amid the marshes of
Northern Wisconsuj. Some Frenchmen, who had
been among the Ilurons, in vain attempted to dis-
suade him from the journey. To their entreaties
he replied, " I must go, if it cost me my life. I
can not suffer souls to perish on the ground of
saving the bodily Ufe of a miserable old man like
myself. What! Are we to serve (Jod only when
there is nothing to suffer, and no risk of Ufe?"

Upon De ITsle's map of Louisiana, published
nearly two centuries ago, there appears the Lake
of the Ottawas, and the Lake of the Old or De-
serted Settlement, west of (ireen J5ay, and south
of Lake Superior. The Lake of the Old Planta-
tion is supposed to ha\e been the spot occupied
by the Hurons at the time when Menard attempt-
ed to visit them. One way of access to this seclu-
ded spot was from Lake Superior to the head-
waters of the Ontanagon River, and then by a port>-
age, to the lake. It could also be reached from
the headwaters of the Wisconsin, Black and Cliip-
pewa Rivers, and some have said that Menard
descended the Wisconsm and ascended the Black
River.

Perrot, who lived at the same time, writes :
" Father Menard, who was sent as missionary
among the Outaouas [Utaw-waws] accompanied
by certain Frenchmen who were going to trade
with that people, was left by all who were with
him, except one, who rendered to him until death,
all of the sei-vices and help that he could have
hoped. The Father followed the Outaouas f Utaw-
waws] to the Lake of the Illinoets [Illino-ay, now
Michigan] and in theii' flight to the Louisianue,
[Mississippi] to above the Black River. There
this missionary had but one Frenchman for a
companion. This Frenchman carefully followed
the route, and made a portage at the same place
as the Outaouas. He found himself in a rapid,
one day, that was carrying him away in his canoe.
The Father, to assist, debarked from his ovra, but
did not find a good path to come to him. He en-
tered one that had been made by beasts, and de-
siring to return, became confused in a labyrmth
of trees, and was lost. The Frenchman, after
havmg ascended the rapids with great labor,
awaited the good Father, and, as he did not come,
resolved to search for him. AVith all his might,
for several days, he called his name in the woods,
hopmg to find him, but it was useless. He met,
however, a Sakis [Sauk] who was carrying the
camp-kettle of the missionary, and wlio gave him
some intelligence. He assured him that he had
found his foot -prints at some distance, but that
he had not seen the Father. He told him, also,
that he had found the tracks of several, who were
going towards the Scioux. He declared that he
stipposed that the Scioux might have killed or
captured him. Indeed, several years afterwards,

EXPLOBEBS AND PIOKEEBS OF MINNESOTA.

there were found among this tribe, his breviary
and cassock, which they exposed at their festivals,
making offerings to them of food."

In a journal of the Jesuits, Menard, about the
seventh oreightli of August, 1661, is said to have
been lost.

GroselUers (Gro-zay-yay), whUe Menaid was
endeavoring to reach the retreat of the Hnrons
which he had made known to tlie authorities of
Canada, was pushing through the country of the
Assineboines, on the northwest shore of Lake
Superior, and at length, probably by Lake Alem-
pigon, or Nepigon, reached Hudson's Bay, and
early in May, 1662, returned to Montreal, and
surprised its citizens vvdth his tale of new discov-
eries toward the Sea of the North.

The Hurons did not remain long toward the
sources of the Black Kiver, after Menard's disap-
pearance, and deserting their plantations, joined
their allies, the Ottawas, at La Pointe, now Bay-
field, on Lake Superior. While here, they deter-
mined to send a war party of one hundred against
the Sioux of MUle Lacs (Mil Lak) region. At
length they met their foes, who drove them into
one of the thousand marshes of the water-shed
between Lake Superior and the Mississippi, where
they hid themselves among the tall grasses. The
Sioux, suspecting that they miglit attempt to es-
cape in the night, cut up beaver skins into strips,
and hung thereon little bells, which they had ob-
tained from the French traders. The Hurons,
emerging from their watery hiding place, stumbled
over the unseen cords, ringing the bells, and the
Sioux instantly attacked, killing all but one.

About the year 1665, four Frenchmen visited
the Sioux of Minnesota, from the west end of
Lake Superior, accompanied by an Ottawa chief,
and in the summer of the same year, a flotilla of
canoes laden with peltries, came down to Mon-
treal. Upon their return, on the eighth of Au-
gust, the Jesuit Father, Allouez, accompanied the
traders, and, by the first of October, reached Che-
goimegon Bay, on or near the site of the modern
town of Bayfield, on Lake Superior, where he
found the refugee Hurons and Ottawas. While
on an excursion to Lake Alemplgon, now Ne-
pigon, this missionary saw, near the mouth of
Saint Louis River, in Minnesota, some of the
Sioux. He writes : " There is a tribe to the west
of this, toward the great river called Messipi.

They are forty or fifty leagues from here, in a
country of prairies, abounding in all kinds of
game. They have fields, in wliich they do not
sow Indian corn, but only tobacco. Providence
has provided them with a species of marsh rice,
which, toward the end of summer, they go to col-
lect in certain small lakes, that are covered with
it. They presented me with some when I was at
the extremity of Lake Tracy [Superior], where I
saw them. They do not use the gun, but only
the bow and arrow with great dexterity. Their
cabins are not covered with bark, but with deer-
skins well dried, and stitched together so that the
cold does not enter. These people are above aU
other savage and warUke. In our presence they
seem abashed, and were motionless as statues.
They speak a language entirely unknown to us,
and the savages about here do not understand
them."

The mission at La Pointe was not encouraging,
and Allouez, " weary of their obstinate unbelief,"
departed, but Marquette succeeded him for a brief
period.

The ''Belations" of the Jesuits for 1670-71,
alkide to the Sioiix or Dakotahs, and their attack
upon the refugees at La Pointe :

" There are certain people called Nadoussi,
dreaded by their neighbors, and although they
only use the bow and arrow, they use it with so
much skill and dexterity, that in a moment they
fill the air. After the Parthian method, they
turn their iieads in flight, and discharge tlieir ar-
rows so rapidly that they are to be feared no less
in their retreat than in their attack.

" They dwell on the shores and around the
great river Messipi, of which we shall speak.
They niunber no less than fifteen populous towns,
and yet they know not how to cultivate the earth
by seeding it, contenting themselves with a sort
of marsh rye, which we call wild oats.

" For sixty leagues from the extremity of the
upper lakes, towards sunset, and, as it were, in
the centre of the western nations, they have all
united their force by a general league, which has
been made against them, as against a common
enemy.

" Tliey speak a peculiar language, entirely dis-
tinct from tliat of the Algonijuins and Hurons,
whom they generally surpass in generosity, .since
they often content themselves with the glory of

GROSELLIERS AND RADISSON IN THE ENGLISH SER VICE.

having obtained the %'ictory, and release the pris-
oners they have taken in battle.

" Our Outoiiacs of the Point of the Holy ( iliost
[La PoLnte, now Bayfield] had to the present time
kept up a kind of peace with them, but affairs
havhig become embroiled durinij; last winter, and
some murders having been committed on both
sides, our savages had reason to apprehend that
the storm would soon biu'st upon them, and judged
that it was safer for them to leave the place, which
in fact they did in the spring."

Marquette, on the 13th of September, 1669,
writes : " The Xadouessi are the Iroquois of this
country. * * * they lie northwest of the Mission
of the Holy Ghost [La Pouite, the modern Bay-
field] and we have not yet visited them, having
confined ourselves to the conversion of the Otta-
was.''

Soon after this, hostilities began between the
Sioux and the Hurons and Ottawas of La Pointe,
and the former compelled their foes to seek an-
other resting place, toward the eastern extremity
of Lake Superior, and at length they pitched
their tents at Mackinaw.

In 1674, some Sioux warriors came down to
Sault Saint Marie, to make a treaty of peace with
adjacent tribes. A friend of the Abbe de Galli-
nee wrote that a council was had at flie fort to
which " the Xadouessioux sent twelve deputies,
and the others forty. During the conference,
one of the latter, knife in hand, drew near the
breast of one of the Xadouessioux, who sliowed
siu-jirise at the movement ; when the Indian with
the knife reproached him for cowardice. The
Nadouessioux said he was not afraid, when the
other planted the knife in his heart, and killed
him. All the savages then engaged in conflict,
and the Xadouessioux bravely defended them-
selves, hut, overwhelmed by numbers, nine of
them were killed. The two who survived rushed
into the chapel, and closed the door. Here they
found munitions of war, and fired guns at their
enemies, who became anxious to bum do^vii the
chapel, but the .lesuits would not permit it, be-
cause they had their skins stored between its roof
and ceiling. In this extremity, a Jesuit, Louis
Le Boeme, advised that a cannon should be point-
ed at the door, which was discharged, and tiie two
brave Sioux were killed."

Governor Frontenac of Canada, was indignant

at the occurrence, and in a letter to Colbert, one
of the Ministers of Louis the Fourteenth, speaks
in condemnation of this discharge of a cannon by
a Brother attached to the Jesuit Mission.

From this period, the missions of the Church of
Rome, near Lake Superior, began to wane. Shea,
a devout liistorian of tluil church, writes: "In
1680, Father Enjalran was apparently alone at
Green Bay, and Pierson at Mackinaw ; the latter
mission still comprising the two villages, Huron
and Kiskakon. Of tlie other missions, neither
Le Clerq nor Ilemiepin, the Recollect, writers of
the West at this time, makes any mention, or in
any way alludes to their existence, and La lion-
tan mentions the Jesuit missions only to ridicule
them."

The Pigeon River, a part of the northern boun-
dary of Minnesota, was called on the French maps
Grosellier's River, after the first explorer of Min-
nesota, whose career, with his associate Radisson,
became quite prominent in connection with the
Hudson Bay region.

A disagreement occurring between Groselliers
a)id his partners in Quebec, he proceeded to Paris,
and from thence to London, where he was intro-
duced to the nephew of Charles I., who led the
cavalry charge against Fairfax and Cromwell at
Naseby, afterwards commander of the English
fleet.- The Prince listened witli pleasure to the
narrative of travel, and endorsed the plans for
prosecuting the fur trade and seeking a north-
west passage to Asia. The scientific men of Eng-
land were also full of the enterprise, in the hope
that it would increase a knowledge of uatm'e.
The Secretary of the Royal Society wrote to Rob-
ert Boyle, the distinguished philosopher, a too
sanguine letter. His words were : " Surely I need
not tell you from hence what is said here, with
great joy. of the discovery of a nortliwest passage;
and by two Englislimen and one Frenchman
represented to his Majesty at Oxford, and an-
swered by the grant of a vessel to sail into Hud-
son's Bay and channel into the South Sea."

The ship Nonsuch was fitted out, in charge of
Captain Zachary Gillam, a son of one of the early
settlers of Boston ; and in this vessel Groselliers
and Radisson left the Thames, in June, 1668, and
in September reached a tributary of Hudson's
Bay. The next year, by way of Boston, they re-
turned to England, and in 1670, a trading com-

HXPLOBEIiS Alrv PIONEEBS OF MINNESOTA.

pany was chartered, still known among venerable
English corporations as " The Hudson's Bay
Company."

The Reverend Mother of the Incarnation, Su-
perior of the Ursulines of Quebec, in a letter of
the 27th of August, 1670, wi-ites thus :

" It was about this time that a Frenchman of
our Tourame, named des Groselliers, married in
this coimtiy, and as he had not been successful
in making a fortune, was seized with a fancy to
go to New England to better his condition. He
excited a hope among the English that he had
found a passage to the Sea of the North. With
this expectation, he was sent as an envoy to Eng-
land, where there was given to him, a vessel,
with crew and every thmg necessary for the voy-
age. With these advantages, he put to sea, and
in place of the usual route, which others had ta-
ken in vain, he sailed in another direction, and
searched so wide, that he found the grand Bay of
the North. He foimd large population, and filled
his ship or ships with peltries of great value. * * *

He has taken possession of this great region for
the King of England, and for his personal benefit
A publication for the benefit of this French ad-
venturer, has been made in England. He was
a youth when he arrived here, and his wife and
children are yet here."

Talon, Intendent of Justice in Canada, in a dis-
patch to Colbert, Minister of the Colonial Depart-
ment of France, WTote on the 10th of November,
1670, that he has received intelligence that two
English vessels are approaching Hudson's Bay,
and adds : " After reflecting on all the nations
that might have penetrated as far north as that,
I can aUght on only the EngUsh, who, under the
guidance of a man named Des Grozellers, for-
merly an inhabitant of Canada, might possibly
have attempted tliat navigation."

After years of service on the shores of Hudson's
Bay, either with English or French trading com-
panies, the old explorer died in Canada, and it has
been said that his son went to England, where he
was livmg in 1696, in receipt of a pension.

iJATlLV MENTION OF LAKE SUPERIOR COPPER.

CIIAPTKR ir.

EARLY JtKNTION OF LAKE SUPERIOK COrPER.

Sftgard, A. D. 1636, on Copper Mine?.— Boucher, A. D. 1R40, Describes Lake Siipo
rior Copper.— Jesuit Relations, A. D. lefirj-^i?.- Copper on Islo Roynls.— Hiilf-
Breed Voyageur Goes to France with T.ilon.— Jolliet and Perrot Scnrch for
Copper.— St. Lusson Plants the French Arms at Sault St. Marie.— Copper at
Outanogon and Head of Lake Superior.

Before white men had explored tlie shores of
Lake Superior, Indians had brouglit to the tra-
ding posts of the St. Lawrence Elver, specimens of
copper from that region. Sagard, in his History
of Canada, published in 1636, at Paris, writes :
"There are mines of copper whicli miglit be made
profitable, if there were inhabitants and worlv-
men who would labor faithfully. That would be
done if colonies were established. About eighty
or one hundred leagues from the Hurons, there
is a mine of copper, from which Truchemont
Brusle showed me an ingot, on his return from a
voyage which he made to the neighboring nation."

Pierre Boucher, grandfather of Sieur de la Ye-
rendrye, the explorer of the lakes of the northern
boundary of Minnesota, in a volume published
A. D. 1640, also at Paris, writes : "In Lake Su-
perior there is a great island, fifty oronehimdred
leagues in circumference, in which there is a very
beautiful mme of copper. There are other places
in those quarters, where there are similar mines ;
so I learned from four or five Frenchmen, who
lately returned. They were gone three years,
without finding an opportunity to return; they
told me that they had seen an ingnt nf copper all
refined which was on the coast, and \\'eighed more
than eight himdred poimds, according to their es-
timate. They said that the savages, on passing
it, made a fire on it, after which they cut off pie-
ces with their axes."

In tlie Jesuit Relations of 1666-67, there is this
description of Isle Royale : " Advancing to a
place called the Grand Anse. we meet with an
island, three leagues from land, which is cele-
brated for the metal which is found there, and
for the thunder which takes place there; for they
say it always thmiders there.

" But farther towards the west on the same
mirth shore, is the island most famous for copper,
Minong (Isle Royale). This island is twenty-five
leagues in length ; it is seven from the mainland,
and sixty from the head of the lake. Nearly all
aromid the island, on the waters edge, pieces of
copper are fomid mixed with pebbles, but espe-
cially on the side which is opposite the south,
and principally in a certain bay, which is near
the northeast exposure to the great lake. * * *

" Advancing to the head of the lake (Fon du
Lac) and returning one day's journey by the south
coast, there is seen on the edge of the water, a
rock of copper weighing seven or eight hundred
pounds, and is so hard that steel can hardly cut it,
but when it is heated it cuts as easily as lead.
Near Point Chagouamigong [Sha - gah - wah - mik-
ong, near Bayfield] where a mission was establish-
ed rocks of copper and plates of the same metal
were found. * * * Returning still toward the
mouth of the lake, following the coast on the .south
as twenty leagues from the place last mentioned,
we enter the river called Nantaouagan [Ontona-
gon] on which is a hill where stones and copper
fall into the water or upon the earth. They are
readily found.

"Tliree years snice we received a piece which
was brought from this place, which weighed a
hundred poiuids, and we sent it to (Quebec to Mr.
Talon. It is not certaui exactly wliere this was
broken from. We thuik it was from the forks of
the river ; others, that it was from near the lake,
and dug up."

Talon, Intendent of Justice in Canada, visited
France, taking a half-breed voyageur with him,
and while in Paris, wrote on the 26th of Febru-
ary, 1669, to Colbert, the Minister of the Marine
Department, "that this voyageur had penetrated
among the western nations fartlier than any other
Frenchman, and had .seen the copper mine on
Lake Huron. [Superior?] The man oflers to go

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOIA.

to that mine, and explore, either by sea, or by
lake and river, the communication supposed to
exist between Canada and the South Sea, or to
the regions of Hudson's Bay."

As soon as Talon returned to Canada he com-
missioned JoUiet and Pere [Perrot] to search for
the mines of copper on the upper Lakes. Jolliet
received an outfit of four himdred livTcs, and four
canoes, and Perrot one thousand Uvres. Muiis-
ister Colbert wrote from Paris to Talon, in Feb-
ruary, 1671, ajjprovmg of the search for copper,
in these words ; " The resolution you have taken
to send Sieur de La Salle toward the south, and
Sieur de St. Lusson to the north, to discover the
South Sea passage, is very good, but the principal
thing you ought to apply yourself in discoveries
of this nature, is to look for the copper mine.

" Were this mine discovered, and its utility
evident, it would be an assured means to attract
several Frenchmen from old, to New France."

On the 14th of June, 1671, SaintLusson at Sault
St. Marie, planted the ^rms of France, in the pres-
ence of Nicholas Perrot, who acted as interpreter
on the occasion ; the Sieur Jolliet ; Pierre Moreau
or Sieur de la Taupine ; a soldier of the garrison
of Quebec, and several other Frenchmen.

Talon, in announcing Saint Lusson's explora-
tions to Colbert, on the 2d of November, 1671,
wrote from Quebec : " The copper which I send
from Lake Superior and the river Nantaouagan
[Ontonagon] proves lliat there is a mine on tlie
border of some stream, wliich produces this ma-
terial as pure as one could wish. More than
twenty Frenchmen have seen one lump at the
lake, which they estimate weiglis more than eight
himdred pounds. The Jesuit Fathers among the
Outaouas [Ou-taw-waws] use an anvil of this ma-
terial, which weighs about one hundred pounds.
There will be no rest until the source from whence
these detached lumps come is discovered.

" The river Nantaouagan fOntonagonJ appears

between two high hills, the plain above which
feeds the lakes, and receives a great deal of snow,
which, in melting, forms torrents which wash the
borders of this river, composed of solid gravel,
which is rolled down by it.

" The gravel at the bottom of this, hardens it-
self, and assumes different shapes, such as those
pebbles which I send to Mr. Bellinzany. My
opinion is that these pebbles, rounded and carried
off by the rapid waters, then have a tendency to
become copper, by the influence of the sun's rays
which they absorb, and to form other nuggets of
metal similar to those which I send to Sieur de
Bellinzany, found by the Sieur de Saint Lusfon,
about fourhundred leagues, at some distance from
the mouth of the river.

" He hoped by the frequent journeys of the
savages, and French who are beginning to travel
by these routes, to discern the source of nroduc-
tion."

Governor Denonville, of Canada, sixteen years
after the above circumstances, wrote : " The cop-
per, a sample of which I sent M. Arnou, is found
at the head of Lake Superior. The body of the
mine has not yet been discovered. I have seen
one of our voyageurs who assures me that, some
fifteen months ago he saw a lump of two hundred
weight, as yellow as gold, in a river which falls
into Lake Superior. When heated, it could be
cut with an axe ; but the superstitious Indians,
regarding this boulder as a good spirit, would
never permit him to take any of it away. His
opinion is that the frost undermined this piece,
and that the mine Is in that river. He has prom-
ised to search for it on his way back."

In the year 1730, there was some correspond-
ence with the authorities in France relative to
the discovery of copper at La Pointe, but, practi-
cally, little was done by the French, in developing
the mineral wealth of Lake Superior.

DV LUTH PLANTS THE FBENCTT ATIMS m MINNESOTA.

CHAPTER III.

DU LUTH PLANTS TnE FKENCII ARMS TN jmra^SOTA

l)ri Luth'a Relatives.— Randin Visits Extremity of Lake Saperior. ~ Du Luth
Plants Kings Arras.— Post at Kaministigoya.— Pierre MorcuF, alias LaTaupine.
- La Salle's Visit.— A Pilot Deserts to the Sioux Country.— uafTart. Du Luth's
Interpreter- — Descent of the River St. Croix.- Meets Father Hennepin. — Crit-
tcised hy Ijx S»lle.— Trades with New Kncland. —Visits Franee.— In Command
at Mivekinaw.— Frenchmen Murdered at Keweenaw.— Du Luth Arrests and
Shoots Miirderere.- Builds Fort above Detroit. — With Indian Allies in the
Seneca War.— Du Luth's Brother.— Cadillac Defends the Brandy Trade —Du
Luth Disapproves of Selling Brandy to the Indians.— In Command at Fort
Frontenac . — Death.

In the year 1678, se-weral prominent merchants
of Quebec and Montreal, with tlie support of
Governor Frontenac of Canada, formed a com-
pany to open trade with the Sioux of JMinnesota,
and a nepliew of Pati'on, one of tliese merchants,
a brother - in - law of Sieur de Lusigny, an officer
of the Governor's Guards, named Daniel Grey-
solon Du Luth [Doo-loo], a native of St. Germain
en Laye, a few miles from Paris, although Lalion-
tan speaks of him as from Lyons, was made the
leader of the expedition. At the battle of Seneffe
against the Prince of Orange, he was a gendarme,
and one of the King's guards.

Du Luth was also a cousin of Henry Tonty, who
had been in the revolution at Naples, to throw off
the Spanish dependence. Du Luth's name is va-
riously spelled in the documents of his day. Hen-
nepin writes, "Du Luth;" others, "Dulhut,"
" Du Lhu," " Du Lut," " De Luth," " Du Lud."

The temptation to procure valuable furs from
the Lake Superior region, contrary to the letter
of the Canadian law, was very great ; and more
than one Governor -ninked at the contraband
trade. Randin, who visited the extremity of
Lake Superior, distributed presents to the Sioux
and Ottawas in the name of Governor Frontenac,
to secure the trade, and after his death, DuLuth
was sent to complete what he had begun. With
a party of twenty, seventeen Frenchmen and
three Indians, he left Quebec on the first of
September, 1678, and on the fifth of vVpril, 1679,
Du Luth writes to Governor Frontenac, that he
is in the woods, about nine miles from Sault St.
Marie, at the entrance of Lake Superior, and

adds that : he " will not stir from the Nadous-
sioux, until further orders, and, peace being con-
cluded, he will set up the King's Arms; lest the
English and other Europeans settled towards
California, take possession of the country."

On the second of July, 1679, he caused his
Majesty's Arms to be planted in the great village
of the Nadoussioux, called Kathio, where no
Frenchman had ever been, and at Songaskicons
and Houetbatons, one hundred and twenty leagues
distant from the former, where he also set up the
King's Arms. In a letter to Seignalay, published
for the first time by Harrisse, he writes that it
was in the village of Izatys [Issati]. Upon Fran-
quelin's map, the Mississippi branches into the
Tintonha [Teeton Sioux] country, and not far from
here, he alleges, was seen a tree upon which was
this legend: " Arms of the King cut on this tree
in the year 1679."

He established a post at Kamanistigoya, which
was distant fifteen leagues from the Grand Port-
age at the westei-n extremity of Lake Superior ;
and here, on the fifteenth of September, he held
a council with the Assenipoulaks [Assineboines]
and other tribes, and urged them to be at peace
with the Sioux. During tliis summer, he dis-
patched Pierre Moreau, a celebrated voyageur,
nicknamed LaTaupine, with letters to Governor
Frontenac, and valuable furs to the merchants.
His arrival at Quebec, created some excitement.
It was charged that the Governor corresponded
with Du Luth, and that he passed the beaver,
sent by him, in the name of merchants in his in-
terest. The Intendant of Justice, Du Cliesneau,
wrote to the ]\Iinister of the Colonial Department
of France, that " the man named La Taupine, a
famous coureur des bois, who set out in the month
of September of last year, 1678, to go to the Ou-
tawacs, with goods, and who has always been in-
terested with the Governor, hiiving returned this
year, and I, being ad\ased that he had traded in

EXPLOREBS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

two days, one hundred and fifty beaver robes in
one village of this tribe, amounting to nearly nine
hundred beavers, which is a matter of public no-
toriety ; and that he left with Du Lut two men
whom he had with him, considered myself bound
to liave him arrested, and to inteiTogate him ; but
having presented me with a license from the Gov-
ernor, permitting him and his comrades, named
Lamonde and Dupuy, to repair to the Outawac,
to execute his secret orders. I had him set at
liberty : and immediately on his going out, Sieur
Prevost, Town Mayor of Quebec, came at the head
of some soldiers to force the prison, in case he
was still there, pursuant to his orders from the
Governor, in these terms : " Sieur Prevost, ^Mayor
of Quebec, is ordered, in case the Intendant arrest
Pierre jSIoreau alias La Taupine, whom we have
sent to Quebec as bearer of our dispatches, upon
pretext of his having been in the bush, to set him
fortln\ith at liberty, and to employ every means
for this purpose, at his peril. Bone at Montreal,
the 5th September, 1679."

La Tau]iine, in due time returned to» Lake Su-
perior with another consignment of merchandise.
The interpreter of Du Lutli, and trader with the
Sioux, was Faffart, who had been a soldier \mder
La Salle at Fort Frontenac, and bad deserted.

La Salle was commissioned in 1678, by the
King of France, to exijlore the West, and trade in
Cibola, or buffalo skins, and on condition that he
did not traffic with the Ottauwaws, who carried
their beaver to Montreal.

On the 27th of August, 1679, he arrived at
Mackinaw, in the " Griffin," the first saiUng ves-
sel on the great Lakes of the West, and from
thence went to Green ]5ay, where, in the face of
his commission, he traded for beaver. Loading
his vessel with peltries, he sent it back to Niag-
ara, while he, in canoes, proceeded with his ex-
pedition to the Illinois Eiver. The ship was
never heard of, and for a time supposed to be lost,
but La Salle afterward learned from a Pawnee
boy fourteen or fifteen years of age, who was
brought prisoner to his fort on the Illinois by some
Indians, that the pilot of the " Griffin " had been
among the tribes of the Upper Missouri. He had
ascended the Mississippi with four others in two
birch canoes with goods and some hand grenades,
taken from the ship, with the intention of join
big Du Luth, who had for months been trading

with the Sioux ; and if their efforts were unsuc-
cessful, thgy expected to push on to the English,
at Hudson's Bay. Wliile ascending the Missis-
sippi they were attacked by Indians, and the pilot
and one other only survived, and they were sold
to the Indians on the Missouri.

In the month of June, 1680. Du Luth, accom-
panied by Faffart, an interpreter, with four
Frenchmen, also a Chippeway and a Sioux, with
two canoes, entered a river, the mouth o'f which
is eight leagues from the head of Lake Superior
on the South side, named Nemitsakouat. Peach-
ing its head waters, by a short portage, of half a
league, he reached a lake which was the source
of the Saint Croix River, and by this, he and his
companions were the first Europeans to journey
in a canoe from Lake Superior to the Mississippi.

La Salle writes, that Du Luth, finding that
the Sioux were on a hunt in the Mississippi val-
ley, below the Saint Croix, and that Accault, Au-
gelle and Hennepin, who had come up from the
Illinois a few weeks before, were with them, de-
scended until he found them. In the same letter
he disregards the truth m order to disparage his
rival, and writes:

"Thirty-eight or forty leagues above the Chip-
peway they found the river by which the Sieur
Du Luth did descend to the Mississippi. He had
been three years, contrary to orders, with a com-
pany of twenty " coureurs du bois " on Lake Su-
perior; he had borne himself bravely, proclaiming
everywhere that at the head of his brave fellows
he did not fear the Grand Prevost, and that he
would compel an amnesty.

'' A\nule he was at Lake Superior, the Nadoue-
sioux, enticed by the presents that the late Sieur
RancUn had made on the part of Count Fronte-
nac, and the Sauteurs [Ojibways], who are the sav-
ages who carry the peltries to ilontreal, and who
dwell on Lake Superior, wishing to obey the re-
peated orders of the Comit, made a peace to
unite the Sauteurs and French, and to trade with
the Nadouesioux, situated about sixty leagues to
the west of Lake Superior. Du Luth, to disguise
liis desei-tion, seized the opportunity to make
some reputation for himself, sending two messen-
gers to the Count to negotiate a truce, during
\\nich period their comrades negotiated stUl bet-
ter for beaver.

Several conferences were held with the Nar

FAFFART. DV LUTII'S INTFIlPIiETETi.

(louessioux, and as he needed an interpreter, he led
off one of mine, named Failart, formerly a sol-
dier at Fort Frontenap. During this iicriod there
were fre(iuent visits between the Sauteiirs [Ojib-
ways] and Xadouesioux, and suiiposiiii; that it
miRht increase the number of beaver skins, ho
sent Faifartby land, with the Nadoncsioiix and
Sauteurs [Ojibways]. The young man on his re-
turn, having given an account of the (juaiitity of
beaver in that region, he wished to proceed thither
himself, and, guided by a Sauteur and n Nadoue-
sioux, and four Frenchmen, he ascended the river
iNemitsakouat, where, by a short portage, he de-
scended that stream, whereon he passed through
forty leagues of rapids [Upper St. Croix River],
and finding that the Xadonesioux were below with
my men and the Father, who had come down
agaui from the village of the Xadouesioux, he
discovered them. They went up again to the
village, and from thence they all together came
do-mi. They returned by the river Ouisconsing,
and came back to Montreal, where I)u Lutli in-
sults the commissaries, and the deputy of the
'procureur general,' named d'Auteuil. Count
Frontenac had him arrested and imprisoned in
the castle of Quebec, with the iutentiou of return-
ing him to France for the amnesty accorded to
the coureurs des bois, did not release him."

At this very period, another party charges
Frontenac as being Du Luth"s particular friend.

Du Luth, during the fall of 16S1, was engaged
in the beaver trade at Montreal and Quebec.
Du Chesneau, the Intendant of .Justice for Can-
ada, on the 13th of November, IG.sl, wrote to the
Marquis de Siegnelay in Paris : " Xot content
with tlie profits to be derived from the countries
under the King's dominion, the desire of making
money everywhere, has led the Governor [Fron-
tenac], Boisseau, Du Lut and Patron, his luicle,
to send canoes loaded with peltries, to tlie En-
glish. It is said sixty thou.sand livres' worth has
been sent thither ;" and he further stated that
there was a very general report that within five
or six days, Frontenac and his associates had di-
vided the money received from the beavers sent
to New England.

At a conference in Quebec of some of the dis-
thiguished men in that city, relative to difficulties
with the Iroquois, held on the lOth of October,
1682, Du Luth was present. From thence he went

to France, and, early in 1683, consulted with the
Minister of Marine at Versailles relative to the
interests of trade in the Hudson's Bay and Lake
Superior region. ITpon his return to Canada, he
departed for jMatHvinaw. Governor De la Barre,
on the 9th of Novemlier, 16S3, wrote to the French
Government that the Indians west and north of
Lake Superior, " when they heard by expresses
sent them by Du Lhut, of his arrival at Missili-
makinak, that he was coming, sent him word to
come quickly an<l they would luiite with him to
prevent others going thither. If I stop that pass
as I hope, and as it is necessary to do, as the Eng-
lish of the Bay [Hudson's] excite against us the
savages, whom Sieur Du Lhut alone can quiet."

While stationed at Mackinaw he was a partici-
pant in a tragic occurrence. During the summer
of 1683 Jacques le Maire and Colin Berthot, while
on their way to trade at Keweenaw, on Lake Su-
perior, were suri)rised by three Indians, robbed,
and murdered. Du Luth was prompt to arrest
and punish the assassins. In a letf er from Mack-
inaw, dated April 12, 1684, to the Governor of
Canada, he writes: "Be pleased to know. Sir,
that on the 24th of October last, I was told that
Folle Avome, accomplice in the murder and rob-
bery of the two Frenchmen, had arrived at Sault
Ste. Marie with fifteen families of the Sauteurs
[Ojibways] who had fled from Chagoamigon [La
Pointe] on account of an attack wlucli they, to-
gether with the people of the land, made last
Spruig upon the Nadouecioux [Dakotahs.J

" He believed himself safe at the Sault, on <ic-
count of the number of allies and relatives he had
there. Rev. Father Albanel informed me that
the French at the Saut, being only twelve in num-
ber, had not arrested him, believing themselves
too weak to contend with such numbers, espe-
cially as the Sauteurs had declared that they
would not allow the French to redden the land
of their fathers with the blood of their brothers.

" On receivmg this information, I immediately
resolved to take with me six Frenchmen, and em-
bark at the da^^^l of the next day for Saidt Ste.
Marie, and if possible obtain possession of the
murderer. I made known my design to the Rev.
Father Engalran, and, at my request, iis he had
some business to ari'ange with Rev. Father Al-
banel, he placed himself in my canoe.

'• Having arrived within a league of the village

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

of the Saut, the Eev. Father, the Chevalier de
Fourcllle, Cardonnierre, and .1 disembarked. I
caused the canoe, in wliieh were Baril)aud, Le
Mere, La Fortune, and Macons, to proceed, while
we went across the wood to the honse of the Rev.
Father, fearing that the savages, seeing me, might
SHspect the object of my visit, and ca<ise Folle
Avoine to escape. Finally, to cut the matter
short, I arrested him, and cansed him to be
guarded day and night by six Frenchmen.

" I then called a council, at which I requested
all the savages of the place to be present, where
I repeated what I had often said to the Hurons
and Ottawas since the departure of M. Fere [Per-
rot], giving them the message you ordered me.
Sir, that in case there should be among them any
spirits so evil disposed as to follow tlie example
of those who have murdered the Fi'encli on Lake
Superior and Lake Micliigan, they must separate
the guilty from the innocent, as I did not wish
the whole nation to suffer, unless they protected
the guilty. * * * The savages held several
councils, to which I was invited, b:.t tlieir only
object seemed to be to exculpate the prisoner, in
order that I might release him.

" All united in accusing Achiganaga and his
children, assuring themselves with the beUef that
M. Pere, [Perrot] with his detachment would not
be able to arrest them, and wishing to persuade
me that they apprehended that all the Frenchmen
might be killed.

" I answered them, * * * ' As to the antici-
pated death of ^L Pere [Perrot]. as well as of the
otlier Frenchmen, that would not embarrass me,
smce I believed neither the allies nor the nation
of Achiganaga would wish to have a war witli ns
to sustain an action so dark as that of which we
were speaking. Having only to attack a few
murderers, or, at most, those of their own family,
I was certain tliat the French would have them
dead or alive.'

" This was the answer they had from me during
the three days that the councils lasted ; after
which I embarked, at ten o'clock in the morning,
sustained by only twelve Frenchmen, to show a
few unruly persons who boasted of taking the
prisoner away from me, that the French did not
fear them.

" Daily I received accounts of tlie number of
savages that Achiganaga drew from his nation to

Kiaonan [Keweenaw] under pretext of going to
war in the spring against the Nadouecioux, to
avenge the death of one of his relatives, son of Ou-
enaus, but really to protect himself against us,
in case we should become convinced that liis chil-
dren had killed the Frenchmen. This precaution
placed me between hope and fear respecting the
expedition which M. Pere [Perrot] had under-
taken.

"On the 24th of November, [1683], he came
across the wood at ten o'clock at night, to tell me
that he had arrested Achiganaga and four of his
children. He said they were not all guilty of the
murder, but had thought proper, in this affair, to
follow the custom of the savages, which is to seize
all the relatives. Folle Avoine, whom I had ar-
rested, he considered the most guilty, being with-
out doubt the originator of the mischief.

" I immediately gave orders that Folle Avoine
sliould be more closely confined, and not allowed
to speak to any one ; for I had also learned that
he had a brother, sister, and imcle in the village
of the Kiskakons.

" M. Pere informed me that he had released the
youngest son of Achiganaga, aged about thirteen
or fourteen years, that he might make known to
their nation and the Sauteurs [Ojibways], who are
at Nocke and in tlie neigliborhood, the reason
why the Frencli had arrested his father and bro-
thers. M. Pere bade him assure the savages that
if any one wished to complain of what he had
done, he would wait for them with a firm step ; for
he considered himself in a condition to set them
at defiance, having found at Kiaonan [Keweenaw]
eighteen Frenchmen who had wintered tliere.

" On the 2.5tli, at daybreak, M. Pere embarked
at the Sault, with four good men whom I gave
him, to go and meet tlie prisoners. He left them
four leagues from there, under a guard of twelve
Fren'chmen ; and at two o'clock in the afternoon,
they arrived. I had prepared a room in my house
for the prisoners, in wliich they were placed under
a strong guard, and were not allowed to converse
with any one.

" On the 26th, I commenced proceedings; and
tliis, sir, is tlie course I pursued. J gave notice
to all the chiefs and others, to appear at the
council which I had appointed, and gave to Folle
Avoine the privilege of selecting two of his tela

IXDTANS CONDEMNED TO BE SHOT.

tives to support his interests ; aiid to tlie other
prisoners I made the same offer.

" The council being assembled, I sent lor ToUe
Avome to be interrogated, and caused Ids answers
to be written, and afterwards th(\v were read to
him, and inquiry made whether they were not,
word for word, what he had said. lie was then
removed under a safe guard. I used the same
form with tlie two eldest sons of Acliiganaga, and,
as i'oUe Avoiue liad indirectly charged the father
with being accessoiy to the murder, I sent for
him and also for Folle AvoLne, and bringing them
into the council, confronted the four.

" FoUe Avoiue and the two sons of Achiganaga
accused each other of committing the murder,
without denying that they were participators in
the crime. Achiganaga alone strongly maintained
that he knew nothing of the design of Folle
Avoine, nor of his children, and called on them
to .say if he had advised them to kill the French-
men. They answered, ' Xo.'

" This couf routatiou, which the savages did not
expect, surprised them; and, seeing the prisoners
had convicted themselves of the murder, the
Chiefs said: 'It is enough; you accuse your-
selves; the French are masters of your bodies.'

" The next day I held another council, in which
I said there could be no doubt that the French-
men had been murdered, that the murderers were
known, and that they knew what was the prac-
tice among themselves upon such occasions. To
all this they said nothing, which obliged us on
the following day to hold another council in the
cabin of Brochet, where, after having spoken, and
seeing that they w ould make no decision, and that
all my councils ended only in reducing tobacco to
ashes, I told them that, since they did not wish to
decide, I should take the responsibility, and that
the next day I woidd let them know the deter-
mination of the French and myself.

" It is proper. Sir, you should know that I ob-
served all these forms only to see if they would
feel it their duty to render to us the same justice
that lUey do to each other, having liad divers ex-
amples in which when the tribes of those who
liad <'ommitted the murder did not wish to go to
war with the tribe aggrieved, the nearest rela-
tions of the murderers killed them themselves;
that is to say, man for man.

" On the 29th of November. I gathered together

the French that were here, and, after the interro-
gations and answers of the accused had been read
to them, tlie guilt of tlie lhic(! appeared so evi-
dent, from their own (unifessions, that the vote
was unanimous that all should die. Ihit as the
French who remained at Kiaonan to pass the win-
ter had written to Father Engalran and to myself,
to beg us to treat the affair with all possible len-
iency, the savages declaring that if they made
the prisoners die they would avenge themselves,
I told the gentlemen who were with me in coun-
cil that, this being a case without a precedent, I
believed it was expedient for the ^safety of the
French who would pass the winter in the Lake
Superior country to put to death only two, as that
of the third might bring aljout grievous conse-
quences, while the putting to death, man for
man, could give the savages no complaint, since
this is their custom. M. de la Tour, chief of the
Fathers, who had served much, sustained my
oiiinions by strong reasoning, and all decided that
two should be shot, namely, Folle Avoine and
the older of the two brothers, while the younger
should be released, and hold his life. Sir, as a gift
from you.

" I tl;en returned to the cabin of Brochet with
Messrs. Boisguillot, Fere, De Repentigny, De
Maiitliet, De la Ferte, and ]Macons, where were
all the chiefs of the Outawas du Sable, Outawas
Sinagos, Kiskakons, Sauteurs, D'Achiliny, apart
of the Hurons, and Oumamens, the chief of the
Amikoys. I informed tliem of our decision *

* * that, the Freuclimen having been killed by
the different nations, one of each must die, and
that the same death they had caused tlie French
to suffer they must also suffer. * * * This
decision to put the murderers to death was a hard
stroke to them all, for none had believed that I
would dare to undertake it. * * * I then left
the council and asked the Rev. Fathers if they
wished to baptize the prisoners, which they did.

"An hour after, I put myself at the head of
forty-two Frenchmen, and, in sight of more than
four hundred savages, and within two hundred
paces of their fort, I c<iused tlie two murderers
to be shot. The impossibility of keeping them
until spring made me hasten their death. * *

* "WTien M. Pere made the anest, those who had
committed the murder confessed it; and when he
asked them what they Lad done with our good*

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

they answered that they were ahnost all con-
cealed. He proceeded to the place of conceal-
ment, and was very much surprised, as were also
the French with him, to find tliem, in fifteen or
twenty Uiilereut places. By the carelessness of
the savages, the tobacco and powder were entire-
ly destroyed, having been placed in the pinery,
under the roots of trees, and being soaked in the
water caused by ten or twelve days' continuous
Klin, which inundated all the lower country.
The season for snow and ice having come, they
had all the trouble in the world to get out the
bales of cloth.

" They then went to see the bodies, but could
not remove them, these miserable wretches hav-
ing thrown them into a marsh, and thrust them
down into holes which they had made. Not sat-
isfied with this, they bad also piled branches of
trees upon the bodies, to prevent them from float-
ing when the water should rise in the spring,
hoping by this precaution the French would find
no trace of those who were killed, but would think
tliem drowned; as they reported that they had
foiuid in the lake on the other side of the Portage,
a boat with the sides all broken in, which they
believed to be a French boat.

"Those goods which the French were able to
secure, they took to Kiaonau [Keweenaw], where
were a number of Frenchmen who had gone there
to pass the winter, wlio knew nothing of the death
of Colin Berthot and Jacques le Maire, vuitil il.
Pere arrived.

''The ten who formed M. Pere's detachment
having conferred together concerning the means
they should take to prevent a total loss, decided
to sell the goods to the highest bidder. The sale
was made for 1100 livres, which was to be paid in
beavers, to M. de la Chesnaye, to whom I send
the names of the purchsers.

" The savages who were present when Achiga-
naga and his children were arrested wished to
pass the calumet to M. Pere, and give him cap-
tives to satisfy him for the murder committed on
the two Frenchmen ; but he knew their inten-
tion, and would not accept their offer. He told
them neither a hundred captives nor a hundred
packs of beaver woukl give back the blood of his
lii'others; that the murderers must be given np
to me, and I would see what I would do.

" I caused M. Pere to repeat these tilings in the

coimcU, that in future the savages need not think
by presents to save those who commit similar
deeds. Besides, sir, M. Pere showed plamly by
his conduct, that he is not strongly inclined to
favor the savages, as was reported. Indeed, I do
not know any one whom they fear more, yet who
flatters them less or knows them better.

" The criminals being in two different places,
M. Pere being obliged to keep four of them, sent
Messrs. de Repentigny, Manthet, and six other
Frenchmen, to arrest the two who were eight
leagues in the woods'. Among others, M. de Re-
pentigny and M. d(^ Manthet showed that they
feared nothing when their honor called them.

" M. de la Chevrotiere has also served well in
person, and by his advice, having pointed out
where the prisoners were. Achiganaga, who had
adopted him as a son, had told him where he
should hunt during the winter. *****
It still remained for me to give to Acliiganaga and
his three childi-en the means to return to his
family. Their home from which they were taken
was nearly twenty-six leagues from here. Know-
ing their necessity, I told them you would not be
satisfied hi giving them life ; you wished to pre-
serve it, by giving them all that was necessary to
prevent them from dying with himger and cold
by the way, and that your gift was made by my
hands. I gave them blankets, tobacco, meat,
hatchets, knives, twine to make nets for beavers,
and two bags of com, to supply them till they
could kill game.

" They departed two days after, the most con-
tented creatm-es in the world, but God was not ;
for when ouly two days' journey from here, the
old Achiganaga fell sick of the quinsy, and died,
and his children returned. When the news of his
death arrived, the greater part of the savages of
this place [Mackinaw] attributed it to the French,
saying we had caused him to die. I let them
talk, and laughed at them. It is only about two
months since the children of Achiganaga retumei
to Kiaonan."

Some of those opposed to Du Luth and Fron-
tenac, prejudiced the King pf France relative to
the transaction we have described, and in a letter
to the Governor of Canada, the King writes : " It
appears to me that one of the princii^al causes of
the war arises from one I)u Luth having caused
two to be killed who had assassinated two French-

ENGLISH TRADERS CAl'TUREl).

men on Lake Superior; and you snlliciently see
now niiicli this man's voyage, wliich can not pro-
duce any advantage to the colony, and wliirh waa
permitted oidy in the interest of sonu' i)ri\ate
persons, lias contributed to distract llie peace of
the colony."'

Du Luth and his yoimg brother appear to have
traded at the western extremity of Lake Superior.
and on the north shore, to Lake Nipegon.

In June, 1(584, (iovernor l)e la Barre sent (iuil-
let and llebert from ^loutreal to request Du Liith
and I>urantaye to bring down voyageurs and In-
dians to assist in an expedition against the Iro-
quois of New Y(u-k. Early in September, they
reported on the St. Lawrence, with one hundred
and lifty coureurs des bois and three hundred and
lifty Indians ; but as a treaty liad just been made
with the Senecas, they returned.

De la Barre 's successor, Governor Denonville,
in a dispatch to the French Government, dated
November 12tli. I(i8.5, alludes to Du Luth being
in the far West, in these words : ■• I likewise sent
to M. De la Durantaye, who is at Lake Superior
imder orders from M. De la Barre, and to Sieur
Du Luth, who is also at a great distance in an-
other direction, and all so far beyond reach that
neither the one nor the other can hear news from
me this year ; so that, not being able to see them
at soonest, before next July, I considered it best
not to think of undertaking anything during the
whole of next year, especially as a great number
of our best men are among the Outaouacs. and
cannot return before the ensuing summer. * * *
In regard to Sieur Du Luth, 1 sent him orders to
repair here, so that I may learn the number of
savages on whom I may depend. He is accredit-
ed among them, and rendered great services to
M. De la Barre by a large nimiber of savages he
brought to Niagara, who would have attacked
tlie Senecas, was it not for an express order from
JI. De la Barre to the contrary."

In 1686, while at Mackinaw, he was ordered to
establish a post on the Detroit, near Lake Erie.
A portion of the order reads as follows : " After
having given all the orders that you may judge
necessary for the safety of this post, and having
well secured the obedience of the Indians, you
will return to Miehilimackinac, there to await
Rev. Father Engelran, by whom I will commu-
nicate what I wish of you, there."

Tlie design of this post was to block the pas-
sage of tlin lOnglisli to tlie upper lakes. Before
it was established, in the fall of 1686, Thomas
liosebodiu, a daring trader from Albany, on the
Hudson, hail found his way to the viciinty of
Mackinaw, and by the proffer of brandy, weak-
ened the allegiance of the tribes to the FifMuIi.

A canoe coming to Mackinaw with dispatches
for the French and their allies, to march to the
Seneca country, in New York, perceived tins New
York trader and associates, and, giving the alarm,
tlu'y were met by three hundred coureurs du
bois and captured.

In the spring of 1687 Du Lutli, Durantaye,
and T-)nty all left the vicinity of Detroit for Ni-
agara, and as they were coasthig along Lake Erie
they met another English trader, a Scotchman
by birth, and by name Major Patrick McGregor,
a person of some intluence, going with a number
of traders to ^Mackinaw. Having taken him ]ii'is-
oner, he was sent with Ilosebo<im to .Montreal.

Du Luth, Tonty, and Durantaye arrived at Ni-
agara on the :27tli of June, 1687, with one hun-
dred and seventy French voyageurs, besides In-
dians, and on the loth of July joined the army of
Denonville at the mouth of the (ieuesee Kiver,
and on the 13th Du Luth and his associates had
a skirmish near a Seneca village, now the site of
the town of Victor, twenty miles southeast of the
city of Rochester, New Y'ork. Governor Denon-
ville, in a report, writes: " On the 13th, about 4
o'clock in the afternoon, having pas.sed through
two dangerous detiles, we arrived at the third,
where we were vigorously attacked by eight hun-
dred Senecas, two hundred of whom tired, wish-
ing to attack our rear, wlule the rest would attack
our front, but the resistance, made produced
such a great consternation that they soon resolved
to fly. * * * We witnessed the p^iinful sight
of the usual cruelties of the savages, who cut the
dead into quarters, as is done in slaughter houses,
in order to put them into the kettle. The greater
numlier were opened while .still warm, that the
blood might be drunk. Our rascally Otaoas dis-
tinguished tliemselves particularly by these bar-
barities. * * * We had live or six men killed
on the spot, French and Indians, and aliout
twenty wounded, among the first of whom was the
Rev. Father Angelran, superior of all the Otaoan
Missions, by a very severe gun-shot. It is a great

EXPLORERS A ND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

misfortune that this wound will prevent him go-
jng back again, for he is a man of capacity."

In the orcter to Du Luth assigning him to duty
at tho post on the site of the modern Fort Gra-
tiot, above the city of Detroit, the Governor of
Canada said: " If you can so arrange your affairs
that your brother can be near you in tlie Spring,
I shall be very glad. He is an intelligent lad,
and might be a great assistance to you; he might
also be very serviceable to us."

This lad, Greysolon de la Tourette, during the
winter of 1686-7 was trading among the Assina-
bouies and other tribes at the west end of Lake
Superior, but, upon receiving a dispatch, hastened
to his brother, journeying in a canoe without any
escort from Mackinaw. He did not arrive until
after the battle with the Senecas. Governor Den-
onville, on the 25th of August, 1687, wrote:

" Du Luth's brother, who has recently arrived
from the rivers above the Lake of the Allempi-
gons [Nipegon], assures me that he saw more than
fifteen hvmdred persons come to trade with him,
and they were very sorry he had not goods suffi-
cient to satisfy them. They are of the tribes ac-
customed to resort to the English at Port Nelson
and Kiver Bourbon, where, they say, they did not
go this year, through Sieur Du Lhu's influence."

After the battle in the vicinity of Rochester,
New York, Du Luth, with his celebrated cousin,
Henry Tonty, returned together as far as the post
above the present city of Detroit, Michigan, but
this point, after 1688, was not again occupied.

From this period Du Luth becomes less prom-
inent. At the time when the Jesuits attempted
to exclude brandy from the Indian country a bit-
ter controversy arose between them and the
traders. Cadillac, a Gascon by birth, command-
ing Fort Buade, at Mackiaiaw, on August 3, 1695,
wrote to Count Frontenac: "Now, what reason
can we assign that the savages should not drink
brandy bought with their own money as well as
we? Is it prohibited to prevent them from- be-
coming intoxicated? Or is it because the use of
brandy reduces them to extreme .misery, placing
it out of their power to make war by depriving
them of clothing and arms? If such representa-
tions in regard to the Indians have been made to
the Count, they are very false, as every one knows
who is ac(iuainted with the ways of the savages.
* * * It is bad faith to represent to the Count

that the sale of brandy reduces the savage to a
state of nudity, arfd by that means places it out
of his power to make war, since he never goes to
war in any other condition. * * » Perhaps it
will be said that the sale of brandy makes the
labors of the missionaries unfruitful. It is neces-
sary to examine this proposition. If the mission-
aries care for only the extension of commerce,
pursuing the course they have hitherto, I agree
to it; but if it is the use of brandy that hinders
the advancement of the cause of God, I deny it,
for it is a fact which no one can deny that there
are a great number of savages who never drink
brandy, yet who are not, for that, better Chris-
tians.

I "All the Sioux, the most numerous of all the
tribes, who inhabit the region along the shore of
Lake Superior, do not even like the smell of
brandy. Are they more advanced in religion for
that? They do not wish to have the subject men-
tioned, and when the missionaries address them
they only laugh at the foolishness of preiiching.
Yet these priests boldly fling before the eyes of
Europeans, whole volumes fdled with glowing
descriptions of the conversion of souls by thou-
sands in this country, causing the poor missiona-
ries from Europe, to run to martyrdom as flies to
sugar and honey."

Du Luth, or Du Lhut, as he wrote his name,
d>iring this discussion, was found upon the side
of order and good morals. His attestation is as
follows : " I certify that at different periods I
have lived about ten years among the Ottawa
nation, from the time that 1 made an exploration
to the Nadouecioux people until FoTt Saint Jo-
seph was estabUshed by order of the Monsieur
Marquis DenonvUle, Governor General, at the
head of the Detroit of Lake Erie, which is in the
Iroquois country, and which I had the honor to
command. During this period, I have seen that
the trade in eau-de-vie (brandy) produced great
disorder, the father kiUing the son, and the son
throwing his mother into the fire; and I mamtain
tliat, morally speaking, it is impossible to export
brandy to the woods and distant missions, with-
out danger of its leading to misery."

Governor Frontenac, in an expedition against
the Oneidas of New York, arrived at Fort Fron-
tenac, on the 19th of July, 1695, and Captain Du
Luth was left in command with forty soldiers,

DU LIJTH AFFLICTED WITH GOUT.

ami masons and carpenters, with orders to erect
new buildings. In about foiir weeks lie erected
a building one hundred and twenty feet in leugtli,
containing officers' quarters, store-rooms, a bakery
and a chapel. Early in 1097 ho ■was still in com-
mand of the post, and in a report it is mentioned
that " everybody was then in good health, except
Captain Dnlliut the commander, who was unwell
of the gout."

It was just before this period, that as a member
of the Eoman Catholic Cluirch, he was firmly
impressed that he had been helped by prayers
which he addressed to a deceased Iroquois girl,
who had died in the odor of sanctity, and, as a
thank offering, signed the following certificate :
" I, the subscriber, certify to all whom it may
concern, that having been tormented by the gout,
for the space of twenty-three years, and with such

severe pains, that it gave me no rest for the spac
of three months at a time, I addressed myself to
Catherine Tegahkouita, an Inxpiois virghi de-
ceased at the Sault Saint Loins, in the reputation
of sanctity, and I promised her to visit her tomb,
if God should give me health, through her uiter-
cession. I have been as perfectly cured at the
end of one novena, which I made in her honor,
tliat after five months, I have not perceived the
slightest touch of my govit. Given at Fort Fron-
tenac, this ISth day of August, 1696."

As soon as cold weather returned, his old mal-
ady again appeared. He diedearly in A. D. 1710.
Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, im-
der date of first of ]SIay of that year, wrote to
Count Pontchartrain, Colonial Minister at I'aris,
" Captain Du Lud died this winter. lie was a
very honest man."

EXl'LOliEliS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTER IV.

FIKST WHITE SIETST AT FALLS OF SAINT ANTHONT OF PADUA.

Falls of St. Anthony Visited by White Men.— La Salle Gives the Fiist Description
of Upper Mississippi Valley.— Accault, the Leader, Accompanied by Avipelle
and Hennepin, at Falls of Saint Anthony.— Hennepin Declared Unreliable by
La Salle.— His E.arly Life.—His First Book Criticised by Abbe Eernou and
Tronson- — Deceptive Map. — First Meeting with Sioux ;— Astonishment at
Reading His Breviary,— Sioux Name lor Guns. —Accault and Hennepin at
Lake Pepin.— Leave the River Below Saint Paul.— At Mille Lacs.— A Sweating
Cabin.— Sioux Wonder at Mariner's Compass.— Fears of an lion Pot.— Making
a Dictionary.- Infant Baptised.— Route to the Pacific— Hennepin Descends
RumRiver.— First Visitto Falls of Saint Anthony.— On a Buffalo Hnnt.-Meets
Du Luth.— Returns to Mille L.acs.- With Du Luth at Falls of S(. Anthony.—
Returns to France. — Subsequent Life.—His Books Examined.- Denies in First
Book His Descent to the Gulf of Mexico.— Dispute with Du Luth at Falls of St,
Anthony.— Patronage of Du Luth.— Tribute to Du Luth.- Heunepin's Answer
to {'riticisras.— Denounced by D'Iberville and Father Gravier.— Residence in
Rome.

In the summer of 1680, ISIicliael Accault (Ako),
Heiuiepiu, the Frauciscan missionary, Augelle,
Du Luth, and FafCart all visited the Falls of
Saint Anthony.

The fast description of the valley of the iipper
Jlississippi was written by La Salle, at Fort
Frontenac, on Lake Ontario, on the 22d of Au-
gust, 16S2, a month before Hennepin, in Paris,
obtained a license to print, and some time before
the Franciscan's first work, was issued from the
press.

La Salle's knowledge must have been received
from Alichael Accault, tlie leader of the expedi-
tion, Augelle, his comrade, or the clerical attache,
the Franciscan, Hennepin.

It differs from Hennepin's narrative in its free-
dom from bombast, and if its statements are to
be credited, tlie Franciscan must be looked on as
one given to exaggeration. The careful student,
however, soon learns to be cautious m receiving
the statement of any of the early explorers and
ecclesiastics of the Northwest. The Franciscan
depreciated the Jesuit missionary, and La Salle
did not hesitate to misrepresent l>u Luth and
others for his Gwn exaltation. La Salle makes
statements which we deem to be wide of the
truth when his prejudices are aroused.

At the very time that the Intendant of Justice
in Canada is complaining that Governor Fronte-
nac is a friend and correspondent of Du Luth,

La Salle writes to his friends in Paris, thatDii
Luth is looked upon as an outlaw by the governor.

AMiile official documents prove that Du Luth
was in Jliimesota a year before Accault and asso-
ciates, yet La SaUe wTites: " Moreover, the Na-
donesioux is not a region which he has discov-
ered. It is known that it was discovered a long
time before, and that the Eev. Father Hennepin
and Michael Accault were there before him."

La Salle in this communication describes Ac-
cault as one well acquamted with the language
and names of the Indians of the Illinois region,
and also " cool, brave, and prudent,'' and the head
of the party of exploration.

■\\'e now proceed wfth the first description of
the country above the "Wisconsin, to which is
given, for the first and only time, by any writer,
the Sioux name, lileschetz Odeba, perhaps in-
tended for ^Meshdeke "Wakpa, River of the Foxes.

He describes the Upper Mississippi in these
words : " Followuig the windings of the Missis-
sippi, they found the river Ouisconsing, "Wiscon-
sing, or Meschetz Odeba, which flows between
Bay of Puaus and the Grand river. » * * About
twenty-three or twenty-four leagues to the north
or northwest of the mouth of the Oiiisconshig.
* * * they found the Black river, called by tlie
Nadouesioux, Chabadeba [Chapa "Wakpa, Beaver
i-iver] not very large, the mouth of which is bor-
dered on the two shores Viy alilers.

" Ascending about thixty leagues, almost at the
same point of the compass, is the Buffalo river
l^Chippewa], as large at its mouth as that of the
Illinois. They follow it ten or twelve leagues,
where it is deep, small and without rapids, bor-
dered by liiUs which widen out from time to time
to form prairies."

About three o'clock in the afternoon of tlie 1 Uh
of April, 1680, the travelers were iiet by a war
party of one hundred Sioux in thirty-three birch
bark canoes. "Michael Accault, who was the

HE^'NE^IX CRITICISED BY LA SALLE.

leader," says La Salle, " presented the Calumet."
The Indians were presented by Accanlt with
twenty knives and a fathoni and a half of tobacco
and some goods, rrocceding with the Indians
ton days, on the 22d of April the isles in the ^lis-
sissippi were reached, where the Sioux had killed
some Maskoutens, and they halted to weep over
the death of two of their own number; and to
assuage their grief, Accanlt gave them in trade a
box of goods and twenty-four hatchets.

AVhen they were eight leagues below the Falls
of Saint Anthony, they resolved to go by land to
their village, sixty leagues distant. They were
well received ; the only strife among the villages
was that which resulted from the desire to have
a Frenchman in their midst. La Salle also states
that it was not correct to give the impression that
Du Lnth had rescued his men from captivity, for
they could not be properly called prisoners.

He continues: " In going up the Mississippi
again, twenty leagues above that river [Saint
CroixJ is found the falls, which those I sent, and
who passuig there first, named Saint Anthony.
It is thirty or forty feet high, and the river is nar-
rower here than elsewhere. There is a small
island m the midst of the chute, and the two
banks of the river are not bordered by high hills,
which gradually diminish at this point, but the
country on each side is covered with thin woods,
such as oaks and other hard woods, scattered wide
apart.

" The canoes were carried three or four hun-
dred steps, and eight leagues above was found
the west [east?] bank of the river of the Xailoue-
sioux, eniling in a lake named Issati, which ex-
pands into a great marsh, where the wild rice
grows toward the mouth."

In the latter part of his letter La Salle uses the
following language relative to his old chaplain:

" 1 believed that it was appropriate to make for
you the narrative of the adventures of this canoe,
because I doubt not that they will speak of it, and
if you wish to confer with the Father Louis Hen-
nepin, KecoUect, who has returned to France, you
must know him a little, because he will not fail
to exaggerate all things; it is his character, and
to me he has written as if he were about to be
burned when lie was not even in danger, but he
believes that it is honorable to act in this manner,

and he speaks more confornial)ly to that wliich
he wishes than to that which he knows."

Ilemiepin was born in Ath, an inland town of
the Nethei'lands. From boyhood he longed to
visit foreign lands, and it is not to be wondered
at that he assumed the priesfs garb, for ne^xt to
the soldier's life, it suited one of wandering pro-
pensities.

At one time he is on a begging expedition to
some of the towns on the sea coast. In a few
months he occupies the post of chaplain at an
hospital, where he shrives the dying and admin-
isters extreme unction. From the quiet of the
hospital he proceeds to the camp, and is present
at the battle of Seueffe, which occurred in the
year lfi74.

His whole mind, from the time that he became
a priest, appears to have been on " things seen
and temporal," rather than on those that are '• un-
seen and eternal." AVhile on duty at some of the
ports of the Straits of Dover, he exhibited the
characteristic of an ancient Athenian more than
that of a professed successor of the Apostles.
He sought out the society of strangi>;:"s " who
spent their time in nothing else bat either to tell
or to hear some new thing." "With perfect non-
chalance he confesses that notwithstanding the
nauseating fumes of toliacco, he used to slip be-
hind the doors of sailors" taverns, and spend days,
without regard to the loss of his meals, listening
to the adventures and hair-breadth escapes of the
mariners in lands beyond the sea.

In the year 1676, he received a welcome order
from his Superior, recpiiring him to embark for
Canada. Unaccustomed to the world, and arbi-
trary in his disposition, he rendered the cabin of
the ship in which he sailed any thing but heav-
enly. As in modern days, tlie passengers in a
vessel to the new world were composed of hete-
rogeneous materials. There ^\•ere young women
going out in search for brothers or husbands, ec-
clesiastics, and those engaged in the then new,
but profitable, commerce in furs. One of his
fellow passengers was the talented and enterpri-
prising, though unfortunate. La Salle, with whom
he was afterwards associated. If he is to be
credited, his intercourse with La Salle was not
very pleasant on ship-board. The young women,
tired of being cooped up in the narrow accommo-
dations of the ship, when the e\'eniug was fair

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOIA.

sought the deck, and engaged in the rude dances
of the French peasantry of that age. Hennepin,
feeling that it was improper, began to assume
the air of the priest, and forbade the sport. La
Salle, feeling that his inteirference was uncalled
for, called him a pedant, and took the side of the
girls, and during the voyage there were stormy
discussions.

Good humor appears to have been restored
when they left the ship, for Hennepin would oth-
erwise have not been the companion of La Salle
in his great western journey.

Sojourning for a short period at Quebec, the
adventure-loving Franciscan is permitted to go
to a mission station on or near the site of the
present town of Kingston, Canada West.

Here there was much to gratify his love of
novelty, and he passed considerable time in ram-
blhig among the Iroquois of XewYork. In 1678
he returned to Quebec, and was ordered to join
the exiiedition of Eobert La Salle.

On the 6th of December Father Hennepin and
a portion of the exploring party had entered the
Niagara river. In the vicinity of the Falls, the
winter was passed, and while the artisans were
preparing a ship above the Falls, to navigate the
great lakes, the Recollect wliiled away the hours,
in studying tlie manners and customs of the Sen-
eca Indians, and in athnirrng the sublimest han-
diwork of God on tlie globe.

On the 7th of August, 1679, the ship being
completely rigged, unfurled its sails to the breezes
of Lake Erie. The vessel was named the " Grif-
fin," hi honor of the anns of Frontenac, Governor
of Canada, the first ship of European construc-
tion tliat had ever ploughed the waters of the
great inland seas of Korth America.

After encounteruig a violent and dangerous
storm on one of the lakes, during which they had
given up all hope of escaping shipwreck, on the
27th of tbe month, they were safely moored in
the harbor of " MissiUmackinack." From thence
the party proceeded to Green Bay, where they
left the ship, procured canoes, and continue<l
along the coast of Lake Michigan. By the mid-
dle of January, 1680, La Salle had conducted his
expedition to the Illinois Kiver, and, on an emi-
nence near I^ake Peoria, he commenced, with
much heaviness of heart, the erection of a fort,

which he called Crevecoeur, on account of the
many disappointments he had experienced.

On the last of February, Accault, Augelle, and
Hennepin left to ascend the Mississippi.

The first work bearing the name of the Rev-
erend Father Louis Hennepin, Franciscan Mis-
sionary of the Recollect order, was entitled, "De-
scription de la Louisiane," and in 1683 published
in Paris.

As soon as the book appeared it was criticised.
Abbe Bernou, on the 29th of February, 1684,
writes from Rome about the "paltry book"' (mes-
hcant livre) of Father Hennepin. About a year
before the pious Tronson, imder date of ilarch
13, 1683, wrote to a friend: " I have interviewed
the P. Recollect, who pretends to have descended
the Mississippi river to the Gulf of Mexico. I do
not know that one leill helieve ivhat he speaks any
more than that whicli is in the printed relation of
P. Louis, which I send you that you may make
your own reflections."

On the map accompanymg his first book, he
boldly marks a Recollect Mission many miles
north of the point he had visited. In the Utrecht
edition of 1697 this deliberate fraud is erased.

Tlu'oughout the work he assumes, that he was
the leader of the expedition, and magnifies trifles
into tragedies. For uistance, Mr. La SaUe writes
that Michael Accault, also written Ako, who was
the leader, presented the Sioux with the calu-
met ;" but Hennepm makes the occurrence more
formidable.

He writes : " Oiu- prayers were heard, when on
the 11th of April, 1680, about two o'clock in the
afternoon, we suddenly perceived thirty -tliree
bark canoes manned by a hundred and twenty
Indians coming dowii with very great speed, on a
war party, against tlie JSIiamis, Illinois and Maro-
as. These Intlians surroimded us, and while at
a distance, discharged some arrows at us, but as
they approached our canoe, the old men seeing us
with the calumet of peace in oiu' hands, iirevent-
ed the young men from kilUng us. These sava-
ges leaping from their canoes, some on land,
others into the water, with frightful cries and
yells approached us, and as we madfe jio resist-
ance, being oidy three against so great a number,
one of them wrenched our caltimet from our
hands, while our canoe and theirs were tied to
the shore. We first presented to them a iiiece of

IfEJ^Nl^PIN'S DIFFICULTY WITll I'llAYEli-BOOK.

rrencli tobacco, better for smoking tliau tlieirs'
ami the eldest among them uttered the words'
" Miamiha, Miamiha."

" As we did not nnderstand their language, we
took a little stick, and by signs which we made
on the sand, showed them that their enemies, the
Miamis, whom they sought, had fled across tlie
river Colbert [Mississippi] to join the Isliiiois;
when they saw themselves discovered and unable
to surprise their enemies, three or four old men
laying their hands on my head, wept in a mourn-
ful tone.

" With a spare handkerchief I had left I wiped
away their tears, but they woidd not smoke our
Calimiet. They made us cross tlie river with
great cries, while all shouted with tears in tlieir
eyes; they made us row l)efore them, and we
heard yells capable of striking tlie most resolute
with terror. After landing our canoe and goods,
part of which had already been taken, we made a
fire to boil our kettle, and we gave them two large
■wild turkeys which we liad killed. These Indians
having called an assembly to deliberate what they
were to do with us, the two head chiefs of the
party approachmg, showed us by signs that the
warriors wished to tomahawk us. This com-
pelled me to go to the war cliiefs -nith one yoimg
man, leaving the other by our property, and
throw into theu- midst six axes, fifteen kiuves
and six fathom of our l)lack tobacco ; and then
brmging dowi my head, I showed them with an
axe tliat they might kill me, if they thought
proper. This present appeased many individual
members, who gave us some beaver to eat, put-
ting the three first morsels into our mouths, accor-
tling to the custom of the country, and blowing on
the meat, which was too hot, before puttuig the
bark dish before us to let us eat as we liked. We
spent the night in anxiety, because, before reti-
ring at night, they had returned us our peace
calumet.

" Our two boatmen were resolved to sell their
lives dearly, and to resist if attacked ; theii- arms
ami swords were reafly. As for my own part, I
determined to allow myself to be killed without
any resistance ; as I was going to amiounce to
them a God who had been foully accused, un-
justly condemned, and cruelly crucified, without
showmg the least aversion to those who put him
to death. We watched in turn, in oiu- anxiety,

so as not to be suqirised asleep. The n«xt morn-
ing, a chief named Narrhetoba asked for the
peace calumet, filled it with willow bark, and all
smoked. It was then signified that the white
men were to return with them to their villages."

In his narrative the Francdscan remarks, "I
foinid it difiicidt to say my ofllco before these
Indians. Many seeing me move my lips, said in
a fierce tone, ' Ouakanche.' Michael, all out of
countenance, told me, that if I continued to say
my breviary, we should all three be killed, and
the Pieard begged me at least to pray apart, so as
not to provoke them. I followed the latter 's
advice, but the nwu-e I concealed myself the more
I had the Indians at my heels ; for when I en-
tered the wood, they thought I was going to hide
some goods imder ground, so that I knew not on
what side to turn to pray, for they never let me
out of sight. This obliged me to beg pardon of
my canoe -men, ass\iring them I could not dis-
pense with saying my office. By the word, ' Ou-
akanche,' the Indians meant that the book I was
readhig was a spirit, but by their gesture they
nevertheless showed a kind of aversion, so that
to accustom them to it, I chanted the litany of
the Blessed Virgin in the canoe, with my book
opened. They thought that the breviary was a
spirit which taught me to sing for their diversion ;
for these people are naturally fond of singing."

This is the first mention of a Dahkotah word
m a European book. The savages were aimoyed
rather than enraged, at seeing the white man
reading a book, and exclaimed, " Wakan-de !"
this is wondei-ful or supernatural. The war
party was composed of several bauds of the M'de-
wahkantonwan Dahkotahs, and there was a di-
versity of opinion in relation to the disposition
that should be made of the white men. The
relatives of those who had been killed by the
Miamis, were in favor of tiikhig their scalps, but
others were anxious to retain the favor of the
French, and open a trading intercourse.

Perceiving one of the canoe-men shoot a wild
turkey, they called the gim, " Manza Ouackange,"
iron that has miderstanding ; more coiTectly,
" iSIaza Wakande," this is the supernatiu'al metal.

Aqnipaguetui. one of the head men, resorted
to the following device to obtam merchandise.
Says the Father, " This M'ily savage had the
bones of some distinguished relative, which he

EXPLOBEBS AND PIONEEBS OF MINNESOTA.

preserved with great care in some skins dressed
and adorned witli several rows of black and red
porcupine qiulls. From time to time he assem-
bled his men to give it a smoke, and made us
fome several days to cover the bones with goods,
and by a present wipe away t!ie tears he had shed
for him, and for his own son killed by the Miamis.
To appease this captious man, we threw on the
bones several fatlioms of tobacco, axes, knives,
beads, and some black and white wampum brace-
lets. * * * We slept at the point of the Lake
of Tears [Lake Pepin], which we so called from
the tears which this chief shed all night long, or
by one of his sons whom he caused to weep when
he grew tired."

The next day, after four or five leagues' sail, a
chief came, and telling them to leave their canoes,
he pulled up three piles of grass for seats. Then
taking a piece of cedar full of little holes, he
placed a stick into one, which he revolved between
the palms of his hands, until lie kintlled a fire,
and informed the Frenchmen that they would be
at Mille Lac in six days. On the nmeteenth day
after their captivity, they arri\ed in the vicinity
of Saint I'aul, not fai", it is ])robable, from the
marshy ground on which the Kaposia band once
lived, and now called Pig's Eye.

The journal remaiks. '■ Having arrived on the
nineteenth day of our navigation, live leagues
below St. Anthony's Falls, these Indians landed
us in a bay, broke our canoe to nieces, ahd se-
creted their own in tlie reeds."

They then followed the traU to Mille Lac, sixty
leagues distant. As they approached their villa-
ges, tlie various bands began to show their spoils.
The tobacco was highly jirized, and led to some
contention. The chalice of the Father, which
glistened in the sun, they were afraid to touch,
supposing it was "wakan." After five days'
walk tliey reached the Issati [Dahkotali] settle-
ments in the valley of the Rum or Knife river.
The different bands each conducted a Frenchman
to their village, the cliief Aquipaguetin taking
charge of Hennepin. After marching through
the marshes towards the sources of I?um river,
five wives of the chief, m three bark canoes, met
tliem and took them a sliort league to an island
where tlieir cabins were.

An aged Indian kindly rubbed dovm the way-
worn Franciscan; placing him on a bear- skin

near the fire, he anointed his legs and the soles
of his feet with wildcat oil.

The son of the chief took great pleasure in car-
rying upon his bare back the priest's robe with
dead men's bones enveloped. It was called Pere
Louis Chiunen. In the Dahkotah language Shin-
na or Shinnan signifies a buffalo robe.

Hennepin's description of his life on the island
is m these words :

" The day after our arrival, Aquipaguetin, wlio
was the head of a large family, covered me with
a robe made of ten large dressed beaver skhis,
trimmed with porcupine qiulls. This Indian
showed me five or six of his wives, telling them,
as I afterwards learned, that they shoid-' in fu'
ture regard me as one of their children.

'•He set before me a bark dish full of fish, and
seeing that I could not rise from the ground, he
had a small sweatmg-cabiu made, in wloich he
made me enter with four Indians. Tliis cabin he
covered with Ijuffalo skins, and inside he put
stones red-hot. He made me a sign to do as the
others before beginning to sweat, but I merely
concealed my nakedness with a handkerchief.
As soon as these Indians had several times
breathed out quite violently, he began to sing vo-
ciferously, the others putting their hands on me
and rubbing me while they wept bitterly. I be-
gan to faint, but I came out and could scarcely
take my habit to put on. "When he made me
sweat thus three times a week. I felt as strong as
ever."

The marmer's compass was a constant source
of wonder and amazement. Aquipaguetin hav-
ing assembled the braves, would ask Hennepin
to show his compass. Perceiving that the needle
turned, the chief harangued his men, and told
them that the Europeans were spirits, capable of
doing any thing.

In the Franciscan's possession was an iron pot
with feet like lions', which the Indians would not
touch luiless tlieir hands were wrapped in buffalo
skins. The women looked upon it as "wakan,"
and would not enter the cabm where it was.
' " The chiefs of these savages, seeing that I was
desirous to learn, frequently made me write,
naming all the jiarts of the Innnan body ; and as
I would not put on paper certain indelicate words,
at ^\■hich they do not blush, they were heartily
amused."

HENNHPIN'S VISIT TO FALLS OF SAINT ANTHONY.

They often asked the Franciscan questions, to.
answer wliich it was necessary to refer to his lex-
icon. This appeared very strange, and, as tliey
liad no word lor paper, they said, "Tliatwlute
tiling must be a spirit wliicli tells Pere Louis all
we say."'

Hennepin remarks: "Tliese Indians often
asked me how many wives and children I had,
and how old 1 was, tliat is, how many winters;
for so these natives always count. Never illu-
mined by the light of faith, they were surprised
at my answer. Pointing to oiu- two Frenchmen,
whom I was then visiting, at a point three leagues
from our village, I told them that a man among
us could only have one wife ; that as for me, I
had promised the Master of life to live as they
saw me, and to come and live with them to teach
them to be like the French.

" But that gross people, till then lawless and
faithless, turned all I said into ridicule. ' How,'
said they, ' would you have these two men with
thee have wives? Ours would not live with them,
for they have hair all over their face, and we have
none there or elsewhere.' In fact, they were
never better pleased with me than when I was
shaved, and from a complaisance, certainly not
criminal, I shaved every week.

'■ As often as I went to \asit the cabins, I found
a sick child, whose father's name was Mamenisi.
Michael Ako would not accompany me ; the
Picard du Gay alone followed me to act as spon-
sor, or, rather, to \\'itness the baptism.

" I christened the child Antoinette, in honor of
St. Anthony of Padua, as well as for the Picard's
name, which was Anthony Auguelle. He was a
native of Amiens, and nephew of the Prociu-ator-
General of the Premonstrateusians both now at
Paris. Having i)oin-ed natural water on the head
and uttered these words : ' Creature of God, I
baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' I took half an
altar clotli which I had wrested from the hands
of an Indian who had stolen it from me, and put
it on the body of the baptized child; for as I
C(udd not say mass for want of wine and vest-
ments, this piece of linen could not be put to bet-
ter use than to enshroud the. first Chiistian child
among these tribes. I do not know whether the
softness of the linen had refreshed her. luit she
was the next day smiling in her mother's arms.

who believed that I bad cTired the child ; but she
died soon after, to my great consolation.

" During my stay among them, tliere arrived
fo\ir savages, who said they were come alone live
hundred leagues from tlie west, and bad been four
months upon tlie way. They assured us there
was no such place as the Straits of Anian, and
that they had traveled witliout resting, except to
sleep, and had not seen or passed ov.er any great
lake, by which phrase they always mean the sea.

" They further informed us that the nation of
the Assenipoulacs [Assiniboines] who lie north-
east of Issati, was not above six or seven days'
journey ; that none of the nations, within their
knowledge, who lie to the east or northwest, had
any great lake about their countries, which were
very large, but only rivers, which came from the
north. They further assured us that there were
very few forests in the coiuitries through which
they passed, insomuch that -now and then they
were forced to make fires of buffaloes' dung to
boil their food. All these circumstances make it
appear that there is no such jilace as the Straits
of Anian, as we usually see them set down on the
maps. And whatever efforts have been made for
many years past by the English and Dutch, to
find out a passage to the Frozen Sea, they have
not yet been able to effect it. But by the help of
my discovery and the assistance of God, I doubt
not but a passage may still be found, and that an
easy one too.

" For example, we may be transported into the
Pacific Sea by rivers which are large and capable
of carrying great vessels, and from thence it is
very easy to go to China and Japan, witho%d cross-
ing the. equinoctial line; and, in all prohahility,
Japan is on the same continent as America."

Hennepin in his first book, thus describes his
first visit to the Falls of St. Anthony : '• In the
beginning of July, 1680, we descended the [Rum]
River in a canoe southward, with the great chief
Ouasicoude [AVauzeekootay] that is to say Pierced
Pine, with about eighty cabins composed of more
than a hundred and thirty families and about
two hundretl and fifty warriors. Scarcely would
the Indians give me a place in their little flotilla,
for they had only old canoes. They went four
leagues lower down, to get birch bark to make
some more. Having made a hole in the ground,
to hide our silver chalice and our papers, till our

EXPLOBEBS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

return from the liimt, and keeping only our bre-
viary, so as not to be loaded, I stood on the bank
of the lake formed by the river we had called St.
Francis [now Kum] and stretched out my hand
to the canoes as they rapidly passed in succession.

"Our Frenchmen also liad one for themselves,
which the Indians had given tliem. Tliey would
not take me in, IMichael Ako saying that he liad
taken me long enough to satisfy him. I was hurt
at tliis answer, seeing myself thus abandoned by
Christians, to whom I had always done good, as
they both often acknowledged; but God never
having abandoned me on tliat painful voyage, in-
spired two Indians to take me in their little
canoe, where I had no other employment than to
bale out with a little bark tray, the water which
entered by little holes. This 1 did not do with-
out getting all wet. This boat might, indeed, be
called a death box, for its lightness and fragility.
These canoes do not generally weigh over fifty
pounds, the least motion of the body upsets them,
unless you are long accustomed to that kind of
navigation.

" On disembarking in the evening, the Picard,
as an excuse, told me that their canoe was half-
rotten, and that had we been three in it, we
should have run a great risk of remaining on the
way. * * ■ * Four days after our departure for
the buffalo hunt, we halted eight leagues above
St. Anthony of Padua's Falls, on an emmence
opposite the mouth of the River St. Francis [Rum]
* * * The Picard and myself went to look for
liaws, gooseberries, and little wild fruit, which
often did us more harm than good. This obliged
us to go alone, as Michael Ako refused, in a
\\Tetched canoe, to Ouiscousin river, which was
more than a himdred leagues off, to see whether
the Sieur de la Salle had sent to that place a re-
inforcement of men, with powder, le;ul, and
other munitions, as he had promised us.

" Tlie Indians would not have suffered this
voyage had not one of the three remained witli
them. They wished me to stay, but JMiohael
Ako absolutely refused. As we were making the
portage of our canoe at St. Anthony of Padua"s
Falls, we perceived five or six of our Indians wlio
had taken the start •, one of them was up in an
oak opposite the great fall, weeping bitterly, with
a rich dressed beaver robe, whitened inside, and
trimmed with porcupine qmlls, which he was

offering as a sacrifice to the faUs; which is, in it-
self, admirable and frightful. I heard him while
shedding copious tears, say as he spoke to the
great cataract, ' Thou wlio art a spirit, grant lliat
our nation may pass here quietly, without acci-
dent ; may kill buffalo in abundance ; conquer
our enemies, and bring in slaves, some of wliom
we will put to death before thee. The Messenecqz
(so they call the tribe named by the French Outa-
gamis) have killed our kindred ; grant that we
may avenge them.' This robe offered in sacrifice,
served one of our Frenchmen, who took it as we
returned."

It is certainly wonderful, that Hennepin, who
knew nothing of the Sioux language a few weeks
before, should understand the prayer offered at
the Falls without the aid of an interpreter.

The narrator contmues : " A -league beyond
St. Anthony of Padua's Falls, the Picard was
obliged to land and get his powder horn, which he
had left at the Falls. * * * As we descended
the river Colbert [Mississippi] we found some of
our Indians on the islands loaded with buffalo
meat, some of which they gave us. Two hours
after landing, fifteen or sixteen warriors whom we
had left above St. Anthony of Padua's Falls, en-
tered, tomakawk in hand, upset the cabin of those
who had invited us, took all the meat and bear
oil they found, and greased themselves from head
to foot,"

Tliis was done because the others had violated
the rules for the buffalo hunt. With the Indians
Hennepin went down the river sixty leagues, and
then went up the river again, and met buffalo.
He continues :

""While seeking the Oulsconsin River, that
savage father, Aquipaguetin, whom I had left,
and who I believed more than two hinidred
leagues off, on the 11th of July, 1680, appeared
with the waiTiors." After this, Hennepin and
Picard continued to go up the river almost eighty
leagues.

There is great confusion here, as the reader
will see. "When at tlie mouth of the Rum River,
he speaks of the Wisconsin as more than a hun-
dred leagues off. He floats down the river sixty
leagues ; then he ascended, but does not state the
distance; then he ascends eighty leagues.

He continues : " The Indians whom he had left
with Michael Ako at Buffalo [Chippeway] Eiver,

HENNEPIN MEETS SIEUR DU LUTIL

with the flotilla of canoes loaded with meat, came
down. * * * All tilt' Indian women had their
stock of meat at the mouth of Uuffalo Kiver and
on the islands, and atjain we went down the Col-
hert [JSIississippi] about eighty leagues. * * *
We liad another alarm in our camp : the old men
on duty on the top of the mountains announced
that they saw two warriors in the dislance; all
the bowmen hastened there witli speed, each try-
ing to outstrip the others; butthey bronght back
<iuly two of their enemies, who came to tell them
that a party of their people were hunting at the
extremity of Lake Conde [Superior] and had found
four Spirits (so they call the French) who, by
means of a slave, had expressed a wish to come
on, knowing ns to be among them. * * * On
the 25th of July, IbSO, as we were ascending the
river Colbert, after the buffalo hunt, to the In-
dian villages, we met Sieiu- du Luth, who came
to the Nadouessious with live French soldiers.
They joined us about two hundred and twenty
leagues distant from the country of the Indians
who had taken us. As we had some knowledge
of the language, they begged us to accompany
them to the villages of these tribes, to which I
readily agreed, knowing that these two French-
men had not approached the sacrament for two
years."

Ilere again the munber of leagues is confusing,
and it is impossilile to believe that I)u Luth and
his interpreter Faffart, who had been trading
with the Sioux for more than a year, needed the
help of Hennepin, who had been about three
months with these people.

We are not told by what route Hennepin and
Du Luth reached Lake Issati or Mille Lacs, but
Hennepm says they arrived there on the 11th of
August, 1680. and he adds, " Toward the end of
September, having no implements to begin an
establishment, we resolved to tell these people,
that for their benefit, we would have to return to
the French settlements. The giand Chief of the
Issati or Nadouessiouz consented, and traced in
pencil on paper I gave him, the route I should
take for four hundred leagues. AVith tins chart,
we set out, eight Frenchmen, in two canoes, and
descended the river St. Francis and Colbert [Rum
and Jilississippi]. Two of our men took two bea-
ver roljes at St. Anthony of Padua's Falls, which
the Indians had hung in sacrifice on the trees."

Tlie second work of Hennepin, an enlargement
of the first, appeared at Utrecht in the year 1697,
ten years after La Salle's death. During the in-
terval between the pvdjlication of the first and
second book, he had passed three years as Supin-
inf endent of the Ilecollects at Reny in the province
of A rtois, when Fiither Hyacinth Lefevre, a friend
of La Salle, and Connnissary Provincial of Ilecol-
lects at Paris, wished hi!u to return to Canada.
He refused, and was ordered to go to Rome, and
upon his coming back was sent to a convent at
St. Omer, and there received a dispatch from the
Minister of State in France to return to the coun-
tries of tlie King of Spain, of which he was a
subject. This order, he asserts, he afterwards
learned was forged.

In the preface to the English edition of the
New Discovery, published in 1698. in London, he
writes :

"The pretended reason of tliat violent order
was because I refused to return into America,
where I had been already eleven years ; though
the particular laws of our Order oblige none of us
to go beyond sea against his will. I would have,
however, returned very willingly liad I not known
the malice of M. La Salle, who woidd have ex-
posed me to perish, as he did one of the men w ho
accompanied me in my discovery. God knows
that I am sorry for his unfortunate death ; but
the judgments of the Almighty are always just,
for the gentleman was killed by one of his own
men, who were at last sensible that he exposed
them to visible dangers without any necessity and
for his private designs."

After this he was for about five years at Gosse-
lies, in Brabant, as Confessor in a convent, and
from thence removed to his native place, Ath, in
Belgium, where, according to his narrative in the
preface to the " Nonveau Decouverte," he was
again persecuted. Then Father Payez, Grand
Commissary of Recollect^i at Louvain, being in-
formed that the King of Spain and the Elector of
Bavaria recommended the step, consented that
he should enter the service of William the Third
of (ireat Britain, who had been very kind to the
Roman Catholics of Netherlands. By order of
Payez he was sent to Antwerp to take the lay
habit in the convent there, and subsequently
went to Utrecht, where lie finished his second
book known as the New Discovery.

EXPLOBEBS AND PIONEEBS OF MINNESOTA.

His first volume, printed in 1683, contains 312
pages, witli an appendix of 107 pages, on tlie
Customs of tlie Savages, wliile the Utrecht bools
of 1697 contains 509 pages -witliout an appendix.

On page 249 of the Kew Discovery, he begins
an account of a voyage alleged to have been made
to the mouth of the Mississippi, and occupies
over sixty pages in the narrative. Tlie opening
sentences give as a reason for concealing to this
time his discovery, that La Salle would have re-
ported him to his Superiors for presuming to go
down instead of ascending the stream toward the
north, as had been agreed ; and that the two with
him threatened that if he did not consent to de-
scend the river, tliey would leave him on shore
during tlie night, and pursue their own course.

He asserts that he left the Gulf of Jlexico, to
return, on the 1st of April, and on the 24th left
the Arkansas ; but a week after this, lie declares
he lauded with the Sioux at the marsh about two
miles below the city of Saint Paul.

The account has been and is still a puzzle to
the historical student. In our review of his first
book we have noticed that as early as 1683, he
claimed to have descended the Mississippi. In
the Utrecht publication he declares that wliile at
(Quebec, upon his retin-n to France, he gave to
Father Valentine Roux, Commissary of Recol-
lects, his journal, upon the promise tliat it would
be kept secret, and that tliis Father made a copy
of liis whole voyage, including the visit to the
Gulf of Mexico ; but m his Description of Louis-
iana, Hennepin wrote, " We had some design of
going to the mouth of the river Colbert, which
more probably empties into thei Gulf of Mexico
than into the Red Sea, but the trilies that seized
us gave us no time to sail up and down the river."

The additions in his Utrecht book to magnify
his importance and detract from others, are
many. As Sparks and Parkman have pointed
out the plagiarisms of this edition, a reference
here is unnecessary.

Du Luth, who left Quebec in 167S, and had
been in northern ^Minnesota, with an interpreter,
for a year, after he met Ako and Hennepin, be-
comes of secondary importance, in the eyes of
tlie Franciscan.

In the Description of Louisiana, on page 280,
Hennepin speaks of passing the Falls of Saint
Anthony, upon his return to Canada, in these

few words : " Two of our men seized two beaver
robes at the Falls of St. Anthony of Padua,
which the Indians had in sacrifice, fastened to
trees."' But in the Utrecht edition, commencing
on page 416, there is much added concerning Du
Lnth. After using the language of the edition
of 16S3, already quoted it adds: "Hereupon
there arose a dispute between Sieur du Luth and
myself. I commended what they had done, say-
ing, ' The savages might judge by it that they
disliked the superstition of these people.' Tlie
Sieur du Luth, on the contrary, said that they
ought to have left the robes where the savages
placed them, for they would not fail to avenge
the insult we had put upon them by this action,
and that it was feared that they would attack us
on this journey. I confessed he had some foun-
dation for wliat he said, and that he spoke accor-
ding to the rules of prudence. But one of the
two men flatly replied, the two robes suited them,
and they cared nothing for the savages and their
superstitions. The Sieur du Luth at these words
was so greatly enraged that he nearly struck the
one who uttered them, but I intervened and set-
tled the dispute. The Pieard and Michael Ako
ranged themselves on the side of those who liad
taken the robes in question, which might have
resulted badly.

" I argued with Sieur duLuth that the savages
would not attack us, because I was persuaded
that their great chief Ouasicoude would have our
interests at heart, and he had great credit with
his nation. The matter terminated pleasantly.

" When we arrived near tlie river Ouisconsin,
we halted to smoke the meat of the buffalo we
had killed on the journey. During our stay, three
savages of the nation we had left, came by the
side of our canoe to teU us that their great chief
Ouasicoude, having learned that another chief of
these people wished to pursue and kill us, and
that he entered the cabin where he was consult-
ing, and had struck liLm on the head with such
violence as to scatter his brains upon his associ-
ates ; thus preventing the executing of this inju-
rious project.

" We regaled the three savages, having a great
abundance of food at that time. The Sieur du
Luth, after the savages had left, was as enraged
as before, and feared that they would pursue and
attack us on oiu- voyage. He would have pushed

TBIBUTE TO DAMEL GBETSOLON IJU LTJTIl.

tlie matter further, but seeing that one man would
resist , and was not in the humor to be imposed
uiion, lie moderat('<l. and I api)easecl lliem in the
end with the assuninec that God would notaljan-
don us in distress, anil, jirox ided avo cunlidcd in
Ilim, ho would deliver us from our foes, because
lie is the proteetor of men and angels."

After describing a conference with the Sioux.
he adds, " Thus the savages were very kind,
wilhdut mentioning the beaver robes. The chief
Ouasicoude told me to offer a fathom of ISIarti-
nico tobacco to the chief Aquipaguetin, who had
adopted me as a son. This had an admirable
effect upon the barbarians, who went off shouting
several times the word ' Louis.' [Ouis or We]
which, as he said, means the sun. AVithout van-
ity, I uuist say that my name will be for a long
time among these people.

"The savages having left us, to go to war
against the jNIessorites, the Maroha, the Illinois,
and other nations which live toward the lower
part of the ^Mississippi, and are irreconcilable foes
of the people of the North, the Sienr du Lutli,
who iqion many occasions gave me marks of his
friendship, could not forbear to tell our men that
I had all the reason in tlie world to believe that
the Viceroy of Canada would give me a favorable
reception, should we arrive before winter, and
that lie wished with all his heart that he had been
among as many natives as myself."

The style of Louis Hennepin is unmistakable
in this extract, and it is amusing to read his pa-
tronage of one of the fearless explorers of the
Northwest, a cousin of Tonty, favored by Fron-
tenac, and who was in Minnesota a year before
his arrival.

In 1691, six years before the Utrecht edition of
Ilemiepin, another Recollect Franciscan had pub-
lished a book at Paris, called " The First Estab-
lishment of the Faith in New France," in which
is the following tribute to Du Luth, whom Hen-
nepin strives to make a subordinate : " In the last
years of M. de Frontenac's administration, iSieur
DuLuth,a man of talent and experience, opened
a way to the missionary and the Gospel in many
different nations, turning toward the north of
that lake [Superior] where he even built a fort,
he advanced as far as the Lake of the Issati,
called Lake Buade, from the family name of M.

de Frontenac, plantmg the arms of his Majesty
in several nations on the right and left."

In the s(n-oud volume of his last book, which is
called "A Gonlinuanct^ of the JSlew Discovery of
a vast Country in America," etc., Ileiiucpiii no-
ticed some criticisms.

To the objection that his work was dedicated
to "William the Third of (Jreat Ihitain.he rei)lies :
" My King, his most Catholic Majesty, his Elec-
toral Iliglmess of Bavaria, the consent in writing
of the Superior of my order, the integrity of my
faith, and the regular observance of my vows,
which his Britannic Majesty allows me, are the
l)est warrants of the uprightness of my inten-
tions."

To the q<iery, how he could travel so far upon
the Mississippi in so little time, he answers with
a bold face, " That we may, with a canoe and a
pair of oars, go twenty, twenty-live, or thirty
leagues every day, and more too, if there be oc-
casion. And though we had gone but ten leagues
a day, yet in thirty days we might easily have
gone three hundred leagues. If during the time
we spent from the river of the Illinois to the
mouth of the Mescliasii]i. in the Gulf of ^Mexico,
we had used a little more baste, we might have
gone the same -twice over."

To the .objection, that he said, he nad passed
eleven years in America, when he had been there
but about four, he evasively replies, that '■ reck-
oning from the year 1074, when I first set out, to
the year 1688, when I printed the second edition
of my ' Louisiana,' it appears that I have spent
fifteen years either in travels or prmthig my
Discoveries."

To those who objected to the statement in his
first book, in the dedication to Louis the Four-
teenth, that the Sioux always call the sun Louis,
he writes : " I repeat what I have said before,
that being among the Issati and Nadouessans, Ijy
whom I was made a slave in America, I never
heard them call the smi any other than Louis.
It is true these savages call also the moon Louis,
but with this distinction, that they give the moon
the name of Louis Bastache, which in their lan-
guage signifies, the sun that shines in the night."

The Utrecht edition called forth much censure,
and no one in France doubted that Hennepin
was the author. DTberville, Governor of Lou-
isiana, while in Paris, wrote on July 3d 1699, to

UXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

the Minister of Marine and Colonies of France,
in these words : " Very much vexed at the Rec-
ollect, whose false narratives had deceived every
one, and cansed our sufferinj^ and total failure of
our enterprise, by tlie time consimied in the
search of things which alone existed in his imag-
ination."

The Rev. Father .James Gravier, in a letter
from a fort on the Gulf of Mexico, near the Mis-
sissippi, dated February 16th, 1701, expressed the
sentiment of his times wlien lie speaks of Hen-
nepin '• who presented to King William, the Rela-
tion of the Mississippi, where he never was, and
after a tliousflud falsehoods and ridiculous boasts,

* * * he makes Mr. de la Salle appear in his
Relation, wounded with two balls in the head,
turn toward the Recollect Father Anastase, to
ask him for absolution, having been killed in-
stantly, without uttermg a word • and other like
false stories."

Hennepin gradually faded out of sight. Bru-
net mentions a letter written by J. B. Dubos,
from Rome, dated ISIarch 1st, 1701, which men-
tions that Ilennepui was Uving on the Capitoline
Hill, in the celebrated convent of Ara Coeli, and
was a favorite of Cardinal Spada. The time and
place of his death has not been ascertained.

NICHOLAS PEBIiOT, FOUNDER OF FIRST POST ON LAKE PEPIN.

CHAPTER V.

NICHOLAS PEEROT, FOUNDER OF FIRST POST ON LAKE I'EriN.

£&rly Life. — Searches for Copper.— Interpreter at Sault St. Marie, Employed by
La Salle. — Bmlds Stocltade at Lake Pepin. — Hostile Indians Reliulced. — A
Silver Ostensorium Given to a Jesuit Chapel. — Perrot in the Rattle against
Senecas, in New York. — Second Visit to Sioux Country. — Taking Possession by
"Proces Verbal." — Discovery of Lead Mines. — Attends Council at Montreal. —
Establishes a Post near Detroit, in Michigan.— Perrot's Death, and his Wife.

Nicholas Perrot, sometimes written Pere, was
one of the most energetic of the class in Canada
known as "coureurs des bois," or forest rangers.
Born in 1644, at an early age he was identified
with the f nr trade of the great inland lakes. As
early as 1665, he was among the Outagamies
[Foxes], and in 1667 was at Green Bay. In 1669,
he was appointed by Talon to go to the lake re-
gion in search of copper mines. At the formal
taking possession of that country in the name of
the King of Prance, at Sault St. Marie, on the
14th of May, 1671, he acted as interpreter. In
1677, he seems to have been employed at Port
Prontenac. La Salle was made very sick the
ne.xt year, from eating a salad, and one Nicholas
Perrot, called Joly Ca?ur (Jolly Soul) was sus-
pected of havuig mingled poison with the food.
After this he was associated with Du Lutli in
the execution of two Indians, as we have seen.
In 16X4, he was appointed by I)e la Barre, the
tJovernor of Canada, as Commandant fur the
West, and left Montreal with twenty men. Ar-
riving at (ireen Bay in AVisconsin, some Indians
told him that they had visited countries toward
the setting sim, where they obtained the blue
and green stones suspended from tlieir ears and
noses, and that they saw horses and men like
Frenchmen, probably the Spaniards of New Mex-
ico ; and others said that they had obtained hatch-
ets from persons who lived in a house that walked
on the water, near the uiouth of the river of the
Assiniboines, alluding to the English estabhshed
at Hudson's Bay. Proceeding to the portage be-
tween the Fox and Wisconsin, thirteen Ilurons
Wfrt^ met, who were bitterly opposed to the es-
tablishment of a post near the Sioux. After the

Mississippi was readied, a party of Winnebagoes
was employed to notify the tribes of Northern
Iowa that the French had ascended the river,
and wished to meet them. It was further agreed
that prairie fires would be kindled from time to
time, so that the Indians could follow the French.

After entering Lake Pepin, near its mouth, on
the east side, Perrot found a place suitable for a
post, where there was wood. Tlie stockade was
built at the foot of a bluff beyond which was a
large prairie. La Potherie makes this statement,
which is repeated by Penicaut, who writes of
Lake Pepin : " To the right and left of its shores
there are also prairies. In that on the right on
the bank of the lake, there is a fort, which was
built by Nicholas Pen'ot, whose nimieityet[1700]
bears."

Soon after he was established, it was announced
that a band of Aiouez [loways] was encamped
above, and on the way to visit the post. The
French ascended in canoes to meet them, but as
they drew nigh, the Indian women ran up the
bluffs, and hid in the woods ; but twenty of the
braves mustered courage to advance and greet
Perrot, and bore him to the chief's lodge. The
chief, bending over Perrot, began to weep, and
allowed the moisture to fall upon his visitor.
After he had exhausted himself, tlio principal
men of the party repeated the slabbering process.
Then buffalo tongues were boiled in an earthen
pot, and after being cut into small pieces, the
chief took a piece, aiul, as a mark of respect,
placed it in Perrot's mouth.

During the winter of 1684-85, the Frencli tra-
ded in Minnesota.

At the end of the beaver hunt, the Ayoes
[loways] came to the post, but Perrot was absent
^^siting the Nadouaissioux. and they sent a chief
to notify him of their arrival. Four Illinois met
him on the way, and were anxious for the return
of foiu' children held by the French. When the

JEXPLOBEBS AND PI0NEEB8 OF MINNESOTA.

Sioux, who were at war with the Illinois, per-
ceived them, they wished to seize their canoes,
but the Prench vo^'ageurs who were giiardins;
them, pushed into the middle of the river, and
the French at the post coming to their assistance,
a reconciliation was effected, and four of the
Sioux took the Illinois upon their shoulders, and
bore them to the shore.

An order having been received from Denon-
ville, Governor of Canada, to bring the Miami?,
and other tribes, to the rendezvous at Niagara,
to go on an expedition against the Senecas, Per-
rot entrusting the post at Lake Pepin to a few
Frenchmen, visited the Miamis, who were dwel-
ling below on the Mississippi, and with no guide
but Indian camp fires, went sixty miles into the
country beyond the river.

Upon his return, he perceivea a great smoke,
and at first thought that it was a war party pro-
ceeding to the Sioux country. Ft)rtunately he
met a Maskouten chief, who had been at the post
to sec him, and he gave the intelligence, that the
Outagamies [Foxes], Kikapous [Kickapoos], and
Mascoutechs [Maskoutens], and others, from the
region of Green Bay, had determined to pillage
the post, kill the French, and then go to war
against the Sioux. Hurrying on, he readied the
fort, and learned that on that very d;iy three
spies had been there and seen that there were
only SIX Frenchmen in charge.

The next day two more spies appeared, but
Perrot had taken the precaution to put loaded
guns at the door of each hut, and caused his men
frequently to change their clothes. To the query,
'• IIuw many French were thereV"' the reply was
given, " Forty, and that more were daily expected,
who had been on a builalo hunt, and that the
guns were well loaded and knives well sharpened."
They were then told to go back to their camp
and bring a chief of each nation represented, and
that if Indians, in large numbers, came near, they
would be lired at. In accordance with this mes-
sage six chiefs presented themselves. After their
bows and arrows were taken away they were in-
vited to Perrot 's cabin, who gave something to
eat and tobacco to smoke. Looking at Perrot "s
loaded guns they asked, '• If he was afraid of his
children?" He replied, he was not. They con-
tinued, "Yon are displeased." Tie answered,
" I have good reason to be. The Spirit has warned

me of your designs; you will take my things
away and put me in the kettle, and proceed
against the Nadouaissioux, The Spirit told me
to be on my guard, and he would help me." At
this they were astonished, and confessed that an
attack was meditated. That night the chiefs
slept in the stockade, and early the next morn-
ing a part of the hostile force was encamped in
the vicinity, and wished to trade. Perrot had
now only a force of fifteen men, and seizing the
chiefs, he told them he would break their heads
if they did not disperse the Indians. One of the
chiefs then stood up on the gate of the fort and
said to the warriors, " Do not advance, young
men, or you are dead. The Spirit has warned
^letaminens [PerrotJ of your designs." They fol-
lowed the advice, and afterwards Perrot present-
ed them with two guns, two kettles, and some
tobacco, to close the door of war against the Na-
douaissioux, and the chiefs were all permitted to
make a brief visit to the post.

Returning to Green Bay in 1686, he passed much
time in collecting allies for the expedition against
the Iroquois in Kew York. During this year he
gave to the Jesuit chapel at Depere, five miles
above Green Bay, a church utensil of silver, fif-
teen inches high, still in existence. The stand-
ard, nine inches in height, supports a radiated
circlet closed with glass on both sides an<l sur-
mmnited with a cross. This vessel, weighuig
about twenty ounces, was intended to show the
consecrated wafer of the mass, and is called a
soleil, monstrance, or ostensoriimi.

Around the oval base of the rim is the follow-
ing inscription:

■S^

c«^'

Si"'

,^'

In 1802 some workmen in digging at Green
Bay, \\'isconsin, on the old Langlade estate dis-

A err OF Jih'Ayj))- AM> wateh detects a riiiKF.

covered this relic, which is now kept in the vault
of the Konirtii Catholic bishop of that diocese.

During the spring of IBs; I'errot, with J)e Lii-
th and Tonty, was witli the Indian allies and tlie
Fren(;h in the expedition against the Senecas of
the (tenesseo Yalley in Xew York.

The next year Denonville, Governor of Canada,
again sent Terrot with forty rrcnchmen to tlie
Sionx who, says Potheric, " were very distant,
and wlio would not trade witli ns as easily as
the other tribes, the Outagamis [Foxes] having
boasted of having cut off the passage tliereto."

"Wlien Perrot arrived at ^lackinaw, tlie tribes
of that region were much excited at tlie hostility
of tlie Outagamis [Foxes] toward the Sautenrs
[Cliippeways]. As soon as Perrot and his party
readied Green Bay a deputation of the Foxes
sought an interview. He told them that he had
nothing to do with this quarrel with the t!hippe-
ways. In justification, they said that a party of
their young men, in going to war against the
Xadouaissioux, had found a young man and three
Chippeway gii'ls.

Perrot was silent, and continued his journey
towards the Nadouaissioux. Soon he was met by
live chiefs of the Foxes in a canoe, who begged
him to go to their village. Perrot consented, and
when he went into a chiefs lodge they placed be-
fore him broiled venison, and raw meat for the
rest of the French. He refused to eat because,
said he, "that meat did not give him any spirit,
but he would take some when the Outagamis
[Foxes] were moi'e reasonable." He then chided
them for not having gone, as requested by the
(iovernor of Canada, to the Detroit of Lake
Erie, and during the absence of the French tiglit-
ing witli the Chippeways. Having ordered tliem
to go on their beaver hunt and only light against
tlie Iroquois, he left a few Frenchmen to trade
and proceeded on his journey to the Sioux couii-
t ry . Arriving at the portage between the Fox and
Wisconsin lUvers they were impeded by ice, but
wiUi tlie aid of some Pottawattomies they trans-
ported tlieir goods to the "Wisconsin, which they
found no longer frozen. The Chippeways were
iufornied that their daughters had been taken
from tlie Foxes, and a deputation came to take
tlieni bac-k. but being attacked by the Foxes, wlio
did not know their errand, they fled without se-
curing the three girls. Perrot then ascended the

Mississippi to the pust which in l(;s4 lie liad
erected, just above the iiiiiuni, and on the east
side of Lake Pepin.

As soon as the rivers were navigable, tlie Na-
douaissioux came down and escorted Perrot to
one of their villages, where he was welcomed
with niiicli entliusiasm. He was carried upon a
lieaver robe, followed by a long line of warriors,
earh iieariiig a pipe, and singing. After taking
liinianiiuid the village, lie was borne to the chief's
lodge, when several came in to weep over 'lis head,
witli the same tenderness that tlie Ayoes ( loways)
did, when Perrot several years before arrived at
Lake Pepin. " These weepings," says an old
clironicler " do not weaken tlieir souls. They are
very good warrims, and reported the bravest in
that region. They are at war with all the tribes
at present except the Saulteurs [Cliippeways] aiiG
Ayoes [loways], and even with these they have
quarrels. At the break of day the Nadouaissioux
liatlie, even to the youngest. Tliey have very line
forms, but the women are not comely, and they
look upon them as slaves. They are jealous and
suspicious about them, and lliey are the cause
of quarrels and blood-shedding.

"The Sioux are very dextrous with their ca-
noes, and they fight unto deatli if surrounded,
Tlieir country is full of swamps, which shelter
them in summer from lieing molested. One must
be a Nadouaissioux, to find tlie way to tlieir vil-
lages."

