Sketches of the history of Hutchinson

MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
VOL. X. PLATE III.

SKETCHES OF THE HISTORY OP HUTCHINSON.*

BY HON. WILLIAM W. PENDERGAST.

FOUNDING OF THE TOWN BY THE HUTCHINSON SINGERS.

The gradual decadence of the gold excitement which drew so
many thousands to California during the half dozen years suc-
ceeding the discovery of gold there in 1848, turned the tide of
migration toward the west borders of the Mississippi. Long trains
of west-bound travelers headed for Chicago every morning and
evening from New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. Chicago was
the great distributing point. There all stopped to catch their
breath and take their bearings, and the thirty-year-old city at the
head of lake Michigan seized the business which Chagres had
snatched during the California boom. She took advantage of
her opportunity, and also, I fear, of her innocent tenderfoot vic-
tims. The immense tidal wave was there divided. One branch
flowed southwest into "bleeding Kansas," following up Massa-
chusetts' "thirty thousand moral rifles," the war cry being "Free-
dom for Kansas." The other stream swept northwest to the
region of the "sky-tinted waters."

In the spring of 1855, I was caught up in Massachusetts and
swirled along in this mighty movement of restless humanity, but
not to the land of gold. Chicago, "the Garden City," was to be
my Ultima Thule, my firm abiding place, but

"The best laid schemes o' mice and men
Gang aft a-gley."

'Read at the monthly meeting of the Executive Council, February 11, 1901.

70 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

Two months later I was plodding my weary pilgrim way
through southern Minnesota, "spying out the land" and weighing
its future. It seemed to be a beautiful land, just as it came from
the hand of nature, and any farmer should have been satisfied
with a hundred and sixty acres of it. But I was told that a hun-
dred miles or more to the northwest, on the borders of the "Big
Woods," the soil was still better and the outlook even more allur-
ing. That promising, if not "promised," land I then and there
resolved to see before many moons had waxed and waned. The
trip I was then taking could not be prolonged, on account of work
awaiting me in Milwaukee and Chicago.

In October I started out on my second Minnesota trip, upon
which two weeks were spent in explorations to the north, east,
and south of the Falls of St. Anthony. By that time it was get-
ting too late for the survey of the Big Woods country, if the job
was to be a thorough one.

Fired with zeal for the new land, I went back as far as Mil-
waukee, and in a few days had the pleasure of hearing my old
friends, the Hutchinson family, from Milford, N. H., — Judson,
John, and Asa, — sing to a full house,

''We've come from the mountains of the old Granite State,"
and other inspiring songs, rendered as only they knew how. After
the concert, at my invitation they all promised to call on me the
next day, which they accordingly did. In our pleasant talk they
unfolded to me their plans for the future. They had started out to
sing their way through to Kansas, there to found a village, call it
Hutchinson, make homes for themselves, build up the town, join
the "Jayhawkers" and squelch the "Border Ruffians." Said I,
"Why not skip all that blood and poetry, go to Minnesota, the
most favored country on the earth, and found a city that you will
always be proud of?" "Have you been there?" they asked. "Yes."
Then question followed question, like shots from a Catling gun.
The answers were satisfactory, and led to the settlement of the
town of Hutchinson in McLeod county, Minnesota.

Hither many later immigrants have been attracted, and they
are now faithfully working shoulder to shoulder with the old tim-
ers, who have borne the burden and the heat of the day, to make
this what it certainly bids fair to become, the most charming and

HISTORY OF HUTCHNISON. 71

delightful, the most cozy and truly homelike place in the North-
west.

The result of the conference was an immediate change of
plans on the part of the Hutchinsons, who had in so short a time
become convinced that their horoscope had not been rightly inter-
preted. It was agreed that my cousin, Roswell H. Pendergast,
should go along with them, and that I should stay through the
winter, dispose of my photographing business, anid follow on the
first boat that should go through from Galena to St. Paul in the
spring of 1856. The objective point was some place in the charm-
ing region west of the Big Woods, to which allusion has already
been made. The exact spot was to be fixed upon by the Hutchin-
sons, their advance agent, E. E. Johnson, and R. H. Pendergast,
who went with them.

Having arrived at the little village on the west side of the
Mississippi adjoining the Falls of St. Anthony, they were lucky
enough to fall in with an educated and enterprising young civil
engineer, by the name of Lewis Harrington, who readily entered
into the spirit of their plans, and who without hesitation accepted
an earnest invitation to become a member of the company. Before
they left this little settlement, Col. John H. Stevens, its father, B.
E. Messer, an accomplished musician and former singing master,
John H. Chubb, a young bachelor from Whitehall, N. Y., Henry
Chambers, an unnaturalized Canadian, Lucius N. Parker, and
John Calef, were duly initiated into the fraternity.

November 16, 1855, the company, with two two-horse teams
and a week's supplies, sallied forth like Don Quixote, "in quest
of adventures." The general plan formulated at Milwaukee had
been talked over and deliberated upon till it was made more spe-
cific by fixing upon a favorable location on the Hassan river (now
called the South branch of the Crow river) northwest of Glencoe
as the most desirable place for the new settlement. There was a
good road as far as to Shakopee, which was at that time larger
than Minneapolis. There the first night was spent.

