FOOTNOTES:
[1] Bishop Gilbert died within a few months.
RAILROADS.
In the year 1857, on the third day of March, the congress of the United States made an extensive grant of lands to the territory to aid in the construction of railroads. It consisted of every alternate section of land, designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width, on each side of the roads specified, and their branches. The grant mapped out a complete system of roads for the territory, and provided that the land granted for each road should be applied exclusively to such road, and no other purpose whatever. The lines designated in the granting act were as follows:
From Stillwater, by the way of St. Paul and St. Anthony to a point between the foot of Big Stone lake and the mouth of the Sioux Wood river, with a branch via St. Cloud and Crow Wing to the navigable waters of the Red River of the North, at such point as the legislature of the territory may determine.
From St. Paul and from St. Anthony via Minneapolis to a convenient point of junction west of the Mississippi to the southern boundary of the territory, in the direction of the mouth of the Big Sioux river, with a branch via Faribault to the north line of the state of Iowa, west of range 16.
From Winona via St. Peter to a point on the Big Sioux river, south of the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude.
Also from La Crescent via Target lake up the valley of the Root river, to a point east of range 17.
The territory or future state was authorized to sell one hundred and twenty sections of this land whenever twenty continuous miles of any of the roads or branches was completed,—the land so sold to be contiguous to the completed road. The right of way or road bed of any of the subsidized roads was also granted through any of the government lands. The roads were all to be completed within ten years, and if any of them were not finished by that time the lands applicable to the unfinished portions were to revert to the government. The lands granted by this act amounted to about 4,500,000 acres. An act was subsequently passed on March 2, 1865, increasing the grant to ten sections to the mile. Various other grants were made at different times, but they do not bear upon the subject I am about to present.
This grant came at a time of great financial depression, and when the territory was about to change its dependent condition for that of a sovereign state in the Union. It was greeted as a means of relief that might lift the territory out of its financial troubles, and insure its immediate prosperity. The people did not take into consideration the fact that the lands embraced in the grant, although as good as any in the world, were remote from the habitation of man, lying in a country absolutely bankrupt, and possessing no present value whatever. Nor did they consider that the whole country was laboring under such financial depression that all public enterprises were paralyzed; but such was, unfortunately, the monetary and business condition.
On the twenty-third of February, 1857, an act had passed the congress of the United States authorizing the people of Minnesota to form a constitution preparatory to becoming a state in the Union. Gen. Willis A. Gorman, who was then governor of the territory, called a special session of the legislature to take into consideration measures to carry out the land grant and enabling acts. The extra session convened on April 27th. In the meantime Governor Gorman's term of office had expired, and Samuel Medary of Ohio had been appointed as his successor, and had assumed the duties of his office. He opened the extra session with an appropriate message. The extra session adjourned on the 23d of May, and in accordance with the provisions of the enabling act of congress, an election was held on the first Monday in June for delegates to a constitutional convention, which was to assemble at the capitol on the second Monday in July. The constitutional convention is an event in the history of Minnesota sufficiently important and unique to entitle it to special treatment, which will be given hereafter.
An act was passed at the extra session, on the 19th day of May, 1857, by which the grant of lands made to the territory was formally accepted, "upon the terms, conditions and restrictions" contained in the granting act.
On the twenty-second day of May, at the extra session, an act was passed to execute the trust created by the land grant act, by which a number of railroad companies were incorporated to construct roads on the lines indicated by the act of congress, and to aid in the building of these roads, and the lands applicable to each were granted to it. The companies were to receive title to the lands as the construction progressed, as provided in the granting act. They also had conferred upon them powers to issue bonds, in the discretion of the directors, and to mortgage their roads and franchise to secure them.
These railroad companies were organized upon the hope that the aid extended to them by the grants of land would enable them to raise money sufficient to build their several roads. They had nothing of their own, and no security but the roads and lands upon which to negotiate loans. The times, and the novel idea of building railroads in unpeopled countries, were all against them, and, of course, nothing could be done.
The constitutional convention met and framed an instrument for the fundamental law of the new state which was very conservative, and, among other things, contained the following clause, which was enacted in section 5 of article IX.:
"For the purpose of defraying extraordinary expenses the state may contract debts, but such debts shall never in the aggregate exceed two hundred and fifty thousand dollars." And another clause found in section 10, which is as follows: "The credit of the state shall never be given or loaned in aid of any individual, association or corporation."