While Perrot was absent in Xew York, fight-
ing the Seuecas, a Sioux chief knowing tliat few
Frenchmen were left at Lake I'epiu, came witli
one hundred warriors, and endeavored to jiillage
it. Of this complaint was made, and tlie guilty
leader was near being put to deatli by his associ-
ates. Amicable relations having been formed,
preparations were made by Perrot to return to
his post. As they were going away, one of tlie
Frenchmen complained tliat a box of his goods
had been stolen. Perrot ordered a voyageur to
bring a cup of water, and into it he poured some
brandy. He tlien addressed the Indians iuid told
them he would dry up their marshes if tlie goods
were not restored ; and then he set on fire the
liiaudy in tlie cup, Tlie savages were astonished
and terrified, and supposed that he possessed su-
pernatural powers ; and in a little "■'^'ie the goods

HXPLOREBS AND PIONJEIJRS OF MINNESOTA.

were found and restored to the owner, and the
French descended to their stockade.

The Toxes, wliile Perrot was in the Sioux
coinitry, changed their village, and settled on the
Mississippi. Coming up to visit Perrot, they
asked him to establish friendly relations between
them and the Sioux. At the time some Sioux
were at the post trading furs, and at first they
supposed the French were plotting with the
Foxes. Perrot, however, eased them by present-
ing the calumet and saying that the French con-
sidered the Outagamis [Foxes] as brothers, and
then adding: "Smoke in my pipe; this is the
manner with which Onontio [Governor of Can-
ada] feeds his children." The Sioux replied that
they wished the Foxes to smoke first. This was
reluctantly done, and the Sioux smoked, but
would not conclude a definite peace until they
consulted their chiefs. This was not concluded,
because Perrot, before the chiefs came down,
received orders to return to Canada.

About this time, in the presence of Father Jo-
seph James ^Slarest, a Jesuit missionary, 15oisguil-
lot, a trader on the Wisconsin and Mississippi, Le
Sueur, who afterward built a post below the Saint
Croix Itiver, about nine miles from Hastings, the
following document was prepared:

" Nicholas Perrot, commanding for the King at
the post of the Nadouessioux, commissioned by
the Alarqiiis Denonville, Go\'ernor and Lieuten-
ant Governor of all New France, to manage the
interests of commerce among all the Indian tribes
and people of the Bay des Puants [Green Bay],
Nadouessioux, Mascoutens, and other western na-
tions of the Upper Mississippi, and to take pos-
session in the King's name of all the places where
he has heretofore been and whither he will go:

" We this day, the eighth of ilay, one thousand
six hundred and eighty-nine, do, in tlie presence
of the Reverend Father Marest, of the- Society of
Jesus, Missionary among the Nadouessioux, of
Monsieur de Boisgiiillot, commanding the French
in the neighborliood of the Ouiskonche, on the
Mississippi, Augustin Legardeur, Esquire, Sieur
de Canmout, and of Messieurs Le Sueiu", Ilebert,
Lemire and Blein.

" Declare to all whom it may concern, that, be-
ing come from the Bay des Puants, and to the
Lake of the Ouiskonches, we did transport our-
selves to the country of the Nadouessioux, on the

border of the river St. Croix, and at the mouth
of the river St. Pierre, on the bank of which were
the Mantautans, and further up to the interior,
as far as the Menehokatonx [Med-ay-wah-kawn-
twawn], with whom dwell the majority of the
Songeskitons [Se-see-twawnsj and other Nadou-
essioux who are to the northwest of the lilissis-
sippi, to take possession, for and in the name of
the King, of the countries and rivers inhabited by
the said tribes, and of which they are proprietors.
The present act done in our presence, signed with
our hand, and subscribed."

The three Chippeway girls of whom mention
has been made were still with the Foxes, and
Perrot took them with him to ilackinaw, upon
his return to Canada.

While there, the Ottawas held some prisoners
upon an island not far from the mainland. The
Jesuit Fathers went over and tried to save the
captives from harsh treatment, but were unsuc-
cessful. The canoes appeared at length near each
other, one man paddling in each, while the war-
riors were answering the shouts of the prisoners,
who each held a white stick in his hand. As
they neared the shore the chief of the party made
a speech to the Indians who lived on the shore,
and givhig a history of the campaign, told them
that they were masters of the prisoners. The
warriors then came on land, and, according to
custom, abandoned the spoils. An old man then
ordered nine men to conduct the prisoners to a
separate place. The women and the young men
formed a line with big sticks. The young pris-
oners soon foiuid their feet, but the old men were
so badly used they spat blood, and they were con-
demned to be burned at the Mamilion.

The Jesuit Fathers and the French officers
were much embarrassed, and feared that the Iro-
(juois would complain of the little care which had
been used to prevent cruelty.

Perrot, in this emergency, walked to the place
where the prisoners were singing the death dirge,
in expectation of being burned, and told them to
sit down and be silent. A few Ottauwaws rudely
told them to sing on, but Perrot forbade. He
then went back to the Council, where the old men
bad rendered judgment, and ordered one prisoner
to be burned at Mackinaw, one at Sault St. Marie
and another at Green Bay. Undaunted he spoke
as follows : "I come to cut the strings of the

PERh'or VISITS 'I'lll-J LKM) MIXES.

dogs. I will not sulftT llii'in to be eaten . I have
pity on them, since my Father, Onontio, has com-
numded me. You Oulaoiiaks [Oltawaws] are
like tame bears, who will not reco{,'iii/.e them who
hasliriiimiit tlicm up. Yon have forgotten Onon-
tio's in-otet-tion. When he iisks your obedience,
yon want to rule over hini, and eat the flesh of
those children he does not wish to give to you.
Take care, tliat, if oyu swallow them, Onontio
will tear them with violence from between your
teeth. I speak as a brother, and I think I am
showing pity to your children, by cutting the
bonds of your prisoners."

His bolihiess had the desired effect. The pris-
oners were released, and two of them were sent
with him to JNhintreal, to be returned to the Iro-
quois.

On tlie 22nd of May, 1600, with one liuudred
and forty-three voyageurs and si.x Indians, Per-
rot left Montreal as an escort of Sieur de Lou-
viguy La Porte, a half-pay captain, appointed to
succeed Durantaye at Mackinaw, by Frontenac,
the new Governor of Canada, who in October of
the previous year had arrived, to take the place
of Denonville.

Perrot, as he approached Mackinaw, went in
advance to notify the French of the coming of
the commander of the post. As he came in sight
of the settlement, he hoisted the white flag with
the lleur de lis and the voyageurs shouted, " Long
live the king! " Louvigny soon appeared and was
received by one huudi-ed '' coureur des bois "'
under arms.

From Mackinaw, Perrot proceeded to Green
Bay, and a party of Miamis there begged him to
make a trading establishment on the Mississippi
towards the Ouiskonsing (Wisconsin.) The chief
made him a present of a piece of lead from a
mine which he had found in a small stream ^\•hich
flows into the Mississippi. PeiTot promised to
visit him within twenty days, and the chief then
returned to his village below the d'Ouiskonche
(iAVsconsm) Eiver.

Having at length reached his post on Lake
Pepm, he was informed that the Sioux were
forming a large war party against the Outaga-
mis (Foxes) and other allies of the French. He
gave notice of his arrival to a party of about four
hundred Sioux who were on the Jlississippi.

They arrested the msssengers and came to the
post for the puri)ose of pimidcr. Perrot asked
them why tliey acted in lliis manner, and said
that the Foxes, Miamis, Kickapoos, Illinois, and
Maskoutens had united in a war party against
them, but tliat he had iiersuaded them to give it
up, and now he wished them to return to their
families and to their beaver. The Sioux declared
that they had started on the war-path, and that
they were ready to die. After they had traded
their furs, they sent for Perrot to come to their
camp, and begged that he would not hinder them
from searching for their foes. Perrot tried to dis-
suade them, but they insisted that the Spirit had
given them men to eat, at three days' journey
from the post Then more powerful influences
were used. After giving them two kettles and
some merchandise, Poerrt spoke thus: " I love
your life, and I am sure you will be defeated.
Your Evil Spirit has deceived you. If yon kill
the Outagamis, or their allies, you must strike me
first; if you kill them, you kill me just the same,
for I hold them under one wing and you under
the other." After this he extended the calumet,
which they at first refused; but at length a chief
said he was right, and, making invocations to the
sun, wished Perrot to take him back to liis arms.
This was granted, on condition that he would
give up his weapons of war. The chief tlien tied
them to a pole in the centre of the fort, turning
them toward the sun. He then persuaded the
other chiefs to give up the expedition, and, send-
ing for Perrot, he placed the calumet before him,
one end in the earth and the other on a small
forked twig to hold it firm. Then he took from
his own sack a ])air of his cleanest moccasins, and
taking off Perrofs shoes, put on these. After he
had made him eat, presenting the calumet, he
said: " AVe listen to you now. Do for us as you
do for our enemies, and prevent them from kill-
ing us, and we will separate for the beaver hunt.
The sun is the witness of our obedience."

After this, Perrot descended the Mississippi
and revealed to the Maskoutens, who had come to
meet him, how he had pacified the Sionx. He,
about this period, in accordance with his prom-
ise, visited the lead mines. He found the ore
almndant " but the lead hard to work because it
lay between rocks which required blowing up.
It had very Little dross and Avas easily melted."

EXPLOREBS AND PIONEERS OF illNNESOTA.

Penicaut, who ascended the Mississippi in 1700,
wrote tliat twenty leagues below the Wisconsin,
on both sides of the Mississippi, were mines of
lead called " Nicolas Perrot's."' Early French
maps indicate as the locality of lead mines the
site of modern towns, Galena, in Illinois, and Du-
buque, in Iowa.

In August, U393, Jibout two hundred French-
men from ilackinaw, with delegates from the
tribes of the West, arrived at Montreal to at-
tend a grand council called by Governor Fronte-
nac, and among these was Perrot.

On the first Sunday in September the governor

gave the Indians a great feast, after which they
and the traders began to return to the wilder-
ness. Perrot was ordered by Frontenac to es-
tablish a new post for the Miamis in Michigan,
in the neighborhood of the Kalamazoo River.

Two years later he is present again, in xlugust,
at a council in Montreal, then returned to the
West, and in 1609 is recalled from Green Bay.
In 1701 he was at Montreal acting as interpreter,
and appears to have died before 1718: his wife
was Madeline Eaclos, and his residence was in
the Seigneury of Becancourt, not far from Three
Kivers, on the St. Lawrence.

B.inU^ LA HO.XTAN'S FAIWLOVS VOYAdE.

;!o

CIIArTEK VI.

HAUOX l.\ IIONTAN S FAliULOtS A'DVAfiH.

Lt lioiitan, a Gascon by Birth. — Early Life. — Description of Kux and Wisconsin
Rivers — IiH'.ian Kcast.— Alleged Ascent of Long River. — Bobc Kxposes tile
Deception. — Route to the Pacific.

The ■' Travels'" of Baron La Ildntuii appearetl
in ^V. I). 1703, both at London and at Ila.ane. and
were as saleable and readal lie as tliose of Hennepin,
which were on the counters of booksellers at the
same time.

La Hontan, a Gascon liy birth, and in style of
writing, when about seventeen years of age, ar-
rived in Canada, in 1683, as a private soldier, and
was with Gov. De la Barre in his expedition of
1684, toward Niagara, and was also in the Viattle
near Rochester, Xew York, in 1087, at which ])u
Luth and Perrot, explorers of Minnesota, were
present.

In 1688 lie appears to have been sent to Fort
St. Joseph, which was built by l)u Lutli, on the
St. Clare Elver, near the site of Fort (iratiot,
Michigan. It is possiljle that he may have accc mi-
panied Perrot to Lake Pepin, who came aliout
this time to reoccnpy his old post.

From the following extracts it will be seen that
his style is graphic, and that he probably had been
in 1688 in the valley of the Wisconsin, ^Vt Mack-
inaw, after his return from his pretended voyage
of the Long River, he writes:

" I left here on the 24th September, with my
men and five Outaouas, good hunters, whom I
have before mentioned to you as luuing been of
good service to me. All my brave men being
provided with good canoes, filled with provisions
and ammunition, to.getber with goods for the In-
dian trade, I took advantage of a north wind, and
in three days entered the Bay of tlie Pouleouata-
mis, distant from here about forty leagues. The
entrance to the bay is full of islands. It is ten
leagues wide and twenty-five in length.

" On the 29th we entered a river, which is (juite
deep, whose waters are so affected by the lake
that they often rise and fall three feet in twelve

Lours. Tills is an observation that I made dur-
ing these three or four days that I passed here.
The Sakis, the Poutonatamis, ami a few of the
Malominis have their villages on the border of this
river, and the Jesuits have a house there. In the
place there is carried on fpiite a commerce in furs
and Indian corn, which the Indians traflic with
the ' coiu'eurs des bois" that go and come, for it is
their nearest and most convenient passage to the
Mississippi.

'■ The lands here are very fertile, anil produce,
almost without culture, the wheat of our Europe,
peas, beans, and any (iiiaiitity of fruit imknown
in France.

" The moment I landed, the warriors of three
nations came by turns to my cabin to entertaui
me with the pipe and chief dance ; the first in
proof of peace and friendship, the second to indi-
cate their esteem and consideration for me. In
return. I gave them several yards of tobacco, and
beads, with which they trimmeil their capots. The
next morning, I was asked as a guest, to one of
the feasts of this nation, and after having sent my
dishes, which is the custom, I went towards noon.
They began to compliment me of my arrival, and
after hearing them, they all, one after the other,
i)egan to sing and dance, in a manner that I will
detail to you when I have more leisure. These
songs antl dances lasted two hours, and were sea-
soned with whoops of joy, and iiuiblilcs that they
have woven into their ridiculous niusiiiiie. Then
the captives waited upon us. The whole troop
were seated in the Oriental custom, Kach one
had his portion before him, like our monks in
their refectories. They commenced by placing
four dishes before me. The first consisted of two
white fish simply boiled in water. The second
was chopped meats with tlie boiled tongue of a
bear ; the third a beaver's tail, all roasted. They
made me drink also of a synip, mixed with water,
made out of the maple tree. The feast lasted two

EXPLOBERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

hours, after which, I requested a chief of the
nation to sing for me ; for it is tlie custom, wlien
we have business with them, to employ an uiferior
for self in all the ceremonies they perform. I
gave him several pieces of tobacco, to oblige liim
to keep the party till dark. The next day and the
day following, I attended the feasts of the other
nations, where I observed the same formalities."

He alleges that, on the 23d of October, he
reached the Mississippi River, and, ascending, on
tho 3d of November he entered into a river, a
tributary from the west, that was almost without
a current, and at its mouth filled with rushes.
He then descrilies a journey of five hundred miles
up this stream. He declares he fomid upon its
banks three great nations, the Eokoros, Essa-
napes, and Gnacsitares, and because he ascended
it for sixty days, he named it Long River.

For years his wondrous story was believed, and
geographers hastened to trace it upon their maps.
But in time the voyage up the Long River was
discovered to be a fabrication. There is extant
a letter of Bobe, a Priest of the Congregation of
the Mission, dated Versailles, March 15, 1716, and
addressed to De L'Isle, the geographer of the
Academy of Sciences at Paris, which exposes the
deception.

He writes: " It seems to me that you might
give the name of Bourbonia to these vast coun-
tries wliich are between the Missouri, Mississippi,
and the "Western Ocean. "Would it not be well to
efface that great river which La Hontan says he
discovered^

"All the Canadians, and even the Governor
General, have told me that tliis river is unknown.
If it existed, the French, wlio are on the Illinois,
and at Ouabache, would luiow of it. The last
volume of the ' Lettres Ediflantes' of the Jesuits,
in which there is a very fine relation of the IJlinois
Country, does not speak of it, any more than the
letters which I received this year, which tell won-
ders of the beauty and goodness of tlie country.
They send me some quite pretty work, made by
the wife of one of the principal chiefs.

" They tell nie, that among the Scioux, of the
Mlssissipi)i, there are always Frenchmen trading;
that the course of the Mississippi is from nortli
to west, and from west to south; that it is known
that toward the source of the Mississippi there is
a river ui the liighlands that leads to the western

ocean; that the Indians say that they have seen
bearded men with caps, who gatlier gold-dust on
the seashore, but that it is very far from this
coimtry, and that they pass through many nations
unknown to the French.

" I have a memoir of La ilotte Cadillac, form-
erly Governor of Missiliniackinack, who says that
if St. Peters [MiuuesotaJ Ri\'er is ascended to its
source they will, according to all appearance, find
in the highland another river leading to the "West-
ern Ocean.

"For the last two years I have tormented
exceedingly the Governor-General, M. Raudot,
and M. Duche, to move them to discover this
ocean. If I succeed, as I hope, we shall hear
tidings before three years, and I shall have the
pleasure and the consolation of having rendered
a good service to Geography, to Rehgion and to
the State."

Charlevoix, in Ms History of New France, al-
luding to La Ilontan's V(jyage, writes: " The
voyage up the Long River is as fabulous as the
Island of Barrataria, of which Sancho Panza was
governor. Nevertheless, in France and else-
where, most people have received these memoirs
as the fruits of the travels of a gentleman who
wrote bacUy, although quite lightly, and who had
no religion, but who described pretty sincerely
what he had seen. The consequence is that the
compilers of historical and geographical diction-
aries have almost always followed and cited them
in preference to more faithful records."

Even in modern times, Nicollet, employed by
the United States to explore the Upper Mississ-
ippi, has the followng in his report:

"Having procured a copy of La Ilontan's
book, in which there is a roughly made map of
his Long River, I was struck with the resem-
blance of its coiu'se as laid dovni wth that of
Cannon River, which I had previously sketched
in my owai field-book. I soon convinced myself
that the principal statements of the Baron m ref-
erence to the coimtry and the few details he gives
of the physical character of the the river, coin-
cide remarkably with what I had laid down as
belonging to Cannon River. Then the lakes and
swamps corresponded; traces of Indian villages
mentioned by him might be foimd by a growtli
of wild grass that propagates itself around all old
Indian settlernents."

LE SVEVn, EXPLORER OF TUK .VJXXESijT.l UIVEH.

CHAPTER Vn.

LE STJEtm, EXPLOKEli OF THE MINNESOTA KIVER.

Le Sueur Visits Lafce Pepm. — Stationed at La Pomte. — Establishes a Post on an
Island Al'ove Lake Pepin.— Island Described by Pcnicant.— Kirst S-oux Chief
at Montreal.— Ojibw-ay Chiefs' Speeches, — Speech of Sioux Chief. — Teeoskah-
tay's Death. — he Sueur Goes to France. — Posts Kest of Mackinaw Abandoned
— Le Sueur's License Revoked.— Second Visit to France. — Arrives in Gulf of
Mexico with D'Iberville. — Ascends the Mississippi. — Lead Mines. — Canadians
Fleeing from the Sioux. — At the Mouth of the Wisconsin.— Sioux Robbers, — Elk
Hunting. — Lake Pepin Described. — Rattlesnakes. — La Place Killad. — St. Croix
Biver Named After a Frenchman. — Le Sueur Reaches St. Pierre, now Minne*
sota River.— Enters Mankalito, or Blue Earth, River.- Sioux of the Plains.—
Fort L'Huillier Completed. — Conferences with Sioux Bands — Assinaboincs a
Separated Sioux Band. — An Indian Feast. — Names of the Sioux Bands. — Char-
levoix's Account. — Le Sueur Goes with D'Iberville to France. — D'Iberville's
Memorial.- Early Census of Indian Tribes.— Penic.aut's Account of Fort L'Huil
lier. — Le Sueur's Departure fioiii the Fort. — D'Evaqe Left in Charge. — Return'
to Mobile.— Juehereau at Mouth of Wisconsin.- Bondora Montreal Merchant. —
Sioux Attack Miainis.— Boudor Robbed by the Sioux.

Le Sueur was a native of Canada, and a rela-
tive of D"lber\ille, the early Governor of Louis-
iana. He came to Lake Pepin in 1683, -with
Nicholas Perrot, and liis name also appears at-
tached to the document prepared in !May, 16S9,
after Perrot had re-occupied his post just above
the entrance of the lake, on the east side.

In 1692, he was sent by Governor Frontenac of
Canada, to La Pouite, on Lake Superior, and m a
dispatch of 1693, to the French Government, is
the following : '• Le Sueur, another voyageiu-, is
to remain at Chagmiamagon [La Poiiite] to en-
deavor to maintain the peace lately concluded be-
tvs'een tlie Saulteurs [Chippeways] and Sioux.
This is of the greatest consequence, as it is now
the sole pass by which access can be had to the
latter nation, whose trade is very profitable ; the
comitry to the south being occupied by the Foxes
and ilaskoutens, who several times plundered the
French, ou the ground they were carrying ammu-
nition to the Sioux, their ancient enemies."

Entering the Sioux country in 1694, he estab-
lislied a post upon a prairie island in the Missis-
sippi, about nine miles below the present towni of
Hastings, according to Bellin and others. Peni-
caut, who accompanied him hi the exploration of
the Minnesota, writes, " At the extremity of the
lake [PepinJ you come to the Isle Pelee, so called
because there are no trees ou it. It is on this island

that the French from Canada established their
fort and storehouse, and they also winter here,
because game is very .ibundant. In the month of
September they bring their store of meat, obtained
by hunting, and after having skinned and cleaned
it, hang it upon a crib of raised scaffolding, in
order that the extreme cold, which lasts from
September to JIarcli, may preserve it from spoil-
ing. During the whole winter they do not go out
except ftu- water, when they have to break the ice
every day, and the oabin is generally built upon
the bank, so as not to have far to go. "When
spring arrives, the savages come to the island,
bringing their merchandize."

On the fifteenth of July, 169.5, Le Sueur arrived
at ilontreal with a party of Ojibways, and the
first JJakotah brave that had ever visited Canada.

The Indians were much impressed with the
power of France by the marching of a detach-
ment of seven hunilred picked men, under Chev-
alier Cresali, who' were on their way to La Chine.

On the eighteenth, Frontenac, in the presence
of CalUeres and other persons of distinction, gave
them an audience.

The first speaker w^as the chief of the Ojibway
band at La Pomte, Shmgowahbay, who said:

" That he was come to pay his respects to Onon-
tio [the title given the Ciovernor of Canada] in the
name of the young warriors of Point Chagouami-
gon, and to thank him for having given them
some Frenchmen to dwell with them; to testify
their sorrow for one Jobin, a Frenchman, who
was killed at a feast, accidentally, and not ma-
liciously. "We come to ask a favor of you, which
is to let us act. "We are allies of the Scion. Some
Out<agamies, or JMascouthis, have been killed.
The Sciou came to mourn with us. Let us act,
Father; let us take revenge.

" Le Sueur alone, who is acquamted -with the
language of the one and the other, can serve us.
"We ask that he return with us."

EXPLOBEBS AND PIONEEBS OF MINNESOTA.

Another speaker of the Ojibways was Le Bro-
chet.

Teeoskahtay, the Dahkotah chief, before he
spoke, spread out a beaver robe, and, laying an-
otlier with a tobacco pouch and ytter sldn, began
to weep bitterly. After dryiug his tears, he said:

" All of the nations had a father, who afforded
them protection; all of them have iron. B'lt he
was a bastard m quest of a father; he was come
to see him, and hopes that he will take pity on
him."

He then placed upon the beaver robe twenty-
two arrows, at each arrow naming a Dahkotah
village that desired Frontenac's protection. Re-
suming his speech, lie remarked:

" It is not on account of what I bring that I
hope him who rules the earth will have pity on
me. I learned from the Sauteurs that he wanted
nothing; that he was the Master of the Iron; that
he had a big heart, hito which he could receive
all the nations. This has induced me to abandon
my people and come to seek his protection, and
to beseech bim to receive me among the number
of his children. Take com'age, Great Captain,
and reject me not; despise me not, though I ap-
pear poor in yoiu' eyes. All the nations here
present know that I am rich, and the Uttle they
offer here is taken from my lands."

Count Frontenac in reply told the chief that he
would receive the Dahkotahs as his children, on
condition that they woidd be obedient, and that
he would send back Le Sueur with him.

Teeoskahtay, taking hold of the governor's
knees, wept, and said: " Take pity on us; we
are well aware that we are not able to speak, be-
ing children; but Le Sueur, who imderstands our
language, and has seen all oiu- villages, will next
year inform you what will have been achieved by
the Sioux nations represented by those arrows be-
fore you."

Having finished, a Dahkotah woman, the wife
of a great chief whom Le Sueur liad purchased
from captivity at Mackinaw, approached those in
authority, and, with downcast eyes, embraced
their knees, weeping and saying:

" I thank thee. Father; it is by thy means I
have been liberated, and am no longer captive."

Then Teeoskahtay resumed:

" I sjieak like a man penetrated with joy. The
Great Captain; he who is the Master of Iron, aif-

sures me of his protection, and I promise him that
if he condescends to restore my children, now
prisoners iimong the Foxes, Ottawas and IIiu'ous,
I will return hither, and bring with me the twen-
ty-two villages whom he has just restored to life
by promising to send them Iron."

On the 14th of August, two weeks after the
Ojibway chief left for his home on Lake Superior,
Nicholas Perrot arrived with a deputation of
Sauks, Foxes, Menomonees, Miamis of Maramek
and Pottowatomies.

Two days after, they had a councU wdth the
governor, who tlms spoke to a Fox brave:

" I see that you are a young man; your nation
has quite tiu'ned away from my wishes; it has
pillaged some of my yoiuig men, whom it has
treated as slaves. I know that your father, who
loved the French, had no hand in the indignity.
You only imitate the example of your father
who had sense, when you do not co-operate
with those of your tribe who are wishing to go
over to my enemies, after they grossly insulted
me and defeated the Sioux, whom I now consider
my son. I pity the Sioux; I pity the dead whose
loss I deplore. Perrot goes up there, and he will
speak to your nation from me for the release of
their prisoners; let tliem attend to liim."

Teeoshkahtay never returned to his native land.
While in Monti-eal he was taken sick, and in
thirty-three days he ceased to breathe; and, fol-
lowed by white men, his body was interred in the
white man's grave.

Le Sueur instead of going back to Minnesota
that year, as was expected, went to France and
received a license, in 1697, to open certain mines
supposed to exist in Minnesota. The ship in
which he was returning was captured by the Eng-
lish, and he was taken to England. After his
release he went back to France, and, in 1698, ob-
tained a new commission for mining.

AVhile Le Sueur was in Europe, the Dahkotas
waged war against the Foxes and Miamis. In
retaliation, the latter raised a war party and en-
tered the land of the Dahkotahs. Finding their
foes intrenched, and assisted l)y " coureurs des
bois," they were mdignant; and on their return
they had a skirmish with some Ficnchmen, who
were carrying goods to the Dahkotahs.

Shortly after, they met Perrot, and were about
to burn him to death, when prevented by some

LE SUUUB ASCENDS THE MISSISIPPI lilVER.

friendly Foxes. Tlie Jliamis, after this, were
disposed to be friendly to the InKjuois. In 169(>,
the year ]irevious, the authorities at Quebec de-
cided that it was expedient to abandon all the
posts west of Mackinaw-, and withdraw the French
from Wiseonsin and ]Miiniesota.

Tlie voyageurs were not disjiosed to leave the
country, and the governor wrote to Pontcbar-
train for instructions, in October, 1608. In his
dispatch be remarks:

" III this conjunctiire, and nnder all these cir-
cumstances, we consider it our duty to posti)one,
imtil new instructions from the court, the execu-
tion of Sieur Le Sueur"s enterprise for the mines,
though the promise had already been given him
to send two canoes in advance to ilissilimackinac,
for the purpose of purchasing there some pro-
visions and other necessaries for his voyage, and
that he would be permitted to go and join them
early in the spring with the rest of his bands.
■\\niat led ns to adopt this resolution has been.
that the French who remained to trade off with
the Five Xations the remainder of their merch-
andise, might, on seeing entirely new comers
arriving there, consider themselves entitled to
dispense with coming do'mi, and perhaps adopt
the resolution to settle there; whilst, seeing no
arrival there, with permission to do what is for-
bidden, the rellection they will be able to make
during the winter, and the apprehension of being
guilty of crime, may oblige them to return in the
spring.

" This would be very desirable, in consequence
of the great difficulty there will Ije in constraining
them to it. should they be inclined to lift the mask
altogether and become buccaneers; or should
Sieur Le Sueur, as he easily could do, furnish
them with goods for their beaver and smaller
peltry, which he might send down by tlie return of
other Frenchmen, whose sole desire is to obey, and
who have remained only because of the impossi-
bility of getting their effects down. This would
rather induce those who would continue to lead a
vagabond life to remain there, as tlie goods tliey
would receive from Le Sueur's people would afford
them the means of doing .so."

In reply to tliis communication, Louis XI \'.
answered that —

" Ills majesty has approved that the late Sieur
<ie Fronteuacand De Champigny suspended the

execution of the license granted to the man named
Le Sueur to proceed, with fifty men, to explore
some mines on the banks of the Mississi]ipi. He
has revoked said license, and desires that tlie said
Le Sueur, or any other person, be prevented from
leaving the colony on ]iretence of going in search
of mines, without his majesty's express permis-
sion."

Le Suenr, undaunted by these drawbacks to the
prosecution of a favorite project, again visited
France.

Fortimately for Le Suenr, D'Iberville, who was
a friend, and closely connected by marriage, was
appointed governor of the new territory of Louis-
iana. In the month of December be arrived from
France, v\dth thirty workmen, to proceed to the
supposed mines in Jlinnesota.

On the thirteenth of .July, 1700, with a felucca,
two canoes, and nineteen men, having ascended
the Mississippi, he had reached the mouth of the
Missouri, and six leagues above this he passed the
Illinois. He there met three Canadians, who
came to join him, with a letter from Father Mar-
est, who had once attempted a mission among the
Dahkotabs, dated .July 1.3, Mission Immaculate
(.'onception of the Holy Virgin, in Illinois.

" I have the honor to write, in order to inform
you that the Sangiestas have been defeated 1 ly the
.Scioux and Ayavois [lowas]. The people have
formed an alliance with the Qiiincapous [Kicka-
poos], some of the Mecoutins, Renards [Foxes],
and Iiletesigamias, and gone to revenge them-
selves, not on the Scioux, for they are too much
afraid of them, but perhaps on the Ayavois, or
very likely upon the Paoutees, or more probably
upon the Osages, for these suspect nothing, and
the others are on their guard.

"As you will probably meet these allied na-
tions, you ought to take precaution against their
plans, and not allow them to board yom- vessel,
since tlicij arc tmilnrs, and utterly faithless. I pray
(iod to accompany you in all your designs.''

Twenty-two leagues above the Illinois, he passed
a small stream which he called the River of Oxen,
and nine leagues beyond this he passed a small
river on the west side, where he met four (,'ana-
dians descending the Mississipi)i. on their way to
the Illinois. On the 30th of -Inly, nine leagues
above the last-named river, he met seventeen
Scioux, in seven canoes, who were going to re-

EXPLOREBS AND PIONEEBS OF MINNESOTA.

venge the death of three Scioux, one of whom had
been burned, and the others killed, at Tamarois,
a few days before liis arrival in that village. As
he had promised the chief of the IlUnois to ap-
pease the Scioux who should go to war against
his nation, he made a present to the chief of the
party to engage him to turn back. He told them
the King of France did not msh them to make
this river more bloody, and that he was sent to tell
them that, if they obeyed the king's word, they
would receive in future all things necessary for
them. The chief answered that he accepted the
present, that is to say, that he would do as had
been told him.

From the 30th of July to the 25th of August, Le
Sueur advanced fifty-ttoee and one-fourth leagues
to a small river which he called the River of the
Mine. At the mouth it runs from the north, but
it turns to the northeast. On the right seven
leagues, there is a lead mine iu a prairie, one and
a half leagues. The river is only navigable in
high water, tliat is to say, from early spring tUl
the month of June.

From the 2.5tli to the 27th he made ten leagues,
passed two small rivers, and made himself ae-
quauited with a mine of lead, from wliich lie took
a supply. From the 27th to the 30th he made
eleven and a half leagues, and met five Canadians,
one of wliom had been dangerously wounded in
the head. They were naked, and had no ammu-
nition except a miserable gun, with five or six
loads of powder and balls. They said they were
descending from the Scioux to go to Tamarois,
and, when seventy leagues above, tliey perceived
nine canoes in the Mississippi, in which were
ninety savages, wlio rol)bed and cruelly beat tliem.
Tills party were going to war against the Scioux,
and were composed of. four different nations, the
Ontagamies [Foxes], Poutouwatamls [Pottowatta-
mies], and Puans [Winnebagoes], who dwell in a
connti'y eighty leagues east of the Mississippi
from where Le Sueur then was.

Tl le ( 'anadians determined to follow the detach-
ment, which was composed of twenty-eight men.
This (lay they made seven and a half leagues.
On the 1st of September he passed the Wisconsm
river. It runs into the Mississippi from the north-
east. It is nearly one and a half miles wide. At
about seventy-five leagues up this river, on the
right, ascenduig, there is a portage of more than

a league. The half of this portage is shaking
ground, and at the end of it is a small river which
descends into a bay called AVimiebago Bay. It is
inhabited by a great nmuber of nations who carry
their fiu-s to Canada. Monsieiu: Le Sueur came
by the Wisconsin river to the ^Mississippi, for the
first time, in 1683, on his \\ay to the Scioux coun-
try, where he had already passed seven years at
different periods. The Mississippi, opposite the
month of the Wisconsm, is less than half a mile
wide. From the 1st of September to the -ith, our
voyageur advanced fourteen leagues. He passed
the river " Aux Canots," which comes from the
northeast, and then the Quincapous, named from
a nation which once dwelt iipou its banks.

From the 5th to the 9th he made ten and a half
leagues, and passed the rivers Cachee and ^Vux
Ailes. The same day he perceived canoes, filled
with savages, descending the river, and the five
Canadians recognized them as the party who had
robbed them. They placed sentinels in the wood,
for fear of being surprised by land, and when
they had approached within hearing, they cried to
them that if they approached farther they would
fire. They then drew up by an island, at half the
distance of a gun shot. Siion, four of the princi-
pal men of the band approached in a canoe, and
asked if it was forgotten that they were our
brethren, and with what design we had taken
arms when we perceived them. Le Sueur replied
that he had cause to distrust them, since they had
robbed five of his party. Jfevertheless, for the
sm-ety of his trade, being forced to ))e at peace
with all the tribes, he demanded no redi'ess for
the robbery, but added merely that the king, their
master and his, wished that his sulijects should
na\'igate that river without insult, and that they
had better beware how they acted.

The Indian who had spoken was silent, but an-
other said they had been attacked by the Scioux,
and that if they did not have pity on them, and
give them a little jjowder, they should not be able
to reach their villages. The consideration of a
missionary, who was to go up among the Scioux,
and whom these savages might meet, mduced
them to give two pounds of powder.

M. Le Sueur made the same day three leagues;
passed a stream on the west, and afterward an-
other river on the east, which is navigable at aU
times, and which the Indians call Ked River.

BATTLESNAKES ON SHOBES OF LAKE I'El'IX.

On the 10th, at daybreak, they heard an elk
whistle, on the other side of the river. A Cana-
dian crossed in a small Scioux canoe, which they
had found, and shortly retimied with the body of
the animal, which w'as very easily killed, '■ (juand
11 est en rut," that is, from the beginnhig of Sep-
tember nntil the end of October. The hunters at
this time made a whistle of a i)iece of wood, or
reed, and when they hear an elk whistle they an-
swer it. The animal, lielieviiiij; it to be another
elk, ajiproaclies, and is killed with ease.

From the 10th to the 14th, ]M. Le Sueur made
seventeen and a half leagues, passing the rivers
Eaisin and Paquilenettes (perhaps the Wazi O/.u
and Buffalo.) The same day he left, on the east
side of the ^lississippi, a beautiful and large river,
which descends from the very far north, and
called Bon Secours (Chippeway), on account of the
great quantity of buffalo, elk, bears and deers
which are found there. Three leagues up this
river there is a mine of lead, and seven leagues
above, on the same side, they found another long
river, in the vicinity of which there is a copjjer
mine, from A^hich he had taken a lump of sixty
pounds in a former voyage. In order to make
these mines of any account, peace must be ob-
tained between the Scioux and Ouatagamis (Fox-
es), because the latter, who dwell on the east side
of the Mississippi, pass this road continually when
going to war against the Sioux.

Penicaut, in his journal, gives a brief descrip-
tion of the ilississippi between the AMsconsin
and Lake Pepin. He writes: "Above the Wis-
consin, and ten leagues higher on the same side,
begins a great prairie extending for sixty leagues
along the bank; this prairie is called Aux Ailes.
Opposite to Aux Ailes, on the left, there is
another prairie facmg it called Paquilanet which
is not so long by a great deal. Twenty leagues
above these prairies is found Lake Bon Secours "
[Cood Help, now Pepin.]

In this region, at one and a half leagues on the
northwest side, commenced a lake, which is six
leagues long and more than one broad, called
Lake Pepin. It is bounded on the west by a
chain of mountains; on the east is seen a prame;
and on the northwest of the lake there is another
prairie two leagues long and one wide. In the
neighborhood is a chain of mountains quite two
hundred feet high, and more than one and a half

miles long. In these are found several caves, to
which the bears retire in winter. Most of the
caverns are more than seventy feet in extent, and
two hundred feet high. There are several of
which the entrance is very narrow, and qinte
closed up with saltpetre. It woidd be dangerous
to enter them in summer, for they are filled with
rattlesnakes, the liite of which is very dangerous.
Le Sueur saw some of these snakes which were
six feet in length, but generally they are about
four feet. They have teeth resembling those of
the pike, and their gums are full of small vessels,
in which their poison is placed. The Scioux say
they tqke it every mornin ;, and cast it away at
night. They have at the tail a kind of scale which
makes a noise, and this is called the rattle.

Le Sueur made on this day seven and a half
leagues, and passed another river, called Iliam-
bouxeeate Ouataba, or the Elver of Flat Rock.
[The Sioux call the ("aiuion river Inyanbosndata.]

On the loth he crossed a small river, and saw
in the neighborhood several canoes, fdled with
Indians, descending the ^lississippi. lie sup-
posed they were Scioux, because he could not dis-
tinguish whether the canoes were large or small.
The arms were placed in readiness, and soon they
heard the cry of the savages, which they are ac-
customed to raise when they rush upon their en-
emies. He caused them to be answered in the
same mamier; and after having placed all the
men behind the trees, he ordered them not to fire
until they were commanded. He remained on
shore to see what movement the savages woidd
make, and perceiving that they placed two on
shore, on the other side, where from an eminence
they could ascertain the strength of his forces, he
caused the men to pass and rejiass from the shore
to the wood, in order to make them believe that
they were numerous. Tliis ruse succeeded, for
as soon as the two descended from the eminence
the chief of the party came, bearing the calumet,
which is a signal of peace among the Indians.
They said that having never seen the French navi-
gate the river with boats like the felucca, they had
supposed them to be English, and for that reason
they had raised the war cry, and arranged them-
selves on the other side of the Mississippi; but
having recognized their flag, they had come with-
out fear to inform them, that one of their num-
ber, who was crazy, had accidentally killed a

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

Frenchman, and that they would go and brhig his
comrade, who would tell how the mischief had
happened.

The Frenclunan they brought was Denis, a Ca-
nadian, and he reported tliat his companion was
accidentally killed. His name was Laplace, a de-
serthig soldier from Canada, ^\■ho liad tahen ref-
uge in this country.

Le Sueur replied, that Onontio (the name they
give to all the governors of ('anada), being their
father and his, they ought not tt) seek justification
elsewhere than before him; and he advised them
to go and see him as soon as possible, and beg
him to wipe of£ the blood of tliis Frenchman from
their faces.

The party was composed of forty-seven men of
different nations, who dwell far to the east, about
the forty-fourth degree of latitude. Le Sueur,
discovering who tlie chiefs were, said the king
whom they had spoken of in Canada, had sent
him to take possession of the north of the river;
and that he wished the nations who dwell on it,
as well as those under his protection, to live in
peace.

He made this day three and tin-ee-fourtlis
leagues; and on the Kith of September, he left a
large river on tlie east side, named St. Croix, he-
cause n FnnrliDian (if tliat name icris nhipa-ricJced
at its mouth. It comes from the north-northwest.
Four leagues higher, in going up, is foinid a small
lake, at the mouth of which is a very large mass
of copper. It is on the edge of the water, in a
small ridge of sandy earth, on the west of this
lake. [One of La Salle's men was named St.
Croi.\.]

From the liitli to the 19th, he advanced thir-
teen and tliree-fourths leagues. After liaving
made from Taniarois two hundred and nine and a
half leagues, he left the navigation of the Missis-
sippi, to enter the river St. I'ierre, on the west
side. By the 1st of October, he had made in this
river forty-foui- and one-fourth leagues. After he
entered I'jlue river, thus named on account of the
mines of blue earth found at its mouth, he fomid-
ed his post, situated in forty-four degrees, thir-
teen minutes north latitude. He met at this
place nine Scioux, wlio tol<l liim tliat the river
belonged to the Seiotix of the west, the Ayavois
(lowas) and Otoctatas (Ottoes). who lived a little
farther off: that it was not their custom to hunt

on ground belonging to others, unless invited to
do so by the owners, and that when they would
come to the fort to obtain provisions, they would
be in danger of being killed in ascending or de-
scending the rivers, v.'hich were narrow, and that
if they woidd show their pity, he must establish
iiimsclf on the llississippi, near the mouth of the St.
Pierre, where the Ayavois, the Otoctatas, and the
other Scioux could go as well as they.

Having finished their speech, they leaned over
the head of Le Sueur, according to their custom,
crying out, "Onaechissou ouaepanimanabo," that
is to say, " Have pity upon us." Le Suenr had
foreseen that the establishment of Blue Earth
river would not please the Scioux of the East,
who were, so to speak, masters of the other Scioux
and of the nations wliich will 1)6 hereafter men-
tioned, hec(tuse they icere the first with whom trade
leas commenced, and in consequence of which they
had already quite a number of guns.

As he had commenced his operations not only
with a view to the trade of beaver but also to
gain a knowledge of the mines which he had pre-
viously discovered, he told them that he was sor-
ry that he had not known their intentions sooner,
and that it was .iust, since he came expressly for
them, that he sh(udd establish himself on their
land, liut tliat the season was too far advanced
for him to return. He then made them a present
of powder, balls and knives, and an armful of to-
bacco, to entice them to assemble, as soon as pos-
sible, near the fort he was about to construct,
that when they should be all assembled he might
tell them the intention of the king, their and his
sovereign.

The Scioux of the "West, according to the state-
ment of the Eastern Scioux, have more than a
thousanil lodges. They do not use canoes, nor
cultivate the earth, nor gather wild rice. They
remain generally on the prairies which are be-
tween the Upper Mississippi and jNIissouri rivers,
and live entirely by the chase. The Scioux gen-
erally say they have three souls, and that after
death, that which has done well goes to the warm
country, that which has done evil to the cold
regions, and the other guard.s the body. I'oly-
gamy is common among them. They are very
jealous, and sometimes fight in duel for their
wives. Tliey manage the bow admirably, and
have been seen several times to kill ducks on the

BLrj!J EARTH ASSAYED BY VHVLLlEli IN I'AUIS.

wmft. They make their lodges of a imnilier of
bulTalo skins interlaced and sewed, ami cany
them wlierever they go. They are all great smo-
kers, but their manner of smoking differs from
that of other Indians. There are some Sciou.x
who swallow all the smoke of the tobacco, and
others who, after having keiit it some time in
their mouth, cause it to issue from the nose. In
each lodge there are usually two or three men
witli their families.

On the third of October, they received at the
fort several Scioux, among whom was AVahkan-
lape, cliief of the village. Soon tu-o Canadians
arrived wlio liad been hunting, and who had been
robbed by the Scioux of the Kast. who had raised
their guns against the establishment which M.
Le Sueur had made on IJhie Karth river.

On the fourteenth the fort was linished and
named Fort L'lluillier. and on Die twenty-second
two Canadians were sent out to invite the Aya-
vois and Otoctatas to come and establish a vil-
lage near the fort, because tliese Indians are m-
dustrious and accustomed to cultivate the earth,
and they hoped to get provisions from them, and
to niake them work in the mines.

On the twenty-fourth, six Scioux Oujalespoi-
tons wished to go into tlie fort, but were told
that they did not receive men who had killed
Fi'enclmien. This is the term used when they
have instdted tliem. The next day Ihey came to
the lodge of Le Sueur to beg liim to have pity on
them. They wished, according to custom, to
weep over his head and make him a present of
packs of beavers, which he refused. He told
them he was surprised that people who had rol)-
bed should come to him ; to which they replied
that they liad heard it said that two Frenchmen
had been robbed, but none from their village had
l)eeu present at tliat wicked action.

Le Sueur answered, that he knew it was tlie
Mendeoncantons and not the Oujalespoitons :
" but." continued he, "yon are Scioux; it is the
Scioux who have robbed me. and if I were to fol-
low your manner of acting I should break yom-
heads; for is it not true, tiiat when a stranger
(it is thus they call the Indians wlio are not
Scioux) has insulted a Scioux, ilendeoucanton.
( )ujale.spoitons. or others — all the villages revenge
upon the lirst one they meetV"
As they had nothing to answer to what he said

to them, they wept and rejieated, ac('oi'ding to
custom, " Ouaecliissou I ouaepanimaual)o !"' Le
Sueur told them to cease crying, and added that
the French had good liearts, and tliat they had
come into tlie country to have pity on tliem. At
the same time lie made them a present, saying to
them. ■• Carry liack your beavers and say to all
the Scioux. that tliey will have from me no more
powder or lead, and they will no longer smoke
any long pipe until they have made satisfaction
for robbing the Frenchman.

Tlie same day the Canadians, who had been
sent off on the 22d. arrived without liaving found
the road which led to the Ayavois and Otoctatas.
On the 26tli, Le Sueur went to the river with
three canoes, which he tilled with green and blue
earth. It is taken from the hills near which are
very abundant mhies of copper, some of which
was worked at Paris in IH'.id. liy I/IIuillier. one
of the chief collectors of the king. Stones were
also found there wliicli would be curious, if
worked.

On the ninth of Novemlier, eight iSIautanton
Scioux arrived, who had been sent li\- their chiefs
to say that the Mcndcoucantona wci-e still at their
hdr on tin east of tlie Mississiiqji- and they could
not come for a long time ; and that for a single
village wliich had no good sense, tlie otliers ought
not to bear the punishment ; and that they were
willing to make reparation if tliey knew how.
Le Sueur replied that he was glad that they had
a disposition to do so.

On the loth the two Mantanton Scioux. wlio
had been sent expiessly to say that all of the
Scioux of the east, and part of those of the west,
were joined together to come to the French, be-
cause they had heard that the Christiaiiaux and
the Assiniiioils were making war on them.
These two nations dwell aliove llie fort on the
east side, more than eiglity leagues on tlie Upper
Mississippi.

Tlie xVssinipoils speak Scioux, and are certainly
of that nation. It is only a few years since that
they became enemies. The enmity thus origi-
nated: The Cliristianaiix, having the use of arms
before the Scioux, through tlie English at Hud-
son's Bay, they constantly warred upon the As-
siuipoils, wlio were their nearest neighbors.
The latter, being weak, sued for peace, and to
render it more lasting, married the Christianaux

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

women. The other Scioux, who had not made
the compact, continued tliewar; and, seeing some
Christianaux with the Assinipoils, broke tlieir
heads. The Christianaux furnished the Assini-
poils with arms and merchandise.

On the l(5th the Scioux returned to their vil-
lage, and it was reported that tlie Ayavois and
Otoctatas were gone to establish themselves to-
wards the jNIissouri River, near the Maha, who
dwell in tliat region. On the 2{5th the Mantan-
tons and Oujalesi)oitons arrived at the fort; and,
after they had encamped in the woods, Wah
kantape came to beg Le Sueur to go to his
lodge. He there finuid sixteen men willi women
and children, with their faces daubed with black.
In the middle of the lodge were several buffalo
skins wliicli were sewed for a carpet. After mo-
tioning liim to sit down, they wept for the fourth
of an liour, and the chief gave him some wild
rice to eat (as was their custom), putting the
first three spoonsful to his mouth. After which,
he said all present were relatives of Tioscate,
whom Le Sueur took to Canada in 1695, and who
died there in 1696.

At the mention of Tioscate they began to weep
again, and wipe tlieir tears and heads upon the
shoulders of Le Sueur. Tlien AVabkantape again
spoke, and said tliat Tioscate liegged him to for-
get the insult done to the Frenchmen by the
Mendeoucantons, and take pity on his brethren
by giving them powder and balls whereby they
could defend tliemselves, and gain a living for
their wives and clnldren,who languish in a coun-
try fidl of game, because they had not the means
of killing them. " Look," added the chief, " Be-
hold tliy cliildreu, thy brethren, and thy sisters;
it is to thee to see wlietlier tliou wisliest them to
(lie. They will live if thou givest them powder
and Ijall; they will die if thou refusest."

Le Sueur granted them tlieir request, but as
the Scioux never answer on the spot, especially
in matters of importance, and as he had to speak
to them aliout his establishment he went out of
tlie lodge witliout saying a word. The chief and
all tliose witliiu followed liim as far as tlie door.
of the fort; and wlieu he had gone in. tliey went
around it tlirce times, crying with all their
strengtli, " Atlicouanaii! " that istosay, " Father,
have pity on us."' [Ate unyanpi, means Our
Father.]

The next day, he assembled in the fort the
principal men of both villages; and as it is not
possible to subdue the Scioux or to hinder them
from going to war, unless it be by inducing them
to cultivate the earth, he said to them that if
they wished to render themselves worthy of the
protection of the king, tliey must abandon tlieir
erring life, and form a village near his dwelling,
where they would be shielded from the insults of
of their enemies; and that they might be happy
and not hungry, he would give them all the corn
necessary to plant a large piece of ground; that
the king, their and his chief, in sending liim, had
forbidden bira to purchase beaver skins, knowing
that tliis kind of liunting separates tliem and ex-
poses tliem to their enemies; and that in conse-
quence of tliis he had come to establish himself
on Blue River and vicinity, where they had many
times assured him were many kinds of beasts,
for the skins of which he would give tlietn all
tilings necessary; that they ought to reflect that
they could not do without French goods, and that
tlie only way not to want them was, not to go to
war with our allied nations.

As it is customary with the Indians to accom-
pany their word with a present proportioned to
the affair treated of, he gave them fifty pounds of
jiowder, as many ball's, six guns, ten axes, twelve
armsful of tobacco, and a hatchet pipe.

On tlie first of December, the JIantantons in-
vited Le Sueur to a great feast. Of four of their
lodges they liad made one, in which were one
hundred men seated around, and every one his
dish before him. After the meal, Wahkantape,
llie chief, made them all smoke, one after another,
in the hatchet pipe which had been given them,
lie then made a present to Le Sueur of a slave
and a sack of wild rice, and said to him, showing
him his men: " Behold the remains of this great
village, which thou hast aforetimes seen so nu-
merous! All the others have been killed in war;
and the few men whom thou seest in this lodge,
accept the present thou hast made them, and are
resolved to oliey the great chief of all nations, of
whom tliou hast spoken to us. Thou ouglitest
not to regard us as Scioux, but as French, and in-
stead of saying tlie Scioux are miserable, and liave
no mind, and are fit for nothing but to rob and
steal from the French, thou shalt say my breth-
ren are miserable and have no mind, and we must

D'IBEBVILLE'S MEMOITt ON THE MlSSISSIl'}' I 'I'IHHES.

try to procure some for tliem. They rob us, but
I will take care that they do not lack iron, that is
to say, all kinds of goods. If thou dost this, 1 as-
sure thee that in a little time the Mantantons will
become Frenchmen, and they will have none of
those vices, with which thou reiiroachest us."

Having finished his speech, he covered his lace
with his garment, and the others imitated him.
They wept over their companions who had died
in war, and chanted an adieu to their country in
a tone so gloomy, that one could not keep from
partaking of their sorrow.

Wahkantape then made them smoke again, and
distributed the presents, and said that he was go-
ing to the ^lendeoueantons, to inform them of the
resolution, and invite them to do the same.

On the twelfth, three Mendeoucauton chiefs,
and a large number of Indians of the same vil-
lage, arrived at the fort, and the next day gave
satisfaction for robbing the Frenchmen. They
brought four hundred pounds of beaver skins, and
promised that the summer following, after their
canoes were built and they had gathered their
wild rice, that they would come and establish
themselves near the French. The same day they
returned to their village east of the Mississippi.

NAMES OF TUE BANDS OF SCIOUX OF THE
EAST, WITH THEIK SICiNIFICATION.

Mantantons— That is to say, A'illage of the
Great Lake which empties into a small one.

Mendeouacantons— Village of Spirit Lake.

QuioPETONS — Village of the Lake with one
River.

PsiouMANiTONS— Village of "Wild Rice Gath-
erers.

OuADEBATONs— The River Village.

OuAETEMANETONS— Village of the Tribe who
dwell on the Point of tlie Lake.

SONUASQUITONS — The Brave Village,

THE SCIOUX OF THE WEST.

ToucHOUAESixTONs— The Village of the Pole.

PsiNCHATOXs— Milage of the Red Wild Rice.

OujALESPOiTOXS — Village divided into many
small Bands.

PsiNouTANHiNHixTONS — The Great AVild
Rice Village.

TiNTANGAOUGHiATONs — The Grand Lodge
Village.

OUAEPETONS — Village of the Leaf.

OUGHETGEODATONS— Dung Village.

OuAPEONTETONs — Village of those who shoot
in the Large Pine.

IIiNHANETONS — ^'illage of the Ri^d Stone
(Juarry.

The above catalogue of villages (^includes the
extract that La Ilarpe has made from Le Sueur's
journal.

In the narrative of Major Long's second expe-
dition, there are just as many villages of the Gens
du Lac, or M'dewakantimwan ScioiLX mentioned,
though the names are different. After leaving
the iliUe Lac region, the divisions evidently were
different, and the villages known by new names.

Charlevoix, who visited the valley of the Lower
Mississippi in 1722, says that Le Sueur spent a
winter in his fort on the banks of the Blue Earth,
and that in the following April he went up to the
mine, about a mile above. In twenty-two days
they obtained more than Uiirty thousand pounds
of the substance, four thousand of which were se-
lected and sent to France.

On the tenth of February, 1702, Le Sueur came
back to the post on the Gulf of Mexico, and fomid
DTben-ille absent, who, however, arrived on the
eighteenth of the next month, with a ship from
France , loaded with supplies. After a few weeks,
the Governor of Louisiana sailed again for the
old coiintry, Le Sueur being a fellow passenger.

On board of the ship, DTberville wrote a mem-
orial upon the Mississippi valley, with sugges-
tions for carrying on commerce therein, which
contains many facts furnished liy Le Sueur. A
copy of the manuscript A\ns in jiossession of the
Historical Society of Minnesota, from which are
the followmg extracts:

"If the Sioux remain in their own countiy,
they are useless to us, being too distant. We
could have no commerce with them except that
of the beaver. M. Le Sueur, tcho goes to France
to give an account of this country, is the proper per-
son to make these movements. He estimates the
Sioux at four thousand famiUes, who could settle
upon the ^Missouri.

"He has spoken to me of another which he
calls the Mahas, composed of more than twelve
hundred famiUes. The Ayoones (loways) and the
Octoctatas, their neighbors, are about three
hundred families. They occupy the lands be-

EXPLOBEJRS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

tween the Mississippi and the Missouri, about
one hundred leagues from the lOinois. Tiiese
savages do not Isuow the use of arms, and a de-
scent might be made upon them in a river, Mhicli
is beyond ttie AVabash on the west. * * *

" The Assmibouel, Quenistinos, and people of
the north, who are upon the rivers which fall into
the Mississippi, and trade at Fort Kelson (Hud-
son Bay), are about four hundred. We could
prevent them from going there if we wish."

" In four or five years we can establish a com-
merce with these savages of sixty or eighty thou-
sand buffalo skins; more than one hundred deer
skins, AAliidi 'will produce, delivered in France,
more than two million four hundred thousand
livres yearly. One might obtain for a Iniffalo
skin four or five pounds of wool, which sells for
twenty sous, two potinds of coarse hair at ten
sous.

"Besides, from smaller peltries, two hundred
thousand livres can be made yearly.''

In the third \-olume of the " History and Sta-
tistics of the Indian Tribes," prepared under the
direction of the Commissioner of Indian affairs,
by Mr. Schoolcraft, a manuscript, a copy of which
was in possession of General Cass, is referred to as
containing tlie first enumeration of the Indians of
the Mississippi A'alley. The following was made
thirty-fo>ir years earlier by DTberville:

"The Sioux, Families, 4,000

Mahas, 12,000

Octata and Ayoues, 300

Causes [Kansas], I,o00

Missouri, 1,500

Akansas, &c., 200

:Mant()n piandanj 100

Panis [Pawnee], 2.000

Illinois, of the great village and Cama-

roua [Tamaroa], soo

!Meosigamea [^Nletchigamias], .... 200
Kikapous and jNlascouteus, .... 4o0

Miamis, . , 500

Chaclas, 4,000

Chicaclias, 2,000

Mobiliens and Chohomes, 350

Concaques [Conchas], 2,000

Ouma [Iloumas], 150

Colapissa, 2-50

Bayogoula, 100

People of the Fork, 200

Counica, &c. [Tonicas], . .

Xadeclies,

Belochy, [Biloxi] Pascoboula,

300

1,500

100

Total, 23,850

" The savage tribes located in the places I have .
marked out, make it necessary to establish three
posts on the Mississippi, one at the Arkansas,
another at the AVabash (Ohio), and the third at
the ilissouri. At each post it would be proiJer
to have an officer with a detachment of ten sol-
diers with a sergeant and corporal. All French-
men should be allowed to settle there with their
families, and trade with the Indians, and they
might establish tanneries for properly dressmg
the buffalo and deer skins for transportation.

" Xo Frenclunan Khali be allnwcd to folloic the
Indians on their hunts, as it tends to keep tlumi
hunters, as is seen in Canada, and when they are
in the woods, they do not desire to become tilters
of the soil. *******

" I have said nothing in this memoir of which
I have not personal knowledge or the most relia-
ble sources. The most of what I propose is
founded upon personal reflection in relation to
what might be done for the defence and advance-
ment of the colony. *****
* * * It will be absolutely necessary
that the long should define the limits of this
country in relation to the government of Canada.
It is important that the commandant of the
Mississippi should have a report of those who
inhabit the rivers that fall into the Mississippi,
and principally those of the river Illinois.

" The Canadians intimate to the savages that
they ought not to listen to us but to the governor
of Canada, who always speaks to them with large
presents, that the governor of JSIississippi is mean
and never sends them any thing. This is true,
and what I cannot do. It is iinjirudent to accus-
tom the savages to be spoken to by presents, for,
with so many, it would cost the king more than
the revenue derived from the trade. AVhen they
come to us, it will be necessary to bring them in
subjection, make them no presents, and compel
them to do wliat we wish, ((.s if they were French-
men.

" The Spaniards have divided thb Indians into
parties on this point, and we can do tlie same.
AVlien one nation does wrong, we can cease to

PENICAUT DEtiClUBES LIFE AT FORT L'lIUILLlER.

trade ■with them, and threaten to draw down tlic
hostility of otlier Indians. AVe rectify the diffi-
culty by h<iviiig missionaries, who will bring
them into obedience secretly.

" Tlie Illinois and JSIascoutens luivc detained
the French canoes they find iipouthe Mississippi,
saying that the governors of Canada have given
them permission. I do not know whether this is
so, but if true, it follows tliat we liave not the
liberty to send any one on the Mississijipi.

'■ M. Le Sueur would have been taken if he
had not been the strongest. Only one of the
canoes he sent to the Sioux wasphmdered." * * *

Penicaut'S account varies in some particulars
from that of La Ilarpe's. lie calls the JMahkalito
Green River instead of Blue and -writes: '■ ^\'e
took our route by its mouth and ascended it forty
leagues, when we found another river falling in-
to the Saint Pierre, which we entered. "We
Jailed this the Green Piver because it is of that
color by reason of a green earth which loosening
itself from from the copper mines, becomes dis-
solved and makes it green.

" A league up this river, we found a pomt
of land a quarter of a league distant from the
woods, and it was upon this point that M. Le
Sueur resolved to build his fort, because we coidd
not go any higher on account of the ice, it being
the last day of Septemlier. Half of our people
\vent hunting whilst the others worked on the
fort, "\^'e killed four himdred buffaloes, which
were our provisions for the winter, and which we
placed upon scaffolds in om- fort, after having
skinned and cleaned and quartered them. "We
also made cabins in the fort, and a magazine to
keep our goods. After having drawn up our
shallop within the inclosm-eof the fort, we spent
the winter m our cabins.

" When we were working in our fort in the
begimiing seven French traders from Canada
took refuge there. They had been pillaged and
•stripped naked by the Sioux, a wandering nation
living only Ity hunthig and plundering. Among
these seven persons there was a Canadian gen-
tleman of Le Sueur's acquamtance, whom he rec-
ognized at once, and gave him some clothes, as
he did also to all the rest, and whatever else was
necessary for them. They remained with us
during the entire winter at our fort, where we
had not food enough for all, except buffalo meat

which we had not even salt to eat with. AVe had
a good deal of trouble the fii'st two weeks in ac-
customing ourselves to it, having fever and di-
arrluea and becoming so tired of it as to hate the
smell. Put by degrees our bodies became adapt-
ed to it so well that at the end of six weeks tliere
was not one of us who could not eat six pounds
of meat a day, and drink four bowls of broth.
As soon as we were accustomeil to this kind of
living it made us very fat, and then there was no
more sickness.

" AMien spring arrived we went to work in the
copper mine. Tins was the beginning of Ajiril of
this year [1701.] "We took with us tweh-e labor-
ers and four hunters. This mine was situated
aljout three-quarters of a league from our post.
"We took from the mine in twenty days more than
twenty thousand pounds weight of ore, of which
we only selected four thousand pounds of the
ilnest, wliicli M. Le Sueur, who \\as a very good
judgaof it, had carried to the fort, and whicli has
since been sent to France, though I have not
learned the result.

'• This mine is situated at the beginning of a
very long mountain, which is uijon the bank of
the river, so that Itoats can go right to the mouth
of the mine itself. At this place is the green
earth, which is a foot and a half ui thickness,
and above it is a layer of earth as Arm and
hard as stone, and black and burnt like coal by
tlie exhalation from the mine. Tlie copjjcr is
scratched out with a knife. There are no trees
upon this moinitain. * * * ^Vf ter twenty-two
days' work, we returned to our fort. When the
Sioux, who belong to tlie nation of savages who
pillaged the Canadians, came they brought us
merchandize of furs.

" They had more than four hundred beaver
robes, each robe made of nine skins sewed to-
gether. M. Le Sueur purchased tliese and many
other skins which he bargained for, in the week
he traded with the savages. * * * *
We sell in return wares wliich come very dear to
tlie buyers, especially tobacco from Brazil, in the
jiropeniion of a hundred crowns tlie pound; two
little horn-handled knives, and four leaden liul-
lets are equal to ten crowns in exchange for
skins ; and so with the rest.

" In tlie beginning of May, we launched our
shallop ui the water, and loaded it with green

EXPLOREBS AND nONEEBS OF MIXNESOTA.

earth that had been taken ont of the river, and
with tlie furs we luid traded for, of wliicli we liad
three canoes full. M. Le Sueur before gomg
held council with M. D'Eva(iue [or Eraque] the
Canadian gentleman, and the three great chiefs
of the Sioux, three brothers, and told them that
as he had to return to the sea, he desired them
to live in peace with M. D'Evaque, whom he left
in command at Fort L'lIuilUer, with twelve
Frenchmen. M. Le Sueur made a considerable
present to the three brothers, chiefs of the sava-
ges, desiring them to never abandon the Frencli.
Afterward we the twelve men whom he had chosen
to go down to the sea with him embarked. In set-
ting out, M. Le Sueur promised to M. D'Evaque
and tlie twelve Frenclimen who remained with
him fo guard the fort, to send up munitions of
war from the Illinois country as soon as he sliould
arrive there ; which he did, for on getting there
he sent off to him a canoe loaded with two thou-
sand pomids of lead and powder, \\itli three of
our pe()i)Ie in charge."

Le Sueur arrived at the French fort on the
Gulf of Mexico in safety, and in a few weeks, in
the spring of 1701, sailed for France, with his
kinsman, D'lberville, the tirst govei'uor of Lou-
isiana.

In the spring of the next year (1702) D'Evaque
came to Mobile and reported to D'Iberville, who
had come back from France, that lie had Ijeen
attacked by the Foxes and ^Nlaskoiitens, who killed
three Frenchmen who were workhig near Fort
L'lluillier, and that, being out of jiowder and
lead, he had been oV)liged to conceal the goods
wliicli were left and abandon tlie post. At the
Wisconsin Kiver he had met .Juchereau, formerly
criminal judge in Montreal, with thirty-flvo
men, on Ids way to establish a tannery for bulfalo
skins at the Wabash, and that at the Illinois he
met the canoe of supplies sent by Bienville,
DT)erville"s lirother.

La JNIotte Cadillac, in command at Detroit, in
a letter w^ritten on August 31st, 17o;i, alludes to
Le Sueur's expedition in these words: '■ Last
year they sent Mr. IJoudor, a Montreal merchant,
into till- country of the Sioux to join Le Su-
eur. He succeeded so well in that journey he
trans]iorted thither twenty-five or thirty thous-
and pounds of merchandize with which to trade
in all the country of the Outawas. This proved

to liim an imfortunate investment, as he has
been robbed of a part of the goods by the Outa-
gamies. The occasion of the robbery by one of
our own allies was as follows. I speak with a
full linowledgo of the facts as they occurred while
I was at Michillimackianc. From time immemo-
rial our allies have been at war with the Sioux,
and on my arrival there in conformity to the or-
der of ^1. Frontenac, the most able man who has
ever come into Canada, I attempted to negotiate
a truce between the Sioux and all our allies.
Succeeding in this negotiatiou I took the occa-
.sion to turn their arms against the Iroquois with
whom we were then at war, and soon after I ef-
fected a treaty of peace between the Sioux and
the French and theirallies which lasted two years.

"At the end of tha time the Sioux came, in
great numbers, to the villages of the Miamis, un-
der pretense of ratifying the treaty. They were
well re(;eived by tlie Miamis, and, after spending
several days in tlieir villages, departed, apparent-
ly perfectly satistied with their good reception, as
they certainly had every reason to be.

" The Miamis, believing them already far dis-
tant, slept quietly; but the Sioux, who had pre-
meditated the attack, returned the same night to
the i)riiicipal village of the Miamis, where most
of the tribe were congregated, and, taldng them
by surprise, slaughtered nearly three tliousaud('r')
and put the rest to (light..

"This perfectly infuriated all tne nations.
They came with their complauits, begging me to
join with them and exterminate the Sioux. But
the war we then had on our hands did not permit
it, so it became necessary to play the orator in a
long harangue. In conclusion I advised them to
' weep their dead, and wrap them up, and leave
them to sleep coldly till the day of vengeance
should come;' telling them we must sweep the
land on this side of the InKjuois, as it was neces-
sary to exlingiush even their memory, after which
the allied tribes could more easily avenge the
atrocious deed that the Sioux had just committed
upon them. In short, I managed them so well
that the aflfah' was settled in the manner that I
proposed.

•• But the twenty-live permits still existed, and
the cupidity of the French induced them to go
among the Sioux to trade for beaver. Our allies
cumplained bitterly of this, saying it was injust-

TRADE FORBIDDEN WITH THE SIOUX.

ice to them, as they had taken up arms in our'
quarrel against the Iroquois, wliile tlu! French
traders were carrying munitions of war to tlie
Sioux to enahle them to kill the rest of our allies
as they had the Miamis.

'■ I immediately informed M. Frontenac, and M.
Champigny having read the communication, and
commanded that an ordinance be pnblished at iMon-
treal forl)id(ling the traders to go into the (.'ountry
of tlie Sionx for the purpose of trallic under penalty
of a thousand francs fine, the confiscation of the
goods, and other arbitrary penalties. The ordi-
nance was sent to me and faithfully executed.
The same year [1699] I descended to (Quebec,
having asked to be reUeved. Since that time, in
spite of tins prohibition, the French have con-
tmued to trade with the Sioux, but not without
being subject to affronts and indignities from our
allies themselves which bring dishonor on the
French name. * * * I do not consider it best
any longer to allow the traders to carry on com-
merce with the Sioux, mider any pretext what-

ever, especially as M. Boudor has just been
robbed by the Fox nation, and M. Jncheraux has
given a thou.sand crowns, in goods, for tlu^ right
of passage through the country of tlie allies Id
his habitation.

'• Tlie allies say that Le Sueur has gone to tlie
Sioux on the Mississippi; that they are resolved
to oppose him, and if he offers any resistance they
will not be answerable for the consequences.
It would be well, therefore, to give Le Sueur
warning by the Governor of Mississippi.

"The Sauteurs [(!hippeways] being friendly
with the Sioux wished to give passage through
their country to M. Boudor and others, permit-
ting tlieni to carry arras and other munitions of
war to this nation; but the other nations liemg
opposed to it, differences have arisen between
them which have resulted in the robbery of M.
Boudor. This has given occasion to the Sau-
teurs to make an outbreak upon the Sacs and
Foxes, killing thirty or forty of them. So thero
is war among the people."

EXPLOBEBS AXD I'lOKEEBS OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTER VIII.

EVENTS WHICU LED TO BUILDING FORT BEAtTHARNOIS ON LAKE PEPIN.

Be-EsUblishment of Mackinaw.— Sieur de Louvigny at Mackinaw.— De Lignerj-
at Mackinaw.^-Louvigny Attacks the Foxes.— Du Luth's Post Reoccupicd. —
Saint Pierre at La Pointe on Lake Superior,— Preparations for a Jesuit Mission
among the Sioux. — La Perriere Boucher's Expedition to Lake Pepin. — De
Conor and Guiguas, Jesuit Missionaries.— Visit to Foxes and Winnebagoes.—
Wisconsin River Described.— Fort Beauharnois Built.— Fireworks Displayed.—
High Water at Lake Pepin.— De Conor Visits Mackinaw.— Boucherville, Mont-
brun and Guiguas Captured by Indians.— Montbrun's Escape.— Boucher%-ilIe's
Presents to Indians. — Exaggerated Account of Father Cuignas' Capture. — Ijis-
patches Concerning Fort Beauharnois.— Sieur de la Jenieraye. — Saint Pierre at
Fort Beauharnois. — Trouble between Sioux and Foxes — Sioux Visit Quebec. —
De Lusignan Visits the Sioux Country.— Saint Pierre Noticed in the Travels
of Jonathan Carver and Lieutenant Pike.

After the Fox Imliaus drove away Le Sueur's
men, in 1702, from the ISIakahto, or Bhie Earth
river, the merchants of :SIoiitreal ;hrI Quebec did
not encourage trade with tlie tribes beyond JSIaek-
inaw.

D'Aigreult, a French oflicer, sent to inspect
that post, in tlie summer of 170S, reported that
he arrived there, on the 19th of August, and
found there but fourteen or fifteen Frenchmen.
He also wrote: " Since there are now only a few
wanderers at ]\Iichilimackinack, the greater part
of the furs of the savages of the north goes to the
English trading posts on Hudson's Bay. The
Outawas are unable to make this trade by them-
selves, because the northern savages are timid,
and will not come near them, as they have often
been plundered. It is, therefore, necessary that
the French Vie allowed to seek these northern
tribes at the mouth of their own river, which
empties into Lake Superior."

Louis de la Porte, the Sieur De Louvigny, in
1690, accompanied by Nicholas Perrot, with a de-
tachment of one hundred and seventy Canadians
and Indians, came to Mackinaw, and imtil 1(J9I
was in command, when he was recalled.

In 1712, Father Joseph J. Marest the Jesuit
missionary wrote, " If this country ever needs
M. Louvigny it is now ; the savages say it is ab-
solutely necessary that he should come for the
safety of the country, to unite the tribes and to
defend those whom tlie war has caused to return
to Michilinuiciiiac. ******

I do not know what course the Pottawatomies
will take, nor even what course they will pursue
who are here, if M. Louvigny does not come, es-
pecially if the Foxes were to attiick them or us."

The next July, M. Lignery urged upon the au-
thorities the establishment of a garrison of trained
soldiers at Mackinaw, and the Intendant of Can-
ada wrote to the King of France :

" Michilimackinac might be re-established,
without expense to his Majestj', either by sur-
rendering the trade of the post to such individu-
als as will obligate themselves to pay all the ex-
penses of twenty-two soldiers and two officers; to
furnish munitions of war for the defense of the
fort, and to make presents to the savages.

" Or the expenses of the post might be paid by
the sale of permits, if the King should not think
proper to grant an exclusive commerce. It is ab-
solutely necessary to know the wishes of tlie Kmg
concerning these two propositions ; and as M.
Lignery is at Michilimackinac, it will not be any
greater injury to the colony to defer the re-estab-
ment of this post, than it has been for eight or
ten years past."

The war with England ensued, and In April,
1713, the treaty of Utrecht was ratified. France
had now more leisure to attend to the Indian
tribes of the AVest.

Early in 1714, ^Mackinaw was re-occupied, and
on the fourteenth of March, 1716, an expedition
under Lieuteuiint Louvigny, left Quebec. His
arrival at Mackinaw, where he had been long ex-
pected, gave confidence to the voyageurs, and
friendly Indians, and with a force of eight hun-
dred men, he proceeded agamst the Foxes in
AVisconsin. He brought with htm two pieces of
cannon and a grenade mortar, and besieged the
fort of the Foxes, which he stated contained five
hundred warriors, and three thousand men, a
declaration which can scarcely be credited. After

BESIBE FOB A NOBIHERN ROUTE 10 THE FACIFIC.

three days of skirmishing, he prepared to mine
the fort, when the Foxes capitulated.

The paddles of the birch bark canoes and the
gay songs of the voyagenrs now began to bo heard
once more on the waters of Lake Superior and its
tributaries. In 1717, the post erected by Du
i.ulli. on I,al<t' Sujierior near the northern boun-
dary of ^Minnesota, was re-occupied by Lt. Ko-
bertcl de la Xone.

In view of tlic troubles among the tribes of the
nortliwest, in the month of September, 171S, Cap-
tain St. Pierre, who had great influence with the
Indians of Wisconsin and iSIinnesota, was sent
with Ensign Linctot and some soldiers to re-oc-
cupy La Pointe on Lake Superior, now Haylield,
in the northwestern part of Wisconsin. The
chiefs of the baud there, and at Keweenaw,
had threatened war against the Foxes, who had
killed some of their number.

Wlien the .Jesuit Charlevoix returned to France
after an examination of the resources of Canada
and Louisiana, he urged that an attempt should
be made to reach the Pacilio Ocean by an inland
route, and suggested that an expedition should
proceed from the mouth of the ilissouri and fol-
low that stream, or that a post should be estab-
lished among the Sioux which shoidd be the point
of departure. The latter was accepted, and in
1722 an allowance w^as made by the French Gov-
ernment, of twelve hundred livres, for two .Jes-
uit missionaries to accompany those who should
establish the new post. D'Avagour, Superin-
tendent of ilissions, in May, 1723, requested the
authorities to grant a separate canoe for the con-
veyance of the goods of the proposed mission,
and as it was necessary to send a commandant
to persuade the Indians to receive the mission-
aries, he recommended Sieur Pachot, an officer of
experience.

A dispatch from Canada to the French govern-
ment, dated October 14, 1723, announced that
Father de la Chasse, Superior of the Jesiuts, ex-
pected that, the next spring. Father Guymoneau,
and another missionary from Paris, woidd go to
tlie Sioux, l)ut that they had Ijeen hindered by the
Sioux a few months before killing seven French-
men, on their way to Louisiana. The aged
Jesuit, Joseph J. Marest, who had been on Lake
Pepin in 1689 with Perrot, and was now m ilon-
treal, said that it was the wandering Sioux who

had killed the French, but he thought the sta-
tionary Sioux would receive Christian instruction.

The hostility of the Foxes had also jircvcidcd
the establishment of a fort and mission among the
Sioux.

On the seventh of June. 172(;, peace was con-
cluded l)y De Ligncry w itli the Sauks, Foxes, and
Winnebagoes at Green Bay; and Linctot, who
liad succeeded Saint Pierre in coiuniaiid at La
Pointe. was ordered, by ])reseuts and the promise
of a missionary, to endeavor to detach the Dah-
kotahs from their alliance with the Foxes. At
this time Linctot made arrangements for peace
between the Ojibways and Dahkotas, and sent
two Frenchmen to dwell in the villages of the
latter, with a promise tliat. if they ceased to fight
the Ojibways, they should have regular trade,
and a "black robe" reside in their country.

Traders and missionaries now began to prepare
for visiting the Sioux, and in the sjiring of 1727
the (iovernor of Cana<la wrote that the fathers,
appointed forthe Sioux mission, desired a case of
mathematical instruments, a universal astro-
nomic dial, a spirit level, chain and stakes, and a
telescope of .six or seven feet tube.

On the sixteenth of June, 1727, the expedition
for the Sioux country left jMontreal in charge of
the Sieur de la Perriere who \\'as son of the dis-
tinguished and respected Canadian, Pierre Bou-
cher, the Governor of Three Rivers.

La I'erriere had served in Xe\\-fomKlland and
been associated \\ith Ilertel de Kouville in raids
into Xew England, and gained an unenviable no-
toriety as the leader of the savages, while Kou-
ville led the French in attacks upon towns like
Haverhill. Massachusetts, where the Indians ex-
ultingly killed the Puritan pastor, scalped liis
loving wife, and dashed out his infant's brains
against a rock. He was accompanied by his
brother and other relatives. Two Jesuit fathers,
De (ionor and Pierre Michel Guignas, were also
of the party.

In Shea's " Early French Voyages" there was
printed, for the first time, a letter from Father
Guignas, from the Brevoort manuscripts, written
on May 29, 1728, at Fort Beauharnois, on Lake
Pepin, which contains facts of much interest.

He writes: " The Scioux convoy left the end
of :Montreal' Island on the 16th of the month of
June last year, at 11 a. ii., and reached Michili-

EXPLOREBS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

mackinac the 22d of the month of July. This
post is two luuulred and fifty-one leagues from
Montreal, almost due west, at 45 degrees 46 min-
utes north latitude.

" ^Ye spent the rest of the mouth at this post,
in the hope of receiving from day to day some
new.s from Montreal, and in the design of
strengthening ourselves against the alleged ex-
treme difficulties of getting a free passage through
the Foxes. . At last, seeing nothing, we set out
on our march, the first of the month of August,
and. after seventy-three leagues quite pleasant
sail along the northerly side of Lake Michigan,
running to the sotitheast, we reached the Bay
[Green] on the Sth of the same month, at 5:30 r.
M. This post is at 44 degrees 43 minutes north
latitude.

" We stopped there two days, and on the llth
in the morning, we embarked, in a very great
impatience to reach the Foxes. On the third day
after our departure from the bay, quite late in
the afternoon, in fact somewhat in the night, the
chiefs of the Puans [AVinuebagoes] came out tln'ee
leagues from their village to meet the French,
with their peace calumets and some bear meat as
a refreshment, and the next day we were received
by that small nation, amid several discharges of
a few guns, and with great demonstrations.

" They asked us with so good a grace to do
them the honor to stay some time with them that
we granted them the rest of the day from noon,
and the following day. There may be in all the
village, sixty to eighty men, l)ut all the men and
women of very tall stature, and well made. They
are on the bank of a very pretty little lake, in a
most agreeable spot for its situation and the
goodness of the soil, nineteen leagues from the
bay and eight leagues from the Foxes.

" Early the next morning, the 15th of the month
of August, the convoy preferred to continue its
route, with quite pleasant weather, but a storm
coming on in the afternoon, we arrived quite wet.
still in the rain,atthecabinsof the Foxes, a nation
so much dreaded, and really so little to be dreaded.
From all that we could see, it is composed of
two hundred men at most, but there is a perfect
hive of children, especially boys from ten to
fourteen years old, well formed.

'• They are cabined on a little eminence on the
bank of a small river that bears their name, ex-

tremely tortuous or winding, so that you are con-
stantly boxuig the compass. Yet it is apparently
quite wide, with a chain of hills on both sides,
but there is only one miserable little channel
amid this extent of apparent bed, which is a kind
of marsh full of rushes arid wild rice of almost
impenetrable thicluiess. They have nothing but
mere bark cabins, without any kind of palisade or
other fortification. As soon as the French ca-
noes touched their shore they ran doftii with-
their peace calumets, lighted in spite of the rain,
and all smoked.

"We stayed among them the rest of this day,
and all the next, to know what were their designs
and ideas as to the French post among the Sioux.
The Sieur Keaume, interpreter of Indian lan-
guages at the Bay, acted efficiently there, and
with devotion to the King's service. Even if my
testimony. Sir, should be deemed not impartial, I
must have the honor to tell you that Rev. Father
Cliardon, an old missionary, was of very great as-
sistance there, and the presence of three mission-
aries reassured these cut-throats and assassins of
the French more than all the speeches of the best
orators could have done.

" A general council was convened in one of the
cabins, they were addressed in decided friendly
terms, and they replied in the same way. A
small present was made to them. On their side
they gave some quite handsome dishes, lined with
dry meat.

On the followmg Smiday, 17th of the month
of August, very early in the morning. Father
Cliardon set out, with Sieur Reaume, to return
to the Bay, and the Sioux expedition, greatly re-
joiced to have so easily got over this difficulty,
which had everywhere been represented as so in-
surmountable, got under way to endeavor to
reach its journey's end.

" ^"ever was navigation more tedious than
what we subsequently made from uncertainty as
to our course. No one knew it, and we got
astray every moment on water and on land for
want of a guide and pilots. AV^e kept on, as it
were feeling our way for eight days, for it was
only on the ninth, abcnit three o'clock p. m., that
we arrived, by accident, believing ourselves still
far off, at the portage of the Ouisconsm, which is
forty-five leagues from the Foxes, counting all
the twists and turns of this abominable river.

SITUATIOX AXn DESCEIPTIOX OF FOUT BEAVnARXOm.

This portage is lialf a league in leiigtli, and lialf
of tliat is a kind of marsli full of mud,

'• The Ouisconsin is quite a liandsome river,
but far below what we liad been told. aii|)arently,
as those who gave the description of it in Canada
saw it only in the high waters of spring. It is a
shallow river on a bed of iiuieksand, which forms
bars almost everywhere, and these often ehange
place. Its shores are either steep, bare mountains
or low points with sandy base. Its course is from
northeast to southwest. From the portage to its
mouth in the Jlississijipi, I estimated thirty-eight
leagues. The portage is at 43 deg. -\ min. north
latitude.

" The Mississippi from the mouth of tlie Ouis-
consin ascending, goes northwest. Tliis beauti-
fvd river extends between two chains of high,
bare and vei'y sterile mountains, constantly a
league, three-quarters of a league, or where it is
narrowest, half a league i.part. Its centre is oc-
cupied by a chain of well wooded islands, so that
regarding fi-om the lieights above, you would
think you saw an endless valley watered on the
right and left by two large rivers ; sometimes, too,
you could discern no river. These islands are
overflowed every year, and would be adapted to
raising rice. Fifty-eight leagues from the mouth
of the Ouisconsin, according to my calculation,
ascending the Mississippi, is Lake Pei>in. which
is nothing else but the river itself, destitute of
islands at that point, where it may be half a
league wide. This river, in what I traversed of
it, is shallow, and has shoals in several places, be-
cause its bed is moving sands, like that of the
Ouisconsui.

"On the 17tli of September, 1727, at noon, we
reached this lake, which had been chosen as the
bourne of our voyage. We planted ourselves on
the shore about the middle of the north side, on
a low point, where tlie soil is excellent. The
wood is very dense there, but is already thinned
in consequence of the rigor and length of the
whiter, which has been severe for the climate,
for we are here on the parallel of 43 deg. 41 min.
It is true that the difference of the winter is
great compared to that of Quebec and Montreal,
for all that some poor judges say.

" From the day after oui- lauding we put .our
axes to the wood: on the fourth day folli3wing
the fort v,i3 entirely linished. It is a square plat

of one hundred feet, surrounded by pickets twelve
feet long, with two good bastions. For so small
a space there are large buildings quite distinct and
not huddled together, each thirty, thirty-eight
and twenty-live feet long by sixteen feet wide.

" All would go well there if the spot were not
inundated, but this year [1728], on the loth of
the month of April, we \vere obliged to camp out^
and the water ascended to the height of two feet
and eight indies in the houses, and it is idle to
say that it was the quantity of snow that fell
this year. Tlie snow in the vicinity had melted
long before, ami there was only a foot and a half
from the Sth of February to the loth of JSIarch;
you could not use snow-shoes.

" I have great reason to think tliat this spot is
inundated more or less every year; I have always
thought so. but they were not obliged to believe
me, as old people who said that they had lived iu
this region fifteen or twenty years declared that
it was never overflowed. "We could not enter
our much-devastated houses until the 30th of
April, and the disorder is even now scarcely re-
paired.

" Before the end of October [1 727] all the houses
were finished and furnished, and each one found
himself traiKpiilly lodged at home. They then
thought only of gohig out to explore the hills and
rivers and to see tliose herds of all kinds of deer
of which they tell such stories in Canada. They
must have retired, or diminished greatly, since
the time the old voyiiyeura left the comitry; they
are no longer in such great numbers, and are
killed with dilUculty.

"After beating the field, for some time, all re-
assembled at the fort, and thought of enjoybig a
little the fruit of their labors. ( )n the 4th of No-
vember we did not forget it was the General's
birthday. Mass was said for him [Beauharnois,
Governor-General of Canada] iu the morning,
and tliey were well disposed to celebrate the day
in the evening, but the tardiness of tlie pyro-
technists and the inconstancy of the weather
caused them to postpone the celebration to the
14th of the same month, when they set otf some
very flue rockets and made the air ring with an
hundred shouts of Vive le Boy! and Vive Charles
de Beauharnois! It was on this occasion that the
wine of the Sioux was broached; it was par ex-

EXPLOBEBS AND PIONEEBS OF MINNESOTA.

cellevce, although there are no miies here finer
than in Canada.

•' What contributed much to the amusement,
was the terror of some cabins of Indians, wlio
were at the time around the fort. When tliese
poor people saw the fireworks in the air, and the
stars fall from heaven, the women and children
began to take flight, and the most courageous of
the men to cry mercy, and implore us very earn-
estly to stop the surprising play of that wonder-
ful medicine.

" As soon as we arrived among them, they as-
sembled, in a few dayL<, around the French fort to
the number of ninety-flve cabins, which might
make in all one hundred and fifty men; for there
are at most two men in their portable cabins of
dressed skins, and in many there is only one.
This is all we have seen except a band of about
sixty men, who came on tlie 26th of the month of
Feliruary. who were of those nations called Sioux
of the Prairies.

" At the end of November, the Indians set out
for their winter q\iarters. They do not, indeed,
go far, and we saw some of them all through the
winter; but from the second of the month of
April last, when some cabins repassed here to go
in search of them, [he] sought them in vain, du-
ring a week, for more than sixty leagues of the
Mississippi. He [La Perriere V] arrived yesterday
without any tidings of them.

" Although I said above, that the Sioux were
alarmed at the rockets, which they took for new
phenomena, it must not be supposed from that
they were less intelligent than other Indians we
know. They seem to me more so ; at least they
are much gayer and open, apparently, and far
more dextrous thieves, great dancers, and great
medicine men. The men are almost all large and
well made, but the women are very ugly and dis-
gustuig, whicli does not, however, check debauch-
ery among them, and is perhaps an eifect of it."

In the summer of 1728 the Jesuit I)e Gonor
left the fort on Lake Pepin, and, by way of Mack-
inaw, returned to Canada. The Foxes had now
become very troublesome, and l)e Lignery and
Beaujeu marched against their stronghold, to find
they had retreated to the Mississippi Kiver.

On the 12tli of October i^niclierville. his bro-
ther ;Montbrun, a younj^ jadet of enterprising
spirit, the Jesuit Guiguas, and other Frenchmen,

eleven in all, left Fort Pepin to go to Canada, by
way of the Illinois River. They were captured
by the Mascoutens and Kickapoos, and detained
at the river " Au Boeuf ,'" which stream was prob-
ably the one mentioned by Le Sueur as twenty-
two leagues above the Illinois River, althougli the
same name was given liy Hennepin to the Chip-
pewa River, just below Lake Pepin. They were
held as prisoners, with the view of delivering
them to the Foxes. The night before the deliv-
ery tlie Sieur Montbrun and his brother and an-
other Frenchman escaped. ^lontbnm, leaving
his sick brother in tlie Illinois country, journeyed
to Canada and informed the authorities.

Boucherville and Guignas remained prisoners
for several months, and the former did not reach
Detroit until .Tune, 1729, The account of expen-
ditures made during his captivity is interesting as
showing the value of merchandize at that time.
It reads as follows:

" Memorandum of the goods that Monsieur de
Boucherville was obliged to furnisli in the ser-
vice of the King, from the time of his detention
among the Kickapoos, on the 12th of October,
1728. until his return to Detroit, in the year 1729,
in the month of June. On arriving at the Kick-
apoo village, he made a present to the young men
to secure their opposition to some evil minded
old warriors —
Two barrels of powder, each fifty pounds

at Montreal price, valued at the sum of l.jO liv.
One hundred pounds of lead and Ijalls

making the sum of 50 liv.

Four pounds of vennillion. at 12 francs

the pound -IS fr.

Four coats, braided, at twenty francs... 80 fr.
Six dozen knives at four francs the dozen 21 fr.
Four hundred flints, one hundred gun-
worms, two hundred rann-nds and one
hundred and fifty files, the total iit the

maker's prices 90 liv.

After the Kickapoos refused to deliver them to
the Renards [Foxes] they wished some favors, and
I was obliged to give them the following which
would allow them to weep over and cover their
dead:
i Two braided coats ((ji 20 fr. each... >. . 40fr.

Two woolen blankets @ 15 fr 30

One hundred pounds of powder @ 30 sons 75
One hundred pounds of lead @ 10 sous. . 25

hOUVHERVILL£rS PBEtiENTS WHILE IN CAI'TIVITY.

Two pounds of Vermillion @ 12 fr 24fr.

Moreover, jjiven to the Keimrds to cover
their dead and i)reiiare them for peace,

fifty pounds of powder, making 7o

One hundred pounds of lead (A 10 sous. 50

Two pounds of Vermillion (a) 12 fr 24

During the winter a considerable party was
sent to strike hands with the Illinois. (Jiven at
that time :

Two blue blankets @ 15 fr .SO

Four men's shirts @ 6 f r 24

Four pairs of long-necked bottles @ 6 f r 24

Four dozen of knives (« 4 f r 16

Gun-worms, files, ramrods, and Hints, es-
timated 40

Given to engage the Kickapoos to establish
themselves upon a neighboring isle, to protect
from the treachery of the Eenards —

Fonr blankets, @ lof fiOf

Two pairs of bottles, 6f 24

Two poTuids of Vermillion, 12f 24

Four dozen butcher knives, Of 24

Two woolen blankets, @ 15f 30

Four pairs of bottles, @ 6f 24

Four shirts, @ 6f 24

Four dozen of knives, (o 4f 16

The Eenards having betrayed and killed their
brothers, the Kickapoos, I seized the favorable
opportimity, and to encourage the latter to avenge
themselves, I gave —
Twenty-five poundsof powder, («: 80sous oTf.lOs.

Twenty-five pounds of lead, (aj 10s I2f.lOs.

Two guns at 30 livres each 60f

One half poiuid of vermillion 6f

Flints, guns, worms and knives 20f

The Illinois coming to the Kikapoos vil-
lage. I supported them at my ex])ense,
and gave them jiowder. bails and shirts

valued at oOf

In departing from the Kikapoos village. I
gave them the rest of the goods for
their good treatment, estimated at ... . SOf
In a letter, written by a priest, at Xew Orleans,
on July 12. 1730. is tlie following exaggerated ac-
count of the capture of Father Guignas: " We
always felt a distrust of the Fox Indians, although
they did not longer dare to midertake anything,
since Father Guignas has detached from their al-
liance the tribes of the Kika|>ous and IMaskoutins.
You know, my Reverend Father, that, being in

Canada, he had the courage to penetrate even to
the Sioux near the sources of the IMississippi, at
the distance of eight hundred leagues from Xew
t)rleans and livi^ hundred from Quebec. Obliged
to abandon this important mission by the unfor-
tunate result of the enterprise against the Foxes,
he descended the river to repair to the Illiiuiis.
On the loth of October in the year 172.S he was
arrested when half way by the Kickapous and
.Maskoutins. For four months he was a captive
among the Indians, where he had much to suffer
and everything to fear. The time at last came
when he was to be burned alive, when he was
adopted Ijy an old man whose family saved his
life and procured his liljerty.

" Our missionaries who are among the Illinois
were no sooner acquainted with the situation
than tliey procured him all the alleviation they
were able. Everything which he received he em-
ployed to conciliate the Indians, and succeeded
to the extent of engaging them to conduct him to
the Illinois to make peace with the French and
Indians of this region. Seven or eight months
after this peace was concluded, the Maskoutins
and Kikapous returned again to the Illinois coun-
try, and took back Father Guignas to spend the
winter, from wlience, in all probability, he will
return to Canada."

In dispatches sent to France, in October, 1729,
by the Canadian government, the following refer-
ence is made to Fort Beauharnois : " They agree
that the fort built among the Scioux, on the bor-
der of Lake Pepin, appears to be badly situated
on account of the freshets, but the Indians assure
that the waters rose higher in 1728 than it ever
(lid before. When Sieur de Laperriere located it
at that place it was on the assurance of the In-
dians that the waters did not rise so high." In
reference to the absence of Indians, is the fol-
lowing :

'■ It is very true that these Indians did leave
shortly after on a hunting excursion, as they are
in the habit of doing, for their own support and
that of their families, who have only that means
of liveUhood, as they do not cultivate the soil at
all. M. de iieaidiarnois has just lieen informed
that their al)sence was occasioned only by having
fallen in wliile hunting with a number of prairie
Si-ioux, by whom they were invited to occompany
them on a war expedition against the ^Iahas>

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

whicli invitation they accepted, and returned
only in the month of July following.

" The interests of religion, of the service, and
of the colony, are involved in the maintenance of
this establishment, whicli has been the more nec-
essary as there is no doubt but the Foxes, when
routed, would have found an asylum among the
Scioux had not the French been settled there,
and the docility and submission manifested by
the Foxes can not be attributed to any cause ex-
cept the attention entertained by the Scioux for
the French, and the offers which the former
made the latter, of which the Foxes were fully
cognisant.

" It is necessary to retain the Scioux in these
favorable dispositions, in order to keep the Foxes
in check and coxmteract the measures they might
adopt to gain over the Scioux, who will invaria-
bly reject their propositions so long as the French
remain in the coimtry, and their trading post
shall continue there. But, despite all these ad-
vantages and the importance of preserving that
establishment, M. de Beanharnois cannot take
any steps until he has news of the French who
asked his permission this summer to go up there
with a canoe load of goods, and until assured that
those who wintered there have not dismantled
the fort, and that the Scioux continue in the same
sentiments. Besides, it does not seem very easy,
in the present conjuncture, to maintain that post
unless there is a solid peace with the Foxes; on
the other hand, tlie greatest portion of the tra-
ders, who applied in 1727 for the establishment
of that post, have withdrawn, and will not send
thither any more, as the rupture with the Foxes,
through whose country it is necessary to pass in
order to reach the Scioux in canoe, has led them
to abandon the idea. But the one and the oilier
case might be remedied. The Foxes will, in all
probabiUty, come or send next year to sue for
peace; therefore, if it be granted to them on ad-
vantageous conditions, tliere need be no aiii>re-
hension when going to the Sioux, and another
company could be formed, less numerous than
the first, through whom, or some responsible mer-
chants able to afford the outfit, a new treaty
could be made, whereby these difBculties would
be soon obviated. One only trouble remains, and
that is, to send a commanding and sub-officer,
and some soldiers, up there, whicli are absolutely

necessary for the maintenance of good order at
that post; the missionaries would not go there
without a commandant. This article, which re-
gards the service, and the expense of which must
be on his majesty's account, obliges them to ap-
ply for orders. They will, as far as lies in their
power, induce the traders to meet that expense,
which will possibly amount to 1000 livres or
1500 livres a year for the commandant, and in
proportion for the officer under him; but, as in
the begimdng of an establishment the expenses
exceed the profits, it is improbable tliat any com-
pany of merchants will assume the outlay, and
in this case they demand orders on this point, as
well as his majesty's opinion as to the necessity
of preserving so useful a post, and a nation which
has already afforded proofs of its fidelity and at-
tachment.

" These orders could be sent them by the way
of He Royale, or by the first merchantmen that
will sail for Quebec. The time required to re-
ceive intelligence of the occurrences in the Scioux
country, will admit of their waiting for these
oi'ders before doing anything."

Sieur ds la Jemeraye, a relative of Sieur de la
Perriere Boucher, with a few French, during the
troubles remained in the Sioux country. After
peace was estalilished vrtth the Foxes, Legardeur
Saint Pierre was in command at Fort Beanhar-
nois, and Father Guignas again attempted to es-
tablish a Sioux mission. In a communication
dated 12th of October, 1736, by the Canadian au-
thorities is the following : "In regard to the
Scioux, Saint Pierre, who commanded at that
post, and Father Guignas, the missionary, have
written to Sieur de Beanharnois on the tenth and
eleventh of last April, that these Indians ap-
peared well intentioned toward the French, and
had no other fear than that of being abandoned
by them. Sieur de Beanharnois annexes an ex-
tract of these letters, and although the Scioux
seemveryfriendly, the result only can tell whether
this fidelity is to be absolutely depended upon,
for the imrestrained andinconsistent spirit which
composes the Indian character may easily change
it. They have not come over this summer as yet,
but M. de la St. Pierre is to get them to do so
next year, and to have an eye on their proceed-
ings."

Tlic reply to this commiuiication from Louis

BE LUSIGNAN VISITS THE SIOUX COVNTKY.

X^'. dated ^'ersailles, Alay 10th, 1737, was in
these words : ■' As respects the Scioiix. accordiiiii'
to what the commandant and missicinary at that
post have written to Sienr (U' lieaiiliarnois rela-
tive to tlie disposition of tliese Indians, nothin,;;'
appears to be wanting on that iioint.

'• But their delay in coming down to Montreal
since tlie time they have promised to do so. must
render their sentiments somewhat suspected, and
nothing but facts can determine whetlK-r their
fidelity can be absolutely relied on. iiut what
must still further increase the imeasiness to he
entertained in tlieir regard is the attack on the
convoy of M. de Yerandrie. espei-ially if this ofllccr
has adopted the course he had informed the
Marquis de Beauharnois he should take to have
revenge therefor."

The particulars of the attack alluded to will lie
found in the next chapter. Soon after this the
Foxes again became troublesome, and the post on
Lake Pepin was for a time abandoned by the
French. A dispatch in 1741 uses this language :
" The Marquis de Beauharnois' opinion respect-
ing the war against the Foxes, has been the more
readily approved by the Baron de Longeuil,
Messieurs De la Chassaigne, La Corne, de Lig-
nery, LaXoue. and l)uplessis-Fabert. whom he
had assembled at his house, as it apjiears from
all the lettersthat the Count has writ n for sev-
eral years, that he has nothing so much at heart as
the destruction of that Indian nation, which ca]i
not be prevailed on by the presents and the good
treatment of the French, to live in peace, not-
withstanding all its promises.

" Besides, it is notorious that the Foxes have a
secret understanding with the Iroquois, to secure
a retreat among the latter, in case they be obliged
to abandon their villages. Tliey have one already
seciu'ed among the Sioux of the prairies, with
Vv-hom they are allied ; so that, should they be

advised beforehand of the design of the French
to wage war against tliem, it would be easy for
thcin to rclii.' to the one or the other before their
passage could l)e intersected or themselves at-
tacked in their villages."

In the summer of 17tH, a deputation of the
Sioux came down to tiuebec. to ask that trade
might be resumed. Three years after this, four
Sioux chiefs came to Quebec, and asked that a
commandant might be sent to Fort Beauharnois ;
which was not granted.

During the winter of 1745-6, De Lusignan vis-
ited the Sioux country, ordered l)y the govern-
ment to hunt up the ••(•oiueurs des bois,"" and
withdraw them from the country. They started
to return with him, but learning that they would
be arrested at JMackinaw, for violation of law,
they ran aw'ay. While at the villages of the Sioux
of the lakes and plains, the chiefs brought to
this officer nineteen of their young men, bound
with cords, who had killed three Frenchmen, at
the Illinois. Wlxile he remained with them, they
made peace with the Ojibways of La Pointe,
with whom they had been at war for some time.
On his return, foiu- chiefs accompanied him to
Montreal, to solicit pardon for their >oung Ijraves.

Tlie lessees of the trading-post lost many of
their peltries that vsinter in consequence of a tire.

Keminiscences of St. Pierre's residence at Lake
Pepin were long preserved. Carver, in 1766, "ob-
served the ruins of a French factory, where, it
is said. Captain St. Pierre resided, and carried on
a great trade with the Nadouessies before the re-
duction of Canada."

Pike, in iso.j, wrote in his joui-nal: '■ Just be-
low Pt. Le Sable, the French, who had driven the
Penards [Foxes] from Wisconsin, and chased
them up the Mississippi, built a stockade on this
lake, as a barrier against the savages. It became
a ntited factory for the Sioux."

EXPLOBEIiS Ay I) PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTEK IX.

VEllENDKYE, THE EXPLORER OE NORTHERN 5IIXNESOTA, AND DISCOVERER OF THE ROCKY

3IOUNTAINS.

Conversation of Verendrye with Father De Conor.— Parentage and Early Life —
Old Indian Map Preserved. — Vtrendrye's Son and Nephew Explore Pigeon
River and Reach Rainy I.ake. — Father Messayer a Companion. — Fort St. Pierre
Established.— Lake of the Woods Reached and Fort St. Charles Built.— De la
Jeiueraye's Map. — Fort on the Assinaboine River.— Verendrye's Son, Fntlier
Oiineau and .Associates Killed hy Sioux, on Massacre Isle, in Liike of the Woods
—Fort La Reine.— Verendrye's Eldest Son, with Others, Reaches tile Missouri
River. — Discovers the Rocky Mountains. — Returns to Lake of the Woods. —
Exploration of Saskatchewan River.— Sieur de la Verendrye Jr. — Verendrye
the Father, made CapUin of the Order of St. Louis.— His Death.- The Swedish
Traveler, Kalin, Notices Verendrye.— Bougainville Descrilies Verendrye's Ex-
plorations. — Legardeur de St. Pierre at Fort La Reine. — Fort .lonquiere Est.'ih-
lished. — De la Corne Succeeds St, Pierre. — St. Pii^re Meets Washington at
French Creek, in Pennsylvania.— Killed in Battle, near Lake George.

Early in the year 1728, t'wo travelers met at
the secluded post of Mackinaw, one was named
De Gonor, a Jesuit Father, who with Guignas,
had gone vith the expedition, that the September
before had built Fort Beauharnois on the shores
of Lake Pepin, the other was Pierre Gualtier Va-
rennes, the Sieur de la Yerendrj'e the commander
of the post on Lake Nepigoii of the north shore
of Lake Superior, and a relative of the Sieur de
la Perriere, the commander at Lake Pepin.

Verendrye was the son of Rene Gualtier Va-
rennes who for tAventy-two years was the chief
magistrate at Three Piivers, whose wife was Ma-
rie Boucher, the daughter of his predecessor
whom he had married when she was twelve years
of age. lie became a cadet in H)l)7, and in 1704
accompanied an expedition to New England.
The next year he was in Newfoundland and the
year follo'v\dng he went to France, joined a regi-
ment of Brittany and was in the conflict at ilal-
plaquet when the French troops were defeated
by the Duke of Marlborough. Waen he returned
to Canada he was obU.ged to accept the position
of ensign notwithstanding the gallant manner in
which he had behaved. In time he became iden-
tified with the Lake Superior region. Wliile at
Lake Nepigouthe Indians assured him that there
was a communication largely by water to the
Pacific Ocean. One, named Ocliagachs, drew a
rude map of the country, which is still preserved
among the French archives. Pigeon lliver is

marked thereon Mantohavagane, and the River
St. Louis is marked R. fond du L. Superior, and
the Indians appear to have passed from its head-
waters to Rainy Lake. Upon the western ex-«
tremity is marked the River of the West.

De Gonor conversed much upon the route to
the Pacific with Verendrye, and promised to use
his influence with the Canadian authorities to
advance the project of exploriitiou.

Charles De Beauhfirnois, the Governor of Can-
ada, gave Verendrye a respectful hearing, and
carefully examined the map of the region west of
the great lakes, which had been drawn by Ocha-
gachs (Otchaga), the IniUan guide. Orders were
soon given to tit out an expedition of fifty men.
It left Montreal in 1731, under the conduct of his
sons and nephew De la Jemeraye, he not joining
the party till 1733, La conseq-uence of the deten-
tions of business.

In the autumn of 1731, the party reached Rainy
Lake, by the Nantouagan, or Groselliers river,
now called Pigeon. Father Messayer, who had
been stationed on Lake Superior, at the Grosel-
liers river, was taken as a spiritual guide. At
the foot of Rainy Lake a post was erected and
called Fort St. Pierre, and the next year, having
crossed Minittie, or Lake of the Woods, they es-
tablished Fort St. Charles on its southwestern
l)ank. Five leagues from Lake Winnipeg they
established a post on the Assinaboine. An un-
published miip of these discoveries by De la Jem-
eraye still exists at Paris. The river Winnipeg,
called by them Maiirepas, in honor of the minis-
ter of France in 1734, was protected by a fort of
the same name.

About this time their advance was stopped by
the exhaustion of supplies, but on the 12th of
April, 1735, an arrangement was made for a sec-
ond equipment, and a fourth son jomed the expe-
dition.

In June. 173G, while twenty-one of the expedi-

mscovEur of nib; uocky Mjlwtaia.s.

tiou were camped upon an isle in the Lake of the
NVooils, they were siniirised hy a hand of Sioux
hostile 1(1 the French allies, the Cristinaux. ami
all killed. The island, upon tliis account, is
called Massacre Island. A few da.\s after, a
jiarty of Ave Canadian voyageurs discovered their
ilcad bodies and scalped heads. Father Ouncau,
tlie missionary, was found upon one knee, an ar-
row in his head, his breast bare, his left hand
louchmg the ground, and the right hand raised.

Among the slaughtered was also a son of A'cr-
endrye, wlio had a tomahawk in his back, and his
body adorned with garters and In-acelets of porcu-
pine. The father was at tlie foot of the Lake of
the Woods when he received the news of his son's
murder, and about the same time heard of the
death of his enterprising nephew, Dufrost de la
Jemeraye, the son of his sister ilarie Keine de
Varennes, and brother of Madame Youville, the
foundress of the Hospitallers at jNIontreal.

It was under the guidance of the latter that
the party had, in 1731, mastered the ditlicullies
of the Xantaouagon, or Groselliers river.

On the 3d of October, 1738, they built an ad-
vanced post. Fort La Reine, on the river Assini-
boels, now Assiual)oine, which tliey called 81
Charles, and beyond was a branch called 8t.
Pierre. These two rivers received the baptismal
name of A'erendrye. which was Pierre, and gov-
ernor neauharuois. which was Charles. The post
became the centre of trade and point of departure
for explorations, either ncn'tli or south.

It was by ascending the Assinaboine, and by
tbe present trail from its tributary. Mouse river,
they reached tlie country of the Mantanes, and in
1741, came to the upper Missouri, jiassed the Yel-
low Stone, and at length arrived at the llocky
Mountains. The party was led by the eldest son
and his lirother, the chevalier. They left the
Lake of the "Woods on the 29th of April, 1742,
came in sight of the Kocky Mountains on the 1st
of January, 1743, and on the 12th ascended them.
On the route they fell in witli the beaux Iloni-
mes, Pioya, T'etits Renards. and ^Vrc tribes, and
stopped among the Snake tribe, but covdd go no
farther in a southerly direction, owing to a war
between the Arcs and Snakes.

On the 19th of May, 1744, tliey had relumed to
the upper Missouri, and. in the country of the
Petite Cerise tribe, they planted on an enunence

a leaden plate of the arms of France, and raised
a monument of stones, which they called ]5eau-
harnois. They retui-ned to the Lake of the Woods
on the 2d of .July.

Xoilh of the Assiniboine they ])rocceded to
Lake Dauphin, Swan's Lak<', explored the riv-
er "Des Biches," and ascended even to the
fork of the Saskatchewan, which Ihey called Pos-
koiac. Two forts were subsei|uenlly established,
one near Lake Danplnn and the other on the
liver " des Biches," called F(}rt Bourbon. The
northern route, by the Saskatchewan, was thought
to have some advantage over the ]\Iissouri, be-
cause there was no danger of meeting with the
Spaniards.