November 17. Without waiting for breakfast, so anxious
were they all to get a glimpse of the town of which they were to
be the fathers, they started out betimes in the morning, and,
crossing the ferry five miles farther up the Minnesota, reached

72 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

Carver in season for breakfast. From Carver the road, if the
straggling path made through the woods by the Glencoe settlers
earlier in the season could be dignified by such a name, suddenly
became much worse. Numerous stumps, deep ruts, and deeper
chuck-holes, mud and fallen trees, opposed their passage.

Nightfall found them weary and way-worn, with the aspect
of "the knight of the sorrowful countenance/' their horses jaded,
and with a bag of game consisting of a brace of ducks, three
partridges, a solitary rabbit, and a squirrel, on the banks of a
small stream two or three miles east of the present site of Young
America, and eleven miles from Carver. By this stream they
prepared to camp for the night. The game was soon skinned,
dressed, roasted, and disposed of in the most hearty if not the
most approved style; and no dinner at the West Hotel, nor even
at Delmonico's, was ever better enjoyed.

November 18. At daylight the camp was astir. After a
"picked upv breakfast, the tent was struck and the pilgrims were
moving toward their Mecca. A couple of partridges roasted be-
fore an improvised fire, with a pound or two of hardtack, served
for dinner. Buffalo creek was crossed before sunset, Chambers
going ahead and breaking the ice with his feet. As the water was
three feet deep and Glencoe five miles away, he unwillingly admit-
ted that he got but little fun out of this operation.

Over a smoother way better time was now made, and twilight
found our explorers on the outmost verge of civilization. They
would have had to push their way 2,000 miles farther unless they
changed their course, before reaching another town or meeting a
white man.

Doty's Hotel, a one-story log building "with all the modern
improvements," offered them a welcome, a shelter and first-class
accommodations at first-class rates, and there they ensconced
themselves for the night.

November 19. With A. J. Bell, a Glencoe surveyor, for a
guide, the line of march was resumed. As the road they had been
following ended at Glancoe, the scattered groves were the only
landmarks. They struck the Hassan river at the bend near the
spot where Philip Busson, the Frenchman, now lives. Here was
a delightful grove, resplendent with the gorgeous hues of a Min-
nesota Indian summer. The air was crisp and invigorating. The
scene was charming, and the party would willingly have taber-

HISTORY OF HUTCHNISON. 73

nacled there. The sky, the earth, the air, the overarching trees,
the shimmering stream, the fertile soil, were so many Circes woo-
ing them to stay.

Thanks, however, to Mr. Bell, who assured them that there
was a better place six miles farther up the river, the company, af-
ter a few deep-drawn sighs, reluctantly moved on, some on foot,
and some riding in the wagons, these being the first to reach the
"promised land." While they were pitching their tents, at the
edge of the grove west of the place now occupied by the Catholic
parsonage, Parker went back with one of the teams to meet the
rest of the party. When the last straggler was picked up and
brought in and all were seated in Turkish fashion round the
crackling camp-fire, they with one voice declared that spot the
most beautiful and attractive they had ever seen. The charming
woods, the winding sweep of the crystal river, the range of cir-
cling bluffs beyond, the smooth lawnlike slope from forest to
stream, the autumnal robings of shrubs and trees and creeping
vines, the bewildering beauty of the whole view, all combined to
awaken their enthusiasm, stir their blood, and set every nerve to
tingling with delight, while Hope was busy with her brush and
easel painting bright visions of the future.

Messer, the poet, the artist, the optimist, the dreamer par
excellence of the company, which was divided about equally be-
tween poets, artists, optimists, and dreamers, on the one side, and
plain practical men on the other, seized his fiddle, which was never
far from his person, and struck up "The Star Spangled Banner."
The Hutchinsons, and all who could sing, "joined in." For the
first time since "the morning stars sang together," grand strains
of heavenly harmony echoed through the listening groves, and
finally died away on the range of circling bluffs beyond the dis-
tant river.

ADOPTION OF A CONSTITUTION'.

November 20, a business meeting was held in the tent. Col.
J. H. Stevens was chosen president ; B. E. Messer, secretary ; and
A. J. Bell, Lewis Harrington, Asa B. Hutchinson, B. E. Messer,
and J. H. Stevens, a committee to draft a constitution and by-
laws. They then adjourned to meet at Glencoe the next morning.
November 21, the company met according to adjournment, and

74 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

»

adopted articles of agreement, which were substantially as fol-
lows :

1. There shall be two town sites, each containing 320 acres:
Harmony, to be located on the south half of section 31, township
117, range 29; and Hutchinson, on the north half of section 6,
township 1 1 6, range 29.

2. The two sites shall be divided into 100 shares.

3. The Hutchinsons shall each have ten shares. Each of
the eleven men with them shall have five shares. The remain-
ing fifteen shares shall be disposed of by the Hutchinsons as they
think best.