It was the intention of the framers of the constitution to prevent the legislature from ever using the credit or funds of the state in aid of any private enterprise, and these provisions effectually accomplished that end.
The people were deeply disappointed when they became convinced that the roads could not be built with the aid that congress had extended, and as this work was also looked upon as the only hope of financial relief, the case became a desperate one, which could only be remedied by the most extreme measures. The promoters of the railroads soon discovered one, in an amendment of the section of the constitution which prohibited the credit of the state being given or loaned to anyone, and at the first session of the first legislature, which convened on Dec. 3, 1857, an act was passed proposing such amendment, to be submitted to the people for ratification. The importance of this amendment, and its effect and consequences upon the future of the state, demands that I give it nearly in full. It changed section 10 as it was originally passed, and made it read as follows:
"Section 10. The credit of that state shall never be given or loaned in aid of any individual association or corporation, except that, for the purpose of expediting the construction of the lines of railroads, in aid of which the congress of the United States has granted lands to the Territory of Minnesota, the governor shall cause to be issued and delivered to each of the companies in which said grants are vested by the legislative assembly of Minnesota the special bonds of the state, bearing an interest of seven per cent per annum, payable semi-annually in the city of New York, as a loan of public credit, to an amount not exceeding twelve hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or an aggregate amount to all of said companies not exceeding five millions of dollars, in manner following, to-wit:"
The amendment then prescribes that, whenever ten miles of railroad was graded so as to be ready for the superstructure, it should receive $100,000 of the bonds, and when ten miles should be completed with the cars running, the company so completing should receive another $100,000 of the bonds until each company had received its quota. The bonds were to be denominated "State Railroad Bonds," for the payment of which the faith and credit of the state was to be pledged. The railroad companies were to pay the principal and interest of the bonds, and to secure such payment they were to pledge the net profits of their respective roads, and to convey to the state the first two hundred and forty sections of land they received, and to deliver to the state treasurer an amount of their first mortgage bonds equal to the amount of bonds received by them from the state, and mortgage to the state their roads and franchises. This was all the security the companies could give, but the underlying difficulty was that it had no value whatever. There were no roads, no net or other profits. The lands had no value whatever except such as lay in the future, which was dependent on the construction of the roads and the settlement of the country. The bonds of the companies, of course, possessed only such value as the property they represented, which was nothing, and the mortgages were of the same character. The whole scheme was based upon hopes, which the slightest application of sober reasoning would have pronounced impossible of fulfillment. But the country was hungry, and willing to seize upon anything that offered a semblance or shadow of relief.
The proposed amendment was to be submitted to the people for adoption or rejection, at an election to be held on the fifteenth day of April, 1858. In order to fully comprehend the condition of the public mind, it should be known that the constitution, with all the safeguards that I have mentioned, had only been in force since Oct. 13, 1857, a period of about six months, and had been carried by a vote of 30,055 for to 571 against its adoption.
The campaign preceding the election was a very active one. The railroad people flooded the state with speakers, documents, pictures, glee clubs singing songs of the delights of "Riding on the Rail," and every conceivable artifice was resorted to to carry the amendment. It was carried by a vote of 25,023 in favor of its passage, to 6,733 against.
To give an idea of the intense feeling that was exhibited in this election, it is only necessary to state that at the city of Winona there were 1,102 votes cast in favor of the amendment and only one vote against it. This negative vote, to his eternal honor be it said, was cast by Thomas Wilson, afterwards chief justice of the state, and now a citizen of St. Paul.
In the execution of the requirements of the amendment, the railroad companies claimed that they could issue first mortgage bonds on their properties to an indefinite amount and exchange them with the state for its bonds, bond for bond, but the governor, who was Hon. Henry H. Sibley, construed the amendment to mean that the first mortgage bonds of the companies which the state was to receive must be an exclusive first lien on the lands and franchises of the company. He therefore declined to issue the bonds of the state unless his views were adopted. The Minnesota & Pacific Railroad Company, one of the land grant corporations, applied to the supreme court of the state for a writ of mandamus, to compel the governor to issue the bonds. The case was heard, and two members of the court holding the views of the applicants, the writ was issued. I was a member of the court at that time, but entertaining opposite views from the majority, I filed a dissenting opinion. Anyone sufficiently interested in the question can find the case reported in Volume II. of the Minnesota Reports, at page 13. This decision was only to be advisory, as the courts have no power to coerce the executive.