Governor Beauharnois having been prejudiced
against Verendrye by envioiis persons, De Noy-
elles was appointed to take command of the
posts. During these difflculties, we find Sieur de
la Verendrye, Jr., engaged in other duties. In
August, 1747, he arrives from Mackinaw at Mon-
treal, and in the autumn of that year he accom-
panies St. Pierre to Mackhiaw, and brings back
the convoy to ilontreal. In February, 1748, with
live Canadians, five Cristenaux, two Ottawas, and
one Sauteur, he attacked the Mohawks near
Sclienectady. and returned to Montreal with two
scalps, one that of a chief. On June 20tli. 1748,
it is recorded that Chev;ilier de la A'erendrye de-
parted from Montreal for tlie head of Lake Supe-
rior. iSIargry states that he perislied at sea in
Xovember, 1764, by the wrec'k of the " Auguste."

Fortunately, Galissioniere the successor of
Beiluharnois, although deformed and insignifl-
cant in appearance, was fair minded, a lover of
science, especially liotany, and anxious to push
discoveries toward the I'acific. Verendrye the
father was restored to fa^'(lr, and made Captain
of the Order of St. Louis, and ordered to resume
explorations, but he died on Decemlier (ith, 1749,
while planning a tour up the Saskatchewan.

The Swedish Professor, Kalni. met him in Can-
ada, not long before his decease, anil had inter-
esting conversations with him about tlie furrows
on the plains of the Missouri, which he errone-
ously conjectured indicated tlie former abode of
an agricultural peo]ile. These ruts are familiar
to moih'rn travelers, and may be only buffalo
trails.

I'atlicr ('(xpiard, wno had been associated with

EXPLOBERS AXD PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

Veremlrye. says that they first met the ilantanes,
and next the Brochets. After these -were the
Gros Ventres, the Crows, the Flat Heads, the
Black Feet, and Dog Feet, who were established
on the Missouri, even np to the falls, and that
about thirty leagues beyond they found a narrow
pass in the mountains.

Bougainville gives a more full account: he says;
'He who most advanced this discovery was
the Sieiu- de la Veranderie. He went from Fort
la Reine to the JVlissouri. He met on the banks
of this river the JNlandans, or "White Beards, who
had seven villages with pine stockades, strength-
ened by a ditch. Next to these were the Kinon-
gewiniris. or the Brochets, in three villages, and
toward the upper part of the river were three
villages of the Mahantas. All along the mouth
of the Wabeik, or Shell River, were situated
twenty-three villages of the Panis. To the south-
west of this river, on the banks of the Ouanarade-
ba, or La Graisse, are the Hectanes or Snake
tribe. They extend to the base of 'a chain of
mountains which runs north northeast. South
of tills is the river Karoskiou, or Cerise Pelee.
which is supposed to flow to California.

" He found in the immense region watered by
the jNIissouri, and in tlie vicinity of forty leagues,
the Mahantas, the Owiliniock, or Beaux Hom-
mes, four villages; opposite the Brochets the P^lack
Feet, three villages of a hundred lodges each; op_
posite the Mandansare the Ospekakaerenousques.
or Hat Heals, foui- villages: opposite the Panis
are the Arcs of Cristinaux, and Utasibaontchatas
of Assiniboel, three villages; following these the
Makesch, or Little Foxes, two villages; the Pi-
wassa, or great talkers, three villages; the Ka-
kokoschena, or (iens de la Pie, five villages: the
Kiskipisounoium,, or the Garter tiibe, seven vil-
lages."

Galassoiiiere was succeeded l)y Jonquiere in
the governorshii> of Canada, who proved to lie a
grasjiing, peevish, and very miserly person. For
the sons of Verendrye he had no sympathy, and
forming a clique to prolit by their father's toils,

he determined to send two expeditions to'vard
the Pacific Ocean, one by the Missouri and the
other by the Saskatchewan.

Father Coquard, one of the companions of Ve-
rendrye, was consulted as to the probability of
finding a pass in the Rocky Mountains, through
i,\hich they might, in canoes, reach the great
lake of salt water, perhaps Puget's Somid.

The enterprise was at length confided to two
experienced oflicers, Laraarque de JSIarin and
Jacques Legardeur de Saint Pierre. The former
was assigned the way, by the Missouri, and to
the latter was given the more northern route;
but Saint Pierre in some way excited the hostil-
ity of the Cristinaux, who attempted to kill him,
and burned Fort la Reine. His lieutenant, Bou-
cher de Niverville, who had been sent to establish
a post toward the source of the Saskatchewan,
failed on account of sickness. Some of his men,
however, pushed on to the Rocky Mountains,
and in 1753 established Fort Jonquiere. Henry
says St. Pierre established Fort Bourbon.

In 17-53, Saint Pierre was succeeded in the
command of the posts of the "West, by de la
Corne, and sent to French Creek, in Pennsylva-
nia. He had been but a few days there when he
received a visit from "Washington, just entering
upon manhood, bearing a letter from Governor
Dinwiddle of Virginia, complaining of the en
croachments of the French.

Soon the clash of arms between France and
England began, and Saint Pierre, at the head of
the Indian allies, fell near Lake George, in Sep-
tember, 1755, in a battle with the English. After
the seven years' war was concluded, by the treaty
of Paris, the French relinquished all their posts
in the Northwest, and the work begun by Veren-
drye, was, in 1805, completed by Lewis and
Clarke ; and the Northern Pacific Railway is fast
approaching the passes of the Rocky Mountains,
through the valley of the Yellow Stone, and from
thence to the great land-locked bay of the ocean,
Puget's Sound.

EFFECT OF THE EX(ILI,S1I AM) Fh'EXCIl WAU.

CTTATTri; X.

EFFECT OF TIIK ENGLISU AND FUENCn WAR.

English Influence Increasinfr.— Lp Due Robbed at Uko Superior.— St. Pierre ;il
Mackaiaw.— Kscape of Indian Prisoners.— U Ronde and Verendrye.— Influenee
of Sieur Marin.— St. Pierre Recalled from Winnipeg Region.— Interview witli
Washington.— Langlade Urges Attack Upon Troops of Braddock.— Saint Pierre
Killed in Battle.— Marin's Boldne.-^s.- Rogers, a Partis.an Ranger. Commands at
Mackinaw.— At Ticonderoga,— French Deliver up the Posts in Canada. -('apt.
Balfour Takes Possession of Mackinaw and Green Bay.— Lieut. Gorrcll in.Coin,
raand at Green Biiy.- Sionx Visit Green Bay.— Penncnsha a French Trader
Among the Sious. — Treaty of Paris.

Euglish mfluence produced increasing dissatis-
faction among tlie Indians that were beyond
]Mackina\v. Not only were tlie viiyageurs rolilied
and maltreated at Sault St. Marie and other points
on Lake .Superior, but even the commandant at
Mackiuciw was exposed to insolence, and there
was no security anywhere.

On the twenty-third of August. 1747, Philip Le
Due arrived at Mackinaw from Lake Superior,
stating that he bad been robbed of his goods at
Kamanistigoya, and that the Ojibways of the
lake were favorably disposed toward the English.
The Dahkotahs were also becoming unruly in the
absence of French officers.

In a few weeks after Le Due's robbery, St.
Pierre left Montreal to become commandant at
Mackinaw, and Vercheres was appointed for the
post at Green Bay. In the language of a docu-
ment of the day, St. Pierre was " a very good
officer, much esteemed among all the nations of
those parts ; none more loved and feared." On
his arrival, the savages were so cross, that he ad-
vised that no Frenchman should come to trade.

By promptness and boldness, he secured the
Indians who had murdered some Frenchmen,
and obtained the respect of the tribes. "While
the three murderers were being conveyed in a
canoe down the St. Lawrence to Quebec, in charge
of a sergeant and seven soldiers, the savages, with
characteristic cunning, thou.gh manacled, suc-
ceeded in killing or dro\\niing the guard. Cutting
their irons with an axe, they sought the woods,
and escaped to their own country. "Thus,"
vTites Galassoniere, in 1748, to Count Maurepas,

was lost in a great measure the fruit of Sieur St.
Pierre's good management, and of all tlii' fatigue
I endured to get the nations who surrendered
these rascals to listen to reason."

.On the twenty-first of June of the next year,
La Konde started to La Poinle, and A'erendrye
for West Sea, or Fon du Lac, Minnesota.

Under the influence of Sieur Marin, who was
in command at Green Bay in 1753, peaceful re-
lations were in a measure restored between the
French and Indians.

As the war between England and France deep-
ened, the officers of tiie distant French posts
were called in and stationed nearer tlie enemy.
Legardeur St. Pierre, was brought from the Lake
"Winnipeg region, and, in December, 17o3, was in
command of a rude post near lOric. I'enusylvania.
Langlade, of Green Bay, ^^'is(•(lllsin. arrived early
in July, 17o5, at Fort Duquesne. With Beauyeu
and De Lignery. who had been engaged in light-
ing the Fox Indians, he left that fort, at nine
o'clock of the morinng of the 9th of July, and, a
little after noon, came near the English, who had
halted on the south shore of the Monougahela,
and were at dinner, with their arms stacked. By
the rn-gent entreaty of Langlade, the western
half-breed, Beauyeu. the oflii-er in command or-
dered an attack, and Braddock was overwhelmed,
and Washington was obliged to say, " We have
lieen beaten, shamefully beaten, by a handful of
Frenchmen."

Under Baron Dieskau, St. Pierre commanded
the Indians, in September. 17.55. during the cam-
paign near Lake George, where he fell gallantly
fighting the English, as did his commander.
The Rev. Claude Coquard, alluding to the French
defeat, in a letter to his brother, remarks:

" We lost, on that occasion, a brave officer. M.
de St. Pierre, and had his advice, as well as that
of several other Canadian officers, been followed,
Jonckson [Johnson] was irretrievably destroyed.

Gli

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA:

and we should have been spared the trouble we

have had this year."

Other officers who had been stationed on the
borders of Minnesota .also distmguished them-
selves during the French war. The ilarquis
Montcalm, in camp at Ticonderoga, on the twen-
ty-seventh of .July, 1757, writes to Vaudreuil,
Governor of Canada:

" Lieutenant Marin, of the Colonial troops, who
has exliiliited a rare audacity, did not consider
iiimself bound to lialt, although his detachment
of about four hundred men was reduced to about
two hundred, the balance having been sent back
on account of inability to follow. He carried off
a patrol of ten men, and swept away an ordinary
guard of fifty lilie a wafer; went up to the en-
emy's camp, under Fort Lydias (Edward), where
he was exposed to a severe fire, and retreated like
a warrior. He \Aas luiwilllng to amuse Iiimself
maliing prisoners; he brought in only one, and
thirty-two scalps, and must have killed many men
of the enemy, in the midst of whose ranks it was
neither wise nor prudent to go in search of scalps.
Tlie Indians generally all behaved well. * * *
The Outaouais, wlio arrived with me, anil -wlioni
I designed to go on a scouting party towards tlie
lake, liad conceived a project of administering a
corrective to the English barges. * * * On
tlie day before yesterday, your brother formed a
detacliment to accompany tliem. I arrived at Iris
camp on the evening of the same day. Lieuten-
ant de Corbiere, of the Colonial troops, was re-
turning, in consequence of a misunderstanding,
and as I knew the zeal and intelligence of that
ofticer, I made him set out with a new instruc-
tion to join Messrs de Langlade and Hertel de
Cliantly. They remained in ambush all day and
night yestei'day; at break of day the English ap-
peared on Lake St. Sacrament, to the number of
twenty-two barges, under the commanl of Sieur
Parker. The whoops of our Indians impressed
them with such terror that they made but feeble
resistance, and only two barges escaped."

After De Corbiere's victory on Lake Cham-
jilain, a large French army was collected at. Ti-
conderoga, with which there were many Indians
from the tribes of the Northwest, and the loways
ajipeared for the first tiiiK^ in the e;ist.

It is an interesting fact that the English offi-
cers who were iii frequent engagements -with St.

Pierre, Lusignan, Marin, Langlade, and others,
became the pioneers of the British, a few years
afterwards, in the occupation of the outposts of
the lakes, and in the exploration of Alinnesota.

Kogers, the celebrated captain of rangers, sub-
sequently commander of Mackinaw, and Jona-
than Carver, the first British explorer of Minne-
sota, were both on duty near Lake Champlain, the
latter narrowly escaping at the battle of Fort
Gieorge.

On Christmas eve, 1757, Rogers approached
Fort Ticonderoga, to fire the outhouses, but was
prevented by discharge of the cannons of the
Fren h.

He contented himself with killing fifteen beeves,
on the horns of one of which he left this laconic
and amusing note, addressed to the commander
of the post:

'• I am obliged to you. Sir, for the repose you
have allowed me to take; I thank you for the fresh
meat you have sent me, I i-fequest you to present
my compliments to the Marquis du Montcalm."

On the thirteenth of March, 1758, Durantaye,
formerly at Mackinaw, had a skirmish with Rog-
ers. Both had been trained on the frontier, and
they met '' as Greek met Greek." The coiifiict
was fierce, and the French victorious. The In-
dian allies, finding a scalp of a chief underneath
an officer's jacket, we'-e furious, and took one
hundred and fourteen scalps in return. "Wlien
the French retiu-ned, they supposed that Captain
Kogers was among the killed.

At Quebec, when Montcalm and A\^olfe feU,
there were Ojibways present assisting the French

The Inilians, returning from the expeditions
against the English, were attacked with small-
pox, and many died at Mackinaw.

On the eighth of September, 1700, the French
delivered up all their posts in Canada. A few
days after the capitulation at jSIontreal, Major
Rogers was sent with I^nglish troops, to garrison
the posts of the distant Northwest.

On the eighth of September, 1761, a year after
the surrender. Captain Balfour, of the eightieth
regiment of the British army, left Detroit, with
a detachment to lake possession of the French
forts at Mackinaw and Green Bay. Twenty-five
soldiers were left at ^lackinaw, in command of
Lieutenant Leslie, and the rest sailed to Grc-en
Bay, under Lieutenant Gorrell of the Royal

PENNENSHA WUITES A LETrER FOR THE SIOUX.

Americans, where tlie>' arrived on the twelfth of
October. Tlie fort liad been abaiuhmed for sev-
eral years, and was in a dilapidated condition.
In charge of it there was left a lieutenant, a cor-
poral, and fifteen soldiers. Two English traders
arrived at the same time, McKay from Albany,
and Goddard from ^lontreal.

(lorrell in his journal alludes to the Mimiesota
Sioux. He writes—

" On Itlarch 1, 1703, twelve warriors of the Sous
came here. It is certainly the greatest nation of
Indians ever yet found. IN'ot above two thousand
of them were ever armed witli tirearms ; the rest
depending entirely on bows and arrows, which
they use with more skill than any other Indian
nation in America. They can shoot the wildest
and largest beasts in the woods at seventy or one
hundred yards distant. They are remarkable for
their dancing, and the other nations take the
faslnons from them. ***** This nation
is always at war with the Chippewas, those who
destroyed Mishamakinak. They told me with
warmth that if ever the Chippewas or any other
Indians wished to obstruct the passage of the
traders coming up. to send them word, and they
would come and cut them olf from the face of
the earth ; as all Indians were their slaves or dogs.
I told them I was glad to see them, and hoped to
have a lasting peace with them. They then gave
me a letter wrote in French, and two belts of
wampmn from their king, in wiiich he expressed
great joy on hearing of there being English at
his post. The letter was written by a French
trader whom I had allowed to go among them
last fall, with a promise of his behaving well ;
which he did, better than any Canadian I ever
knew. ***** With regard to traders, I
would not allow M\y to go amongst them, as I

then understood they lay out of the govcrnmenL
of Canada. ))ut made no tloubt they would liave
Iradi'i's fioin llic Mississippi in the spring. They
went away extremely well pleased. June Mlh,
17()3, the traders came down from the Sack coun-
try, and conlirmed the news of Laudsiiig and his
son being killed by the French. There came with
the ti'aders some Puans, and four young men w itji
one chief of the Avoy [loway] nation, to demand
traders. *****

" On the nineteenth, a deputation of Winneba-
goes. Sacs, Foxes and Meuomiuees ai'rived with
a Frenchman named Pemiensha. This rennen-
slia is the same man who wrote the letter the
Sous brought with them in French, and at the
same time held council with that great nation in
favour of the English, by which he much promo-
ted the interest of the latter, as appeared liy the
behaviour of the Sous. He brouglit with him a
jiipe from the Sous, desiring that as the road is
now clear, they would by no means allow the
Chippewas to obstruct it. or give the English any
disturbance, or pi'event the traders from coming
up to them. If they did so they woiUd send all
their warriors and cut them off."

In July, 1763, there arrived at Green Bay.
Bruce, Fisher; and Roseboom of Albany, to en-
gage in the Indian trade.

By the treaty of Paris of 1703, France ceded to
(;reat Britain all of the country east of the Mis-
sissippi, and to Spain the whole of Louisiana, so
that the latter power for a time held the whole
region between the Mississippi River and the Pa-
cilic Ocean, and that portion of the city of JSIin-
neapolis known as the East Division was then
governed by the British, while the West Division
was subject to the Spanish code.

EXPLORERS AKD PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTER XI.

JONATHAN CAKVEK, TILE FIRST BKITISH TRAVELER AT FALLS OF SAINT ANTHONY.

Carver's Etu-ly Life.— In the Battle near Lake Geovge.— Arrives at Mackinaw.—
010 Fort at Green Bay.— Winnebago Village.— Description of Prairie du Chien.
Earthworks on Banks of Lake Pepin.— Sioux Bands Described.— Cave and
Burial Place ui Suburbs of St. Paul.— The Palls of Saint Anthony.— Burial
Rites of tLe Sioux.— Speech of a Sioux Chief.— Schiller's Poem of fhe Death
Song.— Sir John Herschel's Translation. --.Sir E. Balwer Lytton's Version.-..
Correspondence of Sir William Johnson.— Carver's Pr«yect for Opening a Route
to the Pacific— Supposed Origin of the Sioux.— Carver's Claim to Lands Ex-
amined. .-..\lleged Deed.— Testimony of Rev. Samuel Peters. ---Communication
from Gen. Leavenworth. .--Report of U. S- Senate Committee.

Jonathan Carver was a native of Connecticut
His grantlfatlier, AVilliam Carver, was a native of
"VVigan, Lancasliire, England, and a captain in
Kin.? William's army during the campaign in
Ireland, and for meritorious services received an
appointment as au officer of the colony of Con-
necticut.

His father was a justice of the peace in the
new world, and in 1732, the subject of this sketch
was born. At the early age of fifteen he was
called to mourn the death of his father. He then
commenced the'study of medicine, but his roving
disposition could not bear the confines of a doc-
tor's office, and feeling, perhaps, that his genius
would be cramped by pestle and mortar, at the
age of eighteen he purchased an ensign's commis-
sion in one of the regiments raised during the
French war. He was of medium stature, and of
strong mind and quick perceptions.

Jn the year 1757, he was captain luider Colonel
Williams in the battle near Lake (ieorge, where
Saint Pierre was killed, and narrowly escaped
with his life.

After the peace of 1763, between France and
P^ngland was declared. Carver conceived the pro-
ject of exploring the Northwest. Leaving Boston
in the month of June, 1766, he arrived at Macki-
naw, then the most distant Urilish jiost, in the
mouth of August. Having obtained a credit on
some French and English traders from Major
Rogers, tlie officer in command, he started with
them on the third day of September. Pursuing
the usual route to tireen Bay, they arrived there
on the eighteenth.

The French fort at that time was standing,
though much decayed. It was, some years pre-
vious to his arrival, garrisoned for a short time
by an officer and thirty English soldiers, but they
having lieen captured by the Menominees, it was
abandoned.

In company with the traders, he left Green
Bay on the twentieth, and ascending Fox river,
arrived on the twenty-fifth at an island at the
east end of Lake Winnebago, containing about
fifty acres.

Here he foimd a Winnebago village of fifty
houses. He asserts that a woman was in author-
ity. In the month of October tlie party was at
tlie portage of the Wisconsin, and descending
that stream, they arrived, on the ninth at a town
of the Sauks. While here he visited some lead
mines about fifteen miles distant. An abundance
of lead was also seen in the village, that had been
brought from the mines.

On the tenth they arrived at the first village of
the " Ottigaumies" [Foxes] about five miles be-
fore the Wisconsin joins the Mississippi, he per-
ceived the remnants of another village, and
learned that it had been deserted about thirty
years before, and that the inhabitants soon after
their removal, built a town on the Mississippi,
near the mouth of the " Ouisconsin," at a jilace
called by the French La Prairie les Chiens, which
signified the Dog Plains. It was a large town,
and contained about three hundred families.
The houses were built after the Indian manner,
and pleasantly situated on a dry rich soil.

He saw here many houses of a good size and
shape. Tl'is town was the great mart ^^■here all
the adjacent tribes, and where those who inhabit
the most remote Inanches of the Mississippi, an-
nually assemble al)out the latter end of May,
bringing with them their furs to dispose of to the
traders. But it is not always that they conclude
Iheir sale here. Tliis was determined by a gen

SUPPOSED FORTIFICATIONS XEAIi LAKE I'KI'IS.

era! council of the chiefs, who consulted whether
it would be more conducive to their interest to
sell their goods at this place, or to carry them
on to Louisiana or ^lackinaw.

At a small stream called Yellow River, oppo-
site Prairie du Chieu, the traders who had tlnis
far accompanied Carver tooli up tlieir residence
for the winter.

From this point he pn)ceeded in a canoe, willi
a Canadian voyageur and a Mohawk Indian as
companions. Just before reaching Lake Pepin,
vvliile his attendants were one day preparing din-
ner, he walked out and was struck with the pecu-
liar appearance of the surface of the country, and
thought it was the site of some vast artilieial
earth-work. It is a fact worthy of remembrance,
that he was the first to call the attention of the
civilized world to the existence of ancient monu-
ments in the Mississippi valley. We give his own
description :

" On the first of Ifovemlier I reached Lake
Pepin, a few' miles below which I landed, and,
whilst the servants were preparing my dinner, I
ascended the bank to view the country. I liad
not proceeded far before I came to a fine, level,
open plain, on wlncli I perceived, at a little dis-
tance, a partial elevation that had the appearance
of entrenchment. On a nearer inspection I had
greater reason to suppose tliat it had really been
intended for this many centuries ago. Notwith-
standing it was now covered with grass, I could
plainly see that it had once been a breastwork of
about four feet in height, extending the best part
of a mile, and sufliciently capacious to cover five
thousand men. Its form was somewhat circular
and its flaidis reached to the river.

" Tliough much defaced by time, every angle
was distinguishable, and appeared as regular and
fashioned with as mucli military skill as if planned
by Vauban himself. The ditch was not visible,
but I thought, on examining more curiously, that
I coidd perceive there certainly had been one.
From its situation, also, t am convinced that it
must have been designed for that purpose. It
fronted the country, and the rear was covered by
the river, nor was there any rising ground for a
considerable way that commanded it; a few
straggling lakes were alone to be seen near it.
In many places small ti-acks were worn across it
by the feet of the elks or deer, and from the depth

of the bed of earth by which it was covered, I was
able to draw certain conclusions of its great anti-
(piity. I examined all the angU's, and every paxt
with great attention, and have often blamed my-
self since, for not encamping on the spot, and
drawing an exact plan of it. To show that this
description is not the offsin-ing of a lieated imag-
ination, or the chimeri('al tale of a mistaken trav-
eler, I find, on inquiry since my return, that
Mons. St. Pierre, and several traders have at dif-
ferent times, taken notice of similar appearances,
upon which tliey have formed tlie same conjec-
tures, but without examining them so minutely
as I did. How a work of this kind could exist in
a country that has liitherto (according to the gen-
erally received opinion) been the seat of war to
untutored Indians alone, whose whole stock of
military knowledge has only, till within two cen-
turies, amounted to drawing the bow, and whose
only breastwork even at present is the thicket, I
know not. I liave given as exact an account as
possible of this singular appearance, and leave to
future explorers (jf tliose distant regions, to dis-
cover whether it is a production of nature or art.
Perhaps the hints I have here given might lead
to a more perfect investigation of it, and give us
very different ideas of the ancient state of realms
that we at present believe to have been, from the
earliest period, only the habitations of savages."

Lake Pepin excited his admiration, as it has
that of every traveler since his day, and here he
remarks: " I observed the ruins of a French fac-
tory, where it is said Captain St. Pierre resided,
and carried on a very great trade with tlie Xau-
dowessies, before the reduction of Canada."

Carver's first acquaintance with the Dahkotahs
commenced near the river St. Croix. It would
seem that the erection of trading posts on Lake
Pepin had enticed them from their old residence
on Rum river and Mille Lacs.

He says: "Near the river St. Croix reside
bands of the Naudovvessie Indians, called the
River Bands. Tliis nation is composed at pres-
ent of' eleven bands. They were origmally
twelve, but tlie Assinipods, some years ago, re-
volting and separating themselves from the oth-
ers, there remain at this time eleven. Those I
met here are termed the River Bands, because
they chiefly dwell near the banks of tins river,
the other eight are generally distinguislied by the

EXPLORHES AND PIONEERS OF M1NNE801A.

title of Nadowessies of the Plains, and inhabit a
country more to the westward. The names of
the former are Nehogatawonahs, the Mawtaw-
bauntowahs, and Shashweentowahs.

Arriving at what is now a suburb of the cap-
ital of Miimesota, he continues: "AV)out thir-
teen miles below the Falls of St. Anthony, at
which I arrived the tenth day after I left Lake
Pepin, is a remarkable cave, of an amazing deptli.
The Indians term it Wakon-teebe [Wakan-tipi].
The entrance into it is about ten feet wide, the
height of it live feet. The arch within is fifteen
feet high and about thirty feet broad; the bottom
consists of fine, clear sand. About thirty feet
from the entrance begins a lake, the water of
which is transparent, and extends to an unsearch-
able distance, for the darkness of the cave pre-
ents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it.]
I threw a small pebble towards the nterior part
of it witli my utmost strength. I could hear that
it fell mto the water, and, notwithstanding it was
of a small size, it caused an astonishing and ter-
rible noise, that reverlierated througli all those
gloomy regions. I found in this cave many In-
dian hieroglyphics, which appeared very ancient,
for time had nearly covered them witli moss, so
that it was with difficulty I could trace them.
They were cut ui a rude mamier upon the inside
of the wall, which was composed of a stone so ex-
tremely soft that it might be easily penetrated
with a luufe; a stone everywhere to be foimd
near the Mississippi.

" At a little distance from this dreary cavern,
is the burying-place of several bands of tlie Nau-
dowessie Indians. Though these people have no
fixed residence, being in tents, and seldom but a
few months in one spot, yet they always bring
the bones of the dead to this place.

"Ten miles below the Falls of St. Anthony,
the river St. Pierre, called by the natives Wada
paw Menesotor, falls into the Mississippi f roni the
west. It is not mentioned by Father Hennepin,
though a large, fair river. This omission, I con-
sider, must have proceeded from a small island
[Pike's] that is situated exactly in its enti"ance."

AVlien he reached the Minnesota river, the ice
became so troublesome that he left his canoe in
the neighborhood of what is now St. Anthony,
and walked to St. Anthony, in company with a
yomig Winnebago chief, who had never seen the

curling waters. The chief, on reaching the emi-
nence some distance below Cheever"s, began to
invoke his gods, and offer oblations to the spirit
in the waters.

" In the middle of the Falls stands a small
island, about forty feet broad and somewhat lon-
ger, on which grow a few cragged hemlock and
spruce trees, and about half way between this
island and the eastern shore is a rock, lying al
the very edge of the Falls, in an oblique position
that appeared to be about five or six feet broad,
and thirty or forty long. At a little distance be-
low the Falls stands a small island of about an
acre and a half, on which grow a great number of
oak trees."

From this description, it would appear that the
little island, now some distance below the Falls,
was once in the very midst, and shows that a con-
stant recession lias been going on, and that in
ages long past they were not far from the Minne-
sota river.

No description is more glowing than Carver's
of the country adjacent:

" The country around them is extremely beau-
tiful. It is not an uninterrupted plam, where the
eye finds no relief, but composed of many gentle
ascents, wliicli in tlie summer are covered with
tlie finest verdure, and interspersed with Uttle
groves that give a pleasing variety to the pros-
pect. On the whole, when the Falls are inclu-
ded, which may be seen at a distance of four
miles, a more pleasing and pictiu'esque view, I
believe, cannot be formd throughout the uni-
verse."

" He arrived at the Falls on the seventeenth of
jSTovember, 1766, and appears to have ascended as
far as Elk river.

On the twenty-fifth of November, he had re-
turned to the place opposite the Minnesota, where
he had left his canoe, and this stream as yet not
being obstructed with ice, he commenced its as-
cent, with the colors of Great Britain flying at
the stem of his canoe. There is no doubt that
he entered this river, but how far he explored it
cannot be ascertained. He speaks of the Rapids
near Shakopay, and asserts that he went as far as
two himdred miles beyond Mendota. He re-
marks:

" On the seventh of December, I arrived at the
utmost of my travels towards the West, where I

SIOUX BVIUAL ORATION VERSIFIED BY SCHILLER.

(SI

met a large party of the ^s'audowessie Indians,
among wiiom I resided some indnllis."

After speaking of the upper liamls of the I)ah-
kotalis and tlieir allies, lie adds tliat he, " left the
habitations of the hospitable Indians the latter
end of April, lT(i7,bntdid ncl jiart, from them
for several days, as I was acconii>anied on my
jonruey by near three hmidred of them to the
mouth of the river St. Pierre. At this season
these bands aimually go to the great cave (Day-
ton's Blnff ) before mentioned.

AVlien he arrived at the great cave, and the In-
dians had deposited the remains of their deceased
friends in the burial-place that stands adjacent
to it, they held their great council to which he
was admitted.

'When the Xaudowessies brought their dead for
interment to the great cave (St. Paul), I attempted
to get an insight into the remaining burial rites,
but whether it was on account of the stench
which arose from so many dead bodies, or ■\\'hether
they chose to keep this part of their custom secret
from me, I could not discover. I found, however,
that they considered my curiosity as ill-timed,
and therefore I withdrew. * *

One formality among the Xaudowessies in
mourning for the dead is veiy different from any
mode I observed in the other nations tlirough
which I passed. The men, to show how great
their sorrow is, pierce the flesh of their arms
above the elbows with arrows, and the womt n
cut and gash their legs with broken flints till the
blood flows very plentifully. * *

After the breath is departed, the body is
dressed in the same attire it usually wore, his
face is pamted, and he is seated in an erect pos-
ture on a mat or skin, placed in the middle of the
hut, with his weapons by his side. Ills relati^•es
seated aromid, each in turn harangues the de-
ceased; and if lie has been a great warrior, re-
counts his heroic actions, nearly to the following
jiurport, which in the Indian language is extreme-
ly poetical and pleasing

•• You still sit among us, brother, yonr person
retains its usual resemlilance, and continues sim-
ilar to ours, without any visible deljciency, ex-
cept it has lost the power of action! But whither
is that In-eath flown, which a few hours ago sent
up smoke to the Great Spirit'? Whj- are those
lips silent, that lately delivered to us expressions

and pleasing language'i' Why are those feet mo-
tiiinless, that a few hours ago were fleeter than
the deer on yonder mountainsV "Why useless
liang tliose arms, that could climb the tallest tree
(ir draw tlie toughest bow'? Alas, every jiart of
that frame which A\e lately beheld willi admira-
tion and wonder has now become as inanimate as
it was three hundred years ago! We will not,
h(3wever, bemoan thee as if thou wast forever
lost to us, or that thy name would he buried in
oblivion; thy soul yet lives in the great country
of spirits, with those of thy nation that have gone
before thee; and though we are left behind to
peiTJetuate thy fame, we will one day join thee.

" Actuated by the respect we bore thee whilst
livhig, we now come to tender thee the last act of
kindness in our power; that thy body might not
lie neglected on the plain, and liecome a prey to
the beasts of the field or fowls of the air, and we
will take care to lay it with those of thy predeces-
sors that have gone before thee; hoping at the
same time that thy spirit will feed with their
spirits, and be ready to receive ours when we
shall also arrive at the great country of souls."

For this speech Carver is principally indebted
to his imagination, but it is well conceived, and
suggested one of Schiller's poems, which fJivthe
considered one of his best, and wished ■■ lie had
made a dozen such."

Sir E. Lytton Bulwerthe distinguished novelist,
and Sir John Ilerschel the eminent astronomer,
have each given a translation of Scliiller's •• Song
of the Nadowessee Chief."

sii: E. L. bulwek's translation.

See on his mat — as if of yore.

All life-like sits he here I
With that same aspect which he wore

When light to him was dear

But where the right hand's strength '? and where

The breath that loved to breathe
To the Great Spirit, aloft in air.

The peace pipe's lusty wreath ?

And where the hawk-like eye, alas !

That wont the deer pursue.
Along the waves of rippling grass,

Or fields that shone with dew 'i*

HXPLORERS AND nOWEERS OF MINNESOTA.

Are these the limber, bounding feet
Tliat swept the ■winter's suows ?

What stateliest stag so fast and fleet ?
Their speed outstripped the roe's !

These arms, that then the steady bow

Could supple from it's pride,
How stark and helpless hang they now

Adown the stiffened side !

Yet weal to liini — at peace he stays

Wherever fall the snows ;
AVliere o'er the meadows springs the maize

That mortal never sows.

AVLere birds are blithe on every brake —
Where orests teem with deer—

Where glide the fish through every lake —
One chase from year to year !

With spirits now lie feasts above ;

All left us to revere
The deeds we honor witli our lo^e,

The dust we biuy here.

Here bring the last gift ; loud and shrill
Wail death dirge for tlie brave ;

What pleased him most in life, may still
Grive pleasure in the grave.

We 1 ly the axe beneath his head

He swnilig when strength was strong —

The bear on wliich his banquets fed.
The way from earth is long.

And here, new sharpened, place the knife

Tliat severed from the clay.
From which the axe had spoiled tlie life.

The conquered scalp away.

The paints that deck the dead, bestow ;

Yes, place them in his hand,
That red the kingly shade may glow

Amid the spirit laud.

SIK JOHN HEKSCnEL'S TUAXSLATION.

See, where upon the mat he sits

Erect, before Ids door,
With just the same majestic air

That ouce in life he wore.

But where is lied his strength of limb.

The whirlwind of his breath,
To the Great Spirit, when he sent

The peace pipe's mounting wreatli?

"Where are those falcon eyes, which late

Along the plain could trace.
Along the grass's dewy waves

The reindeer's printed pace?

Those legs, which once with matchless speed,

Flew through the drifted snow.
Surpassed the stag's unwearied course,

Outran the mountain roeV

Those arms, once used with might and main.

The stubborn bow to twang?
See, see, their nerves are slack at last.

All motionless they hang.

'Tis well with him, for he is gone

Where snow no more is found,
"Wliere the gay thorn's perpetual bloom

Decks all the field around.

Where wild birds sing from every spray.

Where deer come sweeping by.
Where fish from every lake afford

A jilentiful supply.

With spirits now he feasts above,

And leaves us here alone.
To celebrate his valiant deeds.

And round his grave to moan.

Sound the death song, bring forth the gifts,

The last gifts of the dead,—
Let all which yet may yield him joy

Within his grave be laid.

The hatchet place beneath his brad

Still red with hostile blood;
And add, because the way is long.

The bear's fat limbs for food.

Tlie scalping-knife beside him lay,

A\nth paints of gorgeous dye.
That in the land of souls his form

May shine triumphantly.

It appears from other sources that Carver's
visit to the Dahkotahs was of some effect in bring-
ing about friendly intercourse between them and
the commander of the English force at Mackinaw.

CARVER'S PROJECT FOR A ROUTE TO THE PACIFIC.

The earliest mention of the Dahkotahs, in any
public British documents that we know of, is in
the correspondence between Sir William Johnson,
Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Colony
of New York, and General Gage, in command of
tilt' forces.

On the eleventh of September, less than sis
months after Carver's speech at Dayton's Bluff,
and the departure of a number of chiefs to the
English fort at Mackinaw, Johnson writes to
General Gage: "Though I wrote to you some
days ago, yet I would not mind saying something
again on the score of the vast expenses incurred,
and, as I imderstand, still incurring at Michili-
mackinac, chiefly on pretense of making a peace
between the Sioux and Chippeweighs, with which
I think we have very little to do, in good policy
or otherwise."

Sir WilUam Johnson, in a letter to Lord Hills-
borough, one of his Majesty's ministers, dated
August seventeenth, 1768, again refers to the
subject :

"Much greater part of those who go a trading
are men of such circumstances and disposition as
to venture their persons everywhere for extrava-
gant gains, yet the consequences to the public
are not to be shghted, as we may be led into a
general quarrel through their means. The In-
dians in the part adjacent to MichiUmackinac
have been treated with at a very great expense
for some time previous.

"Major Rodgers brings a considerable charge
against the former for mediating a peace between
some tribes of the Sioux and some of the Chippe-
weighs, which, had it been attended with success,
would only have been interesting to a very few
French, and others that had goods in that part
of the Indian country, but the contrary has hap-
pened, and they are now more violent, and war
against one another."

Though a wilderness of over one thousand
miles intervened between the Falls of St. An-
thony and the white settlements of the English,
Carver was fully impressed with the idea that the
State now organized under the name of Minne-
sota, on account of its beauty and fertility, would
attract settlers.

Speaking of the advantages of the country, he
says that the future population vriU be "able to
convey their produce to the seaports with great

facility, the current of the river from its source
to its entrance into the Gulf of Mexico beuig ex-
tremely favorable for doing this in small craft.
'Ihis might also in time he facilitated by canal- (rr
shorter cuts, and a communication opened by water
with New York by way of the Lakes."

The subject of this sketch was also confident
that a route would be discovered by way of the
Minnesota river, which would open a passage
to China and the English settlements in the East
Indies."

Carver having returned to England, interested
Whitworth, a member of parliament, in the
northern route. Had not the American Revolu-
tion commenced, they proposed to have built a
fort at Lake Pepin, to have proceeded up the
Minnesota until they found, as they supposed
they could, a branch of the Missouri, and from
thence, journeying over the summit of lands un-
til they came to a river which they called Ore-
gon, they expected to descend to the Pacific.

Carver, in common with other travelers, had
his theory in relation to the origin of the Dahko-
tahs. He supposed that they came from Asia.
He remarks: "But this might have been at dif-
ferent times and from various parts— from Tar-
tary, China, Japan, for the inhabitajits of these
places resemble each other. * * *

"It is very evident that some of the names and
customs of the American Indians resemble those
of the Tartars, and I make no doubt but that in
some futiu-e era, and this not far distant, it vrill
be reduced to certainty that during some of the
wars between the Tartars and Chinese a part of
the inhabitants of the northern provinces were
driven from their native countiy, and took refuge
in some of the isles before mentioned, and from
thence found their way into America. » • *

"Many words are used both by the Chinese and
the Indians which have a resemblance to each
other, not only in their sound, but in their signi-
fication. The Chinese call a slave Shungo; and
the Noudowessie Indians, whose language, from
their little Intercourse with the Europeans, is
least corrupted, term a dog Shungush [Shoan-
kah.J The former denominate one species of their
tea Shoushong; the latter call their tobacco Shou-
sas-sau [Chanshasha.] Many other of the words
used by the Indians contain the syllables che,
chaw, and chu, after the dialect of the Chinese."

explobi:rs and pioneers of Minnesota.

The comparison of languages lias become a rich
som'ce of historical knowledge, yet many of the
analogies traced are fanciful. The remark of
Hiimbolt in " C osmos" is worthy of remembrance.
"As the structure of American idioms appears
remarkably strange to nations speaking the mod-
ern languages of Western Europe, and who readily
suffer themselves to be led away by some acci-
dental analogies of sound, theologians have gen-
erally believed that they could trace an affinity
with the Hebrew, Spanish colonists with the
Basque and the English, or French settlers with
Gaelic, Erse, or the Bas Breton. I one day met
on the coast of Peru, a Spanish naval officer and
an Englisli whaling captain, the foritier of whom
declared tliathe had heard Basque spoken at Ta-
hiti; the other, Gaelic or Erse at the Saudwich
Islands."

Carver became very poor wliile in England,
and was a clerk in a lottery-office. He died in
1780, and left a widow, two sons, and five daught-
ers, in New England, and also a cliild by another
wife tliat he had married in (ireat Britain

After liis death a claim was urged for the land
upon which the capital of Minnesota now stands'
and for many miles adjacent. As there are still
many i)ersons who believe that they have some
right through certain deeds purporting to be from
the heirs of Carver, it is a matter worthy of an
investigation.

Carver says nothing in his Ijook of travels in re-
lation to a grant from the Dahkotahs, but after
he w-as buried, it was asserted that there was a
deed belonging to him in existence, conveying
valuable lands, and that said deed was executed
at the cave now in the eastern suburbs of Saint
Paul.

DEED PURPORTINt^ TO HAVE BEEN GIVEN AT
THE CAVE IN THE BLUFF BELOW' ST. PaUL.

" To Jonathan Carver, c chief under the most
mighty and potent George the Third, King of the
English and other nr,tions, the fame of wiiose
warriors has reached our ears, and has now been
fully told us by our good brother Jonatliun. afore-
said, whom we rejoice to have come among us,
and bring us good news from his country.

"We, chiefs of the Naudowessies, wiio have
hereunto set our seals, do by these presents, for
ourselves and heirs forever, in return for tlie aid
and oilier good services done by the said Jona-

than to ourselves and allies, give grant and con-
vey to him, the said Jonathan, and to his heirs
and assigns forever, the wiiole of a certain tract
or territory of land, bounded as follows, ^iz: from
the Falls of St. Anthony, running on the east
bank of the Mississippi, nearly southeast, as far
as Lake Pepin, where the Chippewa joins the
^Mississippi, and from thence eastward five days
travel, accoimting twenty English miles per day;
and from thence again to the Falls of St. Anthony,
on a direct straight line. We do for ourselves,
heirs, and assigns, forever give unto the said Jo-
nathan, his heirs and assigns, with all the trees,
rocks, and rivers therein, reserving the sole lib-
erty of hunting and fisliing on land not planted
or improved by the said Jonathan, his heirs and
assigns, to wiiich we have affixed our respective
seals.

" At the Great Cave, May 1st. 1767,

"Signed, HAWXOPAWJATm.

OTOHTGXGOOMLISHEAW. "

The original deed was never exhibited by the
assignees of the heirs. By his English wife Car-
ver had one child, a daughter Jilartha, who was
cared for by Sir Richard and Lady Pearson, In
time she eloped and married a sailor, A mercan-
tile firm in London, thinking that money could
be made, induced the new ly married couple, the
day after the wedding, to convey the grant to
them, with the understanding that they were to
have a tenth of the profits.

The merchants despatched an agent by the
name of Clarke to go to the Dahkotahs, and ob-
tain a new deed; but on his way he was murdered
in the state of New York,

In the year 1794, the liehs of Carver's Ameri-
"can wife, in consideration of fifty thousand pounds
sterling, conveyed their interest in the Carver
grant to Edward Houghton of Vermont. In the
year 180(5, Sanmel Peters, who had been a tory
and an Episcopal minister during the Revolu-
tionary Avar, alleges, in a petition to Congress,
tliat he had also piurchased of the heii's of Carver
their rights to the grant.

Before the Senate committee, tlie same year,
he testified as follows:

"In the year ]774,Iamved theio (London),
and met Captain Carver. In 177"), Carver had a
hearing before the king, praying his majesty's
approval of a deed of laud dated ^lay first, 17(J7,

VyiTKl) bTATEti B EJECT CAHVEirS i'l.AIM.

and sold and jjianted to liini by the Naudowissies.
The lesulL was his majesty approved of the exer-
tions and bravery of Captain ("arver among the
Indian nations, near the Falls of St. Anthony, in
the Mississippi, gave to said Carver 1371?. 13«. Sd.
sterling, and ordered a frigate to be prepared,
and a transport ship to carry one hundred and
fifty men, nnder command of Captain Carver, \\'M\
four others as a committee, to sail the next June
to New Orleans, and then to ascend the ilissis-
sippi. to takepossessionof said territory conveyed
to Captain Carver ; but the battle of Bunker Hill
prevented."

In 1S21, General Leavenworth, having made
intjuiries of the Dahkotahs, in relation to the
alleged claim, addressed the following to the
commissioner of the land office :

" Sir: — Agreeably to your request, I have the
honour to inform you wliat I have understood
from the Indians of the Sioux Nation, as well as
some facts within my own knowledge, as to what
is commonly termed Carver's Grant. The grant
purports til be made by the chiefs of the Sioux
of the Plains, and one of the chiefs uses the sign
of a serpent, and the other of a turtle, purport-
ing that their names are derived from those ani-
mals.

''The land lies on the east side of the Mississ-
ippi. The Indians do not recognize or acknowl
edge the grant to be valid, and they among others
assign the following reasons:

"1. The Sioux of the Plains never owned a
foot of land on the east side of the Mississippi.
The Sioux Nation is divided into two grand di-
visions, \iz: The Sioux of the Lake; or perhaps
more literally Sioux of the River, and Sioux of
the Plain. The former subsists by hunting and
fishing, and usually move from place to place by
water, in canoes, during the summer season, and
travel on the ice in the winter, when not on
their hunting excursions. The latter subsist en-
tirely by hunting, and have no canoes, nor do
they know but little about the use of them. They
reside in the large prairies west of theMississipiii,
and follow the buffalo, iiiion which they entirely
subsist; these are called Sioux of tlie Plain, and
never owned land east of the Mississippi.

"2. The Indians say they have no knowledge
of any such chiefs as those who have signed the
grant to Carver, eitlier amongst the Sioux of tlie

River or the Sioux of the Plain. They say that
if Captain (!arver did ever obtain a deed or
grant, it was signed by some foolish young men
who were not cliiefs and who were not author-
ized to make a grant. Among the Sioux of the
Hiver there are no such names.

"3. They say the Indians never received any-
lliing for the land, and they have no intention to
part with it without a consideration. From my
knowledge of tlie Indians. I am induced to tliink
tliey would not make so considerable a grant, and
liave it to go into full effect without receiving a
substantial consi<leration.

'• 4. They have, and ever have had, the pos-
session of the land, and intend to keep it. I
know that they are very particular in making
every person who wislies to cut timber on that
tract obtain their iiermission to do so, and to ob-
tain payment for it. In the month of May last,
some Frenchmen brouglitalarge raft of red cedar
timber out of the Chippewa River, which timber
was cut on the tract before mentioned. The In-
dians at one of the villages on the Mississippi,
where the principal chief resided, compelled the
Frenchmen to land the raft, and would not per-
mit them to pass until they had received pay for
the timber, and the Frenchmen were compelled
to leave their raft with the Indians imtil they
went to Prairie du Cliien, and obtained the nec-
essary articles, and made the payment required."

On the twenty-third of January, 1823, the Com-
mittee of Public Lands made a report on the
claim to the Senate, wliich, to every disinterested
person, is enth'ely satisfactory. After stating
the facts of tlie petition, the report continues:

" The Rev. Samuel Peters, in his petition, fur-
ther states that Lefei, the present Emperor of
the Sioux and Naudowessies, and Red AVing, a
sachem, the heirs and successors of the two grand
chiefs who signed the said deed to Captain Car-
ver, have given satisfactory and positive proof
that they allowed tlieir ancestors" deed to bo gen-
uine, good, and valid, and that Captain Carver's
heirs and assigns are the owners of said territory,
and may occupy it free of all molestation.

The committee have examined and considered
the claims thus exhiliited by the petitioners, and
remark that the original deed is not produced, nor
any competent legal evidence offered of its execu-
tion : nor is there any proof that the persons, who

EXPLOBEBS AND PI0NEEB8 OF MINNESOTA.

it is alleged made the deed, were the chiefs of
said tribe, nor that {if chiefs) they had authority
to grant and give away the land belonging to their
tribe. The paper annexed to the petition, as a
copy of said deed, has no subscribing witnesses ;
and it would seem impossible, at this remote pe-
riod, to ascertain the important fact, that the per-
sons who signed the deed comprehended and
understood the meaning and effect of their act.

"The want of proof as to these facts, would
interpose in the way of the claimants insuperable
difficulties. But, in the opinion of the committee,
the claim is not such as the United States are
mider any obligation to allow, even if the deed
were proved in legal form.

" The British govenmient, before the time when
the alleged deed bears date, had deemed it pru-
dent and necessary for the preservation of peace
with the Indian tribes under their sovereignty,
protection and dominion, to prevent British sub-
jects from purchasing lands from the Indians,
and this rule of policy was made known and en-
forced by the proclamation of the kmg of Great
Britain, of seventh October, 1763, which contains
an express prohibition.

" Captain Carver, aware of the law, and know-
ing that such a contract could not vest the legal
title in him, applied to the British government to
ratify and conlirm the Indian grant, and, though
it was competent for that government then to
confirm the grant, and vest the title of said land

in him, yet. from some cause, that government
did not think proper to do it.

" The territory has since become the property
of the United States, and an Indian grant not
good against the British government, would ap-
pear to be not binding unon the United States
government.

" What benefit the British government derived
from the services of Captain Carver, by his trav-
els and residence among the Indians, that gov-
ernment alone could determine, and alone could
judge what remuneration those services deserved.

" One fact appears from the declaration of Mr.
Peters, in liis statement in writing, among the
papers exhibited, namely, that the British gov-
ernment did give Captain Carver the sum of one
thousand three hundred and seventy-five pomids
six shillings and eight pence sterling. To the
United States, however. Captain Carver rendered
no services which could be assumed as any equit-
able ground for the support of the petitioners'
claim.

" The committee being of opinion that the
United States are not bound in law and equity to
confirm the said alleged Indian grant, recom-
mend tlie adoption of tlie resolution:

"' Besolved, That the prayer of the petitioners
ought not to be granted."" '

Lord Palmerston stated in 1839, that no trace
could be foinid in the records of the British
office of state papers, showing any ratification of
the Carver grant.

EXl'LORATloys JlV LIEUTEyAX r z. u. rii<h\

CIIAI'TKK XTI.

EXPLORATION I5Y THE FIRST UNITIID STATES AKJIY OFFICKU, LrETTTENANT 7.. 31. I'lK'K.

"TiatCB Posts at the hc^inning of Nineteenth Century.— Sandy Lake Fort.—
I.ceot. Lake Furt, — Willinm Morrison, before Schoolcraft at Itasca Lake.— Divi-
sion or Northwest Territory.- Organization of Indiiina, Michigan and Upper
Louisiana.— Notices of Wo-'d, Frazer, Fisher, Cameron, Faribault.— Early
Tradem.— Pike's Council at Mouth of Minnesota River.— Grant for Militarj-
Posts. — tMcauipment at Falls of St. Anthony.— Block House near Sw.an River.
—Visit to Sandy and Leech Lakes.— British Flag Shot at and Lowered.—
Thonip»on, Topographer ol Northwest Company, — Pike at Dickson's Trading
Post —Returns to Mendota. — Fails to find Carver's Cave.— Conference with
Little Crow. —Cameron sells Liijuor to Indians.

At the beginning of tlie present centnry, the
region now luiown as iliimesota, contiuiit'tl no
wiiite men, except a few engaged in the fur trade.
In the treaty effected by Hon. Jolm Jay, Great
Britain agreed to withdraw her troops from all
posts and places witliLu certain boundary lines,
on or before the first of June, 1796. liut all Brit-
ish settlers and traders might remain for one
year, and enjoy all their former privileges, with-
out being obliged to be citizens of the United
States of America.

In the year 1800, the trading posts of Minnesota
were chiefly held by the Xorthwest Company,
and their chief traders resided at Sandy Lake,
Leech Lake, and Fon du Lac, on St. Louis Kiver.
In the year 1794, this company binlt a stockade
one hundred feet square, on the southeast end of
Sandy Lake. Tlitn'e were bastions pierced for
small arms, in the southeast and in the northwest
comer. The pickets which surrounded the post
were thirteen feet high. On the north side there
was a gate ten by nine feet ; on the west side, one
six by five feet, and ou the east side a third gate
six by five feet. Travelers entering the main
gate, saw on the left a one story Imilding twenty
feet square, the residence of the supeiintendent,
and on the left of the east gate, a building twenty-
live by fifteen, the quarters of tlie voyagetiis.
Entering tlie western gate, on the left was a stone
liouse, twenty by tliirty feet, and a house twenty
by forty feet, used as a store, and a workshop,
and a residence for clerks. On the soutl;^ sliore
of Leech Lake there was another establishment,
i little larger. The stocksule was one liundred

and fifty feet square. The main building was
sixty by twenty-five feet, and one and a half stcuy
In height, where resided the Director of the fur
trade of tlie Fond du Lac department of the ^S^ortli-
west Company. In the centre was a small store,
twelve and a half feet si]uaie, and near the main
gate was flagstaff fifty feet in height, from
which used to float the flag of Great Britain.

William Morrison was, in 1S02, the trader at
Leech Lake, and in 1804 he was at Elk Lake, the
source of the Mississippi, thirty-two years after-
wards named by Schoolcraft, Lake Itasca.

The entire force of the Northwest Company,
west of Lake Superior, in 180-5, consisted of three
accountants, nineteen clerks, t^vo interpreters,
eighty-five canoe men, and with them were
twenty-nine Indian or half-breed women, and
about fifty children.

On the seventh of May, 1800, the Northwest
Territory, which included all of the western
country east of the Mississippi, was divided.
The portion not designated as Ohio, was organ-
ized as the TeiTitory of Indiana.

On the twentieth of December, 1803, tlie
province of Louisiana, of which that portion of
Minnesota west of the ilississippi was a part,
was officially delivered up by the French, wlio
liad just obtained it from the Spaniards, accord-
ing to treaty stipulations.

To the transfer of Louisiana by France, after
twenty days' possession. Spain at first objected;
but in 1.S04 withdrew all opposition.

President Jefferson now deemed it an object
of paramount importance for the United States
to explore the country so recently acquired, and
make the acquaintance of the tribes residing
therein; and steps were taken for an expedition
to the upper Mississippi.

Early in :March, 1804. Captain Stoddard, of the
L'nited States army, arrived at St. Louis, the
agent of the J'^rench Republic, to receive fnim

EXPLOBEBS AND PIONEmiS OF MIJ^JSlJ<]iiOTA.

the Spanish authorities tlie possession of the
country, which he immediately transfen'ed to tlie
United States.

As tlie old settlers, on the tenth of March, saw
the ancient flag of Spain displaced by that of the
United States, the tears coursed down their
cheeks.

On the twentieth of the same month, the terri-
tory of Upper Louisiana was constituted, com-
prising tlie present states of Arkansas, Missouri,
Iowa, and a large portion of Minnesota.

On the eleventh of January. 1805, the terri-
tory of Michigan was organized.

The first American officer who visited Minne-
sota, on business of a public nature, was one who
was an ornament to his profession, and in energy
and endurance a true representative of the citi-
zens of the United States. We refer to the
gallant Zebulon Montgomery Pike, a native of
New Jersey, who afterwards fell in battle at
York, Upper Canada, and whose loss was justly
mourned by the whole nation.

When a young lieutenant, he was ordered by
General Wilkinsjpn to visit the region now known
as Minnesota, and expel the British traders who
were found violating the laws of the United
States, and form alliances with the Indians.
With only a few common soldiers, he was obliged
to do the work of several men. At times ho
would precede his party for miles to reconnoitre,
and then he would do the duty of hunter.

During the day he would perform the part of
surveyor, geologist, and astronomer, and at night,
though hungry and fatigued, his lofty enthu-
siasm kept him awake until he copied the notes,
and plotted the courses of the day.

On the 4th day of September, 1805, Pike ar-
rived at Prairie du Chien, from. St. Louis, and
was jiolitely treated by three traders, all born un-
der the flag of the United Stales. One was named
Wood, anotlier Fiazer, a nati\e of Vermont,
wlio, when a young man became a clerk of one
r.lakely, of ^Montreal, and thus became a fur
trader. The third was Henry Fisher, a captain
of tlie Militia, and Justice of the Peace, whose
wife was a daughter of Goutier de Verville.
Fisher was said to have been a nephew of Pres-
(lent Momoe, and later in life traded at the
sources of the Minnesota. One of his daughters
was the mother of Joseph Rolette, Jr., a mem-

ber of the early Minnesota Legislative assem-
blies. Ou the eighth of the month Lieutenant
Pike left Prairie du Chien, in two batteaux, with
Sergeant Henry Kennerman, Corporals William
E. Mack and Samuel Bradley, and ten privates.

At La Crosse, Frazer, of Prairie du Chien,
overtook him, and at Sandy point of Lake Pepin
he found a trader, a Scotchman by the name of
Murdoch Cameron, with his son, and a young
man named John Rudsdell. On the twonty-
first he breakfasted with the Kaposia band of
Sioux, who then dwelt at the marsh below Day-
ton's Bluff, a few miles below St. Paul. The
same day he passed three miles from Mendota
the encampment of J. B. Faribault, a trader and
native of Lower Canada, then about thirty years
of age, in which vicinity he continued for more
than fifty years. He married Pelagie the daugh-
ter of Francis Kinnie by an Indian woman,
and his eldest son. Alexander, bom soon after
Pike's visit, was the foimder of the town of
Faribault.

Arriving at the confluence of the Minnesota
and the Mississippi Rivers, Pike and his soldiers
encamped on the Kortheast point of the island
which still bears his name. The next day was
Sunday, and he visited Cameron, at his trading
post on the Minnesota River, a short distance
above Mendota.

On Monday, the 23d of September, at noon,
he held a Council with the Sioux, under a cover-
ing made by suspending sails, and gave an ad-
mirable talk, a portion of wMch was as follows :

" Brothers, I am happy to meet you here, at
this council fire which your fatlier has sent me to
kindle, and to take you by the hands, as our chil-
dren. We having but lately acquired from the
Spanish, the extensive territory of Louisiana, our
general has thought proper to send out a number
of his warriors to visitall his red children ; to tell
them his will, and to hear what request they may
have to make of their father. I am happy the
choice fell on me to come this road, as I find
my brothers, the Sioux, ready to listen to my
words.

" Brothers, it is the wish of our government to
establish military jto.sts on the Upper Mississippi,
at such places as might be thought expedient. I
have, therefore, examined the country, and have
liilched on the mouth of the river St. Croix, this

Clh'AyT OF LAMJ FROM THE HJOIX.

place, <aiul the tails of St. Anthony ; I therefore
wish jou to grant to the United States, nine
miles square, at St. Croix, and at this place, from
a league below the conlluence of the St. Peter's
anil Mississippi, to a league above St. Anthony,
extending three leagues on each side of the river ;
and as we are a people who are accnstouied to
have all our acts written down, hi order to have
them handed to our cliildren, I have drawn up a
form of an agreement, winch we will both sign,
in the presence of tlie traders now present. After
we know the terms, we will till it up, and have it
read and interpreted to you.

'■ Brothers, those posts are intended as a bene-
fit to you. The old chiefs now jtrcsent must see
that their situation improves by a coninuinieation
with the whites. It is the intention of the United
States to establish at those posts factories, in
which the Indians may procure all their things
at a cheaper and better rate than tliey do now, or
than your traders can affoi'd to sell them to you,
as they are single men, who come from far in
small boats; but your fathers are many and
strong, and will come with a strong arm, in large
boats. There will also be chiefs here, -who can
attend to the wants of their brothei's, without
their sending or goLiig all the way to St. Loins,
and will see the traders that go up j'our rivers,
and know that they are good men. * * * *

" Brothers, I now present you with some of
your father's tobacco, and some other trifling
thhigs, as a memorandum of my good will, and
before my departure I will give yo>i some liipior
to clear your throats."

The traders, Cameron and Frazer, sat witli
Pike. His interpr«ter was I'ierre Rosseau.
jlmong the Chiefs present were Le Petit Cor-
beau (Little Crow), and Way-ago Enagee, and
L'Orignal Leve or Eising Moose. It was with
difficidty that the chiefs signe<l the following
agreement ; not that they objected to the lan-
guage, but because they thought tlieir word
should be taken, witliout any mark ; but Pike
overcame their objection, liy saying that he wished
them to sign it on his account.

" Wliereas, at a conference held between the
United States of America and the Sioux na-
tion of Indians, Lieutenant Z. M. Pike, of the
army of the United States, and the chiefs and
warriors of said tribe, have ao'reed to the follow-

ing articles, which, when ratilitd and approved of
by the proper authority, shall be binding on both
part ies :

Art. 1. That the Sioux nation grant unto the
United States, for the purpose of estabUshment
of military posts, nine miles square, at the mouth
of tlieSt. Croix, also from below the continence
of the ^Mississippi and St. Peter's, up tlie Missis-
sijipi to include the Falls of St. Anthony, extend-
ing nine miles on each side of the river ; that tlie
Sioux Nation grants to the United States the full
sovereignty and power over said district forever.
Art. 2. That in consideration of the above
grants, the United States shall pay [niled ii]i by
the Senate with 2,000 dollarsj.

Art. 3. The United States promise, on their
part, to permit the Sioux to pass and repass, hunt,
or make other use of the said districts, as they
have formerly done, without any other exception
than those specified in ai'ticle first.

In testimony whereof, we, the undersigned,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, at the
month of the river St. Peter's, on the 2od day of
September, 1805.

Z. M. PIKE, [L. S.]
1st Lieutenant and agent at tlie aliove conference.

his

LE PETIT COKBEAU. y, [L. S.J

mark

his

WAY-AGO ENAGEE. X [L. S.]

mark "

The following entries from Pike's .biurnal, des-
criptive of the region around the city of Minne-
apolis, seventy-five years ago, are wortliy of jires-
ervation:

'•Sept. 26th. 77/ Kcsdw/.— Embarked at the usual
hour, and after much labor in passing through
the rapids, arrived at the foot of the Falls about
three or four o'clock; unloaded my boat, and had
the principal part of her cargo carried over the
portage. With the other boat, however, full
loaded, they were not able to get over the last
shoot, and encamped about six yards below. I
pitched my tent and encamped above the shoot.
Tlie rapids mentioned in this day's march, might
properly be called a continuation of the Falls of
St. Anthony, for they are eipially entitled to this
awiellation. with the Falls of the Delawwe and

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

Susquehanna. Killed one deer. Distance nine
miles,

Sept. 27th, Friday. Brought over the residue
of my loading this morning. Two men arrived
from Mr. Frazer, on St. Peters, for my dispatches.
This business, closing and sealing, appeared like
a last adieu to the civilized world. Sent a large
packet to the General, and a letter to Mrs. Pike,
with a short note to Mr. Frazer. Two young
Indians brought my flag across by land, who ar-
rived yesterday, just as we came in sight of the
Fall. I made them a present for their punctual-
ity and expedition, and the danger they were ex-
posed to from the journey. Carried our boats out
of the river, as far as the bottom of the hill.

Ski't. 28th, Saturday. — Brought my barge over,
and put her in the river above the Falls. While
we were engaged with her three-fourths miles
from camp, seven Indians painted black, appeared
on the lieights. We had left our guns at the
camp and were entirely defenceless. It occurred
to me that they were the small party of Sioux who
were obstinate, and would go to war, when the
other part of the bands came in ; these they
proved to be ; they were better armed than any I
had ever seen ; having guns, bows, arrows, clubs,
spears, and some of them even a case of pistols.
I was at that. time giving my men a dram; and
giving the cup of liquor to the first, he di-ank it
off ; but I was more cautious with the remainder.
I sent my interpreter to camp with them, to wait
my coming ; wisliing to purchase one oi their war
clubs, it being made of elk horn, and decorated
with inlaid work. This and a set of bows and
arrows I wished to get as a curiosity. But the
liquor I had given him began to operate, he came
back for me, but refusing to go till I brought my
boat, he retiu-ned, and (I suppose being offended)
borrowed a canoe and crossed the river. In the
afternoon got the other boat near the top of the
hill, when the props gave way, and she slid all the
way dovn\ to the bottom, but fortiuiately without
injuring any person. It raining very hard, W'e
left her. Killed one goose and a racoon.

SiSPT. 29th, Si(nday.—l killed a remarka'-ily
large racoon. Got our large boat over the port-
age, and put her in the river, at the upper land-
ing; this night the men gave sufficient proof of
their fatigue, by all throwing thenisclvcs down to
sleep, preferring rest to supper. This day I had

but fifteen men out of twenty-two ; the others
were sick. This voyage could have been per-
formed with great convenience, if we had taken
our departure in June. But the proper time
would be to leave the lUinois as soon as the ice
would permit, when the river would be of a good
height.

Sept. 30th, Monday. — Loaded my boat, moved
over and encamped on the Island. The large boats
loading likewise, we went over and put on board.
In the mean time, I took a survey of the Falls,
Portage, etc. If it be possible to pass the Falls
in high water, of which I am doubtful, it must
be on the East side, about thirty yards from
shore ; as there are three layers of rocks, one be-
low the other. The pitch off of either, is not
more than five feet ; but of this I can say more
on my return.

On the tenth of October, the expedition
reached some large island below Sauk Rapids,
where in 1797, Porlier and Joseph Renville had
wmtered. Six days after this, he reached the
Rapids in Morrison coimty, which stiU bears his
name, and he writes: "When we arose in the
morning, foimd that snow had fallen during the
night, the ground was covered and it continued
to snow. This, indeed, was but poor encourage-
ment for attacking the Rapids, in which we were
certain to wade to our necks. I was determined,
however, if possible to make la riviere de Cor-
bean, [Crow Wing River], the highest point was
made by traders in their bark canoes. We em-
barked, and after four hours work, became so
benumbed with cold that our limbs were perfectly
useless. We put to shore on the opposite side of
the river, about two-thirds of the way up the
rapids. Built a large fire ; and then discovered
that our boats were nearly half full of water;
both having sprung large leaks so as to oblige me
to keep three hands bailing. My sergeant (Ken-
nerman) one of the stoutest men I ever knew,
broke a blood-vessel and vomited nearly two
quarts of blood. One of my corporals (Bradley)
also evacuated nearly a pint of blood, when he
attempted to void his urine. These unhappy
circumstances, in addition to the inability of
four other men wliom we were obliged to leave
on shore, convinced me, that if I had no regard
for my own health and constitution, I should
ha\e some for those poor fellows, who were kiU-

PIKES BLOCK HOUSE NEAR SWA\ UnKli.

injr themselves to obey my orders. ^Vfter we had
breakfast and refreshed ourselves, we w^eiit down
to our boats on the rocks, where I was obliged to
leave them. I then informed my men that we
would retimi to the camp and there leave some
of the party and our large boats. This informa-
tion was pleasing, and the attempt to reach the
camp soon accomplished. Jly reasons for this
step have partly been already stated. The nec-
essity of imloading and refitting my buats, tlie
beauty and convenience of the spot for building
huts, the fine pine trees for peroques, and the
quantity of game, were additional inducements.
Vi'e immediately miloaded our boats and secured
their cargoes. In the evening I went out upon a
small, but beautiful creek, which emptied into
the Falls, for the piu-pose of selecting pine trees
to make canoes. Saw five deer, and killed one
buck weighing one hundred and thirty-seven
pounds. By my leaving men at tliis place, and
from the great quantities of game in its vicinity,
I was ensured plenty of provision for my return
voyage. In the party left behuid was one hunter,
to be contmually employed, who woidd keep o>ir
stock of salt provisions good. Distance two
hundred and thirty-three and a half miles above
the FaUs of St. Anthony.

Having left his large boats and some soldiers
at this point, he proceeded to the vicinity of
Swan iliver where he erected a block house, and
on the thirty-first of October he writes: '-En-
closed my little work completely with pickets.
Hauled up my two boats and turned them over
on each side of the gateways ; by which means
a defence was made to the river, and had it not
been for various political reasons, I W'ould have
laughed at the attack of eight hundred or a
thousand savages, if all my party were within.
For. excejit accidents, it would only have afford-
ed amusement, the Indians having no idea of
taking a place by storm. Found myself power-
fully attacked with the fantastics of the brain,
called ennui, at the mention of which I had
hitherto scoffed ; but my books being packed up,
I was like a person entranced, and could easily
conceive why so many persons who have been
confined to remote places, acquire the habit of
drinking to excess, and many other vicious prac-
tices, which have been adopted merely to j^ass
time.

During the next month he himted the buffalo
which were then in that vicinity. On the third
of December he received a visit from Kobert
Dickson, afterwards noted in the history of the
country, who was then trading about sixty miles-
below, on the Mississipiii.

On the tenth of December with some sleds he
continued his journey northward, and on the last
day of the year passed I'uie Kiver. On tlie third
of January, 1806, he reached the trading jjost at
Red Cedar, now Cass Lake, and was quite indig-
nant at finding tlie British fiag fioating from the
staff. The niglit after this his tent caught on
fire, and he lost some valuable and necessary
cl( thing. On the evening of the eighth he reach-
ed .Sandy Lake and was hospitably received by
(irant, the trader in cliarge. He writes .

" Jan. 9th, Thurttday. — Marched the corjioral
early, in order that our men should receive
assurance of our safety and success. He carried
with him a small keg of spirits, a present from
JSIr. Grant. The establishment of this place was
formed twelve years since, by the North-west
Company, and was formerly under the charge of
a Mr. Charles Brusky. It has attained at present
such regularity, as to permit the superintendent
to live tolerably comfortable. They liave horses
they procured from Red Kiver, of t!ie Indians;
raise plenty of Irish potatoes, catch pike, suckers,
pickerel, and white fish in abundance. Tliey
have also beaver, deer, and moose ; but the pro-
vision they chiefly depend upon is wild oats, of
which they purchase great quantities from tlie
savages, giving at the rate of about one dollar
and a half per bushel. But flour, pork, and salt,
are almost interdicted to persons not principals
in the trade. Flour sells at half a dollar; salt a
dollar; pork eigiity cents; sugar half a dollar;
antl tea four dollars and fifty cents per pound.
The sugar is obtained from the Indians, and is
made from the maple tree."

He remained at Sandy Lake ten days, and on
the last day two men of the Northwest Company
arrived with letters from Fon du Lac Suiierior,
one of which was from .Vtliapuscow, and had
been since May on the route.

On the twentieth of January began his journey
to Leech Lake, which he reached on the first of
February, and was hospitably received by Hugh

EXPLOBEBS AND PIO^'EEBS OF MINNESOTA.

JilcGillis, the head of the Korthwest Company at
this post.

A Mr. ^Viiilerson, in the employ of Kobert
Dickson, was residing at the west end of thelalve.
"While here he hoisted the American flag in the
fort. The English yacht still flying at the top of
the flagstaff, he directed the Indians and his sol-
diers to shoot at it. They soon broke the iron
pin to which it was fastened, and it fell to the
ground. He was informed by a venerable old
Ojibway chief, called Sweet, that the Sioux dwelt
there when he was a youth. On the tenth of
February, at ten o'clock, he left Leech Lake with
Corporal Bradley, the trader !McGillis and two of
his men. and at sunset arrived at Ked Cedar, now
Cass Lake. At this i)Iace, in 1798, Thompson,
employed by the Northwest Company for three
years, in topographical surveys, made some ob-
servations. He believed that a line from the
Lake of the Woods would touch the sources of
the Mississippi. Pike, at this point, was very
kindly treated by a Canadian named Roy, and his
Ojibway squaw. On his retiu'ii home, he reached
Clear Kiver on the seventh of April, where he
found his canoe and men. and at night was at
Grand Rapids, Dickson's trading post. He talked
until foiu- o'clock the next morning with this
person and another trader named PorUer. He
forbade while there, the traders Greignor [Grig-
non] and La Jennesse, to sell any more liquor to
Indians, who had become very drunken and un-
ruly. On the tenth he again reached the Falls
of Saint Anthony. He writes in his journal as
follows :

April 11th, Fridny. — Although it snowed very
hard we brought over both boats, and descended
the river to the island at the entrance of the St.
Peter's. I sent to the chiefs and informed them
I had something to communicate to them. The
Fils de Piucho immediately waited on me, and
informed me that he would provide a place for
tlie purpose. Aliout sundown I was sent for and
introduced into the council-house, where I fomid
a great many chiefs of the Sussitongs, Gens de
Feuilles, and the (Jens du Lac. The Yanctongs
had not yet come down. They were all awaiting
for my arrival. There were about one hundred
lodges, or six hundred people; we were saluted
on our crossing tlie river with ball as usual. The
council-house was two large lodges, capable of

containing three hundred men. In the upper
were forty chiefs, and as many pipes set against
the poles, alongside of which I had the Santeur's
pipes arranged. I then informed them in short
detail, of my transactions with the Santeure; but
my interpreters were not capable of making them-
selves underetood. I was therefore obhged to
omit mentioning every particular relative to the
rascal wlio fired on my sentinel, and of the scoun-
drel who broke the Fols Avoins' canoes, and
threatened my life; the interpreters, however, in-
formed them that I wanted some of their princi-
pal chiefs to go to St. Louis; and that those who
thought proper might descend to the prairie,
where we would give them more explicit infor-
mation. They all smoked out of the Santeur's
pipe, excepting three, who were pamted black,
and were some of those who lost their relations
last whiter. I invited the Fils de Pinchow, and
the son of the Killeur Rouge, to come over and
sup with me; when ilr. Dickson and myself en-
deavored to explam what I intended to have said
to them, could I have made myself imderstood;
that at the prairie we would have all things ex-
plained; that I was desh-ous of making a better
report of them than Captain Lewis could do from
their treatment of him. The former of those
savages was the person who remained around my
post all last winter, and treated my men so well;
they endeavored to excuse their people.

"AritiL 12th, Satitrday. — Embarked early. Al-
though my interpreter had been frequently up the
river, he could not tell me where the cave (spoken
of by Carver) could be fomid ; we carefully
sought for it, but in vain. At the Indian ^•illage,
a few miles below St. Peter's, we were about to
pass a few lodges, but on receiving a very partic-
ular invitation to come on shore, we landed, and
were received in a lodge kindly; they presented
us sugar. I gave the proprietor a dram, and was
about to depart when he demanded a kettle of
liipior; on being refused, and after I had left the
sliore, he told me he did not like the arrange-
ments, and that he would go to war this summer.
I directed tlie interpreter to tell him that if I
returned to St. Peter's with the troops, I would
settle that affair with him. On our arrival at the
St. Croix, I found the Pettit Corboau with his
people, and Messrs. Frazer and "Wood. We had
a conference, when the Pettit Corbeau made

CAMERON SELLS LlqlOll TO IShlANS.

7!)

many apologies for the miscoiuluct of his people;
lie represented to ns llie dilTcrent manners in
wliicli the yonng warriors liail lieen imhicing liini
to goto war; tliat lie liad lieeii niueli l)lanied for
dismissing liis party last fall; hut that he was de-
termined to adhere as f;ir as lay in liis power to
oiir instrnetions; that lie thonght it most prudent
to remain here and restrain the warriors. lie
then presented me with a beaver robe and pipe,
and his message to the general. That he was
determined to preserve peace, and make tlie road
clear; also a remembrance of his promised medal.
I made a reply, calculated to confirm him in his
guild intentions, and assured him that he should
not be the less remembered by his father, although
not present. I was informed that, notwithstand-
ing the instruction of his license, and my par-
ticular request, ^lurdoch Cameron had taken
liquor and sold it to the Indians on the river St.
I^eter's, and that his partner below had been

equally imprudent. I pledged myself to prose-
cute them according to law; for they have been
the occasion of great confusion, and of much
injury to the other traders. This day met a
canoe of Mr. Dickson's loaded with jirovisions,
under the charge of Mr. Anderson, brother of
the -Mr. Anderson at Leech Lake. lie politely
oft'ered me any provisinii he had on board {for
which ilr. Dickson had given me an order), but
not now being in want, I did not accept of any.
This day. i'or the lirst time, I observed the trees
beginning to bud, and indeed the climate seemed
to have changed very materially since we passed
the Falls of St. Anthony.""

The strife of political jiarties growing out of
the French Revolution, and the declaration of
war against Great Britain in the year 1S]:2, post-
poned the military occupation of the I'jiper
Mississippi by the United States of America, for
several vears.

EXPLORERS AXD PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTER Xin.

THE YALLliY OF THK UrPER JUSSISSIFI'I DUillNG SECOND "WAIl AVITH CHIKAT BEITAIN.

Dickson and other traders liosUlc — American stockade at rrairio du Chicn — F'>rt
Shelby smrenders to Lt. Col. William McKay— L.iyal traders Frovencalle and
Faribault— Rising Moose or One-eyed Sioux — Capt. Bulger evacuates Fort
McKay — latcUii^'RUce of Peace.

Not^Nithstanrliiig the professions of f riendsliip
made to Pike, iii the second war with Great Brit-
am, Dickson and others were foimd hearing arms
against the Republic.

A year after Pike left Prahie du Chien, it was
evident, that under some secret influence, the
Inilian trilies were combining agamst the United
States. In the year 1809 , Nicholas Jarrot declared
that the ISritisli traders were furnishing the sav-
ages with guns for hostile purposes. On the first
of May, 1812, two Indians were apprehended at
Cliicago, who were on tlieir way to meet Dickson
at Green Bay. They liad taken the precaution
to hide letters in their moccasins, and bury them
in the ground, and were allowed to proceed after
a brief detention. Frazer, of Prairie du Chien,
■who had been with Pike at the Council at the
mouth of the Minnesota River, was at the port-
age of the Wisconsin when the Indians delivered
these letters, which stated that the British flag
would soon be flying again at ISIackinaw. At
Green Bay, the celebrated warrior. Black Hawk,
was placed m charge of the Indians wlio were to
aid the British. Tlie American troops at Macki-
naw were obliged, on the seventeenth of July,
1812, to capitulate -without firing a single gun.
One who was made prisoner, writes from Detroit
to the Secretary of War :

" The persons who commanded the Indians are
Robert Dickson, Indian trader, and John Askui,
Jr., Indian agent, and his son. The latter two
were painted and dressed after the maimer
of the Indians. Tliose wlio commanded the
Canadians are John Jobnson, Crawford, Pothier,
Armitinger, La Croix, Rolette, Franks, Living-
ston, and other traders, some of whom were lately
concerned in smuggling British goods into the

Indian comitry, and, in conjunction with others,
have been using their utmost efforts, several
months before the declaration of war, to excite
the Indians to take up arms. The least resist-
ance from the fort would have been attended
with the desti'uction of all the persons who fell
into the hands of the British, as I have been as-
sured by some of the British traders."

On the first of May, 1814, Governor Clark,
■with two hundred men, left St. Louis, to build a
fort at the junction of the Wisconsin and Missis-
sippi. Twenty days before he arrived at Prah'ie
du Chien, Dickson had started for Mackinaw
with a band of Dahkotahs and Winuebagoes.
The place was left in command of Captain Deace
and tlie Mackinaw Fencibles. The Dahkotahs
refusing to co-operate, when the Americans made
their appearance they fled. The Americans took
possession of the old ilackinaw house, in which
they foiuid nine or ten trunks of papers belong-
ing to Dickson. From one they took the foUow-
ing extract :

" ' Arrived, from below, a few Wiimebagoes
with scalps. Gave them tobacco, six pomids
powder and six pounds ball.' "

A fort was immediately commenced on the
site of the old residence of the late H. L. Dous-
man, which was composed of two block-houses
in the angles, and another on the bank of the
river, with a subterranean communication. In
honor of the governor of Kentucky it was named
"Shelby."

The fort was in charge of Lieutenant Perkins,
and sixty rank and tile, and two gunboats, each
of which carried a six-poimder; and se\eral
howitzers were commanded by Captains Yeiser,
Sullivan, and Aid-de-camp Kennedy.

The traders at JIackinaw, learning that the
Americans had built a fort at the Prairie, and
knowing that as long as they held possession
tlu\\ would be cut oft from the trade with the

LOYALTY OF FAUlIiAVLT AND THE ONE-EYFI) SIOl'X.

Dahkotahs, iniiuediately raised an expeditiou to
capture the garrison.

The captain was an old trailer by the name of
JleKay, and under him was a sergeant of ar-
tillery, with a brass six-pounder, and three or
four volunteer companies of Canadian voyageurs,
otlieered by Captains Griguon, Rolette and An-
derson, with Lieutenants Brisbois and Dunean
Graham, all dressed hi red coats, with a number
of Iniliaus.

The Americans had scarcely completed their
rude fortitication, before the IJritish force, guid-
ed by Joseph Kolette, Sr., descended in canoes
to a point on the V.'isconsm, several miles from
the Prairie, to which they marched in battle
array. JIcKay sent a flag to the Fort demanding
a surrender. Lieutenant Perkins replied that he
would defend it to tlie last.

A fierce encounter took place, in which the
Americans were worsted. The otiicer was
wounded, several men were killed and one of
their boats captured, so that it became necessary
to retreat to St. Louis. Port Shelby after its
capture, was called Port ilcKay.

xVmong the traders a few remained loyal, es-
pecially Provencalle and J. B. Faribault, traders
among the Sioux. Faribault was a prisoner |
among the British at the time Lieut. Col. Wm.
McKay was preparing to attack Por<- Shellty, and
he refused to perform any service, Faribaulfs
wife, who was at Prairie du Chien, not knowing
that her husband was a prisoner in the hands of
the advancing foe, fled with others to the Sioux
village, where is now the city of Winona. Fari-
bault was at length released on parole and re-
timied to his trading post.

Pike writes of his flag, that "being in doubt

whether it had been stolen by tlie Indians, or had

fallen overboaid and floated away, I sent for my

friend the Orignal Leve.'' lie also call" the

Chief, Rising ^Moose, and gives his Sioux name

Tahamie. He was one of those, who in 1805,

signed the agreement, to siuTender land at the

jimction of the Muinesota and Mississippi Rivers

to the United States. He had but one eye,

having lost the other when a boy, belonged to

the Wapasha band of the Sioux, and proved

true to the flag which had waved on the day he

sat in council with Pike.

In the fall of 1814, with another of the same
6

nation, he ascended the Missouri under the pro-
tection of the (Ustinguished trader. Manual Lisa,
as far as the An Jacques or James River, and
from thenc'j struck across the country, enlisting
the Sioux in favour of the I'niti'il States, and at
length arrived at Prairie du Chien. On his arri-
val, Dickson accosted him, and inquired from
whence he came, and what was his business ; at
the same time rudely snatching his bimdle from
his shoulder, and searching for letters, The
"one-eyed warrior" told him that he was from
St. Louis, and that he had iiromised the wliite
chiefs there that he would go to I'rairie du Chien,
and that he had kept his promise

Dickson then placed him in conlinement in
Fort McKay, as the garrison was called by the
British, and ordered him to divulge what mfor-
mation he possessed, or he wo dd put him to
death. But the faithful fellow said he would
impart nothing, and that he was ready for death
if he wished to kill him. Finduig that confine-
ment had no effect, Dickson at last liberated him.
He then left, and visited the bands of Sioux on
the Upper Mississippi, with which he passed the
winter. When he returned in the spring, Dick-
son had gone to ilackinaw, and Cayit. A. Bidger,
of the Royal Xew Foundland Regiment, was in
command of the fort.

On the twenty-third ot jNIay, 181.5, Capt. Bul-
ger, wrote from Fort McKay to Gov. Clark at St.
Louis : " Official intelligence of peace reached
me yesterday. I propose evacuating the fort,
taking with me the guns captm-ed in the fort. *
* * * I have not the smallest hesitation in
declaring ray decided opinion, that the presence
of a detachment of British and United States
troops at the same time, would be the means of
embroiling one parly or the other in a fresh rup-
ture with the Indians, which I presume it is the
wish of both governments to avoid."

The next month the " One-Eyed Sioux," with
three other Indians and a sipiaw, visited St. Louis,
and he mformed Gov. Clark, that the British
commander left the caiuions in the fort when he
evacuated, but in a day or two came back, took
the cannons, and fired the fort with the American
flag flying, but that he rushed in and saved it
from being burned. From this time, the British
flag ceased to float in the Valley of the Missis-
sippi.

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

CIIAPTEE XIV.

long's expedition, a. D. i817, IK A SIX-OARED SKIFF, TO THE FALLS OF SAINT ANTHONY.

Carvers Grandsons.— Roque, Sioux iDtorpreter.— Wapashaw's Village and Its
Vicinity.— A Sacred Dance.— Indian Villas" Below Daytim's Bluff.— Carver's
Cave.— Fountain Cave.— F.aJls of St. Anthony Described.— Site or a Fort.

Major Stephen II. Long, of the Engineer Corps
of the United States Army, learning that there
was little or no danger to be apprehended from
the Indians, determined to ascend to the Falls of
Saint Anthony, in a sLx-oared skiff presented to
him by Governor Clark, of Saint Louis. Ilis
party consisted of a Mr. Hempstead, a native of
New London, Connecticut, who had been living
at Prairie du Cliien, seven soldiers, and a half-
breed interpreter, named lloque. A bark canoe
accompanied them, containing Messrs. Gun and
King, grandsons of the celebrated traveler, Jona-
than Carver.

On the ninth ot July, 1817, the expedition left
Prairie du Chien, and on the twelfth arrived at
" Trempe a I'eau." He writes :

" AVhen we stopped for breakfast, Mr. Hemp-
stead and myself ascended a high peak to take a
view of the country. It is kno-mi by the name
of the Kettle Hill, having obtained this appella-
tion from the circumstance of its having numer-
ous piles of stone on its top, most of them
■fragments of the rocky stratifications which
constitute the principal part of the lull, but some
of them small piles made by the Indians. These
at a distance have some similitude of kettlec
arranged along upon the ridge and sides of the
hill. From this, or almost any other eminence in
its neighborhood, the beauty and grandeur of the
prospect would baffle the skill of the most inge-
nious pencil to depict, and that of the most ac-
complished pen to describe. Hills marshaled
into a variety of agreeable shapes, some of them
towering into lofty peaks, wlnle others present
broad summits embellished with contours and
slopes in tlie most pleasing manner ; champaigns
and waving valleys; forests, lawns, and parks
alternating with each other; the humble Missis-

sippi meandering far below, and occasionally
losing itself in numberless islands, give variety
and beauty to the picture, while rugged cliffs and
stupendous precipices here and there present
themselves as if to add boldness and majesty to
the scene. In the midst of this beautiful scenery
is situated a village of the Sioux Indians, on an
extensive lavra called the Aux Aisle Prairie ; at
which we lay by for a short time. On our arrival
the Indians hoisted two American (lags, and we
returned the comtliment by discharging our
blunderbuss and pistols. They then fired several
guns ahead of us by way of a salute, after which
we landed and were received with mucli friend-
ship. The name of their chief is Wauppaushaw,
or the Leaf, commonly called by a name of the
same import in French, La Feuille, or La Fye,
as it is pronoimced in English. He is considered
one of the most honest and honorable of any of
the Indians, and endeavors to inculcate into the
minds of his people the sentiments and principles
adopted by himself. He was not at home at the
time I called, and I had no opportunity of seeing
him. The Indians, as I suppose, with the ex-
pectation that I had something to communiccate
to them, assembled themselves at the place
where I landed and seated themselves upon the
grass. I inquired if their chief was at home,
and was answered in the negative. I then told
tliem I should be very glad to see him, but as he
W".s absent I would call on luni again in a few
days when I should return. I further told them
that cur father, the new President, wished to ob-
tain some more information relative to his red
children, and that I was on a tour to acquire any
intelligence he might stand in need of. With
this they appeared weU satisfied, and permitted
Mr. Hempstead and myself to go rhrough their
village. "Wliile I was in the wigwam, one of tlie
subordinate chiefs, whose name was Wazzecoota,
or Shooter from the Pine Tree, vohniteered to

INITIATION OF A WAUUIOli B7 A SACRED DANCE.

Bcoompany me np the river. I accepted of his
services, and be was ready to attend me on the
tour in a very short time. Wlien we hove in
sight the Indians were engaged in a ceremony
called the Bear Dance; a ceremony which they
are in the habit of performing when any young
man is desirous of bringing himself into partic-
ular notice, and is considered a kind of iuitiatiou
into the state of manhood. I went on to the
ground where they had their performances,
which were ended sooner than usual on account
of our arrival. There was a kind of a flag made
of fawn skin dressed with the hair on. suspended
on a pole. Upon the flesh side of it were drawn
certain rude figures indicative of the dream
which it is necessary the young man should have
dreamed, before he can be considered a ])roper
candidate for this kind of initiation; with this a
pipe was suspended by way of sacrifice. Two
arrows were stuck up at the foot of the pole,
and fr^igments of painted feathers, etc., were
strewed about the ground near to it. These per-
tained to the religious rites attending the cere-
mony, which consists iu bewailing and self-mor-
tification, that the Good Spirit may be induced
to pity them and succor their undertaking.

"At the distance of two or three hundred
yards from the flag, is an excavation which they
call the bear's hole, prepared for the occasion.
It is about two feet deep, and has two ditches,
about one foot deep, leading across it at right an-
gles. The young hero of the farce places himself
in this hole, to be hunted by the rest of the young
men, all of whom on this occasion are dressed iu
their best attire and painted in their neatest style.
The. hunters approach the hole in the direction of
one of the ditches, and discharge their guns,
which were previously loaded for the purpose
with blank cartridges, at the one who acts the
part of the bear; whereupon he leaps from his
den, having a hoop in each hand, and a wooden
lance; the hoops serving as forefeet to aid him
in characterizing his part, and his lance to defend
him from his assailants. Thus accoutred he
dances round the place, exhibiting various feats
of activity, while the other Indians pursue him
and endeavor to trap him as he attempts to re-
turn to his den, to effect which he is privileged to
use any violence he pleases with impunity against

his assailants, even to taking the life of auy of
them.

" This part of the ceremony is performed throe
times, that the bear may escape from his den
and return to it again through three of the ave-
nues communicating with it. On being hunted
from the fourth or last avenue, the bear must
make his esca])e through all his pursuers, if pos-
.sible, and flee to the woods, where he is to remain
through the day. This, however, is seldom or
never accomplished, as all the young men exert
themselves to the utmost in order to trap him.
When caught, he must retire to a lodge erected for
his reception in the field, where he is to be se-
cluded from all society through the day, except
one of his particular friends whom he is allowed
to take with him as an attendant. Here he
smokes and performs varicuis other rites which
superstition has led the Indians to believe are sa-
cred. After this ceremony is ended, the ycung
Indian is considered qualified to act any part as
an efficient member of their community. The
Indian, who has the good fortune to catch the
bear and overcome him when endeavoring to
make his escape to the wood, is considered a
candidate for preferment, and is, on the first suit-
able occasion, appointed the leader of a small war
party, in order that he may further have an op-
portunity to test his prowess and perform more
essential service in behalf of his nation. It is
accordingly expected that he will kill some of
their enemies and return with their scalps. I re-
gretted very much that I had missed the oppor-
tunity of witnessing this ceremony, which is
never performed except when prompted by the
particular dreams of one or other of the young
men, who is never complimented twice in the
same manner on account of his dreams."

On the sixteenth he approached the vicinity of
where is now the capital of Minnesota, and
writes: "Set sail "at half past four this morning
with a favorable breeze. Pascd an Indian bury-
ing ground on our left, the first that I have seen
surrounded by a fence. In the center a pole is
erected, at the foot of which religious rites are
performed at the burial of an Indian, by the
particular friends and relatives of the deceased.
Upon the pole a flag is suspended when any per-
son of extraordinary merit, or one who is very
much beloved, ia buried. In the inclosure were

EXPLOBERS AND PIONEEBS OF MINNESOTA.

two scaffolds erected also, about six feet high
and six feet square. Upon one of them were two
coffins containing dead bodies. Passed a Sioux
village on our rigVit containing fourteen cal>ins.
The name of tlie chief is the Petit Corbeau, or
Little Raven. The Indians were all absent on a
hunting party up t!ie River St. Croix, which
is but a little distance across the country from
the village. Of this we were very glad, as this
band are said to be the most notorious beggars
of all the Sioux on the ilississippi. One of their
cabins is furnished with loop holes, and is sit-
uated so near the water that the opposite side
of the river is within musket-shot range from
the building. By this means the Petit Corbeau
is enabled to exercise a command over the pass-
age of the river and has in some mstances com-
pelled traders to land with their goods, and in-
duced them, probably through fear of offending
him, to bestow presents to a considerable amount,
before he would suffer them to pass. Tlie cabins
are a kind of stockade buildings, and of a better
appearance than any Indian dwellings I have
before met with.

" Two miles above the village, on the same
side of the river, is Carver's Cave, at which we
stopped to breakfast. However interesting it
may have been, it does not possess that character
in a very high degree at present. We descend-
ed it witli lighted candles to its lower extremity.
The entrance is very low and about eight feet
broad, so that a man in order to enter it must be
completely prostrate. The angle of descent
within the cave is about 2.5 deg. The flooring
is an inclined plane of quicksand, formed of the
rock in whicli the cavern is formed. Tlie dist-
ance from its entrance to its inner extremity is
twenty-four paces, and the widtli in the broadest
part about nuie, and its greatest height about
seven feet. In shape it resembles a bakers's oven.
Tlie cavern was once probaljly much more ex-
tensive. My interpreter informed me tliat, since
his remembrance, the entrance was not less
than ten feet high and its length far greater than
at present. The rock in wliicli it is formed is
a very white sandsUme, so friable tliat the frag-
ments of it ^\ ill almost crumble to sand wlien
taken into the hand. A few yards below the
mouth of the <'avern is a very copious spring of
Due water issuing from the bottom of the cliff.

"Five miles above this is the Fountain Cave,
on tlie same side of the river, formed in the same
kind of sandstone but of a more pure and fine
quality. It is far more curious and interesting
than the former. The entrance of the cave is a
large winding haU about one hundred and fifty
feet in length, fifteen feet in wdth, and from
eight to sixteen feet in height, finely arched
overhead, and nearly perpendicular. Next suc-
ceeds a narrow passage and ditlicult of entrance,
which opens into a most beautiful circular room,
finely arched above, and about forty feet in di-
ameter. The cavern then contuiues a meander-
uig course, expanding occasionally into small
rooms of a circular form. We penetrated aliout
one hundred and fifty yards, till our candles
began to fail us, when we retiu-ned. To beauti-
fy and embellish the scene, a fine crystal stream
flows tliroiigli the cavern, and cheers the lone-
some dark retreat with its enlivening murmurs.
The temperature of the water in the cave was
46 deg., and that of the air 60 deg. Entermg
this cold retreat from an atmosphere of 89 deg.,
I thought it not prudent to remain in it long
enough to take its several dimensions and me-
ander its courses ; particularly as we had to wade
in water to our knees in many places in order to
penetrate as far as we went. The fountain sup-
plies an abundance of water as fine as I ever
drank. This cavern I was informed by my
interpreter, has been discovered but a few years.
That the Indians formerly living ui its neighbor-
hood knew nothing of it till within six years
past. That it is not the same as that described
by Carver is evident, not only from this circiun-
stance, but also from the circumstance that in-
stead of a stagnant pool, and only one accessible
room of a very different form, this cavern has
a brook running through it, and at least four
rooms in succession, one after the other. Car-
ver's Cave is fast filling up with sand, so that
no water is now foimd in it, whereas this, from
the very nature of the place, must be enlarging,
as the fountain will carry along with its current
all the sand that falls into it from the roof and
sides of the caN ern."

On the night of the sixteenth, he ai rived at the
Falls of Saint .Viithony and encamped on the east
shore just below the cataract. He writes in h.ie
journal :

BESCRIPTION OF FALLS OF SAINT ANTHONY.

"The place where -we encamped last iii.u'ht need-
ed no embellishment to render it romantic in the
liighest degree. The banks on both sides of llic
river are about one hundred feet higli. decorated
with trees and shrubliery of various kinds. The
post oak, Inckory, walnut, linden, sugar tree,
wliite birch, and the American box ; also various
evergreens, such as the pine, cedar, juniper,
etc., added their embellishmenls to the scene.
Amongst the sbrnbery were the prickly ash,
lilnm. and cherry tree, the gooseberry, the black
and red raspberry, the chokeberry. grape vine,
etc. There were also various kinds of herbage
and llowers, among which were the wild parsley,
rue, spikenard, etc.. red and white roses, morning
glory and various other handsome flowers. A
few yards below us was a beautiful cascade of
fine spring water, pouring down from a pi'oject-
ing precipice about one hundred feet bight. On
our left was the Mississippi hurrying through its
channel with great velocity, and about three
quarters of a mile above us, in plain view, was
the majestic ci.taract of the Falls of St. Anthony.
The murmuring of the cascade, the roaring of the
river, and the thunder of the cataract, all contrib-
uted to render the scene the most interestingand
maguilicient of any I ever before witnessed."'

'■The perpendicular fall of the water at the
cataract, was stated by Pike in his journal, as six-
teen and a half feet, which I found to be true by
actual measurement. To this heiglit. however,
four or five feet may be added for the rajiid des-
cent which immediately succeeds to the jierpen-
dicular fall witliin a few yards below. Innnedi-
ately at the cataract the river is divided into two
parts by an island which extends considerably
above and below the cataract, and is aljout live
Innulred yards long. The channel on the right
side of the Island is about three times tlie width
of that on the left. The qnauity of water pass-
ins through them is not, however, in the same
proportion, as about one-third part of the whole
passes through the left chamiel. In the broadest
channel, just below^ the cataract, is a small island
also, about fifty yards in length and thirty in
breadth. Both of these islands contain the same
kind of rocky formation as the banks of the liver.
and are nearly as liigh. Besides these, there are
immediately at the foot of the cataract, two
islands of very inconsiderable size, situated in

Ihe right channel also. The rapids commence
several hmi<lred yards aliove the cataract and
continue about eight miles lielow. Tlie fall of
the water, beginning at llie head of the rapids,
and extending two hundred and sixty rods down
the rivei' lo wlierc the portage road commences,
below the (•ataract is, a<'cordiug to Pike, fifty-
eight feet. If this estimate be correct the whole
fall from the head to tlie foot of tlic rapids, is not '
imAiably luucli less tlian one hundred feet. But
as I had 1111 i[istrument sufficiently accurate to
level, where the view nuist necessarily be ])retty
extensive, I took no jiaius to ascertain the extent
of tlie fall. Tlie mode I adopted to ascertain
the height of a cataract, was to suspend a line
and iilummet from the table rock on the south
side of the river, which at the same time liail
very little water passing over it as the river was
unusually low. The rocky formations at this
place were arranged in the following order, from
the surface downward. A coarse kind of lime-
stone in thin strata containing considerable silex;
a kind of soft friable stone of a greenish color
and slaty fracture, probal)ly containing lime,
aluminum and silex ; a very beautifid satratiflca-
tion of shell limestone, in thin plates, extremely
regular in its formation and containing a vast
number of shells, all apparently of the same
kind. This formation constitutes the Table Rock
of the cataract. The next in order is a white or
yellowish sandstone, so easily crumljled that it
deserves the name of a sandbank ratliertlian that
of a rock. It is of various deiitlis, from ten to
fifty or seventy-five feet, and is of the same char-
acter with that found at the caves before des-
cribed. The next in order is a soft friable sand-
stone, of a greenish coloi'. similar to that resting
upon the shell limestone. These stratifications
occupied the wliole space from the low water
mark nearly to tlie top of the bluffs. ( )u the east,
or rather north side of the river, at the Falls, are
high grouuils. at tlie distance of half a mile from
the river, considerably more elevated than the
bluffs, and of a hilly aspect.

Speaking of tlie bluff at the confluence o. Jie
Mississippi and Minnesota, he writes: "A military
\v<irk of considerable magnitude might lie con-
structed on the point, and might be rendered
sufficiently secure by occupying the commanding
heiulit in the rear in a suitable manner, as the

BXPLOBEBS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

latter would control not only the point, but all
the neighboring heights, to the full extent of a
twelve pounder's range. The work on the point
would be necessary to control the na\'igation of
the two rivers. But without the commanding
work in the rear, would be liable to be greatly
annoyed from a height situated directly opposite

on the other side of the Mississippi, whicli is
here no more than about two hundred and fifty
yards wide. This latter height, however, would
not be eligible for a permanent post, on account
of the numerous ridges and ravines situated im-
mediately in its rear.''

EABLY JIISTOin' OF liKI) lilVEli VALLEY.

CriAPTER XV.

THO^rAS DOrfil.AS, KAliT, OF SKLKIUK, AND THE KED RIVER VALLEY.

Ettrly travi-Iers to Lalie Winni[ eg— Earliest Map liy Mn- In.lian Otcliafii— U'-llin's
allusion to it — Verendrye's Map— De la Jemoraye's Map — Fort La Roiiio— Fort
on Ucd River abandoned— Origin of name Red Lake— Earl of Selkirk— Ossini-
boia described— Scotcli immigrants at Pembina— Strife of trading companies-
Earl of Selkirk \-isits America— Governor Semple Killed— Romantic life of Jcbii
Tanner, and his son James— Letter relative to Selkirk's tour ttirougb Hiiine-

The valley of the Red River of the Xorth is
not only an important portion of jSIinnesota, but
has a most interesting history.

"While there is no evidence that Groselliers, tlit^
first white man who exi)lore(l Minnesota, ever
visited Lake "Winnipeg and the Reel River, yet he
met the Assineboines at the head of Lake Supe-
rior and at Lake Nepigon, while on his way by a
northeasterly trail to Hudson's 15ay, and learned
something of this region from them.

The first person, of whom we have an account,
who visited the region, was an Englishman, who
came in 1692, by way of York River, to "Winni-
peg.

Ocliagachs, or Otchaga, an intelligent Indian, in
1728, assured Pierre Gualtierde Varenne, known
in history as the Sieur Verendrye, while he was
stationed at Lake iNepigon, that there was a
communication, largely by water, west of Lake
Superior, to the Great Sea or Pacific Ocean. The
rude map, drawn by this Indian, was sent to
France, and is still preserved.' Upon it is marked
Kamanistigouia, the fort first established by I)u
Luth. Pigeon River is calleil Mautiihavagane.
Lac Sasakanaga is marked, and Rainy Lake is
named Teeamemiouen. The river St. Louis, of
Minnesota, is R. fond du L. Superior. The
French geographer, Bellin, in his " Remarks
upon the map of North iVmerica," published m
175.J, at Paris, alludes to this sketch of Ochagachs,
and says it is the earliest drawing of the region
west of Lake Superior, in the Depot de la Marine.

After this "\^erendrye, in 1737, drew a map,
which remains unpublished, which shows Red
Lake in Northern Minnesota, and the point of
the Big AV'oods in the Red River Valley. There

is another sketch in th(^ arcliivcs of France,
drawn by Dc la Jemeraye. He was a nephew of
Verendrye, and, under his uncle's orders, he was
ill 1731, the first to advance from the Grand
Portage of Lake Siipcrinr, by way of tlie Nalao-
iiMgan or Groselliers. now Pigeon River, to Rainy
Lake. On this appears Fort Rouge, on the south
bank of the AssLneboine at its junction with the
Red River, and on the Assineboine, a post estab-
lished on October 3, 1738, and called Fort La
Reine. Bellin describes the fort on Red River,
but asserts that it was aliandoiied because of its
vicinity to Fort La Reine, on the north side of
the Assinneboine, and only about nine miles by
a ptn-tage, from Swan Lake. Red Lake and Red
River were so called by the early French explo-
rers, on account of the reddish tint of the waters
after a stm-m.

Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk, a wealthy,
kind-hearted but visionary Scotch nobleman, at
tlie commencement of the present century formed
the design of planting a colony of agriculturists
west of Lake Superior. In the year 1811 he
obtained a grant of land from the Hudson Bay
Company called Ossiniboia, which it seems
strange has lieen given up l)y the people of Man-
itoba. In the autumn of 1812 a few Scotchmen
with their families arrived at Pembina, in the
Red River Valley, by way of Hudson Bay, where
they passed the winter. In tlic winter of 1813-14
they were again at Fort Daer or Pembina. The
colonists of Red River were rendered very un-
happy by the strife of riv;il trading companies.

In the spring of 1815, McKenzie and Morrison,
traders of the Northwest company, at Sandy
Lake, told the Ojibway chief there, that they
would give him and his band all the goods and
nun at Leech or Sandy Lakes, if they would an-
no\ the Red River settlers.

Tlie Earl of Selkirk hearing of the distressed
condition of his colony, sailed for America, and

EXPLOBEIiS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

in the fall of 1815, airived at New York City.
Proceeding to Monti-eal he found a messenger
who had traveled on foot ui mid-winter from the
Bed Eiver by way of Ked Lake and Fou du Lac,
of Lake Superior. He sent back by this man,
kind messages to the dispirited settlers, bnt one
night he was way-laid near Ton du Lac, and
robbed of his canoe and dispatches. An O jib-
way chief at Sandy Lake, aftei-wards testified
that a trader named Grant offered him rum and
tobacco, to send persons to intercept a bearer of
dispatches to Eed Kiver, and soon the messenger
was brought in by a negro and some Indians.

Failing to obtain military aid from the
British authorities in Canada, Selkirk made an
engagement with foiu- officers and eighty privates,
of the discharged Meuron regiment, twenty of
the De AV^atteville, and a few of the CUengary
Fencibles, which had served in the late war with
the United States, to accompany him to Red
River. They were to receive monthly wages for
navigating the boats to Red River, to have lands
assigned them, and a free passage if they wished
to return.

AVlien he reached Sault St. INIarie, he received
the uitelligence that the colony had again been
destroyed, and that Semple, a mild, amiable, but
not altogether judicious man, the chief governor
of the factories and territories of the Hudson
Bay company, residing at Red River, had been
kiUed.

Schoolcraft, m 1832, says he saw at Leech
Lake, ilajegabowi, the man who had killed Gov.
Semple, after he fell wounded from his horse.

Before he heard of the death of Semple, the
Earl of Selkirk had made arrangements to visit
his colony by way of Fon du Lae, on the St. Louis
River, and Red Lake of ilinnesota, but he now
changed his mind, and proceeded with his force
to Fort "NVilUuni, the chief trading post of the
Northwest Company on Lake Superior ; and ap-
prehending the piincii)al partners, warrants of
comnut incut W(!re issued, and they were forward-
ed to the Attorney-General of Upper Canada.

AVhile Selkirk was engaged at Fort William,
a party of ('iii grants in charge of Miles McDon-
nel, Governor, and Captain D"Orsomen, Avent
forward to reinforce the colony. At Rainy
Lake they obtained the guidance of a man who
had r.ll the characteristics of an Indian, and yet

had a bearing which suggested a different origui.
By his efficiency and temperate habits, he had se-
cirred the respect of his employers, and on the Earl
of Selkirk's anival at Red River, his attention was
called to him, and in his welfare he became
deeply interested. By repeated conversations
witli him, memories of a different kind of exist-
ence were aroused, and the light of other days
began to brighten. Though he had forgotten his
father's name, lie furnished sufficient data for
Selkirk to proceed with a search for his relatives.
Visiting the United States in 1817, he published
a clfcnlar in the papers of the Western States,
which led to the identification of the man.

It appeared from his own statement, and
those of his friends, that his name was John
Tamier, the son of a minister of the gospel, who,
about the year ITiH), lived on tlie Ohio river, near
the Miami. Shoi-tly after his location there, a
baud of roving Indians passed near the house,
and found Jolm Tanner, then a little boy, filling
his hat with walnuts from under a tree. They
seized him and fled. The party was led by an
Ottawa whose wife had lost a sou. To compen-
sate for his death, the mother begged that a boy
of the same age might.be captured.

Adopted by the band, Tanner grew up an
Indian in his tastes and habits, and was noted
for bravery. Selkirk was successful in finding
his relatives. After twenty-eight years of sepa-
ration, John Tanner in 1S18, met his brother
Edward near Detroit, and went with him to his
home in Missomi. He soon left his brother, and
went back to the Indians. For a time he was
mterpreter for Henry R. Schoolcraft, but became
lazy and ill-natured, and in 1836, skulking behind
some buslies, he shot and killed Schoolcraft's
brother, and fled to the wilderness, where, in
1847, he died. His son, James, was kindly treatr
ed by the missionaries to the Ojibways of Minne-
sota; but he walked in the footsteps of his father.
In the year 185], he attempted to impose upon
the Presbyterian muiister in Saint Paul, and,
when detected, called upon the Baptist minister,
who, believuig him a penitent, cut a hole in the
ice, and received liim into the church by inuner-
sion. In time, the Baptists found hl:n out, when
he became an Unitarian missionary, and, at last,
it is said, met a death by violence.