4. The river shall continue to be called by its Indian name
Hassan (Leaf).

5. L. Harrington, R. H. Pendergast, and Henry Chambers,
were appointed to do the business of the company, and dispose of
lots to actual settlers.

6. Special meetings shall be held at any time on the written
request of three shareholders.

7. Any shareholder neglecting to pay authorized assess-
ments shall forfeit his stock.

8. It was voted to employ L. Harrington to survey the two
sites, his compensation being $380.

9. Five acres were set apart for "Humanity's Church."

10. Fifteen acres were set aside for a park (afterward in-
creased to twenty-two acres).

11. Eight lots were reserved for educational purposes.

12. It was solemnly decreed that "in the future of Hutchin-
son, woman shall enjoy equal rights with man."

13. "No lot shall ever be occupied by any building used as
a saloon, bowling alley, or billiard room, on penalty of forfeiture
of the lot."

The next morning the company set out on their return to
Minneapolis.

During the winter Messrs. Harrington and Bell surveyed the
town site, Harrington really doing all the business connected with
the survey, though he and Bell took the contract together.

PIONEER REMINISCENCES.

Agreeably to my promise made the fall before, I left Milwau-

HISTORY OF HUTCHNISON. 75

kee on the nth of April, 1856, for Hutchinson. My father and
brother (T. H.), a cousin (Solomon Pendergast) now at Sauk
Center, T. B. Chesley, and six others, had come out from New
Hampshire to go with me. We reached Read's Landing, at the
foot of lake Pepin, on the I4th. There we waited two days for
the ice to break up, when, tired of "hope deferred," we walked
round the lake thirty miles over a muddy road to Wacouta, where
we found the Time and Tide, one of Louis Robert's boats, with
steam up ready to take us to St. Paul. This steaming up we
found was only a trick to make us buy tickets at once. It was
played several times before the boat finally started.

We landed at St. Paul on the I7th, and took passage on the
Reveille for Carver. On the morning of the i8th we all left on
foot for Young America, where we staid that night, sleeping four
in a bed wedged in like smelts. The next day hard walking began
to tell on the older members of the party ; and the three young
Pendergasts, Chesley, Atherton, and Glass, soon left the others
out of sight. At Glencoe they got a lunch and pushed on, follow-
ing directions received from some men who thought they knew
the way. At nightfall we camped by a lake six miles out and a
mile or so east of the present Hutchinson and Glencoe road. We
had no blankets, no tent, and no food, except a few pieces of hard-
tack bought at Carver the day before.

Solomon, however, shot a goose near the shore of the lake,
but, as bad luck would have it, she flew out to the middle of the
lake before falling. Here was a "pretty kettle of fish." I prepared
half a dozen little sticks and tried to get the others to draw, in or-
der to decide which one of us should swim out and get her. It
was forty rods to where she lay. The ground was beginning
to freeze around the edge of the lake, and little needles of ice
were shooting out from the shore over the still water. There was
nothing alluring to be seen, except the goose floating on the bosom
of the lake at what seemed a long distance away. It was not a
tempting bait under the circumstances. No one would draw a
stick. Disgusted with what seemed to me their cowardice, I went
around to the opposite side of the lake, as the goose looked near-
er that shore, and plunged into the ice-cold water. On reaching
the goose and looking around to take my bearings, the camp
looked as near as the shore I had left ; so, taking the goose's neck-
in my mouth, I paddled towards the fire, which had been kindled

76 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

under a big oak and looked very comfortable, but which at the
time did me very little good. The water was lighted up more
than it was warmed by the blaze. Nearly benumbed, I landed
with the trophy, only to find that my thick woolen stockings had
been burned in my absence by one of the boys who through kind-
ness had undertaken to dry them before the fire. In three hours
the goose was dressed and roasted. A half hour later every bone
was picked as clean as a mounted skeleton. This done, we lay
down on the bare ground, with some sticks and brush above and
the stars twinkling through the impromptu lattice work. There
and thus we slept the sleep of "Innocents Abroad."

At noon of the 2Oth we surprised Roswell and four compan-
ions named Gray, Whitney, Failing, and Hook (from whom lake
Hook got its name), wrho were holding possession of the J. E.
Chesley hut, which stood a few rods from the southeast corner
of the town site. Mr. Chesley, finding provisions running low,
had gone to St. Paul to replenish his stock. That evening the
rest of our company arrived, and, taking us all together, it must
be admitted that as "famine breeders" wre were a decided suc-
cess. The visible supply of food, which consisted of about twenty
pounds of flour, totally disappeared in two days. A bushel of po-
tatoes, which had been procured for seed, lasted but little longer.
A two-bushel sack of horse feed that stood in one corner of the
room was not quite so quickly disposed of. It was ground coarse,
the hulls were rough and plowed furrows broad and deep from
one end of the oesophagus to the other. 'We made mush of this,
and sweetened it with Hassan river water. After each meal we
devoutly thanked the Lord for ground feed, and felt grateful that
it "was as well with us as it was."