The railroad companies entered into contracts for grading their roads, and a sufficient amount of grading was done to entitle them to about $2,300,000 of the bonds, which were issued accordingly, and went into the hands of the contractors to pay for the work done. It, however, soon became apparent that no completed railroad would ever result from this scheme, even if the whole five millions of bonds were issued. What should have been known before was made clear when any of these state bonds were put on the market. The credit of the state was worthless, and the bonds were valueless. The people became as anxious to shake off the incubus of debt they had imposed upon their infant state as they had been to rush into it.
Governor Sibley, in his message, delivered to the second legislature in December, 1859, said, in speaking of this issue of bonds:
"I regret to be obliged to state that the measure has proved a failure, and has by no means accomplished what was hoped for it, either in providing means for the issue of a safe currency, or of aiding the companies in the completion of the roads."
At the election, held on Nov. 6, 1860, the constitution was again amended, by expunging from it the amendment of 1858 authorizing the issue of the state railroad bonds, and prohibiting any further issue of them. An amendment was also made to section 2 of Article IX. of the constitution at the same time, by providing that no law levying a tax, or making any other provisions for the payment of interest or principal of the bonds already issued, should take effect or be in force until it had been submitted to the people, and adopted by a majority of the electors.
It was very proper to prohibit the issuance of any more of the bonds, but the provision requiring a vote of the people before those already out could be paid was practically repudiation, and the state labored under that damaging stigma for over twenty years. Attempts were made to obtain the sanction of the people for the payment of these bonds, but they were defeated, until it became unpleasant to admit that one was a resident of Minnesota. Whenever the name of Minnesota was heard on the floor of congress as an applicant for favors, or even for justice, it was met by the charge of repudiation. This was an era in our history very much to be regretted, but the state grew steadily in material wealth.
On March 2, 1881, the legislature passed an act, the general purpose of which was to adjust, with the consent of the holders, the outstanding bonds, at the rate of fifty cents on the dollar, and contained the curious provision that the supreme court should decide whether it must first be submitted to the people in order to be valid or not, and if the supreme court should not so decide, then an equal number of the judges of the district court should act. The supreme court judges declined to act, and the governor called upon the district court judges to assume the duty. Before any action was taken by the latter, the attorney general applied to the supreme court for a writ of prohibition to prevent them from taking any action. The case was most elaborately discussed, and the opinion of the supreme court was delivered by Chief Justice Gilfillan, which is most exhaustive and convincing. The court holds that the act of 1881 is void, by conferring upon the judiciary legislative power, and that the amendment to the constitution providing that no bonds should be paid unless the law authorizing such payment was first submitted to and adopted by the people was void, as being repugnant to the clause in the constitution of the United States, that no state shall pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts. With these impediments to a just settlement of this question removed, the state was at liberty to make such arrangements with its bond creditors as was satisfactory. John S. Pillsbury was governor at that time. He had always been in favor of paying the bonds, and removing the stain from the honor of the state, and finding his hands free, it did not take him long to arrange the whole matter satisfactorily, and to the approval of all the parties. The debt was paid by the issue of new bonds, at the rate of fifty per cent of the principal and interest of the outstanding ones and the surrender of the latter. This adjustment ended a transaction that was conceived and executed in folly, and was only prevented from eventuating in crime by the persistent efforts of our most honorable and thoughtful citizens throughout the state. The transaction has often been called by those who advocated repudiation, "An old Territorial fraud," but there was nothing in it but a bad bargain, made under the extraordinary pressure of financial difficulties.
THE FIRST RAILROAD ACTUALLY BUILT.
The state was restored to all the lands and franchises of the various companies by means of foreclosure, and on March 8, 1861, passed an act to facilitate the construction of the Minnesota & Pacific Railroad, by which act the old railroad was rehabilitated, and required to construct and put in operation its road from St. Paul to St. Anthony on or before the first day of January, 1862. The company was required to deposit with the governor $10,000 as an earnest of good faith. Work was soon commenced, and the first ten miles constructed as required. This was the first railroad ever built and operated in Minnesota. The first locomotive engine was brought up the river on a barge, and landed at the St. Paul end of the track in the latter part of October, 1861. This pioneer locomotive was called the "William Crooks," after an engineer of that name who was very active and instrumental in the building of the road. This first ten miles of road cost more energy and brain work than all the rest of the vast system that has succeeded it. It was the initial step in what is now known as the Great Northern Railway, a road that spans the continent from St. Paul to the Pacific, and reflects upon its enterprising builders all the credit due to the pioneer.