Lord Selkirk was in the Red River "\'alley

KAHL OF sKLKlIiK VISITS SAINT Lor IS.

during the siiinmor of 1817, and on the eighteenth
of July concluded a treaty witli the Crees and
Saulteaux, i\n- a trad of land beginning at the
inontli of the Red Hiver, and extending along
the same as far as the Great Forks (now Grand
Forks) at the mouth of Red Lake River, and
along the Assinniboine Riveras far as JMusk Rat
River, and extending to the distance of six miles
from Fort IJonglas on every side, and likewise
from Fort Daer (Pembina) and also from the
Great Forks, iuid in other parts extending to the
distance of two miles from the banks of the said
rivers.

Having restored order and confidence, attend-
ed by three or four jiersons he crossed the plains
to the jMiunesota River, and from thence pro-
ceeded to St. Louis. The Indian agent at
Prairie du Chien was not pleased with Selkirk's
trip through Minnesota; and on the sixth of
February, 1818, wrote the (4overnor of Illinois
imder excitement, some groundless suspicions :

•' ^Miat do you suppose, sir, has been the re-
sult of the passage through my agency of this
British nobleman? Two entire bands, and part
of a third, all Sioux, have deserted us and joined
Dickson, who has distributed to them large quan-
tities of Indian presents, together with flags,
medals, etc. Knowing this, what must have been
my feelings on hearing that his lordship had met
with a favourable reception at St. Louis. The
newspapers announcing his nmval, unci general
Scotti!<Ii ajijiearance, all tend to diseomiiose me ;
believuig as I do, that he is plotting with his
friend Dickson our destruction — sharpening the
savage scalping knife, and colonizing a tract of
country, so'remote as that of the Red River, for
the purpose, no doubt, of monopolizing the fur
and peltry trade of this river, the JNIissonri and
their waters; a trade of the first importance to
our ^^■estern States and Territories. A courier
who had arrived a few days since, confirms the
belief that Dickson is endeavouring to undo what
I have done, and secure to the British govern-
ment the affections of the Sioux, and stxbject the
Xorthwest Company to his lordship. * * *

Dickson, as I have before observed, is situated
near the head of the St. Peter's, to which place
he trans]iorls his goods from Selkirk's Red River
establishment, in carts nuiile for the purpose.
The trip is performed in live days, sometimes
less. Tie is directed to build a fort on the high-
est land between Lac du Traverse and Red River,
which he supiHises will lie tlie established lines.
This fort will be defended by twenty men, with
two small pieces of artillery."

In the year 1820, at Berne, Switzerland, a cir-
cular was issued, signed, R. May D'Uzistorf,
Captain, in his Britannic Majesty's service, and
agent Plenipotentiary to Lord Selkirk. Like
m;.iiy documents to induce emigration, it was so
highly colored as to prove a delusion ami a
snare. The climate was represented as '• mild
and healthy." " "Wood either for building or
fuel in the greatest plenty,'' and llie coiuitiy
supplying "in profusion, whatever can be re-
quired for the convenience, pleasuii' or comfort
of life." Remarkalile statements considering
that every green thing had been devoured the
year before by grasshoppers.

Under the influence of these statements, a num-
ber were induced to embark. In tlie si>ring of
18121, about two Innidred jicrsons assembled on
the banks of the Rhine to jiroceed to the region
west of Lake Superior. Having descended tlie
Rhine to the vicinity of liotterdam, tliey went
aboard the ship "Lord Wellington,"" and after a
voyage across the Atlantic, and amid the ice-
floes of Hudson's Bay, they reached York Fort.
Here they debarked, an<! entering batteaux, as-
cended Nelson River for twenty days, when they
came to Lake "Winnipeg, and coasting along the
west shore they reached the Red River i>f the
]S,'ortli, to feel that they had been deluded, and
to long for a milder clime. If they did not sing
the Switzer"s Song of Ili)nie, they apiireciatcd its
sentiments, and gradually these imnugrants re-
moved to the banks of the ^lississippi River.
Some settled in Minnesota, and were the first to
raise cattle, and till the soil.

EXPLOREBS AND FIOXEEBS OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTER XVI.

FOET SNELLrNG DTTirNO ITS OCCTTPANCT IJY COjrP ANTES OF TITE FIFTH REGIMENT TJ. S. nsTFANTK Y.

A. D. 1819, TO A. D. 1827.

Orders for military occapatioa of Upper Mississippi — Leavenworth and Forsytli
at Prajrie du Cliien— Birtli in Camp — Troops arrive at Mendota — Cantonment
Estaltlislied— Wln-at carried to roiiibina— Notice of Devotion, Prescott, and
Majur T.diaferro— Camp Cold Water Establislied— Col. Snelling takes command
— Iiiil)ressive Scene— Officers in 1820— Condition of tlie Fort in 1S21— Saint
Anthony Mill- Alexis Bailly takes cattle to Pembina— Notice of Beltrami—
Arrival of lirst Steamboat — Ka.ior Long's Expedition to Nortliern Boundarj*-
Beltrami visits tile northern sources of the Mississippi — First flour mill— First
Sunday School— Great flood in 1S2G. African slaves at the Fort — Steamboat
Arrivals — Duels — Notice of William Joseph Snelling — Indian fight at the Fort —
AtUck upon keel boats — General tiaines' report — Removal of Fifth Regiment —
Death of Colonel Snelling.

The rumor that Lord Selkirk was foimding a
colony on the borders of the United States, and
that the Britisli tradhig companies within the
boundaries of what lieeame tlie territory of Min-
nesota, coiivinfed the authorities at Washmgton
of the impiirtance of a military occupation of the
valley of the Upper Alississippi.

By direction of Major General Brown, the fol-
lowing order, on the tenth of February, 1819, was
issued :

" ^lajor General JNlacomb, commander of the
Fifth Military department, will without delay,
concentrate at Detroit the Fifth Regiment of In-
fantry, excepting the recruits otlierwisu directed
by the general order herewith transmitted. As
soon as the navigation of the lakes will admit, he
will cause the regiment to be transported to Fort
Howard; from thence, by the way of the Fox
and "Wisconsin Rivers, to Prairie du-Chien, and,
after detachuig a sufficient number of companies
to garrison Forts Crawford and Armstrong, the
remainder will proceed to the moutli of the River
St. Peter's, where they will establish a post, at
which the headquarters of the regiment will be
located. The regiment, previous to its depar-
ture, will receive the necessary supplies of cloth-
ing, provisions, arms, and ammunition. Imme-
iliate application will lie made to Brigadier Gen-
eral Jes<ip, (Juartermaster General, for fimds
necessary to execute the movements required by
this order."

On the thirteenth of April, this additional order
was issued, at Detroit :

"Tlie season having now anived when the
lakes may be navigated with safety, a detach-
ment of the Fifth Regiment, to consist of Major
Marston's and Captain Fowle's companies, imder
the command of Major Muhlenburg, will proceed
to Cireen Bay. Surgeon's Mate, R. M. Byrne, of
the Fifth Regiment, will accompany the detach-
ment. The Assistant Deputy Quartermaster
General will furnish the necessary transport, and
will send by the same opportunity two hundred
barrels of provisions, wliich he will draw from the
contractor at this post. The provisions must be
examined and inspected, and properly put up for
transportation. Colonel Leavenworth will, with-
out delay, prepare his regiment to move to the
post on the Mississippi, agreeable to the Divi-
sion order of the tenth of February. The Assist-
ant Deputy (Quartermaster Cieuer;il will furnish
the necessary transportation, to be ready by the
first of May next. The Colonel ■will make requi-
sition for such stores, ammunition, tools and
iniplements as may be required, and he be able to
take with him on the expedition. Particular in-
stractions will be given to the Colonel, explaining
the objects of his expedition."

EVKNTS OF THE TEAR 1819.

On Wednesday, the last day of June, Col. Leav-
enworth and troops arrived from Green Bay, at
Prairie du Chien. Scarcely had they reached
this point when Charlotte Seymour, the wife of
Lt. Nathan Clark, a native of Hartford, Ct.,
gave buth to a daugliter, whose first baptismal
name was Charlotte, after her mother, and the
second Ouisconsin, given by the officers in view
of the fact that she was born at the junction of
that stream with the ^Mississippi.

In time Charlotte Ouisconsin marr'ed a young
Lieutenant, a native of Princeton, Xew Jersey,
and a graduate of West Point, and still resides
witli her husband, General II. P, Van Cleve, in

COL. LEAVENWORTIL jUiBIVES AT MKXDO'IA

the city of iMiiii ">apolis, living to do good .is she
has opportunity.

In June, imiler instructions from the AVar
Department, il.ajor Thomas Forsytli, connected
with the ollice of Indian affairs, left St. Louis
with two thousand dollars worth of goods to he
distributed among the Sioux Indums, in iiccor-
daiice with the agreement of 1S05, already re-
ferred to, hy the late General Pike.

^Vbout uine o'clock of the morning of the fifth
of July, he joined Leavenworth and his couiinand
at Prairie da Chien. Some time was occupied hy
Leavenwortli awaiting the arrival of ordnance,
provisions and recruits, but on Sunday morning,
the eighth of August, about eight o'clock, the
expedition set out for the point now known as
Mendota. The llotilla was qiute imposing ; there
were the C'olouers barge, fomleen batteaux witli
ninety-eight soldiers and oflicers, two large canal
or JNIackiuaw boats, filled with various stores, and
Forsyth'n keel boat, contaiiiing gomls and pres-
ents fov the Indians. On the twenty-third of
Angus*", Forsyth reached the mouth of the Jlin-
nesota 'with his boat, and the next morning Col.
Leava'aworth arrived, and selecting a place ;il
Mendota, near the present railroad bridge, lie
ordered the soldiers to cut down trees and make
a clearing. On the next Saturday Col. Leaven-
worth, ilajor Vose, Surgeon Purcell, Lieutenant
Clark and the wife of Captain Gooding ivited
the Falls of Saint Anthony with Forsyth, in
his keel boat.

Early in September two more boats and a bat-
teaux, ■^vith otticeiK and one hundred and twenty
recruits, arrived.

During the winter of 18:20, Laidlow and others,
in behalf of Lord Selkirk's Scotch settlers at
Pembina, whose crops had been destroyed by
grasshoppers, passed the Cantonment, on their
w-ay to Prairie du Chien, to purchase wheat.
Upon the fifteenth of April they began their
return with their ^Mackinaw boats, each loaded
with two lumdred bushels of wheat, one Inmdred
of oats, and thu-ty of peas, and reached the mouth
of the !MinneSota early in ihiy. Ascendmg this
stream to Big Stone Lake, the boats were drawn
on rollers a mile and a half to Lake Traverse,
and on the third of June arrived at Pembina and
cheered the desponding and needy settlers of the
Selkirk colony.

The first sutU'r of the post was a Mr. l)e\iition.
He brought with him a young man iianied Phi-
lander Prescott, who was born in istil ,at Phelps-
town, Ontario county, New Yorl-c. At first they
stopped at Ahul Hen Island, in the Mississippi
below the mouth of the St. Croix Kiver. Coming
up late in the year ISIS), at the site of the jires-
ent town of Hastings they found a keel-boat
loaded with sujijilies for the cantonment, in charge
of Lieut. Oliver, detained by the i<'e.

.Vmid all tlic cliangcs of the Imops, Mr. Pres-
cott remained nearly all his life in tlu; vicinity of
the post, to wliich he came when a mere lad, and
was at length killed in tlie Sicnix Massacre.

EVENTS OF THE YEAR 1820

In the spring of 1820. Jean Haptiste Faribaidt
brought up Leavenworth's horses from Prairie
dii Cliien.

The first Indian Ageiit at the post was a former
army officer, Lawrence Taliaferro, pronounced
Toliver. As he had the confidence of the Gov-
ernment for twenty-one successive years, he is
deserving of notice.

His family was of Italian origin, aiid among
the early settlers of Virginia. He was born in
1794, in King William county in that State, and
when, in 1812, war was declared against Great
Ih'itain, with four brothers, he entered the army,
and was commissioned as Lieutenant of the
Thirty-fifth Infantry. He behaved gallantly at
Fort Erie and Sackett's IIarl)or, and after peace
was declared, he was retained as a First Lieuten-
ant of the Third Infantry. In 181(5 he was sta-
tioned at Fort Dearborn, now the site of Cldcago.
While on a furlough, he called one day upon
President Monroe, who told him that a fort would
be built near the Falls of Saint Anthony, and an
Indian Agency established, to which he offered
to appoint him. His commission was dated
Mai-ch 27th, 1819, and he proceeded in due time
to his post.

On the fifth day of May, 1820, Leavenworth
left his \\1nter quarters at JMendota, crossed the
stream and made a sununer camp near the
present military grave yard, which in conse(|uence
of a fine spring has been called " Camp Cold
Water." The Indian agency, imder Taliaferro,
remained for a time at the old cantonment.

The cdnnnanding ofiicer established a fine

»2

EXPL0BER8 AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

garden in the bottom lands of the Minnesota,
and on the fifteenth of Jime the earliest garden
peas were eaten. The first distinguished visitors
at tlie new encampment were Governor Lewis
Cass, of Michigan, and Henry Schoolcraft, who
arrived in July, by way of Lake Superior and
Sandy Tjake.

The relations between Col. Leavenworth and
Lidian Agent Taliaferro were not entirely har-
monioiis. growing out of a disagreement of views
relative to the treatment of the Indians, and on
the day of the arrival of Governor Cass, Tel-
iaferro writes to Leavenworth :

" As it is now imderstood that I am agent for
Indian affairs in this comitry, and you are about
to leave the upper Mississippi, in all probability
in the coiu'se of a month or two, I beg leave to
suggest, for the sake of a general understanding
with the Indian tribes in this country, that any
medals, you may possess, would by bemg turned
over to me, cease to be a topic of remark among
the different Indian tribes under my direction.
I will pass to you any vonchei' that may be re-
quired, and I beg leave to observe that any pro-
gress in influence is much impeded in conse-
quence of this frequent iutercoiu'se with the gar-
rison."

In a few days, the disastrous effect of Indians
mingling viith the soldiers was exhibited. On
the third of August, the agent wrote to Leaven-
worth:

" His Excellency Governor Cass during his
visit to this post remarke<l to me that the Indians
jU this quarter were spoiled, and at the same
time said they should not be permitted to enter
the camp. An unpleasant affair has lately taken
place ; I mean the stabbing of the old chief
Mahgossau by his comrade. This was caused,
doubtless, by an anxiety to obtain the chief's
whiskey. I beg, therefore, that no whiskey
wliatever l)e given to any Indians, imless it be
throtigli their proper agent. While an oveii^lus
of whiskey thwarts the benificent and humane
policy of the government, it entaUs misery upon
the Indians, and endangers their lives."

A few days after this note was v.ritten Josiah
Snelling, who had been recently promoted to the
Colonelcy of the Fiftli Regiment, arrived with
his family, relieved Leavenworth, and infused
new life and energy. A little while before his

arrival, the daughter of Captain Gooding was
married to Lieutenant Green, the Adjutant of
the regiment, the first mamage of white persons
in Mumesota. Mrs. SnelUng, a few days after
her arrival, gave birth to a daughter, the first
white child born in Minnesota, and after a brief
existence of tliirteen months, she died and was
the first mterred in the military grave yard, and
for years the stone which marked its resting
place, was visiljle.

The earliest manuscript in Minnesota, written
at the Cantonment, is dated October 4, 1820, and
is in the hand\rating of Colonel Snelling. It
reads : "In justice to Lawrence Taliaferro, Esq.,
Indian Agent at this post, we, tlie undersigned,
officers of the Fifth Kegiment here stationed,
have presented him this paper, as a token, not
only of our individual respect and esteem, but as
an entire approval of his conduct and deportment
as a pulilic agent in this quarter. Given at St.
Peter, this 4th day of October, 1820.

J. Snelling, if. Claek,

Col. 5th Iirf. Lieutenant.

S. BuKisANK, Jos. Hake,

Br. Major. Lieutenant.

David Perry, Ed. Pubcell,

Captain. Surgeon,

D. Gooding, P. R. Green,

Brevet Captain. Lieut, and Adjt.

J. Plympton, W. G. Camp,

Lieutenant. Lt. and Q. M.

R. A. McCABE, II. "WlLKINS,

Lieutenant. Lieutenant."

During the summer of 1820, a party of the
Sissetou Sioux killed on the ISIissouri, Isadore
Poupon, a half-breed, and Joseph Andrews, a
Canadian engaged in the fur trade. The Indian
Agent, tlu'ough CoUu Campbell, as interpreter,
notified the Sissetons that trade would cease
with tliem, until the murderers were dehvered.
At a council held at Big Stone Lake, one of the
murderers, and the aged father of another, agreed
to surrender themselves to the commanding
officer.

On tlie twelfth of November, accompanied by
their friends, they approached tlie encampment
in solemn procession, and marched to the centre
of the parade. First appeared a Sisseton bear-
ing a British flag; then the murderer and the de-
voted father of another, tlieir arms pinioned, and

ARRIVAL OF TllK FlRtiT STEAMBOAT.

\<Z

large wooden splinters thrust tlnough the flesli
above the elbows indicating their contempt for
pain and denth ; in tlie rear followed friends and
relatives, with them chanting the death dirge.
Having arrived in front of the guard, lire was
kindled, and the ]?ritish llag burned; tlien the
murderer delivered up his medal, and both prisou-
ers were surrounded. Col. Snelling detained t:.e
old chief, while the murderer was sent to St.
Louis for trial.

EVENTS OF THE VEAK ISlJl.

Col. Snelling built the fort in the shape of a
lozenge, in view of the projection between the
two ri\'ers. The first row of barracks was of
licwu logs, obtained from the pine forests of Rum
Jtiver, but the other buildings were of stone.
Mrs. Van Cleve, the daughter of Lieutenant,
afterwards Captain Clark, writes :

■■ In 1821 the fort, although not complete, was
lit for occupancy. My father had assigned to
him the quarters next beyond the steps leading
to the Commissary's stores, and during the year
my little sister Jidiet was born there. ^Vt a later
period my father and jSIajor (iai'Iand obtained
permission to buikl more commodious quarters
outside the walls, and the result «as the two
stone houses afterwards occupied by the Indian
Agent and interpreter, lately destroyed."

Early in August, a young and intelligent mixed
bl<iod, Alexis Bailly, in after years a member of
the legislature of Minnesota, left the cantonment
with the first drove of cattle for the Selkirk Set-
tlement, and the next winter returned with Col.
Robert Dickson and Messrs. Laidlow and ilac-
kenzie.

The next month, a party of Sissetons visited
the Indian Agent, and told him that they had
started with another of the murderers, to which
reference has been made, but that f)n the way he
had, through fear of being hung, killed himself.

This fall, a mill was constructed for the use of
the garrison, on the west side of St. Anthony
Falls, under the supervision of Lieutenant McCabe.
During the fall, George Gooding, Captain by
brevet, resigned, and became Sutler at I'rairie dii
Chien. He was a native of ilassachusetts, and
entered the army as ensign in isos. In isio he
became a Second Lieutenant, and the next year
was wounded at Tippecanoe.

In the middle of October, there embarked on
the keel-boat " Saucy Jack," for Prairie du Cliien,
Col. Snelling, Lieut. liaxley. Major Taliaferro,
and Mrs. (rooding,

EVENTS ov ^x■l■l .w'l) isi;:!.

Karly iu January, l.si!!', there canu' to \\w Fort
Ironi the Red River of tlie Xorlh. Cul. l!ol)ert
Dickson, Laidlow, a Scotch farmer, tlie superin-
tendent of Lord Selkirk's experimental farm, and
one Mackenzie, on their w^ay to Prairie du Chien.
Dickson returned with a drove of cattle, but
owing to the hostility of the Sioux his cattle were
scattered, and never reached Pembina.

During the winter of l.S2;i, Agent Taliaferr<i
was in Washington. While returning iu Marcli,
iie was at a hotel in Pittsburg, when he received
a note signed G. C. Beltrami, who was an Italian
exile, asking permission to arcimiiiany him to tlie
Indian territory. He was tall ami i-omniamling
in appearance, and gentlemanly in bearing, and
Taliaferro was .so forciVily impressed as toacced:'
to the request. After reaching St. Louis they
embarked on the first steamboat for the I'pjier
Mississijipi.

It was named the Mrgiuia. and was built iu
Pittsburg, twenty-two feet in widtli, and one
hundred and eighteen feet in length, in charge of
a Captain ('rawford. It reached the Fort on the
tenth of ^lay, and was saluted by the discliaige
of caniKUi. Among tlie passengers, besiiles tlie
Agent and the Italian, were Major Riddle, Lieut.
Russell, and others.

The arrival of the Virginia is an era in the
history of the Dahkotah nation, and will proba-
lily be transmitted to their posterity as long as
they exist as a people. Tliey say their sacred
men, the night before, dreamed of seeing some
monster of the waters, whicli frightened them
\ery much.

As the boat neared the shore, men, women,
and children beheld with silent astonishment,
supposing that it was some enormous water-spirit,
coughing, pulling out hot breath, and splashing
water in every direction. A\'hen it touched the
landing their fears prevailed, and they retreated
some distance; but when the blowing off of
steam commenced they were coiiqiletely un- »
nerved: mothers forgetting tlieir childreu. willi
streaming hair, sought hiding-places; chiefs, re-

BXPLOBEBS AND PIONSEBS OF MINNESOTA.

noimcing their stoicism, scampered away like
aftriglited auimals.

The peace agreement beteen the Ojibways and
Dahkotahs, made througli tlie iiiHuence of Gov-
ernor Cass, was of brief duration, tlie latter be-
ing the first to violate the provisions.

On the fourtli of June, Taliaferro, the Indian
agent among tlie Dalikotahs, took advantage of
the presence of a large number of Ojilnva>« to
renew the agreement for the cessation of hostili-
ties. Tlie council hall of the agent was a large
room of logs, in wliich waved conspicuously the
flag of the United States, surrounded by British
colors and medals that had been delivered up
from time to time by Indian chiefs.

Among the Dahkotah chiefs present were
Wapashaw, Little Crow, and Penneshaw; of the
Ojibways there were Kendous\\a. JMoshomene,
and Pasheskonoepe. After mutual accusations
and excuses concerning the infraction of the pre-
vious treaty, tlie Dalikotahs lighted the calumet,
they having been tlie first to infringe upon tlie
agreement of 1820. After smoking and passing
the pipe of peace to the Ojibways, who passed
througli the same formalities, they all shook
hands as a pledge of renewed amity.

The morning after the council. Flat ilouth,
the distinguished Ojibway chief, arrived, who
had left his lodge vowing tliat he would never be
at peace with the Dahkotahs. As he stepped from
his canoe, Penneshaw held out his hand, but was
repulsed with scorn. The Dahkotah warrior
immediately gave the alarm, and in a moment
runners Avere on their way to the neighboring
villages to raise a war party.

On the sixth of June, the Dahkotahs had assem-
bled, stripped for a fight, and surromided the
Ojibways. The latter, fearing the wt)rst, con-
cealed their women and children beliind the old
barracks which had been used by tlie troojis while
the fort was being erected. At the solicitation of
the agent and commander of the fort, the Dahko-
tahs desisted trom an attacli and retired.

On the seventh, the Ojibways left for their
homes; but, in a few hours, while they were
making a portage at Falls of St. Anthony, they
were again approached by the Dahkotahs, who
would have attacked them, if a detachment of
troops had not arrived from the fort.

A rumor reaching Pennesliaw's village that he

had been killed at the falls, his mother seized an
Ojibway maiden, wlio had been a captive from
infancy, and, with a tomahawk, cut her in two.
Upon t"he return of the son in safety he was much
gratified at what he considered the prowess of
Ills parent.

On the third of July, 1823, Major Long, of the
engineers, arrived at the fort in command of an
expedition to explore the Minnesota Biver, and
tlie region along the northern boundary line of
the United States. Beltrami, at the request of
Col. Snelling, was permitted to be of the party,
and Alajor Taliaferro kindly gave liim a horse
and equipments.

The relations of the Italian to Major Long were
not pleasant, and at Pembina Beltrami left the
expedition, and with a " bois brule "', and two
Ojibways proceeded and discovered the northern
sources of the Mississippi, and suggested where
the western sources would be found ; which was
verified by Schoolcraft nine years later. About
the second week in September Beltrami returned
to the fort by wa}' of the ilississippi, escorted by
forty or fifty Ojibways, and on the 25th departed
for New Orleans, where he published his discov-
eries in the French language.

The mill which was constructed in 1821, for
sawing lumber, at the Falls of St. Anthony, stood
upon the site of the Holmes and Sidle Mill, in
MinneapoUs, and in 1823 was fitted up for grind-
ing flour. The following extracts from corres-
pondence addressed to Lieut. Clark, Commissary
at Fort Snelling, will be read ^Yiih interest.

Under the date of August oth, 1823, General
Gibson writes : '■ From a letter addressed by
Col. Snelling to the Quartermaster General,
dated the 2d of April, I learn that a large quan-
tity of wheat would be raised this summer. Tlie
assistant Commissary of Subsistence at St. Louis
has been instructed to forward sickles and a pair
of millstones to St. Peters. If any flour is manu-
factured from the wheat raised, be pleased to let
me know as early as practicable, that I may deduct
tlie quantity manufactured at the post from the
quantity advertised to be contracted for."

In another letter, General Gibson writes :
" Below you will find the amount charged on the
books against the garrison at Ft. St. Anthony,
for certain articles, and forwarded for the use of
the troops at that post, which you will deduct

FIBST FLOUE MILL IN MINNESOTA.

il.5

from ihe payments to be made for Hour raised
and turned over to you for issue :

One pair buhr niillstoiies g2o0 11

337 pounds plaster of Paris 'M) 22

Two dozen sickles. is 00

Total $288 33

Upon the 19th of January, 1824, tlie (ieneral
WTites: "The mode suggested l>y Col. Snelling,
of fixing the price to be paid to the troops for the
flour furnished Ijy them is deemed equitable and
just. You will accordingly pay for the flour
$3.33 per ban-el."

Charlotte Ouisconsiii '\''an Cleve. now the oldest
person living who was connected with the can-
tonment in 1819. in a paper read liefore the De-
partment of American History of the Minnesota
Historical Society in January, 1880, wrote :

" In 1823, Mrs. Snelling and my mother estab-
lished the first Sunday School in the Northwest.
It was held in the basement of the commanding
oflBcer's quarters, and was productive of much
good. Many of the soldiers, with their families,
attended. Joe. Brown, since so well know in
this country, then a drummer boy, was one of
the pupils. A Bible class, for the officers and
their wives, was formed, and all became so inter-
ested in the history of the patriarchs, that it fur-
nished topics of conversation for the week. One
day after the Sunday School lesson on thedeathof
Moses, a member of the class meeting my mother
on the parade, after exchanging the usual greet-
ings, said, in saddened tones, ' But don't you feel
son-y that Moses is dead ? '

Early in the spring of 1824, the Tully Ijoys
were rescued from the Sioux and brought to the
fort. They were children of one of the settlers
of Lord Selkirk's colony, and with their parents
and others, were on their way from Red Eiver
^'alley to settle near Fort Snelling.

The party was attacked by Indians, and the
parents of these children murdered, and the boys
captured. Through the influence of Col. Snell-
ing t!ie children were ransomed and brought
to the fort. Col. Snelling took John and
my father Andrew, tlie younger of the two.
Everyone became interested in the oi-phans, and
we loved Andrew as if he had been our own lit-
tle brother. John died some two years after his
arrival at the fort, and Mrs. Snelling asked me

when I last saw her if a tomb stone had been
placed at his grave, she as requested, during a
visit to the old home some years ago. She said
she received a promise that it should lie done,
and seemed quite disappointed when I told her it
had not been attended to."

Andrew Tully, after lieing (-(luratcd at an
Orphan Asylum in New York City, became a
carriage maker, and died a few years ago in that
vicinity.

EVENTS (IF THE VEAK A. I). 1824.

In the year 1824 tlie Fort was visited by Gen.
[ Scott, on a tour of inspection, and at his sug-
gestion, its name was changed from Fort St.
Anthony to Fort Snelling. The following is an
extract from his report to the "War Deiiartment :

" This work, of which the AVar Department is
in possession of a plan, reflects the highest credit
on Col. Snelling, his officers and men. The de-
fenses, and for the most part, the public store-
houses, shojis and quarters being constructed of
stone, the whole is likely to endure as long as the
post shall remain a frontier one. The cost of
erection to the government has been the amount
paid for tools and iron, and the per diem \n\u\
to soldiers employed as mechanics. I wish to
suggest to the General in Chief, and through him
to the War Department, the proiiriety of calling
this work Fort Snelling, as a just cdniplinient
to the meritorious officer under whom it has
been erected. Tlie present name, (Fort St. An-
thony), is foreign to all our associations, and is.
besides, geographically incorrect, as the work
stands at the junction of the Mississippi and
St. Peter's [Minnesota] Rivers, eight miles be-
low the great falls of the JMississippi, called
after St. Anthony."

In 1824, iSIajor Taliaferni proceeded to AVasli-
ington with a delegation of Chippewaysand Dah-
kotahs, headed by Little Crow, the grand fatliei-
of the chief of the same name, wlio was engaged
in the late horrible massacre of defenceless
women and children. The object of the visit, ^\•as
to secure a convocation of all the tribes of the
Upper ilississippi, at Prairie du Cliein, to deUne
their boundary lines and establish friendly rela-
tions. "When they reached Prairie du Cheiii,
AVahnatah, a Yankton chief, and also Wapashaw,
by the whispenngs of mean traders, became dis-

EXPLOBERS ASn PIONEERS OF JflNNESOTA.

affected, and wished to turn back. Little Crow,
perceiving this, stopped all hesitancy by tlie fol-
lowing speech: "My friends, you can do as you
please. I am no coward, nor can my ears be
pulled about by evil counsels. We are here and
should go on, and do some good for our nation.
I have taken our Father here (Taliaferro) by the
coat tail, and will follow him vuitil I take by the
hand, our great American Father."

While on board of a steamer on the Ohio
Elver, Marcpee or the Cloud, in consequence of a
bad dream, jumped from the stern of the boat,
and was supposed to be drowned, but he swam
ashore and iflade his way to St. Charles, Mo. .
there to be murdered liy some Sacs. The re-
mainder safely arrived in AVashington and ac-
complished the object of the visit. The Dahko-
tahs returned by way of New York, and while
there were anxious to pay a ^'isit to certain par-
ties with "W^m. Dickson, a half-breed son of Col
Robert Dickson, the trader, who in the war of
1812-15 led the Indians of the Northwest against
the Ignited States.

After this visit Little Crow carried a new
double-barreled gun, and said that a medicine
man by the name of Peters gave it to him for
signing a certain paper, and that he also prom-
ised he woidd send a keel-boat full of goods to
them. The medicine man referred to was the
Kev. Samuel Peters, an Episcopal clergyman,
who had made himself obnoxious duriut; the
Revolution by his tory sentiments, arid was sub-
sequently nomuiated as Bishop of A'ermont.

Peters asserted that in 1806 he liad purchased
of the lieirs of .Jonathan Carver the right to a
tract of land on the upper Mississippi, embracing
St. Paul, alleged to have been given to Carver by
the Dahkotahs, in 1767.

The next year there arrived, in one of the keel-
boats from Prairie du Chieu, at Fort Snelling a
box marked Col. Robert Dickson. On opening, it
was found lo contain a few presents from Peters
to Dickson's Indian wife, a long letter, and a
copy of Carver's alleged grant, written on parch-
ment.

KVKNTS OF THE YEARS 1825 AND 1826.

On the .'iOth of October, 1825, seven Indian
women in canoes, were drawn into the rapids
above the Falls of St. Anthony. All were saved

l)ut a lame girl, who was dashed over the cata-
ract, and a month later her body was found at
Pike's Island in front of the fort.

Forty years ago, the means of communication
betTveen Fort Snelling and the civilized world
were very limited. The mail in winter was usu-
ally carried by soldiers to Prairie du Chien. On
the 26th of January, 1826, there was great joy in
the fort, caused by the return from furlough of
Lieutenants Baxley and Russell, who brought
with them the first mail received for five months.
About tills period there was also another excite-
ment, cause by the seizure of liquors in the trad"
ing house of Alexis Bailey, at Xew Hope, now
Mendota.

During the months of February and ilarcli, in
this year, snow f eU to the depth of two or three
feet, and there was great suffering among the
Indians. On one occasion, thii'ty lodges of Sisse-
ton and other Sioux w^ere overtaken by a snow
storm on a large prairie. The storm continued
for three days, aud pro\'isions grew scarce, for
the party were seventy in number. At last, the
stronger men, with the few pairs of snow-shoes
in their possession, started for a trading post one
hundred miles distant. They reached their des-
tuiation half aliv(% and the traders sympathizing
sent foiu" Canadians with supplies for those left
behind. After great toil they reached the scene
of distress, and found many dead, and, what was
more horrible, the living feeding on the corpses
of their relatives. A mother had eaten her dead
child and a jmrtion of her own father's arms.
Tlie shock to her nervous system was so great
that she lost her reason. Iler name was Pash-
nno-ta, and she was both young and good look-
ing. One day in September, while at Fort Snell-
ing, she asked Captain Jouett if he knew which
was the best jiortion of a man to eat, at the same
time taking him by the collar of his coat. He
replied with great astonishment, "No !" and she
then said, "The arms." She then asked for a
piece of his servant to eat, as she was nice and
fat. A few days after this she dashed herself
from the bluffs near Fort Snelling, into the river.
Her body ■was found just above the mouth of the
Minnesota, and decently Interred by ihe agent.

The spring of 1826 was very backw'ard. On
the 20th of March snow fell to the depth of one
or one and a half feet on a level, and drifted in

]VEOBO SLAVEIS AT FOUT aSELLlNQ.

heaps from six to fifteen feet in heiglit. On tlie
5t!i of April, eurly in the day, tliere was a violent
storm, anil the ire was still tliirk in tlio river.
Diuiui,' the storm llaslies of Ii8iitnint>- were seen
and thnnder heard. On the 10th, the thermome-
ter was fom- degrees aliove zero. On tlio 1 1th
there was rain, and on the next day the St. Peter
river liroke up, hut the ice on the Jilississippi re-
mained lirm. On the lilst, at noon, the ice began
to move, and carried away Mr. Fariljault's houses
on llu> east side of tlie river, for se\eral days
the river was twenty feet above low water mark,
and all the houses on low lands were swept off.
On the second of Itlay, the steamboat T.awreuce,
Captain Reeder, arrived.

Major Taliaferro hail inherited several slaves,
which he used to hire to officer's of the garrison.
On the 31st of March, his negro boy, Wilham,
was employed by Col. Snelling, the latter agree-
ing to clothe him. About this time, AVilliani at-
tempted to shoot a hawk, but instead shot a small
boy, named Henry Cullum, and nearly killed him.
In May, Captain Pl\'mpton, of the Fifth Infantry,
wished to yiurchase his negro woman, Eliza, biit
he refused, as it was his intention, ultimately, to
fi'ee his slaves. Another of his negro girls, Har-
riet, was married at the fort, the ilajor perform-
ing the ceremony, to the now historic Dred Scott,
who was then a slave of Surgeon Emerson. Tlie
only person that ever purchased a slave, to retain
in slavery, was Alexis Bailly, who bought a man
of Major Garland. The Sioux, at first, had no
prejudices against negroes. They called them
" Black Frenchmen," and placing their hands on
their woolly heads would laugh heartily.

The following is a list of the steamboats that
had arrived at Fort SnelUng, up to May 26, 1826 :

1 Vu-ginia, May 10, 1823 ; 2 Neville ; 3 Put-
nam, April 2, 182.5 ; 3 Jlandan ; o Indiana ; 6 Law-
rence, May 2, 1826; 7Sciota;8 Eclipse; 9 Jo-
sephine; 10 Fulton; 11 Red Rover; 12 Black
Rover; 13 Warrior; 14 Enterprise; lo Volant.

Life within the walls of a fort is sometimes the
exact contrast of a paradise. In the year 1826 a
Pandora box was opened, among the officers, and
dissensions began to prevail. One young officer,
a graduate of ^V'est Point, whose father had been
a professor in Princeton College, fought a duel
with, and slightly wounded, AVilliam Joseph, the
talented son of Colonel SneUiug, who was then

twenty-two years of age, and had been three years
at West I'oint. At a Coint Jlarlial convened to
try the officer for violating the Articles of AVar,
the accused objected to the testimony of Lieut.
William Alexander, a Tennesseean, not a gradu-
ate of the ^Military Academy, on the ground that
he was an infidel. Alexander, hurt by this allu-
sion, challenged the objector, and aimlhcr duel
was fought, rcsuUing oidy In sliglit injuries to
tlie clothing of the comliatants. Inspector (ien-
eral 10. P. Gaines, after this, visited the fort, and
in his I'eport of the inspection he wrote: ''A
defei^t hi the discipline of this regiment has ap-
Bcared in the character of certain personal con-
troversies, between the Colonel and several of his
young officers, the iiarticulars of which I forbear
to enter into, assured as I am that they will be
developed in the proceedings of a general court
martial ordered for the trial of Lieutenant Hun-
ter and other officers at Jefferson BaiTacks.

" From a conversation with the Colonel I can
have no doiilit that he has erred in the course
pursued by him in reference to some of the con-
troversies, inasmuch as he has intimated to his
officers his willingness to sanction in certain cases,
and even to participate in personal conflicts, con-
trary to the twenty-fifth. Article of War."

The Colonel's son, AVilliam Joseph, after this
passed several years among traders and Indians,
and became distinguished as a poet and briUiant
author.

His " Tales of the Xorthwest," published in
Boston ill 1.S20, by llilliard. Gray, Little & AVil-
kins, is a work of great literary ability, and Catliu
thought the book was the most faithful pictured
Indian life he had read. Some of his poems were
also of a high order. One of his pieces, deficient
in dignity, was a caustic satire upon modern
American poets, and was pulilished under the
title of '■ Truth, a (;ift for Scribblers."

Nathaniel P. AVillis, who had winced imder
the last, wrote the following lampoon :
" Oh, smelling Joseph ! Thou art like a cur.

I'm told thou once did live by hunting fur :

Of bigger dogs thou smellest, and, in .sooth,

Of one extreme, perhaiis, can tell the truth.

"Tis a wise shift, and sliows thou know'st thy
jiowers.

To leav(^ the ■ Xortli West tales,' and take to
smelling ours.''

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

In 1832 a second edition of " Truth " appeared
■with additions and emendations. In this ap-
peared the following pasquinade upon Willis :
"I live by Imnting fur, thou say"st, so let it be,
But tell me. Natty ! Had I hunted thee,
Had not my time been thrown away, young sir.
And eke my powder V Puppies have no fur.

Our tails ? Thou ownest thee to a tail,
I've scanned thee o'er and o'er
But, though I guessed the species right,
I was not sure before.

Our savages, authentic travelers say,
To natural fools, religious homage pay,
Eadst thou been born in wigwam's smoke, and

died in,
Nat ! thine apotheosis had been certain."

Snelling died at Chelsea, Mass., December six-
teenth, 1848, a victim to the appetite which en-
enslaved Robert Burns.

In the year 1826, a small party of Ojibwayfi
(Chippeways) came to see tlie Indian Agent,
and three of them ventured to visit the Colum-
bia Fur Company's trading house, two miles
from the Fort. While there, they became
aware of their danger, and desired two of the
wliite men attached to the establishment to
accompany tliem back, thinking that their pres-
ence might be some protection. They were in
error. As they passed a little copse, three Dali-
kotahs sprang from behind a log with the speed of
light, fired their pieces into the face of the fore-
most, and then fled. The guns must have been
double loaded, for the man's liead was literally
blown from his shoulders, and his wliite com-
panions were spattered witli brains and blood.
Tlie survivors gained the Fort without further
molestation. Their comrade was buried on the
spot where he fell. A stafE w-as set up on his
grave, which became a landmark, and received
the name of The Murder Pole. The murderers
boasted of their achievement and with impunity.
They and their tribe thought that they had struck
a fair blow on their ancient enemies, in a becom-
ing manner. It was only said, '..hat Toopunkah
Zeze of the village of the Butlure aux Fievrex,
and two others, had each acquired a right to
•wear skunk skins on their heels and war-eagles'
feathers on their lieads.

EVKNTS OF A. D. 1827.

On the tu'enty-eighth of May, 1827, tlie Ojib-
way chief at Sandy Lake, Kee-wee-zais-hish
called by the English, Flat Mouth with seven
warriors and some women and children, in all
amountnig to twenty-four, arrived about sunrise
at Fort Snelling. Walking to the gates of the
gaiTison, they asked the protection of Colonel
Snelling and Taliaferro, the Indian agent. They
were told, that as long as they remained inider
the United States flag, they were secure, and
were ordered to encamp within musket shot of
the high stone walls of the fort.

During the afternoon, a Dahkotah, Toopunkah
Zeze, from a village near the first rapids of the
Minnesota, visited the Ojibway camp. They
were cordially received, and a feast of meat and
corn and sugar, was soon made ready. The
wooden plates emptied of their contents, they
engaged in conversation, and whiffed the peace
pipe.

That night, some oflicers and their friends were
spending a pleasant evening at the head-quarters
of Captain Clark, wliich was in one of the stone
houses which used to stand outside of the walls
of the fort. As Captain Cruger was walking on
the porch, a bullet whizzed by, and rapid firing
w^as heard.

As the Dahkotahs, or Sioux, left the Ojibway
camp, notwithstanding their friendly talk, they
tur-ned and discharged their guns with deadly aim
upon their entertainers, and ran off with a sliout
of satisfaction. The report was heard liy the
sentinel of the fort, and he cried, repeatedly^
" Corporal of the guard !"' and soon at the gates,
were the Ojibways, witli their women and the
wounded, telling their tale of woe in wild and in-
coherent language. Two had been killed and six
woinided. Among others, was a little girl about
seven years old, who was pierced through both
thighs with z bullet. Surgeon McJIahon made
every effort to save her life, but wdthout avail.

Flat ilouth, the chief, reminded Colonel Snel-
ling that he had been attacked while inider tlie
protection of the United States flag, and early the
next morning. Captain Clark, witli one hundred
soldier. , proceeded towards LaiuTs End, a tra-
ding-post of the Columbia Fur Company, on the
Minnesota, a mile above the former residence of

TRAGIC SCENE UNDEli THE ]VALL::i OF THE FoUT.

Franklin Steele, where tlie Dalikolalis were sup-
posed to be. The soldiers had just li'l't the lari;e
gate of the fort, when a partx of Dahkotahs, in
battle array, appeared on one of the prairit*
hills. After some parleying they turned their
baeks, and being pnrsned, thirly-two were cap-
tured near the trading-post.

Colonel Snelling ordered the prisoners to lie
brouglit before the Ojibways. and two being
pointed out as participants in tlie slaughter of the
pi'eceding uight, they were delivered to tlu^
aggrieved party to deal with in accordance with
their customs. They were led out to the plain
in front of the gate of the foil, anil when placed
nearly without the range of tlie Ojibway guns,
they were told to run for their lives. AVitli the
rapidity of deer they bounded away, but the Ojib-
way bidlet Hew faster, and after a few steps, they
fell gasping on the groimd, and were soon lifeless.
Tlien the savage nature displayed itself in all its
hideousness. Women and children danced for
joy, and plachig their fingers in llic bullet holes.
from which the blood oozed, tliey licked tliein
with delight. The men tore the scalps fnnn the
dead, and seemed to luxuriate in the privilege of
plunging their Isnives through the corpses. After
the execution, the Ojibways returned to the fort,
and were met by the Colonel. He had prevented
all over whom his authority extended from wit-
nessing the scene, and had done his best to con-
fine the excitement to the Indians. The same
day a deputation of Uahkotah warriors received
audience, regretting the violence that liad lieen
done by their young men, and agreemg to deliver
uji the ringleaders.

At the time appointed, a son of Flat JNIonth,
with those of the Ojibwa party that were not
wounded, escorted by United States troops,
marched forth to meet the Dahkotah deputation,
on the prame just beyond the olil residence of
tlie Indian agent. AVith much solemnity two
more of the guilty were lianded over to the
assaulted. One was fearless, and with firmness
stripped himself of his clothing and ornaments,
and distributed them. The other could not face
death with composure, lie was iiotf d for a hid-
eous hare-lip, and had a bad reputation among
liis fellows. In the spirit of a coward he prayed
for life, to the mortification of iiis tribe. The
same opportunity was presented to them as to the

first, of running for their lives. At the first fire
the coward fell a corpse; but his brav(> compan-
ion, tliiiuijli wounded, ran on. and had iiearlv
reached the goal of safety, when a second bullet
killed him. Tht; body of the coward now became
a common object of loathing for both Dahkotahs
and Ojibways.

("olonel Snelling told th(! Ojibways that tlie
bodies must \n\ removed, and then they took Ih.e
scalped Dahkotahs. and dragging them by the
hffls. tliirw tliciii oil' lli(^ blulf iiilo the river, a
hundred and fifty feet beneath. The dreadful
scene was now over ; and a detaclmient of troops
was sent with the old chief Flat Mouth, to escort
him out of the reach of Dahkotah vengeance.

An eyewitness wrote : " After this catastroiihe,
all the Dahkotahs (piit ted the vicinity of Fort Snel-
ling, and did not return to it for some months.
It w-as said that they formed a consiiiracy to de-
mand a council, and kill the Indian Agent and
the commanding olllcer. If this was a fact, they
had no opportunity, or wanted the spirit, to exe-
cute their purpose.

" The Flat Mouth's band lingered in the fort
till their woiuided comrade died. lie was sensi-
ble of his condition, and bore his iiains with great
fortitude. When he felt his end ajiproach, he
desh'ed that his horse might be gaily caparisoned,
and brought to the hospital window, so that he
might touch the animal. He then took from his
medicine bag a large cake of maple sugar, and held
it forth. It may seem strange, but it is true, that
the beast ate it from his hand, liis features
were radiant with delight as he fell back on the
pillow exhausted. His horse had eaten the sugar,
he said, and he was sure of a favorable reception
and comfortable quarters in the other world.
Half an hour after, he breathed his last. A\'e
tried to discover the details of his superstition,
but could not succeed. It is a subject on which
Indians unwillingly discourse."

In the fall of l.s^B, all the troops at Prairie du
Cliien had been removed to Fort Snelling, the
commander taking with him two 'Winnebagoes
that had been confined in Fort Crawford. After
the soldiers left the I'rairie, the Indians in the
vicinity w'ere quite insoleiu.

In .June, 1827, two keel-boats passed Prairie du
Chien on the way to Fort Snelling with provis-
ions. When they reached Wapashaw village, on

100

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA..

the site of the present town of Winona, the crew
were ordered to come ashore by the Dahkotahs.
Complying, they found themselves surrounded by
Indians with hostile intentions. The boatmen
had no fire-arms, but assuming a bold mien and a
defiant voice, the captain of the keel-boats ordered
the savages to leave the decks ; which was suc-
cessful, The boats pushed on, and at Red Wing
and Kaposia the Indians showed that they were
not friendly, though tliey did not molest the
boats. Before they started on their return from
Fort Snelltng, the men on board, amounting to
thirty-two, were all provided with muskets and a
barrel of ball cartridges.

When the descending keel-boats passed Wapa-
shaw, the Dahkotas were engaged in the war
dance, and menaced them, but made no attack.
Below this point one of the boats moved in ad-
vance of the other, and when near the mouth of
the Bad Axe, the half-breeds on board descried
hostile Indians on the banks. As the channel
neared the shore, the sixteen men on the first
boat were greeted with the war whoop and a vol-
ley of rifle balls from the excited Wimiebagoes,
killing two of the crew. Bushing into their ca-
noes, the Indians made the attempt to board the
boat, and two were successful. One of these
stationed himself at the bow of the boat, and
fired with killing effect on the men below deck.
An old soldier of the last war with Great Britain,
called Saucy Jack, at last despatched him, and
began to rally the fainting spirits on board. Du-
ring the fight the boat had stuck on a sand-bar.
With four companions, amid a shower of balls
from the savages, he phniged into the water and
pushed ofE the boat, and thus moved out of reach
of the galling shots of the Winnebagoes. As
they floated down the river during the night,
they heard a wail in a canoe behind them, the
voice of a father mourning the death of the son
who had scaled the deck, and was now a corpse
in possession of the white men. The rear boat
passed the Bad Axe river late in the night, and
escaped an attack.

The first keel-boat arrived at Prairie du Ohein,
with two of their crew dead, four wounded, and
the Indian that had been killed on the boat. The
two dead men had been residents of the Prairie,
and now the panic was increased. On the morn-
ing of the twenty-eighth of June the second

keel -boat appeared, and among her passengers
was Joseph Snelling, the talented son of the
colonel, who wrote a story of deep interest, based
on the facts narrated.

At a meeting of the citizens it was resolved to
repair old Fort Crawford, and Thomas McNair
was appointed captain. Dirt was thrown aromid
the bottem logs of the fortification to prevent its
being fired, and young Snelling was put in com-
mand of one of the block-houses. On the next
day a voyageur named Loyer, and the well-known
trader Duncan Graham, started through the in-
terior, west of the Mississippi, with intelligence
of the murders, to Fort Snelling. Intelligence
of this attack was received at the fort, on the
evening of the ninth of July, and Col. Snelling
started in keel boats with four companies to Fort
Crawford, and on the seventeenth four more
companies left under Major Fowle. After an
absence of six weeks, the soldiers, without firing
a gim at the enemy, returned.

A few weeks after the attack upon the keel
boats General Gaines inspected the Fort, and,
subsequently in a communication to the War
Department wrote as follows ;

" The main points of defence against an enemy
appear to have been in some respects sacrificed,
in the effort to secure the comfort and conven-
ience of troops in peace. These are important
considerations, but on an exposed frontier the
primary object ought to be security against the
attack of an enemy.

" The buildings are too laige, too numerous,
and extending over a space entirely too great,
enclosing a large parade, five times greater than
is at all desireable in that climate. The build-
ings for the most part seem well constructed, of
good stone and other materials, and they contain
every desirable convenience, comfort and securi-
ty as barracks and store houses.

" The work may be rendered very strong and
adapted to a garrison of two hundred men by re-
moving one-half the buildings, and with the ma-
terials of which they are constructed, building a
tower sufficiently high to command the hill be-
tween the ^Mississippi and St. Peter's [Minnesota],
and by a block house on the extreije pohit, or
brow of the cliff, near the commandant's quarters,
to secure most effectually the banks of the river,
and the boats at the landing.

DEATH OF COL. JOSIAII SNELLING.

101

''Mufli crei.it i- due to Colonel Siu'Uiiii;, his
officers and men, for their immense labors and
excellent workmanship exhibited in the constnic-
tion of these barracks and store houses, but this
has been effected too mui-h at the expense of the
discipline of the regiment."

From reports made from 1823 to 1826. the health
of the troops was good. In the year ending .Sep-
tember thirty, 1823, there were but two deaths;
m 1S24 only six, and in 1825 but seven.

In lS2/i there were three desertions, in 1824
twenty-two, and in 1825 twenty-nine. JNIost of
the deserters ^\■ere fresh recruits and natives of
America, Ten of the deserters were foreigners,
and five of these were born in Ireland. In ls2(i
there were eight companies numbering two luui-

dreil and fourteen soldiers <piartered in Ihe Fort"
During tlu^ fall of l.s27 the Fitlh Regiment was
relieved by a part of llie First, and the next year
(.'olonelSnelling proceeded to Washington on bus-
iness, wliere he, died with inllaiunialion of the
lirain. Major (ieucral Macoiuli announcing his
death in an order, wrote :

'■(-olonel Snelling joined the army in early
youth. In the battle of Tippecanoe, he was
distinguish(>d for gallantry and good conduct.
Subsequently and during the whole late war with
Great P.ritain, from the battle of Brownstown to
the termination of the contest, lie was actively
employed in the field, with credit to himself, and
honor to his country.''

102

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTER XVII.

OCCUERENCES IX THE VICIIsriTT OF FOKT SNELLTTSTG, CONTINTTED.

Arrival of J. N. Nicollel— Marriage of James Wells— NicoUet's letter from Falls-
of St. AntholiJ'— Perils of Mal-tin McLeod^-Cliippeway treachery— Sioux Re
veiige— Rum River and Stilhvater hattles— Grog shops near the Fort.

Oil the second of July 1S36, the steamboat
Saint Peter landed siiiiplics, and among its
passengers was the distinguished French as-
tronomer. Jean N. Nicollet (Nicokiy). I^Iajor
Taliaferro on the twelfth of Jidy, wrote;
" Mr. Nicollet, on a visit to the post for scientific
research, and at present in my family, has showii
me the late work of Henry R. Schoolcraft on the
discovery of the source of the Mississippi ; which
claim is ridiculous in the extreme." On the
twenty-seventh, Nicollet ascended the JNIississippi
on a tour of observation.

James AVells, a trader, wlio afterwards was a
member of the legislature, at the house of Oliver
Cratte, near the fort, was married on the tw elfth
of September, by Agent Taliaferro, to Jane, a
daughter of Duncan Graham. Wells was killed
in 1862, by the Sioux, at the time of the massacre
in the Minnesota Valley.

Nicollet in September returned from his trip
to Leech Lake, and on the twenty-seventh wTote
the following to JMajor Taliaferro the Indian
Agent at the fort, which is supposed to be the
earliest letter extant written from the site of the
city of Minneapolis. As the principal hotel and
one of the finest avenues of that city bears his
name it is worthy of preservation. He speUed
his name sometimes Nicoley, and the pronuncia-
tion in English, would be Nicolay, the same as
if written Nicollet in French. The letter shows
that he had not mastered the English language :
" St. Anthony's Falls, 27th September, lS3fi,

Deak Friend :— I arrived last evening about
dark; all well, nothing lost, nothuig broken,
happy and a very successful journey. But I
done exhausted, and nothing can reUeve me, but
the pleasure of meeting you again under your
hospitable roof, and to see all the friends of th"
garrisou who have been so kind to me.

" This letter is more particularly to give you
a very extraordinary tide. Flat Mouth, the chief
of Leech Lake and suite, ten in number are with
me. The day before yesterday I met them again
at Swan river where they detained me one day.
I had to bear a new^ harangue and gave answer.
All terminated by their own resolution that they
ought to give you the hand, as well as to the
Guinas of the Fort (Colonel Davenport.) 1
thought it my duty to acquaint you with it be-
forehand. Peace or war are at stake of the visit
they pay you. Please give them a good welcome
until I have reported to you and Colonel Daven-
port all that has taken place diu'ing my stay
among the Pillagers. But be assured I have not
trespassed and that I liave behaved as would
have done a good citizen of the U. S. As to
Schoolcraft's statement alluding to you, you will
have full and complete satisfaction from Flat
Mouth himself. In haste, your friend, J. N.
Nicoley."

events of a. d. 1837.

On the seventeenth of March, 1837, there ar-
rived Martin ilcLeod, who became a prominent
citizen of Minnesota, and the legislature has
given his name to a county.

He left the Red River country on snow shoes,
with two companions, one a Polander and the
other an Irishman named Hays, and Pierre Bot-
tineau as interpreter. Being lost in a violent
snow storm the Pole and Irishman perished. lie
and his guide, Bottmeau, lived for a time on the
flesh of one of their dogs. After being twenty-
six days without seeing any one. the survivors
reached the traduig post of Joseph R. Brown, at
Lake Traverse, and from thence they came to
the fort.

EVENTS OF A. D. 1838.

In tlic nuiiitli of April, eleven Sioux were slain
in a dastardly manner, by a i)arfy of Ojibways,

IXDIAI^ BATTLES AT RVM lilVEH AND STILLWATER.

103

imder the noted and elder Hole-in-the-Day. The
Chippeways feigned the wannest friendship, and
at dark lay do\ni in the tents by the side of the
Sionx, and in tlie night silently arose and lulled
them. Tlie occurrence took place at the Chippe-
way Kiver, abouttliirty miles from Lac qui Parle,
and tlie next day the Hev. G.II. Pond, the Indian
missionary, accompanied by a ,Sionx, \.ent out
and buried the mutikited and scalpless bodies.

On the second of August old IIole-in-the-I)ay,
and some Ojibways, came to the fort. They
stopped first at the cabin of Peter Quiini, whose
wife was a half-breed Chippeway, about a mile
from the fort.

The missionary, Samuel AV. Pond, told the
agent that the Hioux, of Lake Calhoun were
aroused, and on their way to attack the Chippe-
ways. The agent quieted them for a time, but
two of the relatives of those slain at Lac qui Parle
in ^Vpril, hid themselves near Quimi's house, and
as IIole-iu-the-Day and hi.s associates were pass-
ing, they -fired and killed one Chippeway and
wounded another. Obpquette. a Chippeway from
Ked Lake, succeded, however, in shooting a
Sioux while he was in the act of scalpmg his
comrade. The Chippeways were brought within
the fort as soon as possible, and at nine o'clock
a Sioux was confined in the guard-house as a
hostage.

Notwithstanding the murdered Chippeway had
been buried in the graveyard of the fort for safety,
an attempt was made on the part of some of the
Sioux, to dig it up. On the evening of the sixth,
Major Plympton sent the Chippeways across the
river to the east side, and ordered them to go
home as soon as possible.

EVENTS OF A. D. 1839.

On the twentieth day of June the elder Ilole-
m-the-Day arrived from the Upper ^Mississippi
with several Innidreil Chippeways. Upon tlieir
return homeward the Mississippi and Mille Lacs
band encampei^ the first night at the Falls of ><amt
^Vnthony, and some of the Sioux visited them and
smoked the pipe of peace.

On the second of July, about sunrise, a son-in-
law of the chief of tlie Sioux band, at Lake Cal-
houn, named Meekaw or Badger, was killed and
scalped by two Chippeways of the Pillager band,
relatives of him who lost his b'fp near Patrick

Quinn's the year before. The excitement was
intense among the Sioux, and innnediately war
parties started in pursuit. iloIe-in-the-Uay's
band was not sought, but the JNlille Lacs and
Saint Croix Chippeways. The Lake Calhoun
Sioux, with those from the villages on the
^Minnesota, assembled at the i'alls of Saint
Anthony, and on the morning of the fourth
of .July, came up with the Mille Lacs
Chippeways on Rum River, before sunrise. Xot
long after the war whoop was raised and the
Sioux attacked, killing and wounding ninety.

The Kajiosia band of Sioux pursued the Saint
Croix Chippeways, and on the third of July found
them in the Penitentiary ravine at Stillwater,
under the influence of wiiisky. Aitkin, the old
trader, was with them. The sight of the
Sioux tended to make them sober, but in the fight
twentj'-one were killed and twenty-nine were
wounded.

AVliisky, during the year 1839, was freely in-
troduced, in the face of the law prohibiting it.
The first boat of the season, the Ariel, came to
tlie fort on the fomteenth of April, and brouglit
twenty barrels of whisky for Joseph R. Brown,
and on the twenty-first of May, the Glaucus
brought six barrels of liquor for David Faribault.
On the thirtieth of June, some soldiers went to
Joseph R. Brown's groggery on the opposite side
of the Mississippi, and that night forty -seven
were in the guard-house for dj:unkenness. The
demoralization then existing, led to a letter by
Sm'geon Emerson on duty at the fort, to the Sur-
geon General of the United States army, in which
he writes :

" The whisky is brought here by citizens who
are pouring in upon us and .settling themselves
on the opposite shore of the Mississippi river,
in defiance of our wortliy commanding officer,
^lajor .1. Plympton. whose authority they set
at naught. At this moment there is a
citizen named Browni, once a sohlier in
the Fifth Infantry, who was discharged at
this post, while Colonel Snelling commanded,
and who has been since employed by the Ameri-
can Fur Company, actually building on the land
marked out by the land officers as the reserve,
and withui gunshot distance of the fort, a very
expensive whisky shop."

104

EXPLOBEIiS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTEE XVIII.

INDIAN TRIBES IN MINNESOTA AT THE TI3IE OF ITS ORGANIZATION.

Sioux or 0alikotah people— MeanitiRof words Sioux and Dalikotah— liarly villages
— Hesi'lence of Sioux in 1S49— Ttie Winiieliapoe^i— Tiie Ojibways or Chippeways.

Tlie three Iiidiiin nations who dwelt in tliis
region after the organization of JSIinnesota, were
the Sioux or Dahkotahs ; the Ojibways or Chip-
peways ; and the Ilo-tcliun-graws or Winneba-
goes.

SIOUX OR DAHKOTAHS.

They are an entirely different group from the

Algonquin and Iroquois, who were found by tlie
early settlers of the Atlantic States, on the banks
of the Connecticut, Mohawk, and Susquehanna
Elvers.

When the Dahkotahs were first noticed by the
European adventurers, large numbers were occu-
pying the Mille Lacs region of country, and appro-
priately called by the voyageur, "People of the
Lake," "Gens du Lac." And tradition asserts that
here was the ancient centre of this tribe. Though
we have traces of their warring and hunting on the
shores of Lake Superior, there is no siitisfaetory
evidence of their residence, east of the Mille Lacs
region, as they have no name for Lake Superior.

The word Dahkotah, by which they love to be
designated, signifies allied or joined together in
friendly compact, aiid is equivalent to " E pluri-
bus unum," the motto on the seal of the United
States.

In the history of the mission at La Pointe,
Wisconsin, published nearly two centuries ago, a
a writer, referring to the Dahkotahs, remarks :

" For sixty leagues from the extremity of the
Upper Lake, toward sunset; and, as it were in
the centre of the western nations, they have all
unUed their force by a general league."

The Dahkotahs in the earliest documents, and
even until the present day , are called Sioux, Scioux,
or Soos. The name originated mtli the early voy-
ageurs. For centuries the Ojibways of Lake
Superior waged war against the Dahkotahs; and.

whenever they spoke of them, called them Xado-
waysioux, which signifies enemies.

The French traders, to avoid exciting the atten-
tion of Indians, while conversing in their pres-
ence, were accustomed to designate them by
names, which would not be recognized.

The Dahkotahs were nicknamed Sioux, a word
composed of the two last syllables of the Ojibway
word for foes

Under the influence of the French traders, the
eastern Sioux began to wander from the Mille
Lacs region. A trading post at 0-ton-we-kpa-
dan, or Rice Creek, above the Falls of Saint
Anthony, induced some to erect their summer
dwellings and plant corn there, which took the
place of wild rice. Those who dwelt here were
called Wa-kpa-a-ton-we-dan Those v,ho dwell on
the creek. Another division was known as the
ila-tan-ton-wan.

Less than a hundred years ago, it is said that
the eastern Sioux, pressed by the Chippeways,
and influenced by traders, moved seven miles
above Fort Snelling on the Minnesota River.

MED-DAY-WAH-KAWN-TWAWNS.

In 1849 there were seven villages of Med-day-
wah-kawn-twawn Sioux. (1) Below Lakp Pepin,
where the city of Winona is, was the village of
Wapashaw. This band was called Kee-yu-ksa,
because with them blood relations intermarried.
Bounding or Whipping Wind was the chief. (2)
At the head of Lake Pepin, under a lofty bluff,
was the Red ^Ving village, called Ghay-nini-chan
Hill, wood and water. Shooter was the name
of the chief. (3) Opposite, and a little below the
Pig"s Eye IMarsh, was the Kaposia band. The
word, Kapoja means light, given because these
people are quick travelers. His Scailet People,
better kno^\^^ as Little Crow, was the chief, and
is notorious as the leader in the massacre of 1862.

On the Minnesota River, on the south side

SOTICE OF THE llOTCIirXGRAWS, 01! ^n X .\ K/:.\(;nE.<i.

111.1

a lew miles above Fort Snelling, was Black Dog
village. The inhabitants were called, Ma-ga-yu-
tay-shnee. People who do not a geese, be-
cause they found itpiolitable to sell game at Fort
Snelliug. Grey Iron was the chief, also known
as Fa-ma-ya-vaw, jNIy head aches.

At Oak (irove, on the north side of the river,
eight miles above the fort, was (5) 1 lay-ya-ta-o-
ton-wan, or Inland A'illage, so called because
they formerly lived at Lake Calkoun. Contigu-
ous was (G) 0-ya-tay-shee-ka, or Bad People,
Known as Good Roads Band and (7) the largest
village was Tin-ta-ton-wan. Prairie Village ;
Shokpay, or Six, was the chief, and is now the
site of the town of Shakopee.
West of this di\ision of the Sioux were—

WAR-PAY-KIT-TAY.

The War-pay-ku-tay, or leaf shooters, who
occupied the country south of the Minnesota
around the sources of the Cannon and Blue Earth
Rivers.

"WAK-PAY-TWAWNS.

North and west of the last were the War-pay-
twawns, or People of the Leaf, and their princi-
pal village was Lac qui Parle. They numbered
about fifteen hundred.

SE-SEE-TWAWNS.

To the west and southwest of these bands of
SioiLx were the Se-see-twawns (Sissetoans), or
Swamp Dwellers. This band claimed the land
west of the Blue Earth to the James River, and
the guardianship of the Sacred Red Pipestone
Quarry. Their principal village was at Traverse,
and the number of the band was estimated at
thirty-eight hundred.

HO-TCHUN-GRAWS, OK WINNEBAC40ES.

The llo-tchun-graws, or Winnebagoes, belong
to the Dahkotah family of aborigines. Cham-
plain, although he never visited tliem, mentions
them. Xicollet, wlio had been in his employ,
visited Green Bay about the year 1635. and an
early Relation mentions tliat he saw the Ouini-
pegous, a people called so, because they came
from a distant sea, whicli some French erron-
eously called Puants. Another writer speak-

ing of these people says : ■' This people are
called ' Les Puants ' not because of any bad odor
peculiar to them, but because they claim to have
come from the shores of a far distant lake,
towards the north, whose waters are salt. They
call themselves the people ' de I'eau puants,' of
the putrid or bad water."

By the treaty of 1837 they were removed to
Iowa, and by another treaty in October, 1846,
they came to Minnesota in the spring of 1848,
to the coimtry between the Long Prairie,
and Crow Wing Rivers. The agency was located
on Long Prairie River, forty miles from the
Mississippi, and in 1841) the tribe numbered
about twenty-tive htmdred souls.

In February 1855, another treaty was made
with them, and that spring they removed to lands
on the Blue Earth River. Owing to the panic
caused by the outbreak of the Sioux in 1S62, Con
gress, by a special act, without consulting them,
in 1863, removed them from their fields in Min-
nesota to the Missouri River, and in the words
of a missionary, "they were, like the Sioux,
dumped in the desert, one hundred miles above
Fort Randall"

O.JIBWAY OR CHIPPEWAY NATION.

The Ojibways or Leapers, when the French
came to Lake Superior, had their chief settlement
at Sault St. ]\Iarie, and were called by the French
Saulteurs, and by the Sioux, Ilah-ha-tonwan,
Dwellers at the Falls or Leaping Waters.

When Du Luth erected his trading post at the
western extremity of Lake Superior, they liad not
obtained any foothold in Minnesota, and were
constantly at war with their hereditary enemes,
the Nadouaysioux. By the middle of the
eighteenth century, they had pushed in and occu-
pied Sandy, Leech, Mille Lacs and other points
between Lake Superior and the Mississippi, which
had been dwelling places of the Sioux. In 1820
the principal villages of Ojibways in Minnesota
were at Fond du Lac, Leech Lake and Sandy
Lake. In 1837 they ceded most of their lands.
Since then, other treaties have been made, until
in the year 1881, they are confined to a few res-
ervations, in northern Minnesota and vicinity.

106

EXPLOBSRS AND PIONEEES OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTER XIX.

EARLY JIISSIONS A3IONG THE OJIBWAYS AND DAHKOTAHS OF MnSniTESOTA.

Jesuit Missions not permanpnt— Pipsliytr-ri.-in Mission at Mackinaw — Visit of Uev
A. Coe an<! J D. Stevens to Foil Suellmg— JJotice of Ayers, Hall, antl Boutwell
—formation of the word Itasca — The Brothers Pond— Arrival of Dr. William-
son -Presbj-terian Church at Fort Snelling — Mission at Lake Harriet— Mourn-
ins for the Dead— Church at Lac-qui parle- Father Ravoux — Mission at Lake
Pokeginna— Attack by the Sioux — Chippeway attack at Pig's Eye— De.ith of
Rev. Sherman Hall — Methodist Missions Rev. S. W. Pond prepares a Sioux
Grammar and Dictionary Swiss Presbyterian Mission-

Bancroft the distinguished historian, catching
the enthusiasm of tlie narratives of tlie early
Jesuits, depicts, in language which glows, tlieir
missions to the Northwest ; yet it is erroneous
to suppose that the Jesuits exercised any perma-
nent influeuce on the Ahorigines.

Shea, a devoted member of the Koman Catho-
hc Church, in his History of American Cathohc
-Missions writes : " In KiSO Father Eugalran was
apparently alone at Green Bay, and Pierson at
Mackinaw. Of the other missions neither Le-
Clerq nor Hennepin, the Recollect writers of the
AVest at tliis time, make any mention, or m any
way allude to their existence." He also says
that "Father Menard had projected a Sioux
mission ; Martjuette, Allouez, Druilletes, all en-
tertained hopes of realizing it, and had some
intercourse wdth that nation, but none of them
ever succeeded in establishing a mission."

Father Hennepin wrote: '• Can it he possible,
that, that pretended prodigious amoimt of savage
converts could escape the sight of a midtitnde
of French Canadians who travel every year?
i. * * * How comes it to pass that these
churches so devout and so numerous, should be
invisible, when I passed through so many
countries and nations V "

After the American Fur Company was formed.
the island of Mackmaw became the residence of
the principal agent for the Nin'thwest, Robert
Stuart a Scotchman, and devoted Presbyterian.

In the mouth of June, 1820, the Rev. Dr.
JSIorse, father of the distinguislied inventor of
the telegraph, visited and preached at Mackuiaw,
and in consequence of statements published by

him, upon his return, a Presbyterian Missionary
Society in the state of New York sent a graduate
of Union College, the Rev. W. M. Ferry, father
of the present United States Senator from Michi-
gan, to explore the field. In 1823 he had estab-
lished a large boarding school composed of
children of various tribes, and here some were
educated who became waves of men of intelli-
gence and influence at the capital of Minnesota.
After a few years, it was determined by the
Mission Board to modify its plans, and in the
place of a great central station, to send mission-
aries among the several tribes to teach and to
preach.

In pursuance of this policy, the Rev. Alvan
Coe, and J. D. Stevens, then a licentiate who
had been engaged in the Mackinaw Mission,
made a tour of exploration, and arrived on
September 1, 1829, at Fort Snelling. In the
journal of Major LawTcnce Taliaferro, which
is in possession of the Minnesota Historical
Society, is the following entry : " The Rev.
Mr. Coe and Stevens reported to be on their w^ay
to this post, members of the Presbyterian church
looking out for suitable places to make mission-
ary establishment for the Sioux and Chippeways,
found schools, and instruct in the arts and agri-
culture.''

The agent, althou.gh not at that time a commu-
nicant of the Cluu-ch, welcomed these visitors,
and afforded them every facility in visiting the
Indians. On Sunday, the 6th of September, the
Rev. Iilr. Coe jireached twice in the fort, and the
next night held a prayer meeting at the quarters
of the commanding officer. On the next Sunday
he preaciied again, and on the 14th, with Mr.
Stevens and ;i hired guide, returned to Mackinaw
by way of the St. Croix river. During this visit
the agent offered fur a Presliyterian mission the
mill which then stood on the site of ^liiuieapolis,
and had been erected by the govenunent, as well as

FORMATION OF THE WOIU) ITASKA.

107

the farm at Lake Calhoun, which was begiui to
teach the Sionx agriculture.

CHIPPEWAY MISSIONS.

In 1830, F. Ayer. one of the teachers at .Mack-
inaw, made an expkmilion as far as La I'oiute,
and returned.

Upon the ;U)th day of August, 1831, a Macki-
naw boat about forty feet lung arrived at La
Pointe, bringing from :Mackinaw the principal
trader, Mr. Warren, Rev.Shernian Hall and wife,
and Mr. Frederick Ayer, a, catechist and teacher.
Mrs. Hall attracted great attention, as she was
the first white woman who had visited that
region. Sherman Hall was born on April 30.
ISOl, at "Wetliersfield, "Vermont, and in 1S2S
graduated at Dartmouth College, and completed
his theological studies at Andover. Massacliu-
setts, a few weeks before he journeyed to the
Indian country.

His classmate at Dartmouth and Aiidover, tlie
Rev W. T. Boutwell still living near Stillwater.
became his yoke-fellow, but remained for a time
at jMackinaw, which they reached about the mid-
dle <.f July. In .June, 1832, Henry R. School-
craft, the head of an exploring expedition, invited
Mr. Boutwell to accompany him to the sources of
the Mississippi.

"When tlie expedition reached Lac la Biche or
Elk Lake, on July 13, l«32, Mr. Schoolcraft, who
was not a Latin scholar, asked the Latin word for
tnith, and was told "veritas." He then wanted
..ij word which signified head, and was tokl
'■caput." To the astonishment of many, School-
craft struck off the first sylable, of the word
ver-i-tas and the last sylable of ca-put, and thus
coined the word Itasca, which he gave to the
lake, and which some modern writers, with all
gravity, tell us was the name of a maiden who
once dwelt on its banks. Upon Mr. Boutwelfs
return from this expedition he was at fust asso-
ciated with Mr. Hall in the mission at La Pointe.
In 1833 the mission band which had centered
at La Pointe diffused their inlluence. In Octo-
ber Rev. Mr. Boutwell went to Leech Lake, Mr.
Ayer opened a school at Yellow Lake, Wiscon-
sin, and Mr. E. F. Ely, now in California, became
a teacher at Aitkin's trading post at Sandy Lake.

siorx MISSIONAKIES.

Mr. lioutwfll, of Leech I^ake Stntiim. on (li.-

sixth of May, 1834, happened to be on a visit to
Fort Snclling. 'While there a steamboat arrived,
and among the passengers w^ere U\o young men,
brothers, natives of Washington, Connecticut,
Sanniel W. and (iideon H. Pond, who had come,
constrained liy th(^ love of Christ, and without con-
ferring with llcsh and blood, to try to imiirove
the Sioux.

Sanuiel, the older ))rother, the year before, had
talked with a liqunr seller in (iaiena. Illinois, who
had come from the Red River country, and the
desire was awakened to help the Sioux; and he
wrote t(i liis brother to go with him.

The l!cv. Samuel \\ . Pond still lives at Shako-
pee, Lu the old mission house, the lirst buihling of
sawed lumber erecteil in the valley of the 2ilinne-
sota, above Fort Snelling.

JIISSIONS AMONCJ THE SIOUX A. D. 183o.

About tliis jieriod, a native of South Carolina,
a graduate of Jelferson College, Pennsylvania,
the Rev. T. S. Williamson, M. D., who previous
to Ins ordination had Ijcen a respectable jihysi-
cian in Ohio, was appointed by the American
Board of Foreign Alissions to visit the Dahkotahs
with the view of ascertaining what coidd be done
to introduce Christian instruction. Having made
inquiries at Prairie du Chieu and Fort Snelling,
he reported the lield was favorable.

The Presbyterian and Congregational Churches,
through their joint Missionary Society, appointed
the following persons to labor in JNIinnesota :
Rev. Thomas S. Williamson, yi. I)., missionary
and physician; Rev. J. I). Stevens, missionary;
Alexander Iluggins, farmer; and their wives;
Miss Sarah Poage, and Lucy Stevens, teachers;
who \\eie prevented during the year 1834, by the
state of navigation, from entering upon their
work.

During the winter of 1834-35, a pious officer
of the array exercised a good inlluence on his
fellow oflicers and soldiers mider his command.
In the alisence of a chaplain of ordained minis-
ter, he, like General Ilavelock, of the British
army in India, was accustomed not only to drill
the soldiers, but to meet them in bis own i\\iv.\-
ters, and reason with them " of righteousness,
temperance, and judgment to come."

In the mouth of Jlay, 183.5, Dr. AVilliamson
and mission band arrived at Foil Suellim,'. and

108

IIXPLOBERS AKD PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

were hospitably received by the otfieers of the
garrison, the Indian Agent, and JNIr. Sibley, Agent
of the Company at Mendota, who had been in
the country a few months.

On the twenty-seventh of this month the Rev.
Dr. Williamson united in marriage at the Fort
Lieutenant Edward A. Ogden to Eliza Edna, the
daughter of Captain G. A. Loomis, the first
marriage service in which a clergyman officiated
in the present State of ^Minnesota.

On tlie eleventh of June a meeting was held
at the Fort to organize a Presbyterian Church,
sixteen persons who had been communicants,
and six who made a profession of faith, one of
whom was Lieutenant Ogden, were enrolled as
members.

Four elders were elected, among whom were
Capt. Gustavus Loomis and Samuel W. Pond.
The next day a lecture prejiaratory to administer-
ing the communion, was delivered, and on Smi-
day, the 1-tth, the first organized church in the
Valley of the Upper Mississippi asi^embled for
the first time in one of the Company rooms of the
Fort. The services in the morning were conducted
by Dr. AMlliamson. Tlie afternoon service com-
menced at 2 o'clock. The sermon of Mr. Stevens
was upon a most appropriate text, 1st Peter, ii:25 ;
" For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now
returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your
souls." After the discourse, the sacrament of the
Lord's supper was administered.

At a meeting of the Session on the thirty-first
of July, Rev. J. D. Stevens, missionary, was in-
vited to preach to the church, " so long as the
duties of his mission will permit, and also to pre-
side at all the meetings of the Session." Captain
Gustavus Loomis was elected Stated Clerk of the
Session, and they resolved to observe the monthly
concert of prayer on the first Monday of each
month, for the conversion of the world.

Two pohits were selected by the missionaries
as proper spheres of labor. Mr. Stevens and
family proceeded to Lake Harriet, and Dr. Wil-
liamson and family, in Jime, proceeded to Lac
qui Parle.

As there liad never been a chaplain at Fort
Snelling, the Rev. J. D. Stevens, the missionary
at Lake Harriet, preached on Sundays to the
Presbyterian chiu'cli, there, recently organizetl.

Writing on January twenty-seventh, 1836. he
says, in relation to his field of labor :

" Yesterday a portion of this band of Indians,
who had been some time absent from this village,
returned. One of the number (a woman) was
informed that a brother of hers had died during
her absence. He was not at this village, but
with another band, and the information had just
reached here. In the evening they set up a most
piteous crying, or rather wailing, w^hich con-
tinued, with some little cessations, during the
night. The sister of the deceased brotherwould
repeat, times Vv'ithout number, words which may
be thus translated into English : ' Come, my
brother, I shall see you no more for ever.' The
night was extremely cold, the thermometer
standing from ten to twenty below zero. About
sunrise, next morning, preparation was made for
performing the ceremony of cutting their flesh,
in order to give relief to their grief of mind.
The snow was removed from the frozen ground
over about as large a space as would be required
to place a small Indian lodge or wigwam. In the
centre a very small fire was kindled up, not to
give warmth, apparently, but to cause a smoke.
The sister of the deceased, who was the chief
mourner, came out of her lodge followed by
three other women, who repaired to the place
prepared. They were all barefooted, and nearly
naked. Here they set up a most bitter lamenta-
tion and crying, mingling their wailings with the
words before mentioned. The principal mourner
commenced gashing or ciitting her ankles and
legs up to the knees with a sharp stone, until her
legs were covered with gore and Jlowing blood ;
then in like manner her arms, shoulders, and
breast. The others cut themselves in the same
way, but not so severely. On this poor infatuated
woman I presume there were more than a hun-
dred long deep gashes in the flesh. I saw the
operation, and the blood instantly followed the
instrument, and flowed down upon the flesh. She
ayipeared frantic with grief. Through the pain
of her wounds, the loss of blood, exhaustion of
strength by fasting, loud and long-tontinue<l and
bitter groans, or the extreme cold upon her al-
most naked and lacerated body, she soon sunk
upon the frozen ground, shaking as with a violent
fit of the ague, and writhing in apparent agony.
'Surely,' I exclaimed, as I beheld the bloody

.1 ROMAy CATHOLIC Vy.ssiOA.I /.' )'.

ion

scene, 'the tender mercies of the heathen are
cnielty!'

'' The Uttle church at the fort beguis to mani-
fest something of a missionary spirit Their con-
tributions are considerable for so small a nmnlier.
I hope they will not only be willing to contrilnite
liberally of their substance, but will give them-
selves, at least some of them, to the missionary
work.

" The surgeon of the military post, IJr. Jarvis,
has been very assiduous in his attentions to us in
our sickness, and has very generousl\- made a do-
nation to our board of twenly-tive dollars, being
the amount of his medical services in our family.

" On the nineteenth instant we commenced a
school with six full Indian children, at least so in
all their habits, dress, etc.; not one could speak a
word of any language but Sioux. The school has
since increased to the number of twenty-five. I
am now collecting and arranging words for a dic-
tionary. Mr. Pond is assiduously employed in
preparing a small spelling-book, which we may
forward next mail for printing.

On the fifteenth of September, 1.S3G, a Presby-
terian church was organized at Lac-qui-Parle, a
branch of that in and near Fort Snelling, and
Joseph Renville, a mixed blood of great influ-
ence, became a communicant. He had been
trained in Canada by a Poman Catholic priest,
but claimed the right of private judgment. ]SIr.
Renville's wife was the first pure Dahkotah of
whom we have any record that ever joined the
Church of Christ. This church has never become
extinct, although its members have been neces-
sarily nomadic. After the treaty of Traverse des
Sioux, it was removed to Hazlewood. Driven
from thence by the outbreak of lS(i2, it has be-
came the p.irent of other churches, in the valley
of the upper Missouri, over one of which John
Renville, a descendant of the elder at Lac-qul-
Parle, is the pastor.

ROMAN CATHOLIC SnSSION ATTEMPTED.

Father Ravoux, recently from France, a sin-
cere and earnest priest of the Cluu'cli of Rome,
came to Mendota in the autumn of 1841, and
after a brief sojoiun with the Rev. L. Galtier,
who had erected Saint Paul's chapel, which has
given the name of Saint Paul to the capital of
Minnesota, he ascended the ^linnesota River
and visited Lac-qui-Parle.

IJisho]) Loras, of Dubuque, w rote the next year
of his visit as follows : " Our young missionary,
M. Ravoux, passed the winter on the banks of
Lac-qui-Parle, without any other sup])ort than
Providence, without any other means of eonver-
sion than a birming zeal, he has wrought in the
space of six months, a hayipy revolution among
the Sioux. From the time of his arrival he has
been occupied night and day in the study of their
language. * * * * * "When he mstnu'ts
the savages, he speaks to them with so much lire
widlst showing them a large copper crucifix wiiich
he carries on his breast, that he makes the strong-
est impression upon them."

The impression, however was evanescent, and
he .soon retired from the held, and no more efforts
were made in this direction by the Church of
Rome. This young Mr. Ravoux is now the highly
respected vicar of the Roman Catholic diocese of
JSIinnesota, and justly esteemed for his simpUcity
and iniobtrusiveness.

CIIII'PEW^VY MISSIONS AT I'OKEOITMA.

Pokegmna is one of the " Mille Lacs," or thou-
sand beautiful lakes for wiiich Minnesota is re-
markable. It is about four or five miles in extent ,
and a mile or more in width.

This lake is .situated on Snake River, about
twenty miles above the junction of that stream
with the St. Croix.

In the year 1836, missionaries came to reside
among the Ojibways and Pokeguma, to promote
their temporal and spiritual welfare. Their mis-
sion house was built on the east side of the lake ;
but the Indian village w^as on an island not far
from the .shore.

In a letter written in 1837, we find the fol-
lowing: "The young women and girls now
make, mend, wash, and iron after our man-
ner. The men have learned to build log houses,
drive team, plough, hoe, and handle an American
axe witii some skill m cutting large trees, the
size of wiiich, two years ago, would have afforded
them a sufficient reason wiiy they should not med-
dle with them."

In May, 1841, .leremiali Russell, who was In-
dian farmer, sent two Chippeways, accompanied
by Elam Greeley, of Stillwater, to the Falls of
Saint Croix foi- .supplies. On Saturday, the
fifteenth of the month they arrived there, and

ElXPLOllEliS AND PIONEEBS OF MINNESOTA.

the next day a steamboat came up with the
goods. The captam said a war party of Sioux,
headed by Little Crow, was advancing, and tlie
two Cliippeways prepared to go bacli and were
their friends.

They had hardly left the Falls, on their re-
turn, lief ore they saw a party of Dahkotahs. The
sentinel of the enemy had not noticed the ap-
proach of the young men. In the twinkling of
an eye, these two young Ojibways raised their
guns, fired, and killed two of Little Crow's sons.
The discharge of the guns revealed to a sentinel,
that an enemy was near, and as the Ojibways
were retreating, he fired, and mortally wounded
one of the two.

According to custom, the corpses of the chief's
sons were dressed, and then set np with their
faces towards the country of their ancient ene-
mies. The wounded Ojibway was liorribly
mangled by the uifuriated party, and his limbs
strewn about in every direction. His scalped
head was i)laced in a kettle, and suspended in
front of the two Dahkotah corpses.

Little Crow, disheartened by the loss of his two
boys, returned with his party to Kaposia. But
other parties were in the field.

It was not till Friday, tlie twentj'-flrst of May,
that the death of one of the young Ojibways
sent by Jlr. Kussell, to the Falls or Saint Croix,
was known at Pokeguma.

Mr. llusi-ell on the next Simday, accompanied
by Captain AVilliam Ilolconib and a half-breed,
went to tlie mission station to attend a religious
service, and while crossing the lake in returning,
the half-breed said that it ^mis rumored that the
• Sioux were approaching. On Monday, the twen-
ty-fourth, three young men left in a canoe to go
to the west shore of the lake, and from thence to
Mille Lacs, to give intelligence to the Ojibways
there, of the skirmish that had already occurred.
They took witli them two Indian girls, about
twelve years of age, who were pupils of the mis-
sion school, for the purpose of bringing the canoe
back to the island. Just as the three were land-
ing, twenty or thirty Dahkotah warriors, with a
war whoop emerged from their concealment be-
hind the trees, and fired into the canoe. The
young men instantly spranginto the water, which

was shallow, returned the fire, and ran into the
woods, escapuig without material injury.

The little girls, in their fright, waded into the
lake ; but were pursued. Their parents upon
the island, heard the death cries of their children.
Some of the Indians around the mission-house
jumped into their canoes and gained the island.
Others went into some f(n-tified log huts. The
attack upon the canoe, it was afterwards learned,
was premature. The party upon that side of the
lake were ordered not to fire, imtil the party
stationed in the Avoods near the mission began.

There were in all one hundred and eleven
Dahkotah warriors, and all the fight was in the
vicinity of the mission-house, and the Ojibways
mostly engaged in it were those who had been
under religious instruction. The rest were upon
the island.

The fathers of the murdered girls, burning for
revenge, left the island in a canoe, and drawing
it up on the !;hore, hid behind it, and fired upon
the Dahkotahs and killed one. The Dahkotahs
advancing upon them, they were obliged to
escape. The canoe was now launched. One lay
on his back in the bottom ; the other plunged
into the water, and, holding the canoe with one
hand, and swimming with the other, he towed
his friend out of danger. The Dahkotahs, in-
furiated at their escape, fired volley after volley
at the swimmer, but he escaped the balls by
putting his head luider water whenever he saw
them take aim, and waiting till he heard the
discharge, he woidd then look up and breathe.

After a fight of two hcmrs, the Dahkotahs re-
treated, with a loss of two men. At the request
of the parents, Jlr. E. F. Ely, from whose
notes the writer has obtained these facts, be-
ing at that time a teacher at the mission,
went across the lake, with two of his friends, to
gather the remains of his murdered pupils. He
foiuid the corpses on the shore. The heads cut
off and scalped, with a tomahawk buried in the
brains of each, were set up in the sand near the
bodies. The bodies were pierced in the lireast,
and the right arm of one was taken a\\'ay. Re-
moving the tomahawks, the bodies were brought
back to the island, and ui the afteoioon were
buried in accordance with the simple but solemn
rites of the Chm'ch of Christ, by members of the
mission.

SIOUX MISSIONARIES BEFOBE TEE TBEATLKS.

Ill

The sequel to this story is soou told. The In-
dians of I'okeguma, after the light, deserted their
village, and went to reside with their couutrymen
near Lake Superior.

In July of the following year, 1842. a war party
n'as formed at Fond dii Lac, al)iint lorty in ninu-
ber, and proceeded towards the Dalikotah country.
Sneaking, as none but Indians can, they arrived
unnoticed at the little settlement below Saint
Paul, commonly called "Pig's Eye," which is
opposite to what Tvas Kaposia, or Little Crow's
village. Finding an Indian woman at work in
the garden of her husband, a Canadian, by the
name of Gamelle, they killed lier; also another
woman, with her infant, whose head was oit off.
The Dahkotahs, on the opposite side, were mostly
intoxicated ; and, living across in their canoes but
half prepared, they were worsted in the en-
counter. They lost thu-teen warriors, and one of
their number, knowii as the Dancer, the Ojib-
ways are said to have skinneil.

Soon after this the Chippeway missions of the
St. CroLx Valley were abandoned.

In a little while Rev. Mr. Bontwell removed to
the vicinity of Stillwater, and the missionaries,
Ayer and Spencer, went to Red Lake and other
points in Minnesota.

In 1853 the Rev. Sherman Hall left the Indians
and became pastor of a Congregational chiuch at
Sauk Eapids, where he recently died.

METHODIST MISSIONS.

la 1S37 the Rev. A. Bnmson commenced a
Methodist mission at Kaposia, about four miles
below, and opposite Samt Paul. It was afterwards
removed across the river to Red Rock. He was
assisted by the Rev. Thomas W. Pope, aud the
latter was succeeded by the Rev. J. Holton.

Tlie Rev. Mr. Spates and others also labored
for a brief period among the Ojibways.

PEESBTTERIAN MISSIONS CONTINTTED.

At the stations the Dahkotah language was dil-
igently studied. Rev. S. W. I'ond had prepared
a dictionary of three thousand words, and also a
small grammar. The Rev. S. R. Riggs, who
joined the mission m 1837, in a letter dated
February 24, 1841, wiites : "Last summer^
after returning from Fort SneUiiig. I spent live
weeks in copying again the Sioux vocabulary
which we had collected and arranged at this sta-

tion. It contamed then about 5500 words, not
inclmling the various forms of the verbs. Since
that time, the words collected by Dr. Williamson
and myself, have, I presume, increasci! the num-
ber to sis thousand. ***** In this con-
nection, I m.ay mention thatdiuing the winter of
1839-40, Mrs. Riggs, with some assistance, wrote
an English aud Sioux vocabulary containing
about three thousand words. One ol .Mr. Ren-
ville's .sons and three of his daughters are en-
gaged in copying. In committing the grammati-
cal principles of the language to WTiting, we have
done something at this station, but more has been
done by Mr. S. W. Pond."

Steadily the numl)er of Indian missionaries
increased, and in 1851, before the lands of the
Dahkotahs west of the Mississippi were ceded to
the whites, they were disposed as follows by the
Dahkotah Presbytery.

Lac-qui-parle, Rev. S. R. Riggs, Rev. M. N.
Adams, Missionaries, Jonas Pcttijohn, Mrs.
Fanny Pettijohn, Jlrs. JNIary Ann Riggs, Mrs.
]Mary A. M. Adams, Miss Sarah Rankin. As-
sisldnts.

Tirtrerse des Sioitx, Rev. Robert Hopkins, Mis-
sioniiry; Mrs. Agnes Hopkins, Alexander G.
Hoggins, Mrs. Lydia P. lliiggins. Assistants.

Shakpfiii, or Sholpay, Rev. Samuel ^^'. I'ond,
Missionary; JNIrs. Sarah P. Pond, Assistant.

Oak Grove, Rev. Gideon II. Pond and wife.

Kaposia, Rev. Thomas AVilliamson, M. D.,
3Iissionary and Physician ; Mrs. Margaret P.
Williamson, Miss Jane S. "WilUamson, Assistants.

Bed Winy, Rev. John F. Alton, Rev. Joseph
W. Hancock, Missionaries; Mrs. Nancy II. Alton,
jMrs. Hancock, Assistants.

The Rev. Daniel Gavin, the Swiss Presbyte-
rian Missionary, spent the winter of 1839 in Lac-
qui-Parle and was afterwards married to a niece
of the Rev. J. D. Stevens, of the Lake Harriet
Mission. ]Mr. Stevens became the farmer and
teacher of the Wapashaw baud, and the first
white man who lived where the city of Winona
has been built. Another missionary from Switz-
erland, the Rev. Mr. Denton, married a iliss
Skinner, formerly of the Mackinaw mission.
During a portion of the year 1839 these Swiss
missionaries lived with the American mission-
aries at camp Cold "Water near Fort SnelUug,
but their chief field of labor was at Red Wing.

11:3

EXPLOBERIS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA..

CIIAPTEB, XX.

TREAD OF PIONEERS IN THE SAINT CROIX VALLEY AND ELSEWHERE.

Origin of the name Saint Croix— Dii Lnth, first Explorer — Fri'ncli I'ost on the St.
Croix — Pitt, an early pioneer — Early settlers at Saint Croix Falls — First women
there — Marine Settlement — Joseph R. Brown's town site — Saint Croix County
organized— Pinprieturs of Stillwater — A dead Negro woman — Pig's Eye, origin
of name — Rise of Saint Paul — Pr. Williamson secures first school teacher for
Saint Paul — Description of first school room — Saint Croix County reK}rganized
— Rev. W. T. lioutwell, pioneer clergyman.

The Saint Croix river, acconliiig to Le Sueur,
named after a Prencliman who was drowned at
its mouth, was one of tlie earliest througlifares
from Lake Superior to tlie Mississippi. The first
white man who directed canoes upon its waters
was Du Luth, wlio had in 1()79 explored ilinue-
sota. He thus describes liis tour in a letter, first
pnblislied by Harrisse : " In June^ 1680, not be-
ing satisfied, with having made my discovery by
land, I took two canoes, with an Indian wlio was
my interiireter, and four Frenchmen, to seek
means to make it by water. With tliis view I
entered a river which empties eight leagues from
the extremity of Lake Superior, on the south
side, where, after having cut some trees and
broken about a hundred beaver dams, I reached
the upper waters of the said river, rind then I
made a portage of half a league to reach a lake,
tho outlet which fell into a very fine river,
which took i. e down into the Mississippi. There
I learned from eight cabins of Nadouecioux that
the Hev. Father Louis Henne]iin, Itecollect, now
at the convent of Saint (iermain, with two oUier
Frenchmen had been robbed, and carried oil as
slaves for more than three hundred leagues by
the Nadouecioux themselves."

He then relates how h^ left two Frenchmen
with his goods, and went with his interpreter and
two Frenchmen in a canoe down the Mississiiipi,
and after two days and two nights, found ncniie-
pin, Accault and Augelle. He told Hennepin
that he must return with him through the country
of the Fox tribe, and writes : " I preferred to re-
trace my stejis, manifesting to them [the Sioux]
tlio just indignation I felt agfiinst them, rather
than to remain after the violence tliey had done

to the Rev. Father and tlie other two Frenchmen
with liim, whom 1 put in my canoes and brought
them to Michilimackinack."

After this, the Saint Croix river became a chan
nel for commerce, and Bellin writes, that before
1755, the French had erected a fort forty leagues
from its mouth and twenty from Lake Superior.

The pine forests between the Saint Croix and
Minnesota had been for several years a tempta-
tion to energetic men. As early as November,
1836, a Mr. Pitt went with a boat and a party of
men to the Falls of Saint Croix to cut pine tim-
ber, with the consent of the Chippeways bvit the
dissent of the United States authorities.

In 1837 while the treaty was being made by Com-
missioners Dodge and Smith at Fort Snelling, on
one Sunday Franklin Steele, Dr. Fitch, .Jeremiah
Russell, and a Mr. Maginnis left Fort Snelling
for the Falls of Saint Croix in a birch bark canoe
paddled by eight men, and re.iched that point
about noon on Monday and corijnienced a log
cabin. Steele and Maginnis remained here,
while the others, dividing into two parties, one
luider Fitcli. and the other under Russell, search-
ed for pine land. The first stopped at Sun Rise,
while Russel went on to the Snake River. About
the same time Robbinet and Jesse B. Taylor
came to the Falls in the mterest of B. F. Baker
who had a stone trading house near Fort Snelling,
since destroyed by fire. On the fifteenth of July,
1S38, the Palmyra, Capt. Holland, arrived at
the Fort, with the oflicial notice of the ratifica-
tion of the treaties ceding the Lands between the
Saint Croix and Mississippi.

She had on board C. A. Tuttle, L. W. Stratton
and others, with the machinery for the projected
mills of the Northwest Lumber Compciny at the
Falls of Saint Croix, and reached thcit point on
the se\'entpeiith, the first steamVioat to disturb the
waters aliove Lake Saint Croix. The steamer
Gypsy came to the fort on the twenty-first of

WOMHN IN THE VALLEY OF THE HAIMT VltOlX.

113

October, with goods for the Chippeways, and was
chai-tered for foui' lumdred and fifty dollars, to
carry them up to the Falls of Saint CroLx. In
passing through the lake, the boat grounded near
a projected to^\■n called Stambaughville, after S.
C. Stambaugh, the sutler at the fort. On the
afternoon of the 26th, the goods were landed, as
stipulated.

The agent of the Improvement Company at the
falls was Washington Libbey, who left in the fall
of IS.SS, and was succeeded by Jeremiah Eussell,
Stratton acting as millwright in place of Calvin
Tuttle. On the twelfth of December, Kussell and
Stratton walked down the river, ciit the first tree
and built a cabin at Marine, and sold their claim.

The first women at the Falls of Saint Croix were
a Mrs. Orr, Mrs. Sackett, and the daughter of a
Mr. Young. During the winter of lSoS-0, Jere-
miah Russell married a daughter of a respectable
and gentlemanly trader, Charles H. Oakes.

Among the first preachers were the Eev. W. T.
Boutwell and Mr. Seymour, of the Chippeway
Mission at Pokeguma. The Rev. A. Bnuison, of
Prairie du Cliien, who visited this region in 1838,
wrote that at the mouth of Snake River he found
Franklin Steele, with twenty-five or thirty men,
cutting timber for a mill, and when lie offered to
preach Mr. Steele gave a cordial assent.

On the sixteenth of August, JNIr. Steele, Living-
ston, and others, left the Falls of Saint Croix in a
barge, and went around to Fort Snelling.

The steamboat Fayette about the middle of
May, 1839, lauded sutlers' stores at Fort Snell-
ing and then proceeded with several persons of
intelligence to the Saint Croix river, who s tiled
at Marine.

The place was called after Marine in Madison
county, Illinois, where the company, consisting
of Judd, Hone and others, was formed to build
A saw mill in the Saint Croix Valley. The mOl
at Marine commenced to saw lumber, on August
24, 1839, the first in Minnesota.

Joseph E. Brown, who since 1838, had lived at
Chan AVakan, on the west side of Grey Cloud
Island, this year made a claim near the upper
end of the city of Stillwater, which he called
Dahkotah, and was the first to raft lumber down
the Sauit Croix, as well as the first to represent
the citizens of the valley in the legislature of
Wisconsin.

Until the year 1841, the jurisdiction of Craw-
ford county, Wisconsin, extended over the delta
of country between the Saint Croix iind jMissis-
sippi. Joseph R. BrowTi having been elected as
representative of the county, in the territorial
legislature of Wisconsin, succeeded in obtaining
tlie passage of an act on November twentieth,
1841, organizing the county of Saint Croix, with
Dahkotah designated as the county seat.

At the time V)rescnl)ed for holding a court in
the new county, it is said that the judge of the
district arrived, and to his surprise, found a
claim cabin occupied by a Frenchman. Speedily
retreating, lie never came again, and judicial
proceedings for Saint Croix county ended for
several years. Pliineas Lawrence was the first
sheriff of this county.

On the tenth of October, 1S43. was commenced
a settlement which has become the town of Still-
water. The names of the iiroiiri^tors were John
McKusick from Maine, Calvin Leach from Ver-
mont, Elam Greeley from Maine, and Elias
McKean from Pennsylvania. Tliey immediately
commenced the erection of a sawmill.

John II. Fonda, elected on the twenty-second
of September, as coroner of Crawford county,
Wisconsin, asserts that he was once notified that
a dead body was lying in the water opposite Pig's
Eye slough, and immediately proceeded to the
spot, and on taking it out, recognized it as the
body of a negro woman belonging to a certain
captain of the United States army tlien at. Fort
Crafli'ord. The body was cruelly cut and bruised,
but no one appearing to recognise it, a verdict of
" Foimd dead," was rendered, and the corpse was
buried. Soon after, it came to light that the
woman was wliiiiped to death, and thrown into
the river during the night.

The year that the Dahkotahs ceded their lands
east of the ^Mississippi, a Canadian Frenchman
by the name of Parraut, the ideal of an Indian
whisky seller, erected a shanty in what is now
the city of Saint Paul. Ignorant and overbear-
ing he loved money more than his own soul.
Destitute of one eye, and the other resembling
that of a pig, he was a good representative of
Caliban. Some one writing from his groggery
designated it as " Pig's Eye." The reply to the
letter was directed in good faith to "Pig's Eye"

114

EXPLOBERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

Some years ago the editor of the Saint Paul
Press described the occasion in these words :

" Edmiuid Brisette, a clerldy Frenchman for
tliose days, who lives, or did live a little while
ago, on Lake Harriet, was one day seated at a
table in Parrant's cabin, with pen and paper
abont to write a letter for Parrant (for Parrant,
like Charlemagre, could not write) to a friend
of the latter in Canada. The question of geog-
raphy puzzled Brissette at the outset of the
epistle ; wliere should he date a letter from a
place without a name ? He looked up inquir-
ingly to Parrant, and met the dead, cold glare of
the Pig's Eye fixed upon htui, with an irresist-
ible suggestiveness that was inspiration to
Brisette."

In 1842, the late Henry Jackson, of Mahkahto,
settled at the same spot, and erected the first
store on the height just above the lower landing,
Eoberts and Simpson followed, and opened
small Indian titiding shops. In 1846, the site of
Saint Paul was chiefly occupied by a few shanties
owned by " certain lewd fellows of the baser
sort," who sold rum to the soldier and Indian.
It was despised Viy all decent white men, and
linown to the Dahkotahs by an expression in
their tongue which means, the place where they
sell minne-wakan [supernatural water].

The chief of t!ie Kaposiaband in 1846, was shot
by his own brother in a drunken revel, but sur-
viving the woimd, and apparently al.armed at the
deterioration under the influence of the modern
harpies at Saint Paul, went to Mr. Bruce, Indian
Agent, at Fort Snelling, and requested a mis-
sionary. The Indian Agent in his report to gov-
ernment, says :

" The chief of the Little Crow's band, who re-
sides below this place (Fort Snelling) about nine
miles, in the immediate neighbourhood of the
whiskey dealers, has requested to have a school
established at his village. He says they are de-
termined to reform, and for the future, will try
to do better. I wrote to Doctor WilUamson soon
after the request was made, desiring him to take
charge of the school. He has had charge of the
mission school at Lac qui Parle for some years;
is well qualified, and is an excellent physician."

In November, 1846, Dr. Williamson came from
Lac qui Parle, as requested, and became a resi-
dent of Kaposia. While disapproving of their

practices, he felt a kindly interest in the whites
of Pig's Eye, which place was now beginning to
be called, after a little log chapel which had been
erected at the suggestion of Rev. L. Galtier, and
called Saint Paul's. Though a missionary among
the Dahkotahs, he was the first to take steps to
promote the education of the whites and half-
breeds of Minnesota. In the year 1847, he wrote
to ex-Governor Slade, President of the National
Popular Education Society, in relation to the
condition of what has subsequently become the
capital of the state.

In accordance with his request. Miss H. E.
Bishop came to his mission-house at Kaposia,
and, after a short time, was introduced by him
to the citizens of Saint Paul. The first school-
house in Minnesota besides those connected with
the Indian missions, stood near the site of the
old Brick Presliyterian church, corner of Sauit
Peter and Third street, and is thus described by
the teacher :

•' The school was commenced in a little log
hovel, covered with bark, and chinked with mud,
previously used as a blacksmith shop. On three
sides of the interior of this humble log cabin,
pegs were driven into the logs, upon which boards
were laid for seats. Another seat was made by
placing one end of a plank between the cracks
of the logs, and the other upon a chair. This
was for visitors. A rickety cross-legged table in
the centre, and a hen's nest in one corner, com-
pleted the furniture."

Saint Croix comity, in the year 1847, was de-
tached from Crawford coimly, Wisconsin, and
reorganized for judicial purposes, and Stillwater
made the county seat. In the month of June
the United States District Court held its session
in the store-room of ilr. John McKusick ; Judge
Charles Dnmi presiding. A large number of
lumbermen had been attracted by the pineries
in the upper portion of the valley of Saint Croix,
and Stillwater was looked upon as the center of
the lumbering interest.

Tlie Rev. Mr. Boutwell, feeling that he could
be more useful, left the Ojibways, and took up
his residence near Stillwater, preaching to the
lumbermen at the Falls of Saint Croix, Marine
Mills, Stillwater, and Cottage Grove. In a letter
spealdng of Stillwater, he says, " Here is a little
village sprung up like a gourd, but whether it is
to perish as soon, God only knows."

NA3IES FIlOPOfiEl) FOR MINNESOTA TERRITORY.

11.5

CHAPTER XXI.

EVENTS PRELIMINARY TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE 3I1N.NKS0TA TERRITORY,

ffliconsin State Bouml;iries— First Bill for ttie Ori;;iiiization of Minnesota T.rri-
tory, A. D. 1840 — Chaiise of Wisconsin Bouiulaiy — Memorial of Saint Croix
Valley citizens — Various names proposed for the New Territory — Convention at

Stillwater— H. H. Sibley electeil Delegate to Congress— n.>riv;i ,,r word

Minnesota.

Three years elapsed from the time that the
territory of Minnesota was proposed iu Congress,
to the final passage of the organic act. On the
sixth of August, 1846, an act was passed by Con-
gress authorizing the citizens of Wisconsin Ter-
ritory to frame a constitution and form a state
government. The act fixed the Saint Louis river
to the rapids, from thence south to the Samt
Croix, and thence down that river to its junction
with the Mississippi, as the western boundary.

On the twenty - tliird of Decembei', 1846, the
delegate from Wisconsin. Morgan L. Martin, in-
troduced a bill in Congress for the organization
of a territory of Muuiesota. This bill made its
western boundary the Sioux and Eed Eiver of
the North. On the third of March, 1847, per-
mission was granted to Wisconsm to change her
boimdary, so that the western limit would pro-
ceed due south from the first rapids of the Saint
Louis river, and fifteen miles east of the most
easterly point of Lake Saint Croix, thence to the
Mississippi.

A number in the constitutional convention of
Wisconsin, were anxious that Rum river should
be a part of her western boundary, while citizens
of the valley of the Saint Croix were desirous
that the Chippeway river should be the limit of
Wisconsin. The citizens of Wisconsin Territory,
hi the valley of the Samt Croix, and about Fort
Snelling, wished to be included in the projected
new territory, and on the twenty-eighth of March,
1848, a memorial signed by H. H. Sibley, Henry
M. Rice, Franklin Steele, WilUam R. Marshall,
and others, was presented to Congress, remon-
strating against the proposition before the con-
vention to make Rum river a part of the bound-
ary line of the contemplated state of Wisconsin.

On tlie twenty-ninth of May, 1<S48, thi3 act to
admit Wisconsin changed the boiuuhiry line to
the present, and as first defined in the enabling
act of 1846. After the bill of Mr. Martin was
introduced into the House of Representatives iu
1846 it was referred to the Committee on Terri-
tories, of which JNIr. Douglas was chairman. On
the twentieth of January, 1847, he reported iu
favor of the proposed territory with the name
of Itasca. On the seventeenth of February, be-
fore the bill passed the House, a discussion arose
in relation to the proposed name. Mr. Win-
throp of Massachusetts proposed Chippewa as a
substitute, alleging that this tribe was the prui-
cipal in the proposed territory, which was not
correct. Mr. J. Thompson of Mississippi disliked
all Indian names, and hoped the tenitory would
be called Jackson. Mr. Houston of Delaware
thought that there ought to be one territory
named after the •■ Father of Ids country," and
proposed Washington. All of the names pro-
posed were rejected, and the name in the origmal
bill inserted. On the last day of the session,
Jlarch third, the bill was called up in the Senate
and laid on the table.