After a few days Mr. Chesley came back with scant sup-
plies for so many, and then he and I started back to St. Paul im-
mediately on foot, bought four yoke of oxen, a wagon, and a
load of goods, including a big breaking plow. After two weeks
of hard struggling over stumps, through mire-holes and mud
lakes, WTC crossed the Hassan once more, plowed the first field, and
harvested the first crop ever raised in the entire Hassan valley.
The grasshoppers, however, which came in countless swarms
about the first of July, left little harvesting for us to do.

HISTORY OF HUTCHNISON. 77

THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1856.

On July 4th, no other celebration having been planned, a bear
hunt was improvised for the occasion, which resulted in killing
a huge old bruin, weighing 400 pounds. From the departure of
the hunters to the return with the laurels of victory, the watches
measured little more than an hour, for the game was in a grove
only half a mile away. This was the first Independence Day cel-
ebration west of the Big Woods.

COST OF LIVING IN THE WINTER OF 1857-58.

Here is the record for the three months of my second winter
in Hutchinson, taken from the expense book of seven who kept
"old bachelors' hall" together in the village. It was the most
high-toned place there during that winter.

Flour, $y2 barrels $66.00

Beef, 257 pounds 25 . 70

Potatoes, 7 bushels ... 7 . oo

Corn meal, 240 Ibs . . . . 9 . 60

Syrup, 8 gallons 8 . oo

Candles, 20 Ibs 5 . oo

Beans, 2 bushels 4 . oo

Rice, 12 Ibs . . 1.56

Pepper, 6 papers .60

Suet, 6 Ibs i . oo

Butter, 3 Ibs 1.05

Buckwheat, 15 Ibs. . .90

Salt, 14 Ibs .90

Soap, 3 Ibs .45

Cream of tarter, y2 Ib. .35

Saleratus, 9 Ibs . . '. 1.35

Total $i33-46

Cost per man a week. . . $i .46

FIRST TOWN MEETING.

At the first town meeting, May 11, 1858, forty-eight votes
were cast. Four townships voted at Hutchinson, the north two
casting 26 votes, and the south two 22 votes.

78 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION.

In the spring and early summer of 1858, a steamboat, twenty
by sixty feet in size, was built to run on the Hassan, Crow, and
Mississippi rivers to Minneapolis. It made the down trip with-
out much trouble, but never returned. The owners got a chance
to sell it to ply on the Mississippi between Minneapolis and St.
Cloud. The water of the Hassan river was so high that a steam-
er could have run from Hutchinson to Minneapolis the first five
years without much difficulty.

SCARCITY OF FOOD.

Provisions were very scarce in the spring of 1858. Some
families had lived through the winter on potatoes and slippery
elm bark. But the middle of May found the Hassan alive with
buffalo fishes, and the marshes were yellow with the flowers of
cowslips ; so for a while there was plenty and variety. Those who
were too lazy to pick greens went fishing. The fish could be
boiled, baked, stewed, or fried; but, whichever way was chosen,
the flavoring was always the same, pure Hassan river water. It
took a connoisseur to decide which style of cooking had been
adopted. Most of the people got their living in a way that may
well be pronounced "scaly."

MAIL CARRIERS.

The contract for carrying the mail between Minneapolis and
Hutchinson once a week was let this spring to Messrs. Sumner and
Parshall. Previous to this, the young men had taken turns in car-
rying it on their shoulders. T. H. Pendergast's turn came round
almost every week, as he was the most willing and the best walker.

THE SIOUX OUTBREAK.

On Saturday, the i6th day of August, 1862, nine men, in-
cluding myself, set out for Fort Snelling to enlist. Their names
were G. T. Belden, William Gosnell, W. H. Harrington, John
Hartwig, J. T. Higgins, Andrew A. Hopper, Charles M. Horton,
Charles Stahl, and W. W. Pendergast. The next Monday Capt.

HISTORY OF HUTCHNISON. 79

George C. Whitcomb arrived in town from Forest City, with the
startling news that the Indians were "on the rampage," that Rob-
inson Jones and Howard Baker and their families had been killed
at Acton the day before, and that all the settlers west of us were
likely to be massacred. Tuesday morning the captain was in St.
Paul, laying the facts before Governor Ramsey and Adjutant
General Malmros, both of whom went at once to Fort Snelling.
The governor inquired of me about the danger of an Indian out-
break, but I could not confirm the report from Acton, and in fact
did not believe it. Soon, however, a cour;<er from the upper Min-
nesota river came in with the news that Capt. John S. Marsh and
more than half his company had been killed while crossing the
river. There was no longer room for doubt.

Our Hutchinson boys had not enlisted, so we all determined
to go back and defend our own hearthstones. Captain Whitcomb
came with us, having succeeded in getting seventy-five Springfield
muskets and three boxes of cartridges, amounting to 3,000 rounds
of ammunition. We reached Glencoe the second night, having
impressed three teams and two men at Shakopee to haul us ana
the ammunition. It was seventeen miles from Glencoe to Hutch-
inson. I determined to walk home that night and Mr. Gosnell
offered to come with me. The offer was gladly accepted.