It was not long before the Northern Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated by act of congress, passed on July 2, 1864. This road was to extend from the head of Lake Superior to Puget Sound, on a line north of the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, with a branch via the valley of the Columbia river to Portland, Ore. The company had a grant of land of twenty alternate sections through the states. It was commenced shortly after its incorporation, but met with financial disaster, and was sold under foreclosure of a mortgage, and underwent many trials and tribulations, until it was finally completed on the eighth day of September, in the year 1883, and has been in successful operation ever since. As the Northern Pacific has its eastern terminus and general offices in St. Paul, it is essentially a Minnesota road. The same may be said of the Great Northern, although both are transcontinental roads.
From the small beginning of railroad construction in 1862 have grown thirty-seven distinct railroad corporations, operating in the state of Minnesota 6,062.69 miles of main tracks, according to the official reports of 1898, with quite a substantial addition in course of construction. These various lines cover and render accessible nearly every city, town and village in the state.
The method of taxation of railroad property adopted by the state is a very wise and just one. It imposes a tax of three per cent upon the gross earnings of the roads, which, in 1896, yielded the comfortable sum of $1,037,194.40, the gross earnings of all amounting to $36,918,741.71. This plan of taxation gives the state a direct interest in the prosperity of the roads, as its taxes are increased when business is good and the roads are relieved from oppressive taxation in time of business depression.
The grading which was done and for which the bonds of the state were issued was, as a general thing, utilized in the final construction of the roads.
THE SPIRIT LAKE MASSACRE.
In 1842 the country north of Iowa and west of the Mississippi as far north as the Little Rapids, on the Minnesota river, was occupied by the M'day-wa-kon-ton and Wak-pe-ku-ta bands of Sioux. The Wak-pe-ku-ta band was at war with the Sacs and Foxes, and was under the leadership of two principal chiefs, named Wam-di-sapa (the "Black Eagle") and Ta-sa-gi. Wam-di-sapa and his band were a lawless, predatory set, whose depredations prolonged the war with the Sacs and Foxes, and finally separated him and his band from the Wak-pe-ku-tas. They moved west towards the Missouri, and occupied the valley of the Vermillion river, and so thorough was the separation that the band was not regarded as part of the Wak-pe-ku-ta when the latter, together with the M'day-wa-kon-tons, made their treaty with the government at Mendota in 1851.
By 1857 all that remained of Wam-di-sapa's straggling band was about ten or fifteen lodges under the chieftainship of Ink-pa-du-ta, or the "Scarlet Point," or the "Red End." They had planted near Spirit lake, which lies partly in Dickinson county, Iowa, and partly in Jackson county, Minnesota, prior to 1857, and ranged the country from there to the Missouri, and were considered a bad lot of vagabonds.
Between 1855 and 1857 a small settlement had sprung up about forty miles south of Spirit lake, on the In-yan-yan-ke or Rock river.
In the spring of 1856 Hon. William Freeborn of Red Wing (after whom the county of Freeborn in this state is called) had projected a settlement at Spirit lake, which, by the next spring, contained six or seven houses, with as many families.
About the same time another settlement was started some ten or fifteen miles north of Spirit lake, on the head waters of the Des Moines, and a town laid out which was called Springfield. In the spring of 1857 there were two stores and several families at this place.
These settlements were on the extreme frontier, and very much isolated. There was nothing to the west of them until you reached the Rocky Mountains, and the nearest settlements on the north and northeast were on the Minnesota and Watonwan rivers, while to the south lay the small settlement on the Rock river, about forty miles distant. All these settlements, although on ceded lands, were actually in the heart of the Indian country, and absolutely unprotected and defenseless.
In 1857 I was United States Indian agent for the Sioux of the Mississippi, but had lived on the frontier long enough before to have acquired a general knowledge of Ink-pa-du-ta's reputation and his whereabouts. I was stationed on the Redwood and Yellow Medicine rivers, near where they empty into the Minnesota, and about eighty miles from Spirit lake.