When Wisconsin became a state the query
arose whether the old territorial government did
not continue in force west of the Saint Croix
river. The first meeting on the subject of claim-
ing territorial privileges was held in the building
at Saint Paul, known as Jackson's store, near the
corner of Bench and Jackson streets, on the
l)luff. This meeting was held in July, and a
convention was proposed to consider their posi-
tion. The first public meeting w-as held at Still-
water on August fourth, and Jilessrs. Steele and
Bibley were the only persons present from the
west side of the Mississippi. This meeting is-
sued a call foi a general convention to take steps
to secure an early territorial organization, to
assemble on the twenty-sixth of the month at

IK)

EXPLORMBS AKl) PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

the same place. Sixty-two delegates answered
the call, and among those present, were W. D.
Phillips, J. W. Bass, A. Laipenteur, J. M. Boal,
and others from Saint Paul. To the convention
a letter was presented from Mr C'atlin, who
claimed to be acting governor, giving his opinion
that tlie '\\'!seonsin territorial organization was
still in force. Tlie meeting also appointed Mr.
Sibley to visit Washington and represent their
views ; but the Hon. John H. Tweedy having
resigned his office of delegate to Congress on
September eighteenth-, 1848, Mr. Catlin, who had
made Stillwater a temporary residence, on the
ninth of October issued a proclamation ordering
a special election at Stillwater on the thirtieth,
to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation.
At this election Henry II. Sibley was elected as
delegate of the citizens of the remaining portion
of Wisconsin Territory. His credentials were
presented to the House of Representatives, and
the committee to whom the matter was referred
presented a majority and minority report; but
the resolution inti-oduced by the majority passed
and Mr. Sibley took his seat as a delegate from
-Wisconsin Tei'ritory on the hfteenth of January,
184i).

iMr. II. M. Rice, and other gentlemen, visited
Washington during tlie winter, and, uniting with
Mr. Sibley, used all their energies to obtain the
organization of a new territory.

Mr. Sibley, in an interesting commmiication to
the Miimesota 1 1 istorical Society, wi-ites : " Wheii
my credentials as Delegate, were presented by
Hon. James Wilson, of New Ilampshii'e, to the

House of Representatives, there was some curi-
osity manifested among the members, to see what
kind of a person had been elected to represent the
distant and wild territory claiming representation
in Congress. I was told by a New England mem-
ber with whom I became subsequently quite inti-
mate, that there was some disappointment when
I made my appearance, for it was expected that
the delegate from this remote region woidd make
liis debut, if not in full Indian costume, at least,
with some peculiarities of dress and manners,
characteristic of the rude and semi-civiUzed peo-
ple who had sent him to the Capitol."

The territory of JliuHiesota was named after
the largest tributary of the Mississippi within its
limits. The Sioux call the Missouri Minnesho-
shay, muddy water, l)ut the stream after which
this region is named, Minne-sota. Some say that
Sota means clear ; others, turbid ; Schoolcraft,
l.)luish green. Nicollet wrote. " The adjective
Sotah is of diflicidt translation. The Canadians
translated it by a pretty equivalent word, brouille,
perhaps more properly rendered into English by
blear. I have entered upon this explanation be
cause the word really means neither clear nor
turbid, as some authors have asserted, its true
meaning being found in the Sioux e^.pression
Ishtali-sotah, blear-eyed." From the fact that the
word signifies neither blue nor white, but the
peculiar appearance of the sky at certain times,
by some, jMiunesota has been defined to mean the
sky tinted water, which is certainly poetic, and the
late Eev. Gideon II. Pond thought quite correct.

Miy?:SSOTA liX tile UEGINyiNG.

117

CHAPTER XXII.

SmraESOTA FROM ITS OltCiAXrZATK.X AS A TERRITORY, A. D. 1S40, TO A. D. 1854.

Appearance of the Country, A. D. lS-19 — Avrivul of liist liiUtor — (iovernur
Ramsey arrives — Gufst nf H. H. Sibli-y -- Proclamation issued — Governor
Ramsey and H. M, Bice move to Saint Paul — Fourth of July Cel«?hr.it ion —
First election — Early Bowspapers — First Courts— First Legislature — Pioneer
News CaiTicr"s Addi-ess— Wedding at Fort Snellini,'— Tcrritori;il Seal— Sc;ilp
Dance at Stillwatrr— First Stcamlioat at Falls of Saint Anthony— Pr05l.yti.-nan
Chapel burned — Indian count-il .it Fort Snetling — First Steainlioat above Saint
Anthony — First boat at the Blue Earth River— Congressional election — Visit.of
Fredrika Bremer — Indian newspaper — Otlusr newspapers — Second Legislature
— ^University of Minnesota — Teamster killed by Indians — Sioux Treaties — Third
Legislature— Land slide at Stillwat'^r — Death of first Editor— Fourth Legislature
Baldwin School, now Mat^alester College — Indian fislit in Saint Paul.

On the third of March, 1S40, the bill was passed
by Congress for orgciniziiis,' the teri'itory of
Mmnesota, whose bonudary on the west, extended
to the Jlissoiiri River. At this time, the region was
little more than a wilderness. Tire west bank of
the jMississippi, from the Iowa line to Lake
Itasca, was iniceded by the Indians.

At A\^apasliaw, was a trading post in charge of
Alexis liailly, and here also resided the ancient
voyageur, of fonrscore years, A. Rocqne.

At the foot of Lake Pepin was a store honse
kept by JNtr. F. S. Richards. On the west shore of
the lake lived the eccentric Wells, whose wife
was a bois brule, a daughter of the deceased
trader, Duncan Graham.

Tlie two imfiiiished buildings of stone, on
the beautifid bank opposite the renowned
Maiden's Rock, and tlie siuTounding skin lodges
of his wife's relatives and friends, presented a
nide but pictiu-esque scene. Above the lake was
a cluster of bark wigwams, the Dahkotah village
of Raymneeclia, now Red Wing, at wliich was a
Presbyterian mission house.

Tlie next settlement was Kaposia, also an In-
dian village, and the residence of a Presl)yteriau
missionary, the Rev. T. S, Williamson, M. D.
On the east side of the ilississippi, the first set-
tlement, at the mouth of the St. Croix, was Point
Douglas, then as now, a small hamlet.

At Red Rock, the site of a former Methodist
mission station, there were a few farmers. Saint
Paul was just emerging from a collection of In-
dian whisky shops and bircli roofed cabins of

half-breed voyageurs. Here and tliere a frame
tenement was erected, and, under the auspices of
the Hon. II. M. Rice, who had obtained an inter-
est in the towii, some ^^■arf■honses were con-
structed, and the foundations of the American
House, a frame hold, which stood at Third and
Exchange street, were laid. In 1849, the jiopu-
latiou had increased to two hundred and lifty
or three hundred inhabitants, for rumors had
gone abroad that it might be mentioned in the
act, creating the territory, as tlie capital
of ^Minnesota. ]More than a month after
the adjoununent of Congress, just at eve,
on the ninth of ^\pril, amid territic peals of
thunder and torrents of rain, the weekly steam
packet, the first to force its way through the icy
barrier of Lake Pepin, rounded the rocky point
whistling k)ud and long, as if the bearer of glad
tidings. Refore siie was safely moored to the
landing, the shouts of the excited villagers were
lieard announcing that there was a territory of
:Miuiiesota, and that Saint Paul \\as the seat of
government.

Every successive steamboat arrival poured out
on the landing men big with hope, and anxious
to do something to mould the future of the new
stale.

Nine days after the news of the existence of the
territory of Mimiesota was received, there arrived
James M. Goodhue with press, type, and printing
apparatus. A grachiate of Amherst college, and
a lawyer by profession, he wielded a sharp pen
and wrote ecUtorials, which, more than anything
else, perhaps, induced immigration. Though a
man of some faults, one of the counties properly
bears his name. On the twenty-eighth of April,
he issued from his press the first number of the
Pioneer.

On the twenty - seventh of ^lay, Alexander
Ramsey, the CJovernor, anil family, arrived at
Saint Paul, butowing to thecrowdcd state of pub-

118

JSXPLCItEBS AND PICNiSJiliS OF MlNIS'Es'O'i-A.

lie houses, immediately proceeded in the steamer
to the estahlislimeiit of the Fiir Company, known
as Ivleudotii, at the junction of the ]\Iinuesota and
ilississippi, and became the guest of the Hon. H.
H. Sibley.

On the first of June, Governor Ramsey, by pro-
clamation, declared the territory duly organized,
Willi the follo\Ying officers: Alexander llamsey,
of Pennsylvania, Governor ; C. K. Smith, of Ohio,
Secretary ; A. Goodrich, of Tennessee, Cliief
Justice ; D. Cooper, of Pennsylvania, and J>. B.
Meeker, of Kentucky, Associate Judges; Joshua
L. Taylor, Marshal ; II. L. iloss, attorney of the
United States.

On the eleventh of June, a second proclama-
tion was issued, dividing the territory into three
temporary judicial districts. The first comprised
the county of St. Croix ; tlie county of La Pointe
and the region north and west of tlie Mississippi,
and north of the Mimiesota and of a line runnmg
due west from the headwaters of the Minnesota
to the Missouri river, constituted the second ;
and the country west of tlie Mississippi and south
of the Mmnesota, formed the third district.
Judge Goodrich was assigned to the first. Meeker
to the second, and Cooper to the third. A court
was ordered to beheld at Stillwater on the second
Monday, at the Falls of St. Anthony on the third,
and at Mendota on the fourth Monday of August.

Until the twenty -sixth of June, Governor
Ramsey and family had been guests of Hon. H.
II. Sibley, at Mendota. On the afternoon of
that day they arrived at St. Paul, in a birch-bark
canoe, and became permanent residents at the
capital. The house first occupied as a guber-
natorial mansion, was a small frame building tliat
stood on Tliird, between Robert and Jackson
streets, formerly kno\«i as the New England
House.

A few days after, the Hon. H. M. Rice and
family moved from Mendota to St. Paid, and oc-
cupied the house he had erected on St. Anthony
street, near the corner of ^larket.

On the first of July, a land office was estab-
hshed at Stillwater, and A. "\^an Vorhes, after a
few weeks, became the register.

The anniversary of oiir .National Indepenaence
was celebrated in a becoming manner at the cap-
ital. The place selected for the address, was a
grove that stood on the sites of the City Hall and

the Baldwm School buildmg, and the late Frank-
lin Steele was the marshal of the day.

On the seventh of Jrdy, a proclamation was is-
sued, dividing the territory into seven council
districts, and ordering an election to be held on
the first day of August, for one delegate to rep-
resent the people in the House of Representatives ■
of the United States, for nine councillors and
eighteen representatives, to constitute the Legis-
lative Assembly of Minnesota.

In this month, the Hon. II. M. Rice despatch-
ed a boat laded with Indian goods from the
the Falls of St. Anthony to Crow Wing, which
was towed by horses after the maimer of a canal
boat.

The election on the first of August, passed off
with Uttle excitement, lion. H, II. Sibley bemg
elected delegate to Congress without opposition.
David Lambert, on what might, perhaps, be
termed the old settlers' ticket, was defeated in
St. Paul, by James M. Boal. The latter, on the
night of the election, was honored with a ride
through to^^^l on the axle and fore-wheels of an
old wagon, which was drawn by his admiring
but somewhat undisciplined friends.

J. L. Taylor ha\'ing declined the office of
United States Marshal; A. il. :Mitchell, of Ohio,
a giaduate of West Pouit, and colonel of a regi-
ment of Ohio volunteers in the Mexican war, was
appomted and arrived at the capital early in
August.

There were three papers published in the ter-
ritory soon after its organization. The first was
the Pioneer, issued on April twenty-eighth, 1S49,
imder most discouraging circumstances. It Vi'as
at first tlie intention of the ^rttty and reckless
editor to have called his paper " The Epistle of
St. Paul." About the same time there was issued
in Cuicinnati, under the auspices of the late Dr.
A. Randall, of California, the first number of
the Register. The second number of the paper
was printed at St. Paul, in .July, and the office
was on St. Anthony, between AV^ashington and
Market Streets, About the first of June, James
Hughes, afterward of Hudson, Wisconsin, arrived
with a press and materials, and established the
Minnesota Chronicle. After an existence of s.
few weeks two papers were discontinued ; and,
iu their place, was issued the " Chronicle and

DESCIilPTIOX OF THE TEMPORARY c

rio;^istcr," edited by Nathaiel McLean and Jotiii
W Owens.

The lirst conrls, pursuant to proclamation of,
tbe governor, were held In the month of August.
At Slilhvater, the co\irt was organized ou the
thirteentli of the month, Judge Goodrich pre-
siding, and Judge Cooper by coui-tesy, sitting on
the bench. On tlie twentieth-, t!vc second judi-
ciiil district hehl a court. The room useil was
the old govenmient mill at JMinneapolis. The
presiding judge was B. M. Meeker; the foreman
of the grand jiu-y, Franklin Steele. On the hist
Monday t>f the montli, tlie court for the third
judicial district was organized in the large stone
v."arehouse of the fur company at ilendota. The
presiding judge was David Cooper. Governor
Ramsey sat on tlie right, and Judge Goodrich on
tiie left. Hon. II. II. Sibley was the foreman of
the grand jury. As some of the jurors could not
speak the English language, W. H. Forbes acted
as interpreter. The cliarge of Judge Cooper was
lucid, scho'arly, and dignified. At the request
of the grand jury it was afterwards publislied.

On ^londay, the thii'd of September, the first
Legisl^itive Assembly convened m the " Central
House,'"in Saint Paul, a building at the corner
of ilinnesota and Bench streets, facing the
Mississippi river which answered the double
purpose of eapitol and hotel. On the first
floor of the main building was the Secreta-
ry's office and Tlepresentative eliamber, and in
the second story was the library and Council
chamber. As the flag was rui\ up the staff in
fi'ont of tlie house, a number of Indians sat on a
rocky bluff in the vicinity, and gazed at what to
them was a novel and perhaps saddenuig scene ;
for if the tide of immigration sweeps in fi-om t!ie
Pacific as it has from the Atlantic coast, they
must soon dwindle.

The legislature having organized, elected the
follo-niug permanent ofiicers: Da^id Olmsted,
President of Council ; Joseph K. Brown, Secre-
ary ; II. A. Lambert, Assistant. In the House
of Kepresentatives, Joseph W. Furber was elect-
ed Speaker: ^\'. I). PhiUiits, Clerk: L. B. Vfait,
Assistant.

On Tuesday afternoon, both houses assembled
in the dining hall of the hotel, and after prayer
was offered by Eev. E. D. Xeill, Governor Ram-
sey delivered his message. The message was ablv

written, and its perusal ah'urded satisfaction at
home and aljroad.

The first session of tlie legislatui'i? adjomncd on
the first of November. Among other proceed-
ings of interest, was the creation of the following
counties: Itasca, Wapashaw, Dahkotah, "\Vah-
nahtah. Mahkahto, Pembina AVashington, Eam-
sev and Benton. The tb^ree latter counties com-
prised the country that up to that time had been
ceded by the Indians on the east side of the Ms-
sissippi, Stil." water was deiligfcl the county .seat
of Waslungtou, Saint Paul, of IJamsey, and '■ the
seat of justice of the comity of Benton was to be
witlun one-quarter of a mile of a point on the east
side of the Mississippi, directly opposite the moutb
of Sauk river."

EVENTS OF A. D 1850.

By the active exertions of the secretary of the>
territory, C. K. Smith, Esq., the Historical
Society of Minnesota was incorporated at tlie
first session of the legislature. The opening an-
nual addi-ess was delivered in the tiien Methodist
(now Swedenborgi'iii) church at Saint Paul, on
the first of January, 1830.

Tlie following account of the proceedings is
from the Clironicle and Register. "The first
public exercises of tlie ^linncsota Historical
Society, took place at the Jlethodist church. Saint
I'aul, on the first inst., and passed off liiglily
creditable to all concerned. The day was pleasant
and the attendance large. At the appointed
hour, the President and both Vice-Presidents of
the society being absent ; on motion of Hon. C.
K. Smith, Hon. Cliief Justice Goodrich was
called to the chair. The same gentleman then
moved that a committee, consisting of ilessrs.
Pai-sous K. Jolinson, John A. 'Wakefield, and B.
W. Branson, be appointed to wait upon tlie
Orator of the day, Rev. Jlr. Xeill, and infonn
him that the audience was waiting to hear his
addr(!,ss.

" Mr. A'fill was shorily conducted to the pulpit;
and after an eloquent and approriate prayer by
the Rev. Mr. Pai-sons, and music by the band, he
liroceeded to deliver his discourse upon the early
French missionaries and Voyageurs into ilinne-
sota. We hope the society will provide for its
publication at an early day.

••After some brief remarks by Rev. Jlr

120

EXi'LUHJ'JMti AND F10^EK1{S OF MINNl^SOTA.

Hobart, upon the objects and ends of Mstory, the
ceremonies were conchided with a prayer by
that gentleman. The audience dispersed liighly
deUghted with all that oeciured.'

At this early period the Minnesota Pioneer
issued a Gamer's New Year's Address, which
was amusing doggerel. The reference to the
future greatness and ignoble origin of the capital
of Minnesota was as follows : —

The cities on this river must be three,
Two that are built and one that is to be.
One, is the mart of all the tropics yield,
The cane, the orange, and the cotton-field,
And sends her ships abroad and boasts
Her trade extended to a thousand coasts ;
The other, central for the temperate zone.
Gamers the stores that on the plains are gro'rni,
A place where steamboats from all quarters.

range,
To meet and speculate, as 'twere on 'change.
The third loill he, where rivers confluent flow
From the wide spreading north through plauis

of snow ;
The mart of all that boundless forests give
To make mankind more comfortably Uve,
The land of manufacturing industry,
The workshop of the nation it shall be.
Propelled by this wide sti'eam, you'll see
A thousand factories at Saint Anthony :
And the Saint Croix a hundred mills shall drive.
And all its smiling villages shall thrive ;
But then 7ny town— remember that high bench
"With cabins scattered over it, of French ?
A man named Hem-y Jackson's livmg there.
Also a man — why every one knows L. liobair,
Below Fort Snelling, seven miles or so.
And three above the village of Old Crow ?
Pig's Eye ? Yes ; Pig's Eye ! That's the spot 1
A very funny name ; is't not "i'
Pig's Eye's the spot, to plant my city on.
To be remembered by, when I am gone.
Pig's Eye converted thou shall be, like Saul :
Thy name henceforth shall be Siiint Paul.

On the evenhig of New Year's day, at Fort
SneUtng, there was an assemblage which is only
seen on the outposts of civiUzation. In one of
the stone edifices, outside of the wall, belonguig
to the United States, there resided a gentleman
who had dwelt in Mumcsota since the year lyPJ,

and for many years had been in the employ of
the govermneut, as Indian interpreter. In youth
he had been a member of the Columbia Fur Com-
pany, and conforming to the habits of traders,
had purchased a Dahkotah wife who was wholly
ignorant of the English language. As a family
of children gathered around him he recognised
the relation of husband and father, and consci-
entiously discharged his duties as a parent. His
daughter at a proper age was sent to a boarding
school of some celebrity, and on the night re-
ferred to was married to an intelligent young
American farmer. Among the guests present
were the officers of the garrison m full uniform,
with their \\-ives, the United States Agent for
the Dalikotahs, and family, the bois brules of
the neighborhood, and the Indian relatives of the
mother. The mother did not make lier appear-
ance, but, as the muiister proceeded v.'ith the
ceremony, the Dahkotah relatives, wrapped in
their blankets, gathered in the hall and looked
in throngh the door.

The marriage feast was worthy of the occa-
sion. In consequence of the numbers, the
ofhcers and those of European extraction partook
first ; then the bois brules of Ojibway and Dah-
kotah descent; and, finally, the native Ameri-
cans, who did ample justice to the pleutifid sup-
ply spread before them.

Governor Ramsey, Hon. H. H. Sibley, and the
delegate to Congress devised at Washington, this
winter, the territorial seal. The design was Falls
of St. Anthony in the distance. An immigrant
ploughing the land on the borders of the Indian
country, full of hope, and looking forn'ard to the
possession of the hunting grounds beyond. An
Indian, amazed at the sight of the plough, and
fleeing on horseback towards the setting sun.

Tlie -motto of the Earl of Dnnraven, "Quae
sursuni volo videre" (I wish to see what is above)
was most appropriately selected by IMr. Sibley,
but by the blunder of an engraver it appeared on
the territorial seal, "Quo sursum velo videre,"
which no scholar could tianslate. At length was
substituted, "L' Etoile du Nord," "Star of the
North," while the device of the setting sun
remained, and this is objectionable, a.: the State
of Maine had already placed the North Star on
her escutcheon, with the motto "Dirigo," "I
!;uide." Perhaps some future legislature may

SCALP DANCE IN STlLLWATKIi.

121

direct the tirst motto to be restored and correctly
engraved.

In the mourn of April, there was a renewal of
hostilities hetween the Dalikotahs and (Jjiljwuys,
on lands that had 1 leen ceded to the ITnited States.
A war prophet at Red Wing, dreamed that he
ought to raise a war party. Announcing the fact,
a number expressed their willingness to go on such
an expedition. Several from the Kaposia village
also joined the party, under the leadership of a
worthless Indian, who had been confined in the
guard-house at Fort Snelling, the year pre\'ious,
for scalping his wife.

Passing up the valley of the St. Croix, a Tew
miles above Stillwater the party discovered on the
snow the marks of a keg and footprints. These
told them that a man and woman of the Ojibways
had been to some whisky dealer's, and were re-
turning. Following their trail, tliey found on
Apple river, about twenty miles from Stillwater,
a band of Ojibways encamped in one lodge. Wait-
ing till daybreak of Wednesday, April second, the
Dahkotahs commenced firing on the unsuspecting
inmates, some of whom were drinking from the
contents of the whisky keg. The camp was com-
posed of fifteen, and all were murdered and scalp-
ed, with the exception of a lad, who was made a
captive.

On Thursday, the victors came to Stillwater,
and danced the scalp dance around the captive
l)oy, in the heat of excitement, striking him in the
face with the scarcely cold and bloody scalps of
liis relatives. The child was then taken to Ka-
posia. and adopted b>' the chief. Governor Ram-
sey immediately took measures to send the boy to
his friends. At a conference held at the Gov-
ernor's mansion, the boy was delivered up, and,
on being led out to the kitchen by a Utile son of
the Governor, since deceased, to receive refresh-
ments, he cried bitterly, seemingly more alarmed
at being left with the whites than he had been
while a captive at Kaposia.

From the first of April the waters of the Mis-
sissippi began to rise, and on the thirteenth, the
lower floor of the warehouse, then occupied by
AMlliam Constans, at the foot of Jackson street,
St. Paul, was submerged. Taking advantage of
the freshet, the steamboat Anthony Wayne, for a
purse of two hundred doUar.s, ventured through
the swift current above i^'ort Snelling, and readied

the Falls of St. Anthony. The boat loft the fort
after dinner, with Governor Ramsey and other
guests, also the band of tlie Sixtli Regiment on
board, and reached the falls between three and
four o'clock in the afternoon. The whole town,
men, women and children, lined the shore as the
boat approached, and welcomed this first aiTival,
with shouts and waving handkerchiefs.

On the afternoon of May fifteenth, there might
have lieen seen, hurrying through the streets of
Saint Paul, a number of naked and pauited braves
of the Kajiosia band of Dahkotahs, ornamented
with all the attire of war, and panting for the
scalps of their enemies. A few hours before, the
warlike head chief of the Ojibways. young IIolc-
in-the-Day , having secreted his eaiioe in the retired
gorge which leads to the cave in the upper sub-
urbs, with two or three associates had crossed the
river, and, almost in sight of the citizens of tli,>
town, had attacked a small party of Dahkotahs.
and murdered and scalped one man. On receipt
of the news. Governor Ramsey granted a parole
to the thirteen Dahkotahs contiued in Fort Snell-
ing, for participating in the Apple river massacre.

On the morning of the sixteenth of May, the
fii'st Protestant church edifice coniijleted in the
white settlements, a small frame building, built
for the Presbyterian clmrch, at Saiut Paul, was
destroyed by fire, it being the first conflagration
tliat had occurred since the organization of the
territory.

One of the most interesting events of the year
IS.jO, was the Indian council, at Fort Snelling.
(iovernor Ramsey had sent ruiniers to the differ-
ent bands of the Ojibways and Dahkotahs, to
meet him at the fort, for the piu'pose of en-
deavouring to adjust their difficulties.

On Wednesday, the twelfth of June, after
much talking, as is customary at Indian councils,
the two tribes agreed as they had frequently done
before, to be friendly, anil (iovernor Ramsey
presenting to each party an ox. the cotnicil was
dissolved.

On Thursday, the Ojibways visited St. Paul
for the first time, youn.g IIole-in-the-Day being
dressed in a coat of a captain of United States
infantry, which lia<l been presented to him at tlie
foi-t. On Friday, they left in the steamer Gov-
ernor Ramsey, which had been built at St. An-
thony, and ji'st commenced running between

]-22

EXPLORERS AND l'IO.\EERS OF MINNESOTA.

that poiut and Sauk Rapids, for their homes in
the wilderness of the Upper Mississippi.

The summer of 1850 was the commencement
of the navigation of tlie Minnesota River by
steamboats. With the exception of a steamer
tliat made a pleasure excursion as far as Shokpay,
In 1841, no large vessels had ever disturbed the
waters of this stream. In June, the " Anthony
Wayne," v/hich a few weeks before had ascended
to the Falls of St. Anthony, made a trip. On
tlie eighteenth of July she made a second trip,
going almost to Mabkahto. The " Nominee "
also navigated the stream for some distance.

Ou the twenty-second of July the officers of
llie "Yankee," taking advantage of the high
water, determined to navigate the stream as far
;'.s possible. The boat ascended to near the Cot-
louwood river.

As the time for the general election in Septem-
ber approached, considerable excitement was
manifested. As there were no political issues
before the people, parties Vv'ere formed based on
p&rsonal preferences. Among those nominated
for delegate to Congress, by various meetings,
\, ere 11. II. Sibley, the former delegate to Con-
gress, David Olmsted, at that time engaged in |
the Indian trade, ami A.-M. Mitchell, the United
States marshal. ilr. Olmsted withdrew his
name before election day, and the contest was
between those interested in Sibley and Jlitchell.
The friends of each betrayed the greatest zeal,
and neither pains nor money were spared to in-
sure success. Mr. Sibley was elected by a small
majority. For the first time in the territory,
soldiers at the garrisons voted at !liis election,
and there was considerable discussion as to the
propriety of such a course.

Miss Fredrika Bremer, the well known Swedish
novelist, visited Minnesota in the month of
October, and was the guest of Governor Ramsey.

During November, the Dahkotah Tawaxitku
Kin, or the Dahkotah Friend, a monthly paper,
was commenced, one-half in the Dahkotah and
one-half in the English language. Its editor was
tlie Rev. Gideon 11. Pond, a Presbyterian mis-
sionary, and its place of publication at Saint Paul.
It was published for nearly two years, and, though
it failed to attract the attention of the Indian
mind, it conveyed to the English reader much

correct information in relation to the habits, the
belief, and superstitions, of the Dahkotahs.

On the tenth of December, anew paper, owned
and edited by Daniel A. Robertson, late United
States marshal, of Ohio, and called the Minne-
sota Democrat, made its appearance.

Dm^mg the summer there had been changes in
ihe editorial supervision of the " Chronicle and
Register." For a brief period it was edited by
L. A. Babcock, Esq., who was succeeded by \V.
G. Le Due.

About the time of the issuhig of the Demo-
crat, C. J. Hemiiss, formerly reporter for the
United States Gazette, Philadelpliia, became the
editor of tiie Chronicle.

Tlie first proclamation for a thanksgiving day
was issued in 1850 by the governor, and the
twenty-sixth of December was the time appomted
and it was generally observed.

EVENTS OF A. D. 1851.

On Wednesday, January first, 1851, the second
Legislative Assembly assembled in a three-story
lirick building, since destroyed by fire, that stood
on St. Anthony street, between Washington and
FrankUn. D. B. Loomis was chosen Speaker of
the Council, and M. E. Ames Speaker of the
House. This assembly was characterized by
more bitterness of feeling than any that has
since convened. The precedhig delegate election
liad been based- on personal preferences, and
cliques and factions manifested themselves at an
early period of the session.

The locating of the penitentiary at Stillwater,
and the capitol building at St. Paul gave some
dissatisfaction. By the efforts of J. W. North,
Esq., a bill creating the University of Mimiesota
at or near the Falls of St. Anthony, was passed,
and signed by the Governor. This institution,
by the State Constitution, is now the State Uni-
versity.

During the session of this Legislature, the pub-
lication of the " Chronicle and Register" ceased.

About the middle of ]May,a war i)arty of Dah-
kotahs disi'overed near Swan River, an Ojibway
with a keg of wliisky. The latter escaped, with
the loss of his keg. The war party, dtinking the
contents, became intoxicated, and, firing upon
some teamrters they met driving their wagons
with goods to the Indian Agency, killed one of

LA.yps ir/'.-s'/' OF Tin- nis^issii'i'r gkvkd.

3 23

them, Andrew Swiirtz, a rcsidt'iit of St. I'.-iul.
Tlio uews waa conveyed to Fort Ripley, and a
party of soldiers, with Hole-in-the-day as a guide,
started in piirsiiit of the murderers, but did not
succeed in capturing theni. Through the inilu- i
ence of Little Six, the Daiikotah chief, whose vil-
lage was at (and named after him) Shok- j
pay, five of the offenders were arrested and
placed in the guard house at Fort Suelluig. On
Monday, June ninth, they left the fort iti a wagon,
guarded by twenty-five dragoons, destined for
Hauk Bapids for trial. As they dejjarted they all
sang their death song, and the coarse soldiers
amused ■ themselves by making signs that they
v.ere going to be hung. On the first evening of
the journey the five culprits encamped with the
twenty-five dragoons. Handcutl'ed, they were
placed in the tent, and yet at midnight they all
escaped, only one being wounded by tlie guaril-
What was more remarkable, the wounded man
was the first to bring the news to St. Paul. Pro-
ceeding to Koposia, his wound was examined by
the missionary and physician, Dr. Williamson;
and then, fearing an arrest, he took a canoe and
paddled np the Minnesota. The excuses offered
by the dragoons was, that all the guard but one
fell asleep.

The first paper published in Minnesota, bevoud
the capital, was the St. Anthony Express, which
made its appearance during the last week of
April or May.

The most important event of the year 18.51
was the treaty with the Dahkotahs, by which the
west side of the Mississippi and the valley of tlie
Miuunesota Eiver were opened to the hardy immi-
grant. The commissioners on the part of the
United States were Luke Lea, Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, and Governor Eamsey. The
place of meeting for the upper bands was Trav-
erse des Sioux. The commission arrived there
on the last of June, but were obliged to wait
many days for the assembling of the various
bands of Dahkotahs.

On the eighteenth of July, ail those expected
having arrived, the Sissetons and Wahpaytou
Dahkotahs assembled in grand council with the
United States commissioners. After the usual
feastings and speeches, a treaty was concluded
on Wednesday, July twenty-third. The pipe
having been smoked by the commissioners, Lea

and Eamsey, it was pas^ed to the chiefs. T!io
paper containing the treaty was then read in
I'jUglish and translated into the Daiikotah by the
Kev. S. R. Eiggs, Presbyterian Missionary among
this people. This finished, the cliiefs came np
to the secretary's table and touched the ])en; the
white men present then witnessed the doeunient
and nothing remained but tlie ratification of the
United" States Senate to open that vast country
fv)r the residence of the hardy immigrant.

During the first weok in August, a treaty was
also concluded beneath an oak bower, on Pilot
Knol), Meudota, with the M'dewakaiitonwan and
\\"a'ipaykoi)tay bands of Dahkotahs. About sixty
of the chiefs and principal men touched the pen,
and Jjittle Crow, who had beceu in tlie niiss.siou-
seliool at Lac qui Parle, signed his own name.
Before they separated Colonel Lea and Governor
Ivimsey gave them a few words of advice on
various subjects connected with tlicir future well-
b.'iug, but particularly on the suliject of eibica-
tiou and temperance. The treaty was interpret-
ed to them by the Rev. G. H. Pond, a geutleniau
who was conceded to be a most ccrrect speaker
of the Dahkotah tongue.

The day after the treaty these lower lands
received thirty thousand dollars, which, by the
treaty of 1837, was set apart for education; but,
by the misrepresentations of interested half-
breeils, the Indians were made to believe that
it ought to be given to them to be employed as
they pleased.

The next week, with their sacks filled with
money, they thronged the str.-;ets of St. Paul,
purchasing whatever jjleas-ed thei;- fancy.

On the seventeenth of Se|)t,cmlier, a new j^aper
was commenced in St. Paul, under the ausjjices
of the "Whigs," and John P. Owens became
editor, which relation he sustained until the fall
of 18.57.

The election for memliers of the Legishiture
and county officers occurred on the fourteenth of
Oct'iber; and, for the first time, a regular Demo-
cratic ticket was jjlaced before the people. The
parties called themselves Democratic and Anti-
organization, or Coalition,

In the mouth of November Jerome Fuller ar-
rived, an 1 took the place of Judge Goodrich as
Chief Justice of Minnesota, who was removed;
and, about the same time, Alexander Wilkin was

124

EXPLORERS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

appointed secretary of the territory in place of
C. K. Smilli.

The eigliteeutli of December, pnrsiiant to
proclamation, was observed as a day of Thauks-
giviag.

EVENTS OF A. D. 1S52.

The third Legislative Asseml:)ly ccimmencsd its
sessions in one of the -^tiitjeefs on Tliird below
Jackson street, which became a portion of the
Merchants' Hotel, on the seventh of January,
1852.

This session, compared witli the previous,
formed a contrast as great as tliat between a
boisterous day in Marcli and a calm June morn-
ing. The minds of the population were more
deeply interested in the ratilication of the treaties
made with the Dahkotiilis, than in political dis-
cussions. Among other lejiislatloii of interest
was the creation of Ile-nepin county.

On Saturday, the fc-irteeuth of February, a
dog-traiu arrived at S' Paul from the north,
with the distinguished Arctic explorer. Dr. Kae.
He had been in search of the long-missing Sir
John Franklin, by way of the ^Mackenzie river,
and Mas now on his way to Europe.

On the fourteenth of May, an interesting lusus
naturse occurred at Stillwater. On the prairies,
beyond the elevated bluffs v\hich encircle tlie
busuiess portion of the town, there is a lake which
discharges its waters through a ravine, and sup-
pli(Kl ilcKusick's mill. Owing to heavy rains,
the hills became saturated with water, and the
lake very full. Before daylight the citizens heard
the " voice of many waters," and looking out, saw
rushing down through the ravine, trees, gravel
and diluvium. Nothing impeded its course, and
as it issued from the ravine it spread over the
town site, covering up barns and small tenements,
and, continuing to the lake shore, it materially
improved the lauding, by a deposit of many tons
of earth. One of the editors of the day, alluding
to the fact, quamtly remarked, that "it was a
very extraordinary movement fif real estate."

During the sununer, Elijah Terry, a young
man who had left St. Paul the previous March,
and went to Pembina, to act as teacher to the
mixed bloods in that vicinity, was murdered un-
der disti'essing circumstances. With a bois brule
he had started to the woods on the morning of

his death, to hew timber. ^V^lile there he was
fired upon by a small party of Dahkotahs ; a ball
broke his arm, and he was pierced vnXh an-ows.
His scalp was wrenched from his head, and was
afterwards seen among Sisseton Dahkotahs, near
Big Stone Lake.

jVbout tlie last of August, the pioneer editor
of jMinnesota, James M. Goodhue, died.

At the November Term of the United States
District Court, of Ramsey county, a Dahkotali,
named Yu-ha-zee, was tried for tlie murder of a
German woman. "With others she was travel-
ing above Shokpay, when a party of Indians, of
whom the prisoner was one, met them ; and,
gathering about the wagon, were much excited.
The prisoner punched the woman first with iiis
gun, and, being threatened by one of the party,
loaded and fired, killing the woman and wound-
ing one of the men.

On the day of his trial he was escorted from
Fort Snelling by a company of mounted dragoons
in full dress. It was an impressive scene to
witness the poor Indian half bid in his blanket,
in a buggy with the civil otlicer, surrounded with
all the pom)) and circumstance of war. The jury
found him guilty. On being asked if he had
anything to say why sentence of death should
not be passed, he replied, through the interpreter,
that the band to which he belonged would remit
their annuities if he could be released. To this
Judge Hayner, the successor of Judge Fuller,
replied, that he had no authority to release
him ; and, ordering him to rise, after some
appropriate and impressive remarks, he pro-
nounced the first sentence of death ever pro-
noimced by a judicial officer in Minnesota. The
prisoner trembled while the judge spoke, and
was a piteous spectacle. By the statute of Min-
nesota, then, one convicted of murder could not
be executed until twelve months hadelaiisi'<l,and
he was confined until the governor of the ter-
orrity should by warrant order his execution.

EVENTS OF A. D. 1S53.

The fourth Legislative Assembly convened on
the fifth of January, 18.53, in the two "story brick
edifice at the corner of Third and JMinnesota
streets. The Council chose Martin McLeod as
presiding oflicer, and the House Dr. David Day,

INDIAN f'lGUT IN STItEEIS OF tiT. PAUL.

Vir,

Speaker. Governor Ramsey's message was aii
interesting document.

The Baldwin school, now known asMacalester
f'o!Ipg(\ was incorporated at this session of tlie
legislatnre, and was opened the folk)wing June.

On tlie ninth of April, a party of Ojibways
killed a Dahkofah. at the village of Shokpay. A
war party, from Kaposia, then proceeded up the
valley of the St. Croix, and killed an Ojibway.
On the morning of the twenty-seventh, a band
of Ojibway warriors, naked, decked, and fiercely
gestienlating, might have been seen in the busiest
street of the capital, in search of their enemies.
Just at that time a small party of women, and
one man, who liad lost a leg in the battle of Still-
water, arrived in a canoe from Kaposia, at the
Jackson sti-eet landing. Perceiving the Ojib-
ways, they retreated to the building then known
as the " Pioneer " oftice, and the Ojibways dis-
charging a volley through the windows, wounded
a l)ahkotah woman who soon died. Fora short
time, the infant capital presented a sight
similar to that witnessed in ancient days in
Hadley or Deerlield, the tlien frontier towns of
Massachusetts, ilessengers were despatched to
Fort Snelling for the dragoons, and a party of
citizens mounted on horseback, ^^■ere quickly in
pursuit of those wlio with so much bolcbiess had
sought the streets of St. Paul, as a place to
avenge their wrongs. The dragoons soon fol-
lowed, with Indi;in guides scenting the track of
the Ojibways, like bloodliomids. The next day
they discovered the transgressors, near the Falls
of St. Croix. The Ojibways mauifestmg what
was supposed to be an insolent si>irit, the order
was given by the lieutenant in command, to fire,
and he whose scalp was afterwards daguerreo

typed, and which was engiaved for Graham's
ilagazine, wallowed in gore.

During tlie summer, the passenger, as he stood
on the hurricane deck of any of the steamboals,
might have seen, on a scaffold on the bluffs in
the rear of Kaposia, a scpiare box covered with a
coarsely fiinged red cloth. Above it was sus-
pended a piece of the Ojibway's scalp, whose
death had caused the affray in the streets of St.
Paul. Within, was the body of the woman who
had been shot in the " Pioneer " building, while
seeking refiige. A scalji suspended over the
corpse is supposed to be a consulation to the soul,
and a great protection in the journey to the spirit
land.

On the accession of Pierce to the presidency of
the United States, the officers appointed under
the Taylor and Fillmore administrations were
removed, and the following gentlemen substitu-
ted : Governor, W. A. Gorman, of Indiana; Sec-
retary, J. T. Kosser, of A'irginia; Chief Justice,
W. H. Welch, of ilinnesota ; Associates, Moses
Sherburne, of Maine, and A. G. Chatfield, of
AVisconsin. One of the first official acts of the
second Governor, was the making of a treaty
with the Wumebago Indians at Watal), lientuu
county, for an exchange of coinitry.

On the twenty-nintli of June, I). A. Robertson,
who by his enthusiasm and earnest advocacy of
its principles had done nnich to organize the
Democratic party of Minnesota, retired from the
eilitorial chair and was succeeded by David Olm-
sted.

At the election held in October, Henry JM.
Rice and Alexander Willvin were candidates
for deligate to Congress. The former was elect-
ed by a decisive majority.

126

EXPLOEEBS AND PIONEERS OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTEE XXIII.

EVEInTS FKOjt A. D. 1854 TO TELE ADMISSION OF MmilESOTA TO TIIE UXTON.

Fifth Legislature— Execution of Yiihnzce— Sixth Legislature— First bridge over the
Mississippi— Arctic E.ipliiriT — ?evflnth Legislature — Indian girl killed near
Blosmington Kerry — Eii^hth Letjislatlire — Attempt to Remove the Capital —
Special Session of the Legislature — Convention to frame a State Constitution-
Admission of Mimiesota to the Union,

The fifth session of the legislature was com-
menced iu the building just completed as the
Cai)itol, on Januarj' fourth, 1854. The President
of the Council was S. B. Olmstead, and the Speak-
er of the House of Representatives was N. C. D.
Taylor.

Governor Gorman delivered his first annual
message on the tenth, and as his predecessor,
urged the importance of railwaj- communicatior.s,
and dwelt upon the necessity of fostering the in-
terests of education, and of the lumbermen.

The exciting bill of the session was the act in-
corporating the Minnesota and Northwestern
Railroad Company, introduced by Joseph R.
Brown. It was passed after the hour of midnight
on the last day of the session. Contrary to the
expectation of bis fi-iends, the Governor signed
the biU.

On the afternoon of December twenty-seventh,
the first public execution in ;Minnesota, in accord-
ance with the forms of law, took place. Yu-lia-
zee, the Dahkotah who had been convicted in
November, 1852, for the miu'der of a German
woman, above Shokpay, was the individual.
The scaffold was erected on the open space be-
tn'een an inn called the rrankUn House and the
rear of the late Mr. J. W. Selby's enclosure
in St, Paul. About two o'clock, the prisoner,
dressed in a white shroud, left the old log pris-
on, near the court house, and entered a carriage
v.ith the officers of the law. Being assisted up
the steps that led to the scaffold, he made a fe-n
remarks in his o\^ti language, and was then exe-
cuted. Numerous ladies sent in a petition to
the governor, asking the pardon of the Indian,
to which that officer in declining made an appro-
priate reply.

EVENTS OF A. D. 1855.

The sixth session of the legislature convened
on the third of January, 1855. W. P. Murray
was elected President of the Council, and James
S. Nonis Speaker of the House.

About the last of January, the two houses ad-
journed one day, to attend the exercises occa-
sioned by the opening of the first bridge of
any kind, over the mighty Mississippi, from
Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. It was at
Falls of Saint Anthony, and made of wire, and
at the time of its opening, the patent for the
land on which the west piers were built, had not
been issued from the Land Office, a striking evi-
dence of the rapidity with which the city of
Minneapolis, which now surroimds the Falls, has
developed.

On the twenty-ninth of March, a convention
was held at Saint Anthony, which led to the
formation of the Republican party of Minnesota.
Tliis body took measures for the holding of a
territorial convention at St. Paul, which con-
vened on the twenty-fifth of July, and William
R, Marshall was nominated as delegate to Con-
gress. Shortly after the friends of Mr. Sibley
nominated David Olmsted and Henry M. Rice,
the former delegate was also a candidate. The
contest was animated, and resulted in the elec-
tion of Mr. Rice.

Aliout noon of December twelfth, 1855, a four-
horse vehicle was seen driving rapidly through
St. Paul, and deep was the interest when it was
announced that one of the Aictic exploring party,
Jlr. James Stewart, was on his way to Canada
with relics of the world - reno^vned and world-
mounied Sir John Franklin. Gathering together
the precious fragments found on Monb-eal Island
and vicinity, the party had left the region of ice-
bergs on the ninth of August, and after a con-
tinued land journey from that time, had reached

FltO^OaKl) liEMOVAL OF THE ,SJb'AT OF GOVFll \MFyT.

12V

Saiiit Paul on that day, en route to the lIuUswi
Bay Company's quarters iii Canada.

KVKKTS OF A. D. lSo6.

Tlie seventh session of the Legislative Assem-
bly was begun on the second of January, ISoti,
and again the exciting question was the Minne-
sota and Xortliwesteni Railroad Company.

John B. Brisbiu was elected President of the
Council, and Charles Gardner, Speaker of the
Hojise.

Tliis j'ear was comparatively devoid of interest.
Tlie citizens of the territory were busily engaged
in making claims in newly organized comities,
and in enlarging the area of civilization.

On the trsvelfth of Jime, several Ojibways
entered the farm house of JMr. "Whallon, wlio re-
sided ill Hennepin county, on the banks of the
Minnesota, a mile below the Bloomiugton ferry.
The wife of the farmer, a friend, and tliree child-
ren, besides a little Dahkotah girl, who had been
brought up in the mission-house at Kaposia, and
so changed in mamiers that her origin was
scarcely perceptible, were sitting in the room
when the Indians came in. Instantly seizing
the little Indian maiden, they threw her out of
the door, lolled and scalped her, and fled before
the men who were near by, in the field, could
reach the house.

EVENTS OF A. D. IS-J".

The procurement of a state organization, and
a grant of lands for railroad purposes, were the
topics of poUtical interest diu'mg the year 1857.

The eighth Legislative Assembly convened at
the capitol on the seventh of January, and J. B.
Brisbiu was elected President of the Council, and
J. W. Fiuber, Speaker of the House.

A bUl changing the seat of government to
Saint Peter, on the Jliimesota River, caused
much discussion.

On Satvu-day, February twenty -eighth, Mr.
Balcombe offered a resolution to report the bill
for the removal of the seat of government, and
should ^Ir. Rolette, chairman of the committee,
fail, that W. AV. Wales, of said committee, report
a copy of said bUl.

ilr. Setzer. after the reading of the resolution,
moved a call of the CouncO, and :Mr. Rolette was
found to be absent. The chair ordered the ser-
geant at aims to report Mr Rolette in his seat.

Mr. ]?alconibo moved tiiat further proceedings
under the call be dispensed with; which did not
prevail. Prom that time until the next Thursday
afternoon, March the fifth, a period of one hun-
dred and t\venty-tln-ee hours, the Council re-
mained in their chamber witliout recess. At that
tiuK! a motion to adjourn prevailed. On Friday
auollier motion was made to dispense with the
call of tlie Council, wldch did not prevail. On
Saturday, the Council met, tlie president dec'lared
the call still pending. At seven and a half p. m.,
a committee of the House was announced. The
chair ruled, that no commmiicatidu from the
House could be received while a call of the Coun-
cil was pending, and the committee withdrew.
A motion was again made during the last night
of the session, to dispense with all further pro-
ceedings under the call, whicli prevailed, with
one vote onlj' in the negative.

ilr. Ludden then moved that a committee be
appointed to wait on tlie (_io\ernor, and inquire if
he had any further communication to make to
the Council.

^Ir. Lowry moved a call of the Council, which
\^■as ordered, and the roll being called, ^Messrs.
Rolette, Thompson and Tiilotson were absent.

At twelve o'clock at night the president re-
sumed the chau', and announced that tlie time
limited by law tor tlie continuation of tlie session
of the territorial legislature had expu'ed, and he
therefore declared the Coiuuil adjourned and the
seat of government remained at Saint I'aul.

The excitement on the capital question was in-
tense, and it was a strange scene to see members
of the CouncU, eating and sleeping in the hall of
legislation for days, waiting for the sergeant-at-
arms to report an absent member hi liis seat.

On the twenty-third of February, 18.57, an act
passed the United States Senate, to authorize
the people of Minnesota to form a constitution,
preparatory to their a(huission into the Union
on an equal footing with the origuial states.

Governor Gorman called a special session
of the legislatiu'e, to take into consideration
measures that would give efticiency to the act.
The extra session convened on April tweiity-
sevenlli, and a message was transmitted by Sam-
uel JNIedary, who liad been appointed governor
in place of W . A. (Jormau, whose term of office

]-2S

EXPLOBERS AXD FlOyEEUH OF MINNESOTA.

had expired. The extra session adjourned on
the twenty-third of ^lay ; and in accordance
witli tiie provisions of tlie enabling act of Con-
gress, an election was held on the first Monday
in June, for delegates to a convention which was
to assemble at the capitol on the second Monday
in July. The clertion resulted, as was thought,
in giving a majority of delegates to the Eepubli-
can party.

At midiugiit previous to the day fixed for the
meeting of tlio convention, the Republicans pro-
ceeded to the capitol, because the enabling act
had not fixed at what hour on the second ilon-
day the convention should assemble, and fear-
ing that the Democratic delegates might antici-
pate them, and elect the officers of the body.
^V little before twelve, a. ji., on Monday, the
secretary of the territory entered the speaker's
rostrum, and l)egan to call the body to order;
and at the same tune a delegate, J. AV. North,
who had in his i>ossession a written rp(iuest from
the majority of the delegates pr.-;:.cnt, proceeded
to do the same tiling. The secretary of the ter-
ritory put a motion to adjourn, and the Demo-
cratic members present voting in the afBrmative,
they left the hall. The Kepublicans. feeling that
they were in tlie majority, remained, and in due
time organized, and proceeded witli the business
specified in the enalding act, to form a constitu-
tion, and- take all necessary steps for the estab-
lishment of a state government, in conformity
with the Federal Constitution, subject to the
approval and ratification of the people of the
proposed state.

After several days the Democratic wing also
orgaiuzed in the Senate chamber at the caiiitol,
and, claiming to be the true body, also proceeded
to form a constitution. Both parties were re-
markably orderly and intelligent, and everything
was marked by perfect decorum. After they had
been in session some weeks, moderate counsels

prevailed, and a committee of conference was
appointed from each body, which resulted in
both adopting the constitution framed by the
Democratic wing, on the twenty-ninth of Aug-
gust. According to the provision of the consti-
tution, an election was held for state officers
and the adoption of the constitution, on tlie
second Tuesday, the thirteenth of October. The
constitution was adopted by almost a unanimous
vote. It provided that the territorial officers
should retain their oftices until the state was ad-
mitted into the Union, not anticipating the
long delay which was experienced.

The first session of the state legislatiu'e com-
menced on the first "Wednesday of December, at
tiie capitol, in the city of Saint Paul; and during
the month elected Henry M. Eice a]id James
Shields as their Kepreseutatives in the United
States Senate.

EVENTS OF A. D. 18.38.

On the twenty-ninth of Jaiuiary, 1S>58, Mr.
Douglas submitted a bill to the United States
Senate, for the admission of Minnesota into the
Union. On the first of February, a discussion
arose on the bill, in which Senators Douglas,
Wilson, Gwin, Hale, Mason, Green, Brown, and
Crittenden participated. Brown, of Mississippi,
was opposed to the admission of Minnesota, un-
til the Kansas question was settled. Mr. Crit-
tenden, as a Southern man, coidd not endorse i;ll
that was said by the Senator from !Mississipri;
and his words of wisdom and moderation during
this day's discussion, were worthy of remejn-
brance. On April the seventh, the bill passed
the Senate with only three dissenting votes ; and
in a short time the House of Representatives
concurred, and on May tlie eleventh, the Presi-
dent ajiproved, and Minnesota was fully rec-
ognized as one of the United States of America.

FIBST STATE LEGISLATURE.

1'20

OUTLINE HISTORY

OF THE

STATE OF MINNESOTA.

CHAPTEK XXIV.

PIEST STATE LEGISLATDKE STATE RAILWAY BONDS

MIN-NESOTA DDRINQ THE CIVIL WAB-EEGIMENTS

— THE SIOUX OnTBREAK.

The transition of Minnesota from a territorial
to a state organization occurred at the period when
the whole republic was sutTering from financial em-
barrassments.

By an act of congress approved by the president
on the 5th of March, 1857, lands had been granted
to Minnesota to aid in the construction of railways.
During an extra session of the legislature of Min-
nesota, an act was passed in May, 1857, giving
the congressional grant to certain corporations to
build railroads.

A few months after, it was discovered that the
corporators had neither the money nor the credit
to begin and complete these internal improve-
ments. In the winter of 1858 the legislature again
listened to the siren voices of the railway corpora-
tions, until their words to some members seemed
like "apples of gold in pictures of silver," and an
additional act was passed submitting to the people
an amendment to the constitution which jsrovided
for the loan of the public credit to the land grant
railroad companies to the amount of $5,000,000,
upon condition that a certain amount of labor on
the roads was performed.

Some of the citizens saw in the proposed meas-
ure -'a cloud no larger than a man's hand," which
would lead to a terrific storm, and a large public
meeting was convened at the capitol in St. Paul,
and addressed by ex-Governor Gorman, D. A.
Robertson, William K. Marshall and others depre-

ciating the engrafting of such a peculiar amend-
ment into the constitution; but the people were
poor and needy and deluded and would not lis-
ten; their hopes and happiness seemed to depend
upon the plighted faith of railway corporators, and
on April the 15th, the appointed election day,
25,023 votes were deposited for, while only 6,733
votes were cast against the amendment.

FIRST STATE LEQISLATUBE.

The election of October, 1857, was carried on
with much partisan feeling by democrats and re-
publicans. The returns from wUdemess precincts
were unusually large, and in the countiflg of votes
for governor, Alexander Ramsey appeared to have
received 17,550, and Henry H. Sibley 17,796 bal-
lots. Governor Sibley was declared elected by a
majority of 246, and duly recognized. The first
legislature assembled on the 2d of December,
1857, before the formal admission of Blinnesota
into the Union, and on the 25th of March, 1858,
adjourned until June the 2d, when it again met.
The next day Governor Sibley delivered his mes-
sage. His term of office was arduous. On the
4th of August, 1858, he expressed his determina-
tion not to deliver any state bonds to the railway
companies unless they would give first mortgages,
with priority of lien, upon their lands, roads and
franchises, in favor of the state. One of the com-
panies applied for a mandamus fi-om the supreme
court of the state, to compel the issue of the
bonds without the restrictions demanded by the
governor.

In November the court. Judge Flandrau dis-
senting, directed the governor to issue state bonds
as soon as a railway company delivered their first

130

OUTLINE iiisronr of the state of Minnesota.

mortgage bonds, as provided by the amendment
to the constitution. But, as was to be expected,
bonds sent out under such peculiar circumstances
were not sought after by capitalists. Moreover,
after over two million dollars in bonds had been
issued, not an iron rail had been laid, and only
about two hundred and fifty miles of grading had
been completed.

In his last message Governor Sibley in refer-
ence to the law in regard to state credit to railways,
says: "I regret to be obliged to state that the
measure has proved a failure, and has by no means
accomphshed what was hoped from it, either in
providing means for the issue of a safe currency
or of aiding the companies in the completion of
the work upon the roads."

ACT FOB NOKMAIi SCHOOLS.

Notwithstanding the pecuniary complications of
the state, during Governor Sibley's administra-
tion, the legislature did not entirely forget that
there were some interests of more importance than
railway construction, and on the 2d of August,
1858, largely through the influence of the late
John D. Ford, M. D., a public spirited citizen of
Winona, an act was passed for the establishment
of three training schools for teachers.

FIRST STEAMBOAT ON THE BED BIVEE OP THE
NORTH.

In the month of June, 1859 an important route
was opened between the Mississippi and the Red
River of the North. The then enterprising firm
of J. C. Burbank & Co., of St. Paul, having se-
cured from the Hudson Bay Company the trans-
jjortation of their supplies by way of the Missis-
sippi, in place of the tedious and treacherous routes
through Hudson's Bay or Lake Superior, they
purchased a little steamboat on the Ked River of
the North which had been built by Anson North-
rup, and cjjmmenced the carrying of freight and
passengers by land to Breckeuridge and by water
to Pembina.

This boat had been the first steamboat which
moved on the Mississippi above the falls of St.
Anthony, to which there is a reference made upon
the 121.st page.

Mr. Northriip, after he purchased the boat, with
a large number of wagons carried the boat and
machinery from Crow Wing on the Mississippi
and on the 8th of April, 1859, reached the Red
River not far from the site of Fargo.

SECOND STATE LEaiSLATCKB.

At an election held in October, 21,335 votes were

deposited for Alexander Ramsey as governor, and
17,532 for George L. Becker. Governor Ramsey,
in an inaugural delivered on the second of Jan-
uary, 1860, devoted a large space to the discus-
sion of the difficulties arising from the issue of
theraUroad bonds. He said: "It is extremely
desirable to remove as speedUy as possible so vex-
ing a question from our state politics, and not al-
low it to remain for years to disturb our elections,
possibly to divide our people into bond and anti-
bond parties, and introduce, annually, into our
legislative halls an element of discord and possi-
bly of corruption, all to end just as similar compli-
cations in other states have ended. The men who
will have gradually engrossed the posession of all
the bonds, at the cost of a few cents on the dollar,
will knock year after year at the door of the legisla-
ture for their payment in full, the press will be
subsidized; the cry of repudiation will be raised;
all the ordinary and extraordinary means of pro-
curing legislation in doubtful cases will be freely
resorted to, until finally the bondholders will pOe
lip almost fabulous fortunes. * * * * It is
assuredly true that t^je present time is, of aU
others, alike for the present bondholder and the
{icople of the state, the very time to arrange, ad-
just and settle these unfortunate and deplorable
railroad and loan comjjlications."

The legislature of this year passed a law sub-
mitting an amendment to the constitution which
would prevent the issue of any more railroad bonds.
At an election in November, 1860, it was voted on,
and reads as follows: "The credit of the state
shall never be given on bonds in aid of any in-
dividual, association or corporation ; nor shall there
be any further issue of bonds denominated Min-
nesota state railroad bonds, under what purports
to be an amendment to section ten, of article nine,
of the constitution, adopted April 14, 1858, which
is hereby expunged from the constitution, saving,
excepting, and reserving to the state, nevertheless,
all rights, remedies and forfeitures accruing under
said amendment."

FIRST WHITE PERSON EXECUTED.

On page 126 there is a notice of the first In-
dian hung under the laws of Minnesota. On
March 23, 1860 the first white person was executed
and attracted considerable attention from the fact,
the one who sufifered the penalty of ti^a law was a
wt>man.

Michael Bilausky died on the 11th of March,
1859, and upon examination, he was found to have

THE FIliST BEOIMENT INFANTRY.

131

been poisoned. Anna, bis fourtli wife, was tried
for tlie oH'ence, foimd guilty, and on tlie 3d of De-
cember, 1859, sentenced to be hung. Tlae ojipo-
nents to capital punishment secured the passage of
an act, by the legislature, to meet her case, but it
was vetoed by the governor, as unconstitutional.
Two days before the execution, the unhappy wo-
man asked her spiritual adviser to wi'ite to her
parents in North Carolina, but not to state the
cause of her death. Her scaffold was erected
within the square of the Kamsey county jail.

THIKD STATE LEGISLATCBE.

The third state legislature assembled on the 8th of
January, 1861, and adjourned on the 8th of March.
As Minnesota was the first state which, received
1,280 acres of land in each township, for school
purposes. Governor Kamsey in his annual message
occupied several pages, in an able and elaborate
argument as to the best methods of guarding and
selling the school lands, and of protecting the
school fund.

His predecessor in ofEoe, while a member of the
convention to frame the constitution, had spoken
in favor of dividing the school funds among the
townships of the state, subject to the control of
the local oflScers.

MINNESOTA DUKING THE CIVIL WAR.

The people of Minnesota had not been as excited
as the citizens of the Atlantic states on the ques-
tion which was discussed before the presidential
election of November, 1860, and a majority had
calmly declared their preference for Abraham Lin-
coln, as president of the republic.

But the blood of her quiet and intelhgent popu-
lation was stirred on the morning of April 14,
1861, by the intelligence in the daily newspapers
that the day before, the insurgents of South Caro-
lina had bombarded Fort Sumter, and that after a
gallant resistance of thirty-four hours General
Bobert Anderson and the few soldiers of his com-
mand had evacuated the fort.

Governor Eamsey was in Washington at this
period, and called upon the president of the repub-
lic with two other citizens from Minnesota, and
was the first of the state governors to tender the
services of his fellow citizens. The offer of a regi-
ment was accepted. The first comjiany raised un-
der the call of Blinnesota was composed of ener-
getic young men of St. Paul, and its cajstain was
the esteemed William H. Acker, who afterwards
fell in battle.

On the last Monday of April a camp for the

First regiment was opened at Port Snelling.
More companies having offered than were necessary
on the 30th of May Goverpor Kamsey sent a tele-
gram to the secretary of war, ofl'ering another
regiment.

THE FIRST REGIMENT.

On the 14th of Jime the First regiment' was or-
dered to Washington, and on the 21st it embarked
at St. Paul on the steamboats War Eagle and
Northern Belle, with the following officers:

Willis A. Gorman, Colonel — Promoted to be
brigadier general October 7, 1861, by the advice
of Major General Winfleld Scott.

Stephen Miller, Lt. Cvloiid — Made colonel of 7th
regiment August, 18(52.

William H. Dike, Major — Resigned October 22,
1861.

WiUiam B. Leach, Adpttant — Made captain and
A. A. G. February 23, 1862.

Mark W. Downie, Qmtiicrmaster — Captain
Company B, July 16, 1861.

Jacob H. Stewart, Surgeon — Prisoner at Bull
Run, July 21, 1861. Paroled at Richmond, Vir-
ginia.

Charles W. Le Boutillier, Assisttiid Surgeon —
Prisoner at Bull Run. Siu'geon 9th regiment.
Died April, 1863.

Edward D. NeiU, Chaplain — Commissioned July
13, 1862, hospital chaplain U. S. A., resigned in
1864, and ajipointed by President Lincoln, one
of his secretaries.

After a few days in Washington, the regi-
iment was sent to Alexandria, Virginia, where
until the 16th of July it remained. On the
mornmg of that day it began with other
troops of Franklin's brigade to muvetoward
the enemy, and that night encampetl in the val-
ley of Pohick creek, and the nest day marched
to Sangster's station on the Orange & Alexandria
railroad. The third day Centreville was reached.
Before daylight on Sunday, the 21st of July, the
soldiers of the First regiment rose for a march to
battle. About three o'clock in the morning they
left camp, and after passing through the hamlet of
Centreville, halted tor General Hunter's column to
pass. At daylight the regiment again began to
move, and after crossing a bridge on the Warren-
ton turnpike, turned into the woods, from which at
about ten o'clock it emerge{| into an open coun-
try, from which could be seen an artillery engage-
ment on the left between the Union troops imder
Hunter, and the insurgents commanded bv Evans.

132

OUTLINE HISTORY OF TUB STATE OF MINNESOTA.

An hour after this the regiment reached a branch
of Bull Run, and, as the men were thirsty, began
to fill their empty caijteens. While thus occu-
pied, and as the St. Paul company under Captain
Wilkins was crossing the creek, an order came
for Colonel Gorman to hurry up the regiment.

The men now moved rapidly through the wood-
land of a hillside, stepping over some of the dead
of Burnside's command, and hearing the cheers
of victory caused by the pressing back of the in-
surgent troops. At length the regiment, passing
Sudley church, reached a clearing in the woods,
and halted, while other troops of Franklin's brig-
ade passed up the Sudley church road. Next
they passed through a narrow strip of woods and
occupied the cultivated field from which Evans and
Bee of the rebel army had been driven by the
troops of Bumside, Sykes and others of Himter's
division.

Crossing the Sudley road, Eickett's battery un-
limbered and began to fii'e at the enemy, whose
batteries were between the Eobinson and Henry
house on the south side of the Warrenton turn-
pike, while the First Minnesota passed to the right.
After firing about twenty minutes the battery was
ordered to go down the Sudley road nearer the
enemy, where it was soon disabled. The First
Minnesota was soon met by rebel troops advancing
under cover of the woods, who supposed the reg-
iment was a part of the confederate army.

Javan' B. Irvine, then a private citizen af St.
Paul, on a visit to the regiment, now a cajitain in
the United States army, wrote to his wife: "We
liad just formed when we were ordered to kneel
and fire upon the rebels who were advancing under
the cover of the woods. We fired two volleys
through the woods, when we were ordered to rally
in the woods in our rear, which all did except the
first platoon of our own company, which did not
hear the order and stood their ground. The
rebels soon came out from their shelter between
us and their battery. Colonel Gorman mistook
them for friends and told the men to cease firing
upon them, although they had three secession
Hags directly in front of their advancing columns.
This threw our men into confusion, some declaring
they are friends; others that they are enemies. I
called to our boys to give it to them, and fired
away myself as rapidly as possible. The rebels
themselves mistook us for Georgia troojjs, and
waved their hands at us to cease firing. I had
just loaded to give them another charge, when a

lieutenant-colonel of a Mississippi regiment rode
out between us, waving his hand for us to stop
firing. I rushed up to him and asked 'If he was a
secessionist?' He said 'He was a Mississippian.'
I presented my bayonet to his breast and com-
manded him to surrender, which he did after some
hesitation. I ordered him to dismount, and led
him and his horse from the field, in the meantime
disarming him of his sword and pistols. I led him
off about two miles and placed him in charge of
a lieutenant with an escort of cavalry, to be taken
to General McDowell. He requested the officer to
allow me to accompany him, as he desired my pro-
tection. The officer assured him that he would
be safe in their hands, and he rode off. I retained
his pistol, but sent his sword with him." In an-
other letter, dated the 25th of July, Mr. Irvine
writes from Washington: "I have just returned
from a visit to Lieutenant-Colonel Boone, who is
confined in the old Capitol. I found him in a
pleasant room on the third story, surrounded by
several southern gentlemen, among whom was
Senator Breckenridge. He was glad to see me,
and ajspeared quite well after the fatigue of the
battle of Sunday. There were with me Chaplain
NeQl, Captains Wilkin and Colville, and Lieuten-
ant Coates, who were introduced."

The mistake of several regiments of the Union
troops in supj^osing that the rebels were friendly
regiments led to confusion and disaster, which was
followed by panic.

SECOND REGIMENT.

The Second Minnesota Regiment which had
been organized in July, 1861, left Fort Snelling
on the eleventh of October, and proceeding to
Louisville, was incorijorated with the Army of the
Ohio. Its officers were: Horatio P. Van Cleve,
Colonel. Promoted Brigader General March 21,
1862. James George, Lt. Colonel. Promoted
Colonel; resigned June 29, 1864. Simeon Smith,
Major. Appointed Paymaster U. S. A., Septem-
ber, 1861. Alexander Wilkin, Major. Colonel
9th Minnesota, August, 1862. Reginald Bingham,
Surgeon. Dismissed May 27, 1862. M. C. Toll-
man, AssH Surgeon. Promoted Surgeon. Timothy
Cressey, Chaplain. Resigned October, 10, 1863.
Daniel D. Heaney, Adjutant. Promoted Cai^tam
Company C. William S. Grow, Quarter Master,
Resigned, January, 1863.

SHARP SHOOTERS.

A company of Sharp Shooters under Captain
F. Peteler, proceeding to Washington, on the 11th.

MINNESOTA DURING THE REBELLION.

133

of October was assigned as Co., A, '2J Regiment
U. S. Sharp Shooters.

THIKD BEOIMENT.

On the 16th of November, 1861, the Third Eeg-
iment left the State and went to Tennessee. Its
officers were : Heni'y C. Lester, Colonel. Dismissed
Decmber 1, 18G2. Benjamin F. Smith, Lt. Colonel.
Resigned May 9, 1862. John A. Hadley, Major.
Resigned May 1, 1862. R. C Olin, Adjutant.—
Resigned. O. H, Blakely, Adjutant. Levi Butler.
Surgeon. — Resigned September 30, 1863. Francis
Millipan, AssH Surgeon. — Resigned April 8, 1862.
Channcey Hobart, Chaplain. — Resigned June 2,
1863.

AETIIiLEBY.

In December, the First Battery of Light Artil-
lery left the State, and reported for duty at St.
Louis, Missouri

CAVALRY.

During the fall, three companies of cavalry
were organized, and proceeded to Benton Barracks,
Missouri. Ultimately they were incorporated
with the Fifth Iowa Cavalry.

MOVEMENTS OF MINNESOTA TROOPS IN 1862.

On Sunday the 19th of January, 1862, not far
from Somerset and about forty miles from DanviUe,
Kontnoky, about 7 o'clock in the morning. Col.
Van Cleve was ordered to meet the enemy. In
ten minutes the Second Minnesota regiment was
in line of battle. After supporting a battery for
some time it continued the march, and pro-
ceeding half a mile found the enemy behind the
fences, and a hand to hand fight of thirty minutes
ensued, resulting in the flight of the rebels. Gen.
Zollicoffer and Lieut. Peyton, of the insurgents
were of the killed.

BATTLE OF PITTSBURG LANDING.

On Sunday, the 6th of Ajsril occurred the battle
of Pittsburg Landing, in Tennessee. Minnesota
was there represented by the First Minnesota bat-
tery, Captain Emil Munch, which was attached to
the division of General Prentiss. Captain Munch
was severely wounded. One of the soldiers of his
command wrote as follows: "Sunday morning,
just after Tjreakfast, an officer rode up to ourCais-
tain's tent and told him to prepare for action. *
* * * * ■^e wheeled into battery and opened
ujDon them. * * * The first time we wheeled
one of our drivers was killed; his name was Colby
Stinson. Haywood's horse was shot at almost the
same time. The second time we came into bat-
tery, the captain was wounded in the leg, and his

hor.se shot under him. They charged on our guns
and on the sixth platoon howitzer, but they got
hold of the wrong end of the gun. We then lim-
bered up and retreated within the line of battle.
While we were retreating they shot one of our
horses, when we had to stop and take him out,
which let the rebels come up rather close. When
within about six rods they fired and wounded
Corporal Davis, breaking his leg above the ankle."
As the artillery driver was picked up, after be-
ing fatally wounded, at the beginning of the fight
he said, 'Don't stop with me. Stand to your guns
like men,' and expired.

FIRST REGIMENT AT YORKTOWN SIEGE.

Early in April the First regiment as a
part of Sedgwick's division of the Army
of the Potomac arrived near Torktown,
Virginia, and was stationed between the
Warwick and York rivers, near Wynnes' mill. Dur-
ing the night of the 30th of May, there was a con-
tinual discharge of cannon by the enemy, but just
before daylight the next day, which was Sunday,
it ceased and the pickets cautiously apj)roaching
discovered that the rebels had abandoned their
works. The next day the regiment was encamped
on the field where ComwalUs surrendered to Wash-
ington.

BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS.

While Gorman's brigade was encamped at
Goodly Hole oreek, Hanover county, Virginia, an
order came about three o'clock of the afternoon of
Saturday, the thirty-first day of May to
to cross the Chicahominy and engage in
the battle which had been going on for a few
hours. In a few minutes the First Minnesota was
on the march, by a road which had been cut
through the swamp, and crossed the Chicahominy
by a rude bridge of logs, with both ends com-
pletely submerged by the stream swollen by re-
cent rains, and rising every hour.

About 5 o'clock in the afternoon the First Min-
nesota as the advance of Gorman's brigade reached
the scene of action, and soon the whole brigade
with Kirby's battery held the enemy in check at
that point.

The next day they were in line of battle but not
attacked. Upon the field ajound a country farm
house they encamjjed.

BATTLE OP SAVAGE STATION.

Just' before daylight on Sunday, June the 29th,
Sedgwick's, to which the First Minnesota belonged,
left the position that had been held since the bat-

134

OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.

tie of Fair Oaks, and had not proceeded more than
two miles before they met the enemy in a peach
orchard, and after a sharp conflict compelled
them to retire. At about 5 o'clock the afternoon
of the same day they again met the enemy at
Savage Station, and a battle lasted till dark. Bur-
gess, the color sergeant who brought ofl" the flag
from the Bull Kuu battle, a man much respected,
was killed instantly.

On Monday, between White Oak swamp and
Willis' church, the regiment had a skirmish, and
Captain Colville was sligJitly wounded. Tuesday
was the 1st of July, and the regiment was drawn
up at the dividing line of Henrico and Charles
City county, in sight of James river, and although
much exposed to the enemy's batteries, was not
actually engaged. At midnight the order was
given to move, and on the morning of the 2d of
July they tramped upon the wheat fields at Har-
rison's Landing, and in a violent rain encamped.

MOVEMENTS OP OTHER TROOPS.

The Fourth regiment left Fort Snelling for Ben-
ton barracks, Missouri, on the 21st of April, 1862,
with the following officers:

John B. Sanborn, Coloiid — Promoted brigadier
general.

Minor T. Thomas, Lt. Colonel — Made colonel of
8th regiment August 24, 1862.

A. Edward Welch, Major — Died at Nashville
February 1, 1861.

John M. Thompson, AdjutanX — Captain Com-
pany E, November 20, 1862.

Thomas B. Hunt, Qaartermaster — Made captain
and A. Q. M. April 9, 1863.

John H. Murphy, Surgeon — Resigned July 9,
1863.

Elisha W. Cross, Assistant Surgeon — Promoted
July 9, 1863.

Asa S. Fiske, Ohaplain — Eesigned Oct. 3, 1864.

FIFTH REGIMENT.

The Second Miuuesota Battery, Cajitain W. A.
Hotchkiss, left the same day as the Fourth regi-
ment. On the 13th of May the Fifth regiment
departed from Fort Snelling with the following
officers: Eudolph Borgesrode, colonel, resigned
August 31, 1862; Lucius F. Hubbard, lieutenant-
colonel, promoted colonel August 31, 1862, elected
governor of Minnesota 1881; WiUiam B. Gere,
major, promoted lieutenant-colonel; Alpheus E.
French, adjutant, resigned March 19, 1883; W.
B. McGrorty, quartermaster, resigned September
15, 1864; F. B. Etheridge, surgeon, resigned Sep-

tember 3, 1862 ; V. B. Kennedy, assistant surgeon,
promoted surgeon; J. F. Chaffee, chaplain, re-
signed June 23, 1862; John Ireland, chaplain, re-
signed April, 1863.

Before the close of May the Second, Fourth and
Fifth regiments were in conflict with the insur-
gents, near Corinth, Mississippi.

BATTLE OF lUKA.

On the 18th of Sej^tember, Colonel Sanborn,
acting as brigade commander in the Third divis-
ion of the Army of the Mississippi, moved his
troops, including the Fourth Minnesota regiment,
to a position on the Tuscumbia road, and formed
a line of battle.

BATTLE OP CORINTH.

In a few days the contest began at luka, culmi-
nated at Corinth, and the Fourth and Fifth regi-
ments and First Minnesota battery were engaged.

On the 3d of October, about five o'clock. Colo-
nel Sanborn advanced his troops and received a
severe fire from the enemy. Captain Mowers
beckoned with his sword during the firing, as it
he wished to make an important communication,
but before Colonel Sanborn reached his side he
tell, having been shot through the head. Before
daylight on the 4th of October the Fifth regiment,
under command of Colonel L. F. Hubbard, was
aroused by the discharge of artillery. Later in
the day it became engaged with the enemy, and
drove the rebels out of the streets of Corinth. A
private writes: "When we charged on the enemy
General Bosecrans asked what little regiment that
was, and on being told said 'The Fifth Minnesota
had saved the town.' Major Coleman, General
Stanley's assistant adjutant-general, was with us
when he received his bullet-wound, and his last
words were, "Tell the general that the Fifth Min-
nesota fought nobly. God bless the Fifth.' "

OTHER MOVEMENTS.

A few days after the fight at Corinth the Sec-
ond Minnesota battery. Captain Hotchkiss, did
good service with Buell's army at Perryville, Ky.

In the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., on the
13th of December, the Fkst Minnesota regiment
supported Kirbey's battery as it had done at Fair
Oaks.

THIRD REGIMENT HUMILIATED.

On the morning of the 13th of July, near Mur-
freesboro, Ky., the Third regiment was in thejjres-
ence of the enemy. The colonel called a council
of officers to decide whether they should fight,
and the first vote was in the affirmative, but an-

TUB SIOUX OUTBHEAK.

135

other vote being taken it was decided tosurreuder.
Lieutenant-Colonel C. W. Griggs, Captains An-
drews and Hoyt voted each time to fight. In
September the regiment returned to Blinnosota,
humiliated by the want of good judgment upou
the part of their colonel, and was assigned to duty
in the Indian country.

THE SIODX OUTBEEAK.

The year 18G2 will always be remembered as the
period of the uprising of the Sioux, and the
slaughter of the unsuspecting inhabitants of the
scattered settlements in the Minnesota valley.
Elsewhere in this work will be found a detailed ac-
count of the savage cruelties. In this place we
only give the narrative of the events as related by
Alexander Kamsey, then the governor of Min-
nesota.

"My surprise may therefore be judged, when, on
August 19th, while busy in my office, Mr. Wm. H.
Shelley, one of our citizens who had been at the
agency just before the outbreak, came in, dusty
and exhausted with a fifteen hours' ride on horse-
back, bearing dispatches to me of the most start-
ling character from Agent Galbraith, dated Au-
gust 18th, stating that the same day the Sious at
the lower agency had risen, murdered the settlers,
and were plundering and burning all the build-
ings in that vicinity. As I believe no particulars
regarding the manner in which the news were first
conveyed to me has been pubUshed, it might be
mentioned here. Mr. Shelley had been at Ked-
wood agency, and other places in that vicinity,
with the concurrence of the agent, recruiting men
for a company, which was afterwards mustered into
the Tenth regiment under Captain James O'Gor-
man, formerly a clerk of Nathan Myrick, Esq., a
trader at Redwood, and known as the Eenville
Rangers. He (Shelley) left Redwood, he states,
on Saturday, August 16th, with forty-five men,
bound for Fort Snelling. Everything was quiet
there then. It may be well to note here that one
of the supposed causes of the outbreak was the
fact that the Indians had been told that the gov-
ernment needed soldiers very badly, that many
white men had been killed, and that all those in
that locality were to be marched south, leaving
the state unprotected. Seeing the men leave on
Saturday may have strengthened this belief. Stop-
ping at Fort Ridgely that night, the EenviUe
Rangers the next day continued their march, and
on Monday afternoon arrived at St. Peter. Gal-
braith was with them. Here he was overtaken by

a messenger who had ridden down from Red-
wood that day, hearing the news of the terrible
occurrences of that morhiug. This messenger was
Mr. — ■ Dickinson, who formerly kept a hotel at
Henderson, but was living on the reservation at
that time. He was in great distress about the
safety of his family, and returning at once was
killed by the Indians.

"When Agent Galbraith received the news, Mr.
Shelley states, no one would at first believe it,
as suoh rumors are frequent in the Indian country.
Mr. Dickinson assured him cjf the truth with such
earnestness, however, that his accoimt was finally
credited and the Renville Rangers were at once
armed and sent back to Fort Ridgely, where they
did good service in protecting the post.

"Agent Galbraith at once prepared the dispatches
to me, giving the terrible news and calling for aid.
No one coidd be found who would volunteer to
cari'y the message, and Mr. Shelley offered to
come himself. He had great difficulty in getting
a horse; but finally secured one, and started for
St. Paul, a distance of about ninety miles, about
dark. He had not ridden a horse for some years,
and as may be well supposed by those who have
had experience in amateur horseback-riding, suf-
fered very much from soreness; but rode all night
at as fast a gate as his horse could carry him,
sjDreading the startling news as he went down the
Minnesota valley. Reaching St. Paul about 9 A.
M., much exhausted he made his way to the capitol,
and laid before me his massage. The news soon
sjjread through the city and created intense ex-
citement.

"At that time, of course, the full extent and
threatening nature of the outbreak could not be
determined. It seemed serious, it is true, but in
view of the riotous conduct of the Indiana at
Yellow Medicine a few days before, was deemed a
repetition of the emeute, which would be simply
local ih its character, and easily quelled by a small
force and good management on the part of the
authorities at the agency.

"But these hopes, (that the outbreak was a local
one) were soon rudely dispelled by the arrival, an
hour or two later, of another courier, Cieorge C.
Whitcomb, of Forest City, bearing the news of
the murders at Acton. Mr, Whitcomb had ridden
to Ohaska or Carver on Monday, and came down
from there on the small steamer i\iitelo23e, reaching
the city an hour or two after Mi\ SheUey.

"It now became evident that the outbreak was

136

OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.

more general than had at first been credited, and
that prompt and vigorous measures would be re-
quired for its suppression and the protection of
the inhabitants on the frontier. I at once pro-
ceeded to Fort Snelling and consulted with the
authorities there (who had already received dis-
patches from Fort Ridgely) regarding the out-
break and the best means to be used to meet the
danger.

"A serious difficulty met us at the outstart. The
only troops at Fort Snelling were the raw recruits
who had been hastUy gathered for the five regi-
ments. Most of them were without arms or suit-
able clothing as yet; some not mustered in or
properly officered, and those who had arms had
no fised ammunition of the proper calibre. We
were without transportation, quartermaster's or
commissary stores, ;ind, in fact, devoid of anything
with which to commence a campaign against two
or three thousand Indians, well mounted and
armed, with an abundance of ammunition and
provisions captured at the agency, and flushed
with the easy victories they had just won over the
unarmed settlers. Finally four companies were
fully organized, armed and uniformed, and late at
night were got off on two small steamers, the An-
telope and Pomeroy, for Shakopee, from which
poiat they would proceed overland. It was ar-
ranged that others should foUow as fast as they
could be got ready.

"This expedition was placed under the manage-
ment of H. H. Sibley, whose long residence in the
country of the Sioux had given him great influ'
ence with that people, and it was hoped that the
chiefs and older men were stiU sensible to reason,
and that with his diplomatic abiUty he could bring
the powers of these to check the mad and reck-
less disposition of the "young men," and that if
an opportunity for this failed that his knowledge
of Indian war and tactics would enable him to
overcome them in battle. And I think the' result
indicated the wisdom of my choice.

•'I at once telegraphed all the facts to President
Lincoln, and also telegraphed to Governor Solo-
mon, of Wisconsin, for one hundi'ed thousand cart-
ridges, of a calibre to fit our rifles, and the requi-
sition was kindly honored by that patriotic officer,
and the ammunition was on its way next day.
The governors of Iowa, Illinois and Michigan were
also asked for arms and ammunition.

During the day other messengers arrived from
Fort Kidgely, St. Peter and other points on

the upper Minnesota, with intelhgence of the
most painful character, regarding the extent and
ferocity of the massacre. The messages all pleaded
earnestly for aid, and intimated that without
speedy reinforcements or a supply of arms. Fort
Eidgely, New Ulm, St. Peter and other points
would undoubtedly fall into the hands of the
savages, and thousands of peraons be butchered
The principal danger seemed to be to the settle-
ments in that region, as they were in the vicinity
of the main body of Indians congregated to await
the payments. Comers arrived from various
points every few hours, and I spent the whole
night answering their calls as I could.

"Late that night, probably after midnight, Mr.
J. Y. Branham, Sr., arrived from Forest City, after
a forced ride on horseback of 100 miles, bearing
the following message:

***** **♦

"FoKEST CiTT, Aug. 20, 1862, 6 o'clock a. m.

His Excellency, Alexander Ramsey, Governor,
etc. — Sir: In advance of the news from the Min-
nesota river, the Indians have opened on us in
Meeker. It is warl A few propose to make a
stand here. Send us, forthwith, some good guns
and ammunition to match. Yours truly,

A. C. Smith.

Seventy-five stands of Springfield rifles and sev-
eral thousand roimds of ball cartridges were at
once issued to George C. Whitcomb, to be used in
arming a company which I directed to be raised
and enrolled to use these arms; and Gen. Sibley
gave Mr. Whitcomb a captain's commission for
the company. Transportation was furnished him,
and the rifles were in Forest City by the morning
of the 23d, a portion having been issued to a
company at Hutchinson on the way up. A com-
pany was organized and the arms placed in their
hands, and I am glad to say they did good service
in defending the towns of Forest City and Hutch-
inson on more than one occasion, and many of the
Indians are known to have been killed with them.
The conduct and bravery of the courageous men
who guarded those towns, and resisted the assaults
of the red savages, are worthy of being commemo-
rated on the pages of our state history."

MOVEMENT OF MINNESOTA REGIMENTS 1863.

On the 3d of April, 1863, the Fourth regiment
was opposite Grand Gulf, Mississippi, and in a
few days they entered Port Gibson, and here Col.
Sanborn resumed the command of a brigade. On
the llth of May the regiment was at the battle

BATTLE OF GETTTSBURO.

137

of Raymond, and on the 14th participated in the
battle of Jackson. A newspaper corrc»])ondent
writes: "Captain L. B. Martin, of the Fonrth
IMinnesota, A. A. G. to Colonel Sanborn, seized the
tlag of the 59th Indiana infantry, rode rapidly be-
yond the skirmishers, (Co. H, Fourth Minnesota,
Lt. Geo. A. Clark) and raised it over the dome of
tJie capitol" of Mississippi. On the 16th the regi-
ment was in the battle of Champion Hill, and four
days later in the siege of Vicksburg.

FIFTH RE3IMENT.

The Fifth regiment reached Grand Gulf on the
7th of May and was in the battles of Raymond
and Jackson, and at the rear of Vicksburg.

BATTLE OF GETTrSBURG.

The First regiment reached Gettysburg, Pa.,
on the 1st of Julyj and the next morning Han-
cock's corps, to which it was attached, moved to a
ridge, the right resting on Cemetery Hill, the left
near Sugar Loaf Mountain. The line of battle
was a semi-ellipae, and Gibbon's division, to
which the regiment belonged occupied the
center of the curve nearest the enemy. On the
2d of July, about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Gen-
eral Hancock rode up to Colonel Colvill*, and
ordered him to charge upon the advancing foe.
The muzzles of the opposing muskets were not far
distant and the conflict w'as terrific. When the
sun set Captain IMuller and Lieutenant Farrer were
killed; Captain Periam mortally wounded; Colonel
Colville, Lieut-Colonel Adams, Major Downie,
Adjutant Peller, Lieutenants Sinclair, Demerest,
DeGray and Boyd, severely wounded.

On the 3d of July, about 10 o'clock in the morn-
ing, the rebels opened a terrible artillery fire,
which lasted until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and
then the infantry was suddenly advanced, and
there was a fearful contUct, resulting in the defe;it
of the enemy. The loss on this day was also very
severe. Captain Messick, in command of the
First regiment, after the wounding of Colville,
and Adams and Downie, was killed. Captain FarreU
was mortally wounded, and Lieutenants Harmon,
Heffelfinger, and May were wounded. Color-Ser-
geant E. P. Perkins was wounded on the 2d of
July. On the 3d of July Corporal Dehn, of the
color guard was shot through the hand and the
flag stafi' cut in two. Corporal H. D. O'Brien
seized the flag with the broken staff and waving
it over his head rushed up to the muzzles of the
enemy's muskets and was wounded in the hand,
but Corporal W. N. Irvine instantly grasped the

flag and hold it up. Marshall Sherman of com-
pany E, captured the flag of the 28th Virginia
regiment.

THE SECOND EEGIMENT.

The Second regiment, under Colonel George,
on the 19tli of September fought at Chicamauga,
and in the first day's fight, eight were killed and
forty-one wovmded. On the 25th of November,
Lieutenant-Colonel Bishop in command, it moved
against the enemy at Mission Ridge, and of the
seven non-commissioned officers in the color guard,
sis were killed or wounded.

The Fourth regiment was also in the vicinity of
Chattanooga, but did not suffer any loss.

EVENTS OF 1864.
The Third regiment, which after the Indian ex-
pedition had been ordered to Little Rock, Arkan-
sas, on the 30th of March, 1864, had an engage-
ment near Augusta, at Fitzhugh's Woods. Seven
men were killed and sixteen wounded. General
C. C. Andrews, in command of the force, had his
horse killed by a bullet.

FIEST KEGIMENT.

The First regiment after three year's service
was mustered out at Fort Snelling, and on the
28th of April, 1864, held its last dress jjarade, iu
the presence of Governor Miller, who had once
been their lieutenant-colonel and commander. In
May some of its members re-enlisted as a battal-
ion, and again joined the Army of the Potomac.

SIXTH, SEVENTH, NINTH AND TENTH REGIMENTS.

The Sixth regir^^nt, which had been in the ex-
pedition against the Sioux, in Jiuie, 1864, was as-
signed to the 16th army corj)s, as was the Seventh,
Ninth and Tenth, and on the 13th of July, near
Tupelo, Mississippi, the Seventh, Ninth and Tenth,
with portions of the Fifth, were in battle. Dur-
ing the first day's fight Surgeon Smith, of the
Seventh, was fatally wounded through the neck.
On the morning of the 14th the battle began in
earnest, and the Seventh, under Colonel W. R.
Marshall, made a successful charge. Colonel Al-
exander Wilkin, of the Ninth, was shot, and fell
dead from his horse.

THE FOUKTH KEGIMENT.

On the 15th of October the Fourth regiment
were engaged near Altoona, Georgia.

THE EIGHTH KEGIMENT.

On the 7th of December the Eighth was in bat-
tle near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and fourteen
were killed and seventy-six wounded.

138

OUTLINE HISTORY OF TBE STATE OF MINNESOTA.

BATTLE OF NASHVILLE.

During the mouth of December the Fifth,
Seventh, Ninth and Tenth regiments did good ser-
vice before Nashville. Colonel L. F. Hubbard, of
the Fifth, commanding a brigade, after he had
been knocked off his horse by a ball, rose, and on
foot led his command over the enemy's works.
Colonel W. B. Marshall, of the Seventh, in com-
mand of a brigade, made a gallant charge, and
Lieutenant-colonel S. P. Jennison, of the Tenth,
one of the first on the enemy's parapet, received a
severe wound.

MINNESOTA TBOOPS IN 1865.

In the spring of 1865 the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh,
Ninth and Tenth regiments were engaged in the
siege of Mobile. The Second and Fourth regi-
ments and First battery were with General Sher-
man in his wonderful campaign, and the Eighth
in the month of March was ordered to North Car-
olina. The battalion, the remnant of the First,
was with the Ai'my of the Potomac untU Lee's sur-
render.

Arrangements were soon perfected for disband-
ing the Union army, and before the close of the
summer all the Minnesota regiments that had been
on duty were discharged.

LiST OF MINNESOTA REGIMENTS AND TROOPS.

First, Organized April, ISfil, Discharged May 5, 1864.

Second " July " '" July 11. 1H05.

Third " Oct. " " Sept.

Fourth " Dec. " " Aug. "

Fifth " May, 1852, " Sept.

Sixth " Aug. " " Aug.

Seventh " " "

Eighth " " " "

Ninth "

Tenth

Eleventh " " 1361

ARTIXIiERY.

First Kegiment, Heavy, May, 1861. Discharged Sept. 1865.

BATTERIES.

First, October, 1831. Discharged June, 1885.
Second, Dec. " " July "

Third, Feb. 1863 " Feb. 1860.

CAVALRY.

Rangers, March, 1863. Discharged Deo. 1863.
Brackett's, Oct. 1801. " June 1866.

2dKeg't, July, W)3. " "

SHARPSUOOTEBS,

Company A, organized in 1861.
B, •' " 1862.

CHAPTER XXV.

STATE AFFAIRS FROM A. D. 18G2 to A. D. 1882.

In consequence of the Sioux outbreak, Gov-
ernor Ramsey called an extra session of the legis-
lature, which on the 9th of September, 1862, as-
sembled.

As long as Indian hostilities continued, the flow
of immigration was checked, and the agricultural
interests suffered; but notwithstanding the dis-
turbed condition of affairs, the St. Paul & Pacifio
Railroad Company laid ten miles of rail, to the
Falls of St. Anthony.

FIFTH STATE LEGISLATURE.

During the fall of 1862 Alexander Ramsey had
again been elected governor, and on the 7th of
January, 1863, delivered the annual message before
the Fifth state legislature. During this session he
was elected to fill the vacancy that would take
place in the United States senate by the expira-
tion of the term of Henry M. Rice, who had been
a senator from the time that Minnesota was organ-
ized as a state. After Alexander Ramsey became a
senator, the lieutenant-governor, Henry A. Swift,
becamp governor by constitutional provision.

GOVERNOR STEPHEN A. MILLER

At the election during the fall of 1863, Stephen
A. Miller, colonel of the Seventh regiment, was
elected governor by a majority of about seven
thousand votes, Henry T. Welles being his com-
petitor, and representative of the democratic party.
During Governor Miller's administration, on the
10th of November, 1865, two Sioux chiefs, Little
Six and Medicine Bottle, were himg at Fort Snel-
ling, for participation in the 1862 massacra

GOVERNOR W. E. MARSHALL.

In the fall of 1865 William R. Marshall, who
had succeeded his predecessor as colonel of the
Seventh regiment, was nominated by the republi-
can party for governor, and Henry M. Rice by the
democratic party. The former was elected by
about five thousand majority. In 1867 Governor
Marshall was again nominated for the ofEce, and
Charles E. Flandrau was the democratic candidate,
and he was again elected by about the same major-
ity as before.

GOVERNOR HOEAOB AtJSTIN.

Horace Austin, the judge of the Sixth judicial
district, was in 1869 the republican candidate for
governor, and received 27,238 votes, and George
L. Otis, the democratic candidate, 25,401 votes.
In 1871 Governor Austin was again nominated,

nOCKT MOUNTAIN LOCUST.

139

and received 45,883 votes, while 30,092 ballots
were cast, for Winthrop Young, the democratic
candidate. The impoitant event of his adminis-
tration was tho veto of an act of the legislature
giving the internal improvement lands to certain
railway corporations.

Toward the close of Governor Austin's adminis-
tration, WiUiam Seeger, the state treasurer, was im-
jjeached for a wrong use of public funds. He
plead guilty and was disqualified from holding
any office of honor, trust or profit in the state.

GOVERNOR OnSHMAN K. D.WIS.

The republicans in the fall of 1873 nominated
Cushman K. Davis for governor, who received
40,7il votes, while 3.5,245 ballots were thrown for
the democratic candidate, Ara Barton.

The summer that he was elected the locust
made its appearance in the land, and in certain
regions devoured every green thing. One of the
first acts of Governor Davis was to relieve the
farmers who had suffered from the visitation of
locusts. The legislature of 1874 voted relief, and
the people of the state voluntarily contributed
clothing and provisions.

During the administration of Governor Davis the
principle was settled that there was nothing in the
charter of a railroad comj)any limiting the power
of Minnesota to regulate the charges for freight
and travel.

WOMEN ALLOWED TO VOTE FOR SCHOOL OFFICERS.

At the election in November, 1875, the people
sanctioned the following amendment to the con-
stitution: "The legislature may, notwithstanding
anything in this article, [Article 7, section 8] pro-
vide by law that any woman at the age of
twenty-one years and upwards, may vote at any
election held for the purpose of chosingany officer
of schools, or upon any measure relating to schools,
and may also provide that any such woman shall
be eligible to hold any office solely pertaining to
the management of schools."

GOVERNOR J. S. PILLSBDKX.

John S. Pillsbury, the republican nominee, at
the election of November, 1875,. received 47,073
for governor while his democratic competitor, D.
L. Buell obtained 35,275 votes. Governor Pillsbury
in his inaugural message, delivered on the 7th of
January, 1876, urged upon the legislature, as his
predecessors had done, the importance of provid-
ing for the payment of the state raOroad bonds.

RAID ON NORTHFIBLD BANK.

On the 0th of September, 187G, the quiet citi-

zens of Minnesota were excited by a telegrapliio
announcement that a band of outlaws from Mis-
souri, had, at mid-day, ridden into the town of
Northfiefd, recklessly discharging firearms, and
proceeding to the bank, killed the acting cashier
in an attempt to secure its funds. Two of the
desperadoes were shot in the streets, by firm resi-
dents, and in a brief period, parties from the
neighboring towns were in pursuit of tho assassins.
After a long and weary search four were sur-
rounded in a swamp in Watonwan county, and one
was killed, and the others cajstured.

At the November term of the fifth district court
held at Faribault, the criminals were arraigned,
and under an objebtionable statute, by pleading
guilty, received an imjirisonment for lite, instead
of the merrited death of the gallows.

THE BOCKY MOUNTAIN LOODST.

As early as 1874 in some of the counties of
Minnesota, the Kocky Mountain locust, of the
same genus, but a different species from the Eu-
rope and Arctic locust, driven eastward by the
failure of the succulent grasses of the upper Mis-
souri valleytappeared as a short, stout-legged, ds-
vouring army, and in 1875 the myriad of eggs
deposited were hatched out, and the insects born
within the state, flew to new camping grounds, to
begin their devastations.

In the spring the locust appeared in some coun-
ties, but by an ingenious contrivance of sheet
iron, covered with tar, their numbers were speedily
reduced. It was soon discovered that usually
but one hatching of eggs took place in the same
district, and it was evident that the crop of 1877
would be remunerative. When the national
Thanksgiving was observed on the 26th of No-
vember nearly 40,000,000 bushels of wheat had
been garnered, and many who had sown in tears,
devoutly thanked Him who had given plenty, and
meditated upon the words of the Hebrew Psalm-
ist, "He maketh peace within thy borders and
tilleth thee with the finest of the wheat."

GOVERNOR PILLSBURT's SECOND TERM.

At the election in November, 1877, Governor
Pillsbury was elected a second time, receiving
59,701, while 39,247 votes were cast forWilli.iTU L.
Banning, the nominee of the democratic party.
At this election the people voted to adopt two im-
portant amendments to the constitution.

BIENNIAL SESSION OF THE LEGISL.\TURE.

One provided for a biennial, in place of the an-
nual session of the legislature, in these words:

140

OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.

"The legislature of the state shall consist ot a
senate and house of representatives, who shall
meet biennially, at the seat of government of the
state, at such time as shall be prescribed by law,
but no session shall exceed the term of sixty
days."

CHItlSTIAN INSTKUCTION EXCLUDED FKOM SCHOOLS.

The other amendment excludes Christian and
other religious instructions from all of the edu-
cational institutions of Minnesota in these words:
"But in no case, shall the moneys derived as afore-
said, or any portion thereof, or any public moneys,
or property be appropriated or used for the sup-
port of schools wherein the distinctive doctrines,
or creeds or tenets of any particular Christian or
other religious sect, are promulgated or taught."

IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGE PAGE.

The personal unpopularity of Sherman Page,
judge of the Tenth judicial district, culminated by
the house of representatives of th§ legislature of
1878, presenting articles, impeaching him, for con-
duct unbecoming a judge : the senate sitting as a
court, examined the charges, and on the 22d of
June, he was ao quitted.

GOVEENOB PILLSBOBY's THIED TERM.

The republican party nominated John S. Pills-
bury for a third term as governor, and at the elec-
tion in November, 1879, he received 57,471 votes,
while 42,444 were given for Edmund Rice, the rep-
resentative of the democrats.

With a jjersistence which won the respect of tiio
opponents of the measure. Governor Pillsbury con-
tinued to advocate the payment of the state rail-
road bonds. The legislature of 1870 submitted an
amendment to the constitution, by which the "in-
ternal improvement lands" were to be sold and the
proceeds to be used in cancelling the bonds, by the
bondholders agreeing to purchase the lands at a
certain sum per acre. The amendment was
ado]ited by a vote of the people, but few of the
bondliolders accepted the )5rovisions, and it failed
to effect the proposed end. The legislature of
1871 passed an act for a commission to make an
equitable adjustment of the bonds, but at a special
election in May it was rejected.

The legislature of 1877 passed an act for calling
ui the railroad bonds, and issueiug new bonds,
which was submitted to the people at a special
election on the 12th of June, and not accepted.

The legislature of 1878 proposed a constitu-
tional amendment offering the internal imjirove-
ment lands in exchange for railroad bonds, and the

people at the November election disapproved of the
proposition. Against the proposed amendment
45,669 votes were given, apd only 26,311 in favor.

FIKST BIENNIAL SESSION.

The first biennial session of the legislature con-
vened in January, 1881, and Governor Pillsbury
again, in his message of the 6th of January, held
up to the view of the legislators the dishonored
railroad bonds, and the duty of providing for their
settlement. In his argument he said:

"The liability having been voluntarily incurred,
whether it was wisely created or not is foreign to
the present question. It is certain that the obli-
gations were fairly given for which consideration
was fairly received; and the state having chosen
foreclosure as her remedy, and disposed of the
property thus acquired unconditionally as her own,
the conclusion seems to me irresistible that she
assumed the payment of the debt resting upon
such property by every principle of law and
equity. And, moreover, as the state promptly
siezed the railroad property and franchises, ex-
pressly to indemnify her for payment of the bonds,
it is difficult to see what possible justification there
can be for her refusal to make that payment."

The legislature in March passed an act for the
adjustment of these bonds, which being brought
before the supreme court of the state was declared
void. The court at the same time declared the
amendment to the state constitution, which pro-
hibited the settlement of these bonds, without tlie
assent of a popular vote, to be a violation of the
clause in the constitution of the United States of
America proliibiting the impairment of the obliga-
tion of contracts. This decision cleared the way
for final action. Governor Pillsbury called an
extra session of the legislature in October, 1881,
which accepted the offer of the bondholders, to be
satisfied with a partial payment, and made provis-
ions for cancelling bonds, the existence of which
for more than twenty years had been a humiliation
to a large majority of the thoughtful and intelli-
gent citizens of Minnesota, and a blot upon the
otherwise fair name ot the commonwealth.

GOVEENOB HUBBAED.

Ijucius F. Hubbard, who had been colonel of
the Fifth Regiment, was nominated by the repub-
lican party, and elected in November, 1881, by a
large majority over the democratic nominee, E,
W. Johnson. He entered upon his duties in Jan-
uary, 1882, about the time of the present chapter
going to press.

UlSTUUY Oi<' UTATK INSTlTiJ'noAti.

lil

CHAPTER XXVI.

OAPITOI/ PENITENTIARY UNIVERSITY — HEAP AND

DUMB INSTITUTION SCHOOL FOR BLIND AND

IMBEOHiES INSANE ASYLUMS STATE REFORM

SCHOOL NORMAL SCHOOLS.

Among the public buildiugs of Miiiuesota, the
capitol is entitled to priority of uutice.

TBMPORABY CAPITOLS.

Tu the absence of a capitol the first legislature
of the territory of Minnesota convened on Mon-
day, the 3d of September, 1819, at St. Paul, in
a log building covered with pine boards painted
white, two stories high, which was at the time a
public inn, afterward known as the Central Hous.-,
and kept by liobert Kennedy. It was situated on
the high bank of the river. The main portion of
the building was used for the library, secretary's
office, council chamber and home of representa-
tiyes' hall, while the annex wiis occupied as the
dining-room of the hotel, with rooms for travelers
in the story above. Both houses of the legisla-
ture met in the dining-haU to listen to the first
message of Governor Ramsey.

The permanent location of the capital was not
settled by the first legislature, and nothing could
be done toward the erection of a capitol with the
$20,000 appropriated by congress, as the perma-
nent seat of government had not been designated.
William E. Marshall, since governor, at that
time a member of the house of rejsresentatives
from St. Anthcmy, with others, -wished that jjoint
to be designated as the oaj)ital.

Twenty yeara after, in some remarks before thj
Old Settlers' Association of Hennepin county, Ex-
Governor Marshall alluded to this desire. He
said: "The original act [of congress] made
St. Paul the temporary capital, but provided that
the legislature might determine the permanent
capital. A bUl was introduced by the St. Paul
delegation to fix the permanent capital there. I
opposed it, endeavoring to have St. Anthony made
the seat of government. We succeeded in defeat-
ing the bill which sought to make St. Paul the
permanent capital, but we could not get througli
the bill fixing it at St. Anthony. So the question
remained open in regard to the permanent capital
until the next session in 1851, when a compromiio
was effected by which the capitol was to be at St.
Paul, the State University at St. Anthony, and

the Penitentiary at Stillwater. At an early day,
as well as now, caricatures and burlesques were
in vogue. Young William Randall, of St. Paul,
now deceased, who had some talent in the graphic
line, drew a picture of the efforts at capitol re-
moval. It was a building on wh(>pls, witli rojies
attached, at which I was pictured tugging, while
Brimson, Jackson, and the other St. Paul mem-
bers, were holding and checking the wheels, to
prevent my moving it, with humorous speeches
proceeding from the mouths of the parties to the
contest."

The second territorial legislature assembled on
the 2d of January, 1871, in a brick building three
stories in height, which stood on Third street in
St. Paul, on a portion of the site now occupied by
the Metropolitan Hotel, and before the session
closed it was enacted that St. Paul should be the
permanent capital, and commissioners were ap-
pointed to expend the congressional appropriation
for a capitol.

When the Third legislature assembled, in Jan-
uary, 1852, it was still necussary to occupy a
hired building known as Goodrich's block, which
stood on Third street just below the entrance of
the Merchants' Hotel. In 1853, the capitol not
being finished, the fourth legislature was obliged
to meet in a two-story brick building at the corner
of Third and Minnesota streets, aiid directly in the
rear of the wooden edifice where the first legisla-
ture in 1849 had met.

THE CAPITOL.

After it was decided, in 1851, that St. Paul was
to be the capital of the territory, Charles Bazille
gave the square bounded by Tenth, Eleventh,
Wabasha, and Cedar streets for the capitol.
A plan was adopted by the building commission-
ers, and the contract was taken by .Joseph Daniels,
a builder, who now resides in Washington as a
lawyer and claim agent. The building was of
brick, and at first had a front portico, supported
by four Ionic columns. It was two stories above
the basement, 139 feet long and nearly 54 feet in
width, with an extension in the rear 44x52 feet.
In July, 1853, it was so far completed as to allow
the governor to occupy the executive office.

SPEECHES OF EX-PEESIDENT FILLMOUE AND GEORGE
BANCROFT.

Before the war it was used not only by the legis-
lature, and for the offices of state, but was granted

142

OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE tiTATE OF MINNESOTA.

for important meetings. On the 8th of June a
large excursion party, under the auspices of the
builders of the Chicago & Kook Island railway,
arrived at St. Paul from the latter point, in five
large steamboats, and among the passengers were
some of the most distinguished scholars, statesmen
and divines of the republic. At night the popu-
lation of St. Paul filled the capitol, and the more
sedate listened in the senate chamber to the stir-
ring speeches of Ex-President FiUmore, and the
historian, George Bancroft, who had been secre-
tary of the navy, and minister plenipotentiary to
Great Britain, while at a later period of the night
the youthful joortion of the throng danced in the
reom then used by the supi'eme court.

The "Pioneer" of the next day thus alludes to
the occasion : " The ball in honor of the guests
of the excursion came off, in fine style. At an
early hour, the assembly having been called to or-
der, by the Hon. H. H. Sibley, a welcoming speech
was delivered by Governor Gorman, and replies
were made by Ex-President Fillmore and the
learned historian Bancroft. ******
The dancing then commenced and was kept up till
a late hour, when the party broke up, the guests
returning to the steamers, and our town's people
to their homes, all delighted with the rare enter-
tainment."

HON. W. H. SEWABD's SPEECH.

On the 8th of September, 18(j0, the capitol was
visited by Hon. William H. Seward. At mid-day
he met by invitation the members of the Histori-
cal Society in their rooms at the Capitol, and an
address of welcome was made by the Et. Bev.
Bishop Anderson, of Rupert's Land, to which he
made a brief response.

In the afternoon, crowds assembled in the
grounds to hsten to an expected speech, and every
window of the capitol was occupied with eager
faces. Standing upon the front steps, he ad-
dressed the audience in the language of a patriot
and a statesman, and among his eloquent utter-
ances, was the following prediction.

" Every step of my progress since I reached the
northern Misissippi has been attended by a groat
and agreeable surprise. I had, early, read the
works in which the geographers had described the
scenes upon which I was entering, and I liad
studied them in tlie finest productions of art, but
still the grandeur and hixiiriance of this region

had not been conceived. Those sentinel walls that
look down upon the Mississippi, seen as I beheld
them, in their abundant verdure, just when the
earhest tinge of the fall gave luxuriance to the
forests, made me think how much of taste and
genius had been wasted in celebrating the high-
lands of Scotland, before the civilized man had
reached the banks of the Mississijjpi; and the
beautiful Lake Pepin, seen at sunset, when the
autumnal green of the hills was lost in the deep
blue, and the genial atmosphere reflected the rays
of the sun, and the skies above seemed to move
down and spread their gorgeous drapery on the
scene, was a piece of upholstery, such as none
l)ut the hand of nature could have made, and it
was but the vestibule of the capitol of the state
of Minnesota. ***** *****
* * * Here is the place, the central place
where the agriculture of the richest region of
North America must pour its tribute. On the
east, all along the shore of Lake Superior, and
west, stretching in one broad plain, in a belt quite
across the continent, is a country where State after
State is to arise, and where the productions for the
support of hunlanity, in old and crowded States,
must be brouglit forth.