Arriving at home at two o'clock in the morning, we found
at our house twenty-six refugees who had escaped from the
Upper Sioux Agency under the gufdance of John Other Day ; and
we learned that other refugees were at Harrington's, Belden's,
Putnam's, and one or two other places, the whole number being
about fifty. All of them left that morning, on Frfday, August
22nd, for the more eastern settlements.

Captain Whitcomb, with the teams and military supplies, ar-
rived the same day. A company of Home Guards was soon or-
ganized, Lewis Harrington being the captain, Oliver Pierce and
Andrew Hopper, lieutenants, and W. W. Pendergast, orderly
sergeant. A stockade 100 feet square was constructed in twelve,
days. Then came the battle on the road from Acton to Hutch-
inson, where Capt. Richard Strout's company was beset by 300
Sioux who had been lying in ambush for them.. Captain Strout
managed to get away and come to Hutchinson, with twenty-three
men wounded, and leaving three dead on the field.

That night these Indians attempted to surprise us; but they

80 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

were halted at the bridge by our sentinels. Instantly all was bus-
tle and activity at the garrison. Officers and men were on the
alert. In every direction shadowy forms might be seen moving
about in the darkness, peering to catch, if possible, a glimpse of
the approaching foe. After half an hour's bootless search, no
further cause of alarm being discovered, the camp once more re-
lapsed to silence, which was not again disturbed.

THE ATTACK AT HUTCHINSON.

The fourth of September opened bright and beautiful. No
sign of Indians was anywhere visible, yet most of the men deter-
mined not to leave the fort. A few Germans, however, thinking
the enemy had gone off in some other direction, concluded to go out
to their farms and try to save some of their wheat, which during
these troublesome times had been sadly neglected. Six or seven
of them started about seven o'clock for their homes in Acoma, and
had just reached the point where the road turns to the right to as-
cend the bluff near Peter Geoghegan's field. Old Mr. Heller was
walking a few rods in advance of the team, when a volley was
fired from the brow of the hill and Heller was severely wounded
in the hip. The horses were quickly wheeled about, the wounded
man was helped into the wagon, and the half mile that lay be-
tween them and the fort was made in less time than ever before or
since.

When the Germans were leaving for their farms, Howard
McEwen volunteered to go to the house of W. W. Pendergast,
on the bluff at the edge of the woods, east of Albert Langbecker's
residence, to get some delicacies for the wounded soldiers of
Strout's company. He had found the articles and started back,
but in passing through one of the rooms he noticed a book on the
mantel-piece, and stopped to look it through. While thus en-
gaged, he was startled by the firing at Mr. Heller, and, in looking
out of the window, saw the hill to the west covered with Indians.
Though he knew that his safety depended on reaching the bridge
in advance of the Indians, who were following the Germans up as
fast as they could, still he did not forget his errand. Gathering
up his jellies and preserves, he hastened down the hill and got in-
to the town safely.

Soon the Indians were seen circling around the town in all

HISTORY OF HUTCHNISON. 81

directions, except to the south. From the point where they were
first seen to Chesley's, at the southeast corner of the town, there
was a continuous line of them, while through the woods at the
west their dark forms were occasionally seen gliding from one tree
or thicket to another.

At the commencement of the attack, about eight o'clock, Wil-
liam H. Ensign mounted "old Selim," and, with hat in hand and
hair streaming in the wind, dashed away toward Glencoe for re-
inforcements.

Levi Chesley and a boy by the name of William Wright ( son
of E. G. Wright, who married Eliza Chesley) were at the farm
taking care of the stock, having left us an hour before for that pur-
pose. Warned of approaching clanger by the sound of the guns,
they looked out of the barn and saw retreat to the town was al-
ready cut off, and that the Indians were close upon them. To
bridle the best two horses and jump upon their backs was the
work of a moment. In another moment they were scouring across
the prairie at breakneck speed, with half a dozen Indians at their
heels. Soon all but two who had the swiftest ponies were dis-
tanced. These two followed nearly half way to Glencoe, when,
finding themselves gradually losing ground, they suddenly faced
about and returned to Hutchinson to join their companions.

Seeing the preparations that had been made for their recep-
tion in the center of the town, the Indians amused themselves for
a while by setting fire to the buildings on the outskirts. The torch
was first applied to the house of Dr. Benjamin, as that stood
farthest out of town to the northwest. The next one fired was
that of W. W. Pendergast. Next was the academy, and while
the flames were slowly creeping up the southwest corner of this
building its bell was vigorously rung as an alarm. Then followed
other houses on the bluff, Kittredge's, Welton's, Pierce's and
Chesley's. On the south side Solomon Pendergast's, J. H. Chubb's,
and several smaller ones, shared the same fate.

During this time the twenty-three wounded men of Captain
Strout's company were carried from the hotel to a place of great-
er safety, but less comfort, inside the fort.

It was interesting to note the altered behavior of the Indians
when they came in sight of the stockade. As soon as the first
volley was fired upon the German farmers, they set up a fearful

82 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

war cry, and came up over the bluff whooping and yelling as only
wild Indians can ; but when their eyes caught sight of the fort, the
trench around it, and armed men prepared to defend it, they stood
for a moment dumbfounded. But relying upon their superior num-
bers, and remembering how the whites had so far everywhere fled
before them, they commenced to put their preconcerted plan into
execution.