Early in March, 1857, Ink-pa-du-ta's band was hunting in the neighborhood of the settlement on the Rock river, and one of them was bitten by a dog belonging to a white man. The Indian killed the dog. The owner of the dog assaulted the Indian, and beat him severely. The white men then went in a body to the camp of the Indians and disarmed them. The arms were either returned to them or they obtained others, I have never ascertained which. They were probably given back to them on condition that they should leave, as they at once came north to Spirit lake, where they must have arrived about the 6th or 7th of March. They proceeded at once to massacre the settlers, and killed all the men they found there, together with some women, and carried into captivity four women, three of whom were married and one single. Their names were Mrs. Noble, Mrs. Marble, Mrs. Thatcher and Miss Gardner. They came north to the Springfield settlement, where they killed all the people they found. The total number killed at both places was forty-two.
I was the first person to receive notice of this affair. On the 9th of March a Mr. Morris Markham, who had been absent from the Spirit lake settlement for some time, returned, and found all the people dead or missing. Seeing signs of Indians, he took it for granted that they had perpetrated the outrage. He at once went to Springfield, and reported what he had seen. Some of the people fled, but others remained, and lost their lives in consequence. It has always been my opinion that, being in the habit of trading with these Indians occasionally, they did not believe they stood in any danger; and, what is equally probable, they may not have believed the report. Everyone who has lived in an Indian country knows how frequently startling rumors are in circulation, and how often they prove unfounded.
The people of Springfield sent the news to me by two young men, who came on foot through the deep snow. The story was corroborated in a way that convinced me that it was true. They arrived on the 18th of March, completely worn out and snow-blind. I at once made a requisition on Colonel Alexander, commanding at Fort Ridgely, for troops. There were at the fort five or six companies of the Tenth United States Infantry, and the colonel promptly ordered Capt. Barnard E. Bee of Company "A" to proceed with his company to the scene of the trouble. The country between the fort and Spirit lake was uninhabited, and the distance from eighty to one hundred miles. I furnished two experienced guides from among my Sioux half-breeds. They took a pony and a light traineau, put on their snowshoes, and were ready to go anywhere. Not so with the soldiers, however. They were equipped in about the same manner as they would have been in campaigning in Florida, their only transportation being heavy wheeled army wagons, drawn by six mules. It soon became apparent that the outfit could not move straight to the objective point, and it became necessary to follow a trail down the Minnesota to Mankato and up the Watonwan in the direction of the lake, which was reached after one of the most arduous marches ever made by troops, on which for many miles the soldiers had to march ahead of the mules to break a road for them. The Indians, as we expected, were gone. A short pursuit was made, but the guides pronounced the camp fires of the Indians several days old, and it was abandoned. The dead were buried, and after a short stay, the soldiers returned to the fort.
When this affair became known throughout the territory it caused great consternation and apprehension, most of the settlers supposing it was the work of the Sioux nation. Many of the most exposed abandoned their homes temporarily. Their fears, however, were allayed by an explanation which I published in the newspapers.
I at once began to devise plans for the rescue of the white women. I knew that any hostile demonstration would result in their murder. While thinking the matter out an event occurred that opened the way to a solution. A party of my Indians had been hunting on the Big Sioux river, and having learned that Ink-pa-du-ta was encamped at Lake Chan-pta-ya-tan-ka, and that he had some white women prisoners, two young brothers visited the camp and succeeded in purchasing Mrs. Marble, and brought her into the Yellow Medicine agency, and delivered her to the missionaries, who turned her over to me. I received her on the 21st of March, and learned that two of the other captives were still alive. Of course, my first object was to rescue the survivors, and to encourage the Indians to make the attempt, I paid the brothers who had brought in Mrs. Marble $500 each. I could raise only $500 at the agency in money, and to make up the deficiency I resorted to a method, then novel, but which has since become quite general. I issued a bond, which, although done without authority, met with a better fate than many that followed it,—it was paid at maturity.