"Tliis is then a commanding field, but it is as
commanding va. regard to the destiny of this coun-
try and of this continent, as it is, in regard to the
commercial future, for power is not permanently
to reside on the eastern slope of the Alleghany
Mountains, nor in the sea-ports. Sea-ports have
always been overrun and controlled by the people
of the interior, and the jiower that shall communi-
cate and express the will of men on this continent
is to be located in the Mississippi valley and at the
sources of the Mississippi and S;dnt Lawrence.

"In our day, studying, perhaps what might
seem to others trifling or visionary, I had cast
about for the future and ultimate central seat of
power of North American people. I had looked
at Quebec, New Orleans, Washington, Cincinnati,
St. Ijouis, and San Francisco, and it had been the
result of my last conjecture, that the seat of power
in North America could be found in the valley of
Mexico, and that the glories of the Aztec capital
would be surrendered, at its becoming at last the
capital of the United States of Ameri-a, but I
have corrected that view. I now believe that the
ultimate seat of government in this great Conti-
nent, will be found somewhere within the circle or

EISTOliT OF STATE INSTITUTIONS.

143

radius uot very far from the spot where I now
stand."

FLAG PEESENTATION.

In a few montlis after tliis speech, Mr. Seward
was chosen by President Lincoln, inaugurated
March i, 1861, as secretary of state, and the nest
great crowd in front of the capitol was collected
by the presentation of a flag by the ladies of St.
Paul to the First Minnesota regiment which had
been raised for the suppression of the slave-holders
rebellion. On May the 25th, 1861, the regiment
came down from their rendezvous at Fort Snelling,
and marched to the capital grounds. The wife of
Governor Ramsey, with the Hag in hand, appeared
on the front steps, surrounded by a committee of
ladies, and presenting it to Colonel Gorman, made
a brief address in which she said : " From this
capitol, to the most remote frontier cottage, no
heart but shall send up a prayer for your safety;
no eye but shall follow with affection the flutter-
ings' of your banner, and no one but shall feel
pride, when you crown the banner as you will
crown it, with glory."

As the State increased in population it was nec-
essary to alter and enlarge the building, and in
1873, a wing was added fronting on Exchange
street, and the cupola was improved. The legis- ,-
lature of 1878 provided for the erection of another
wing, at an expense of .$14,000, fronting on Waba-
sha street. The building, by successive additions,
wiis in length 204 feet, and in width 150 feet, and
the top of the dome was more than 100 feet from
the ground.

THE OAriTOL IN FLAMES.

On the morning of the 1st of March, 1881, it
was destroyed by fire. About 9 o'clock in the
the evening two gentlemen, who lived opposite,
discovered the capitol was on fire, and immedia-
tely, by the telegraph, an alarm notified the firemen
of the city, and the occupants of the capitol.

The flames rapidly covered the cupola and licked
the flag flying from the staff on top. One of the
reporters of the Pioneer Press, who was in the
senate chamber at the time, graphically describes
the scene within.

He writes: "The senate was at work on third
reading of house bills; Lieutenant Governor Gil-
man in his seat, and Secretary Jennison reading
something about restraining cattle in Rice county ;
Uie senators were lying back listening carelessly,

when the door opened and Hon. Michael Doran
announced that the building was on fire. All eyes
wore at once turned in that dii'cction, and the
flash of the flames was visible from the top of the
gallery, as well as from the hall, which
is on a level with the floor of the senate. The panic
that ensued had a different effect upon the differ-
ent persons, and those occupying places nearest the
entrance, pushing open the door, and rushing pell
mell through the blinding smoke. Two or three
ladies happened to be in the vicinity of the doors,
and happily escaped uninjured. But the oiJenmg
■of the door produced a draft which drew into the
senate chamber clouds of smoke, the fire in the
meantime having made its appearance over the
center and rear of the gallery. All this occurred
so suddenly that senators standing near the re-
porter's table and the secretary's desk, which were
on the opposite side of the chamber from the en-
trance, stood as if paralyzed, gazing in mute as-
tonishment at the smoke that passed in through
the open doors, at the flames over the gallery, and
the rushing crowd that blocked the door-ways.
The senate suddenly and formally adjourned.
President Oilman, however stood in his place,
gavel in hand, and as he rapped his desk, loud and
often he yelled: "Shut that door! Shut that
door!"

"The cry was taken up by Colonel Crooks and
other senators, and the order was finally obeyed,
after which, the smoke clearing away, the senators
were enabled to collect their senses and decide
what was best to be done. President Oilman,
still standing up in his place, calm and collected
as if nothing unusual had happened, was encour-
aging the senators to keep cool. Colonel Crooks
was giving orders as if a battle was raging around
him.

"Other senators were giving such advice as oc-
curred to them, but unfortunately no advice was
pertinent except to keep cool and that was all.
Some were importuning the secretary and his as-
sistants .to save the records, and General Jeunis<in,
his hands full of papers, was waiting a chance to
walk out with them. But that chance looked re-
mote, indeed, for there, locked in the senate cham-
ber, were at least fifty men walking around, some
looking at each other in a dazed sort of a way;
others at the windows looking out at the snow-cov-
ered yard, now Ulumiaated from the flames, that
were heard roaring and crackling overhead.

OUTLINE HIST0B7 OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.

From some windows men were yelling to the lim-
ited crowd below: "Get some ladders! Send for
ladders!" Other windows were occupied. About
this time terror actually siezed the members, when
Senator Buck remarked that the fire was raging
overhead, and at the same moment burning brands
began to drop through the large ventilators upon
the desks and floor beneath.

"Then, for a moment, it seemed as if all hopes of
escape were cut off. ****;(!
But happily the flames having made their way
through the dome, a draught was created strong
enough to clear the halls of smoke. The dome<
was almost directly over the entrance of the senate
chamber, and burning brands and timbers had
fallen down through the glass ceiUng in front of
the door, rendering escape in that dii'ector im-
possible.

''But a small window leading from the cloak room
of the senate chamber to the first landing of the
main stairway furnished an avenue of escape, and
through this little opening every man in the sen-
ate chamber managed to get out.

"The windows were about ten feet high, but Mr.
Michael Doran and several other gentlemen stood
at the bottom, and nobly rendered assistance to
those who came tumbling out, some headlong,
some sideways and some feet foremost.

" As the rej^orter of the Pioneer-Press came out
and landed ou his feet, he paused for a moment to
survey the scene overhead, where the flames were
lashing themselves into fury as they played under-
neath the dome; and saw the flag-staff burning,
and coals dropping down like fiery hail.

"It took but a few minutes for the senators to get
out, after which they assembled on the outside,
and they had no sooner gained the street than the
ceiling of the senate cliamber fell in, and in ten
minutes that whole wing was a mass of flames."

Similar scenes took place in the hall of the
house of representatives. A young lawyer, v/\i\\
a friend, as soon as the fire was noticed, ran into
the law library and began to throw books out of
the windows, but in a few minutes the density of
the smoke and the approach of the flames com-
pelled them to desist, and a large portion of the
library was burned. The portraits of Generals
Sherman and Thomas which were hung over the
stairway were saved. The books of the Histori-
cal Society, in the basement, were removed, but
were considerably damaged. In three hours the

bare walls alone remained of the capitol which
for nearly thirty years had been familiar to the
law-makers and public men of Minnesota.

Steps were immediately taken to remove the
debris end build a new capitol, upon the old site.
The foundation walls have been laid, and in the
course of a year the superstructure will be com-
pleted.

THE PENITENTIAET.

Before the penitentiary was built, those charged
or convicted of crime were placed in charge of the
commandants of Fort Snelling or Eipley, and kept
at useful employment under military supervision.^
At the same time it was decided to erect a capitol
at St. Paul.it was also determined that the territorial
prison should be built at or within half a mile of
Stillwater. A small lot was secured in 1851 in
what was called the Battle ravine, in consequence of
the conflict between the Sioux and Chippeways de-
scribed on the 103d page. Within a stone wall was
erected offices of the prison, with an annex con-
taining six cells. A warden's house was built
on the outside of the wall. In 1853, an addition
of six cells was made and on the 5th of March,
1853, F. R. Delano entered upon his duties as
warden. His reports to the legislature show that
for several years there was little use for the cells.
The prison was opened for criminals on the 1st of
September,1853,aud until January, 1858 there had
been received only five convicts, and forty-one
county and thirty city prisoners awaiting trial.
The use of the prison by the counties and city as
a temporary place of confinement led to some
misunderstanding between the warden and Wash-
ington county, and the grand jury of that county
in November, 1857, complained that the warden
was careless in discharge of his duties. The jury,
among other complaints sent the following ironi-
cal statement: "It was also found in such exami-
nation that one Maria Roffiu, committed on charge
of selling spirituous hquors to the Indians within
the territory of the United States escaped in the
words of the record, 'by leaving the prison' and it
is a matter of astonishment to this grand jury
that she so magnanimously consented to leave the
penitentiary behind her."

Francis O. J. Smith acted as warden for a brief
jieriod after Delano, and then H. N. Setzer. In
1859, the number of cells had increased to sixteen,
and among the inmates was a hitherto respectable

UISTORY OF STATE INSTITUTIONS.

citizen sentenced for fifteen years for rol.ibing a
post-office.

In 1860 John S. Proctor became warden, and
after eight years of efficient service, was succooded
by Joshua L. Taylor. By successive additions
in 1869 nearly ten acres were enclosed by prison
walls, and during this year extensive shops were
built. The State iu 1870 erected a costly prison
at an expense of about $80,000, which, besides a
chapel and necessary offices, contained two hun-
dred and ninety-nine cells.

A. 0. Webljer succeeded Taylor as Warden in
March, 1870, and the following Octobnr, Henry
A. Jackman took his place, and continued in office
until August, 1871, when the present incumbent,
J. A. Reed, was appointed.

It has been the policy of the State to hire the
convicts to labor for contractors, in workshops
within the walls. At present the inmates are
largely engaged in the making of agricultural
machines for the firm of Seymour, Sabin k Co.

THE UNIVERSITY OP MINNESOTA.

The Territorial Legislature of 18.51, passed an
act establishing the University of IMinnesota at or
near the Falls of St. Antliouy, and memorialized
Congress for a grant of lands for the Institution.
Soon after, Congress ordered seventy-two sections
of laud to be selected and reserved for the use of
said University.

As the Regents Iiad no funds, Franklin Steele
gave the site now the public square, on Second
Street in the East Division, opposite the Minnesota
Medical College. Mr. Steele and others at their
own expense erected a wooden building thereon,
for a Preparatory Department, and the Rev. E. W.
Merrill was engaged as Principal. At the close
of the year 1853, the Regents reported that there
was ninety- four students in attendance, but that
the site selected being too near the Falls, they had
purchased of Joshua L. Taylor and Paul B. George
about twenty-five acres, a mile eastward, on
the heigth overlooking the Falls of St. Anthony.

Governor Gorman, in his message in 185i to
the Legislature said : "The University of Minne-
sota exists as yet only in name, but the time has
come when a substantial reality may and should
be created." But the Regents ccuild not find any
patent which would compress a myth into reality,
for not an acre of the land grant of Congress was
available. The Governor iu his message therefore
added: "It would not embarrass our resources,
10

in my jtulgment, if a small loan was ellectcil to
erect a buililing, and cstablisli one or two profi^s-
sorships, and a preparatory department, sucli loan
to be based upon the townships of land appropri-
ated for the sole use of the University."

While it was pleasing to loc: 1 pride to have p
building in prospect which could be seen fro;;i
afar, the friends of education shook their heads,
and declared the prospect of borrowing money to
build a University building before the common
school system was organized was visionary, and
would be unsuccessful. The idea, however, con-
tinued to be agitated, and the Regents at length
were authorized by the Legislature of 1856, to
issue lionds in the name of the Univer.sity, under
its corporate seal, for fifteen thousand dollars, to
be secured by the mortgage of the University
building which had been erected on the new site,
and forty thousand dollars more were authorized
to be issued by the Legislature of 1858, to be
secured by a lien on the lands devoted for a Ter-
ritorial University. With the aid of these loans a
costly and inconvenient stone edifice was con-
structed, but when finished there was no demand
for it, and no means for the payment of interest or
professors.

In the fall of 1858, in the hope that the Uni-
versity might be saved from its desj^erate condi-
tion, the Regents elected the Rev. Edward D.
Neill as Chancellor. He accepted the position
without any salary being j^ledged, and insisted
that a University must necessarily be of slow de-
velopment, and must succeed, not precede, the
common schools, and contended that five years
might elapse before anything could be done for a
University which would be tangible and visible.
He also expressed the belief that in time, with
strict watchfulness, the heavy load of debt could
be hfted.

The Legislature of 1860 abolished the old board
of Regents of the Territorial University by pass-
ing an act for a Stat-e University, which had been
prepared V)y the Chancellor, and met the approval
of Chancellor Tappan, of Michigan University.
Its first section declared "that the object of the
State University established by the Constitution of
the State, at or near the Falls of St. Anthony,
shall bo to provide the best and most efficient
means of imparting to the youth of the State an
education more advanced than that given in the
public schools, and a thorough knowledge of the

146

OUTLINE HISTORY OP TEE STATE OF MINNESOTA.

branches of literature, the arts and sciences, with
their various applications."

This charter also provided for the appointment
of five Begents, to be appointed by the Governor,
and confirmed by the Senate, in place of the
twelve who had before been elected by the Legis-
lature. The Legislature of 1860 also enacted that
the Chancellor shoijld be ex-officio State Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction.

The fijst meeting of the Regents of the State
University was held on the fifth of April, 1860,
and stejjs were taken to secure the then useless edi-
fice from further dilapidation. The Chancellor
urged at this meeting that a large portion of the
territorial land grant would be absorbed in pay-
ment of the moneys used in the erection of
a building in advance of the times, and that
the only way to secure the existence of a State
University was by asking Congress for an addi-
tional two townships, or seventy-two sections of
land, which he contended could be done under the
phraseology of the enabling act, which said: "That
seventy-two sections of land shall be set apart and
reserved for the use and support of a State Univer-
sity to be selected by the Governor of said State,^'
etc.

The Regents requested the Governor to suggest
to the authorities that it was not the intention of
Congress to turn over the debts and prospectively
encumbered lands of an old and badly managed
Territorial institution, but to give the State that
was to be, a grant for a State University, free
from all connection with the Territorial organiza-
tion. The Governor communicated these views
to the authorities at Washington, but it was not
till after years of patient waiting that the land was
obtained by an act of Congress.

At the breaking out of the civil war in 18G1,
the Chancellor became Chaplain of the First Regi-
ment of Blinnesota Volunteers, and went to the
seat of war, and the University affairs continued to
grow worse, and the University building was a
by-word and hissing among the passers by. Din-
ing the year 1863, some of the citizens of St. An-
thony determined to make another effort to extri-
cate the institution from its difficulties, and the
legislature of 1861 passed an act abolishing the
board of Regents, and creating three persons sole
regents, with power to liquidate the debts of the
institution. The Regents under this law were
John S. Pillsbury and O. C. Merriman, of St. An-
thony, and John Nicols, of St. Paul.

The increased demand for jiine lands, of which
the University owned many acres, and the sound
discretion of these gentlemen co-operated in pro-
curing happy results. In two years Governor
Marshall, in his message to the legislature, was
able to say: "The very able and successful man-
agement of the affairs of the institution, under the
pieseut board of Regents, relieving it of over one
hundred thousand dollars of debt, and saving over
thirty thousand acres of land that was at one time
supposed to be lost, entitles Messrs. Pillsbury,
Merriman, and Nicols to the lasting gratitude of
the State."

The legislature of 1867 appropriated $5,000 for
a preparatory and Normal department, and the
Regents this year chose as principal of the school,
the Rev. W. W. Washburn, a graduate of the Uni-
versity of Michigan, and Gabriel Campbell, of the
same institution, and Ira Moore as assistants. The
legislature of 1868 passed an act to reorganize the
University, and to establish an Agricultural Col-
lege therein.

Departing from the policy of the University of
Michigan, it established what the Regents wished,a
department of Elementary instruction. It also pro-
vided for a College of Science, Literature and the
Arts; a CoUege of Agriculture and Meclianids with
Military Tactics; a college of Law, and a College
of Medicine.

The provision of the act of 1860, for the appoint-
ment of Regents was retained, and the number to
be confirmed by the Senate, was increased from
five to seven.

The new board of Regents was organized in
March, 1868. John S. Pillsbury, of St. Anthony,
President; O. C. Merriman, of St. Anthony, Sec-
retary, and John Nicols, of St. Paul, Treasurer.

At a meeting of the Regents in August, 1869,
arrangements were made for collegiate work by
electing as President and Professor of mathematics
William W. Folwell.

President FolweU was bom in 18.35, in Seneca
county. New York, and graduated with distinction
in 1827, at Hobart College in Geneva, New York.
For two years he was a tutor at Hobart, and then
went to Europe. Upon his return the civil war was
raging, and he entered the 50th New York Volun-
teers. After the army was disbanded he engaged
in business in Ohio, but at the time of his election
to the presidency of the University, was Professor
of mathematics, astronomy, and German at Ken-
yon College.

n I STORY OF STATE INSTITUTIONS.

147

THK FACDLTr.

The present faculty of the institution is as fol-
lows:

William W. Folwell, instructor, political science.

Jabez Brooks, D. D., professor, Gi'eek, and in
charge of Latin.

Newton H. Wiuchell, professor, State geologist,
0. N. Hewitt, M. D., professor. Public Health.

John G. Moore, jJrofessor, German.

Moses Marstou, Ph. D., professor, English lit-
erature.

C. W. Hall, professor, geology and biology.

John G. Hutchinson, assistant professor, Greek
and mathematics.

John S. Clark, assistant professor, Latin.

Matilda J. Campbell, instructor, German and
English.

Maria L. Sanford, professor, rhetoric, and elocu-
tion.

William A. Pike, 0. E., professor, engineering
and physics.

John F. Downey, professor, mathematics and
astronomy.

James A. Dodge, Ph. D., professor, chemistry.

Alexander T. Ormimd, professor, mental and
moral philosophy and history.

Charles W. Benton, professor, French.

Edward D. Porter, professor, agriculture.

William H. Leib, instructor, vocal music.

William F. Decker, instructor, shop work and
drawing.

Edgar C. Brown, U. S. A., professor, military
science.

James Bowen, instructor, practical horticulture.

THE CAMPUS AND BriLDINGS.

The campus of the university since it was orig-
inally acquired, has been somewhat enlarged, and
now consists of about fifty acres in extent, undu-
lating in surface, and well wooded with native
trees. The buildings are thus far but two in
number, the jolan of the original building, which
in outline was not imlike the insane asylum build-
ing at St. Peter, having been changed by the
erection in 1876, of a large four-story structure
built of stone and surmounted by a tower. This
building is 18G feet in length and ninety in
breadth, exclusive of porches, having three stories
above the basement in the old part- The walls
are of blue limestone and the roof of tin. The
rooms, fifty-tliree in number, as well as all the
corridors are heated by an eilicient steam appara- I

tus, and are tlioroughly ventilated. Water is sup-
plied from the city mains, and there is a stand-
pipe running from tlie basement through the roof
with hose attached on all tlie floors for protection
against fire. The assembly hall, in the third
story, is 87x55 feet, 24 feet high, and will seat
with comfort 700 people, and 1,200 can be accom-
modated.

THE AGRIOULTUUAL BUILDING

is the first of the special buildings for the separ-
ate colleges, and was built in 1876. It is of
brick, on a basement of blue stone, 146x54 feet.
The central portion is two stories in height. The
south wing, 46x25 feet, is a plant house of double
sash and glass. The north wing contains the
chemical laboratory. There are class rooms for
chemistry, physics and agriculture, and private
laboratories for the professors. A large room in
the second story is occupied by the museum of
technology and agriculture, and the basement is
filled up with a carpenter shop, a room with vises
and tools at which eight can work, and another
room fitted with eight forges and a blower — the
commencement of the facilities for practical in-
struction.

DEAF AND DUMB IN.STITUTION.

Of all the public institutions of Minnesota, no
one has had a more pleasing history, and more
symmetrical development tlum the Institution for
the education of the deaf and dumb and the blind
at Faribault.

The legislatur-e of 1858, passed an act for the
establishment of "The Minnesota State Institute
for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb," within
two miles of Faribault, in Rice county, upon con-
dition that the town or county, should within one
year from the passage of the law give forty acres
of land for its use. The condition was comjilied
with, but the financial condition of the country
and the breaking out of the civil war, with other
causes retarded the progress of the Institution for
five years.

The legislature of 1863 made the first appro-
priation of fifteen hundred doUars for the opening
of the Institution. Mr. R. A. Mott, of Faribault,
who has to this time been an elScient director, at
the request of the other two directors, visited the
East for teachers, and secured Prof. Eanney and
wife of Columbus, Ohio. A store on Fiont Street
was then rented, and adapted for the temporary

148

OUTLINE BISTORT OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.

use of the Institution, which opened on the 9th of
September, 1863, with five pupils, which soon in-
creased to ten.

On February 13th, 1864, the State appropriated
about four thousand dollars for the suppert of the
Institution, and the directors expended about one
thousand dollars in the erection of small additional
building, eighteen by twenty feet in dimensions,
as a boys' dormitory.

After laboring faithfully for three years and se-
curing the respect of his associates, on July 1st,
1866, Prof. Kinney resigned on account of iU health.

The directors the next month elected as Super-
intendent Jonathan L. Noyes, A. M. On the 7th
of September Professor Noyes arrived at Faribault
with Miss A. L. Steele as an assistant teacher and
Henrietta Watson as matron.

NOETH WING OF EDIFICE COMPLETED.

Upon the 17th of March, 1868, the Institution
was removed to a wing of the new building upon
a site of fifty-two acres beautifully situated upon
the brow of the hills east of Faribault. The edi-
fice of tlie French louvre style, and was designed
by Monroe Sheire, a St. Paul architect, and cost
about fifty-three thousand dollars, and water was
introduced from springs in the vicinity.

WOEK SHOPS.

In 1869, the Superintendent was cheered by the
completion of the first work shop, and soon eight
mutes under the direction of a mute foreman be-
gan to make flour barrels, and in less than a year
had sent out more than one thousand, and in 1873
4,054 barrels were made.

SOUTH WINO BEGAN.

The completed wing was not intended to accom-
modate more than sixty pupils and soon there was
a demand for more room. During the year 1869
the foundation of the south wing was completed,
and on the 10th of Sejotember 1873 the building
was occu]iied by boys, the other wing being used
for the girls. By the time the building was ready
students were waiting to occupy.

MAIN BUILDING COMPLETED.

In 1879 the design was completed by the finith-
ing of the centre building. The whole edifice is
thus described by the architect, Monroe Sheire:
"The plan of the building is rectangular, and con-
sists of a central portion one hundred feet north

and south, and one hundred and eight feet east
and west, exclusive of piazzas, and two wings, one
on the north, and the other on the south side,
each of these being eighty by forty-five. This
makes the extreme length two hundred and sixty
feet, and the width one hundred and eight feet.
The entire building is four stories above the base-
ment."

The exterior walls are built of blue Hme stone
from this vicinity, and the style Franco Koman-
esque. Over the center is a graceful cupola, and
the top of the same is one hundred and fifty feet
above the ground.

The entire cost to the State of all the improve-
ments was about $175,000, and the building wiU
accommodate about two hundred pupils. The
rooms are lighted by gas from the Faribault Gas
Works.

INDDSTEIAL SCHOOLS.

The first shop opened was for making barrels.
To this cooper shop has been added a shoe shop, a
tailor shop and a printing ofiice.

MAGAZINE.

The pupils established in March, 1876, a little
paper called the Gopher. It was printed on a
small press, and second-hand type was used.

In June, 1877, it was more than doubled in
size, and changed its name to "The Mutes' Com-
panion." Printed with good type, and filled with
pleasant articles it still exists, and adds to the in-
terest in the institution.

EDUCATION OP THE BLIND.

In 1863 a law was passed by the legislature re-
quiring blind children to be educated under the su".
pervision of the Deaf and Dumb Institution.
Early in July, 1866, a school for the blind was
opened in a separate building, rented for the pur-
1)030, under the care of Miss H. N. Tucker. Dur-
ing the first term there were three pupils. In May,
ISGS, the bUnd pupils were brought into the deal
and dumb institution, but the experiment of in ■
struoting these two classes together was not satis-
factory, and in 1874 the blind were removed to
the old Faribault House, half a mile south of
the Deaf and Dumb Institution, which had been
fitted up for their accommodation, and where
a large new brick building, for the use of the
blind, has since been erected. In 1875, Profes-
sor James J. Dow was made principal of the
school.

HISTORY OF STATE INSTITUTIONS.

149

SCHOOL FOR THE FEEBLE MINDED.

From time to time, iu his report to tlio Logiala-
ture, Superiutendeut Noyes alluded to the faet that
some children appeared deaf and dumb beeanso of
their feeble mental development, and in 1879, tlie
state appropriated $5,000 for a school for imbecile
children.

The institution was started in July of that year
by Dr. Henry M. Knight, now deceased, then
Superintendent and founder of the Connecticut
school of the same description, who was on a visit
to Faribault. He superintended the school until
the arrival, in September, of his son, Dr. George
H. Knight, who had been trained under his father.

For the use of the school the Fairview House was
rented, and fourteen feeble children were sent
from the Insane Asylum at St. Peter. In eigh-
teen months the number had increased to twenty -
five.

The site of the new building for the school is
about forty rods south of the BHnd School. Tlie
dimensions are 41x80 feet, with a tower projection
20x18 feet. It is ,of limestone, and three stories
above the basement, covered with an iron hip-roof,
and cost about S2.5,000.

SUPEBINTENDENT J. L. NOYES.

The growth of the Minnesota institution for the
education of the deaf and dumb and the blind,
has been so symmetrical, and indicative of one
moulding mind, that a sketch of the institution
would be incomplete without some notice of the
Superintendent, who has guided it for the last
sixteen years.

Onthel3th(.f June, 1827, Jonathan Lovejoy
Noyes was born in Windham, Rockingham county,
New Hampshire. At the age of fourteen years he
was sent to Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachu-
setts, not only one of the oldest, but among
tlie best schools in the United States. At Andover
he had the advantage of the instruction of the
thorough Greek scholar, Dr. Samuel H. Taylor,
the eminent author, Lyman H. Coleman, D. D.,
afterwards Professor of Latin in Lafayette Col-
lege, Pennsylvania, and William H. Wells, whose
English grammar has been used in many insti-
tutions.

After completing his preparatory stiidies, in
1848, he entered Yale College, and in four years
received the diploma of Bachelor of Arts. j\.fter
graduation he received an apijointment in the

Pennsylvania Institution of the Deaf and Dumb, on
BroadStreet, l'hilad(>lphia, and found instructing
deaf mutes was a pleasant occupation. After six
years of important work in Philadelphia, he was
employed two years iu a similar institution at
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and then received an ap-
pointment in the well known American Asylum so
long presided over by Thomas H. Gallandet, at
Hartford, Connecticut. While laboring here he
was invited to take charge of the "Minnesota In-
stitution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb
and the ]Slind," and in September, 1866, he ar-
rived at Faribault. With wisdom and patience,
gentleness and energy, and an unfaltering trust in
a superintending Providence, he has there contin-
ued his work with the approbation of his fellow
citizens, and the affection of tlie pupils of the
institution.

At the time that he was relieved of the care of
the blind and imbecile, the directors entered upon
their minutes the following testimonial:

'^Resolved, That upon the retirement of Prof. J.
L. Noyes from the suporiutendency of the depart-
ments of the blind and imbecile, the board of
Directors, of the Minnesota Institution for the
Deaf and Dumb, and Blind and Idiots, and Imbe-
ciles, desire to testify to his deep interest in these
several departments; his efficient and timely ser-
vices in their establishment; and his\vise direction
of their early progress, until they have become
full-fledged and independent departments of our
noble State charitable institutions.

"For his cordial and courteous co-operation with
the directors in their work, and for his timely
counsel and advice, never withheld when needed,
the board by this testimonial, render to him their
hearty recognition and warm acknowledgement."

On the 21st of July, 1862, Professor Noyes mar-
ried Eliza H. Wadsworth, of Hartford, Connecti-
cut, a descendent of the Colonel Wadsworth, who
in the old colony time, hid the charter of Connecti-
cut in an oak, which for generations has been
known in history as the "Charter Oak." They
have biit one child, a daughter.

INSANE HOSPITAL AT ST. PETEB.

Until the year 1866, the insane of Minnesota
were sent to the Iowa Asylum for treatment, but
in January of that year the Legislature passed an
act appointing Wm. R. Marshall, John M. Berry,
Thomas Wilson, Charles Mclli ath, and S. J. R.
l\Icr\Iillan to select a proper place for the IMinne-

150

OUTLINE EISTOMT OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.

sota Hospital for the Insane. The vicinity of St.
Peter was chosen, the citizens presenting to the
State two hundred and ten acres one mile south of
the city, and on the Minnesota Kiver, directly op-
posite to Kasota.

In October, 1866, temporary buildings were
erected, and the Trustees elected Samuel E.
Shantz, of Utica, N. Y., as the Superintendent.
A plan submitted by Samuel Sloan, a Philadelphia
architect, consisting of a central building, with
sections and wings for the accommodation of at
least five hundred jiatients, in 1867, was adopted,
and in 1876 the great structure was comj^leted.

It is built of Kasota limestone, the walls lined
with brick, and the roof covered with slates. The
central building is four stories in height, sur-
mounted with a fine cupola, and therein are the
chapel and oifioes. Each wing is three stories
high, with nine separate lialls.

The exjjenses of construction of the Asylum,
with the outbuildings, has been more than half a
million of dollars. Dr. Shantz having died, Cyrus
K. Bartlett, M. D., of Northampton, Massachu-
setts, was appointed Sujierintedeut.

In January, 1880, in the old temporary build-
ings and in the Asylum jiroj^er there were six hun-
dred and sixty patients. On the 15th of Novem-
ber, 1880, about half past eight in the evening,
the Superintendent and assistants were shocked by
the announcement that the north wing was on
fire. It began in the nortjiwest corner of the
basement, and is supposed to have been kindled by
a patient employed about the kitchen who was not
violent. The flames raj^idly ascended to the dif-
ferent stories, through the holes for the hot air
pipes, and the oijenings for the dumb waiters.

The wing at the time contained two hundred
and seventy patients, and as they were liberated
by their nurses and told to make their escape, ex-
hibited various emotions. Some clapjjed their
bauds with glee, others trembled with fear.
Many, barefooted and with bare heads, rushed for
the neighboring hiUs and sat on the cold snow.
A few remained inside. One patient was noticed
in a window of the third story, with his knees
drawn up to his chin, and his face in liis hands, a
cool and interested looker on, and with an exjjres-
sion of cynical contempt tor the flames as they ap-
proached his seat. When a tongue of fire would
shoot toward him, he would lower his head, and
after it jiassed would resume his position with more
than the indifference of a stoic. At last the brick

work beneath him gave way with a loud crash,
and as he was jJrecipitated into the cauldron of fire
soon to be burned to ashes, his maniacal laugh was
heard above the roar of the flames.

The remains of eighteen patients were found in
the ruins, and seven died in a few days after the
flrer in consequence of injiu'ies and exposure.

Immediate steps were taken by the Governor to
repair the damages by the fire.

INSANE HOSPITAL AT ROCHESTER.

In 1878, the Legislature enacted a law by
which an inebriate asylum commenced at Boches-
ter could be used for an Insane Asylum. With the
appropriation, alterations and additions were
made, Dr. J. E. Bowers elected Superintendent,
and on the 1st of January, 1879, it was opened for
patients.

Twenty thonsaud dollars have since been appro-
priated for a wing for female patients.

STATE EEFORM SOHOOL,

During the year 1865, I. V. D. Heard, Esq., a
lawyer of Saint Paul, and at that time City At-
torney sent a communication to one of the daily
papers urging the importance of separating child
ren arrested for petty crimes, from the depraved
adults found in the station house or county jail,
and also called the attention of the City Council
to the need for a Reform School.

The next Legislature, in 1866, under the influ-
ence created by the discussion passed a law creat-
ing a House of Refuge, and appropriated |5,000 for
its use on condition that the city of Saint Paul
would give the same amount.

In November, 1867, the managers purchased
thirty acres with a stone farm house and barn
thereon, for §10,000, situated in Rose townshijj, in
Saint Anthony near Sueiliug Avenue, in the west-
ern suburbs of Saint Paul.

In 1868 the House of Refuge was ready to re-
ceive wayward youths, and this year the Legis-
lature changed the name to the Minnesota State
Reform School, and accepted it as a state institu-
tion. The Rev. J. G. Eiheldaffer D. D., who had
for years been pastor of one of the Saint Paul
Presbyterian churches was elected superintendent

In 1869 the main building of light colored
brick, 40x60 feet was erected, and ocouj^ied in
December.

In February, 1879, the laundry, a separate
building was burned, and an appropriation of the

SKETCHES OF PUBLIC MEN.

151

Legislature was made soon after of lirj.OOO for
the rebuilding of the laundry and the erection of
a work shop. This shop is 50x100 and three
stories high. The boys besides receiving a good
English fdueafion, are taught to be tailors, tinners,
carpenters and gardeners. Tlic sale of bouijuets
from the green house, of sleds and toys, and of
tin ware has been one of the sources of revenue.

Doctor Hiheldaflfer continues as superintendent
and by his judicious management has prepared
many of the inmates to lead useful and honorable
lives, after their discharge from the Institution.

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.

By the influence of Lieut. Gov. Holcomb and
others the first State Legislature in 1858 passed
an Act by which three Normal schools might be
erected, but made no proper provision for their
support.

WINONA NORMAL SCHOOL.

Dr. Ford, a graduate of Dartmouth college,
and a respectable physician in Winona, with sev-
eral residents of the same place secured to the
amount of f;5,512 sub.scriptions for the estalilish-
ment of a Normal School at that point, and a
small apjiropriatiou was secured in 1880 from the
Legislature.

John Ogden, af Ohio, was elected Principal, and
in September, 1860, the school was opened in a
temporary building. Soon after the civil war be-
gan the school was susjDended, and Mr. Ogden
entered tlie army.

In 1864 the Legislature made an appropriation
of $3,000, and and WiUiam F. Phelps, who had
been in charge of the New Jersey Normal School
at Trenton, was chosen principal. In 1865 the
State appropriated S5,000 annually for the school
and the citizens of Winona gave over $20,000 to-
ward the securing of a site and the erection of a
permanent edifice.

One of the best and most ornamental education-
al buOdings in the Northwest was commenced and
in September, 1869, was so far finished as to ac-
commodate pupils. To complete it nearly $150,-
000 was given by the State.

In 1876 Prof. W. F. Phelps resigned and was
Bxicceeded by Charles A. Morey who in May,
1879 retired. The present princijjal is Irwin
Shepard.

MANKATO NORMAL SCHOOL.

In 1806, lyiankato having offered a site for a

second Normal School, the Legislature give. "^5,000
for its support. George M. Gage was elected
Principal and on the Ist of September, 18G8 the
school was opeiied, It occupied the basement of
the Methodist church for a few weeks, and then
moved into a room over a store at the corner of
Front and Main streets. In April 1870, the State
building was first occupied.

Prof. Gage resgncd in June, 1872, and his suc-
cessor was Miss J. A. Seais who remained one year.
In July 1873, the Kev. D. 0. John was elected
principal, and in the spring of 1880, he retired.

The present Principal is Professor Edward Sear-
ing, formerly State Superintendent of Pul)Iic In-
struction in Wisconsin, a line Latin scholar, and
editor of an edition of Virgil.

ST. CLOUD NORMAL SCHOOL.

In 1869, the citizens of St. Cloud gave $5,000
for the establishment in that city of the third
Normal School, and a building was fitted up for
its use. The legislature in 1869, appropriated
•33,000 for current expenses. In 1870, a new build-
ing was begun, the legislature having appi'opriated
.•J10,000, and in 1873, $30,000; this building in
1875 was first occupied. In 1875, the Rev. D. L.
Kiehle was elected Principal, Prof. Ira Moore, the
first Principal having resigned. In 1881, Prof.
Kielile was appointed State Superintendent of
Public Instruction, and Jerome AUen, late of New
York, was elected his successor.

CHAPTER XXVIL

MENNESOTA GOVERNORS UNITED STATES SENATORS

MEMBERS 01? UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRE-
SENTATIVES.

GOVERNOR RAMSEV A. D. 1849 TO A. D. 1853.

Alexander Ramsey, the first Governor of the
Territory of Minnesota, was born on the 8th of
September, 1815, near Harrisburg, in Dauphin
county, Pennsylvania. His grandfather was a
descendent of one of the many colonists who came
from the north of Ireland before the war of the
Revolution, and his father about the time of the
first treaty of peace with Great Britain, was born in
York county, Pennsylvania. His mother Elizabeth
Kelkcr, was of German descent, a woman of en-
ergy, industry and religious principle.

His father dying, when the subject of this sketch

152

OUTLINE HISTORT OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.

was ten years of age, he went into the store of his
maternal unole in Harrisburg, and remained two
years. Then he was employed as a copyist in tlie
office of Register of Deeds. For several years he
was engaged in such business as would give su]>
port. Thoughtful, persevering and studious, at
the age of eighteen he was able to enter Lafayette
College, at Easton, Pennsylvania. After he left
College he entered a lawyer's office in Harrisburg,
and subsequently attended lectures at the Law
Sohool at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

At the age of twenty-four, in 1839, he was ad-
mitted to the bar of Dauphin county. His execu-
tive ability was immediately noticed, and the next
year he took an active part in the political cam-
paign, advocating the claims of William H. Harri-
son, and he was complimented by being made
Secretary of the Pennsylvania Presidential Elec-
tors. After the electoral vote was delivered in
Washington, in a few weeks, in January 1841, he
was elected chief clerk of the House of Represen-
tatives of Pennsylvania. Here his ability in dis-
patching business, and his great discretion made
a most favorable impression, and in 1843, the
Whigs of Dauphin, Lebanon and Schuylkill
counties nominated him, as their candidate for
Congress. Pojjular among the young men of
Harrisburg, that city which had hitherto given a
democratic majority, voted for the Whig ticket
which he represented, and the whole district gave
him a majority of votes. At the expiration of his
term, in 1845 he was again elected to Congress.

Strong in his political preferences, without man-
ifesting political rancor, and of large perceptive
power, he was in 1848 chosen by the Whig party
Pensylvania, as the secretary of the Central Com-
mittee, and he directed the movements in his na-
tive State, which led to the electoral votes being
thrown for General Zachary Taylor for President.

On the 4th of Blarch, 1849, President Taylor
took the oath of office, and in less than a month he
signed the commission of Alexander Ramsey as
Governor of the Territory of Minnesota, which
had been created by a law ajiproved the day before
his inauguration.

By the way of Butfalo, and from thence by
lake to Chicago, and from thence to Galena, where
betook a steanilioat. he traveled to Minnesota and
arrived at St. Paul early in the morning of the
27th of ]\Iay, with his wife, children and nurse,
Init went with the boat up to Mendota, where lie
■v;is cordially met hy tlie Territorial delegate,

Hon. H. H. Sibley, and with his family was his
guest for several weeks. He then came to St,
Paul, occupied a small housj on Tnird street near
the corner of Robert.

On the 1st of June he issued his first proclama-
mation declaring the organization of the Territorial
government, and on the 11th, he issued another
creating judicial districts and providing for the
election of {nembers of a legislature to assemble
in September. To his duties as Governor was
added the superintendency of Indian affairs and
during the first summer he held frequent confer-
ences with the Indians, and his first report to the
Commissioner of Indian Aifairs is still valuable
for its information relative to the Indian tribes at
that time hunting in the valleys of the Minnesota
and the Mississippi.

During the Governor's term of office he visited
the Indians at their villages, and made himself
famiUar. with their needs, and in the summer of
1851, made treaties with the Sioux by which the
country between the Mississippi Rivers, north of the
State of Iowa, was opened for occupation by the
whites. His term of office as Governor expired in
April, 1853, and in 1855 his fellow townsmen
elected him Mayor of St. Paul. In 1857, after
Minnesota had adopted a State Constitution, the
Republican party nominated Alexander Ramsey
for Governor, and the Democrats nominated Henry
II. Sibley. The election in October was close
and exciting, and Mr. Sibley was at length de-
clared Governor by a majority of about two hun-
dred votes. The Republicans were dissatisfied
with the result, and contended that more Demo-
cratic votes were thrown in the Otter Tail Lake
region than there were citizens residing in the
northern district.

In 1859, Mr. Ramsey was again nominated by
the Republicans for Governor, and elected by four
thousand majority. Before the expiration of his
term of office, the RepubUc was darkened by civil
war. Governor Ramsey haiDpened to be in Wash-
ington when the news of the firing upon Fort
Sumter was received, and was among the fii'st of
the State Governors to call upon the President
and tender a regiment of volunteers in defense of
the Republic. Returning to the State, he dis-
plaved energy and wisdom in the organization of
regiments.

In the fall of 1861, he was again nominated and
elected as Governor, but before the expiration of
this term, on July 10th, 1863, he was elected by

SKETCIIKS OF PUISLIC MEN.

153

the Legislature, United States Senator. Upon en-
tering the Semite, he was placed on the Commit-
tees on Naval Aflairs, Post-offices, Patents, Pacific
Kailroad, and Chairman of the Committee on Kev-
olutiouary Pensions and Eevolutionary Claims.
He was also one of the Committee appointed by
Congress to accompany the remains of President
Lincoln to Springfield Cemetery, Illinois.

The Legislature of 1869 re-elected him for the
term ending in March, 1875. In 1880, he was a])-
pointed Secretary of War by President Hayes, and
tor a time also acted as Secretary of the Navy.

He was married iu 1815 to Anna Earl, daughter
of Michael H. Jenks, a member of Congress from
Bucks county. He lias bad three children; his
two sons died in early youth; his daughter
Marion, the wife of Charles Eliot Furness, resides
with her family, with her jjarents in St. Paid.

GOVEKNOR GOKMAN A. D. 1853 TO A. D. 1857.

At the expiration of Governor Ramsey's term
of office. President Pierce appointed Willis Arnold
Gorman as his successor. Gevernor Gorman was
the only son of David L. Gorman and born in
January, 1866 near Flemingsburgh, Kentucky-
After receiving a good academic education he went
to Bloomington, Indiana, and in 1836 graduated
in the law department of the State University.
He imediately entered upon the practice of law
with few friends and no money, in Bloomington,
and in a year was called upon to defend a man
charged with murder, and obtained his acquittal.

That one so young should have engaged in
such a case excited the attention of the public, and
tw ) years afterwards was elected a member of the
Indiana legislature. His pojmlarity was so great
that he was re-elected a number of times. When
war was declared against Mexico he enlisted as a
private in a company of volunteers, which with
others at New Albany was mustered into the ser-
vice for one year, as the Third Regiment of
Indiana Volunteers, with James H. Lane, after-
w ards U. S. Senator for Kansas, as Colonel, while
he was commissioned as Major. It is said that
under the orders of General Taylor with a de-
tachment of riflemen he opened the battle of
Buena Vista. In this engagement his horse was
shot and fell into a deep ravine carrying the
Major with, him and severely bruising him.

In August, 1817, he returned to Indiana and by
his enthusiasm helped to raise the Fourth Regi-
ment and was elected its Colonel, and went bads

to tlie seat of war, and was present in several bat-
tles, and when peace was declared returned with
the reputation of being a dashing officer.

Resuming the practice of law, in the fall of 1848
he was elected to Congress and served two terms,
his last expiring on the 4th of March, 1853, the
day when his fellow officer in the Mexican War,
Gen. Franklin Pierce took the oath of office as
President of the United States. With a commis-
sion bearing the signature of President Pierce he
arrived in Saint Paul, in May, 1853, as the second
Territorial Governor of Minnesota.

His term of Governor expired in the spring of
1857, and he was elected a member of the Com-
mittee to frame a State Constitution, which on the
second Monday in July of that year, convened at
the Capitol. After the committee adjourned he
again entered ujson the practice of law but when
the news of the firing of Fort Sumter reached
Splint Paul he realized that the nation's hfe
was endangered, and that there w(5uld be a civU
war. He offered his services to Governor Ram-
soy and when the First Regiment of Minnesota
volunteers was organized he was commissioned as
Colonel. He entered with ardor upon his work of
drilling the raw troops in camp at Fort Snelling,
and the privates soon caught his enthusiasm.

No officer ever had more pride in his regiment
and his soldiers were faithful to his orders. His
regiment was the advance regiment of Franklin's
Brigade, iu Heintzelnian's Division at the first Bat-
tle of Bull Run, and there made a reputation
which it increased at every battle, especially at
Gettysburg. Upon the recommendation of Gen-
eral Wiufield Scott who had known him in Mex-
ico after the battle of Bull Run he was appointed
Brigadier General by President Lincoln,

After three years of service as Brigadier General
he was mustered out and returning to St. Paid
resumed his profession. From that time he held
several positions under the city government. He
died on the afternoon of the 25th of May, 1876.

GOVERNOK SIBLEY, A. D. 1858 tO A. D. 1860.

No one is more intimately asssociated with the
development of the Northwest than Henry Hast-
ings Sibley, the first Governor of Minnesota under
the State constitution.

By the treaty of Peace of 1783, Great Britain
recognizjd the independence of the United States
of America, and the land east of the Mississippi,

154

OUTLINE BISTORT OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.

and northwest of the Ohio river was open to set-
tlement by American citizens.

In 1786, while Congress was in session in New
York City, Dr. Manasseh Cutler, a graduate of
Yale, a Puritan divine of a considerable scientific
attainments, visited that place, and had frequent
conferences with Dane of Blassachusetts, and Jef-
ferson, of Virginia, relative to the colonization of
the Oliio valley, and he secured certain provisions
in the celebrated "ordinance of 1787," among
others, the grant of land in each township for the
support of common schools, and also two
townships for the use of a University.

Under the auspices of Dr. Cutler, and a few
others, the first colony, in December, 1787, left
Massachusetts, and after a wearisome journey, on
April 7, 1788, reached Marietta, at the mouth of
the Muskingum River.

Among the families of this settlement was the
maternal grandfatlier of Governor Sibley, Colonel
Ebenezer Sproat, a gallant officer of Rhode Island,
in the war of the Rebellion, and a friend of Kos-
ciusko. •

Governor Sibley's mother, Sarah Sproat, was
sent to school to the then celebrated Moravian
Seminary at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and subse-
quently finished her education at Philadelphia.
In 1797 she returned to her wilderness home and
her father pui-chased for her pleasure a piano, said
to have been the first transported over the Alle-
ghany Mountains. Soon after this Solomon Sibley,
a young lawyer, a native of Sutton, Massachusetts,
visited Marietta, and become acquainted and at-
tached to Sarah Sproat, and in 1802, they were
married. The next year Mrs. Sibley went to De-
troit where her husband had settled, and she com-
menced housekeeping opposite where the Biddle
House is situated in that city. In 1799, Gover-
nor Sibley's father was a representative from the
region now known as Michigan, in the first Ter-
ritorial Legislature of Northwest, which met at
Cincinnati. From 1820 to 1823 he was delegate
to Congress from Michigan, and in 1824 he became
judge of the supreme court, and in 1836 resigned.
Respected by all, on the 4th of April he died.

His son, Henry Hastings Sibley, was born in
February, 1811, in the city of Detroit. At the age
of seventeen, relinquishing the study of law, he
became a clerk at Sault St. Marie and then was
employed by Robert Stuart, of the American Fur
Company at Mackinaw. In 1834 he was placed in
charge of the Indian trade above Lake Pepin with

his new quarters at the mouth of the Minnesota
River.

In 1836, he built the first stone residence ia
Minnesota, without the military reservation, at
Mendota, and here he was given to hospitality.
The missionary of the cross, and the man of sci-
ence, the officer of the army, and the tourist from
a foreign land, were received with a friendliness
that caused them to forget while under his roof
that they were strangers in a strange land.

In 1843, he was married to Sarah J. Steele, the
sister of Franklin Steele, at Fort Snelling.

On August 6th, 1846, Congress authorized the
people of Wisconsin to organize a State govern-
ment with the St. Croix River as a part of its west-
em boundary, thus leaving that portion of Wis-
consin territory between the St. Croix and Missis-
sippi Rivers st 11 under the direct supervison of
Congress, and the Hon. M. L. Martin, the dele-
gate of Wisconsin territory in Congress, intro-
duced a bill to organize the territory of Minnesota
including portions of Wisconsin and Iowa.

It was not until the 29th of May, 1848, how-
ever, that Wisconsin territory east of the Saint
Croix, was reorganized as a State. On the 30th
of October, Mr. Sibley, who was a resident of Iowa
territory, was elected delegate to Congress, and
after encountering many difficulties, was at length
admitted to a seat.

On the 3d of March, 1849, a law was approved
by the President for the organization of Minne-
sota, teritory, and in the faU of that year he was
elected the first delegate of the new Territory, as
his father had been at an early period elected a
delegate from the then new Michigan territory. In
1851, he was elected for another term of two
years.

In 1857, he was a member of the convention to
frame a State constitution for Minnesota, and was
elected presiding officer by the democrats. By
the same party he was nominated for Governor and
eleetel by a sm ill majority over the republican
candidate, Alexander Rm sey.

Minnesota was admitted as a State on the 11th
of May, 1858, and on the 28th Governor Sibley
deUvered his inaugural message.

After a residence of twenty-eight years at Men-
dota, in 1862, he became a resident of Saint Paul.
At the beginning of the Sioux outbreak, C-ivemor
Ramsey appointed him Colonel, and placed him
at the head of the forces employed against the In-
dians. On the 23d of September, 1862, he fought

SKlcrvJIES OF PUBLIC MEN.

155

the severe and decisive battle of Wood Lake. In
March, 1863, he was confirmed by the senate as
Brigadier General, and on the 29th of November,
1865, he was appointed Brevet Major General for
efficient and meritorious services.

Since the war he has taken an active interest in
every enterprise formed for the advancement of
Minnesota, and for the benefit of St. Paul, the city
of his residence. His sympathetic nature leads
him to open his ear, and also his purse to those in
distress, and among his chief mourners when he
leaves this world will be the many poor he has be-
friended, and the faint-hearted who took courage
from his words of kindness. His beloved wife, in
May, 1869, departed this life, leaving four chil-
dren, two daughters and two sons.

GOVEBXOR EAMSET, JAIfUARY 1860 TO APRIL 1863.

Alexander Ramsey, the first Territorial Gov-
ernor, was elected the second State Governor, as
has already been mentioned on another page. Be-
fore his last term of office exjjired he was elected
United States Senator by the Legislature, and
Lieutenant Governor Swift became Governor, for
the unexpired term.

GOVEBNOB SWIFT, APRIL, 18G3 TO JANUARY, 1864.

Henry A. Swift was the son of a physician. Dr.
.John Swift, and on the 23d of March, 1823, was
born at Kavenna, Ohio. In 1842, he graduated at
Western Reserve College, at Hudson, in the same
State, and in 1815 was admitted to the practice of
tlie law. During the winter of 1846-7, he was an
assistant clerk of the lower house of the Ohio
Legislature, and his quiet manner and methodic
method of business made a favorable imjjression.
The next year he was elected the Chief Clerk, and
continued in office for two years. For two or
three years he was Secretary of the Portage Farm-
ers' Insurance Company. In April, 1853, he
came to St. Paul, and engaged in merchandise and
other occupations, and in 1856, became one of the
founders of St. Peter. At the election of 1861, he
was elected a State Senator for two years. In
March, 1863, by the resignation of Lieutenant
Governor Donnelly, who had been elected to the
United States House of Representatives, he was
chosen temporary President of the Senate, and
when Governor Ramsey, in April, 1863, left the
gubernatorial chair, for a seat in the United States
Senate he became the acting Governor. When he
ceased to act as Governor, he was again elected to

the State Senate, and served during the years
1864 and 1865, and was then appointed by the
President, Register of the Land Office at St. Peter.
On the 25th of February, 1869 he died.

GOVEENOR MILLER — A. D. 18(34 TO A. D. 1866.

Stephen A. Miller was the grandson of a Ger-
man immigrant who about the year 1785 settled
in Pennsylvania. His parents were David and
Rosanna MUler, and on the 7th of J.anuary, 1816,
he was born in what is now Perry county in that
State.

He was like many of our best citizens, obliged
to bear the yoke in his yonth. At one time he
was a canal boy and when quite a youth was in
charge of a canal boat. Fond of reading he ac-
quired much information, and of pleasing address
he made friends, so that in 1837 he became a for-
warding and commission merchant in Harrisburg.
He always felt an interest in public affairs, and
was an efficient speaker at political meetings. In
1849 he was elected Prothonatary of Dauphin
county. Pa., and from 1853 to 1855 was editor of
the Harrisburg Telegraph; then Governor Pol-
lock, of Pennsylvania, ajjpointed him Flour In-
spector for PhOadelpbia, which office he held until
1858, when he removed to Minnesota on account of
his health, and opened a store at Saint Cloud.

In 1861, Governor Ramsey who had known him
in Pennsylvania, appointed him Lieutenant Colo
nel of the First Regiment of Minnesota Volunteers,
and was jsresent with his regiment on July 21st of
that year in the eventful battle of Bull Run.
Gorman in his report of the return of the First
Minnesota Piegiment on that occasion wrote: "Be-
fore leaving the field, a portion of the right wing,
owing to the configuration of the ground and in-
tervening woods, became detached, under the com-
mand of Lt. Col. Miller whose gallantry was con-
spicuiHis throughout the entire battle, and who
contended every inch of the ground with his for-
ces thrown out as sldrmishers in the woods, and
succeeded in occupying the original ground on
the right, after the repulse of a body of cavalry."

After this engagement, his friend Simon Cam-
eron, the Secretary of War, tendered him a posi-
tion in the regular army which he declined.

Although in ill health he continued with the
regiment, and was present at Fair Oaks and Mal-
vern Hill.

In September, 1862, he was made Colonel of the
Seventh Regiment, and proceeded against the

15G

OUTLINE niSTORT OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.

Sioux Indians who had massacred so many set-
tlers in the Upper Minnesota Valley, and in De-
cember he was the Colonel commanding at Man-
kato, and under his supervision, thirty -eight
Siox, condemned for participation in the killing
of white persons, on the 26th of February, 1863,
were executed by hanging from gallows, upon one
scaffold, at the same time. This year he was made
Brigadier General, and also nominated by the re-
pubUcans for Governor, to which oflBce he was
elected for two years, and in January, 1864, en-
entered upon its duties.

In 1873, he was elected to the Legislature for
a district in the southwestern portion of the State,
and in 1876, was a Presidential elector, and bore
the electoral vote to Washington.

During the latter years of his life he was em-
ployed as a land agent by the St. Paul & Sioux
City Kailroad Company. In 1881 he died. He
was married in 1839 to Margaret Funk, and they
had three sons, and a daughter who died in early
childhood. His son Wesley, a Lieutenant in the
United States Army, fell in battle at Gettysburg;
his second son was a Commissary of Subsistence,
but is now a private; and his youngest son is in
the service of a Pennsylvania railroad.

GOVEENOB MAKSHAI;, A. D. 1866 to A. D. 1870.

William Kainey Marshall is the son of Joseph
Marshall, a farmer and native of Bourbon county,
Kentucky, whose wife was Abigail Shaw, of Penn-
sylvania. He was born on the 17th of October,
182.5, in Boone county, Missouri. His boyhood
was passed in Quincy, Illinois, and before he at-
tained to manhood he went to the lead mine dis-
trict of Wisconsin, and engaged in mining and
surveying.

In Sejjtember, 1847, when twenty-two years of
age, he came to the Falls of St. Croix, and in a
few months visited the Falls of St. Anthony, staked
out a claim and returned. In the spring of 1848,
he was elected to the Wisconpin legislature, but
his seat was contested on the ground that he
lived beyond the boundaries of the state of Wis-
consin. In 1849, he again visited the Falls of St.
Anthony, perfected his claim, opened a store, and
represented that district in the lower house of the
first Territorial legislature. In 1851, he came to
St. Paul and established an iron and heavy hard-
ware business.

In 1852, he hold the office of County Surveyor,
and the next year, with his brother Joseph and

N. P. Langford, he went into the banking busi-
ness. In January, 1861, he became the editor of
the Daily Press, which succeeded the Daily Times.

In August, 1862, he was commissioned Lieut.
Colonel of the Seventh Minnesota Regiment of In-
fantry and proceeded to meet the Sioux who had
been engaged in the massacre of the settlers of
the Minnesota valley. In a few weeks, on the 23d
of Seistember, 1862, he was in the battle of Wood
Lake, and led a charge of five companies of his
own regiment, and two of the Sixth, which routed
the Sioux, sheltered in a ravine.

In November, 1863, he became Colonel of the
Seventh Regiment. After the campaign in the
Indian country the regiment was ordered south,
and he gallantly led his command, on the 14th of
July, 1864, at the battle near Tupelo, Mississippi.
In the conflict before Nashville, in December, he
acted as a Brigade commander, and in April, 1865,
he was present at the surrender of Mobile.

In 1865, he was nominated by the Republican
party, and elected Governor of Minnesota, and in
1867, he was again nominated and elected. He
entered upon his duties as Governor, in January,
1866, and retired in 1870, after four years of
service.

In 1870, he became vice-president of the bank
which was known as the Marine National, which
has ceased to exist, and was engaged in other en-
terprises.

In 1874, he was appointed one of the board of
Railroad Commissioners, and in 1875, by a change
of the law, he was elected Railroad Commissioner,
anduntd January, 1882, discharged its duties.

He has always been ready to help in any move-
ment which would tend to promote the happiness
and intelHgence of humanity.

On the 22d of March, 1854, he was married to
Abby Langford, of Utioa, and has had one child,
a son.

GOVERNOR AUSTIN A. D. 1870 TO A. D. 1874.

Horace Austin, about the year 1831, was bom
in Connecticut. His father was a blacksmith, and
for a time he was engaged in the same occupation.
Determined to be something in the world, for sev-
eral years, during the winter, he taught school.
He then entered the oflBce of a well known law
firm at Augusta, Maine, and in 1854 came west.
For a brief period he had charge of a school at
the Falls of Saint Anthony.

In 1856, he became a resident of St. Peter, on

SKETCHES OF PUBLIC MEN.

157

the Minnesota Kiver. In 1863, in the expedition
against the Sioux Indians, he served as captain in
the volunteer cavalry. In 1869, he was elected
Governor, and in 1871 he was re-elected. Soon
after the termination of his second gubernatorial
term, he was appointed Auditor of the United
States Treasury at Washington. He has since
been a United States Laud Officer in Dakota ter-
ritory, but at present is residing at Fergus Falls,
Minnesota.

GOVERNOR DAVIS A. D. 1874 TO A. D. 1876.

Cushman Kellog Davis, the son of Horatio M.
and Clarissa F. Davis, on the ICth of June, 1838,
was born at Henderson, .Jefferson county. New
York. When he was a babe biit a few months old,
his father moved to Waukesha, Wisconsin, and
opened a farm. At Waukesha, Carroll College
had been commenced, and in this institution Gov-
ernor Davis was partly educated, but in 18.57 grad-
uated at the University of Michigan.

He read law at Waukesha with Alexander Ran-
dall, who was Governor of Wisconsin, and at a
later period Postmaster General of the United
States, and in 1859 was admitted to the bar.

In 1862, he was commissioned as first lieuten-
ant of the 28th Wisconsin Infantry, and in time
became the adjutant general of Brigadier General
Willis A. Gorman, ex-Governor of Minnesota, but
in 1864, owing to ill health he left the army.

Coming to Saint Paul in August, 1864, he en-
tered upon the practice of his profession, and
formed a partnership with ex-Governor Gorman.
Gifted with a vigorous mind, a fine voice, and an
impressive sj^eaker, he soon took high rank in his
profession.

In 1867, he was elected to the lower house of
the legislatirre, and the next year was commisioned
United States District Attorney, which position
he occupied for five years.

In 1863, he was nominated by the republicans,
and elected Governor. Entering upon the duties
of the office in 1874, he served two years.

Since his retirement he has had a large legal
practice, and is frequently asked to lecture u{)on
literary subjects, always interesting the audience.

GOVERNOR PILLSBURY — A. D. 1876 TO 1882.

John Sargent Pillsbury is of Puritan ancestry.
He IS the son of John and Susan Pillsbury, and
on the 29th of July, 1828, was bom at Sutton,

New Hampshire, where his father and grandfather
lived.

Like the sons of many Now Hampshire farmers,
he was obliged, at an early age, to work for a sup-
port. He commenced to learn house painting, but
at the age of sixteen was a boy in a country store.
When he was twenty-oue years of age, ho formed
a partnership with Walter Harriman, subsi'quoutly
Governor of New HamiJshire. After two years he
removed to Concord, and for four ye:irs was a tailor
and dealer in cloths. In 1853, he came to Michigan,
and in 1855, visited Minnesota, and was so pleased
that lie settled at St. Anthony, now the East Divi-
sion of the city of Minneapolis, and ojjened a
hardware store. Soon a fire destroyed his store
and stock upon which there was no insurance, but
by perseverance and hopefulness, he in time re-
covered from the loss, with the increased con (idenct
of his fellow men. For six years he was an efficient
member of the St. Anthony council.

In 1863, he was one of three appointed sole Re-
gents of the University of Minnesota, with powei
to liquidate a large indebtedness which had been
unwisely created in Territorial days. By his
carefulness, after two or three years the debt was
canceleil, and a large partion of the land granted
to the University saved.

In 1863, he was elected a State Senator, and
served for seven terms. In 1875, lie was nomi-
nated by the republicans and elected Governor;
in 1877, he was again elected, and in 1879 for the
third time he was chosen, the only person who has
served three successive terms as the Governor of
Minnesota.

By his courage and persistence he succeeded in
obtaining the settlement of the railroad bonds
which had been issued under the seal of the State,
and had for years been ignored, and thus injured
the credit of the State.

In 1872, with his nephew he engaged in the
manufacture of flour, and the firm owns several
mills. Lately they have erected a mill in the
East Division, one of the best and largest in the
world.

GOVERNOR HUBBARD, A. D. 1882.

Lucius Frederick Hubbard was born on the 26th
of January, 1836, at Troy, New York. His father,
Charles Frederick, at the time of his death was
Sheriff of Rensselaer county. At the age of six-
teen. Governor Hubbard left the North GranviUe
Academy, New York, and went to Poultney, Ver-

158

OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA.

mont, to learn the tinner's trade, and after a short
period ha moved to Chicago, where he worked for
four years.

In 1857, he came to Minnesota, and established
a paper called the "Republican," which he con-
ducted until 186], when in December of that year
he enlisted as a private in the Fifth Minnesota
Regiment, and by his efficiency so commended
himself that in less than one year he became its
Colonel. At the battle of Nashville, after he had
been knocked oflf his horse by a ball, he rose, and
on foot led his command over the enemy's works.
"For gallant and meritorious service in the battle
of NashviUe, Tennessee, on the 15th and 16th of
December, 1861," he received the brevet rank of
Brigadier General.

After the war he returned to Red Wing, and has
been engaged in the grain and flour business. He
was State Senator ft-om 1871 to 1875, and in 1881
was elected Governor. He married in May, 1868,
Amelia Thomas, of Red Wing, and has three
children.

mibnbsota's kepkbsentatives in congkess of the
united states of america.

From March, 1819, to May, 1858, Minnesota
was a Territory, and entitled to send to the con-
gress of the United States, one delegate, with the
privilege of representing the interests of his con-
stituents, but not allowed to vote.

TEKBITOEIAI, DELEGATES.

Before the recognition of Minnesota as a sepa-
rate Ten-itory, Henry H. Sibley sat in Congress,
from January, 1819, as a delegate of the portion
Wisconsin territory which was beyond the boun-
daries of the state of Wisconsin, in 1848 admit-
ted to the Union. In September, 1850 he was
elected delegate by the citizens of Minnesota ter-
ritory, to Congress.

Henry M. Rice succeeded Mr. Sibley as delegate,
and took his seat in the thirty -third congress, which
convened on December 5th 1853, at Washington. He
was re-elected to the thirty-fourth Congress, which
as^;embled on the 3d of March, 1857. During his
term of office Congress passed an act extending
the pre-emption laws over the unsurveyed lands of
Minnesota, and Mr. Rice obtained valuable land
grants for the construction of railroads.

William W. Kingsbury was the last Territorial
delegate. He took his seat in the thirty-fifth con-
gress, which convened on the 7th of ] )ecember.

1857, and the next May his seat was vacated by
Minnesota becoming a State.

UNITED STATES SENATOES.

Henry M. Rice, who had been for four years
delegate to the House of Representatives, was on
the 19th of December, 1857, elected one of two
United States Senators. During his term the civil
war began, and he rendered efficient service to the
Union and the State he represented. He is still
living, an honored citizen in St. Paul.

James Shields, elected at the same time as Mr.
Rice, to the United States Senate, drew the short
term of two years.

Morton S. Wilkinson was chosen by a joint con-
vention of the Legislature, on December 15th,
1359, to succed General Shields. During the re-
bellion of the Slave States he was a firm supporter
of the Union.

Alexander Ramsey was elected by the Legisla-
ture, on the 14th of January, 1863, as the suc-
cessor of Henry M. Rice. The Legislature of
1869 re elected Mr. Ramsey for a second term of
six years, ending March 1875. For a full notice
see the 138th page.

Daniel S. Norton was, on January 10th, 1865,
elected to the United States Senate as the suc-
cessor of Mr. Wilkinson. Mr. Norton, who had
been in feeble health for years, died in June, 1870.

O. P. Stearns was elected on January 17th, 1871,
for the few weeks of the unexpired term of Mr.
Norton.

William Windom, so long a member of the
United States House of Representatives, was
elected United States Senator for a term of six
years, ending March Ith, 1877, and was re-elected
for a second term ending March 4th, 1883, but re-
signed, having been appointed Secretary of the
Treasury by President Garfield.

A. J. Edgerton, of Kasson, was appointed by
the Governor to fill the vacancy. President Gar-
field having been assassinated, and Mr. Edgerton
having been appointed Chief Justice of Dakota
territory, Mr. Windom, at a special session of the
Legislature in October, 1881, was re-elected
United States Senator.

S. J. R. MoTMiUan, of St. Paul, on the 19th of
February, 1875, was elected United States Sen-
ator for the term expiring March 4th, 1881, _nnd
has since been re-elected for a second term, which,
in JIarch. 1887, will expire.

SKETCHES OF PUBLIC MEN.

159

REPRESENTATIVES IN THE U. S. HOUSE OF KEPUE-

SENTATIVES.

William W. Phelps was one of the first mem-
bers of the UuiteJ States House of Representatives
from Minnesota. Born in Michigan in 1826, he
graduated in 1846, at its State University. lu
1854, he came to Minnesota as Register of the
Land Office at Red Wing, and in 1857, was elected
a representative to Congress.

James M. Cavanaugh was of Irish parentage,
and came from Massachusetts. He was elected to
the same Congress as Mr. Phelps, and subsequently
removed to Colorado, where he died.

William Windom was born on May 10th, 1827,in
Belmont,county,Ohio. He was admitted to the bar
in 1850, and was, in 1853, elected Prosecuting At-
torney for Knox county, Ohio. The next year he
came to Minnesota, and has represented the State
in Congress ever since.

Cyrus Aldrich,of Minneapolis, Hennepin county,
was elected a member of the Thirty-sixth Con-
gress, which convened December 5th, 1859, and
was re-elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress.

Ignatius Donnelly was born in Philadelpliia in
1831. Graduated at the High School of that city,
and in 1853 was admitted to the bar. In 1857,
he came to Minnesota, and in 1859 was elected
Lt. Governor, and re-elected in 1861. He be-
came a representative of Minnesota in the United
States Congress which convened on December 7th,
1863, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Con-
gress which convened on December -Ith, 1865. He
was also elected to the Fortieth congress, which
convened in December, 1867. Since 1873 he has
been an active State Senator from Dakota county,
in which he has been a resident, and Harper
Brothers have recently published a book f-rom his
pen of wide research called "Atlantis."

Eugene M. Wilson, of Minneap>olis, was elected
to the the Forty-first Congress, which assembled
in December, 1869. He was born December 25th,
1833, at Morgantown, Virginia, and graduated at
Jefferson College, Pennsylvania. From 1857 to
1861, he was United States District Attorney
for Minnesota. During the civil war he was cap-
tain in the First Blinnesota Cavalry.

Mr. Wilson's father, grandfather, and maternal
grandfather were members of Congress.

M. S. Wilkinson, of whom mention has been
made as U. S. Senator, was elected in 1868 a rep-

resentative to the congress which convened in De-
cember, 1869, and served one term.

!Mark H. Dunnell of Owatonna, in the fall of
1870, was elected from the First District to fill
the seat in the House of Representatives so long
occupied by Wm. Windom.

Mr. Dunnell, in July, 1823, was born at Bux-
ton, Maine. Ho graduated at the college estab-
lished at WaterviUe, in that State, in 1849. From
1855 to 1859 he was State Superintendent of
schools, and in 1860 commenced the practice of
law. For a short period he was Colonel of the
5th Maine regiment but resigned in 1862, and
was appointed U. S. Consul at Vera Cruz, Mexi-
co. In 1805, ho came to Minnesota, and was
State Superintendent of Pal)lio Instruction from
April, 1867 to August, 1870. Mr. Dunnell still
represents his district.

John T. Averill was elected in November, 1870,
from the Second District, to succeed Eugene M.
Wilson.

Mr. Averill was born at Alma, Maine, and com-
pleted his studies at the Maine Wesleyan Univer-
sity. He was a member of the Minnesota Senate
in 1858 and 1859, and during the rebellion was
Lieut. Colonel of the 6th Minnesota regiment.
He is a member of the enterprising firm of paper
manufacturers, Averill, Russell and Carpenter.
In the fall of 1872 he was re-elected as a member
of the Forty-second Congress, which convened in
December, 1873.

Horace B. Strait was elected to Forty-third and
Forty-fourth Congress, and is stUl a representative.

William S. King, of Minneapolis, was bom De-
cember 16, 1828, at Malone, New York. He has
been one of the most active citizens of Minnesota
in developing its commercial and agriculutral in-
terests. For several years he was Postmaster of
the United States House of Representatives, and
was elected to the Forty-fourth Congress, which
convened in 1875.

Jacob H. Stewart, M. D., was elected to the
Forty-fifth Congress, which convened in Decem-
ber, 1877. He was born January 15th, 1829, in
Columbia county, New York, and in 1851, grad-
uated at the University of New York. For sev-
eral years he practiced medicine at PeekskiU, New
York, and in 1S55, removed to St. Paul. In 1859,
he was elected to the State Senate, and was Chair-
man of the Railroad Committee. In 1864, he was
Mayor of St. Paul. He was Surgeon of the First

160

OUTLINE HISTORY OF TEE STATE OF MINNESOTA

Jlinuesota, and taken prisoner at the first battle of
Bull Euu. From 1809 to 1873, he was again
Blayor of St. Paul, and is at the present titae
United States Surveyor General of the Minnesota
laud office.

Henry Poehler was the successor of Horace B.
Strait for the term ending March 4, 1881, when
Mr. Strait was again e'ccLed.

William Drew Washburn on the 14th of Jan-
uary, 1831, was born at Livermore, Maine, and in
1854, graduated at Bowdoin College. In 1857, he
came to Minnesota, and in 1861, was appointed by
the President, Surveyor General of U. S. Lands,
for this region. He has been one of the most
active among the business men of Minneapolis.
In November, 1878, he wa? elected to represent
the 3d district in the U. S. House of Eepresenta-
tives, and in 1880, re-elected. He is a brother of
C. C, late Governor of Wisconsin, and of E. B.,
the Minister Plenipotentiiry of U. S. of America,
to Fiance, and resident in Paris during the late
Franco-German war.

RECAPITULATION TERRITORIAL GOVERNORS OF

MINNESOTA.

Alexander Earn <py 1SW^1S53

Willis A. Gormnii 1853-1857

Samuel Medary 1857

STATE GOVEUNORS.

Henry H. Sibley 1858-1860

Alexander Eams^-y 1860-1863

H. A. Swift, Acting Gov 1863-1864

Stephen Miller 1864-1866

W.E. Marshall 1866-1870

Horace Austin 1870-1874

C. K. Davis 1874-1876

John S. Pillsbury 1876-1882

L. F. Hubbard 1882

TERRITORIAL DELEQ VTE.i TO CONGRESS.

Henry H. Sibley 1849-1853

Henry M. Eice 1853-1857

W. W. Kingsbury 1857-1858

UNITED STATES SENATORS.

Henry M. Eice 1857-1863

James Shields 1857-1859

M. S. Wilkinson 1859-1865

Alexander Eamsey 1863-1875

Daniel S. Norton 1865-1870

O. P. Stearns 1871

Wilham Windom 1871

A. J. Edgertou 1881

S. J. E. McMillan 1875

MEMBERS UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTA-
TIVES.

W. W. Phelps 1857-1859

J. M. Cavanaugh 1857-1859

William Windom 1859-1871

Cyrus Aldrich 1859-1863

Ignatius Donnelly 1863-1869

Eugene M. Wilson 1869-1871

M. S. Wilkinson 1869-1771

M. H. Dunnell 1871

J. T. Averill 1871-1875

H. B. Strait , . 1875-1879

1881

Henry Poehler 1879-1S81

W.8. King 1875-1877

J. H. Stewart 1877-1879

W. D. Washburn 1879

STATE KnUCATIOX.

Ifil

STATE EDUCATION.

BY CUAULE8 8. BHVANT. A. M.

CHAPTER XXVIIT.

EDDCATION — DEFINITION OF THE WOBD -CHURCH

AND STATE SEPAKATED COLONIAL PERIOD

HOWAKD COLLEOE — WILLIAM PENn's GKK\T LAW
WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEUE STATE EDUCA-
TION UNDER THE CONFEDERATION — AID GIVEN TO
STATES IN THE NORTHWEST.

As a word, education is of wide a|)plication and
may convey hut an indefinite idea. Broadly, it
means to draw out, to lead forth, to train np, to
foster, to enable the individual to properly use the
faculties, mental or corporal, with which he is en-
dowed; and to use them iu a way that will accom-
plish the desired result in all relations and in any
department of industry, whether in the domain of
intellectual research, or confined to the fields of
physical labor.

State Education points at once to a definite field
of investigation; an organization which is to have
extensive direction and control of the subject matter
embraced in the terms chosen. It at once excludes
the conclusion that any other species of education
than secular education is intended. It excludes all
other kinds of education not included in this term,
without the slightest reflection upon parochial, sec-
tarian, denominational or individual schools; inde-
pendent or corporate educational organizations.
State Education, then, may embrace whatever is
required by the State, in the due execution of its
mission in the protection of indi^^dual rights and
the proper advancement of the citizen in material
prosperity; in short whatever may contribute in
;my way to the honor, dignity, and fair fame of a
State; whose sovereign will directs, and, to a very
great extent, controls the destiny of its subjects.

A reason may be given for this special depart-
ment of education, without ignoring any others
arising from the necessity of civil government, and
its necessary separation from ecclesiastical control.
It must be oljserved by every reasoning mind, that
iu the advancement and growth of social elements
from savagery through families and tribes to civil-
ization, and the better forms of government, that
in the increasing growth multiplied industries
continually lead to a resistless demand for devision
of labor, both intellectual and physical. This
division must eventually lead, in every form of
government, to a separation of what may be termed
Church and State; and, of course, in such division
every separate organization must control the ele-
ments necessary to sustain its own perpetuity; foi-
otherwise its identity would be lost, and it woulil
cease to have any recognized existence.

In these divisions of labor, severally organized
for different and entirely distinct objects, mutual
benefits must result, not from any invasion of the
separate rights of the one or the other, by hostile
aggression, but by reason of the greatest harmony
of elements, and hence greater perfection iu the
labors of each, when limited to the promotion of
each separate and peculiar work. In the division,
one would be directed towards the temporal, the
other toward the spiritual advancement of man, in
any and all relations which he sustains, not only
to his fellow men, but to the material or immaterial
universe. These departments of labor are suffic-
iently broad, although intimately related, to requke
the best directed energies of each, to properly cul-
tivate their separate fields. And an evidence of
the real harmony existing between these orgauiza-

162

STATE EDUCATION.

tions, the Church and State, relative to the present
investigation, is found in the admitted fact that
education, both temporal and spiritual, secular and
sectarian, was a principal of the original organiza-
tion, and not in conflict with its highest duty, or its
most vigorous growth. In the division of the
original organization, that department of educa-
tion, which was only spiritual, was retained with
its necessary adjuncts, while that which was only
temporal was relegated to a new organization, the
temporal organization, the State. The separate
elements are still of the same quality, although
wielded by two instead of one organization. In
this respect educaticm may be compared to the
diamond, which when broken and subdivided into
most minute particles, each separate particle re-
tains not only the form and number of facets, but
the brilliaucy of the original diamond. So in the
case before us, though education has suffered
division, and has been appropriated by different
organisms, it is nevertheless the same in nature,
and retains the same quahty and luster of the
parent original.

The laws of growth in these separate organiza-
tions, the Church composed of every creed, and
the State in every form of government, must de-
termine the extent to which their special educa-
tion shall be carried. If it shall be determined
by the chiirch, that her teachers, leaders, and fol-
lowers in any stage of its growth, shall )je limited
iu their acquisitions to the simple elements of
knowledge, reading, writing, and arithmetic, it may
be determined that the State should limit educa-
tion to the same simple elements. But as the
Church, conscious of its immature growth, has
never restricted her leaders, teachers, or followers,
to these simple elements of knowledge; neither
has the State seen fit to limit, nor can it ever limit
education to any standard short of the extreme
limits of its growth, the fullest development of
its resources, and the demands of its citizens.
State Education and Church Education are alike
in their infancy, and no one is able to prescribe
limits to tlie one or the other. The separation of
Church and State, in matters of government only,
is yet of very narrow limits, and is of very recent
origin. And the separation of Church and State,
in matters of educati(jn, has not yet clearly dawneil
upon the minds of the accredited leaders of these!
clearly distinct organizations.

It is rational, however, to conclude, that among

reasonable men, it would be quite as easy to de-
termine the final triumph of State Education, as
to determine the fmal success of the Christian
faith over Buddhism, or the final triumph of man
in the subjugation of the earth to his control.
The decree has gone forth, that man shall subdue
the earth; so that, guided by the higher law, Ed-
ucation, under the direction or protection of the
State, must prove a final success, for only by
organic, scientific, and human instrumentality can
the purpose of the Creator be jxissibly accom-
plished on earth.

If we have found greater perfection in quality,
and better adaptation of methods in the work done
by these organizations since the separation, we
must conclude that the triumphs of each will be
in proportion to the completeness of the separa-
tion; and that the countries the least shackled by
entangling alliances in this regard, must, other
things being equal, lead the ■ van, both in the ad-
vancement of science and in the triumphs of an
enlightened faith. And we can, by a very slight
comparison of the present with the past, deter-
mine for oiu'selves, that the scientific curriculum of
State schools has been greatly widened and en-
riched, and its methods better adapted to proposed
ends. We can as easily ascertain the important
fact that those countries are in advance, where the
two great organizations. Church and State, are
least in conflict. We know also, that from the
nature of the human movement westward, that
the best defined conditions of these organizations
shoidd be found in the van of this movement. On
this continent, then, the highest development of
these organizations should be found, at least, when
time shall have matured its natural results in the
growth and polish of our institutions. Even now,
iu our infancy, what country on earth can show
ecpial results in either the growth of general
knowledge, the advance of education, or the tri-
umphs of Christian labor at home and abroad ?
These are the legitimate fruits of the wonderful
energy given to the mind of man in the separate
labors of these organizations, on the principle of
the division of labor, and consequently better di-
rected energies in every department of industry.
This movement is onward, across the continent,
and thence around the globe. Its force is irrosist-
able, and all efforts to reunite these happily di-
\ided powers, aud to return to the culture of past
times, aud the governments aud laws of past ages,

COLONIAL PERIOD.

1(53

must be as unavailing as an attempt to reverse
tlie laws of nature. In their separation and
friendly rivalry, exists the hope of man's temporal
and sjjiritual elt>vation.

State Education is natural in its application.
In the begidning God created the heavens and the
earth, and every organism after its own kind.
Now, in pursuance of this well known law of na-
ture, that everything created is made after its own
order and its own likeness, it follows that the new
comers on this continent brought with them the
germ of national and spiritual life. If we are
right in this interpretation of the laws of life re-
lating to living organisms, we shall expect to find
its proper manifestation in the early institutions
they created for their own sjiecial purposes imme-
diately after their arrival here. We look into
their history, and we find that by authority of the
General Court of Massachusetts, in 1636, sixteen
years after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers,
Harvard College was established, as an existing
identity, that in 1638, it was endowed by John
Harvard, and named after him. But the Common
School was not overlooked. At a public meeting
in Boston, April 13th lG3(i, it was "generally
agreed that one Philemon Pormout be entreated
to become schoolmaster tor teaching and nourter-
ing children."

After the date above, matters of education ran
through the civil auth(irity, and is forcibly ex-
pressed in the acts of 1642 and 1647, jiassed by
the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Col-
ony. By the act of 1642, the select men of every
town are required to have vigilant eye over their
brothers and neighbors, to see, first, that none of
them shall suffer so much barbarism in any of
their families, as not to endeavor to teach, by them-
selves or others, their children and apprentices so
much learning as shall enable them i^ertectly to
read the English tongue, and knowledge of the
Capital laws, under penalty of twenty shillings
lor each offence. By the act of 1647, support of
schools was made compulsory, and their blessings
universal. By this law "every town containing
fifty house-holders was required to appoint a
teacher, to teach all children as shall resort to him
to write and read;" and every town containing one
hivndred families or house-holders was required to
"set up grammar schools, the master thereof being
able to instruct youths so far as they may be fitted
for the Dniversitv."

In New Amsterdam, among the Reformed Prot-
estant Butch, the conception of a school system
guaranteed aud protected by the State, seems to
have been entertained by the colonists from Hoi-
laud, although cu'cumstances hindered its practi-
cal development. The same general statement is
true of the mixed settlements along the Delaware;
Menonites, Catholics, Dutch, and Swedes, in con-
nection with their churches, established little
schools in their early settlements. In 1G82, the
legislative assembly met at Chester. William
Penn made provision for the education of youth
of ihe province, and enacted, that the Governor
and provincial Council should erect and order all
public schools. One section of Penn's "Great
law" is in the woi'ds following:

"Be it enacted by authority aforesaid, that all
jjersons within the province and territories thereof,
having children, and all the guardians and trus-
tees of orphans, shall cause such to be instructed
in reading and writing, so that they may be able
to read the scriptures aud to write by tlie time that
they attain the age of 12 years, aud that they then
be taught some usefiil trade or skill, that the poor
may work to live, and the rich, if they become
poor, may not want; of which every county shall
take care. And in case such parents, guardians,
or overseers shall be found deficient in this respect,
every such parent, guardian, or overseer, shall pay
for every such child five pounds, except there
should appear incapacity of body or understanding
to hinder it."

And this "Great law" of WiUiam Penn, of 1682,
will not sutler in comparison with the English
statute on State Education, passed in 1870, and
amended in 1877, one hundi'ed and ninety-five
years later. In this respect, America is two hun-
dred years in advance of Great Britain in State
education. But our present limits will not allow
us to compare American and English State school
systems.

In 1693, the assembly of Pennsylvania passed a
second school law providing for the education of
youth in every county . These elementary
schools were free for boys and girls. In 1755,
Pennsylvania College was endowed, and became a
University in 1779.

In Virginia, William and Mary College was
famous even in colonial times. It was supported
by direct State aid. In 1726, a tax was levied on
liquors for its benefit by the House of Burgesses;

164

STATE hiDUCATION.

in 1759, a tax on peJdIew was given this college
by law, and from various revenues it was, in 1776,
tlie richest college in North America.

These extracts from the early history of State
Education in pre-Colonial and Colonial times give
abundant evidence of the nature of the organisms
planted in American soil by the Pilgrim Fathers
and their successors, as well as other early settlers
ou our Atlantic coast. The inner life has kept
pace with the re(|uirements of the external organ-
izations, as the body assumes still greater and
more national proportions. The inner life grew
with the exterior demands.

On the 9th of July, 1787, it was proclaimed to
the world, that ou the 15th of November, 1778, in
the second year of the independence of America,
the several colonies of New Hampshire, Massa-
chusetts Bay, Bhode Island, Providence Planta-
tions, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Penn-
sylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia had entered
into a Confederate Union.

This Confederate Union, thus organized as a
Government, was able to receive grants of land
and to hold the same for such purposes as it saw
proper. To the new government cessions were
made by several of the States, from 1781 to 1802,
of which the Virginia grant was the most im-
portant.

The Confederate Government, on the 13th of
■luly, 1787, and within less than four years after
the reception of the Virginia Laud Grant, known
as the Northwest Territory, passed the ever memo-
rable ordinance of 1787. Tliis was the first real
estate to which the Confederation had acquired
the absolute title in its own right. The legal
government had its origin September 17th, 1787,
while the ordinance for the government of the
Northwest Territory was passed two months and
four days before. Article Third of the renowned
ordinance reads as follows:

"Religion, morality, and knowledge being nec-
essary to good government and the happiness ol
mankind, schools and the means of education shall
forever be encouraged."

What is the territory embraced by this authori-
tative enunciation of the Confederate Government?
The extent of the land embraced is almost if not
quite ecpial to the area of the original thirteen colo-
nies. Out of this munificent possession added to the
infant American Union, have since been carved, by

the authority of the United States government, the
princely states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michi-
gan, Wisconsin, and in part Minnesota. In this
vast region at least, the Government has said that
education "shall be forever encouraged." En-
couraged how and by whom? Encouraged by
the Government, by the legal State, by the su-
preme power of the land. This announcement of
governmental aid to State schools was no idle
boast, made for the encouragement of a delusive
hope, but the enunciation of a great truth, in-
spired by the spirit of a higher life, now kindled
in this new American temple, in which the Creator
intended man should worship him according to the
dictates of an enlightened conscience, "where none
should molest or make him afraid."

The early Confederation passed away, but the
spirit that animated the organism was immortal,
and immediately manifested itself iu the new. Gov-
ernment, under our present constitution. On the
17th of September, 1787, two months and four
days from the date of the ordinance erecting the
Northwest Territory was adopted, the new Con-
stitution was inaugurated. The first State gov-
ernment erected in the new territory was the state
of Ohio, in 1802. The enabling act, passed by
Congress on this accession of the first new State,
a part of the new acquisition, contains this sub-
stantial evidence that State aid was faithfully
remembered and readily offered to the cause of
education :

Sec. 3: "That the following proposition be and
the same is hereby oilered to the convention of the
eastern States of said territory, when formed, for
their free acce])tance or rejection, which it accejjted
by tlie convention shall be obligatory upon the
United States:

" That section number sixteen in every town-
ship, and where such section has been scjld, granted
or dis2)oned of, olhei' lauds equivalent thereto, and
most contiguous to the same, shall be granted to
the inhabitants of such township for the use of
schools."

The proposition of course was duly accepted by
the vote of the people in the adoiotion of theii
constitution prior to their admission to the Union,
and on March 3d, 1803, Congress granted to Ohio^
in addition to section sixteen, an additional grant
of one complete townshij) for the purpose of estab-
lishing any higher institutions of learning. This
was the beginning of substantial national recngni-

AID TO STATES IN THE NOIiTUWEST TEIiRlTOIlY.

1C5

tion of St;ite aid to schools by grants of land out of
the uatioiuil domaiu, but the government aid di<l
not end in this first effort. The next State, Indi-
ana, admitted in 1816, was granted the same sec-
tion, number sixteen in eaeh townsliip; and in
addition thereto, two townships of land wore ex-
pressly granted for a seminary of learning. In the
admission of Illinois, in 1818, the section numbered
sixteen in each township, and two entire townships
in addition thereto, for a seminary of learning and
the title thereto vested in the legislature. In the
admission of Michigan in 18.3G, the same section
sixteen, and seventy-two sections in addition there-
to, were set apart to said State for the purpose of
a State University. In the admission of Wis-
consin, in 1818, the same provision was made as
was made to the other States previously formed
out of the new territory. This was the com-
mencement.

These five States completed the list of States
which could exist in the territory northwest of the
Ohio Eiver. Minnesota, the next State, in part
lying east of the Mississippi, and in part west,
takes its territory from two different sources; that
east of the Father of Waters, from Virginia, which
was embraced in the Northwest Territory, and that
lying west of the same from the " Louisiana Pur-
chase," bought of France by treaty of April 30,
1803, including also the territory west of the Mis-
sippi, which Napoleon had previously acquired
from Spain. The greater portion of Minnesota,
therefore lies outside the first territorial acquisi-
tion of the Government of the United States; and
yet the living spirit that inspired tlie early grants
out of the first acquisition, had lost nothing of its
fervor in the grant made to the New Northwest.
When the Territory of Minnesota was organized,
Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, then a Senator in Con-
gress from the state of Illinois, noI:)ly advocated
the claims of Minnesota to an increased amount of
Government aid for the support of schools, extend-
ing from the Coinmon school to the University.
By Mr. Douglas' very able, disinterested and gen-
erous assistance and support in Congress, aided by
Hon. H. M. Rice, then Delegate from Minnesota,

our enabling act was made still more liberal in
relation to State Education, than that of any State
or Territory yet admitted or organized in the
amount of lauds granted to schools generally.

Section eighteen of the enabling act, passed on
the 3d of March, 1849, is as follows:

"And be it further enacted, That when the lands
in said Territory shall be surveyed under the direc-
tion of the Government of the United States, pre-
paratory to bringing the same into market, sec-
tions numbered sixteen and thirty-six in each town-
ship in said Territory, shall be, and the same are
hereby reserved for the purpose of being ajiplied
to schools in said Territory, and in the States and
Territories hereafter to be created out of the same."

As the additions to the family of States increase
westward, the national domain is still more freely
contributed to the use of schools; and the charac-
ter of the education demanded by the people
made more and more definite. In 18.51, while
Oregon and Minnesota were yet territories of the
United States, Congress passed the following act:

" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of America, in Congress assembled :
That the Governors and legislative assemblies of
the territories of Oregon and Blinnesota, be, and
they are hereby aiithorized to make such laws and
needful regulations as they shall deem most expe-
dient to protect from injury and waste, sections
numbered sixteen and thirty-six in said Territories
reserved in each township for the supjiortof schools
therein.

(2.) "And be it further enacted, That the Secre-
tary of the Interior be, and he is hereliy authorized
and directed to set apart and reserve from sale, out
of any of the public lands within the territory of
Minnesota, to which the Indian title has been or
may be extinguished, and not otherwise appropri-
ated, a quantity of land not exceeding two entire
townships, for the use and support of a University
in said Territory, and for no other purpose what-
ever, to be located by legal suliUivisious of not
loss than one entire section."

[Approved February 19, 18.51. J

166

STATE EDUCATION.

CHAPTER XXIX.

STATE EDUOATTON IN MINNESOTA BOARD OF RE-
GENTS — UNIVERSITY GitANT — AID OP CONGRESS IN
1862 VALUE OF SOHOOLHOUSES — LOCAL TAXA-
TION IN DIFFERENT STATES — STATE SCHOOL SYS-
TEM KNOWS NO SECT IGNORANCE INHERITED,

THE COMMON FOE OF MARKIND — CONCLUSION.

When Minnesota was prepared by her popula-
tion for application to Congress for admission as
a State, Congress, in an act authorizing her to
form a State government, makes the following
provision for schools :

( 1 ) "That sections numbered sixteen and thirty-
six in every township of public lands in said State,
and where either of said sections, or any part
thereof, has been sold or otherwise disposed of,
other lands e(juivaleut thereto, and as contiguous
as may be, shall be granted to said State for the
use of schools.

(2) "That seventy-two sections of land shall
be set apart and reserved for the use and support
of a State University to be selected by the Gov-
ernor of said State, subject to the approval of the
commissioner at the general land office, and be
appropriated and applied in such manner as the
legislature of said State may prescribe for the
purposes aforesaid, but for no other purpose."
[Passed February 26, 1857.]

But that there might be no misapprehension
that the American Government not only had the
inclination to aid in the proper education of the
citizen, but that in cases requiring direct control,
the government would not hesitate to exercise its
authority, in matters of education as well as in
any and all other questions affecting its sover-
eignty. To this end, on the second of July, 1862,
Congress passed the "act donating public lands to
the several States and Territories which may pro-
vide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the
mechanic arts."

"Be it enacted, &c., that there be granted to the
several States for the purposes hereinafter men-
tioned, an amount of public land to be appor-
tioned to eacli State (except States in rebellion), a
quantity equal to thirty thousand acres for each
senator and representative in Congress to which
the States are respectively entitled by the appor-
tionment under the census of 1860."

Section four of said act is in substance as fol-
lows:

"That all monc-ys derived from the sale of these

lauds, directly or indirectly, shall be invested in
stocks yielding not less than five per cent, upon
the par value of such stocks. That the money so
invested shall constitute a perpetual fund, the cap-
ital of which shall remain forever undiminished,
and the interest thereof shall be inviolably appro-
priated by each State which may claim the benefit
of the act to the endowment, support, and main-
tenance of at least one college, where the leading
object shall be, without excluding other scientific
and classical studies, and including military tac-
tics, to teach such branches of learning as are re-
lated to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in
such manner as the legislatures of the States may
respectively ]5rescribe, in order to promote the
liberal and practical education of the industrial
classes in the several pursuits and jirofessions of
life.

Section five, second clause of said act, provides
"That no portion of said fund, nor the interest
thereon, shall be applied, directly or indirectly,
under any pretence whatever, to the purchase,
erection, preservation, or repair of any building or
buUdings."

Section five, third clause, "That any State
which may take and claim the benefit of the pro-
visions of this act shall provide, within five years,
at least not less than one college, as described iu
the fourth section of this act, or the grant to such
State shall cease; and the said State shall be
bound to pay the United States the amount re-
ceived of any lands previously sold."

Section five, fourth clause, "An annual report
shall be made regarding the progress of eadh col-
lege, recording any improvements and experi-
ments made, with their costs and results, and such
other matters, including State industrial and eco-
nomical statistics, aa may be supposed useful; one
copy of which shall be transmitted by mail free,
by each, to all the other colleges which may be
endowed under the provisions of this act, and also
one copy to the Secretary of the Interior."

Under this act Minnesota is entitled to select
150,000 acres to aid in teaching the branches in
the act named in the State University, making tlie
endowment fund of the Government to the state
of Minnesota for edtKjational purposes as follows:

1. For common schools, in acres > 3,000,000

2. For State University, four townships 208,360

Tot.il apportionment 3,208,300

AID OF CONGRESS IN 1862.

107

All th(-so lands have not been selcctod. Unilor
the agricidturiil collogo grant, only 91,4.'5'.) .icres
have been selected, and only 72,708 acriw under
the two University grants, leaving only 1()7,14:7
acres realized for University pnrposes, ont oE the
208,360, a possible loss of 41,203 acres.

The pennnnont school fund derived from the
national domain by the state of Minnesota, at a
reasonable estimate of the value of the lands se-
cured out of those granted to her, cannot vary
far from the results below, considering the prices
already obtained:

1. Common school lands in acres,
3,000,000, vahied at $18,000,000

2. University grants, in all, in acres,

223,000, valued at 1,115,000

Amount in acres, 3,223,000 $19,115,000

Out of this permanent school fund may be real-
ized an annual fund, when lands are all sold:

1. For common schools .?1,000,000

2. University instruction 60,000

These several grants, ample as they seem to be,
are, however, not a tithe of the means required
from the State itself for the free education of the
children of the State. We shall see further on
what the State has already done in her free school
system.

Minnesota, a State 'first distinguished by an
extra grant of government land, has something to
unite it to great national iuterest. Its position in
the sisterhood of States gives it a i)romineuce that
none other can occuj^y. A State lying on both
sides of the great Father of waters, in a conti-
nental valley midway between two vast oceans,
encircling the Western Hemisphere, with a soil of
superior fertility, a climate unequalled for health,
and bright with skies the most inspiring, such a
State, it may be said, must ever hold a prominent
position in the Great American Union.

In the acts of the early settlements on the At-
lantic coast, in the Colonial Government, and the
National Congress, we have the evidence of a
determined intention "that schools and the means
of education shall forever be encouraged" by the
people who have the destinies of the Western
Hemisphere in their hands. That the external
organism of the system capable of accomplishing
this heavy task, and of carrying forward this re-
sponsible duty, rests with the people themselves.

and is as extensive as the government they have
established for the protection of their rights and
the growth of their physical industries, and the
free development of their intellectual powers.
The people, <irganized as a Nation, in assuming
this duty, have in advance proclaimed to the
world that "Keligion, Morality, and Knowledge"
are alike essential "to good government." And in
organizing a government free from sectarian con-
trol or alliance, America made an advance hitherto
unknown, both in its temporal and spiritual power;
for hitherto the work of the one had hindered the
others, and the labors and unities of the two were
inconsistent with the proper functions of either.
The triumjjh, tlierefore, of either, for the control
of both, was certain ruin, while separation of each,
the one from the other, was the true life of both.
Such a victory, therefore, was never before known
on earth, as the entire separation, and yet the
friendly rivalry of Church and.State, fii'st inaugu-
rated in the free States of America. This idea was
crystalized and at once stamped on the fore-front
of the Nation's life in the aphorism, "Keligion,
morality, and knowledge are alike essential to
good government." And the deduction from this
national aphorism necessarily follows: "That
schools and the means of education should forever
be encouraged." We assume, then, without fur-
ther illustration drawn from the acts of the Nation,
that the means of education have not and will not
be withheld. We have seen two great acquisitions,
the Northwest Territory, and the Louisiana Pur-
chase, parceled out in greater and greater pro-
fusion for educational uses, till the climax is
reached in the Mississippi Valley, the future great
center of national power. At the head of this
valley sits as regnant queen the state of Minne-
sota, endowed with the means of education unsur-
passed by any of her compeers in the sisterhood
of States. Let us now inquire, as pertinent to
this discussion,

WHAT H.\S MINNESOTA DONE FOE STATE EDUCATION ?

The answer is in part made up from her con-
stitution and the laws enacted in pursuance
thereof: First, then, article VIII. of her consti-
tution reads thus:

Section 1. The stability of a republican form of
government depending mainly upon the intelli-
gence of the people, it shall be the duty of the
Legislature to establish a general and unifoim
system of public schools.

168

STATE EDUCATION.

Section 2. The proceeds of such lands as are,
or hereafter may be granted by the United States,
for the use of schools in each township in this
State, shall remain a perj)etual school fund to the
State. =s * * * The principal of all funds
arising from sales or otlier disposition of lands or
other property, granted or entrusted to this State,
shall forever be preserved inviolate and undimin-
ished ; and the income arising from the lease or sale
of said school land shall be distriluited to the dif-
ferent townships throughout the State in propor-
tion to the number of scholars in each township,
between the ages of five and twenty-one years;
and shall be faitlifully applied to the specific object
of the original grant or appropriation."

Section 3. The legislature shall make such pro-
vision by taxation or otherwise, as, with the in-
come arising from the school fund, will secure a
thorough and efficient system of public schools in
each townshijJ in the State.

But in no case shall the moneys derived as afore-
said, or any portion thereof, or any jjublic moneys
or property, be ajipropriated or used for the sup-
port of schools wherein the destinctive doctrines,
creeds, or tenets of any particular Christian or
other religious sect are promulgated or taught."

THE DNIVEESITY.

"Section 4. The location of the University of
Minnesota, as istablishrd by existing laws, [Sept.
1851] is hereby contiruied, and said institution is
hereby declared to be tie University of Minnesota.
All the rights, inmaunitios, franchises, and endow-
ments heretofore granted or conferred, are hereby
perpetuated unto the f aid University, and all lands
which may be granted hereafter by Congress, or
other donations for said University purposes, shall
rest in the institution referred to in this section.

The State constitution is in full harmony with
the National government in the distinctive outlines
laid down in the extracts above made. And the
Territorial and State governments, within these
limits, have consecutively appropriated by legis-
lation, sufficient to carry forward the State school
system. In the Territorial act, establishing the
University, the people of the State announced in
advance of the establishment of a State govern-
ment, " that the proceeds of the laud that may
hereafter be granted by the United States to the
Territory for the support of the University, shall
bo and remain a perpetual fund, to be called "the

University Fund," the interest of which shall be
appropriated to the support of a University, and
no sectarian instruction shall be allowed in such
University! " This organization of the University
was confirmed by the State constitution, and the
congressional laud grants severally passed to that
corporation, and the use of the funds arising there-
from were subjected to the restrictions named. So
that both the common school and University were
dedicated to State school purposes, and expressly
excluded from sectarian control or sectarian in-
struction.

In this respect the State organization corres-
ponds with the demands oC the general govern-
ment; and has organized the school system reach-
ing from the common school to the university, so
that it may be said, the State student may, if he
choose, in the state of Minnesota pass from grade
to grade, through common school, high school, and
State University free of charge for tuition. With-
out referring specially to the progressive legisla-
tive enactments, the united system may be referred
to as made up of units of different orders, and suc-
cessively in its ascending grades, governed by
separate boards, rising in the scale of importance
from the local trustee, directors, and treasurer, in
common school, to the higher board of education,
of six members io the independent school district,
and more or less than that number in districts and
large cities under special charter, until we reach
the climax in the dignified Board of Regents; a
board created by law and known as the Begents of
the State University. This honorable body con-
sists of seven men nominated by the Governor and
confirmed by the senate of the State legislature,
each holding his office for three years; and besides
these there are three ex-officio members, consisting
of the President of the State University, the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Gov-
ernor of the State. This body of ton men are in
reality the legal head of the State University, and
indirectly the effective head of the State school
system of Minnesota, and are themselves subject
only to the control of the State Legislature.
These various officers, throughout this series, are
severally trustees of legal duties which cannot be
delegated. They fall under the legal maxim
"that a trustee cannot make a trustor." These
are the legal bodies to whom the several series of
employes and servitors owe obedience. Tliese
various trustees determine the course of study

MINNESOTA STATE SYSTEM.

169

and tlie rules of transfer from grade to jrrade until
the last grade is reached at the head of the State
system, or the scholar has perhaps completed a
post-graduate course in a polytechnic school, in-
augurated by the State for greater perfection, it
may be in chemistry, agriculture, the mechanic
arts, or other specialty, required by the State or
national government.

This system, let it be imderstood, differs from
all private, parochial, denominational, or sectarian
schools. The State organism and all the sectarian
elements of the church are, in this department of
labor, entirely distinct. The State protects and
encourages, but does not control either the schools
or the faith of the church. The church supports
and approves, but does not yield its tenets or its
creed to the curriculum of the schools of the State.
The State and the Church are in this respect en-
tirely distinct and different organizations. State
education, however, and the education of the ad-
herents of the church are in harmony throughout
a great portion of the State curriculum. Indeed,
there seems to be no reason why the greater por-
tion of denominational teaching, so far as the same
is in harmony with the schools of the State, should
not be relegated to the State, that the church
throughout all its sectarian element might be the
better able to direct its energiefa and economize
its benevolence in the cultivation of its own fields
of chosen labor. But, however this may be, and
wherever these two organizations choose to divide
their labors, they are still harmonious even in their
rivalry.

The organism as a State system has, in Minne-
sota, so matured that through all the grades to the
University, the steps are defined and the gradients
passed without any conflict of authority. The
only check to the regiilar order of ascend-
ing grades was first met in the State Uni-
versity. These schools, in older countries, had at
one time an independent position, and in their
origin had their own scholars of all grades, from
the prejiaratory department to the Seuior Class in
the finished course; but in our State system, when
the common schools became graded, and the High
School had grown up as a part of the organism of
a completed system, the University naturally took
its place at the head of the State system, having
the same relation to the High School as the High
School has to the Common School. There was no
longer any reason why the same rule should not

apply in the transfer from the High School to the
University, that applied in the transfer from the
Common School to the High School, and to this
conclusion the people of the State have already
fully arrived. The rules of the board of Regents
of the State University now allow students, with
tlie Principal's certificate of qualification, to enter
the Freshman class, on examination in sub-Fresh-
man studies only. But even this is not satisfac-
tory to the friends of the State school system.
They deiuand for High School graduates an en-
trance into the University, when the grade below
is passed, on the examination of the school below
for graduation therein. If, on the one hand, the
High schools of the State, under the law for the
encouragement of higher education, are required
to prepare students so that they shall be qualified
to enter some one of the classes of the University,
on the other hand the University should be re-
quired to admit the students thus qualified with-
out further examination. The rule should work
in either direction. The rights of students under
the law are as sacred, and should be as inalienable,
as the rights of teachers or faculties in State in-
stitutions. The day of unlimited, irresponsible
discretion, a relic of absolute autocracy, a des-
potic jjower, has no place iu systems of free
schools under constitutional and statutory limita-
tions, and these presidents and faculties who con-
tinue to exercise this power in the absence of
right, should be reminded by Boards of Regents
at the head of American State systems that their
resignation would be acceptable. They belong to
an antiquated system, outgrown by the age iu
which we live.

The spirit of the people of our State was fully
intimated in the legislature of 1881, in the House
bill introduced as an amendment to the law of
1878-79, for the encouragement of higher educa-
tion, but finally laid aside for the law then in
force, slightly amended, and quite in harminjy
with the H( iu.se bill. Sections two and five
.^lluded to read as follows:

"Any public, graded or high school in any city
or incorporated village or township organized into
a district under the S(.-called township system,
which shall have regular classes and courses of
study, articulating with some course of study, op-
tional or required, in the State University, and
shall raise annually for the expense of said school
double the amount of State aid allowed by this

170

STATE EDUCATION.

act. and shall admit students of either sex into the
higher classes thereof from any part of the State,
witliout charge for tuition, shall receive State aid,
as specified in section four of this act. Provided,
that non-resident pupils shall in all cases be qual-
ified to enter the highest department of said
schodl at the entrance examination for resident
pupils."

"The High School Board shall have power, and
it is hereby made their duty to provide uniform
questions to test the qualifications of the scholars
of said graded or high schools for entrance and
graduation, and especially conduct the examina-
tions of scholars in said schools, when desired and
notified, and award diplomas to graduates who
shall ui^on examination be found to have completed
any course of study, either optional or re([uired,
entitling the holder to enter any class in the Uni-
versity of Minnesota named therein, any time
within one year from the date thereof, without
further examination; said diploma to be executed
by the several members of the High School
Board."

THE RELATED SYSTEM.

We have now seen the position of the University
in our system of public schools. In its position
only at the head of the series it differs from the
grades below. The rights of the scholar follow
him throughout the series. When he has com-
pleted and received the certificate or diploma in
tlie prescribed course in the High School, articu-
lating with any course, optional or required, in the
University, he has the same right, unconditioned,
to pass to the higher class in that course, as he
had to pass on examination, from one class to the
other in any of the grades beiow. So it follows,
that the University faculty or teacher who as-
sumes the right to reject, condition, or re-examine
such student, would exercise an abuse of power,
unwarranted in law, arbitrary in spirit, and not
republican in character. This rule is better and
better understood in all State Universities, as free
State educational organisms are more crystalizod
into forms, analogous to our State and national
governments. The arbitrary will of the interme-
diate, or head master, no longer prevails. His will
niust yield to more certain legal rights, as the
learner passes on, under prescribed rules, from in-
fancy to manhood through all the grades of school
life. And no legislation framed on any other

theory of educational promotion in republican
States can stand against this American conscious-
ness of equality existing between all the members
of the body politic. In this consciousness is em-
braced the inalienable rights of the child or the
youth to an education free in all our public
schools. In Minnesota it is guaranteed in the
constitution that the legislature shall make such
provisions, by taxation or otherwise, as, with the
income arising from the school fund, will secure a
thorough and efficient system of public schools in
each township in the State. Who shall say that
the peojjle have no right to secure such thorough
and efficient system, even should that "thorough
and efficient system" extend to direct taxation for
a course extending to graduation from a Univer-
sity':' Should such a course exceed the constitu-
tional limitation of a thorough and efficient sys-
tem of public schools?

INTERPEETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION.

The people, through the medium of the law-
making power, have given on three several occa-
sions, in 1878, 1879, and 1881, an intimation of
the scope and measuring of our State constitutitm
on educational extension to higher education than
the common school. In the first section of the act
of 1881, the legislature created a High School
Board, consisting of the Governor of the State,
Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the
President of the University of Minnesota, who are
charged with certain duties and granted certain
powers contained in the act. And this High
School Board are recjuired to grant State aid to
the amount of $400 during the school year to any
public graded school, in any city or incorporated
village, or township organized into a district,
which shall give preparatory instruction, extend-
ing to and articulating with the University course
in some one of its classes, and shall admit stu-
dents of either sex, from any part of the State,
without charge for tuition. Provided only tliat
non-resident pupils shall be qualified to enter
some one of the organized classes of such graded
or high school. To carry out this act, giving
State aid directly out of the State treasury to a
course of education reaching upward from the
common school, through the high sch<i'>l to the
University, the legislatiu-e appropriated the entire
sum of .'520,000. In this manner we have the in-
terpretation of the people of Minnesota as to the

RESULTS OF THE liELATET) SYSTEM.