This was to make a vigorous attack from the north, at which
all the inhabitants were expected to retreat toward St. Paul, just
as they did at Yellow Medicine. To make their victory more com-
plete, about a third of their number were placed in ambush along
the border of the grove that skirts the road to Glencoe all the way
from the town to the Hutchinson hill. It was thought that while
the victorious Indians were pressing the fugitives from behind and
driving them like a flock of frightened sheep, those in ambuscade
would pour in a deadly fire upon them, soon make clean work of
it, and carry off, with little trouble or danger to themselves, an
abundant harvest of scalps.

But the people here, as the Indians soon found, had no notion
of retreating, and were determined to give them ball for ball.
The Hutchinson Guards, without consulting Captain Strout, took
the places previously assigned to them, Captain Harrington and
his fifteen men on the west of the fort, Lieutenant Hopper and
his men on the east, Pierce at the south, and Pendergast at the
north. We were thus advancing upon the Indians in four differ-
ent directions for the purpose of protecting the buildings and sav-
ing the cattle and horses, which were being stolen by dozens be-
fore our eyes, when Captain Strout, seeing what was going on
and fearing for the safety of the fort, assumed command of the
Hutchinson company and the entire fort, and issued a peremptory
order that all should return within the stockade, which most of
the men obeyed.

A few refused to recognize Strout's authority, notably Cap-
tain Harrington, Lieutenants Pierce and Hopper, Orderly Pen-
dergast, Andrew Hopper, H. McEwen, W. Putnam, G. T. Belden,
D. Sivright, William Cook, S. Dearborn, D. Cross, Amos James,
H. Harrington, and perhaps one or two others ; and these fought
through the day each on his own hook, as indeed all did after a
short time.

Lieutenant Hopper got near enough to an Indian near the

HISTORY OF HUTCHNISON. 83

sawmill to make him "bite the dust ;" and Cross was equally for-
tunate east of the fort. He and one lone Indian had a regular
duel, firing three shots apiece, until the last shot of Cross killed his
antagonist. In each case the other Indians near at hand caught up
the body and carried it off the field.

Andrew A. Hopper, H. Harrington, G. T. Belden, and H.
McEwen, firing from the chamber of Sumner s Hotel (the Hart-
man House), repelled the enemy from that direction.

Earlier in the day, S. Dearborn, Andrew Hopper, and W. W.
Pendergast, went down nearly to the river, because many of the
redskins were on the other bank, dividing their time between steal-
ing horses and firing at the men on the south side. Taking their
stations behind some logs that were scattered along the riverside,
and behind ginseng frames that Sumner had piled up there, they
popped away for half an hour. The effect was not known, as the
grass was tall there, and as it was the custom of the Indians to
fall whenever a shot was fired in their direction, whether hit or
not. At any rate, they retired to a respectful distance, and the
three sought other fields of usefulness.

Howard McEwen distinguished himself by going from the
fort over to Sumner's barn, when the balls were flying thickest,
and bringing back Sivright's double harness. When asked what
he did that for, he said that the barn was likely to be burned, that
they wanted Sivright's mules to take the women out with after
the fight, and that this was the only harness he knew of that could
be saved.

About noon when the fort was surrounded by a circle of fire
from the smouldering buildings, the Sioux made a desperate ef-
fort to advance from the grove on the west to set fire to the build-
ings that remained between them and the stockade. Sumner then
offered a pair of boots to every man who would go to his store,
on the west side of Main street, and bring over a back-load of
goods. Several of the younger men volunteered, and a dozen
loads were safely stored in the fort within as many minutes. No
one was hurt, but a bullet hit the pack which C. M. Horton was
carrying, and was picked out of one of the boots that composed
his load.

There were several "close calls" during the day's fight, but
no one in or about the fort actually received any injury. The
shooting was mostly at long range. Amos James was wounded

84 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

by a spent ball, splintering the stock of the gun which he held in
his hand. Bullets perforated the buildings inside the stockade,
as well as those that were occupied and defended ; but on the part
of the garrison it was a bloodless fight.

Some of the Indians who fought here were afterwards taken
prisoners by General Sibley, and they acknowledged a loss of
four killed and fifteen wounded at Hutchinson on that 4th of
September.

RETREAT AND COUNCIL OF THE SIOUX.

About four o'clock in the afternoon the firing began to grow
weaker, and it was soon noticed that the enemy were disappearing
from the north, east, and south, and were retreating toward the
west. Soon afterward a company of about forty soldiers were
seen approaching from the direction of Glencoe. These were
reinforcements that Ensign had succeeded in obtaining. He went
first to Glencoe, but found so few men left there that none could
be spared. He heard, howrever, that a small company of infantry
and cavalry was stationed at lake Addie, twelve miles distant to
the west. Proceeding at once to that place, he found the soldiers
and prevailed on them to march to the relief of Hutchinson, and
they were the men who arrived just after the close of the battle.