171

lueaniiig of "a thorough and effioieiit systeiu of
public schools, operative alike iu each township in
the State." And this interpretation of our legis-
latui'e is iu harmony with the several acts of Con-
gress, and particularly the act of July the second,
1SC2, granting lands to the several States of the
Union, known as the Agricultural College Graiil.
The States receiving said lands are rcq\iircd, in
their colleges or universities, to -teach such
branches of learning as are related to Agriculture
and the Mechanic arts, without excluding other
scientific and classical studies, and including mil-
itary tactics, in such manner as the legislatures of
the States may respectively prescribe, in order to
promote the liberal and practical education of the
industrial classes in the several pursuits and pro-
fessions of life."

And the Legislature of Minnesota has already
established in its University, optional or required
courses of study fully meeting the limitations in
the congressional act of 1862. In its elementary
department it has three courses, known as classi-
cal, scientific, and modern. In the College of
Science, Literature, and the Arts, the courses of
study are an extension of those of the elementary
departments, and lead directly to the degrees of
Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Bach-
elor of Literature. In the College of Jlechanic
Arts the several courses of studies are principally
limited to Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engi-
neering, and Architecture. In the College of Ag-
riculture are: (1) The regular University course,
leading to the degree of Bachelor of AgrieiUturc.
(2) The elementary course, in part coinciding with
the Scientific course of the Elementary Depart-
ment. (3) A Farmers' Lecture course. (4) Three
special courses for the year 1880-81. Law and
Medicine have not yet been opened iu the State
University for want of means to carry forward
these departments, now so much needed.

Our State constitution has therefore been prac-
tically interpreted by the people, by a test that
cannot be misconstrued. They have fortified
their opinion by the payment of the necessary tax
to insure the success of a thorough and efficieijt
system of public schools throughout the State.
This proof of the people's interest in these schools
ajjpears in the amounts paid for expenses and in-
struction. From the school fund the State of
Minnesota received, in 1879, tlie full sum of
§232,187.43 The State paid out the same yerir.

the snm of .1394,737.71. The dilTerence is .fl()2,-
5.50.28, which was paid out by the State more than
was derived from tlie government endowment fund.
And it is not at all likely that the endowment fund,
generous as it is, will ever produce an amount
o'cjual t<i the cost of instrucliou. The ratio of the
increase of scholars it is believed vi'ill always be in
advance of the endowment fund. The cost of in-
structiou cannot fall much I)elov/ an average, for
all grades of scholars, of eight dollars per annum
to each pupil. Our pi-o.ii^nt 180,000 scholars en-
rolled would, at this rate require .'|fl,440,000, and
in ten years and long before the sale of the school
lands- of the State shall have been made, this 180,-
000 will have increased a hundred per cent.,
amounting to 3()0,000 scholars. These, at .S8.00
per scholar for tuition, would equal $2,880,000
per annum, while the interest from the school
fund in the same time cannot exceed .$2,000,000,
even should the land average the price of ^(i.OO
per acre, and the interest realized be always equal
to "6 per cent.

SOME OF THE HESULTS

In these infant steps taken by our State, we can
discern the tendency of our organism towards a
completed State system, as an element of a still
wider union embracing the nation. To know
what is yet to be done in this direction we must
know what has already been done. We have, in
the twenty years of our State history, built 3,693
sclioolhouses, varying in cost from $400 to $90,-
000; total value of all, .$3,156,210; three Normal
school buildings at a cost of (1872) §215,231.52;
a State University at an expenditure for buildings
alone of $70,000, and an allowance by a late act
of the legislature of an additional $100,000, in
three yearly appropriations, for additional build-
ings to be erected, iu all $170,000, allowed by the
State for the University. Add these to the cost of
common school structures, and we have already
expended in school buildings over $4,800,000 for
the simjjle purpose of housing the infant organ-
ism, our common school system here planted.
We have seen a movement in cities like St. Paul,
Minneajiolis, Stillwater, and Winona, towards the
local organization of a completed system of home
schools, carrying instruction free to the University
course, with a total enrollment of 13,500 scholars
and 265 teachers, daily seated in buOdiugs, all in
the modem style of school architecture and school

STATE EDUCATION.

furniture, costing to these cities the sum o£ S850,-
000 for buildings, and for instruction the sum of
$118,000 annually.

We have, in addition to these schools in the
cities named, other home and fitting schools, to
whom have been paid $100 each, under the law
for the "Encouragement of Higher Education,"
passed in 1878, and amended in 1879, as follows:
Anoka, Austin, Blue Earth City, Chatfield, Cannon
Palls, Crookston, Duluth, Detroit, Eyota, Fari-
bault, Garden City, Gleucoe, Howard Lake, Hast-
ings, Henderson, Kasson, Litchfield, Lane&boro,
Le Sueur, Lake City, Monticello, Moorhead, Man-
kato, Northfield, Owatnnna, Osseo, Plainview, Eed
Wing, Eushford, Rochester, St. Cloud, St. Peter,
Sauk Centre, Spring Valley, Wells, Waterville,
Waseca, Wabasha. Wilmar, Winnebago City, Zum-
brota, and Mantorville.

These forty-two State aid schools have paid in
all tor buildings and furniture the gross sum of
$042,700; some of these buildings are superior in
all that constitutes superiority in school architect-
ure. The Kochester buildings and grounds cost
the sum of $90,000. Several others, such as the
Au.stin, Owatonna, Faribault, Hastings, Ked Wing,
Eushford, St. Cloud, and St. Peter schoolhouses,
exceed in value the sum of .'J'iS.OOO; and others of
these buildings are estimated at SG,000, S8,000,
$10,000, and $15,000. In all they have an enroll-
ment of scholars in attendance on classes graded up
to the University course, numbering 13,000, under
301 teachers, at an annual salary amounting in all
to $123,569, and having in their A, B, C, I) classes
1704 scholars, of whom 126 were prepared to
enter the sub-freshman class of the State Univer-
sity in 1880, and the number entering these grades
in the year 1879-80 was 934, of whom 400 were
non-residents of the districts. And in all these
forty-two home schools of the people, the fitting
schools of the State University, one uniform course
of study, articulating with some course in the
University, was observed. As many other courses
as the local boards desired were also carried on in
'these schools. This, in short, is a part of what
we have done.

The organic elements that regularly combine to
form governments, are similar to those organic ele-
ments that combine to form systems of mental
culture. The jjrimitivc type of government is the
family. This is tlie lowest organic form. If no
improvement is ever made upou tliis primitive ele-

ment, by other combinations of an artificial na-
ture, human governments would never rise higher
than the family. If society is to advance, this
organism widens into the clan, and in like manner
the clan into the village, and the village into the
more dignified province, and the province into the
State. All these artificial conditions above tha
family are the evidences of growth in pursuance
of the laws of artificial life. In like manner the
growth of intellectual organisms proceeds from
the family instruction to the commoa school.
Here the artificial organism would cease to ad-
vance, and would remain stationary, as the clan in
the organism of government, unless the common
school should pass on to the wider and still higher
unit of a graded system reaching upward to the
high school. Now this was the condition of the
common school in America during the Colonial
state, and even down to the national organization.
Soon after this period, the iutellectual life of the
nation began to be aroused, and within the last
fifty years the State common school has culmi-
nated iathe higher organism of the high school,
and it is of very recent date that the high school
has reached up to and articuLitod in any State
with the State University. On this continent, both
government and State schools started into life,
freed from the domination of institutions grown
effete from age and loss of vital energy. Here,
both entered into wider combinations, reaching
higher results than the ages of the past. And
yet, in educational organization we are far below
the st.andard of perfection we shall attain in the
rapidly advancing future. Not until our eystem
of education has attained a national character as
complete in its related articulation as the civil or-
ganization of towns, counties, and States in the
national Union, can our educational institutions do
the work required of this age. And in Minnesota,
one of the leading States in connected school or-
ganic relations, we have, as yet, some 4,000 com-
mon school districts, with an enrollment of some
100,000 scholars of differeYit ages, from five to
twenty -one years; no higher in the scale than the
common school, prior to the first high school on
the American continent. These chaotic elements,
outside of the system of graded schools now aided
by the State, must be reduced to the same organ-
ized graded system as those that now articulate in
- their course with the State University.

Our complete organization as a State svsteni for

1)1 VISION OF LABOR A CAUSE OF GUOM'TU.

173

cJiiOiitional purposes, eijual tii tlio deraamls of the
State, and required by the spirit of the age, will
not be consummnted uutil our four thousand
school districts shall reap the full benefits of a
graded system reaching to the high school course^
articulating with some course in the State Uni-
versity and a course in commen with every other
high school in the State. The system thus or-
ganized might be required to report to the Board
of Regents, as the legal head of the organization
of the State Scliool system, not only the numerical
statistics, but the number and standing of the
classes in each of the high schools in the several
studies of the uniform course, established by the
Board of Eegents, under the direction of the State
Legislature. To this system must finally belong
the certificate of stamling and graduation, en-
titling the holder to enter the designated class in
any grade of the State schools named therein,
whether High School or University. But this
system is not and can never be a skeleton merely,
made up of lifeless materials, as au anatomical
specimen in the oflice of the student of the
practice of the healing art. Within this organism
there must preside the living teacher, bringing
into this organic structure, not the debris of the
effete systems of the past, not the mental exuvia
of dwarfed intellectual powers of this or any for-
mer age, but the teacher inspired by nature to
feel and aj^preciate her methods, and ever moved
by her divine afflatus.

Every living organism has its own laws of
growth; and the one we have under consideration
may, in its most important feature, be compared to
the growth of the forest tree. In its earlier years
the forest tree strikes its roots deep into the earth
and matures its growing rootlets, the sujjport of
its future trunk, to stand against the storms and
winds to which it is at all times exposed. When
fully rooted in the groimd, with a trunk matured
by the growth of years, it puts forth its infant
branches and leaflets, suited to its immature but
maturing nature; finally it gives evidence of stal-
wart powers, and now its widespreading top tow-
ers aloft among its compeers rearing its head high
among the loftiest denizens of the woods. In like
manner is the growth of the maturing State school
organism. In the common school, the foundation
is laid f(jr the rising structure, but here are no
branches, no fruitage. It seems in its earliest in-
fancy to put forth no branches, but is 8imi)ly tak-

ing hold of the elements below on which its inner
life and growth depend. As the system rises, the
underlaying laws of life come forth in the princi-
ples of invention, manufacituring, engraving, and
designing, enriching every branch of intellectual
and professional industry, and beautifying every
field of human culture. These varied results are
all in the law of growth in the organism of State
schools carried on above the common schools to
the University course. The higher the course the
more beneficial the results to the industries of the
world, whether those industries are intellectual or
purely physical, cater only to the demands of
wealth, or tend to subserve the modi st demands of
the humblest citizen.

The only criticism that can reach the question
now under consideration, is whether the graded
organization tends to produce the results to which
we have referred. The law relating to the division
of labor has especially operated in the graded sys-
tem of State schools. Under its operation, it is
claimed, by good judges, that eight years of
school life, from five to twenty-one, has been saved
to the pupils of the present generation, over those
of the ungraded schools ante- dating the last fifty
years. By the operation of this law, in one gen-
eration, the saving of time, on the enrollments of
State schools in the graded systems of the north-
ern States of the American Union, would be
enormous. For the State of Minnesota alone, on
the enrollment of 180,000, the aggregate years of
time saved would exceed a million! The time
saved on the enrollment of the schools of the dif-
ferent States, under the operation of this law
would exceed over twenty million years!

To the division of labor is due the wonderful
facility with which modern business associations
have laid their hands upon every branch of indus-
trial pursuits, and bestowed upon the world the
comforts of life. Introduced into our system of
education it produces results as astonishing as the
advent of the Spinning Jenny in the manufacture of
cloth. As the raw material from the cotton field
of the planter, passing, by gradation, through the
unskilled hands of the ordinary laborer to the
more perfect process of improved machinery, se-
cure additional value in a constantly increasing
ratio; so the graded system of intellectual culture,
from the Primary to the High school, and thence
to the University, adds increased lustre and value
to the mental development in a ratio commen-

17i

STATE EDUCATION.

surate with the increased skill of the meutal ope-
rator.

The law of growth in State schools was clearly
anuoiinceJ by Horace Mauu, when he applied to
this system the law governing hydraulics, that no
stream could rise above its fountain. The com-
mon school could not produce a scholarship above
its own curriculum. The high school was a grade
above, and as important in the State system as
the elevated fountain head of the living stream.
This law of growth makes the system at once the
moat natural, the most economical, and certainly
the most popular. These several elements might
be illustrated, but the reader can easily imagine
them at his leisure. As to the last, however, suffer
an illustration. In Minnesota, for the school year
ending August 21st, 1880, according to the report
of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, there
were enrolled, one hundred and eighty thousand,
two hundred and lifty-eight scholars in the State
schools, while all others, embracing kindergartens,
private schools, parochial schools, of all sects and
all denominations, had an attendance at the same
time of only two thousanil four hundred and
twcuty-eight; and to meet all possible omissions,
if we allow double this number, there is Ijss than
three per cent, of the enrollment in the State
school. This ratio will be found to hold good, at
least throughout all the Northern States of the
American Union. These State schools, then, are
not unpojralar in comparison with the schools of a
private and opposite character. Nor is it owing
altogether to the important fact, that State schools
are free, that they are more poj^ul.ar than schools
of au opposite character; for these State schools
are a tax upon the property of the people, and yet
a tax most cheerfully borne, in consequence of
their superior excellence and importance.

The State school, if not already, can be so
graded that each scholar can have the advantage
of superior special instruction far better adapted
to the studies through which he desires to jiass,
than similar instruction can be had in ungraded
schools of any character whatever. In this re-
spect the State system is without a rival. It has
the power to introduce such changes as may meet
all the demands of the State and ail the claims of
the learner.

The State school knows no sect, no party, no
privileged class, and no special favorites; the high,
the low, the rich, and the poor, the home and for-

eign-born, black or white, are all equal at this
altar. The child of the ruler and the ruled are
here equal. The son of the Governor, the wood-
sawyer, and the hod-carrier, here meet on one
level, and alike contend for ranks, and alike expect
the honors due to superior merit, the reward of
intellectual culture. But, aside from the republi-
can character of the State school system, the sys-
tem is a State necessity. Without the required
State culture under its control, the State must
cease to exist as an organism for the promotion of
human happiness or the protection of human
rights, and its people, though once cultured and
refmed, must certainly return to barbarism and
savage life. There can be no compromise in the
warfare against inherited ignorance. Under all
governments the statute of limitations closes over
the subject at twenty-one years; so that during
the minority of the race must this warfare be
waged by the government without truce. No
peace can ever be proclaimed in this war, until the
child shall inherit the matured wisdom, instead of
the primal ignorance of the ancestor.

The State school system, in our government, is
from the necessity of the case, national. No
State can enforce its system beyond the limits of
its own territory. And unless the nation enforce
its own uniform system, the conflict between juris-
dictions could never be determined. J^o homo-
geneous system could ever be enforced. As the
graded system of State schools has now reached
the period in its history which corresponds to the
colonial history of the national organization, it
must here fail, as did the colonial system of gov-
ernment, to fully meet the demands of the people.
And what was it, let us consider, that led the peo-
ple in the organization of the national government
"to form a more perfect union?" Had it then be-
come necessaj-y to take this step, that "justice"
might be established, domestic tranqudity insured,
the common defense made more efficient, the gen-
eral welfare promoted, and the blessings of liberty
better secured to themselves and their posterity,
that the fathers of the government should think it
necessary to form a more perfeet union?" Why
the nacessity of a more jjerfect union ? Were our
fathers in fear of a domestic or foreign foe, that
had manifested his power in their immediate pres-
ence, threatening to jeopardize or destroy their do-
mestic tranquility? Was this foe an hereditary
enemy, who might at long intervals of time invade

CONCLUSION.

175

thc'ii- territory, and entlauger the liberties of this
people? And for this reason did they demand a
more perfect iiniou? And does not this reason
now exist in still greater foree for the formation of
a still more perfect vinion in our system of State
schools? Our fathers were moved by the most
natural of all reasons, by this law of self-defense.
They were attacked by a power too great to be
successfully resisted in their colonial or unorgan-
ized state. The fear of a destruction of the sev-
eral colonies without a more perfect union drove
them to this alternative. It was imion and the
hope of freedom, against disunion and the fear of
death, that cemented the national government.
And this was an external organism, the temple in
which the spirit of freedom should preside, and in
which her worshippers should enjoy not only do-
mestic but national tranquility. Now, should it bo
manifested to the world that the soul and spirit,
the very life of this temple, erected to freedom, is
similarly threatened, should not bo the same cause
that operated in the erection of the temple itself,
operate in the protection of its sacred fires, its soul
and spirit? It would seem to require no admoni-
tion to move a nation in the direction of its highest
hopes, the protection of its inner Ufe.

And what is this enemy, and where is the power
able to destroy both the temple and the spirit of
freedom? And why should State Educati<.)n take
upon itself any advanced position other than its
present independent organic elements? In the
face of what enemy should it now be claimed we
should attempt to change front, and "form a more
perfect luiion to insure domestic tranquility, and
jiromote the ;,eneral welfare," to the end that we
may the better secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our posterity? That jiotent foe to
our free institutions, to which we are now brought
face to face, is human ignornnce, the natural hered-
itary foe to every form of enlightened free gov-
ernment. This hereditary enemy is now home-
steaded upon our soO. This enemy, in the lan-
guage of the declaration made liy the colonies
against their hereditary foe, this enemy to our
government, has kept among us a standuig army
of illiterates, who can neither read nor write, but
are armed with the ballot, more powerful than the
sword, ready to strike the most deadly blow at
human freedom; he has cut off and almost en-
tirely destroyed our trade between States of the
same government; has imposed a tax ujion us

without our consent, most grievous to be borae;
he has quite abolished the free system of United
States laws in several of our States; he has estab-
lished, in many sections, arbitrary tribunals, ex-
cluding the subject from the right of trial by jury,
and enlarged the jjowers of his despotic rule, en-
dangered the lives of peaceable citizens; he has
alienated government of one section, by declaring
the inhabitants aliens and enemies to his supposed
hereditary right; he has excited domestic insur-
rectitms amongst us; he has endeavored to destroy
the peace and harmony of our people by bringing
his despotic ignorance of our institutions into con-
flict with the freedom and purity of our elections;
he has raised up advocates to his cause who have
openly declared that our system of State Educa-
tion, on which our government rests, is a failure;*
he has sjiared no age, no sex, no portion of our
country, but has, with his ignominious minions,
afflicted the North and the South, the East and the
West, the rich and the poor, the black and the
white; an enemy alike to the people of every sec-
tion of the government, from Maine to California,
from Minnesota to Louisiana. Such an inexora-
ble enemy to government and the domestic tran-
quility of all good citizens deserves the oppro-
brium due only to the Prince of Darkness, against
whom eternal war should be waged ; and for the
snppiu'tof this declaration, with a firm reliance on
the protection of Divine Providence, we should, as
did our fathers, mutually pledge to each other,
as citizens of the free States of America, our lives,
our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

We have thus far considered the State school
system in some of its organic elements, and the
nature, tendency, and neceseary union of these
elements; first in States, audfiually for the forma-
tion of a more perfect union, that they may be
united ia one national orgauiziition under the con-
trol of one sovereign will. The mode in which
these unorganized elements shall come into uniim
and harmony with themselves, and constitute the
true inner life and soul of the American Union, is
left for the consideration of those whose special
duty it is to devote their best energies to the pro-
motion of the welfare of the Nation, and by
statesman-like forethought provide for the domes-
tic, social, civil, intellectual, and industrial pro-
gre.ss of the rapidly accumulating millions who

•Richard Grant Whito in North .\mericau Keview

176

8TATE EDUCATION.

are soon to swarm upon tlie American coutment.
We see truly tliat

"The rudiments of empire here
Are plastic yet and warm;
The chaos of a mighty world
Is rounding into form!

*'Each rude and jostling fragment si>on
Its fitting place shall find —
The raw material of a State,
Its muscle and its mind."

But we must be allowed, in a word, to state the
results which we hope to see accomplished, before
the jostling fragments which are yet plastic and
warm, shall have attained a temperament not
easily fused and "rounded" into one homogenous
national system, rising in the several States from
the kindergarten to the University, and from the
State Universities through all orders of specialties
demanded by the widening industries and growing
demands of a progressive age. And in this direc-

tion we cannot fail to see that the national govern-
ment must so mould its iutellectual systems that
the State and national curricula shall be uniform
throughout the States and territories, so that a
class standing of every pupil, properly certified,
shall be equally good for a like class standing in
every portion of the government to which he may
desire to remove. America will then be ready to
celebrate her final independence, the inalienable
right of American youth, as having a standing
limited by law in her State and national systems
of education, entitling them to rank everywhere
with associates and compeers on the same plain;
when in no case, shall these rights be denied or
abridged by the United States, or by any State
or authority thereof, on account of race, color,
or previous condition of scholarship, secular or
sectarian, till the same shall forever find the most
ample protection under the broad banner of
N.^TioNAL and NATURAL rights, common alike to
all in the ever widening uia-UBLic of i.etteks.

HISTORY

OF THE

SIOUX MASSACRE OF 18G2.

CHAPTER XXX.

LODIS HEN - TPIN'S VISIT TO THE DPPEIt MISSISSIPPI
IN 1680 --CAPTAIN JONATHAN CAKVER VISITS THE
COUNTR7 IN 1766 — THE NAMES OF THE TKIBES —
TREATIES WITH SIOUX INDIANS FROM 1812 TO
1859 THEIR RESERVATIONS CIVILIZATION EF-
FORTS — SETTLEMENTS OF THE WHITES CONTIGU-
OUS TO THE RESERVATIONS.

The first authentic knowledge of the country
upon the waters of the Upper Mississippi and its
tributaries, was given to the world by Louis Hen-
nej)in, a native ot France. In 1680 he visited the
Falls of St. Anthony, and gave them the name of
his patron saint, the name they still bear.

Hennepin found the country occupied by wild
tribes of Indians, by whom he and his compan-
ions were detained as prisoners, but kindly treated,
and finally released.

In 1766, this same country was again visited by
a white man, this time by Jonathan Carver, a
British subject, and an officer in the British army.
Jonathan Carver spent some three years among
different tribes of Indians in the TJiJiDer Missis-
sippi country. He knew the Sioux or Dakota
Indians as the Naudowessies, who were then occu-
pying tlie country along the Mississippi, from
Iowa to the Falls of St. Anthony, and alimg the
Minnesota river, then called St. Peter's, from its
source to its mouth at Mendota. To the north of
these tribes the country was then occuj)ied by the
Ojibwas, commonly called Chippewas, the heredi-
tary enemies of the Sioux.

Carver found these Indian nations at war, and
by his commanding influence finally succeeded in
making peace between them. As a reward for his
good offices in this regard, it is claimed that two
chiefs of the Naudowessies, acting for their nation,
at a council held with Carver, at the great cave,

now in the corporate limits of St. Paul, deeded to
Carver a vast tract of land on the Mississippi
river, extending from the Falls of St. Anthony to
the foot of Lake Pepin, on the Mississippi; thence
east one hundred English miles; thence north one
hundred and twenty miles; thence west to the
place of beginning. But this pretended grant has
been examined by our government and entirely
ignored as a pure invention of parties in interest,
after Carver's death, to profit by his Indian ser-
vice in Minnesota.

There can be no doubt that the.se same Indians,
known to Captain Carver as the Naudowessies, in
1767, were the same who inhabited the country
upon the Upper Mississipjji and its tributaries
when the ti-eaty of Traverse des Sioux was made,
in 1851, between the United States and the Sisse-
ton and Wapaton bands of Dakota or Sioux Indi-
ans. The name Sioux is said to have been bestowed
upon these tribes by the French; and that it is a
corruption of the last syllable of their more an-
cient name, which in the peculiar guttural of the
Dakota tongue, has the sound of the last syllable
of the old name NaudowessiVs, Sioux.

The tribes inhabiting the Territory of Minne-
sota at the date of the massacre, 1862, were the
following: Medawakontons (or Village of the
Sjiirit Lake); Wapatons (or Village of the
Leaves); Sissetons (or Village of the Marsh);
and Wai^akutas (or Leaf Shooters). All these
were Sioux Indians, connected intimately with
other wild bands scattered over a vast region of
country, including Dakota Territory, and the
country west of the Missouri, even to the base of
the Eocky Mountains. Over all this vast region
roamed these wild bands of Dakotas, a powerful
and warlike nation, holding by their tenure the
country north to the British Possessions.

(177)

178

HISTORY OF THE SIOUX M^lSSACliE.

The Sissetons had a hereditary chief, Ta-tauka
Maziu, or Standing Buffalo; and at the date of
the massacre his father, "Star Face," or the "Or-
phan," was yet alive, bnt superannuated, and all
the duties of the chief were vested in the son.
Standing Buffalo, who remained friendly to the
whites and took no part in the terrible massacre
on our border in 1862.

The four tribes named, the Medawakontons, Wa-
patons, Sissetons and Wapukutas, comprised the
entire "annuity Sioux" of Minnesota; and in 18C2
these tribes numbered about six thousand and two
hundred persons. All these Indians bad from
time to time, from the 19th day of July, 1815, to
the date of the' massacre of 1862, received pres-
ents from the Government, by virtue of various
treaties of amity and friendship between us and
their accredited chiefs and heads of tribes.

Soon after the close of the last war with Great
Britain, on the first day of June, 1816, a treaty
was concluded at St. Louis between the United
States and the chiefs and warriors representing
eight bands of the Sious, composing the three
tribes then called the "Sioux of the Leaf," the
"Sioux of the Broad Leaf," and the "Sioux who
Shoot in the Pino Tops," by the terms of which
these tribes confirmed to the United States all
cessions or grants of lands prev-iously made by
them to the British, French, or Spanish govern-
ments, within the limits of the United States or
its Territories. For these cessions no annmties
were paid, for the reason that they were mere con-
firmations of grants made by them to powers
from whom we liad acquired the territory.

From the treaty of St. Louis, in 1816, to the
treaty ratified by the United States Senate in 1859,
these trilics had remained friendly to the whites,
and had by treaty stipulations parted with all the
lands to which tliey claimed title in Iowa; all on
the east side of the Mississippi river, and all on
the Minnesota river, in Minnesota Territory, ex-
cept certain reservations. One of these reserva-
tions lay upon both sides of the Minnesota, ten
miles on either side of that stream, from Hawk
river on the north, and Yellow Medicine river on
the south side, thence westerly to the head of Big
Stone Lake and Ijake Tiaverse, a distance of
about one hundred miles. Another of these reser-
vations commenced at Little Rock river on the
east, and a line running due south from opposite
its mouth, and extending up the river westerly to
r.ie easterly line of the first-named reservation, at

the Hawk and Yellow Medicine rivers. This last
reservation had also a width of ten miles on each
side of the Minnesota river.

The Indians west of the Missouri, in referring
to those of their nation east of the river, called
them Isanties, which seems to have been applied
to them from the fact that, at some remote period,
they had lived at Isantamde, or "Knife Lake,"
one of the Mille Lacs, in Minnesota.

These Indian treaties inaugurated and contrib-
uted greatly to strengthen a custom of granting,
to the pretended owners of lands occupied for
purposes of hunting the wild game thereon, and
living upon the natural products thereof, a con-
sideration for the cession of their lands to the
Government of the Uuited States. This custom
culminated in a vast anauity fund, in the aggre-
gate to over three million dollars, owing to these
tribes, before named, in Minnesota. This annuity
system was one of the causes of the massacre of
1862.

Indian Lifb. — Before the whites came in con-
tact with the natives, they dressed in the skins o'
animals which they killed for food, such as the
buffalo, wolf, elk, deer, beaver, otter, as well as the
small fur-bearing animals, which they trapjicd on
lakes and streams. In later years, as the settle-
ments of the white race approached their borders,
they exchanged these peltries and furs for blankets,
cloths, and other articles of necessity or ornament.
The Sioux of the plains, those who inhabited the
Coteau and beyond, and, indeed, some of the
Sis^cton tribes, dress in skins to this day. Even
among those who are now called "civilized," the
style of costume is often unique. It is no picture
of the imagination to portray to the reader a "stal-
WAKT Indian" m breech-cloth and leggins, with
a calico shirt, all "fluttering in the wind," and his
head surmounted with a stove-pipe hat of most
surprising altitude, carrying in his hand a pipe of
exquisite workmanshija, on a stem not unlike a
cane, sported as an ornament by some city dandy.
His appearance is somewhat varied, as the seascms
come and go. He may be seen in summer or in
winter dressed in a heavy cloth coat of coarse fab-
ric, often turned inside out with all his civiUzed
and savage toggery, from head to foot, in the most
bewildering juxtaposition. On behoHing him,
the duUest imagination cannot refrain from the
poetic exclamtion of Alexander Pope,

"Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutored miud'"

EFFOllTS OF CIVrLTZATION.

179

Efforts to Civilize these An-nijity Ixdian.s.
— The treaty of 1858, made at Wasliington, clabo-
ratetl a sohenio for the civilization of these annuity
ludiaus. A civilization fund was provided, to be
taken from their annuities, and expended in ira-
provomeuts on the lands of such of ihem as should
abandon their tribal relations, and ;,dopt the habits
and modes of life of the white race. To all sucli,
lands were to be assigned in severalty, eighty
acres to each head of a family. On these farms
were to be erected the necessary farm-buildings,
and farming implements and cattle were to be
furnished them.

In addition to these favors the government
oil'ered them j)ay for such labors of value as were
performed, in addition to the crops they raised.
Indian farmers now augmented rapidily, until the
appalling outbreak in 18G2, at which time about
one hundred and sixty had taken advantage of the
numificent provisions of the treaty. A number of
farms, some 160, had good, sung brick houses
erected upon them. Among these civilised s&xagea
was Little Crow, and many of these farmer-Indians
belonged to his own baud.

The Indians disliked the idea of taking any por-
tion of the general fund belonging to the tribe for
the purpose of carrying out the civilization scheme-
Those Indians who retained the "blanket," and
hence called "blanket Indians," denounced the
measure as a fraud upon then- rights. The chase
was then a God-given right ; this scheme forfeited
that ancient natural right, as it pointed unmistaka-
bly to the destruction of the chase.

But to the friends of Indian races, the course
inaugurated seemed to be, step by step, lifting
these rude children of the plains to a higher level.
This scheme, however, was to a great degree
thwarted by the helpless condition of the "blanket
Indians" during a great portion of tLie year, and
their persistent determination to remain followers
of the chase, imd a desire to continue on the war-
path.

When the chase fails, the "blauiet Indians" re-
sort to their relatives, the farmers, pitch their
tepees aroimd their houses, and then commence
the process of eating them out of house and home.
When the ruin is complete, the farmer Indians,
driven by the law of self-preservation, with their
wives and children, leave their homes to seek such
subsistence as the uncertain fortunes of the chase
may yield.

In (he absence of the family from the house and
fields, thu5 deserted, tlio wandering "blanket In-
dians" ctmimit %rhatever destruction of fences or
tenemenfs their desires or necessities may suggest.
This perennial process goas on; so that in the
spring wlion the disheartened farmer Indian re-
turns tf) his desolate home, to prc)iare again for
another crop, lie looks forward with no diflerent
results for the coming winter.

It will be seen, from this one illustration, drawn
from the actual results of the civilizing process,
how hopeless was the prospect of elevating one
class of r(>lated savages without at the same time
protecting them from the incursions of their own
relatives, against whom the class attempted to be
favored, had no redress. In tliis attempt to civil-
ize these Dakota Indians the forty years, less or
more, of missionary and other eflforts have been
measurably lost, and the money spent in that di-
rection, if not wasted, sadly misapplied.

The treaty of 18.58 h..d opened for settlement a
vast frontier country of the most attractive char-
acter, in the VaUey of the Minnesota, and the
streams putting into the IMinnesota, on either side,
such as Beaver creek. Sacred Heart, Hawk and
Chippewa rivers and some other small streams,
were flourishing settlements of white families.
Within this ceded tract, ten miles wide, were the
scattered settlements of Birch Coolie, Patterson
Rapids, on the Sacred Heart, and others as far up
as the tJpiJer Agency at Yellow Medicine, in Een-
ville county. The county of Brown adjoined the
reservation, and was, at the time of which we are
now writing, settled mostly by Germans. In this
county was the flourishing town of New Ulm, and
a thriving settlement on the Big Cottonwood and
Watonwan, consisting of German and American
pioneers, who had selected this lovely and fertile
valley for their future homes.

Other counties, Blue Earth, Nicollet, Sibley,
Meeker, McLeod, Kandiyohi, Monongalia and
jNIurray, were all situated in the finest portions of
the state. Some of the valleys along the streams,
such as Butternut valley and others of similar
character, were lovely as Wyoming and as fertile
as the Gardan of Elen. These counties, with
others somewhat removed from the direct attack of
the Indians in the massacre, as Wright, Stearns
and .Tackson, and even reaching on the north to
Fort Abercrombie, thus extending from Iowa to
the Valley of the Ited River of the North, were
severally involved in the ccmsecjuences of the war-

180

EI8T0RT OF TEE SIOUX MASSACRE.

fare of 1862. This extended area bad at the time
a population of over fifty thousand people, princi-
pally in the pursuit of agriculture; and although
the settlements were in their infancy, the people
were happy and contented, and as prosperous as
anv similar community in any new country on the
American continent, since the landing of the Pil-
grim Fathers.

We have in short, traced the Dakota tribes of
Minnesota from an early day, when the white man
first visited and explored these then unknown re-
gions, to the time of the massacre. We have also
given a synopsis of all the most important treaties
between them and the government, with an allu-
sion to the country adjacent to the reservations,
and the probable number of people residing in the
portions of the state ravaged by the savages.

CHAPTEB XXXI.

COMPLAINTS OP THE INDIANS — TREATIES OP TBA-

VEKSE DBS SIOUX AND MENDOTA OBJECTIONS TO

THE MODE OF PAYMENT INKPADDTA MASSACRE

AT SPIRIT LAKE PROOP OP CONSPIRAOr IN-
DIAN COUNCILS.

In a former chapter the reader has had some
account of the location of the several bands of

Sioux Indians in Minnesota, and their relation
to the white settlements on the western border of
the state. It is now proposed to state in brief
some of the antecedents of the massacre.

PROMINENT CAUSES.

1. By the treaty of Traverse des Sioux, dated
July 23, 1851, between the United States and the
Sissetons and Wapatons, $275,000 were to be paid
their chiefs, and a further sum of $30,000 was to
be expended for their benefit in Indian improve-
ments. By the treaty of Mendota, dated August
5, 1851, the Medawakantous and Wapakutas were
to receive the sum of |200,000, to be paid to their
chief, and for an improvement ftmd the further
sum of $30,000. These several sums, amounting
in the aggregate to .$555,000, these Indians, to
whom they were payable, claim they were never
paid, except, perhaps, a small portion expended in
improvements on the reservations. Thej became
dissatisfied, and expressed then- views in council
freely with the agent of the government.

In 1857, the Indian department at Washington
sent out Major Kintzing Prichctte, a man of great
experience, to inquire into the cause of this disaf-

fection towards the government. In his report of
that year, made to the Indian department. Major
Prichette says:

"The complaint which runs through all their coun-
cils points to the imperfect performance, ornon-ful
fillment of treaty stipulations. Whether these
were well or ill founded, it is not my promise tc
discuss. That such a belief prevails among them,
impairing their confidence and good faith in the
government, cannot be questioned."

In one of these covmcils Jagmani said: "The
Indians sold their lands at Traverse des Sioux. I
say what we were told. For fifty years they were
to be paid .$50,000 per annum. We were also
promised $300,000, and tliat we have not seen."

Mapipa Wicasta (Cloud Man), second chief of
Jagmani's band, said:

"At the treaty of Traverse des Sioux, $275,000
were to be paid them when they came upon their
reservation; they desired to know what had be-
come of it. Every white man knows that they
have been five years upon their reservation, and
have yet heard nothing of it."

In this abridged form we can only refer in britf
to these complaints; but the history wouid seem
to lack completeness without the presentation of
this feature. As the fact of the dissatisfaction ex-
isted, the government thought it worth while to
appoint Judge Young to investigate the charges
made against the governor, of the then Minnesota
territory, then acting, ex-ojicio, as superintendent
of Indian affairs for that locahty. Some short
extracts from Judge Young's report are here pre-
sented :

"The governor is next charged with having paid
over the greater part of the money, appropriated
under the fourth article of the treaty of July 23
and August 5, 1851, to one Hugh Tyler, for pay-
ment or distribution to the 'traders' and 'half-
breeds,' contrary to the wishes and remonstrances
of the Indians, and in violation of law and the
stipulations contained in said treaties; and also
in violation of his own solemn pledges, personally
made to them, in regard to said payments.

"Of $275,000 stipulated to be paid under the
first clause of the fourth article of the treaty of
Traverse des Sioux, of July 21, 1851, the sum of
$250,000, was deUvered over to Hugh Tyler, by
.the governor, for distribution omong the 'traders'
and 'half-breeds,' according to the arrangement
made by the schedule of the Traders' Papn\ dated
at Traverse des Sioux, July 23, 1851."

CAUSES OF UiUrrATION.

181

"For this large sum of money, Hngh Tylor ex-
ecuted two receipts to the Governor, as the attor-
ney for the 'trailers' and 'half breeds;' the one for
$210,000 on account of the 'traders,' and the other
for $40,000 on account of the 'half-breeds;' the
first dated at St. Paul, December 8, 1852, and the
second at Mendota, December 11, 1852."

"And of the sum of .S110,000, stipulated to be
paid to the Medawakantons, under the fourth ar-
ticle of the treaty of August 5, 1851, the sum of
S70,000 was in like manner paid over to the snid
Tyler, on a power of attorney executed to him by
the traders and claimants, under the said treaty,
on December 11, 1852. The receipts of the said
Tyler to the Governor for this money, $70,000, is
dated at St. Paul, December 13, 1852, makmg to-
gether the sum of .'5320,000. This has been shown
to have been contrary to the wishes and remon-
strances of a large majority of the Indians." And
Judge Young adds: "It is also believed to be in
violation of the treaty stipulations, as well as the
law making the ajjpropriations under them."

These several sums of money were to be paid to
these Indians in ojien council, and soon after they
were on their reservations provided for them by
the treaties. In these matters the rejjort shows
they were not consulted at all, in open council;
but on the contrary, that arbitrary divisions and
distributions were made of the entire fund, and
their right denied to direct the manner in which
they should be appropriated. See Ads of Con-
gress^ August 30, 1852.

The Indians claimed, also, that the third section
of the act was violated, as by that section the ap-
propriations therein referred to, should, in every
instance, be paid directly to the Indians them-
selves, to whom it should be due, or to the tribe,
or part of the tribe, per capita, " unless otherwise
the imperious interest of the Indians or some
treaty stipulation should require the payment to
be made otherwise, under the direction of the
president." This money was never so paid. The
report further states that a large sum, " $55,000,
was deducted by Hugh Tyler by way of discount
and percentage on gross amount of payments,
and that these exactions were made both from tra-
ders and half-breeds, without any previous agree-
ment, in many instances, and in such a way, in
some, as to make the impression that unless they
were submitted to, no payments would be made to
such claimants at all."

And, finally the report says, that fi'om the testi-

mony it was evident that the money -nas not paid
to the chiefs, either to the Sisseton, Wapaton, or
Bledawakanton bands, as they in open council re-
quested; but that they were compelled to submit
to this mode of payment to the traders, otherwise
no payment would be made, and the money would
be returned to Washington; so that in violation of
law they were compelled to comply with the Gov-
ernor's terms of payment, according to Hugh Ty-
ler's power of attorney.

The examination of this complaint, on the part
of the Indians, by the Senate of the United States,
resulted in exculpating the Governor of Minnesota
(Governor Eamsey) from any censure, yet the In-
dians were not satisfied with the treatment they
had received in this matter by the accredited agents
of the Government.

2. Another cause of irritation among these In-
dians arose out of the massacre of 1857, at Spirit
Lake, known as the Inkpaduta massacre. Inkpa-
tluta was an outlaw of the Wapakuta band of
Sioux Indians, and his acts in the murders at
Spirit Lake were entirely disclaimed by the "annu-
ity Sioux." He had slain Tasagi, a Wapakuta
chief, and several of his relatives, some twenty
years previous?, and had thereafter led a wandering
and marauding life about the head waters of the
Des Moines river.

Inkpaduta was connected with several of the
bands of annuity Sioux Indians, and simOar rela-
tions with other bands existed among his followers.
These ties extended even to the Yanktons west of
the James river, and even over the Missouri. He
was himself an outlaw for the murder of Tasagi
and others as stated, and followed a predatory and
lawless life in the neighborhood of his related
tribes, for which the Sioux were themselves blamed.

The depredations of these Indians becoming in-
sufferable, and the settlers finding themselves suf-
ficiently strong, deprived them of their gims and
drove them fi-om the neighborhood. Recovering
some of their guns, or, by other accounts, digging
up a few old ones which they had buried, they
proceeded to the settlement of Spirit Lake and
demanded food. This appears to have been given
to a jjortion of the band which had first arrived,
to the extent of the means of those apphed to.
Soon after, Inkpaduta, with the remainder of his
followers, who, in all, numbered twelve men and
two boys, with some women who had hngered be-
hind, came in and demanded food also. The set-
tlor gave him to rmderstand that he had no more

182

niSTORT OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

to give; whereupon Inkpadiita spoke to his eldest
son to the effect that it was disgraoetul to ask
these people for food which they ought to take
themselves, and not to have it thrown to them like
dogs. Thus assured, the son immediately shot the
man, and the murder of the whole family fol-
lowed. Prom theace they proceeded from house
to house, until every family in the settlement,
without warning of those previously slain, were
all massacred, except four women, whom they bore
away prisoners, and afterward violated, with cir-
cumstances of brutality so abhorrent as to find no
parallel in the annals of savage barbarity, unless
we excejH the m:issacre of 18G2, which occurred a
few years later.

From Spirit Lake the murderers proceeded to
Springfield, at the outlet of Shetek, or Pelican
lake, near the head waters of the Das Moines
river; where they remained encamped for some
days, trading with ]\Ir. William Wood from Man-
kato, and his brothers. Here they succeeded in
killing seventeen, including the Woods, making,
in all, forty-seven persons, when the men rallied,
and firing upon them, they retreated and deserted
that part of the country. Of the four women
taken captives b.y Inkpaduta, Mrs. Stevens and
Mrs. Noble were killed by tlie Indians, and Mrs.
Marble and Miss Gardner were rescued by the
Wapaton Sioux, under a promise of reward from
the Government, and for which the three Indians
who brought in these captives received each one -
thousand dollars.

The Government had required of the Sioux the
delivery of Inkj^aduta and his band as the condi-
tion for the payment of their annuities. This was
regarded by certain of the bands as a great wrong
visited upon the innocent for the crimes of the
guilty. One of their speakers (Mazakuti Mani),
in a council held with the Sissetons and Wapatons,
August 10, 1857, at Yellow Medicine, said:

'•The soldiers have appointed me to speak for
them. The men who killed the white people did
not belong to us, and we did not expect to be called
upon to account for the deeds of another band.
We have always tried to do as our Great Father
tells us. One of our young men brought in a
captive woman. I wont out and brought in the
other. The Koldicrs came up hero and our men
assisted to kill one of Inkpaduta's sons at this
place. The lower Indians did not get up the war-
party for you; it was our Indians, the Wapatons
and Sissetons. The soldiers here say that they

were told by you that a thousand dollars would
be paid for killing each of the murderers. We^
with the men who went out, want to be paid for
what we have done. Three men were killed, as
we know. ***** AH of us want our
money very much. A man of another band has
done wrong, and we are to suffer for it. Our old
women and children are hungry for this. I have
seen $10,000 sent here to pay for our going out.
I wish our soldiers were paid for it. I suppose
our Great Father has more money than this."

Major PritcViette, the special government agent,
thought it necessary to answer some points made
by Mazakuti Mani, and spoke, in council, as fol-
lows:

"Your Great Father has sent me to .see Super-
intendent C'ullen, and to say to him he was well
satisfied with his conduct, because he had acted ac-
cording to his instructions. Y'our Great Father
had heard that some of his white children had been
cruelly and brutally murdered by some of the
Sioux nation. The news was sent on the wings of
the lightning, fi'om the extreme north to the laud
of eternal summer, throughout which his children
dwell. His young men wished to make war on
the whole Si mux nation, and revenge the deaths of
their brethren. But your Great Father is a just
father and wishes to treat all his children alike
with justice. He wants no innocent man pimished
for the guilty. He punishes the guilty alone. He
expects that those missionaries w.ho have been here
tcacling you the laws of the Groat Spirit Lad
tanghtyou this. Whenever a Sioux is injured by
a white man your Great Father will punish him,
and expects from the chiels and warriors of the
great Sioux nation that they will punish those In-
dians who injure the whites. He considers the
Si lux as a part of his family; and as friends and
brothers he expects them to do as the whites do to
them. He knows that the Sioux nation is divided
into bands; but he knows also how they can all
baud together for common protection. He expects
the nation to punish these mtirdcrers, or to deliver
them up. He expects this because they are his
friends. As long as these murderers remain un-
punished or not delivered up, they are not acting
as friends of their Great Father. It is for this
reason that he has witheld the airauit^. Your
Great Father will have his white children pro-
tected; and all who have told you that your Great
Father is not able to punish those who injure them
will find themselves bitterly mistaken. Your

REPOUV OF til'EClAL AGENT.

183

Great Father desires to do good to all his cliildrcn
and will do all iu his power to accomplish it; but
he is firmly resolved topuuish all who do wrong."

After this, another similar council, September 1,
1857, was held with the Sissetoa and Wapaton
baud of Upper Sioux at Yellow Medicine. Agent
Flandrau, iu the meantime, had siicceeded in or-
ganizing a band of warriors, made up of all the
"annuity" bands, under Little Crow. This oxpo-
dition numl)ered altogether one hundred and six,
besides tour half-breeds. This party went ont al-
ter Inkpaduta on the 22d of July, 18.57, starting
from Yellow Medicine.

Ou the 5th of August Major Pritehette reported
to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, "That the
))arty of Indians, rejsresenting the entire Sioux na-
tion, imder the nominal head of Little Crow, re-
turned yesterday from the expedition in search of
Inkpaduta and his bund," after an absence of thir-
teen days.

As this outlaw, Inkpaduta, has achieved an im-
mortality of infamy, it may be allowable in the
historian to record the names of his followers. In-
kpaduta (Scarlet Point) heads the list, and the
names of the eleven men are given by the wife of
Tateyahe, who was killed by the party of Sioux
under Little Crow, thus: Tateyahe (Shifting
Wind); Makpeahoteman (Itoaring Cloud), son of
Inkpaduta, killed at Yellow Medicine; Makpiope-
ta (Fire Cloiid), twin brother of Makpeohotoman;
Tawachshawakan (His Mysterious Feather), kilkd
in the late expedition; Bahata (Old Man); Kech-
omon (Putting on as He Walks); Huhsan (One
Leg); Kahadai (Eattling), son-in-law of Inkpa-
duta; Fetoa-tanka (Big Face); Tatelidashiuksha-
mani (One who Makes Crooked Wind as He
Walks); Tachanchegahota (His Great Gun), and
the two boys, children of Inkjiaduta, not named.

After the band had been pursued by Little
Crow into Lake Chouptijatanka (Big Dry Wood),
distant twenty miles iu a northwestern direction
from Skunk Lake, and three of them killed out-
right, wounding one, taking two women and a
little child prisoners, the Indians argued that they
had done sufficient to merit the payment of their
annuities; and on the 18th of August, 1834, Maj.
Cullen telegraphed the following to the Hon. J.
W. Denver, commissioner of Indian affairs :

"If the department concurs, I am of the opinion
that the Sioux of the Mississippi, having done all
in their power to punish or surrender Inkpaduta
and bis band, their annuities may with propriety

be paid, as a signal to the military movements
from FcrU Hidgely and Baudall. The special
agent from tlie department wait.? an answer to
this dis])atch at Duuleith, and for instructions in
the premises."

In this opinion Major Pritehette, in a letter of
the same date, concurred, for reasons therein
stated, and transmitted to the department. In
this letter, among other things, the writer says:

"No encouragement was given to them that
sueli a request would be granted. It is the
opinion, however, of Superintendent Cullen, the
late agent. Judge Flaudrau, Governor Medary,
and the general intelligent sentiment, that the an-
nuities may now witk propriety, be paid, without
a violation of the spirit of the expressed deter-
mination of the department to withhold them until
the murderers of Spirit Lake should be surren-
dered or punished. It is argued that the present
friendly disposition of the Indians is manifest, and
should not be endangered by subjecting them to
the wants incident to their condition during the
coming winter, and the consequent temptation to
depredation, to which the withholding their
money would leave them exposed."

The major yielded this 23oint for the reasons
stated, yet he coutmued:

"If not improper for me to exjiress an opinion, I
am satisfied that, without chastising the whole
Sioux nation, it is impossible to enforce the sur-
render of Inkpaduta and the remainder of his
band." * * * "Nothing less than the entire
extirpation of Inkpaduta's miu-derous outlaws will
satisfy the justice and dignity of the government,
and vindicate outraged humanity."

We here leave the Inkpaduta massacre, remark-
ing only that the government paid the Indians
their annuities, and ma<le no further effort to bring
to condign punisliment the remnant who had
escajied alive from the pur.suit of Little Crow and
his soldiers. This was a great err.ir on the part
of our government. The Indians construed it
either as an evidence of weakness, or that tl e
whites were afraid to pursue the matter furtliir,
lest it might terminate in still m<jre disastrous re-
sults to the infant settlement of the state border-
ing upon the Indian country. The residt was,
the Indians became more insolent than ever be-
fore. Little Crow and his adherents had found
capital out of which to foment future ditBoulties
in which the two races should become involved.
And it is now believed, and subsequent circum-

184

BISTORT OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

stances have greatly strongtbened that belief, that
Little Crow, from the time the government ceased
its efforts to punish Inkpaduta, began to agitate
his great scheme of driving the whites from the
state of Minnesota; a scheme which finally cul-
minated in the ever-to-be- remembered massacre of
August, A. D. 1862.

The antecedent exciting causes of this massacre
ar« numerous. The displaced agents and traders
find the cause in the erroneous action of the Gov-
ernment, resulting in their removal from ofBce.
The statesman and the philosopher may unite in
tracing the cause to improper theories as to the
mode of acquiring the right to Indian lands.
The former may locate the evil in our system of
treaties, and the latter in our theories of govern-
ment. The philanthropist may find the cause in
the absence of justice which we exhibit in all our
intercourse with the Indian races. The poet and
the lovers of romance in human character find the
true cause, as they believe, in the total absence of
aU appreciation of the noble, generous, confiding
traits peculiar to the native Indian. The Chris-
tian teacher fijids apologies for acts of Indian
atrocities in the deficient systems of mental and
moral culture. Each of these different classes
are satisfied that the great massacre of August,
1862, had its origin in some way intimately con-
nected with his favorite theory.

Let us, for a moment, look at the facts, in rela-
tion to the two races who had come into close con-
tact with each other, and in the light of these
facts, judge of the probable cause of this fearful
collision. The white race, some two hundred
years ago, had entered upon the material conquest
of the American continent, armed with aU the ap-
pliances for its complete subjugation. On the
shores of this prolific continent these new ele-
ments came in contact with a race of savages with
many of the traits peculiar to a common human-
ity, yet, with these, exhibiting all, or nearly all,
the vices of the most barbarous of savage races.
The period of occupancy of this broad, fertile
land was lost in the depths of a remote antiquity.
The culture of the soil, if ever understood, had
been long neglected by this race, and the chase
was their principal mode of gaining a scanty sub-
sistence. It had lost all that ennobled man, and
was alive only to all his degradations. The white
man was at once acknowledged, the Indian being
judge, superior to the savage race with which he
Lad come in contact.

Here, then, is the first cause, in accordance with
a universal principle, in which the contliot of the
two races had its origin. It was a conflict of
knowledge with ignorance, of right with wrong.
If this conflict were only mental, and the weapons
of death had never been resorted to in a single
instance, the result would have been the same.
The inferior race must either recede before the su-
perior, or sink into the common mass, and, like the
raindrops falling upon the bosom of the ocean,
lose all traces of distinction. This warfare takes
place the world over, on the principle of mental
and material progress. The presence of the supe-
rior light eclipses the inferior, and causes it to
retire. Mind makes aggression upon mind, and
the superior, sooner or later, overwhelms the infe-
rior. This process may go on, with or without
the conflict of physical organisms. The final
result will be the same.

Again, we come to the great law of right. The
white race stood uj^on this undeveloped continent
ready and willing to execute the Divine injunc-
tion, to replenish the earth and subdue it. On the
one side stood the white race armed with his law;
on the other the savage, resisting the execution of
that law. The result could not be evaded by any
human device. In the case before us, the Indian
ra?es were in the wrongful possession of a conti-
nent required by the superior right of the white
man. This right, founded in the wisdom of God,
eliminated by the ever-operative laws of progress,
will contiuue to assert its dominion, with varying
success, contingent on the use of means employed,
until all opposition is hushed in the perfect reign
of the superior aggressive principle.

With these seemingly necessary reflections, we
introduce the remarks of the Sioux agent touching
the antecedents of the great massacre, unparalleled
in the history of the conflict of the races. The
agent gives his jjecuiiar views, and they are worthy
of careful consideration.

Major Thomas Galbraith, Sioux Agent, says:

" The radical, moving cause of the outbreak is,
I am satisfied, the ingrained and fixed hostility of
the savage barbarian to reform and civib'zation.
As in all barbarous communities, in the history of
the world, the same people have, for the most part,
resisted the encroachments of civilization upon
their ancient customs; so it is in the case before
us. Nor does it matter materially in wKat shape
civilization makes its attack. Hostile, opposing
forces meet in contUct, and a war of social elements

VJKWS OF MAJOR OALBliAITII.

185

is the result — civilization is aggressive, and bar-
barism stubbornly resistant. Sometimes, indeed,
civilization has achieved a bloodless victory, l)ut
generally it has been otherwise. Christianity, it-
self, the true basis of civilization, has, in most in-
stances, waded to success through seas of blood.
* * * Having stated thus much, I state as a
settled fact in my mind, that the encroachments of
Christianity, and its handmaid, civilization, upon
the habits and customs of the Sioux Indians, is
the cause of the late terrible Sioux outbreak. There
were, it is true, many immediate inciting causes,
A^'hich will be alluded to and stated hereafter, but
they are subsidiary to, and developments of, or
incident to, the great cause set forth. * * *
But that the recent Sioux outbreak would have
happened at any rate, as a result, a fair conse-
quence of the cause here stated, I have no more
doubt than I doubt that the great rebellion to
overthi'ow oiur Government would have ocoui'red
had Mr. Lincoln never been elected President of
the United States.

" Now as to the existing or immediate causes of
the outbreak: By my predecessor a new and
radical system was inaugurated, practically, and,
in its inauguration, he was aided by the Christian
missionaries aud by the Government. The treaties
of 1858 were ostensibly made to carry this new
system into effect. The theory, in suljstance, \«8s
to break uj) the community-system which prevailed
among the Sioux; weaken and destroy their
tribal relations, and individualize them, by giving
them each a sej^arate home. * * * Ou the
1st day of June, A. D. 18G1, when I entered upon
the duties of my oiBce, I found that the system
had just been inaugurated. Some hundred fami-
lies of the Annuity Sioux had become novitiates,
and their relatives and friends seemed to be favfjr-
ably disposed to the new order of things. But I
also found that, against the-ie, were arrayed over
five thousand "Annuity Sioux," besides at least
three thousand Tanktonais, all inflamed by the
most bitter, relentless, and devilish hostility.

" I saw, to some extent, the difficulty of the
situation, but I determined to continue, if in my
power, the civilization system. To favor it, to aid
and build it ujs by every fair means, I advised,
encouraged, and assisted the farmer novitiates; in
short, I sustained the policy inaugurated by my
predecessor, and sustained and recommended by the
Government. I soon discovered that the system
could not be successful without a suificient force

to protect the "farmer" from the hostility of the
"blanket Indians."

"During my term, and up to the time of the out-
break, about one hundred and seventy-five liad
their hair cut and had adopted the habits and cus-
toms of white men.

" For a time, indeed, my hopes were strong that
civilization would soon be in the ascendant. But
the increase of the civilization party and their evi-
dent prosperity, only tended to exasperate the In-
dians of the 'ancient customs,' and to widen the
breach. But while these are to be enumerated, it
may be permitted me to hojDe that the radical
cause will not be forgotten or overlooked ; and I
am bold to exjjress this desire, because, ever since
the outbreak, the public journals of the country,
religious and .sjecular, have teemed with editorials
by and communications from 'reliable individuals,'
politicians, philanthropists, philosophers and hired
'penny-a-liners,' mostly mistaken and sometimes
willfully and grossly false, giving the cause of the
Indian raid."

Major Galbraith enumerates a variety of other
exciting causes of the massacre, which our limit
will not allow us to insert in this volume. Among
otiier causes, * * that the United States was
itself at war, and that Washington was taken by
the negroes. * * But none of these were, in
his opinion, the cause of the outbreak.

The Major then adds:

"Grievances such as have been related, and
numberless others akin to them, were spoken of,
recited, and chanted at their councils, dances, and
feasts, to such an extent that, in their excitement,
in June, 1862, a secret organization known as the
' Soldier's Lodge,' was tV)unded by the young
men and soldiers of the Lower Sioux, with the
object, as far as I was able to learn through spies
and informers, of preventing tJie 'traders' from
going to the pay-tables, as had been their custom.
Since the outbreak I have become satisfied that
the real object of this 'Lodge' was to adopt
measures to 'clean out' all the white people at the
end of the payment."

Whatever may have been the cause of the fear-
fvd and bloody tragedy, it is certain that the man-
ner of the execution of the infernal deed was a
deep-laid conspiracy, long cherished by Little
Crow, taking form under the guise of the "Sol-
diers' Lodge," and matured in secret Indian coun-
cils. In all these secret movements Little Crow
was the moving spirit.

180

uisTonr OP the sioux massacre.

Now the opportune moment seemed to have
come. Only thirty soldiers were stationed at Fort
Eidgely. Some thirty were all that Fort Bipley
could muster, and at Fort Aberorombie one com-
pany, under Captain Van Der Hork, was all the
whites could depend lapon to repel any attack in
that quarter. The whole effective force for the
defense of the entire frontier, from Pembina to the
Iowa line, did not exceed two hundred men. The
annuity money was daily esj^ected, and no troops
except about one hundred men at Yellow Medi-
cine, had been detailed, as usual, to attend the an-
ticipated payment. Here was a glittering prize to
be paraded before the minds of the excited sav-
ages. The whites were weak; they were engaged
in a terrible war among themselves; their atten-
tion was now directed toward the great struggle
in the South. At such a time, offering so many
chances for rapine and plunder, it would be easy
to unite, at least, all the annuity Indians in one
common movement. Little Crow knew full well
that the Indians could easily be made to believe
that now was a favorable time to make a grand
attack upon the Ijorder settlements. In view of all
the favorable auspices now concurring, a famous
Indian council was called, which was fully attended
by the " Soldier.s' Lodge." Rev. S. E. Kiggs, in
his late work, 1880, ("Mary and I"),, referring to
the outbreak, says:

"On 4ugust 17th, the outbreak was commenced
in the border whita settlements at Acton, Minne-
sota. That night the news was carried to the
Lower Sioux Agency, and a coimcil of war was
called." •* * * " Something of the kind had
been meditated and talked of, and prepared for
undoubtedly. Some time before this, they had
formed the Toe-yo-tee-pee, or Soldiers' Lodge."

A memorable council, convened at Little Crow's
village, near the Lower Agency, on Sunday night
]irevious to the attack on Fort Bidgely, and pre-
cisely two weeks before the first massacres at Ac-
ton. Little Crow was at this coimcil, and he was
not wanting in ability to meet the greatne.ss of
the occasion. The proceedings of this council, of
course, were secret. Some of the results arrived
at, however, have since come to the writer of these
pages. The council matured the details of a con-
spiracy, which for atrocity has hitherto never
found a place in recorded history, not excepting
that of Cawnpore.

Tlie evidence of that conspiracy comes to us, in
part, from the relation of one who was present at

the infamous council. Comparing the statement
of the narrative with the known occurrences of
the times, that council preceded the attack on the
Government stores at the Upper Agency, and was
convened on Simday night; the attack on the
Upper Agency took place the next day, Monday,
the 4th of August; and on the same day, an at-
tempt was made to take Fort Eidgely by strategy.
Not the slightest danger was anticipated. Only
thirty soldiers occupied the post at Fort Eidgely
and this was deemed amply sufiieient in times of
peace. But we will not longer detain the reader
from the denouement of this horrible plot.

Our informant states the evidences of the de-
crees of the council of the 3d of August, thus:

"I was looking toward the Agency and saw a
large body of men coming toward the fort, and
supposed them soldiers returning from the pay-
ment at Yellow Medicine. On a seccmd look, I
observed they were mounted, and knowing, at this
time, that they must be ludi.ans, was surprised at
seeing so large a body, as they were not expected.
I resolved to go into the garrison to see what it
meant, having, at the time, not the least suspicicn
that the Indians intended any hostile demonstti-
tion. Wlien I arrived at the garrison, I fouLd
Sergeant Jones at the entrance with a mounted
howitzer, charged with shell and caaister-shot,
pointed towards the Indians, who were removed
but a short distance from the guard house. I
inquired of the sergeant what it meant? whether
any danger was apprehended? He replied indif-
ferently, "No, but that he thought it a good rule
to observe that a soldier should always be ready
for any emergency."

These Indians had requested the privilege to
dance in tlie inclosure surrounding the fort. On
this occasion that request was refused them. But
I saw that, about sixty yards west of the guard
house, the Indians were making the necessary
preparations lor a dance. I thought nothing of it
as they had frequently done the same thing, but a
little furtlier removed from the tort, under some-
what different circumstances. I considered it a
singular exliibition of Indian foolishness, ami, at
tlie solicitation of a few ladies, went out and wcs
myself a spectator of the dance.

"When the dance was concluded, the Indians
sought and obtained permission to encamp on
some rising ground about a quarter of a mile west
of the garrison. To this ground they soon re-
paired, and encamjied for the uight. The next

EVIDENCE OF CONSl'lKACr.

187

mo-aiug, by 10 o'nlook, all li.id left tlie vicinity nf
the garrisou, ilejiartiug in the iliivotiim of (lio
Lower Agency. This whole matter of the daneo
was so conducted as to lead moat, if not all, the
residents of the garrison to believe that the In-
dians had paid them that visit for the purpose of
dancing and obtaining provisions for a feast.

"Some things were observable that were unu-
sual. The visitors were all warriors, niuety-six in
number, all in undress, except a very few who wore
calico shirts; and, iu addition to this, they all car-
ried arms, guns and tomahawks, with ammunition
pouches suspended around their shoulders. Pro-
\iou3 to the dance, the war implements were de-
posited some two hundred yards distant, where
they had left their ponies. But even this circum-
.s'ance, so far as it was then known, excited nT)
suspicion of danger or hostilities in the minds, of
the residents of the garrison. These residents
were thiity-iive men; thirty soldiers and five citi-
zens, with a few women and children. The guard
that day consisted of three soldiers; one waswalk-
uig leisurely to and fro in front of the guard-
house; the other two were off duty, passing aliout
an'' taking their rest; and all entirely without ap-
pichension of danger from Indians or any other
f .10. As the Indians left the garrison without do-
ing any mischief, most of us .supposed that no evil
was meditated by them. But there was one man
who acted on the supposition that thei-e was al-
ways danger sui-rounding a garrison when visited
l>y savages; that man was Sergeant Jones. From
t'je time he took his position at the gun he never
left it, but acted as he said he believed it best to
do, that was to be always ready. He not only re-
mained at the gun himself, but retained two other
men, whom he had previously trained as assistants
to work the i)iece.

'•Shortly before dark, without disclosing his in-
tentions. Sergeant Jones said to his wife: 'I have
a little business to attend to to-night; at bed-time
I wish you to retire, and not to wait for me.' As
he had frequently done this before, to discharge
some official duty at the quartermaster's office, she
thought it not singular, but did as he had re-
quested, andretired at the usual hour. On awak-
ening in the morning, liowever, she was surprised
at finding that he was not there, and had not been
in bed. In truth, this faithful soldier bad stood
by his gun througliout the entire night, ready to
fire, it occasion required, at any moment during
that time; nor could he be pa- uaded to leave that

gun until all this party of Indians had entirely
disapjicai'ed from the vieuiily of the garrison.

"Some two weeks after rids time, tliose same In-
dians, with others, attacked Fort l^idgejy and, af-
ter some tea days' siege, the g jrison was relieved
by the arrival of soldiers under Colonel H. H Sib-
ley. The second day after Colonel Sibley arrived,
a Fi-enchman of pure or mixed blood appeared
l-efore Sergeant Jones, in a very agitated manner,
and intimated that he had .some disclosures to
make to him; but no sooner had he made this in-
timation than he became extremely and violently
agitated, and seemed to be in a perfect agony of
n^iental perturbation. Sergeant Jones said to him,
'If you have anything to disclose, you ought, at
once, to make it known.' The man repealed that
he had disclosures to make, but that he did not
dare to make them; and although Sergeant Jones
urged him by every cousideiation in his power to
tell what he knew, the man seemed to be so com-
pl; tely under the dominion of terror, that he was
unable to divulge the great secret. 'Why,' said
he, 'they will kill me; they will kill my wife and
children.' Saying which he turned and walked
away.

"Shortly after the first interview, this man n
turned to Sergeant Jones, when again the Ser-
geant urged him to disclcse what he knew; ami
promised him that if he would do so, he would
Iceep his name o. profound secret forever; that if
the information which he should disclose should
lead to the detection and punishment of fhegndtv
the name of the informant should n. ver be made
known. Being thus assured, the Frenchman soon
became more calm. Hesitatmg a moment, he in-
quired of Sergeant Jones if he remembered that,
some two weeks ago, a party of Indians came
down to the fort to have a dance? Seigeant
Jones replied that he did. 'Why,' sai^l the French-
man, 'do you know that these Indians were all
warriors of Little Crow, or smue of the other lower
bands? Sir, these Indians had all been selected
for the purpose, and came down to Fort Eidgely
by the express command of Ijittle Crow and the
other chiefs, to get permission to dance; and when
all suspicion should be completely lulled, in the
midst of the dance, to seize their weapons, kill
every person in the fort, seize the big guns, open
the magazine, and secure the ammunition, when
they should be joined by all the remaining war-
riors of the lower bands. Thus armed, and in-
creased by numbers, tliey were to pi-occed together

188

HISTORY OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

down the valley of the Minnesota. With this
force and these weapons they were assured they
could drive every white man beyond the Missis-
sippi.'

"AH this, the Frenchman informed Sergeant
Jones, he had learned by being present at a coun-
cil, and from conversations had with other Indians,
who had told him that they had gone to the gar-
rison for that very purpose. When he had con-
cluded this revelation, Sergeant Jones inquired,
'Why did they not execute their purpose ? Why
did they not take the fort?' The Frenchman re-
pbed: -Because they saw, during all their dance,
and then stay at the fort, that big gun constantly
pointed at them.' "

Interpreter Quinn, now dead, told the narrator
of the foregomg incidents that Little Crow had
said, repeatedly, in their councils, that the Indians
could kill all the white men in the Minnesota Val-
ley. In this way, he said, we can get all our lands
back; that the whites would again want these lands,
and that they could get double annuities. Some
of the councils at which these suggestions of Lit-
tle Crow were made, dated, he said, as far back as
the summer of 1857, immediately after the luk-
paduta war.

On the 17th day of August, 1862, Little Crow,
Inkpaduta, and Little Priest, the latter one of the
Winnebago chiefs, attended church at the Lower
Agency, and seemed to listen attentively to the
ser\'ices, conducted by the Kev. J. D. Hinman.
On the afternoon of that day Little Crow invited
these Indians to his house, a short distance above
the Agency. On the same day an Indian council
was held at Rice Creek, sixteen miles above the
Lower Agency, attended by the Soldiers' Lodge.
Inkpaduta, it is believed, and Little Priest, with
some thirteen Winnebago warriors, attended this
council. Why this council was held, and what
was its object, can easily be imagined. The de-
crees of the one held two weeks before had not been
executed. The reason w hy the fort was not taken
has been narrated. The other part of the same
scheme, the taking of the agency at the Yellow
Medicine, on the same day the fort was to have
fallen, will bo alluded to in another chapter. It
then became necessary for the conspirators to hold
another council, to devise new plans for the exe-
cution of their nefarious designs upon the whites.
The Acton tragedy, forty miles distant, had taken
place but a few hours before this council was con-
vened. On Monday, the 18th of August, these

Acton murderers were seen at the mill on Crow
river, six miles from Hutchinson, with the team
taken from Acton; so that these Indians did not
go to the Lower Agency, but remained in th(
country about Hutchinson. One of the number
only returned to the Agency by the next morning
after the council at Rice Creek had been held.
All that followed in the bloody drama, originated
at this council of Death, over which Little Crow
presided, on Sunday afternoon, the 17th day of
August, 1862, on the evening of the same day of
the Acton murders. The general massacre of all
white men was by order of this council, to com-
mence at the Agency, on the morning of the 18th,
and at as many other points, simultaneously, as
could be reached by the dawn of day, radiating
from that point as a center. The advantage
gained by the suddenness of the attack, and the
known panic that would result, was to be followed
up until every settlement was massacred, Foi't
Ridgely taken, both Agencies burned, New Ulm,
Mankato, St. Peter, and all the towns on the river
destroyed, the whole country plundered and devas-
tated, and as many of the inhabitants as were left
alive were to be driven beyond the Mississippi
river. The decree of this savage council, matured
on a Christian Sabbath, by Indians, who were sup-
posed to be civilized, so immediately after atten-
tively listening to the gospel of peace, filled the
measure of the long-cherished conspiracy matured
by Little Crow, until it was full of the most hope-
ful results to his polluted and brutal nature.
"Once an Indian, always an Indian," seems in this
instance to have been horribly demonstrated.

CHAPTER XXXn.

Change of indi.^k offioiai-s — payment of 1861 —
repobt of agent gaiibkaith — upper and
lower bands — supplies attack on the ware-
house renville rangers return to fort

BIDGELT.

The change in the administration of the Gov-
ernment in 1861, resulting, as it did, in a general
change in the minor offices throughout the coun-
try, carried into retii-enient Major William J. Cul-
len. Superintendent of Indian AiTairs for the
Northern Superintendency, and Major Joseph R.
Brown, Agent for the Sioux, whose places were
filled respectively by Colonel Clark W. Thomp-
son and Maior Thomas J. Galbraith. Colonel

MAJOR GALBEMTWS REPORT.

189

Thompson entered upon tlie duties of bis office in
May of that year, and Major Galbraith on the
fii-st day of Jime. In that month the new agent
and many of the new employes, with their fami-
lies, took up their residence on the reservations.

These employes, save a few young men who
were employed as laborers, were, with two excep-
tions, men of families, it being the policy of the
agent to employ among the Indians as few un-
married men as possible.

During that year nothing occurred on the res-
ervations of an unusual character more than the
trouble with which the Agents had always to deal
at every semi-annual gathering at the Agencies.
We say "semi-annual," because they came in the
summer to draw their annuities, and again in the
autumn for their winter supply of goods.

It has been usual at the payment of annuities
to have a small force of troops to guard against
any untoward event which might otherwise occur.
The payment to the lower bands, in 1861, was
made in the latter part of June, and to the upper
bands about the middle of July. These pay-
ments were made by Superintendent Thompson
in person.

The Sisseton bands came down to the Agency
at a very early day, as had always been their
habit, long before the arrival of the money,
bringing with them a large body of Yanktonais
(not annuity Sioux), who always came to the
payments, claiming a right to a share of the an
unities issued to the Indians.

These wild huntei's of the plains were an un-
faiUng element of trouble at the payments to the
upper liands. At this last payment they were in
force, and by their troublesome conduct, caused a
delay of some daysinthemakingof the payments.
Tills was, however, no unusual occurrence, as they
always came with a budget of grievances, ujaou
which they were wont to dilate in council. This
remark is equally true of the annuity Indians.
Indeed, it would be very strange if a payment
could be made without a demand, on the part of
the "young men," for three or four times the
amount of their annual dues.

These demands were usually accompanied by
overt acts of violence; yet the payment was made;
and this time, after the payment, all departed to
their village at Big Stone Laka They came
again in the fall, drew their supply of goods, and
went quietly away.

It so turned out, however, that the new agent,

Galbraith, came into office too late to iusiiro a large
crop that year. He says:

"The autumn of 18C1 cluscd upon us rather un-
favorably. Tlie crops were light; especially was
this the case with the Upper Sioux ; they had little
or nothing. As heretofore communicated to tiie
Department, the cut-worms destroyed all the
Sisetons, and greatly injured the crop of the
Wajiatons, Medawakantons, Wapakutas. For
these latter I purchased on credit, in anticipation
of the Agricultural and Civilization Funds, large
quantities of pork and flour, at current rates, to
.support them during the winter.

"Early in the autumn, in view of the necessitous
situation of the Sisetons, I made a requisition on
the department for the sum of )j!.5,0D0, out of the
special fund for the relief of 'poor and destitute
Indians;' and, in anticipation of receiving this
money, made arrangements to fe d the old and in-
firm men, and the women and cliildren of these
people. I directed the Rev. S. E. Kiggs to make
the selection, and furnish me a list.

"He carefully did this, and we fed, in an econ-
omical, yea, even parsimonious way, about 1,500
of these people from, the midille of December until
nearly the first of April. We had hoped to gut
them off on their spring hunt earlier, but a tre-
mendous and unprecedented snow-storm durin"-
the last days of February prevented.

"In response to my requisition, I received
§3,000, and expended very nearly -55,000, leaving
a deficiency not propei'ly chargable to the regular
funds, of about .$2,000.

"These people, it is believed, must have per-
ished had it not been for this scanty assistance.
In addition to this, the regular issues were made
to the farmer Indians m payment for their labor.

"In the month of August, 18C1, the superinten-
dents of farms were directed to have ploughed 'in
the fall,' in the old jjublic and neglected private
fields, a sufficient quantity of land to provide
'plantings' for such Indians as could not be pro-
vided with oxen and implements. In pmrsuance
of this direction, there were ploughed, at rates
ranging from l$1.50 to $2,00 per acre, ac-
cording to the nature of the work, by teams and
men hired for the purpose, for the Lower Sioux,
about 500 acres, and for the Upper Sioux, about
475 acres. There were, also, at the same time,
ploughed by the farmer Indians and the depart-
ment teams, about 250 acres for the Lower, and

190

HISTORY OF THE SIOUX JI ASS ACME.

about 325 acres for the Upper Sioux. This fall
ploughing was continued until the frost prevented
its further prosecution. It was done to facilitate
the work of the agricultural department, and to
kill the worms which had proved so injurious the
previous year. * * *

"The carpenter-shops at both Agencies were
supplied with lumber for the manufacture and re-
pair of sleds, wagons, and other farming utensils.
Sheds were erected for the protection of the cattle
and utensils of the depertment, and the farmer
Indians, assisted by the department carpenters,
erected stables, pens, and out-houses for the pro-
tection of their eatt-.e, horses and utensils. * *
Hay, grain, and other supplies were provided,
and, in short, every thing was done which the
means at command of the agent would justify.

"The work of the autumn being thus closed, I
set about making preparations for the work of the
next spring and summer, and in du'ectiug the
work of the winter. I made calculations to erect,
during the summer and autumn of 18G2, at least
fifty dwelling-houses for Indian families, at an
estimated average cost of $300 each; and also to
aid the farmer Indians in erecting as many ad-
ditional dwellings as possible, not to exceed thirty
or forty; and to have planted for the Lower
Sioux, at least 1,200 acres, and for the Upper
Sioux, at least 1,300 acres of crops, and to have
all the land planted, except that at Big Stone
Lake, inclosed by a fence.

"To carry out these calculations, early in the
the winter the sui^erintendeuts of farms, the black-
smiths, the carpenters, and the superintendents of
schools were directed to furnish estimates for the
amount of agricultural implements, horses, oxen,
wagons, carts, building material, iron, steel, tools,
and supplies needed to carry on suc^essi'iilly their
several departments for one year from the open-
ing of navigation in the spring of 18G2.

"These estimates were prepared and furnished
me about the 1st of February. In accordance
with these estimates, I proceeded to purchase, in
open market, the articles and supplies recommend-
ed.

■'I made the estimates for one year, and pur-
chases accordingly, in order to secure the benefit
of transportation by water in the spring, and thus
avoid the delays, vexations, and extra expense of
transportation by land in the fall. The bulk of
))Urchascs were made with the distinct understaud-
inj; tliat payment would be made out of the fiin.ls

belonging to the quarter in which the goods, im-
plements, or supplies, were expended."

"Thus it will be seen that, in the spring of 1862,
there was on hand sujiplies and material sufficient
to carry us through the coming year. * * -*
Thus, to all appearance, the spring season opened
propitiously. * * * To carry out my original
design of having as much as possible planted for
the Indians at Big Stone Lake and Lac qui Parle
as early in the month of May, 1862, as the condi-
tion of the swollen streams would permit, I visited
Lac qui Parle and Big Stone Lake, going as far
as North Island, in Lake Traverse, having with
me Antoine Freniere, United States Interpreter,
Dr. .J. L. Wakefield, physician of the Upper Sioux,
and Nelson Givens, assistant A.geut. At Lac qui
Parle I found the Indians willing and anxious to
plant. I inquired into their condition and wants,
and made arrangements to have them supplied
with seeds and implements, and directed Amos W.
Huggins, the school teacher there, to aid and in-
struct them in their work, and to make proper
distrilnition of the seeds and implements furnished,
and placed at his disposal an ox-team and wagon
and two breaking-teams, with instructions to de-
vote his whole time and attention to the superin-
tendence and instruction of the resident Indians
during the planting season, and until the crops
were cultivated and safely harvested.

"I also found the Indians at Big Stone Lake and
Lake Traverse very anxious to plant, but without
any means whatever so to do. I looked over their
fields in order to see what could be done. After
having inquired into the whole matter, I instructed
Mr. Givens to remain at Big Stone Lake and su-
perintend and direct the agriciiltural operations
of the season, and to remain there until it was too
late to plant any rnore. I placed at his disposal
ten double plough teams, with men to operate
them, and ordered forward at once one hundred
bushels of seed corn and five hrmdred bushels of
seed potatoes, with pumpkin, squash, turnip, -and
other seeds, in reasonable proportion, together
with a sufficient supply of ploughs, hoes, and
other inqjlements for the Indians, and a black-
smith to repair breakages; and directed him to
see that every Indian, and every Indian horse or
;iouy, did as much work as was possible. * *

"On my way down to the agency, i visited the
plantings of TahampihVla, (Battling Moccasin),
.Mazasha, (Bed Iron), Mahpiya Wicasta, (Cloud
Man), and Battling Cloud, and found that the

MAJOn UALBUAlTira REPORT.

191

Supeimtpndent of Fiirms for tlie Upper Sioiix luid,
in accordance with my iustruetions, been faithfully
attending to the ■wants of these bands. He had
supplied them with implements and seeds, and I
left them at work. On my arrival at the Agency,
I found that the farmer Indians residing there-
abouts had, in my absence, been industriously at
work, and had not only completed their plowing,
but had planted very extensively. The next day
after my arrival at the Agency, I visited each
farmer Indian at the Yellow Medicine, and con-
gratulated him on his prospect for a good erojj.
and spoke to him such words of encouragement
"IS occurred to me.

'•The nest day I proceeded to the Lower Agency,
and then taking with me Mr. A. H. Wagner, the
Sujieriutendent of Farms for the Lower Sioux, I
went around each planting, and, for the second
time, visited each farmer Indian, and found that,
in general, my instructions had been carried out.
The plowing was generally completed in good
•order, and the jjlanting nearly all done, and many
of the farmer Indians were engaged in repairing
old and making new fences. I was j^leased and
gratified, and so told the Indians — the prospect
was so encouraging.

"About the tirst of July I visited all the plant-
ings of both the Upper and Lower Sioux, except
those at Big Stone Lake, and found, in nearly
every instance, the prospects for good crops very
hopeful indeed. The superintendents of farms,
the male school teachers, and all the employes
assisting them, had done their duty. About this
time Mr. Givens returned from Big Stone Lake,
and reporte 1 to me his success there. . Prom all I
knew and all I thus learned, I was led to believe
that we would have no 'starving Indians' to feed
the next winter, and little did I dream of the un-
forlunate and terrible outbreak which, m a short
time, burst upon us, * * *

•'In the fall of 1861, a good and substantial
school-room and dwelling, a store-house and black-
smith-shop, were completed at Lac qui Parle, and,
about the first of November, Mr. Amos W. Ilug-
gius and his family occupied the dwelling, and,
assisted by Miss Julia LaFrambois, prepared the
school-room, and devoted their whole time to
' teaching such Indian children as they could in-
duce to attend the school.

"The storehouse was supplied with provisions,
which Mr. Huggins was instructed to issue to the
children and their parents at his discretion. Here

it may be permitted me to remark to Mr. Hug-
gins, who was born and raised among the Sioux,
and Miss LaFrambois, who was a Sioux mixed-
blood, were two peraons entirely capable and in
every respect qualified for the discharge of the
duties of their situation, than whom the Indians
had no more devoted filends. They livctl amoijg
the Indians of choice, because they thought they
could be beneficial to them. Mr. Huggins exer-
cised nothing but kindness toward them. He fed
them when hungry, clothed them when naked,
attended them when sick, and advised and cheered
them in all their difficulties. He was intelligent,
entrgetic, industrious, and good, and yet he was
one of the first victims of the outbreak, shot down
like a dog by the very Indians whom he had so
long and so well served. •■■•■ -**■•;:***
"In the month of June, 18(52, being well aware
of the influence exerted by Little Ci-ow over the
blanket Indians, and, by his plausibility, led to
believe that he intended to act in good faith, I
promised to build him a good brick house pro-
vided that he would agree to aid me in bringing
around the idle young men to habits of industry
and civilization, and that he would abandon the
leader-hip of the blanket Indians and become a
'white man.'

"This being well understood, as I thought, I
directed Mr. Nairn, the carpenter of the Lower
Sioux, to make out the plan and estimates for
Crow's house, and to jjroceed at 07ice to make the
window and door frames, and to prepare the lum-
ber necessary for the building, and ordered the
teamsters to deliver the necessary amoimt of brick
as soon ;.s possible. Little Crow agreed to dig
the cellar and haul the necessary lumber, both of
which he had commenced. The carpenter had
nearly comjjleied his part of the work, and the
brick was being promptly delivered at the time
of the outbreak.

"On the 15th of August, only fluve days pre-
vious to the outbreak, I had an interview with
Little Crow, and he seemed to be well pleased and
satisfied. Little indeed did I suspect, at that
time, Ihot he would be the leader in the terrible
outbreak of the 18th."

There were planted, acct)rding to the statement
of Agent Galbraith in his report, on the lower
reservation, one thousand and twenty-five acres of
corn, two hundred and sixty acres of potatoes,
sixty acres of turnips and ruta-bagas, and twelve
acres of wheat, besides a large quantity of field

192

niSTORT OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

and garden vegetables. These crops, at a low
estimate, would have harvested, in the fall, 74,865
bushels. There were, on the lower reservation,
less than three thousand Indians, all told. This
croj), therefore, would have yielded full twenty-
tive bushels to each man, woman and child, in-
cluding the blanket as well as the farmer Indians

There were, also, of growing crops, in fine con-
dition, on the upjjer reservation, one thousand one
hundred and ten acres of corn, three hundred
acres of potatoes, ninety acres of turnips and
ruta-bagas, and twelve acres of wheat, and field
and garden vegetables in due proportion. These,
at a low estimate, would have harvested 85,740
liushels. There were, on the upper reservation, a
little over four thousand annuity Sioux. This
crop, therefore, would have harvested them about
twenty-one bushels for each man, woman and
chOd, including, also, the blanket Indians.

Thus, under the beneficent workings of the hu-
mane policy of the Government inaugurated in
1858, they were fast becoming an independent
people. Let it be borne in mmd, however, that
these results, so beneficial to the Indian, were ac-
complished only through the sleepless vigilance
and untiring energy of those who had the welfare
of these rude, savage beings in their care.

Major Galbraith, after giving these statistics of
the crops on the reservations, and the arrange-
ments made for gathering, hay, by the Indians,
for their winter's use, says:

"I need hardly say that our hojjGs were high at
the prospects before us, nor need I relate my
chagrin and mortification when, in a moment, I
found these high hopes blasted forever."

Such, then, was the condition, present and pros-
pective, of the "Annuity Sioux Indians," in the
summer of 1862. No equal number of pioneer
settlers on the border could, at that time, make a
better showing than was exhibited on these reser-
vations. They had in fair prospect a surplus over
and above the wants of the entire tribes for the
coming year. This had never before occurred in
their history.

The sagacity and wise forethought of their
agent, and the uuusiuilly favorable season, had
amply provided against the possibility of recurring
want. The coming winter would have found their
granaries full to overflowing. Add to this the
fact that they had a large cash annuity coming to
them from the Govonmont, as well as large
amounts of goods, consisting of blankets, cloths.

groceries, flour and meats, powder, shot, lead, etc.,
and we confidently submit to the enlightened
reader the whole question of their alleged griev-
ances, confident that there can be but one verdict
at their hands, and that the paternal care of the
Government over them was good and just; nay,
generous, and that those having the immediate su-
pervision of their interests were performing their
whole duty, honestly and nobly.

The hopes of the philanthrojjist and Christian
beat high. They believed the day was not far
distant when it could be said that the Sioux Indi-
ans, as a race, not only cmild be civilized, but that
here were whole tribes who were civilized, and had
abandoned the chase and the war-2)ath for the cul-
tivation of the soil and the arts of peace, and that
the juggleries and sorcery of the medicine-men
had been abandoned for the milder teachings of
the missionaries of the Cross.

How these high hopes were dashed to the earth,
extinguished in an ocean of blood, and their own
bright prospects utterly destroyed, by their horri-
ble and monstrous perfidy and unheard of atroci-
ties, it will be our work, in these pages, to show.

We are now rapidly approaching the fatal and
bloody denouement, the terrible 18th of August,
the memory of which will linger in the minds of
the survivors of its tragic scenes, and the succeed-
ing days and weeks of horror and blood, till rea-
son kindly ceases to perform its office, and blots
out the fearful record in the oblivion of the grave.

Again we quote from the able report of Major
Galbraith :

"About the 25th of June, 1862, a number of the
chiefs and head men of the Sissetons and Wapa-
tons visited the Agency and inquired about the
payments; whether they were going to get any
(as they had been told, as they alleged, that they
would not be paid,) and if so, how much, and
when? I answered them that they would cer-
tainly be paid; exactly how much I could not
say, but that it would be nearly, if not quite, a
full payment; that I did not know when the pay-
ment would be made, but that I felt sure it could
not be made before the 20th of July. I advised
them to go home, and admonished them not to come
back again QntU I sent for them. I issued pro-
visions, powder and shot and tobacco to them, and
they departed.

'• In a few days after I went to the Lower Agency,
and spoke to the lower Indians in regard to their
jxiynients. As thev aU Uved within a few luilcs of

ATTACK Oy UPPER AGENOl'.

193

tlic Agency, littlo was said, as, whou tho money
camp, they could be called together in a day. I
remained about one week there, visiting the farms
and plantings, and issued to the Indians a good
supply of pork, flour, powder, shot, and tobacco,
and urged upon them the necessity of cutting and
securing hay for the winter, and. of watching and
keeping the birds from their corn.

" I left them apparently satisfied, and arrived at
Yellow Medicine on the 14th of July, aud found,
to my surprise, that nearly all the Upper Indians
had arrived, and were encamped about the Agency.
I inquired of them why they had come, and they
answered, that they were afraid something was
wrong; they feared they would not get their
money, because whUe vuii had been telling them so.

" Being in daUy expectation of tho ari'ival of
the money, I determined to make the best of it,
and notified the Superintendent of Indian Aflairs
accordingly.

"How were over 4,000 Annuity, and over 1,000
Tanktonais Sioux, with nothing to eat, and entirely
dependent on me for supplies, to be provided for?
I supplied them as best I could. Our stock was
nearly used up, and still, on the 1st day of Au-
gust, no money had come.

" The Indians complained of starvation. I held
back, in order to save the provisions to the last
moment. On the 4th of August, early in the
morning, the young men and soldiers, to the num-
ber of not less than four hundred mounted, and
one hundred and fifty on foot, surprised and de-
ceived the commander of the troops on guard,
and sirrrounded the camp, and proceeded to
the warehouse in a boisterous manner, and in
sight of, and within one hundred and fifty
yards of one hundred armed men, with two
twelve-pound mountain howitzers, cut down the
door of the warehouse, shot down the American
flag, and entered the building, and before they
could be stopped had carried over one hundred
sacks of flour from the warehouse, and were evi-
dently bent on a general 'clearing out.'

"The soldiers, now recovered from their panic,
came gallantly to our aid, entered the warehouse
and took possession. The Indians all stood around
with their guns loaded, cocked and leveled. I
spoke to them, and they consented to a talk. The
result was, that they agreed, if I would give them
plenty of pork and flour, and issue to them the
annuity rjoods the next day, they would go away.
I told them to go away with enough to eat for twv

datjs, and to send the chiefs and head men for a
council tlic next day, unarmed and peaceably and
I would answ'er them. They assented and went
to their camp. In the meantime I had sout for
Captain Mar.-fh, the commandant of Fort Ridgely,
who promptly arrived early in the morniug of the
next day.

"I laid the whole case before him, and stated
my plan. He agreed with me, and, in the after-
noon, the Indians, unarmed, and apparently
peaceably disposed, came in, and we had a 'talk,'
aud, in the presence of Captain Marsh, Kev. Mr.
Kiggs and others, I agreed to issue the annuity
goods and a fixed amount of provisions, provided
the Indians would go home and watch their corn,
and wait for the payment until they were sent for.
They assented. I made, on the 6th, 7th and 8th
of August the issues as agreed upon, assisted by
Captain Marsh, and, on the 9th of August tho In-
dians were all gone, and on tiie 12th I had defi-
nite information that the Sissetons, who had started
on the 7th, had all arrived at Big ^one Lake, and
that the men were preparing to go on a buffalo
hunt, and that the women and children were to
stay and guard the crops. Thus this threatening
and disagreeable event passed off, but, as usual,
without the punishment of a single Indian who
had. been engaged in the attack on the warehouse.
They should have been punished, but they were
not, and simply because we had not the power to
punish them. And hence we had to adopt the
same 'sugar-plum' policy which had been so often
adopted before with the Indians, and esj^ecially at
the time of the Spirit Lake massacre, in 1857."

On the 12th day of August, thirty men enlisted
at Yellow Medicine; and, on the 13th, accomi^a-
nied by the agent, proceeded to the Lower Agency,
where, on the 14th, they were joined by twenty
more, making about fifty in all. On the afternoon
of the 15th they proceeded to Fort Ridgely, where
they remained imtil the morning of the 17th,
when, having been furnished by Cajjtain Marsh
'with transportation, accompanied by Lieutenant
N. K. Culver, Sergeant McGrew, and four men of
Company B, Fifth Minnesota Volunteers, they
started for Fort Snelling by the way of New TUm
and St. Peter, little dreaming of the terrible mes-
sage, the news of which would reach them at the
latter place next day, and turn them back to the
defense of that post and the border.

On Monday morning, the 18th, at about 8
o'clock, they left New Ulm, and reached St. Peter

194

niSTORT OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

at about 4 o'clock P. M. About 6 o'clock, Mr. J.
C. Dickinson arrived from the Lower Agency,
bringing the startling news that the Indians bad
broken out, and, before he left, had commenced
murdering the whites.

They at once set about making preparations to
return. There were in St. Peter some litty old
Harper's Ferry muskets; these they obtained, and,
procuring ammunition, set about preparing cart-^
ridges, at which many of them worked all night,
and, at sunrise on Tuesday morning were on their
way back, with heavy hearts and dark forebodings,
toward the scene of trouble.

In the night Sergeant Sturgis, of Captain
Marsh's company, had arrived, on his way to St.
Paul, with dispatches to Governor Ramsey, from
Lieutenant Thomas Gere, then in command of
Fort Eidgely, bringing the sad news of the des-
truction of Captain Marsh and the most of his
command at the ferry, at the Lower Agency, on
Monday afternoon. They had but a slender
chance of rea<Aing the fort in safety, and still less
of saving it from destruction, for they knew that
there were not over twenty-five men left in it.
Lieutenant Sheehan, with his company, having
left for Fort Ripley on the 17th, at the same time
that the "Renville Rangers" (the company from
the Agencies) left for Fort SneUing. Their friends,
too, were in the very heart of the Indian country.
Some of them had left their«wives and little ones
at Yellow Medicine, midway between the Lower
Agency and the wild bands of the Sissetons and
Yanktonais, who made the attack upon the ware-
house at that Agency only two weeks before.
Their hearts almost died within them as they
thought of the dreadful fate awaiting them at the
hands of those savage and blood-thirsty monsters.
But they turned their faces toward the West, de-
tennined, if Fort Ridgely was yet untaken, to enter
it, or die in the attempt, and at about simdown
entered the fort, and found all within it as yet
safe.

A messenger had been sent to Lieutenant Shee-
han, who immediately turned back and had enter-
ed the fort a few hours before Dhem. There were
in the fort, on their arrival, over two hundred and
fifty refugees, principally women and children,
and they continued to come in, until there were
nearly three hundred.

Here they remained on duty, night and day,
until the morning of the '28th, when reinforce-

ments, imder Colonel McPhail and Captain Anson
Northrup and E. H. Chittenden arrived.

The annuity money by Superintendent Thomp-
son had been dispatched to the Agency in charge
of his clerk, accompanied by E. A. C. Hatch, J.
C. Ramsey, M. A. Daily, and two or three others.
On their arrival at the fort, on Tuesday night,
Major Galbraith foimd these gentlemen there,
they having arrived at the post Monday noon, the
very day of the outbreak. Had they been one day
sooner they would have been at the Lower Agency,
and their names would have been added, in all
probability, to the long roll of the victims, at that
devoted point of Indian barbarity, and about
$10,000 in gold would have fallen into the hands
of the savages.

These gentlemen were in the fort during the
siege which followed, and were among the bravest
of its brave defenders. Major Hatch, afterwards
of "Hatch's Battalion" (cavalry), was particu-
lary conspicuous for his cool corn-age and undaunt-
ed bravery.

Thus it will be seen how utterly false was the
information which the Indians said they had re-
ceived that they were to get no money.

And notwithstanding all that has been said as
to the cause of the outbreak, it may be remarked
that the removal of the agent from Yellow Medi-
cine, with the troops raised by him for the South-
ern Rebellion, at the critical period when the In-
dians were exasperated and excited, and ready at
any moment to arm for warfare upon the whites,
was one of the causes acting directly upon the In-
dians to precipitate the blow that afterwards fell
upon the border settlements of Minnesota on the
18th of August, 1862. Had he remained with his
family at Yellow Medicine, as did the Winnebago
agent, with his family, at the agency, the strong
probabihty is that the attack at Yellow Medicine
might have been delayed, if not entirely pre-
vented.

CHAPTER XXXm.

MURDER AT AOTON MASSACRE AT THE LOWER

AGENCY CAPTURE OP MATTIE WILLIAMS, MARY

ANDERSON AND MARY SCHWANDT MURDER OF

GEORGE GLEASON — -CAPTURE OF MRS. WAKEFIELD
AND CHILDREN.

We come now to the massacre itself, the terrible
blow which fell, like a thunderbolt from a clear
sky, with such ai^palling force and suddenness,

MUHDKliS AT ACTON.

195

upon the unarmed and defenceless border, crim-
soning its fair fields with the blood of its murdered
people, and lighting up the midnight sky with
the hirid blaze of burning dwellings, by the light
of which the affrighted survivors tied from the
nameless terrors that beset their path, before the
advancing gleam of the uplifted tomahawk, many
of them only to fall victims to the Indian bullet,
while vainly seeking a place of security.

The first blow fell upon the town of Acton,
thirty-five miles north-east of the Lower Sioux
agency, in the county of Meeker. On Sunday,
August 17, 18G2, at 1 o'clock P. M., sis Sioux In-
dians, said to be of Shakopee's band of Lower An-
nuity Sioux, came to the house of Jones and de-
manded food. It was refused them, as Mrs. Jones
was away from home, at the house of Mr. Howard
Baker, a son-in-law, three fourths of a mile dis-
tant. They became angry and boisterous, and
fearing violence at their bands, Mr. Jones took
his children, a boy and a girl, and went himself to
Baker's, leaving at the house a girl from fourteen
to sixteen years of age, and a boy of twelve —
brother and sister — who lived with him. The In-
dians soon followed on to Baker's. At Howard
Baker's were a Mr. Webster and his wife. Baker
and wife and infant child, and Jones and his wife
and two children.

Soon aft«r reaching the house, the Indians pro-
posed to the three men to join them in target-
shooting. They consented, and all discharged
their guns at the target. Mr. Baker then traded
guns with an Indian, the savage giving him $3
as the difference in the value of the guns. Then
all commenced loading again. The Indians got
the charges into their guns first, and immediately
turned and shot Jones. Mrs. Jones and Mrs.
Baker were standing in the door. When one of
the savages leveled his gun at Mrs. Baker, her
husband saw the movement, and sprang between
them, receiving the bullet intended for his wife
in his own body. At the same time they shot
Webster and Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Baker, who had
her infant in her arms, seeing her husband fall,
fainted, and fell backward into the cellar (a trap-
door being open), and thus escaped. Mrs. Web-
ster was lying in their wagon, from which the
goods were not yet unloaded, and escaped unhurt.
The children of Mr. Jones were in the house, and
were not molested. They then returned to the
house of Mr. Jones, and killed and scalped the girl.
The boy was lying on the bed and was undiscov-

ered, but was a silent witness of the tragic fate of
his sister.

After killing the girl the savages left without
disturbing anything, and going directly to the
house of a settler, took from his stable a span of
horses already iu the harness, and while the fam-
ily was at dinner, hitched them to a wagon stand-
ing near, and without molesting any one, drove
off in the direction of Beaver Creek settlement and
the Lower Agency, leaving Acton at about 3
o'clock in the afternoon. This span of horses, har-
ness and wagon were the only property taken from
the neighborhood by them.

The boy at Jones's who escaped massacre at
their hands, and who was at the house during the
entire time that they were there, avers that they
obtained no liquor there that day, but even that
when they came back and murdered his sister, the
bottles upon the shelf were untouched by them.
They had obtained none on their first visit before
going over to Baker's. It would seem, therefore,
that the very general belief that these first mur-
ders at Acton, on the 17th, were the result of
drunkenness, is a mistake.

Mrs. Baker, who was unhurt by the fall, re-
mained in the cellar until after the Indians were
gone, when, taking the children, she started for a
neighboring settlement, to give the alarm. Before
she left, an Irishman, calling himself Cox, came
to the house, whom she asked to go with her, and
carry her child. Cox laughed, saying, "the men
were not dead, but drunk, and that, falling down,
they had hurt their noses and made them bleed,"
and refusing to go with Mrs. Baker, went off in
the direction taken by the Indians. This man
Cox had frequently been seen at the Lower Agen-
cy, and was generally supposed fo be an insane
man, wandering friendless over the country. It
has been supjjosed by many that he was in league
with the Indians. We have only to say, if he was,
he counterfeited insanity remarkably well.

Mrs. Baker reached the settlement in safety, and
on the next day (Monday) a company of citizens
of Forest City, the county seat of Meeker county,
went out to Acton to bury the dead. Forest City
is twelve miles north of that place. The party
who went out on Monday saw Indians on horse-
back, and chased them, but faDed to get near
enough to get a shot, and they escaped.

As related in a preceding chapter, a council was
held at Rice Creek on Sunday, at which it was de-
cided that the fearful tragedy should commence

196

U I STORY OF TEE SIOUX MASSAOBE.

on the next morning. It is doubtful whether the
Aoton murders were tlien known to these con-
spirators, as this council assembled in the after-
noon, and the savages who committed those mur-
ders had some forty miles to travel, after 3 o'clock
in the afternoon, to reach the place of tliis coun-
cil. It would seem, therefore, that those murders
could have had no influence in precipitating this
council, as they could not, at that time, have been
kuown to Little Crow and his conspirators.

The final decision of these fiends must have been
made as early as sundown; for by early dawn al-
most the entire force of warriors, of the Lower
tribes, were ready for the work of slaughter. They
were already armed and pamted, and dispersed
through the scattered settlements, over a region at
least forty miles in extent, and were rajjldly gath-
ering in the vicinity of the Lower Agency, until
some 250 were collected at that point, and sur-
rounded the houses and stores of the traders,
while yet the inmates were at their morning meal,
or asleep in their beds in fancied security, all un-
conscious of the dreadful fate that awaited them.
The action was concerted, and the time fixed.
The blow was unexpected, and unparalleled! In
the language af Adjutent-General Malmros:

"Since the formation of our general Govern-
ment, no State or Territory of the EepubUc has
received so severe a blow at the hands of the sav-
ages, or witnessed within its borders a parallel
scene of murder, butchery, and rapine."

Philander Prescott, the aged Government In-
terpreter at that Agency, who had resided among
the Sioux for forty-five years, having a wife and
children allied to them by ties of blood, and who
knew their language and spoke it better than any
man of their own race, aud who seemed to under-
stand every Indian impulse, had not the sUghtest
intimation or conception of such a catastrophe as
was about to fall upon the country. The Rev. S.
R. Riggs, in a letter to a St. Paul paper, imder
date of August 13, writes that "all is qaiet and
orderly at the place of the forthcoming payment."
This gentleman had been a missionary among
these people for over a (juarter of a century. His
■ intimate acquaintance with their character and
language were of such a nature as to enable him
to know and detect the first symptoms of any in-
tention of committing any dejjredations upon the
whites, and had not the greatest secrecy been ob-
served by them, the knowledge of their designs
would undoubtedly have been communicated to

either Mr. Proscott, Mr. Riggs, or Dr. Williamson,
who had also been among them almost thirty
years. Such was the position of these gentlemen
that, had they discovered or suspected any lurking
signs of a conspiracy, such as after developments
satisfy us actually existed, and had failed to com-
municate it to the authorities and the people, they
would have laid themselves open to the horrible
charge of complicity with the murderers. But
whatever may be the jsubhc judgement upon the
course afterward pursued by the two last-named
gentlemen, in their efforts to shield the guilty
wretches from that punishment their awful crimes
so justly merited, no one who knows them would
for a moment harbor a belief that they had any
suspicion of the coming storm until it burst upon
them.

A still stronger proof of the feeling of security
of these uiDon the reservation, and the belief that
the recent demonstrations were only such as werii
of yearly occurrence, and that all danger wa&
passed, is to be found in the fact that, as late au,
the 15th of August, the substance of a dispatcl/.
was published in the daily papers of St. Pauly
from Majoi' Galbraith, agreeing fully with thu
views of Mr. Riggs, as to the quiet and orderly
conduct of the Indians. This opinion is accom-
panied by the very highest evidence of humau
sincerity. Under the belief of their peaceabla^
disposition, he had, on the 16th day of August,
sent his wife and children from Fort Ridgely ti
Yellow Medicine, where they arrived on Sunday,
the 17th, the very day of the murda/o at Acton,,
and on the very day, also, that the tAuncil at Rico
Creek had decided that the white tbce in Minne^-
sota must either perish or be drivfcii back east oj"
the Mississippi. But early on tijs fatal Mondaj
morning Mr. Prescott and Re-/. J. D. Hiamaw
learned from Little Crow that the storm of s^vagti
wrath was gathering, and about to break upo^
their devoted heads, and that Iheir only safety
was in instant flight.

The first crack of the India* guns that fell n/,
his ear, a moment afterward, found Prescott auii
Hinman, and his household iJeetng for their lives,

"While on the billowy bosom ai the air
I^oUed the dread notes of anguish and despair."

Mrs. Hinman was, fortunately, then at Fari-
bault. All the other members of the family es-
caped with Mr. Hinman (o Fort Ridgely. The
slaughter at the Agency now commenced. John
Lamb, a teamster, was shot down, near the house

MASSACRE AT LOWER AGENCY.

197

of Mr. Hinman, just as that gentleman and liis
family were starting on their perilous journey of
escape. At the same time some Indians entered
the stable, and were taking therefrom the horses
belonging to the Government. Mr. A. H. Wag-
ner, Superintendent of Farms at that Agency, en-
tered the stable to prevent them, and was, by order
of Little Crow, instantly shot down. Mr. Hin-
man waited to see and hear no more, but fled
toward the ferry, anU soon put the Minnesota river
between himself and the terril>le tragedy enact-
ing behind him.

At about the same time, Mr. J. C. Dicliinson,
who kept the Government boarding-house, with
all his family, including several girls who were
working for him, also succeeded in crossing the
river with a span of horses and a wagon; these,
with some others, mostly women and children, who
had reached the ferry, escaped to the fort.

Very soon after. Dr. Philander P. Humphrey,
physician to the Lower Sioux, with his sick
wife, and three children, also siicceeded in
crossing the river, but never reached the fort.
All but one, the eldest, a boy of about twelve
years of age, were killed upon the road. They
had gone about four miles, when Mrs. Humphrey
became so much exhaiisted as to be unable to pro-
ceed further, and they went into tlje house of a
Mr. Magner, deserted by its inmates. Mrs. Hum-
phrey was placed on the bed; the son was sent to
the spring for water for his mother. * * The
boy heard the wild war-whovip of the savage
break upon the stillness of the air, and, in the
nest moment, the ominous crack of their guns,
which told the fate of his family, and left him its
sole survivor. Fleeing hastily toward Port Eidge-
ly, about eight miles distant, he met the com-
mand of Captain Marsh on their way toward the
Agency. The young hero turned back with them
to the ferry. As they passed Magner's house,
they saw the Doctor lying near the door, dead,
but the hou5e itself was a heap of smouldering
ruins; and this brave boy was thus compelled to
look Bpon the funeral pyre of his mother, and his
little brother and sister. A burial party afterward
found their charred remains amid the blackened
ruins, and gave them Christian sepulture. In the
charred hands of the little girl was found her china
doU, with which she refused to part even in death.
The boy went on to the ferry, and in that disas-
trous coullict escaped unharmed, and finally made
liis way into the fort

In the mean time the work of death went on.
The whites, taken by surprise, were utterly de-
fenseless, and so great had been the feeling of se-
curity, that many of them were actually unarmed,
although living in the very midst of the savages.
At the store of Nathan Myrick, Hon. James W.
Lynd, formerly a member of the State Senate,
Andrew J. Myrick, and G. W. Divoll were among
the first victims. * * * In the store of Wil-
liam H. Forbes were some five or six persons,
among them Mr. George H. Spencer, jr. Hearing
the yelling of the savages outside, these men ran
to the door to ascertain its cause, when they were
instantly fired upon, killing four of their number,
and severely wounding Mr. Spencer. Spencer and
his uninjured companion hastUy sought a tempo-
rary place of safety in the chamber of the build-
ing.

Mr. Spencer, in giving an account of this open-
ing scene of the awful tragedy, says:

" When I reached the foot of the stairs, I turned
and beheld the store filling with Indians. One
had followed me nearly to the stairs, when he took
deliberate aim at my body, but, providentially,
both barrels of his gun missed fire, and I succeeded
in getting above without further injury. Not ex-
pecting to live a great while, I threw myself upon
a bed, and, while lying there, could hear them
opening cases of goods, and carrying them out,
and threatening to burn the building. I did not
relish the idea of being burned to death very well,
so I arose very quietly, and taking a bed-cord, I
made fast one end to the bed-post, and carried the
other to a window, which I raised. I intended, in
case they fired the building, to let myself down
from the window, and take the chances of being
shot again, rather than to remain where I was and
bum. The man who went up-stairs with me, see-
ing f good opportunity to escape, rushed down
through the crowd and ran for life; he was fired
upon, and two charges of buckshot struck him,
but he succeeded in making his escape. I had
been up-stairs probably an hour, when I heard the
voice of an Inilian inquiring for me. I recognized
his voice, and feli that I was safe. Upon being
told that I was up-stairs, he rushed up, followed by
ten or a dozen others, and approaching my bed,
asked if I was mortally wounded. I told him that
I did not know, but that I was badly hurt. Some
of the others came up and took me by the hand,
and appeared to be sorry that I had been hurt.
Ti'ev then asked me where the guns were. I

198

niSTORT OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

pointed to them, when my comrade assisted me in
getting down stairs.

" The name of this Indian is Wakinyatawa, or,
in English, 'His Thunder.' He was, up to the time
of the outbreak, the head soldier of Little Crow,
and, some foiu or five years ago, went to Wash-
ington with that chief to see their Great Father.
He is a fine-looking Indian, and has always been
noted for his bravery in fighting the Chippewas.
When we reached the foot of the stairs, some of
the Indians cried out, 'Kill him!' 'Spare no
Americans I' 'Show mercy to none!' My friend,
who was unarmed, seized a hatchet that was lying
near by, and declared that he would out down the
first one that should attempt to do me any further
harm. Said he, ' If you had killed him before I
saw him, it would have been all right; bu', we have
been friends and comrades for ten years, and now
that I have seen him, I will protect him or die with
him.' They then made way for us, and we passed
out; he procured a wagon, and gave me over to a
couple of squaws to take me to his lodge. On the
way we were stopped two or three times by armed
Indians on horseback, who inquired of the squaws
'What that meant?' Upon being answered that
' This is Wakinyatawa's friend, and he has saved
his life,' they sutfered us to pass on. His lodge
was about four miles above the Agency, at Little
Crow's village. My friend soon came home and
washed me, and dressed my wounds with roots.
Some few white men succeeded in making their
escape to the fort. There were no other white
men taken prisoners."

The relation of "comrade," which existed be-
tween Mr. Spencer and this Indian, is a species
of Freemasonry which is in existence among the
Sioux, and is probably also common to other In-
dian tribes.

The store of Louis Robert was, in like manner,
attacked. Patrick McClellan, one of the clerks in
charge of the store, was killed. There were at the
store several other persons; some of them were
kLUed and some made their escape. Mr. John
Nairn, the Government carpenter at the Lower
Sioux Agency, seeing the attack upon the stores
and other places, seized his children, four in num-
ber, and, with his wife, started out on the prairie,
making their way toward the fort. They were
accompanied by Mr. Alexander Hunter, an at-
tached personal friend, and his young wife. Mr.
Nairn had been among them in the employ of the
Government, some eight years, and had, by his

urbane manners and strict attention to their in-
terests, secured the personal friendship of many
of the tribe. Mr. Nairn and his family reached
the fort in safety that afternoon. Mr. Hunter had,
some years before, frozen his feet so badly as to
lose the toes, and, being lame, walked with great
difficulty. When near an Indian village below the
Agency, they were met by an Indian, who urged
Hunter to go to the village, promising to get them
a horse and wagon with which to make their es-
cape. Mr. Hunter and his wife went to the Indian
village, believing their Indian friend would re-
deem his promises, but from inability, or some
other reason, he did not do so. They went to the
woods, where they remained all night, and in the
morning started for Fort Ridgely on foot. They
had gone but a short distance, however, when they
met an Indian, who, without a word of warning,
shot poor Hunter dead, and led his distracted
young wife away into captivity.

We now return once more to the scene of blood
and conflagration at the Agency. The white-
haired interpreter, Philander Prescott (now verg-
ing upon seventy years of age), hastily left his
house soon after his meeting with Little Crow, and
tied toward Fort Ridgely. The other members of
his family remaiaed behind, knowing that their
relation to the tribe would save them. Mr. Pres-
cott had gone several miles, when he was overtaken.
His murderers came and talked with him. He
reasoned with them, saying: "I am an old man:
I have lived with you now forty-five years, almost
half a century. My wife and children are among
you, of your own blood; I have never done you
any harm, and have been your true friend in all
your troubles; why should you wish to kill me?"
Their only reply was: "We would save your life
if we could, but the white man must die; we cannot
spare your life; our orders are to kill all white
men; we cannot spare you."

Seeing that all remonstrance was vain and hope-
less, and that his time had come, the aged man
with a firm step and noble bearing, sadly turned
away from the deaf ear and iron heart of the sav-
age, and with dignity and composure received the
fatal messenger.

Thus perished Philander Prescott, the true, tried,
and faithful friend of the Indian, by the hands of
that perfidious race, whom he had so Ion J and so
faithfully labored to benefit to so little purpose.

The number of persons who reached Fort Ridge-
ly from the agency was forty-one. Some are

AT li ED WOOD niVER.

199

known to have reached other places of safety. All
siifTered incredible hardships; many hidiDg by day
in the tall prairie grass, in bogs and sloughs, or
under the trunks of prostrate trees, crawling
stealthily by night to avoid the lurking and wily
foe, who, with the keen scent of the blood-hound
and ferocity of the tiger, followed on their trail,
thirsting for blood.

Among those who escaped into the fort were
Mr. J. 0. Whipple, of Farib.ault; Mr. Charles B.
Hewitt, of New Jersey. The services of Mr.
Whipple were recognized and rewarded by the
Government with a first lieutenant's commis-
sion in the volunteer artiUory service.

James Powell, a young man residing at St.
Peter, was at the Agency herding cattle. He bad
just turned the cattle out of the yard, saddled and
mounted his mule, as the work of death com-
menced. Seeing Lamb and Wagner shot down
near him he turned to flee, when Lamb called to
him for help; but, at that moment two shots were
fired at him, and, putting spurs to his mule he
turned toward the ferry, passing close to an In-
dian who leveled his gun to fire at him; but the
caps exploded, when the savage, evidently sur-
prised that he had failed to kill him, waved his
hand toward the river, and exclaimed, "Puckachee!
Puckachee!" Pcwell did not wait for a second
warning, which might come in a more unwelcome
form, but slipped at once from the back of his an-
imal, dashed down the bluff through the brush,
and reached the ferry just as the boat was leaving
the shore. Looking over his shoulder as he ran,
he saw an Indian in full pursuit on the very mule
he had a moment before abandoned.

All that day the work of sack and plunder went
on; and when the stores and dwellings and the
warehouses of the Government had been emptied
of their contents, the torch was applied to the var^
ious buildings, and the little village was soon a
heap of smouldering ruins.

The bodies of their slain victims were left to fes-
ter in the sun where they fell, or were consumed
in the bmldings from which they had been unable
to effect their escape.

So complete was the surprise, and so sudden
and unexpected the terril^le blow, that not a sin-
gle one of all that host of naked savages was slain.
In thirty minutes from the time the first gun was
fired, not a white person was left alive. All were
either weltering in their gore or had fled in fear
and terror from that place of death.

EEDWOOD RIVER.

At the Kedwood river, ten miles above the
Agency, on the road to Yellow Medicine, resided
Mr. Joseph B. Reynolds, in the employment of
tha Government as a teacher. His house was
within one mile of Shakopee's vUlage. His family
consisted of his wife, a niece — Miss Mattie Wil-
Uams, of Painesville, Ohio — Mary Anderson and
Mary Schwandt, hired girls. William Landmeicr,
a hired man, and Legrand Davis, a young man
from Shakopee, was also stopping with them tem-
porarily.

On the morning of the 18th of August, at about
6 o'clock, John Moore, a half-breed trader, resid-
ing near them, came to the house and informed
them that there was an outbreak among the In-
dians, and that they had better leave at once. Mr.
Reynolds immediately got out liis buggy, and,
taking his wife, started off across the prairie in
such a direction as to avoid the Agency. At the
same time Davis and the three girls got into the
wagon of a Mr. Patoile, a trader at Yellow Medi-
cine, who had just arrived there on his way to New
Ulm, and they also started out on the prairie.
WiUiam, the hired man, would not leave until he
had been twice warned by Moore that his life was
in danger. He then went down to the river bot-
tom, and following the Minnesota river, started for
the fort. When some distance on his way he
came upon some Indians who were gathering up
cattle. They saw him and there was no way of
escape. They came to him and told him that if
he would»assist them in driving the cattle they
would not kill him. Making a merit of necessity
he complied, and went on with them till they were
near the Lower Agency, when the Indians, hear-
ing the firing at the ferry, suddenly left him and
hastened on to take part in the battle then pro-
gressing between Captain Marsh and their friends.
WiUiam fled in an opjjosite direction, and that
night entered Fort Ridgely.

We return now to Patoile and his party.
After crossing the Redwood near its mouth, he
drove some distance up that stream, and, turnin"
to the left, struck across the prairie toward New
Ulm, keeping behind a sweU in the prairie which
ran parallel with the Minnesota, some three miles
south of that stream.

They had, unpursued, and apparently unob-
served, reached a point within about ten mdes of
New Ulm, and nearly opposite Fort Ridgely, when
they were suddenly assailed by Indians, who

200

niSTORT OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

killed Patoile and Davis, and severely wounded
Mary Anderson. Miss WiUiams and Mary
Schwandt were captured unhurt, and were taken
back to Waucouta's village.

The jjoor, injured young woman survived her
wounds and the brutal and fiendish violation of
her person to which she was subjected by these
devils incarnate, but a few days, when death, in
mercy, came to her relief and ended her sufferings
in the quiet of the grave!

Mattie Williams and Mary Schwandt were af-
terwards restored to their friends by General Sib-
ley's expedition, at Camp Release. We say, res-
stored to their friends; this was hardly true of
Mary Schwandt, who, when release came, found
ahve, of all her father's family, only one, a little
brother; and he had witnessed the fiendish slaugh-
ter of aU the rest, accompanied by circumstances
of infernal barbarity, without a parallel in the his-
tory of savage brutality.

On Sund.iy, the 17th, George Gleason, Govern-
ment store-keeper at the Lower Agency, accompa-
nied by the family of Agent Galbraith, to Yellow
Medicine, and on Monday afternoon, ignorant of
the terrible tragedy enacted below, started to re-
turn. He had with him the wife and two children
of Dr. J. S. Wakefield, physician to the Upper
Sioux. When about two miles above the mouth
of the Redwood, they met two armed Indians on
the road. Gleason greeted them with the usual
salutation of "Ho!" accompanied with the inquiry,
in Sioux, as he passed, "Where are you going?"
They returned the salutation, but GlQpsou had
gone but a very short distance, when the sharjj
crack of a gun behind him bore to his ear the first
intimation of the death in store for him. The
buUet passed through his body and he fell to the
ground. At the same moment Ghaska, the Indian
who had not fired, sprang into the wagon, by the
side of Mrs. Wakefield, and driving a short dis-
tance, returned. Poor Gleason was lying upon
the groimd, still alive, writhing in mortal agony,
when the savage monster completed his heUish
work, by placing his gun at his breast, and shoot-
ing him again. Such was the sad end of the life
of George Gleason ; gay, jocund, genial and gen-
erous, he was the life of every circle. His pleas-
ant face was seen, and his mellow voice was heard
in song, at almost every social gathering on that
rude frontier. He bad a smile and pleasant word
for all; and yet he fell, in his manly strength, by
the hands of these bloody monsters, whom he had

never wronged in word or deed. Some weeks af-
terward, his mutil.ited remains were found by the
troops under Colonel Sibley, and buried where he
fell. They were subsequently removed by his
friends to Shakopee, where they received the rites
of Christian sepulture.

Mrs. Wakefield and children were held as pris-
oners, and were reclaimed with the other captives
at Camp Release.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

MASSACEE ON THE KOETH SIDE OF THE MINNESOTA

BDBNING OF MBS. HENDERSON AND TWO CHILDBEN

ESCAPE OF J. W. EARLE AND OTHEES — THE SET-

TLEES ENDEAVOB TO ESCAPE MUEDER OF THE

SCHWANDT FAMILY WHOLESALB MASSACEE UP-

PEE AGENCY THE PEOPLE WARNED BY JOSEPH

LAFEAMBOIS AND OTHER DAT ESCAPE OP THE

WHITES FROM YELLOW MEDICINE SETTLEMENT

ON THE CHIPPEWA MDEDEE OF JAMES W. LIND-
SAY AND HIS COMRADE.

Early on the morning of the 18th, the settlers
on the north side of the Minnesota river, adjoining
the reservation, were surprised to see a large num-
ber of Indians in their immediate neighborhood.
They were seen soon after the people arose, simul-
taneously, all along the river from Birch Coohe to
Beaver Creek, and beyond, on the west, aj^parent-
ly intent on gathering up the horses and cattle.
When interrogated, they said they were after
Chippewas. At about 6 or 7 o'clock they sudden-
ly began to repair to the various houses of the set-
tlers, and then the flight of the inhabitants and
the work of death began.

In the immediate vicinity of Beaver Creek, the
neighbors, to the number of about twenty-eight,
men, women, and children, assembled at the house
of Jonathan W. Earle, and, with several teams,
started for Fort Ridgely, having with them the
sick wife of S. R. Henderson, her children, and
the family of N. D. White, and the wife and two
children of James Carrothers.

There were, also, David Carrothers and family,
Earle and family, Henderson, and a German named
Wedge, besides four sons of White and Earle; the
rest were women and children. They had gone
but a short distance when they were surrounded
by Indians. When asked, by some of the party
who could speak their language, what they wanted,
the Indians answered, "We are going to kill you."

MASSACRE AT GERMAN SETTLEMENT.

201

When asked why they were to be killed, the In-
dians consented to let them go, with one team and
the bnggy with Mrs. Henderson, on giving up the
rest. They had gone but a short distance when
they were again stopped by the savages, and the
remaining team taken. Again they moved on,
drawing the buggy and the sick woman by band
but had gone but a few rods further, when the In-
dians began to fire uj5on them. The men were
with the buggy ; the women and children had gone
on ahead, as well as the boys and Carrothers.

Mr. Earle, seeing the savages were determined
to kill them, and knowing that they could not now
save Mrs. Henderson, hastened on and came uj)
with the fleeing fugitives ahead. Mr. Henderson
waved a white cloth as a flag of truce, when they
shot off his fingers, and, at the same time, killed
Wedge. Henderson then ran, seeing that he could
not save his wife and children, and made his es-
cape. They came up with his buggy, and, taking
out the helpless woman and chUdren, threw them
on the prairie, and placing the bed over them, set
it on fire, and hastened on after the fleeing fugi-
tives.

The burned and blackened remains of both the
mother and her two children were afterward found
by a burial party, and interred.

Coming up with the escaping women and chil-
dren, they were all captured but two children of
David Carrothers. These they had shot in the
chase after Carrothers, Earle, and the sons of Earle
and White. They killed, also, during this chase
and running fight, Eugene White, a son of N. D.
White, and Eadner, son of Jonathan W. Earle.

Carrothers escaped to Crow Eiver, and thence to
St. Paul. Mr. Earle and two of his sons, and one
son of Mr. White, after incredible hardships, es-
caped to Cedar City, and subsequently made their
way back to St. Peter and Fort Eidgely. All the
captives taken at this time were carried to Crow's
village, and, with the exception of Mrs. James
Carrothers and her children, were recovered at
Camp Belease.

After they had captured the women and children,
they returned to the houses of the settlers, and
plundered them of their contents, carrying off
what they could, and breaking up and destroying
the balance. They then gathered up the stock
and drove it to their village, taking their captives
with them.

Some two or three miles above the neighborhood
of Earle and White was a settlement of German

emigrants, numbering some forty persons, quiet,
industrious, and enterprising. Early on the
morning of the 18th these bad all assembled at
the house of John Meyer. Very soon after they
had assembled here, some fifty Indians, led by
Shakopee, appeared in sight. The people all fled,
except Meyer and his family, going into the grass
and bushes. Peter Bjorkman ran toward his own
house. Shakopee, whom he knew, saw him, and
exclaimed, "There is Bjorkman; kill him!" but,
keeping the building between him and the sav-
ages, he plunged into a slough and concealed
himself, even removing his shirt, fearing it might
be the means of revealing his whereabouts to the
lurking savages. Here he lay from early morning
until the darkness of night enabled him to leave
with safety — suffering unutterable torments, mos-
quitoes literally swarming upon his naked f)ersou,
and the hot sun scorching him to the bone.

They immediately attacked the house of Meyer,
killing his mfe and aU his children. Seeing his
family butchered, and having no means of de-
fense, Meyer effected his escape, and reached Fort
Kidgely. In the meantime the affrighted people
had got together again at the house of a Mr.
Sitzton, near Bjorkman's, to the number of about
thirty, men, women, and children. In tlio after-
noon the savages returned to the house of Sitzton,
killing every person there but one woman, Mrs.
Wilbelmina Eindenfleld, and her child. These
ware captured, and afterward found at Camp Re-
lease, but the husband and father was among the
slain. Prom his place of concealment Mr. Bjork-
man witnessed this attack and wholesale massacre
of almost an entire neighborhood. After dark he
came out of the slough, -and, going to his house,
obtained some food and a bundle of clothing, as
his house was not yet plundered; fed his dog and
calf, and went over to the house of Meyer; here
he found the windows all broken in, but did not
enter the house. He then went to the house of
Sitzton; his nerves were not equal to the task of
entering that charnel-house of death. As he
passed the yard, he turned out some cattle that the
Indians had not taken away, and hastened toward
Fort Ridgely. On the road he overtook a woman
and two children, one an infant of six months, the
wife and children of John Sateau, who had
been kiUed. Taking one of the children in his
arms, these companions in misfortime and suffer-
ing hurried on together. Mrs. Sateau was nearly
i naked, and without either shoes or stockings.

202

niSTORT OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

The rough prairie grass lacerated her naked feet
and limbs terribly, and she was about giving out
in despair. Bjorkman took from his bundle a
shirt, and tearing it in parts, she wound it about
her feet, and proceeded on.

At daylight they came in sight of the house of
Magner, eight miles above the fort. Here they
saw some eight or ten Indians, and, turning aside
from the road, dropped down into the grass, where
they remained imtil noon, when the Indians disap-
peared. They again moved toward the fort, but
slowly and cautiously, as they did not reach it
until about midnight. Upon reaching the fort
Mrs. Sateau foiind two sons, aged ten and twelve
years respectively, who had effected their escape
and reached there before her.

Mrs. Mary, widow of Patrick Hayden, who re-
sided about one and a half miles from the house
of J. W. Earle, near Beaver Creek, in Renville
coionty, says:

"On the morning of the 18th of August, Mr.
Hayden started to go over to the house of Mr. J.
B. Reynolds, at the Redwood river, on the reser-
vation, and met Thomas Robinson, a half-breed,
who told him to go home, get his family, and
leave as soon as possible, for the Indians were
coming over to kill all the whites. He came im-
mediately home, and we conunenced to make
preparations to leave, but in a few minutes we
saw some three or four Indians coming on horse-
back. We then went over to the house of a
neighbor, Benedict June, and found them all
ready to leave. I started off with June's people,
and my husband went back home, still thinking
the Indians would not kiU any one, and intending
to give them some provisions if they wanted them.
I never saw him again.

"We had gone about four miles, when we saw a
man lying dead in the road and his faithful dog
watching by his side.

"We drove on tiU we came to the house of David
Faribault, at the foot of the hUl, about one and a
half miles from the Agency ferry. When we got
here two Indians came out of Faribault's house,
and stopping the teams, shot Mr. Zimmerman,
who was driving, and histivo boys. I sprang out
of the wagon, and, with my child, one year old, in
my arms, ran into the bushes, and went up the
hill toward tlie fort. When I came near the house
of Mr. Magner, I saw Indians throwing furniture
out of the door, and I went down into the bushes

again, on the lower side of the road, and staid
there until sundown.

"While I lay here concealed, I saw the Indians
taking the roof off the warehouse, and saw the
buildings burning at the Agency. I also heard
the firing during the battle at the ferry, when
Marsh and his men were killed.

"I then went up near the fort road, and sitting
down under a tree, waited till dark, and then
started for Fort Ridgely, carrying my child all the
way. I arrived at the fort at about 1 o'clock A.
M. The distance from our place to Ridgley was
seventeen miles.

"On Tuesday morning I saw John Magner, who
told me that, when the soldiers went up to the Agen-
cy the day before, he saw my husband lying in the
road, near David Faribault's house, dead. John
Hayden, his brother, who lived with us, was found
dead near La Croix creek. They had got up the
oxen, and were bringing the family of Mr. Eisen-
lich to the fort, when they were overtaken by In-
dians. Eisenrich was killed and his wife and five
chOdren were taken prisoners.

"Mrs. Zimmerman, who was blind, and her re-
maining children, and Mrs. June and her children,
five in number, were captui-ed and taken to the
house of David Faribault, where they were kept
till night, the savages torturing them by teUiug
them that they were going to fasten them in the
house and bum them alive, but for some inexpli-
cable reason let them go, and they, too, reached
the fort in safety. Mr. Jime, who with one of his
boys, eleven years old, remained behind to drive
in his cattle, was met by them on the road and
killed. The boy was captured, and, with the other
prisoners, recovered at Camp Release."

The neighborhoods in the vicinity of La Croix
creek, and between that and Fort Ridgely, were
visited on Monday forenoon, and the people either
massacred, driven away or made prisoners. Ed-
ward Magner, living eight miles above the fort,
was killed. His wife and children had gone to
the fort. He had returned to look after his cat-
tle when he was shot. Patrick Kelley and David
O'Connor, both single men, were killed near Mag-
ner's.

Kearn Horan makes the following statement.

"I lived tour miles from the Lower Sioux
Agency, on the fort road. On the 18th of August
Patrick Huran, my brother, came early from the
Agency and told us that the Indians were murder-
ing the whites. He had escaped alone and crossed

STATEMENT OF KEAHN HORAN.

203

tlie ferry, and with some Frenchmen was on his
way to the fort. My brothers and William and
Thomas Smith went with me. We saw Indians in
the road near Magner's. Thomas Smith went to
them, thinking they were white men, and I saw
them kill him. We then turned to flee, and saw
men escaping with teams along the road. All fled
towards the fort together, the Indians firing upon
us as we ran. The teams were oxen, and the In-
dians were gaining upon us, when one of men in
his excitement dropped his gun. The savages
came up to it and picked it up. All stopped to
examine it, and the men in the wagons whii^ped
the oxen into a run. This delay enabled us to
elude them.

"As we passed the house of Ole Sampson, Mrs.
Sampson was crying at the door for help. Her
three children were with her. We told her to go
into the bush and hide, for we could not help
her. We ran into a ravine and hid in the grass.
After the Indians had hunted some time for us,
they came along the side of the ravine, and called
to us in good English, saying, 'Come out, boys;
what are you afraid of? We don't want to hurt
you.' After they left us we crawled out and made
our way to the fort, where we amved at about 4
o'clock P. M. My family had gone there before
me. Mrs. Sampson did not go to the bush, but
hid in the wagon from which they had recently
come from Waseca county. It was what we call a
prairie schooner, covered with cloth, a genuine
emigrant wagon. They took her babe from her,
and throwing it down upon the grass, put hay im-
der the wagon, set fire to it and went away. Mrs.
Sampson got out of the wagon, badly burned, and
taking her infant from the ground made he w y
to the fort. Two of her children were burned to
death in the wagon. Mr. Sampson had been pre-
viously killed about eighty rods from the liouse.

In the neighborhood of La Croix creek, or Birch

Coohe, Peter Pereau, Frederick Closen,

Piguar, Andrew Bahlke, Henry Keartner, old Blr.
Closen and Mrs. William Vitt, and several others
were killed. Mrs. Maria Frorip, an aged Ger-
man woman, was wounded four different times
with small shot, but escaped to the fort. The wife
of Henry Keartner also escaped and reached the
fort. The wife and child of a Mr. Cardenelle
were taken prisoners, as were also the wife and
child of Frederick Closen.

William Vitt came into Fort Kidgely, but not

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

A flourisliing German settlement had sprung up
near Patterson's Eapids, on the Sacred Heart,
twelve miles below YeUow Medicine.

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

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

This l)oy saw his sister, a young married wo-
man, ripped open, while ahve, and her imborn
babe taken, yet struggling, from her person and
nailed to a tree before the eves of the dyino-
mother.

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

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

201

HISTOBT OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

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

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

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

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

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

WHITES RESCUED Bl' OTHER DAY.

205

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

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

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

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

His recovery was rapid, and he soon enlisted in
the First Regiment Minnesota Mounted Rangers
under General Sil.iley, in the expedition against
the Sioux, Patoile was in the battles on the Blis-
souri in the summer of 18G3, where his company,
that of Captain J( seph Anderson, is mtotioned as
having fought with great bravery.

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

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

206

BISTORT OF THE SIOUX MASSAGIiE.

FacWen, wife, and three children; Mr. German and
■wife; Frederick Patoile, wife, and two children;
Mrs. Jane K. Muroh, Miss Mary Charles, Miss
Lizzie Sawyer, Miss Mary Daly, Miss Mary Hays,
Mrs. Eleanor Warner, Mrs. John Other Day and
one child, Mrs. Haxirahan, N. A. Miller, Edward
Cranisie, Z. Hawkins, Oscar Canfil, Mr. Hill, an
artist fr(^m St. Paul, J. D. Boardman, Parker
Pierce, Dr. J. L. Wakefield, and several others.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ESCAPE OF HEV. S. It RIOGS jlND OTHMRS.

207

miles from the IVIission. Here they remained till
Tuesday evening. In the afternoon of Tuesday,
Andrew Hunter, a son-in-law of Dr. WiHiiuuson,
came to him with the information that tlic family
of himself aad the Doctor were secreted below.
The families at the saw-mill had been informed by
the Eenvilles, and were with the party of Dr. Wil-
liamson. At night they formed a junction on the
north side of the Minnesota, and commenced their
perilous journey. A thunder-storm effectually ol)-
literated their tracks, so that the savages could not
follow them. They started out on the prairie in a
northeasterly direction, and, on Wednesday morn-
ing, changed their course south-easterly, till they
struck the Lac qui Parle road, and then made di-
rectly for Fort Ridgely. On Wednesday they
were joined by three Germans, who had escaped
from Yellow Medicine. On Wednesday night they
found themselves in the vicinity of the Ujjper
Agency, and turned to the north again, keeping
out on the prairie. On Friday they were in the
neighborhood of Beaver Creek, when Dr. Wil-
liamson, who, with his wife and sister, had re-
mained behind, overtook them in an ox-cart, hav-
ing left about twenty -four hours later. They now
determined to go to Fort Ridgely. When within
a few miles of that post, just at night, they were
discovered by two Indians on horseback, who rode
along parallel with the train for awhile, and then
turned and galloped away, and the fugitives has-
tened on, momentarily expecting an attack. Near
the Three-Mile creek they passed a dead body
lying by the road-side. They drove on, passing
the creek, and, turning to the left, passed out on
to the prairie, and halted a mile anel a half from
the fort. It was now late at night; they had
heard firing, and had seen Indians in the vicinity.
They were in doubt what to do. It was at length
decided that Andrew Hunter should endeavor to
enter the fort and ascertain its condition, and
learn, it possible, whether they could get in.
Hunter went, and, although it was well-nigh sur-
rounded by savages (they had been besieging it
all the afternoon), succeeded in crawling by on bis
hands and kneSs. He was told that it would be
impossible for so large a party, forty-odd, to get
through the Indian lines, and that he had better
return and tell them to push on toward the to^^^2s
below. He left as he had entered, crawling out
into the prairie, and reached his friends in safety.
It seemed very hard, to be so near a place of fan-
cied security, and obliged to turn away from it,

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

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

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

208

BISTORT OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

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

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

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

CHAPTER XXXV.

LEOPOLD WOHLER AND WIFE LBiVENWORTH

STATEMENT OP MRS. MARY J. COVILL STORY OP

MRS. LAURA WHTTON MILFORD — NICOLLET COUN-
TY WEST NEWTON — LAFAYETTE — COURTLAND

SWAN LAKE — PARTIAL LIST OP THE KILLED IN
NICOLLET COUNTY INDIANS SCOURING THE COUN-
TRY — A SCOUTING PARTY SEEN AT ST. PETER.

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

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

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

for their saving the life of Blair, who was a
white man.

Crow told him to go away, as his young men
were going to kill him; and he made bis escape to
Fort Kidgely, being out some five days and nights
without food. Mr. Blair was in poor health. The
hardships he endured were too much for his al-
ready shattered constitution; and although he es-
caped the tomahawk and scalping-knife, he was
soon numbered among the victims of the massacre.

J. H. Ingalls, a Scotchman, who resided in this
neighborhood, and his wife, were killed, and their
four children were taken into captivity. Two of
them, young girls, aged twelve and fourteen years,
were rescued at Camp Release, and the two httle
boys were taken away by Little Crow. Poor little
fellows! their fate is still shrouded in mystery.
A Mr. Frace, residing near Brown's place, was also
killed. His wife and two children were foimd at
Camp Release.

The town of Leavenworth was situated on the
Cottonwood, in the county of Brown. Word was
brought to some of the settlers in that town, on
Monday afternoon, that the Indians had broken
out and were killing the inhabitants on the Min-
nesota. They immediately began to make prepa-
rations to leave. Mr. William Carroll started at
once for New Ulm alone, to learn the facts of the
rumored outbreak. The most of the inhabitants,
alarmed by these rumors, fled that night toward
New Ulm. Some of them reached that town in
safety, and othera were waylaid and massa.'red
upon the road.

The family of a Mr. Blum, a worthy German
citizen, were all, except a small boy, killed while
endeavoring to escape. On Tuesday morning,
Mr. Philetus Jackson was killed, while on the way
to town with his wife and son. Mrs. Jackson and
the young man escaped.

We insert here the statements of two ladies, who
escaped from this neighborhood, as they detail
very fully the events of several days in that local-
ity. Mrs. Mary J. Covill, wife of George W.
Covin, says:

"On Monday, the 18th of August, messengers
came to the houue of Luther Whiton, from both
above and below, with a report of an outbreak of
the Indians. My husband was at Mr. Whiton's,
stacking grain. He came home about four o'clock
P. M., and told me about it, and then went back
to Whiton's, about half a mile away, to get a Mr.
Riant, who had recently come there from the State

STATEMI-JNT OF MRS. COVTLL.

209

of Miiinp, to take liis team and cscap.'". I i)ackod
a trunk with clothing, and hid it in the grass, and
then went myself to Whiton's, as I was afraid to
remain at homo. Mr. Biaut got up his team,
and taking his two trunks — one of them
containing over two thousand dollars in gold
— took us all with him. There was a family at
Mr. Whiton's from Tennessee, and a young child
of theirs had died that day. The poor woman
took her dead ciiild in her arms, and we all started
across the 2:)rairie, avoiding the road, for Mankato.
We camped that night about three miles from
home, on the prairie; and seeing no fires, as of
burning buildings, returned to the house of our
neighbor, Van Guilder, and found that the settlers
had nearly all left. Mr. Van (iuilder and family,
Edward Allen and wife, Charles Smith and family
and Mrs. Carroll, were aU we knew of that re-
mained.

•• We started on, thinking that we would over-
take the Leavenworth party, who had been gone
about an hour. We had gone about two and a
half miles, when we saw, ahead of us, a team, with
two men in the wagon, who drove toward us until
they got into a hollow, and then got out and went
behind a knoll. We drove quite near them, when
Mr. Covin discovered them to be Indians. Riant
turned his horses round and fled, when they jumped
up out of the grass, whooped, and tired at us.
They then jumped into their wagon and followed.
Mr. Covin had the only gun in the party that
could be used, and kept it pointed at the Indians
as we retreated. They tired at us some halt- dozen
times, but, fortunately, without injuring any one.
"We drove hastily back to the house of Van
Guilder, and entered it as quickly as pj.Siible, the
savages firing upon us all the time. Mr. Van
Guilder had just started away, with his family, as
we came back, and returned to the house with us.
A shot fi-om the Indians broke the arm of his mo-
ther, an aged lady, soon after we got into the
house, as she was passing a window. In our haste,
we had not stoj^ped to hitch the horses, and they
soon started otf, and the Indians followed. As
they were going over a hill near the house, they
shook a white cloth at us, and, whoopuig, disap-
peared. There were in this company — after Riant
was gone, who left us, and hid in a slough — fifteen
persons. We immediately started out on the prai-
rie again. We had now only the ox-team of Van
Guilder, and the most of us were compelled to
walk. His mother, some small children, and some

trunks, made a wagon-load. The dead child,
which the mother had brought back to the house
with her, was left lying upon the table. It was
alterward found, tcith its head aemred frnm its hudy
by the fiends. B. L. Wait and Luther Whitou,
who had concealed themselves in the grass when
they saw the Indians coming, joined us. Jlrs. A.
B. Hough and infant child were with the family of
Van Guilder. These made our numljer up to fif-
teen. We traveled across the prairie all day with-
out seeing any Indians, and, at night, camped im
the Little Cottonwood. We waded the stream,
and made our camp on the opposite side, in the
tall grass and reeds. We reached this sjjot on
Tuesday night, and remained there till Friday af-
ternoon, witliout food, save a little raw flour, which
we did not dare to cook, for fear the smoke would
reveal our whereabouts to the savages, when a
company from New Ulm rescued us.

"On Wednesday night, after dark, Covill and
Wait started for New Ulm, to get a party to come
out to our aid, saying they would be back the
next day. Tiiat night, and nearly all the next
day, it rained. At about daylight the next dav,
when just across the Big Cottonwood, five miles
from New Ulm, they heard an Indian whooping in
their rear, and turned aside into some hazel-bashes,
where they lay all day. At the place where they
crossed the river they found a fish-rack in the
water, and in it Caught a fish. Part of this they
ate raw that day. It was now Thursday, and
they had eaten nothing since Monday noon. They
started again at dark for New Ulm. When near
the graveyard, two miles from the town, an Indian,
\vith grass tied about his head, arose from the
ground and attempted to head them off. They
succeeded in evading him, and got in about ten
o'clock. When about entering the place, they
were fired upon by the pickets, which alarmed the
town, and when they got in, all was in commo-
tion, to meet an expected attack.

"The next morniag, one hundred and fifty men,
under Captain Tousley, of Le Sueur, and S. A.
Buell, of St. Peter, started to our relief, reaehm"
our place of concealmsut about two o'clock. They
brought us food, of which our famished party
eagerly partook. They were accompanied by Dr.
A. W. Daniels, of St. Peter, and Dr. Mayo, of
Le Sueur. They went on toward Leavenworth,
intending to remain there all night, bury
the dead, should any be found, the next
day, rescue any who might remain alive,

210

HISTORY OP THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

and then return. They buried the Bkim fam-
ily of six persons that afternoon, and then con-
cluded to return that night. We reached New
Ulm before midnight. Mr. Van Guilder's mother
died soon after we got into town from the effects
of her wound and the exposure to which she had
been sulijected.

"At about the same time that we returned to the
house of Mr. Van Guilder, on Tuesday, Charles
Smith and family, Edward Allen and wife, and
Mrs. Carroll hud left it, and reached New Ulm
without seeing Indians, about half an hour before
the place was attacked. The same day, William
Carroll, ■with a party of men, came to the house
for us, found Mr. Eiant, who was concealed in a
slough, and started back toward New Ulm. But
few of them reached the town alive."

An account of the adventures of this company,
and its fate, will be found elsewhere, in the state-
ment of Ralph Thomas, one of the party.

On Monday, the 18th of August, two women,
Mrs. Harrington and Mrs. HUl, residing on the
Cottonwood, below Leavenworth, heard of the out-
break, and prevailed upon a Mr. Henshaw, a sin-
gle man, living near them, to harness up his team
and take them away, as their husbands were away
from home. Mrs. Harrington had two children ;
Mrs. Hill none. They had gone but a short dis-
tance when they were overtaken by Indians. Mr.
Henshaw was killed, and Mrs. Harrington was
badly wounded, the ball passing through her
shoulder. She had just sprung to the ground
with her youngest child in her arms; one of its
arms was thrown over her shoulder, and the ball
passed through its little hand, lacerating it dread-
fully. The Indians were intent upon securing the
team, and the women wore not followed, and es-
caped. Securing the horses, they drove away in
an opposite direction.

Mrs. Harrington soon became faint from the loss
of blood; and Mrs. Hill, conceahng her near a
slough, took the eldest cliild and started for New
Ulm. Before reaching that place she met John
Jackson and William Carroll, who resided on the
Cottonwood, above them; and, telling them what
had happened, they put her on one of their horses
and turned back with her to the town.

On the nest day, Tuesday, Mr. Jackson was one
of the party with Carrcll, heretofore mentioned,
that went out to Leavenworth, and visited the
house of Van Guilder, in search of their families.
When that party turned back to New Ulm, Jack-

son did not go with them, but went to hia own
house to look for his wife, who had already left.
He visited the houses of most of his neighbors, and
finding no one, started back alone. When near
the house of Mr. Hill, between Leavenworth and
New Uim, on the river, he saw what he supposed
were white men at the house, but when within a
few rods of them, discovered they were Indians.
The moment he made this discovery he turned to
flee to the woods near by. They fired upon him,
and gave chase, but he outran them, and reached
the timber unharmed. Here he remained concealed
until late at night, when he made his way back to
town, where he found his wife, who, with others of
their neighbors, had fled on the first alarm, and
rjached the village in safety. Mrs. Laura Whiten,
widow of Elijah Whiton, of Leavenworth, Brown
county,- makes the following statement:

"We had resided on our claim, at Leavenworth,
a little over four years. There were in our family,
on the 18th of August, 1862, four persons — Mr.
Whiton, myself, and two children — a son of sixteen
years, and a daughter nine years of age. On Mon-
day evening, the 18th of August, a neighbor, Mr.
Jackson, and his son, a young boy, who resided
three miles from our place, ccme to our house in
search of their horses, and told us that the Indians
had murdered a family on the Minnesota river, and
went away. We saw no one, and heard nothing
more until Thursday afternoon following, about 4
o'clock, when about a dozen Indians were seen
coming from the direction of the house of a neigh-
bor named Heydrick, whom they were chasing.
Hoydrick jumped off a bridge across a ravine, and,
riiuniug down the ravine, concealed himself under
a log, where he remained until 8 o'clock, when
he came out, and made his escape into New Ulm.

'•The savages had already slain all his family,
consisting of his wife and two children. Mr.
Whiton, who was at work near the door at the
time, came into the house, but even then did not
believe there was any thing serious, supposing
Heydrick was unnecessarily frightened. But when
he saw them leveling their guns at him, he came
to the conclusion that we had better leave. He
loaded his double-barreled gun, and we all started
for the timber. After reaching the woods, Mr.
Whiton left us to go to the house oi^his brother,
Luther, a single man, to see what had become of
him, telliug us to remain where we were until he
came back. We never saw liim again. After he
left us, not daring to remain where we were, wo

STATEMENT OF MBS. WJIITON.

211

fcirdeil the river (Cottouwood), and bid in the tim-
ber, on the opposite side, where we remained
imtil about 8 o'clocli, when we started for New TJlm.

" While we lay concealed in the woods, we heard
the Indians driving up our oxen, and yoking them
up. They hitched them to our wagon, loaded it
up with our trunks, bedding, etc., and drove away,
we went out on the prairie, and walked all night
and all nest day, arriving at New Ulm at about
dark on Friday, the 22d. About midnight, on
Thursday night, as we were fleeing alimg the road,
we passed the bodies of the family of our neigh-
bor, Blum, lying dead by the road-side. They had
started to make their escape to to'mi, but were
overtaken by the savages upon the road, and all
but a little boy most brutally murdered.

" Mr. Whiton returned homo, from his visit to
the house of his brother, which he found deserted,
and found that our hoiise had already been plun-
dered. He then went to the woods to search for
us. He remained in the timber, prosecuting his
search, until Saturday, without food; and, failing
to find us, he came to the conclusion that we were
either dead or in captivity, and then himself start-
ed for New Ulm. On Saturday night, when trav-
eling across the prairie, he came suddenly upon a
camp of Indians, but they did not see him, and he
heat as hasty a retreat as possible from their vi-
cinity.

"When near the Lone Cottonwood Tree, on
Sunday morning, he fell in with William J. Duly,
who had made his escape from Lake Shetek.
They traveled along together till they came to the
house of Mr. Henry Thomas, six miles from our
farm, in the town of Milford. This house had evi-
dently been deserted by the family in great haste,
for the table was spread for a meal, and the food
remained iintouched upon it. Hei'e they sat do'svn
to eat, neither of them having had any food for a
long time. While seated at the table, two Indians
came to the house; and, as Mr. Whiton arose and
stepped to the stove for some water, they came into
the door, one of them saying, ^Da mca tepee.''
[This is my house.] There was no way of escape,
and Mr. Whiton, thinking to propitiate him, said
'Come in' , Mr. Duly was sitting partly behind the
door, and was, probably, imol iserved. The savage
made no answer, but instantly raised his gun, and
shot bim through the heart, they then both went
into the corn. Duly was unarmed; and, when Mr.
Whiton was killed, took his gun and ran out of the
house, and concealed hiniself in the bushes near by.

" While lying here ho could hear the Indians
yelling and tiring their guns in close proximity to
his place of concealment. After awhile he ven-
tured out. Being too much exhausted to carry
it, he threw away the gun, and that night ar-
rived at New Ulm, without again encountering
Indians."

We now return to Mrs. Harrington, whom, the
reader will remember, wc left badly wounded, con-
cealed near a slough. We regret our inability to
obtain a full narrative of her wanderings during
the eight succeeding days and nights she spent
alone upon the jirairie, carrying her wounded
child. We can only state in general terms, that
after wandering for eight weary days and nights,
without food or shelter, unknowing whither, early
on the morning of Tuesday, the 26th, before day-
light, she found herself at Crisp's farm, midway
between New Ulm and Mankato. As she ap-
proached the pickets she mistook them for In-
dians, and, when hailed by them, was so fright-
ened as not to recognize the English language,
and intent only on saving her life, told them she
was a Sioux. Two guns were instantly leveled at
her, but, providentially, both missed fire, when an
exclamation from her led them to thmk she was
loliite, and a woman, and they went out to her.
She was taken into camp and all done for her by
Judge Flandrau and his men that could be done.
They took her to Mankato, and soon after she was
joined by her husband, who was below at the time
of the outbreak, and also found the child which
Mrs. HiU took with her to New Ulm.

Sis miles from New Ulm there lived, on the
Cottonwood, in the county of Brown, a Gorman
family of the name of Heyers, consisting of the
father, mother and two sons, both yoimg men.
A burial party that went out from New Ulm on
Friday, the 22d, formd them all murdered, and
buried them near where they were killed.

The toWTi of Milford, Brown county, adjoinino-
New Ulm on the west and contiguous to the res-
ervation, was a farming community, comjiosed en-
tirely of Germans. A quiet, sober, industrious,
and enterprising class of emigrants had here
made their homes, and the prairie wilderness
around them began to "bud and blossom like the
rose." Industry and thrift had brought their sure
reward, and peace, contentment and happiness
filled the hearts of this simj^le-hearted peojde.
The noble and classic Ehme and the vine-clad hills
of Fatherland were almost forgotten, or, if not

212

HISTORY OF TUB SIOVX MASSACRE.

forgotten, were now remembered without regret,
in these fair prairie homes, beneath the glowing
and genial sky of Minnesota.

When the sun arose on the morning of the 18th
of August, 1862, it looked dowu upon this scene
in all its glowing beauty; but its declining rays
fell upon a field of carnage and horror too fearful
to describe. The council at Rice Creek, on Sun-
day night, had decided upon the details of the
work of death, and the warriors of the lower
bands were early on the trail, thirsting for blood.
Early in the forenoon of Monday they appeared
in large numbers in this neighborhood, and the
work of slaughter began. The first house visited
was that of Wilson Massipost, a prominent and
infliiential citizen, a widower. Mr. Massipost had
two daugliters, intelligent and accomplished.
These the savages murdered most brutally. The
head of one of them was afterward foimd, severed
from the body, attached to a fish-hook, and hung
upon a naU. His son, a young man of twenty-
four years, was also killed. Mr. Massijiost and a
son of eight years escaped to New Ulm. The
house of Anton Hanley was likewise visited. Mr.
Hanley was absent. The children, four in num-
ber, were beaten with tomahawks on the head and
person, inflicting fearful woimds. Two of them
were kiUed outright, and one, an infant, recovered;
the other, a young boy, was taken by the parents,
at night, to New Ulm, thence to St. Paul, where
he died of his wounds. After killing these child-
ren, they proceeded to the field near by, where
Mrs. Hanley, her father, Anton Mesmer, his wife,
son Joseph, and daughter, were at work harvesting
wheat. All these they instantly shot, except Mrs.
Hanley, who escaped to the woods and secreted
herself tiU night, when, her husband coming home,
they took their two wounded children and
made their escape. At the house of Agrenatz
Hanley all the children were killed. The jjarents
escaped.

Bastian Mey, wife, and two children M-ere mas-
sacred in their house, and three children were ter-
riVily mutilated, who afterward recovered.

Adolph Shilling and his daughter were killed;
his sou badly wounded, escaped with his mother.
Two families, those of a Mr. Zeller and a Mr. Zet-
tle, were completely annihilated; not a soul was
left to tell the tale of their sudden destruction.
Jacob Keck, Max Fink, and a Mr. Belzer were
also victims of savage barl)arity at th's place. Af-
ter kUling the inhabitants, they plundered and

sacked the houses, destroying all the proj^erty
they could not carry away, driving away all the
horses and cattle, and when night closed over the
dreadful scene, desolation and death reigned su-
preme.

There resided, on the Big Cottonwood, between
New Ulm and Lake Shetek, a German, named
Charles Zierke, familiarly known throughout all
that region as "Duteh Charley." On the same
road resided an old gentleman, and his son and
daughter, named Brown. These adventurous pio-
neers lived many miles from any other human
habitation, and kept housss of entertainment on
that lonely road. This last-named house was
known as "Brown's place." It is not known to us
when the savages came to those isolated dwell-
ings. We only know that the mutilated bodies of
all three of the Brown famUy were found, and
buried, some miles from their house. Zierke and
his family made their escape toward New Ulm,
and, when near the town, were pursued and over-
taken by the Indians on the prairie. By sharp
running, Zierke esca2Jed to the town, but Ids 'ftife
and children, together with his team, were taken
by them. Beturning afterward with a party of
men, the savages abandoned the captured team,
woman, and children, and they were recovered
and all taken into New Ulm in safety.

The frontier of Nicollet coimty contiguous to
the reserx'ation was not generally visited by the
savages until Tuesday, the 19th, and the succeed-
ing days of that week. The people had, generally
in the mcautime, sought safety in flight, and were
l^rincipally in the town of St. Peter. A few, how-
ever, remained at their homes, in isolated locali-
ties, where the news of the awful scenes enacting
around them did not reach them; or, who having
removed their families to places of safety, returned
to look after their property. These generally fell
victims to the rifle and tomahawk of the savages.
The destruction of life in this county, was, how-
ever, trifling, compared with her sister counties of
Brown and Renville; but the loss of property was
immense. The entire west half of the county was,
of necessity, abandoned and completely desolated.
The ripened grain crop was much of it imcut, and
wasted in the field, while horses and cattle and
shee]3 and hogs roamed rmrestraiaed^at wiU over
the unharvested fields. And, to render the ruin
complete the savage hordes swept over this por-
tion of the county, gathering up horses and cattle
shooting swine and sheep, and all other stock that

DMV.ISTATJUM IN NICOLLET COUNTY.

213

theyo.iull ii'.>t e:itcli; ruiisliing the work of ruin
. by :ij)pl_ving the torch to tho stacks of hay and
grain, and in some instances to the dwellings of
the settlers.

William Mills kept a public house in tlie town
of West Newton, four miles from Fort Ridgely, on
the St. Peter road. Mr. Mills heard of the out-
break of the Sioux on Monday, and at once took
the necessary steps to secure tho safety of his fam-
ily, by sending them across the prairie to a se-
cluded spot, at a slough some three miles from the
house. Leaving a span of horses and a wagon
with them, he instructed them, if it should seom
necessary to their safety, to drive as rapidly as
possible to Henderson. He then went to Fort
Ridgely to possess himself, if possible, of the exact
state of affairs. At night he visiteil his house, to
obtain some articles of clothing for his family, and
carried them out to their place of concealment, and
went again to the fort, where he remained until
Tu-sday morning, when he started out to his fam-
ily, thinking he would send them to Henderson,
and return and assist in the defense of that po.st.
Soon after leaving the fort he met Lieutenant T. J.
Sheehan and his company, on their way back to
that post. Sheehan roughly demanded of him
where he was going. He replied he w'as going to
send his family to a place of safety, and return.
The heutenant, with an oath, wrested from hira his
gun, the only weapon of defense he had, thus leav-
ing him defenseless. Left thus unarmed and
powerless, he took his family and hastened to Hen-
derson, arriving there that day in safety.

A few Indians were seen in the neighborhood of
West Newton on Monday afternoon on horseback,
but at a distance, on the prairie. The most of the
inhabitants fled to the fort on that day : a few re ■
mained at their homes and some fled to St. Peter
and Henderson. The town of Lafayette was, in
like manner, deserted on Monday and Monday
night, the inhabitants chiefly making for St. Peter.
Ccmrtland township, lying near New Ulm, caught
the contagion, and her people too fled — the women
and children going to St. Peter, while many of her
brave sons rushed to the defense of New Ulm, and
in that terrible siege bore a conspicuous and hon-
orable part.

As the cortege of panic stricken fugitives poured
along the various roads leading to the towns be-
low, or Monday night and Tuesday, indescribable
terror seized the inhabitants; and the rapidly ac-
cuujulating human tide, gathering force and hum-

bcrs as it moved across the prairie, lulled an
overwhelming Hood into tho towns along tlio
river.

The entire county of Nicollet, outside of St.
Peter, was d(^populated, and their crops and herds
left by tlie inhaljitants to destruction.

On the arrival of a force of mounted men, under
Captains Anson Northnip, of Minneapolis, and K.
H. Chittenden, of the First Wisconsin Cav.alry, at
Henderson, on the way to Fort Kidgely, they met
Charles Nelson, and, on consultation, decided to go
to St. Peter, where they wer-o to report to Colonel
Sibley, by way of Norwegian Grove. Securing
the services of Nelson, John Fadden, and one or
two others, familiar to the country, they set out
for the Grove.

Captr.in Chittenden, in a letter to the '-New
Haven Palladium," written soon after, says:

" The prairie was magnificent, but quite desert-
ed. Sometimes a dog stared at us as we passed;
but even the brutes seemed conscious of a terrible
calamity. At 2 o'clock wo reached the Grove,
which surrounded a lake. The farms were in a fine
state of cultivation; and, strange to say, although
the houses were in ruins, the grain stacks were un-
touched. Eeapers stood in the field as the men
had left them. Cows wandered over the prairies
in search of their masters. Nelson led the way to
th? spot where he had been overtaken in attempt-
ing to escape with his wife and children. We
found his wagon; the groimd was strewn with ar-
ticles of apparel, his wife's bonnet, boxes, yarn, in
fact everythmg they had hastily gathered up. But
the wife and boys were gone. Her he had seen
them miu-der, but the children had run into the
corn-field. He had also secreted a woman and
child undtr a hay -stack. We went and turned it
over; they were gone. I then so arranged the
troops that, by marching abreast, we made a
thorough search of the corn-field. No ehie to his
boys could be found. Passing the still burning
embers of his neighbor's dwellings, we came to
Nelson's own, the only one still standing. * * *
The heart-broken man closed the gate, and turned
away without a tear; then simply asked Sergeant
Thompson when he thought it would be safe to
return. I must confess that, accustomed as I am
to scenes of horror, the tears would come."

The troops, taking Nelson with them, proceeded
to St. Peter, where he found the dead body of his
wife, which had been carried there by some of his
neighbors, and his children, alive. They had fled

214

n I STORY OF TEE SIOUX MASSACRE.

through the corn, and escaped from their savage
pursuers.

Jacob Mauerle had taken his family down to
St. Peter, and returned on Friday to his house,
in West Newton. He had tied some clothing
in a bundle, and started for the fort, when he
was shot and scalped, some eighty rods from the
house.

The two Applebaum's were evidently fleeing to
St. Peter, when overtaken by the Indians and
kiUed.

Felix Smith had escaped to Fort Bidgely, and
on Wednesday forenoon went out to his house,
some three miles away. The. Indians attacked the
fort that afternoon, and he was killed in endeavor-
ing to get back into that post.

Small parties of Indians scoured the coimtry be-
tween Fort Kidgely, St. Peter, and Henderson,
during the first week of the massacre, driving away
cattle and burning buildings, within twelve miles
of the first-named place. The Swan Lake House
was laid in ashes. A scouting party of six savages
was seen by General M. B. Stone, upon the bluif,
in sight of the town of St. Peter, on Friday, the
22d day of August, the very day they were making
their most furious and determined assault upon
Fort Bidgely.

This scouting party had, doubtless, been de-
tached from the main force besieging that post,
and sent forward, under the delusion that the fort
must fall into their hands, to reoonnoiter, and re-
port to Little Crow the condition of the place, and
the abilitv of the people to defend themselves.
But they failed to take Fort Kidgely, and, on the
22d, their scouts saw a large body of troops, under
Colonel Sibley, enter St. Peter.

CHAPTER XXXVL

BIG STONE LAKE WHITES KILLED LAKE 8HETEK —

NAMES OF SETTLERS MRS. ALOMINA HDBD ES-
CAPES VVITH HER TWO CHILDREN THE BATTLE OF

SPIRIT LAKE — -WARFARE IN JACKSON COUNir

DAKOTA TEBRITORr MURDERS AT SIOUX F.VLLS

DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY — KILLING OF AMOS
HUGGINS.

At Big Stone Lake, in what is now Big Stone
coimty, were four trading houses, Wm. H. Forbes,
Daily, Pratt & Co., and Nathan Myriok. The habi-
tues of these Indian trading houses, as usual, were
mostly half-breeds, natives of the country. The

store of DaOy, Pratt & Co. was in charge of Mr.
Ryder of St. Paul. On the 21st of August, four
of these men at work cutting hay, unsuspicious of
danger, were suddenly attacked and all murdered,
except Anton Manderfield; while one half-breed,
at the store, Baptiste Gubeau, was taken prisoner,
and was informed that he would be killed that
night. But Gubeau succeeded in escaping from
their grasp, and making his way to the lake. His
escape was a wonderful feat, bound as he was, as
to his hands, pursued by yelling demons determ-
ined on his death. But, ahead of all his pursuers, he
reached the lake, and dashing into the reeds on the
margin, was hid from the sight of his disappointed
pursuers. Wading noiselessly into the water, until
his head alone was above the water, he remained
perfectly stiU for some time. The water soon
loosened the rawhide on his wrists, so that they
were easily removed. The Indians sought for him
in vain; and as the shades of night gathered around
him, he came out of his hiding place, crossed the
foot of the lake and struck out for the Ujjper
Mississippi. He finally reached St. Cloud. Here
he was mistaken for an Indian spy, and threatened
with death, but was finally saved by the interposi-
tion of a gentleman who knew him.

The other employes at the lake were all killed
except Manderfield, who secreted himself while his
comrades were being murdered. Manderfield, in
his escape, when near Lac qui Parle, was met by
Joseph Laframboise, who hud gone thither to ob-
tain his sister Julia, then a captive there. Man-
derfield received fi'om Laframboise proper direc-
tions, and finally reached Fort Bidgely in safety.

Lake Shetek. — This beautiful lake of quiet
water, some six mUes long and two broad, is situ-
ated about seventy rmles west of New TJlm, in the
county of Murray. Here a little community of
some fifty jiiersons were residing far out on our
frontier, the nearest settlement being the Big Cot-
tonwood. The families and persons located here
were: John Eastlick and wife, Charles Hatch,
Phineas B. Hurd and wife, John Wright, Wm. J,
Duly and wife, H. W. Smith, Aaron Myers, Mr.
Everett and wife, Thomas Ireland and wife, Koch
and wife; these with their several families, and six
single men, Wm. James, Edgar Bently, John
Voight, E. G. Cook, and John P. and Daniel
Burns, the latter residing alone on a claim at Wal-
nut Grove, some distance from the lake, consti-
tuted the entire population of Lake Shetek settle-
ment, in Murray coimty.

L^U^E SIIETEK.

215

On the 20th of August some twenty Sioux In-
dians rode up to tlio house of Mr. Hurd. Mr.
Hurd himself liad left liome for the Missouri river
on the 2d day of Juuo previous. Ten of these In-
dians entered the house, Calked and smoked their
jjipes while Mrs. Hurd was getting breakfast. Mr.
Voight, tlie work-hand, wliile waiting for break-
fast, took i:p the babe, as it awoke and cried, and
walked with it out in the yard in front of the door.
No sooner had he left the house than an Indian
took his gun and deliberately shot him dead near
the door. Mrs. Hurd was Amazed at the infeinal
deed, as these Indians had always been kindly
treated, and often fed at her table. She ran to
the fallen man to raise bim up and look after the
safety of her child. To her utter horror, one of
the miscreants intercepted her, telling her to leave
at once and go to the settlements across the prairie.
She was refused the privilege of dressing her
naked children, and was comjielled to turn awaj
from her ruined home, to commence her wandering
over an almost trackless waste, without food, and
almost without raiment, for either herself or bttle
ones. I

These Indians proceeded from the house of Mr.
Hurd to that of Mr. Andrew Koch, whom they
shot, and plundered the house of its contents.
Mrs. Koch was compelled to get up the oxen and
hitch them to the wagon, and drive them, at the
direction of ber captors, into the Indian country.
In this way she traveled ten days. She was the
captive of White Lodge, an old and ugly chief of
one of the upper bands. As the course was tow-
ards the Missouri river, Mrs. Koch refused to go
farther in that direction. The old chief threatened
to shoot her if she did not drive on. Making a
virtue of necessity she reluctantly obeyed. Soon
after she was required to carry the vagabond's
gun. Watching her opportunity she destroyed
the explosive quality of the cap, and dampened
the powder in the tube, leaving the gim to appear-
ance all right. Soon afterward .she again refused
to go any farther in that direction. Again the
old scoundrel threatened her witli death. She in-
stantly bared her bosom and dared him to Are.
He aimed his gun at her breast and essayed to
fire, but the gun refused to take part in the work
of death. The superstitious savage, supposing
she bore a charmed life, lowered his gun, and
asked which way she wishsd to go. She jiointed
toward the settlements. In this direction the
teams were turned. They reached the neighbor-

hood of the Uj.iper Agency in ten days aft<ir leav-
ing Lake Shotek, about the time of the arrival of
the troops under Colonel Sibley in the vicinity of
Wood Lake and Yellow Medicine. White Lodge
did not like the looks of things around Wood
Lake, and left, moving off in an opposite direction
for greater safety. Mrs. Koch Avas finally rescued
at Camp Release, after wading or swimming the
Minnesota river ten times in company with a
fHendly squaw.

At Lake Shetek, the settlers were soon all gath-
ered at the house of John Wright, prepared for
defense. They were, however, induced by the ap-
parently friendly persuasion of the Indians to
abandon the house, and move towards the slongh
for better safety. The Indians commenced firing
upon the retreating party. The whites returned
the fire as they ran. Mrs. Eastlick was wounded
in the heel, Mr. Duly's oldest son and daughter
were shot through the shoulder, and Blrs. Ireland's
youngest child was shot through the leg, while
running to the slough. Mr. Hatch, Mr. Everett,
Mr. Eastlick, Mrs. Eastlick, Mrs. Everett, and sev-
eral children were shot. The Indians now told
the women t(^ come out of the slough, and they
would not kill them or the children, if they would
come out. They went out lo them with the children,
when they shot Mrs. Everett, Mrs. Smith, and Mrs.
Ireland dead, and killed some of the children.
Mrs. Eastlick was shot and left on the field, sup-
posed to be dead, but she finally escaped, and two
of her children, Merton and Johnny. Her inter-
esting narrative will be found in the large work,
from which this abridgment is made up. Mrs.
Julia A. Wright, and Mrs. Duly, and the two chU-
dreu of Mrs. Wright, and two of the children of
Mrs. Duly were taken captive. Some of these
were taken by the followers of Little Crow to the
Missouri river, and were subsequently ransomed
at Fort Pierre, by Major Galpin. All the men ex-
cej^t Mr. Eastlick, being only wounded, escaped
to the settlements. The brothers Burns remained
on their claim, and were not molested. One
sneaking Indian coming near them paid the for-
feit with his life.

Spirit Lake. — On or about the 25th day of
August, 1862, the "Annuity Sioux Indians" made
their appearance at Spirit Lake, the scene of the
terrible Inkpaduta massacre of 1857. The inhab-
itants rled in dismay from their homes; and the
savages, after plundering the dwellings of the set-

216

niSTORY OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

tiers, completed their fiendish work by scttiug fire
to the country.

Dakota. Tbbbitoet. — Portions of Dakota Ter-
ritory -were visited by the Sioux in 18G2. At
Sioux Falls City the following murders were com-
mitted by the Sioux Indians on the 25th of Au-
gust: Mr. Joseph B. and Mr. M. Amidon, father
and son, were found dead in a corn-field, near
which they had been making hay. The son was
shot with both balls and arrows, the father with
balls only. Their bodies lay some ten rods apart.
On the morning of the 26th, about fifteen Indians,
suppt)sed to be Sioux, attacked the camp of sol-
diers at that j)lace. They were followed, but
eluded the vigilant pursuit of our soldiers and es-
cajDed. The families, some ten in number, were
removed to Yankton, the capital, sixty-five miles
distant. This removal took place before the mur-
ders at Lake Shetek were known at Sioux Falls
City. The mail carrier who carried the news from
New Ulm had not yet arrived at Sioux Falls, on
his return trip. He had, on his outward trip,
found Mrs. Eastlick on the prairie, near Shetek,
and carried her to the house of Mr. Brown, on the
Cottonwood.

In one week after the murders at the Falls, one-
half of the inhabitants of the Missouri slope had
fled to Sioux City, Iowa, six miles below the mouth
of the Big Sioux.

The Mukdee of Amos Huggins. — Amos Hug-
gins (in the language of Rev. S. K. Eiggs, in his
late work, 1880, entitled "Mary and I,") "was the
eldest child of Alexander G. Huggins, who bad
accompanied Dr. Williamson to the Sioux coun-
try in 1835. Amos was born in Ohio, and was at
this time (1862) over thirty years old. He was
married, and two children blessed their home,-
which for some time before the outbreak bad been
at Lac qui Parle, near where the town of that
name now stands. It was then an Indian village
and planting jjlace, the principal man being Wa-
kanmane — Spirit Walker, or Walking S23irit. If
the people of the village had been at home Mr.
Huggins and his family, which included Miss
JuHa Laframlioise, who was also a teacher in the
employ of the Government, would have been safe.
But in the al.).sence of Spirit Walker's people three
Indian men came — two of them fi-om the Lower
Sioux Agency — and killed Mr. Huggins, and took
from the house such thuigs as they wanted." pp.
169-170.

This apology for the conduct of Christian In-

dians towards the missionaries and their assistants,
who had labored among them since 1835 up to
1802, a period of twenty-seven years, shows a
truly Christian spirit on the part of the Rev. S. K..
Riggs; but it is scarcely satisfactory to the general
reader that the Christian Indians were entirely in-
nocent of all blame in the great massacre of 1862.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

OcCUr.KENOES PEEVIOUe TO THE ATTACK ON THE

TOWN OF NEW TTLM — THE ATTACK BT INDIANS

JUDGE FLANDEATT ARRIVES WITH REINFORCEMENTS
EVACUATION OF NEW DLM.

On the ISth of August, the day of the outbreak,
a volunteer recruiting jjarty for the Union army
went out from New Ulm. Some eight miles west
of that place several dead bodies were found on
the road. The party turned back toward the town,
and, to the surprise of aU, were fired upon by In-
dians in ambush, kOling several of their party.
Another party leaving New Ulm for the Lower
Agency, when seven miles above the town some
fifty Indians near the road fired upon them, killing
three of these men. This party returned to town.
One of these parties had seen, near the Cotton-
wood, Indians kill a man on a stack of grain, and
some others in the field. The people of the sur-
rounding country fled for their lives into the town,
leaving, some of them, portions of their families
killed at their homes or on the way to some place
of safety.

During the 18th and 19th of August the In-
dians overran the country, burning buildings and
driving off the stock from the farms.

The people had no arms fit for use, and were
perfectly panic-gtricken and helpless. But the
news of the outbreak had reached St. Peter, and at
about one o'clock of August 19th, T. B. Thompson,
James Hughes, Charles Wetherell, Samuel Coffin,
IMerriok Dickinson, H. Cay wood, A. M. Bean, James
Parker, Andrew Friend, Henry and Frederick Otto,
C. A. Stein, E. G. Covey, Frank Kennedy, Thomas
and Griffin Williams, and the Hon. Henry A. Swift,
afterwards made Governor of Minnesota, by opera-
tion of the organic law, and William G. Hayden,
organized themselves into a comp.iny, by the elec-
tion of A. M. Bean, Captain, and Samuel Coffin,
Jjieutenant, and took up p3sition at New Ulm, in
the defense of that Ijeleaguered place. They at once
advanced upon the Indians, who were posted behind

BATTLE OF AViMl' UJJ/.

Ill

the houses in the outer portions of the place. By
this opportime arrival the savage foe wore hold in
check. These were soon joineil by another arrival
from St. Peter: L. M. Bordman, J. B. Trogdon, J.
K. Moore, Horace Austin (since Governor), V. M.
Bean, James Homer, Japob and Philip Stotzer,
William Wilkinson, Lewis Patch. S. A. Bnoll, and
Henry Snyder, all mouuted, as well as a few from
tlio'surrounding country.

By the time these several parties had arrived,
the savages had retired, after burning five build-
ings on the outskirts of the town. In the first
battle several were killed, one Miss Paule of the
place, standing on the sidewalk opposite the Da-
• kota House. The enemy's loss is not known.

On the same evening Hon. Charles E. Flandrau,
at the head of about one hundred and twenty -five
men, volunteers from St. Peter and vicinity, en-
tered the town; and reinforcements continued to
arrive from Mankato, Le Sueur, and other points,
uutil Thursday, the 21st, when about three hun-
dred and twenty-five armed men were in Now Ulm,
under the command of Judge Flandrau. Cap-
tain Bierbauer, at the head of one hundred men,
from Mankato, arrived and participated in the de-
fense of the place.

Some rude barricades around a few of the
houses in the center of the village, fitted iip by
means of wagons, boxes and waste lumber, par-
tially protected the volunteer soldiery operating
now under a chosen leader.

On Saturday, the 22d, the commandant sent
across the river seventy-five of his men to dislodge
some Indians intent on burning buildings and
grain and hay stacks. First Lieutenant William
Huey, of Traverse des Sioux, commanded this
force. This officer, on reaching the opposite
shore, discovered a large body of Indians in ad-
vance of him; and in attempting to return was
completely intercepted by large bodies of Indians
on each side of the river. There was liut one way
of escape, and that was to retreat to tlie compimy
of E. St. Julien Cox, known to be approaching
from the direction of St. Peter. This force, thus
cut oiT, returned with the command of Captain E.
St. Julien Cox; and with this increased force of
one hundred and seventy-five, Captain Cox soon
after entered the town to the relief of both citizens
and soldiers.

The Indians at the siege of New Ulm, at the
time of the principal attack before the arrival of
Captain Cos, were estimated at about five hundred.

coming from the dirwtion of the Lower Agency.
The movement is thus described by Judge Flan-
drau:

"Their advance upon tlio slyjnng prairie in the
briglit sunlight was a very fine spectacle, and to
such inexperienced soldiers as we all were, intense-
ly exciting. When within about one mile of us
the mass began to expand like a fan, and increas-
ing in the velocity of its apjiroach, continued
this movement until within about double rifle-shot,
when it covered our entire front. Then the sav-
ages uttered a teriific yell and came down upon
us like the wind. I had stationed myself at a
point in the rear where communication could be
had with me easily, and awaited the fir.,t discharge
witli great anxiety, as it. seemed to me that to
yield was certain desi ruction, as the enemies would
rush into the town and drive all betoi-e them. The
yell unsettled the men a httle, and just before the
rifles began to crack they fell back along the whole
Ime, and committed the error of passing the outer
houses without taking possession of them, a mis-
take which the Indians immediately took advan-
tage of by themselves occupying them in squads
of two, three and up to ten. They poured into
us a sharp and rapid fii-e as we fell back, and
opened from the hi luses in every direction. Sev-
eral of lis rode up to the hill, endeavoring to rally
the men, and with good eflect, as they gave three
cheers and sallied out of the various houses they
had retreated to, and cheeked the advance effect-
ually. The firing from both sides then became
genera], sharp and rapid, and it got to be a regu-
lar Indian skirmish, in which every man did his
own work after his own fashion. The Indians had
now got into the rear of our men, and nearly on
all sides of them, and the tire of the enemy was
becoming very galling, as they had possession of
a large number of buildings."

Fight at the Wind-Mill.— Rev. B. G. Coff n,
of Mankato, George B. Stewart, of Le Sueur, and
J. B. Trogdon, of Nicollet, and thirteen others,
fought their way to the wind-mill. This they
held during the battle, their unerring shots tell-
ing fearfully upon the savages, and finally forcing
them to retire. At night these brave men set fire
to the budding, and then retreated within the bar-
ricades, m the vicinity of the Dakota House.
During the firing from this mill a most detei-mined
and obstinate fight was kept up from the brick
])ost-office, where Governor Swift was stationed,
which told most fatally upon the foe, and from

218

III8T0RT OF TUE SIOUX M^iSSACRE.

this point many an Indian fell before the deadly
aim of the true men stationed there.

Captain William B. Dodd. — When the attack
was made upon the place the Indians had suc-
ceeded in reaching the Lower Town. The wind
was favoring them, as the smoke of burning build-
ings was carried into the main portion of the town,
behind which they were advancing. "Captain
Wilbam B. Dodd, of St. Peter, seeing the move-
ment from that quarter, supposed the expected re-
inforcements were in from that direction. He
made at once a superhuman effort, almost, to en-
courage the coming troops to force the Indian
line and gain admittance into the town. He had
gone about seventy-five yards outside the lines,
when the Indians from buildings on either side of
the street poured a full volley into the horse and
rider. The Captain received three balls near his
heart, wheeled his horse, and riding within twenty-
five yards of our lines fell from his horse, and was
assisted to walk into a house, where in a few mo-
ments he died, 'the noblest Roman of them all.'
He dictated a short message to his wife, and re-
marked that he had discharged his duty and was
ready to die. No man fought more courageously,
or died more noblyr Let his virtues be forever re-
membered. He was a hero of the truest type!"
— St. Peter Statesman.

At the stage of the battle in which Captain
Dodd was killed, several others also were either
killed or wounded. Captain Saunders, a Baptist
minister of Le Sueur, was wounded, with many
others. Howell Houghton, an old settler, was
killed. The contest was continued until dark,
when the enemy began to carry off their dead and
wounded. In the morning of the nest day (Sun-
day) a feeble firing was kept up for several hours
by the sullen and retiring foe. The battle of New
Ulm had been fought, and the whites were masters
of the field; but at what a fearful price! The
dead and dying and woimded filled tlie buildings
left standing, and this beautiful and enterprising
German town, which on Monday morning con-
tained over two hundred buildings, had been laid
in ashes, only some twenty-five houses remaining
to mark the spot where Now Ulm once stood.

On Sunday afternoon. Captain Cox's command,
one hundred and fifty volunteers from Nicollet,
Sibley and Le Sueur, armed with Austrian rifles,
shot-guns and hunting rifles arrived. The Indians
retreated, and returned no more to make battle
with the forces at New Ulm.

But strange battle field. The Indians deserted
it on Sunday, and on Monday the successful de-
fenders also retire from a place they dare not at-
tempt to hold! The town was evacuated. All
the women and children, and wounded men,
making one hundred and fifty-three wagon loads,
while a considerable number composed the com-
pany on foot. All these moved with the command
of Judge riandrau towards Mankato.

The loss to our forces in this engagement was
ten killed, and about fifty wounded. The loss of the
enemy is unknown, but must have been heavy, as
ten of their dead were found on the field of battle,
which they had been unable to remove.

AVe might fill volumes with incidents, and mi-
raculous escapes from death, but our limits abso-
lutely forbid their introduction in this abridge-
ment. The reader must consult the larger work
for these details. The escape of Oovernor Swift,
Flandrau and Bird, and J. B. Trogdon and D. G.
Shellack and others fi'om perilous positions, are
among the many exciting incidents of the siege of
New Ulm.

Omitting the story of John W. Young, of won-
derful interest, we refer briefly to the weightier
matters of this sad chapter, and conclude the same
by the relation of one short chajiter.

THE EXPEDITION TO LEAVENWORTH.

During the siege of New Ulm, two expeditions
were sent out from that place toward the settle-
ments on the Big Cottonwood, and although not
really forming a part of the operations of a de-
fensive character at that place, are yet so connect-
ed with them that we give them here.

On Thursday morning, the 21st of August, a
party went out on the road to Leavenworth for the
purpose of burying the dead, aiding the wounded
and brmging them in, should they find any, and
to act as a scouting party. They went out some
eight miles, found and buried several bodies, and
returned to New Ulm, at night, without seeing
any Indians.

On Fiiday, the 22d, another party of one hun-
dred and forty men, under command of Captain
George M. Tousley, started for the purpose of res-
cuing a party of eleven persons, women and child-
ren, who, a refugee informed the commandant,
were hiding in a ravine out toward Leavenworth.
Accompanying this party were Drs. A. W. Daniels,
of St. Peter, and Ayer, of Le Sueur.

On the way out, the cannonailiug at Fort
' Kidgely was distinctly heard by them, and then

STATEMENT OF RALPH TUOMAS.

219

Dr. Daniels, who had resided among the Sioiis
several years as a physiciau to the lower bauds,
had, for the first time, some conceiition of the ex-
tent and magnitude of the outbreak.

As the main object of the expedition had alrea-
dy been accomplished- — i. e., the rescue of the wo-
men and children — Dr. Daniels urged a return to
New TJhn. The question was submitted to the
company, and they decided to go on, and proceed-
ed to within four miles of Leavenworth, the de-
sign being to go to that place, remain there all
night, bury the dead next day, and return.

It was now nearly night; the cannonading at
the fort could still be heard; Indian spies were,
undoubtedly, watching them; only about one
hundred armed men were left in the town, and
from his intimate knowledge of the Indian char-
acter. Dr. Daniels was convinced that the safety of
their force, as well as New Dim itself, required
their immediate return.

A halt was called, and this view of the case was
presented to the men by Drs. Daniels, Ayer, and
Mayo. A vote was again taken, and it was deci-
ded to return. The return march commenced at
about sundown, and at one o'clock a. m. they re-
entered the village.

Ralph Thomas, who resided on the Big Cotton-
wood, in the county of Brown, had gone with
many of his neighbors, on Monday, the 18th of
August, into New Ulm for safety, while William
Carroll and some others residing further up the
river, in Leavenworth, had gone to the same place
to ascertain whether the rumors they had heard
of an uprising among the Sioux were true. Mr.
Thomas makes the following statement of the do-
ings of this little party, and its subsequent fate:

"There were eight of us on horseback, and the
balance of the party were in three wagons. We
had gone about a mile when we met a German
going into New Ulm, who said he saw Indians at
my place skinning a heifer, and that they drove
him off, chasing him with spears. He had come
from near Leavenworth. We kept on to my place,
near which we met John Thomas and Almon Par-
ker, who had remained the niglit before in a grove
of timber, one and a half fniles from my place.
About eight o'clock the evening before, they had
seen a party o£ ten or twelve Indians, mounted on
ponies, coming toward them, who chased them into
the grove, the savages passing on to the right,
leaving them alone. They stated to us that they
had seen Indians that morning traveling over the

prairie southward. We stopped at my place and
fed our horses. While the horses were eating, I
called for three or four men to go with me to the
nearest houses, to see what had become of the peo-
ple. We went first to the house of Mr. Mey, where
we found him and his family lying around the
house, to all appearance dead. We also found
here Josejoh Emery and a Mr. Heuyer, also appa-
rently dead. We had been here some five minutes
viewing the scene, when one of the children, a girl
of seven years, rose up from the ground and com-
menced crying piteously. I took her in my arms,
and told the other men to examine the other bodies
and see if there were not more of them alive.
They found two others, a twin boy and girl about
two years old; all the rest were dead.

" We next proceeded to the house of Mr. George
Eaeser, and found the bodies of himself and wife
lying near the house by a stack of grain. We
went into the house and found their cliild, eighteen
months old, alive, trying to get water out of the
pail. We then went back to my place, and sent
.John Thomas and Mr. Parker with an ox-team to
New Ulm with these children. Mr. Mey's three
children were wounded with blows of a tomahawk
on the head; the other child was uninjured. We
then went on toward Leavenworth, seeing neither
Indians nor whites, until we arrived at the house
of Mr. Seaman, near which we found an old gen-
tleman named Riant concealed in a slough among
the tall grass. He stated to us that a party of
whites with him had been chased and fired upon
by a party of Indians. It consisted of himself,
Luther Whiton, George W. Co\'ill and wife, Mrs.
Covin's son, Mrs. Hough and child, Mr. Van Guil-
der and wife and two children, and Mr. Van Guil-
der's mother. AU these Mr. Riant said had scat-
tered over the ^jrairie. We remained about two
hours, hunting for the party, and not finding
them, turned back toward New Ulm, taking Mr.
Riant with us. We proceeded down opposite my
place, where we separated, eleven going down on
one side of the Big Cottonwood, to Mr. Tuttle's
place, and .seven of us proceeded down on the
other, or north side of the stream. The design
was to meet again at Mr. Tuttle's house, and all
go back to New Ulm together; but when we ar-
rived at Tuttle's, they had gone on to town with-
out waiting for us, and we followed. When near
Mr. flibbard's place we met Mr. .Takes going west.
He said that he had been within a mile of N6w
Ulm, anil saw the other men of our party. He

220

UISrORT OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

farther iurormed us that he saw grain-stacks and
sh^ds ou fire at that distance from the place.

"When we came to the burning stacks we halted
to look for Indians. Our comrades were half an
hour ahead of lis. When they got in sight of the
town, one of them, Mr. Hinton, rode up on an ele-
vation, where he could overlook the place, and saw
Indians, and the town on fire in several places. He
went back and told them that the Indians had at-
tacked the' town, and that he did not consider it
safe for them to try to get in, and proposed cro.ss-
ing the Cottonwood, and goiug toward the Man-
kato road, and entering town on that side. His
proposition was opposed by several of the party,
who thought him frightened at the sight of half a
dozen Indians. They asked him how many he had
seen. He said some forty. They came up and
looked, but could see but three or four Indians.
Mr. Carroll told them they had better go on, and,
if opposed, out their way through. He told Hin-
ton to lead, and they -would follow. They passed
down the hill, and met with no opposition until
they came to a slongh, halt a mile from the town.
Here two Indians, standing on a large stone by the
side of the road, leveled their double-barreled
guns at Mr. Hinton. He, drew his revolver, placed
it between his horse's ears, and made for them.
The balance of the company followed. The Indi-
ans retired to cover without firing a shot, and the
company kept on until they had crossed the slough,
when the savages, who were lying in ambush,
arose from the grass, and filing upon them, killed
five of their number, viz. : William Carroll, Almond
Loomis, Mr. Lamb, Mr. Riant, and a Norwegian,
and chased the balance into the town.

"We came on about half an hour afterward, and
passing down the hill, crossed the same slough,
and unconscious of danger, appi'oached the fatal
spot, when about one hundred and fifty savs^ges
sprang up ont of the grass and fired upon us,
killing five horses and six men. My own horse
was shot through the body, close to my leg, killing
him instantly. My feet were out of the stirrups in
a moment, and I sprang to the ground, striking
on my hands and feet. I dropped my gun, jump-
ed up, and ran. An Indian, close behind, dis-
charged the contents of both barrels of a shot-gun
at me. The charge tore up the gi-ound at my feet,
throwing dirt all around me as I ran. I made my
way into town ou foot as fast as I could go. No
other of our party escaped; all the rest were
killed. Reinforcements fiom St. Peter came to

the relitf of the place in about half an hour after
I got in, and the Indians soon after retired."

CHAPTiin XXX\III.

BATTLE AT LOWER AGENCY FERET SIEGE OF FORT

RIDGBLT BATTLE OF WEDNESDAY JACK FRAZER

— BATTLE OF FRIDAY liEINFOKCEMENTS ARRIVE.

On Monday morning, the 18th of August, 1862,
at about 9 o'clock, a messenger arrived at Tort
Kidgely, from the Lower Sioux Agency, bringing
the startling news that the Indians were massacre-
ing the whites at that place. Captain John S.
Marsh, of Company B, Fifth Regiment Minnesota
Volunteer Infantry, then in command, immediately
dispatched me.-sengers after Lieutenant Sheehan,
of Company C, of the same regiment, who had left
that post on the morning before, with a detach-
ment of his company, for Fort Eipley, on the
Upper Mississipi, and Major T. J. Galbraith, Sioux
Agent, who had also left the fort at the same time
with fifty men, afterwards known as the Ren-
ville Rangers, for Fort Snelling, urging them to
return to Fort Ridgely with all possible dispatch,
as there were then in the fort only Company B,
numbering about seventy- five or eighty men. The
gallant captain then took a detachment of forty-
six men, and acccmpanied by Interpreter Quinn,
immediately started for the scene of blood, distant
twelve miles. They made a very rapid manh.
When within about four miles of the ferry, op-
posite the Agency, they met the ferryman, Mr.
Martolle, who informed Captain Marsh that the In-
dians were in considerable force, and were mur-
dering all the people, and advised him to return.
He replied that he was there to protect and defend
the frontier, and he should do so if it was in bis
power, and gave the order "Forward !" Between
this point and the river they passed nine dead
bodies on or near the road. Arriving near the
ferry the company was halted, and Corporal
Ezekiel Rose was sent forward to examine the ferry,
and see if all was right. The captain and inter-
preter were mounted on mules, the men were on
foot, and formed in two ranks in the road, near
the ferry-hou'.e, a few rods from the banks of the
river. The corporal had taken a pail with him to
the river, aiKl returned, reporting the ferry all
right, bringing with him water for the exhausted
and thiisty men.

CM'TAiy MAUSJI KIJ.LED.

221

In the meantime an Indian Lad made his ap-
pearance on the opposite liank, and ealhng to
Quinn, nrged tlieni to come across, telling him all
Wixs right on that side. The suspicions of the cap-
tain were at once aroused, and he ordered the men
to remain in their places, and not to move on to
the boat until he could ascertain whether the In-
dians were in ambush in the ravines on the oppo-
site shore. The men were in the act of drinking,
when the savage on the opposite side, seeing they
were not going to cross at once, fired his gun, as a
signal, when instantly there arose out of the grass
and brush, all around them, some four or five hun-
dred warriors, who poured a terrific volley upon
the devoted band. The aged interpreter fell from
his mule, pierced by over twenty balls. The cap-
tain's mule fell dead, but he himself sprang to the
ground unhaimed. Several of the men fell at this
first fire. The testimony of the survivors of this
sanguinary engagement is, that their brave com-
mander W'as as cool and collected as if on dress pa-
rade. They retreated down the stream about a
mile and a half, fighting their way inch by inch,
when it was discovered that a body of Indians,
taking advantage of the fact that there was a benil-
in the river, had gone across and gained the bank
below them.

The heroic little band was ab-eady reduced to
about one-half its original number. To cut their
way through this large number of Indians was
impossible. Their only hope now was to cross the
river to the reservation, as there' ajipoared to be no
Indians on that shore, retreat down that side and
recross at the fort. The river was supposed to be
fordable where they were, and, accordingly, Capt.
Marsh gave the order to cross. Taking his sword
in one hand and his revolver in the other, accom-
panied by his men, he waded out into the stream.
It was very soon ascertained that they must swim,
when these who could not do so returned to the
shore and hid in the grass as best they could,
while those who could, dropped their arms and
struck out for the ojiposite side. Among these
latter was Capt. Marsh. When near the opposite
shore he was struck by a ball, and immediately
sank, but arose again to the surface, and grasped
the shoulder of a man at his side, but the garment
gave wav in his grasp, and he again sank, this
time to Hse no more.

Thirteen of the men reached the bank in safety.
a-1 returned to the fort that night. Those of

tl;em who wore unaliln to cross remained in the

grass and bushes mitil night, when they made
their way, alno, to flie fort or settlements. Some
of them were badly wounded, and were out two or
tlirce days befm-e they got in. Two weeks after-
ward, Josiah P. Marsh, brother of the cap-
tain, with a mounted escort of thirty men — his
old neighljors from Fillmore county — made search
for his body, but without success. On the day
before and the day after this search, as was sub-
sequently ascertaiued, two hundred Indians were
scouting along the river, upon the the very groimd
over which these thirty men passed, in their fruit-
less search for the remains of their dead brother
and friend. Tn-o weeks later anotlier search was
made with boats along the river, and this time the
search was successful. His body was discovered
a mile and a half bslow where he was killed, under
the roots of a tree standing at the water's edge.
His remains were borne by his sorrowing com-
panions to Fort Ridgdy, and deposited in the
military burial-ground at tliat place.

This gallant officer demands more than a pass-
ing notice. When the Southern rebellion broke
out, in 1861, .John S. Marsh was resiiliug in Fill-
more county, Minnesota. A company was re-
cruited in his neighborhood, designed for the gal-
lant 1st Minnesota, of which he was made first
lieutenant. Before, however, this conijjauy reach-
ed Fort Snelling, the place of rendez\ous, the reg-
iment N\as fuU, and it w^as disbanded. The patri-
otic fire still burned in the soul of young Marsh.
Going to La Crosse, he volunteered as a private in
the 2d Wisconsin regiment, and served some ten
months in the ranks. In the following winter his
brother, J. F. Marsh, assisted in raising a com-
pany in Fillmore county, of which John S. was
elected first lieutenant, and he was therefore trans-
ferred, by order of the Secretary of War, to his
company, and arrived at St. Paul about the 12th
of March, 18G2. In the meantime, Captain Gere
was promoted to majoi-, and on the 21th Lieuten-
ant Marsh was promoted to the captaincy of his
company, and ordered to report at Fort Ridn-ely
and take comnii^iid of that imjjortant frontier post.
Captain Marsh at once reixiired to his post of
duty, where he remained in command until the
fat;il encounter lu the ISth terminated both his
usefulness and life. He was a brave and accom-
])Iishril soldier, and a noble man,

'None knew him but to love him,
Nr.ne named liim but to praise."

222

HISTORY OF THE SIOUX MASSACRE.

SIEGE OF FORT KIDGELY.

Foiled in their attack on New Ulm by the
timely arrival of reinforeements under Flandraii,
the Indians turned their attention toward Fort
Kidgely, eighteen miles north-west. On Wednes-
day, at three o'clock P. M., the 20th of August,
they suddenly appeared in great force at that
post, and at once commenced a furious assault
upon it. The fort is situated on the edge of the
prairie, about half a mile from the Minnesota river,
a timbered bottom intervening, and a wooded ra-
vine running up out of the bottom around two
sides of the fort, and within about twenty rods of
the buildings, affording shelter for an enemy on
three sides, within easy rifle or musket range.

The first Itnowledge the garrison had of the
presence of the foe was given by a volley from the
ravine, which drove in the pickets. The men were
instantly formed, by order of Lieutenant Sheehan,
in line of battle, on the parade-ground inside the
works. Two men, Mark M. Grear, of Company
C, and "William Goode, of Company B, fell at the
first fire of the concealed foe, after the line was
formed; the former was instantly killed, the latter
badly woimded, both being shot in the head.
Robert Baker, a citizen, who had escajied from the
massacre at the Lower Agency, was shot through
the head and instantly killed, while standing at a
window in the barracks, at about the same time.
The men soon broke for shelter, and from behind
boxes, from windows, from the shelter of the
buildings, and from every spot where concealment
was possible, watched their opportunities, wasted
no ammunition, but poured their shots with deadly
effect upon the wily and savage foe whenever he
suffered himself to be seen.

The forces in the tort at this time were the rem-
nant of Company B, 5th Eegiment M. V., Lieu-
tenant Culver, thirty men; about fifty men of
Company C, same regiment. Lieutenant T. J.
Sheehan; the Renville Rangers, Lieutenant James
Gorman, numbering fifty men, all under command
of Lieutenant T. J. Sheehan.

Sergeant John Jones, of the regular army, a
brave and skillful man, was stationed at this fort
as post-sergeant, in charge of the ordnance, and
took immediate command of the artillery, of which
there were in the fort six pieces. Three only, how-
ever, were used — two six-pounder howitzers and
one twenty-four-poundcr iield-piece. A sidEcient
number of men had been detailed to work these

guns, and at the instant of the first alarm were
promptly at their posts. One of the guns was
placed in charge of a citizen named J. 0. Whipple,
an old artUlerist, who had seen service in the Mex-
ican war, and in the United States navy, and bad
made his escape from the massacre at the Lower
Agency, and one in charge of Sergeant McGrew,
of Company C; the other in charge of Sergeant
Jones in person. In this assault there were, prob-
al)ly, not less than five hundred warriors, led by
their renowned chief, Little Crow.

So sudden had been the outbreak, and so weak
was the garrison that there had been no time to
construct any defensive works whatever, or to re-
move or destroy the wooden structures and hay-
stacks, behind which the enemy could take position
and shelter. The magazine was situated some
twenty rods outside the main works on the open
prairie. Men were at once detailed to take the
ammunition into the fort. Theirs was the post of
danger; but they passed through the leaden storm
unscathed.

In the rear of the barracks was a ravine up which
the St. Peter road passed. The enemy had poses-
sion of this ra^'ine and road, while others were
posted in the buildings, at the windows, and in
sheltered portions in the sheds in the rear of the
officer's quarters. Here they fought from 3 o'clock
until dark, the artillery all the while shelling the
ravine at short range, and the rifles and muskets
of the men dropping the yelling demons like au-
tunm leaves. In the meantime the Indians had
got into some of the old out-buildings, and had
crawled up behind the hay-stacks, from which they
poiu-ed heavy volleys into the fort. A few well-di-
rected shells from the howitzers set them on fire,
and when night closed over the scene the lurid
light of the burnmg buildings shot up with a fit-
ful glare, and served the purpose of revealing to
the wary sentinel the lurking foe should he again
appear.

The Indians retired with the closing day, and
were seen in large numbers on their ponies, mak-
ing their way rapidly toward the Agency. The
great danger feared by all was, that, under cover
of the darkness, the savages might creep up to the
buildings and with fire-arrows ignite the dry roofs
of the wooden structures. But about ^midnight
the heavens opened and the earth was deluged
with rain, effectually preventing the constimma-
tion of such a design, if it was intended. As the
first great drops fcU on the faces upturned to the

FOUT 111 DG ELY ATTACKED.

223

gathering beavous the glad shout ot "Rain! rain!
thauk God! thank God!" went round the boloag-
uered garrison. Stout-hearted, strong-armed men
brcatlied free again; and weary, frightened women
and ehildren slept once more in comparative safety.

In this engagement there were two men killed,
and nine wounded, and all the government mules
were stampeded by the Indians. Jack Prazer, an
old resident in the Indian country, volunteered as
a bearer of dispatches to Governor Ramsey, and
availing himself of the darkness and the furious
storm, made his way safely out of the fort, and
reached St. Peter, where he met Colonel Sibley and
his command on their way to the relief of the fort.

Rain continued to fall until nearly night of
Thursday, when it ceased, and that night the stars
looked down iipon the weary, but still wakeful and
vigilant watchers in FortKidgely. On that night
a large quantity of oats, in sacks, stored in the
granary near the stable, and a quantity of cord-
wood piled near the fort, were disposed about the
works in sueh a manner as to alford protectirm to
the men, in case of another attack. The roof of
the commissary building was covered with earth, as
a protection against fire-arrows. The water in the
fort had given out, and as there was neither well
nor cistern in the works, the garrison were depend-
ent upon a spring some sixty rods distant in the
ravine, for a supply of that indispensable element.
Their only resource now was to dig for water,
which they did at another and less exposed point,
and by noon had a supply sufficient for two or
three days secured inside the fort.

In the meantime the small arm's ammunition
haTang become nearly exhausted in the battle of
Wednesday, the l)alls were removed from some of
the spherical case-shot, and a party of men and
ivo^en made them up into cartridges, which were
jrr^atly needed. Small parties of Indians had
ty5en seen about the fort, out of range, during
Thursday and Friday forenoon, watching the fort,
to report if reinforcements had reached it. At
about 1 o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, the 22d,
they appeared again in force, their numbers greatly
augmented, and commenced a furious and most de-
termined assault. They came apparently from the
Lower Agency, passing down the Minnesota bot-
tom, and round into the ravine surrounding the
fort. As they passed near the beautiful residence
of K. H. Randall, post sutler, they applied the
torch and it was soon wrapj^ed in flames. On came
the painted savages yelling like so many demons

let loose from the bottomless pit; but the brave
men in that sore pn>ssed garrison, knowing full
well that to be taken alive was certain death to
themselves and all within the doomed fort, each
man was pi'omptly at his post.

The main attack was directed against that side
of the works next to the river, the buildings here
being frame structures, and the most vulnerable
jiart of the fort. This side was covered by the
stable, gi-anary, and one or two old buildings,
besides the sutler's store on the west side, yes
standing, as well as the buildings named above.
Made bold by their augmented number.s, and the
non-arrival of reinforcements to the garrison, tlie
Indians pressed on, seemingly determined to rush
at once into the works, but were met as they
reached the end of the timber, and swept round
up the ravine with such a deadly fire of musketry
poured upon them from behind the barracks and
the windows of the quarters, and of grape, canister
and shell fi'om the guns of the brave and heroic
Jones, AVhipple, and McGrew, that they beat a
hasty retreat to the friendly shelter of the bottom,
out of musket range. But the shells continued to
scream wildly through the air, and burst around
and among them. They soon rallied and took
possession of the stable and other 0Tit-buildin"-s
on the south side of the fort, from which they
poured terrific yoUeys upon the frail wooden
buildings on that side, the bullets actually 25assing
through their sides, and through the partitions
inside of them. Here .Josejih Vanosse, a citizen,
was shot through the body by a ball which came
through the side of the building. They were
soon driven from these buildings by the artillery,
which shelled them out, setting the buildings on
fire. The sutler's store was in like m.anner
shelled and set on fire. The scene now became
grand and terrific. The flames and smoke of the
burning buildings, the wild and demoniac yells of
»the savage besiegers, the roaring of cannon, the
screaming of sheUs as they hurtled through the
air, the sharp crack of the rifle, and the unceasing
rattle of musketry presented an exhibition never
to be forgotten by those who witnessed it.

The Indians retired hastily from the buruinr'
buildings, the men in the fort sending a shower of
bullets among them as they disappeared over the
bluffs toward the bottom. With wild yells they
now circled round into the ravine, and from the
tall grass, lying on their faces, and from the
shelter of the timber, continued the battle till

2'Zi

UIsrORY OF THE SIOUX ilASSAGRE.

night, their leader, Little Crow, vainly ordering
them to charge on the guns. They formed once
for that purpose, about sundown, but a shell and
round of canister sent into their midst closed the
contest, when,with an unearthly yell of rage and dis-
appointment, they left. These shots, as was after-
wards ascertained, killed and wounded seventeen
of their number. Jones continued to shell the
ravine and timber around the fort until after dark,
when the firing ceased, and then, as had been
done on each night before, since the investment of
the fort, the men all went to their several posts to
wait and -watch for the coming of the wily foe.
The night waned slowly ; but they must not sleep;
their foe is sleepless, and that wide area of dry
shmgled roof must be closely scanned, and the
approaches be vigilantly guarded, by which he
may, under cover of the darkness, creep upon
them unawares.

Morning broke at last, the sun rode up a clear
and cloudless sky, but the foe came not. The day
passed away, and no attack; the night again, and
then another day ; and yet other days and nights
of weary, sleepless watching, but neither friend nor
foe api^roached the fort, until about daylight on
Wednesday morning, the 27th, when the cry was
heard from the look-out on the roof, "There are
horsemen coming on the St. Peter road, across the
ravine!" Are they friends oi- foes? was the ques-
tion on the tongues of all. By their cautious
movements they were evidently reconnoitering,
and it was yet too dark for those in the fort to be
able to tell, at that distance, friends from foes.
But as daylight advanced, one hundred and fifty
mounted men were seen dashing through the ra-
vine ; and amidst the wild hurras of the assembled
garrison. Colonel Samuel McPhail, at the head of
two companies of citizen-cavalry, rode into the
fort. In command of a company of these men
were Anson Northrup, from Minneapolis, an old
frontiers-man, and K. H. Chittenden, of the Fir,st
Wisconsin Cavalry. This force had ridden all
night, having left St. Peter, forty-five miles dis-
tant, at 6 o'clock the night before. From them
■(he garrison learned that heavy reinforcements
were on their way to thjir relief, under Colonel
(now Brigadier-General) H. H.Sibley. The worn-
out and exhaust d garrison could now sleep with
a feeling of comparative security. The number
of killed and wounded of the enemy is not known,
Imt must have been considerable, as, at the close
I.: each battle, they were seen carrying away their

dead and wounded. Our own fallen heroes were
buried on the edge of the prairie near the fort;
and the injuries of the wounded men wei'e care-
fully attended to by the skillful and excellent posl-
surgeon, Dr. Alfred Muller.

We close our account of this protracted siege
by a slight tribute or behalf of the sick and
wounded in that garrisi^n, to one whose name wiU
ever be mentioned by them with love and respect.
The hospitals of Sebastopol had their Florence
Nightingale, and over every blood-stained field of
the South, in our own struggle for national hfe,
hovered angels of mercy, cheering and soothing
the sick and wounded, smoothing the pillows
and closing the eyes of our fallen braves.
And when, in after years, the brave men who fell,
sorely wounded, in the battles of Fort Kidgely,
Birch Coolie, and Wood Lake, fighting against
the savage hordes who overran the borders of our
beautiful State, in August and September, 1862,
carrying the flaming torch, the gleaming toma-
hawk, and bloody scalping-knife to hundreds of
peaceful homes, shall tell to their children and
cldldren's childi'en the story of the "dark and
bloody ground" of Minnesota, and shall exliibit to
them the scars those wounds have left; they will
tell, with moistened cheek and swelling hearts of
the noble, womanly deeds of Mrs. Eliza Muller,
the "Florence Nightingale" of Fort Eidgely.
[Mrs. Muller several years since died at the asylum
at St. Peter.]

SERGEANT JOHN JONES.

We feel that the truth of history will not be fully
vindicated should we fail to bestow upon a brave
and gallant officer that meed of praise so justly
due. The only officer of experience lelt in the fort
by the death of its brave commandant was Ser-
geant John Jones, of the regular artillery; and it
is but just to that gallant officer that we should
say that but for the cool courage and discretion of
Sergeant Jones, Fort Kidgely would, in the first
day's battle have become a funeral pyre for all
within its doomed walls. And it gives . us more
than ordinary pleasure to record the fact, that the
services he then rendered the Gavernment, in the
defense of the frontier wm'e fully recognized and
rewarded with the commission of Captain of the
Second Mkmesota Battery. ^

CAPrAiy winrcoMB at fuukst city.

225

CHAPTER XXXIX.

CAPTAIN WniTCOMB's ARRIVAL AT ST. PAUL— PASSES

THROOGn MEEKER OOUNTV A FORT CONSTRUOTEU

— ENQAGEMENT WITU INDIANS ATTACK ON I'OREST

CITV CONDITION OP THE COUNTKY — C:APTAIN

STRODT AT GLENCOE — ATTACKED NEAR ACTON BY
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY INDIANS — ATTACK ON
HUTCHINSON.

This cLaptei- will be devoted to the iijiper por-
tion of the state, aud the movements of troops for
the relief of the frontier, not immediately con-
nected with the main expedition under Colonel
Sibley; and to avoid repetition, the prominent in-
cidents of the massacre in this portion of the state
■will be given in connection witli the movements of
the troops. We quote from the Adjutant-Gen-
eral's Report:

The 19th day of August the first news of the
outbreak at Eedwotid was received at St. Paul.
On the same day a messenger arrived from Meeker
county, with news of murders committed in that
county by the Indians, and an earnest demand for
assistance. The murders were committed at Ac-
ton, about twelve miles from Forest City, on Sun-
day, the 17th day of the month. The circnm-
Btauces under which these murders were committed
are fully detailed in a previous chajjter.

George C. Whitcomb, commander of the state
forces raised in the county of Meeker, was sta-
tioned at Forest City. On the 19th of August,
Mr. Whitcomb arrived at St. Paul, and received
from the state seventy-five stand of arms and a
small quantity of ammunition, for the purpose of
enabling the settlers of Meeker county to stand on
the defensive, until other assistance could be sent
to their aid. With these in his possession, he
started on liis return, and, on the following day he
met Col. Sibley at Shakopee, by whom he was or-
dered to raise a company of troops and report with
command to the Colonel, at Fort Kidgely. On ar-
riving at Hutchinson, in McLeod county, he found
the whole country on a general stampede, and
small bands of Indians lurking in the border of
Meeker county.

Captain Richard Strout was ordered, under date
of August 2-4, to proceed with a company of men
to Forest City, in the county of Meeker, for the
protection of that locality.

In the meantime Captain Whitcomb arrived at
Forest City with the arms funiished him by the

state, with the excoplitm of those left by him at
Hutchinson. Upon his arrival he sjjeedily en-
listed, for temporary service, a company of fifty-
three men. twenty-five of whom were mounted,
and the remainder were to act as infantry.

Captain Whitcomb, with the mounted portion of
his company, made a rapid march into the county
of Monongalia, to a point about thirty miles from
Forest City, where he foiindtho bodies of two men
who had been shot by the Indians, who had muti
lated the corpses by cutting their throats and
scalping them. In the same vicinity he found the
ruins of three houses that had been burned, and
the carcasses of a large number of cattle that had
been wantonly killed and devoted to destruction.

Owing to rumors received at this point, he pro-
ceeded in a north-westerly direction, to the distance
of ten miles further, and found on the route the
remains of five more of the settlers, all of whom
had been shot and scalped, and some of them were
otherwise mutUated by having their hands cut ofi'
and gashes cut in their faces, done apparently with
hatchets.

On the return to camp at Forest City, when
within about four miles of Acton, he came to a
point on the road where a train of wagons had been
attacked on the 23d. He here found two more
dead bodies of white men, mutilated in a shocking
manner liy having their hands cut oiT, being dis-
emboweled and otherwise disfigured, having knives
still remaining in their abdomens, where they had
been left by the savages. The road at this place
was, for three miles, lined with the carcasses of
dead cattle, a great portion of which belonged to
the train upon which the attack had been made.
On this excursion the company were about foui'
days, during which time they traveled over- one
hundred miles, and buried the bodies of nine per-
sons who had been murdered.

On the next day after having returned to the
camp, being the 28th of the month, the same
party made a circuit through the western portion
of Meeker county, aud buried the bodies of three
more men that were found mutilated and disfigm-ed
in a similar manner to those previously mentioned.
In addition to the other services rendered by the
company thus far, they had discovered and re-
moved to the camp several persons found wounded
and disabled in the vicinity, and two, who had
been very severely woimded, had been sent by
them to St. Cloud for the purpose of receiving
surgical attention.

226

BISTORT OF THE SIOUX MAS SAC HE.

The company, in addition to their other labors,
were employed in the construction of a stockade
fort, to be used if necessary for defensive purposes,
and for the protection of those who were not capa-
ble of bearing arms. It was formed by inserting
the ends of pieces of rough timber into the earth
to the depth of three feet, and leaviug them from
ten to twelve feet above the surface of the groimd.
In this way an area was inclosed of one hundred
and forty feet in length and one hundred and
thirty in width. Witliin the fortitication was in-
chided one frame dwelling-house and a well of
water. At diagonal comers of the inclosure were
erected two wings or bastions provided with port-
holes, from each of which two sides of the main
work could be guarded and raked by the rilles of
the company.

Information was received by Captain Whitcomb
that a family at Green Lake, in Monongalia county,
near the scenes visited by him in his expedition ti
til. t county, had made their e.-cape from the In-
dians, and taken refuge upon an island in the lake.
In attempting to rescue this family Captain Whit-
comb had a severe encounter with Indians found
in ambush near the line of Meeker county, and
after much skirmishing and a brisk engagement,
which proved very much to the disadvantage of
the Indians, they succeeded in effecting their es-
cape to the thickly -timbered region in the rear of
their first position. The members of the company
were nearly all experienced marksmen, and the
Springfield rifles in their hands proved very gall-
ing to the enemy. So anxious was the latter to
effect his retreat, that he left three of his dead
upon the ground. No loss was sustained on the
part of our troops, except a flesh-wound in the leg
received by one of the company. As it was
deemed uuadvisable to pursue the Indians into the
heavy timber with the small force at command, the
detachment fell back to their camp, arriving the
same evening.

On the following day, Captain Whitoomb,
taking with him twenty men from his company,
and twenty citizens who volunteered for the occa-
sion, proceeded on the same route taken the day
previous. With the increase in his forces he
expected to be able, without much difficulty, to
overcome the Indians previously encountered.
After proceeding about ten mUes from the camp,
their further progress was again disputed by the
Indians, who had likewise been reinforced since
their last encounter. Owing to the great superi-

ority of the enemy's forces, the Captain withdrew
his men. They tell gradually back, fighting
steadily on the retreat, and were pursued to within
four miles of the encampment. In this contest,
one Indian is known to have been killed. On the
part of the whites one horse and wagon got mired
in a slough, and had to be abandoned. No other
injury was suffered from the enemy; but two men
were wounded by the accidental discharge of a
gun in their own ranks.

A fortification was prepared, and the citizens,
with their families, were removed within the
inclosure. Captain Whitcomb quartered his com-
pany in the principal hotel of the place, and
guards were stationed for the night, while all the
men were directed to be prepared for any contin-
gency that might arise, and be in readiness for
usuig their arms at any moment.

Between 2 and 3 o'clock the following morning,
the guards discovered the appioach of Indians,
and gave the alarm. As soon as the savages per-
ceived that they were discovered, they uttered the
war-whoop, and poured a volley into the hotel
where the troops were quartered. The latter
iramediiitoly retired to the stockade, taking with
them all the ammunition and iquipments in their
possession. They had scarcely effected an en-
trance when fire was opened upon it from forty or
fifty Indian rifles. Owing to the darkness of the
morning, no distinct view could be obtained of the
enemy, and, in consequence, no very effective fire
could be opened upon him.

While one party of the Indians remained to keep
up a fire upon the fort and harass the gariison,
another portion was engaged in setting fire to
buildings and haystacks, while others, at the same
time, were engaged in collecting horses and cattle
found in the place, and driving them off. Occa-
sional glimpses could be obtained of those near
the fires, but as soon as a shot was fired at them
they would disappear in the darkness. Most of
the biiildings burned, however, were such a dis-
tance from the fort as to be out of range of the
guns of the garrison. The fire kept up from that
point prevented the near approach of the incen-
diary party, and by that means the principal part
of the town was saved from destruction. On one
occasion an effort was made to carry the flames
into a more central part of the town, and the
torches in the hands of the party were seen
approaching the office of A. C. Smith, Esq.
Directed by the light of the torches, a volley was

CAPTAIN STllOUrS I'AUVY ATTAC Kh'J).

227

poured into their midst from the fort, whereupon
the braves hastily abandoned their incendiary
implements and retreated from that (juarter of the
village. From signs of blood afterward found
upon the ground, some of the Indians were sup-
posed to have met the fate intended for them, but
no dead were left behind.

The fight continued, without other decided re-
sults, until about daylight, at which time the prin-
cipal part of the forces retired. As the light in-
creased, so that objects became discernible, a small
party of savages were observed engaged in dri-
ving oif a number of cattle. A portion of the
garrison, volunteering for the purpose, sallied
out to recover the stock, which they accomplish-
ed, with the loss of two men wounded, one of them
severely.

Tliis company had no further encounters with
the Indians, but afterward engaged in securing
the grain and other- property belonging to the set-
tlers who had abandoned, or been driven from, their
farms and homes. Nearly every settlement be-
tween Forest City and the western frontier had, by
this time, been deserted, and the whole country
was in the hands of the savages. In speaking of
his endeavors to save a portion of the property
thus abandoned, Captain Whitcomb, on the 7th of
September, wrote as follows :

'•It is only in their property that the inhabitants
can now be injured; the people have all fled.
The country is totally abandoned. Not an inhab-
itant remains in Meeker county, west of this place.
No white person (unless a captive) is now living
in Kandiyohi