It is very probable that the Indians observed them long be-
fore they were seen from the garrison, and that they withdrew
for that reason. They had already sent back a dozen teams, more
or less, loaded with household goods and other valuables plund-
ered from the houses which they burned in the morning.

Many persons who had come into the fort left their wagons
and harnesses at home, and their horses and cattle on the prairie.
The Indians gathered all the oxen and horses they could lay their
hands to, and hitched them to the wagons which they found, so
that there was no lack of teams to transport their plunder.
They shot other horses and cattle that came within range, to the
number of about a hundred.

On reaching Otter lake, they stopped and held a council of
war. Some were in favor of resting there a few hours, and then,
under cover of the night, to come back and take the people by
surprise. They argued that our men, thinking they had fled and
that our victory was complete, would set no pickets, that the fort

HISTORY OF HUTCHNISON. 85

might be fired in a dozen places before the alarm would be sound-
ed, and that amid the darkness and confusion they could make
short work of massacring the entire garrison.

But wiser councils prevailed. The older men said that, as
they failed to surprise us on the night before, so they would fail
again ; that the preparations we had made to receive them, the
painstaking and skill manifested in the fortifications, and the
good judgment shown in their location, where they could not
come up from any direction without exposing themselves to al-
most certain death, all went to prove that the Hutch in son men
were wary and cautious, and not to be easily caught napping.
They thought the best way for them was to leave with the plunder
they had obtained, and to try their luck somewhere else at sur-
prises. So the proposed night attack was given up.

This matter of the consultation at Otter lake was learned
from the Indian prisoners at Beaver Falls. In point of fact, there
would have been no chance for a successful night attack. A
double guard was kept up around the fort all night long; and,
with the additional forty men and the extra ammunition they
brought with them, the fort could have been held, and would have
been held, against a thousand such assailants.

MURDER OF GERMAN SETTLERS WEST OF HUTCHINSON.

Two Germans, by the name of Bilke and Spaude, were at
this time living on the farm where old Mr. Sitz now resides, a
few miles up the river, in the town of Lynn. They refused to
come into the fort, because, they said, they had always treated
the Indians well, and the Indians were never forgetful of kind-
ness shown them. They did not anticipate any injuries, and could
not be made to see their danger.

But when, on the morning of the fight at Hutchinson, a few
Indians came to their house while the families were at breakfast,
and in a threatening manner demanded a meal, they began to
think they would be safer in the fort. While their guests were
causing their bread and meat and potatoes to disappear with
marvelous rapidity, they hastened to yoke the oxen and hitch
them to the wagon. This done, both families got aboard and
started across the river on the way to the town. They had gone
but a few rods, however, when the Indians came out of the house

86 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

and fired, wounding Spaude in the leg. He whipped up his team
and set them to running at the top of their speed, the Indians
yelling and pursuing. In this way they dashed down the bank
into the river, and there Spaude was shot again, and fell into the
middle of the stream, where the body was found the next day.

Bilke and the women and children now leaped from the
wagon, and took refuge in the tall grass on the north side of the
river, at this place six or seven feet high. While the Indians who
were following them stopped to scalp Spaude, the others managed
to conceal themselves from view and were not discovered. It
has always been a matter of wonder that they succeeded in escap-
ing as they did ; but doubtless the Indians thought that they had
guns with them, and that if any one should happen to stumble
upon their hiding place it would be at the expense of his life.
They could see the grass quiver where the Indians went along,
but so far they were safe. Mrs. Spaude prevented her two-year-
old baby from betraying with its cries their place of concealment
by pressing her hand upon its mouth.

As soon as they found the coast in a measure clear, the two
families separated. Mrs. Spaude recrossed the river with the
baby and a five-year-old child, and, crouching and picking their
way along in the tallest grass, they made their toilsome way
around the south end of Otter lake, and along the edge of the
woods, till they reached the corner of Mr. Hutchinson's field, in
sight of the fort, a little after noon, when they were seen and
killed by the attacking Indians. When picked up at evening, their
faces were entirely shot away, the muzzles of the guns having
been held but a few inches away when they were fired.

Mrs. Bilke, with three children, remained longer concealed
in the grass, and at last made her way to a vacant log-house near
the river on the north side, where they staid over night, and where
they were found the next day and brought to the town. Mr.
Bilke, clad only in a checked hickory shirt, after meeting innumer-
able troubles and dangers, finally reached the town just after the
Indians left. He had divested himself of one piece of clothing
after another, so as to run faster; had been all day surrounded
by his enemies ; had dodged this way and that, to avoid them ; and
unscathed had now got where he could take a long breath and
feel safe.

HISTORY OF HUTCHNISON. 87

SERVICE OF THE HUTCHINSON GUARDS.

On the 22cl of September the Hutchinson Guards, having
been already recognized by the State as a regular military organ-
ization, were sworn into the service, their time commencing
August 23, 1862. They were on duty seventy days, to the first
of November.

Lieut. Oliver Pierce, Frank G. Jewett, and David Cross, left
Hutchinson on September 23d, to look up a man named Sanborn
who had not been seen for several days. They first visited Mr.
Webb's house, eight miles distant to the northwest, which they
found to have been ransacked. The next stop was at Dr. Ken-
nedy's, where all was topsy-turvy. Surgical instruments, bottles
of medicine, pills, plasters, and potions, lay scattered in inextri-
cable confusion. Tincture bottles were found empty. Jars of speci-
mens preserved in alcohol had been drained to the last drop, and
all the doctor's collections of rare and interesting entomological,
vermiculous, and batrachoid curiosities were in the last stages of
decay. The Indians have a deep and abiding faith in fire-water,
and look upon the wasting of the smallest quantity as a calamity.
They doubtless got some doses this time that were long remem-
bered. '

From Kennedy's the men were walking along, slowly and
carefully examining the ground, when suddenly three guns were
fired, almost at the same instant, and Cross fell to the ground,
pierced by a bullet through the heart. He died immediately. The
others thought to bring the body back with them, but the Indians
were upon them and they had to fight their way to the team,
which they made good use of. It did not take their foes more
than a minute or two to mount and give chase, and never had
that region witnessed such a race. The driver, Pierce, urged the
horses to the top of their speed ; and thirteen Sioux, on their
ponies, were crowding them closely, with Cross's scalp hoisted
on a pole for a battle flag. Jewett sat in the rear of the wagon,
with his legs dangling down, loading and firing as fast as the
swaying and jolting permitted ; and the leaders of the chase gave
back shot for shot. Three or four at last gave up and turned
back. . One got to the front, and a well-directed shot unhorsed
him. This ended the pursuit. The next day another party went
out and brought in the bodies of both Cross and Sanborn, the

88 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.

latter having been brained with a grub-hoe and left where he fell.
No other stirring event occurred till the following July, when
Little Crow was killed about six miles north of Hutchinson.

THE KILLING OF LITTLE CROW.

On the morning of July 3, 1863, Nathan Lamson and his son
Chauncey left Hutchinson for their home in the north part of the
town, about five miles away, to look after their stock. All being-
found as they left it a few weeks before, they started out near
evening to hunt for a deer. While they were stealing carefully
along a dim path or trail, leading northwestward, the old man's
quick eye caught sight of something moving in the bushes a few
rods beyond them. Peering through the thicket, he saw two
Indians, a middle-aged man (afterward ascertained to be Little
Crow) and a boy (his son Wowinapa) of about sixteen years,
picking raspberries which were abundant and ripe.

Mr. Lamson thought this too good a chance to lose. Creep-
ing to a poplar tree which stood near, he rested his gun against
the trunk and fired, wounding Little Crow in the side. He did
not fall, but, looking around, saw his assailant, and in an instant
sent a bullet thrcrgh the fleshy part of Mr. Lamson's left shoul-
der. Chauncey then advanced toward Little Crow, following the
rather blind trail around the raspberry patch toward the north-
west, while his father dropped to the ground to reload. Little
Crow, evidently thinking him killed, seized his son's rifle and
moved along the bush-skirted path toward Chauncey. They saw
each other and fired at the same moment. Only one report was
heard by either Chauncey or his father. Little Crow fell mortally
wounded by a bullet through his breast, and Chauncey felt the
wind upon his cheek as the other ball passed harmlessly by.

Supposing his father to have been killed, and fearing lest
other Indians might be near, Chauncey hurried to give the alarm
in Hutchinson, and reached there about ten o'clock that evening.
His mother, nearly distracted, begged the men at the fort to go in
search of her husband. William Gosnell was the first to vounteer.
Birney Lamson, the old man's youngest son, a Frenchman by the
name of Le Maitre, and two or three other citizens followed.
They, with six mounted men of the Goodhue County Tigers, who
were stationed at Hutchinson, set out immediately, and reached

HISTORY OF HUTCHNISON. 89

Lamson's house a little past midnight, where they rested about
three hours. At the beginning of dawn, they resumed their march.
They went north one mile to the woods path before mentioned,
and turning to the west followed it about half a mile, when they
came to the body of Little Crow stretched out at length on the
ground about six rods from the spot where young Lamson deliv-
ered the fatal shot.

Nathan Lamson's white shirt and his gun were found in a
plum grove near by, but the owner was not to be seen. On the
return of the party to Hutchinson, however, he was among the
first to welcome them. He had thrown away his shirt, thinking
that its color might attract the notice of the foe, and his gun was
left because he was not able, in reloading, to get the ball down
more than nine inches from the muzzle, so that he feared it would
burst if he attempted to fire it. In his trepidation he had filled
the barrel nearly full in loading it direct from the powder flask.
He had lain concealed in the thicket until nightfall, and then,
leaving his shirt and gun, had made his way to Hutchinson, arriv-
ing about two o'clock in the morning.

Wowinapa, escaping and returning to rejoin the Sioux in
Dakota, was captured twenty-six days later by a party of our
soldiers near Devil's lake. His statement, as published by Heard
and by Bryant and Murch in their books on the Sioux outbreak
and war, proved that the Indian thus shot near Hutchinson was
Little Crow, who had been the chief orator and plotter for the
massacre of the frontier settlers less than a year before.

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