As it was the first bond ever issued in what is now Minnesota, the two Dakotas, Montana, and, I may add, the whole Northwest; it may be interesting to give it in full:
"I, STEPHEN R. RIGGS, Missionary among the Sioux Indians, and I, CHARLES E. FLANDRAU, United States Indian agent for the Sioux, being satisfied that Mak-piya-ka-ho-ton and Si-ha-ho-ta, two Sioux Indians, have performed a valuable service to the Territory of Minnesota and humanity, by rescuing from captivity Mrs. Margaret Ann Marble, and delivering her to the Sioux agent, and being further satisfied that the rescue of the two remaining white women who are now in captivity among Ink-pa-du-ta's band of Indians depends very much on the liberality shown towards the said Indians who have rescued Mrs. Marble, and having full confidence in the humanity and liberality of the Territory of Minnesota, through its government and citizens, have this day paid to said two above named Indians, the sum of five hundred dollars in money, and do hereby pledge to said two Indians that the further sum of five hundred dollars will be paid to them by the Territory of Minnesota or its citizens within three months from date hereof.
"Dated, May 22, 1857, at Pa-ju-ta-zi-zi, M. T.
"STEPHEN R. RIGGS,
"Missionary, A. B. C. F. M.
"CHAS. E. FLANDRAU,
"U. S. Indian Agent for Sioux."
I immediately called for volunteers to rescue the remaining two women, and soon had my choice. I selected Paul Ma-za-ku-ta-ma-ni, the president of the Hazelwood Republic, An-pe-tu-tok-cha, or John Otherday, and Che-tan-ma-za, or the Iron Hawk. I gave them a large outfit of horses, wagons, calicos, trinkets of all kinds, and a general assortment of things that tempt the savage. They started on the twenty-third day of May, from the Yellow Medicine agency, on their important and dangerous mission. I did not expect them to return before the middle of June, and immediately commenced preparations to punish the marauders. I went to the fort, and together with Colonel Alexander, we laid a plan to attack Ink-pa-du-ta's camp, with the entire garrison, and utterly annihilate them, which we would undoubtedly have accomplished had not an unexpected event frustrated our plans. Of course, we could not move on the Indians until my expedition had returned with the captives, as that would have been certain death to them; but just about the time we were anxiously expecting them, a couple of steamboats arrived at the fort with peremptory orders for the whole garrison to embark for Utah to join Gen. Albert Sydney Johnson's expedition against the Mormons, and that was the last I saw of the Tenth for ten years.
My expedition found that Mrs. Thatcher and Mrs. Noble had been killed, but succeeded in bringing in Miss Gardner, who was forwarded to me at St. Paul, and by me formally delivered to Governor Medary on June 23, 1857. She was afterwards married, and is now a widow, Mrs. Abbie Gardner Sharpe, and resides in the house from which she was abducted by the savages, forty-three years ago. I paid the Indians who rescued her $400 each for their services. The territory made an appropriation on the fifteenth day of May, 1857, of $10,000 to rescue the captives, but as there were no telegraphs or other speedy means of communication, the work was all done before the news of the appropriation reached the border. My outlay, however, was all refunded from this appropriation. I afterwards succeeded, with a squad of soldiers and citizens, in killing one of Ink-pa-du-ta's sons, who had taken an active part in the massacre, and that ended the first serious Indian trouble that Minnesota was afflicted with.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.
By the end of the year 1856 the Territory of Minnesota had attained such growth and wealth that the question of becoming a state within the Union began to attract attention. It was urged by the government at Washington that we were amply capable of taking care of ourselves, and sufficiently wealthy to pay our expenses, and statehood was pressed upon us from that quarter. There was another potent influence at work at home. We had several prominent gentlemen who were convinced that their services were needed in the senate of the United States, and that their presence there would strengthen and adorn that body, and as no positive opposition was developed, the congress of the United States, on the 26th of February, 1857, passed an act, authorizing the territory to form a state government. It prescribed the same boundaries for the state as we now have, although there had been a large number of people who had advocated an east and west division of the territory, on a line a little north of the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude. It provided for a convention to frame the constitution of the new state, which was to be composed of two delegates for each member of the territorial legislature, to be elected in the representative districts on the first Monday in June, 1857. The convention was to be held at the capital of the territory, on the second Monday of July following. It submitted to the convention five propositions to be answered, which, if accepted, were to become obligatory on the United States and the State of Minnesota. They were in substance as follows:
1. Whether sections 16 and 36 in each township should be granted to the state for the use of schools.
2. Whether seventy-two sections of land should be set aside for the use and support of a state university.
3. Whether ten sections should be granted to the state in aid of public buildings.
4. Whether all salt springs in the state, not exceeding twelve, with six sections of land to each, should be granted to the state.
5. Whether five per centum of the net proceeds of the sales of all the public lands lying within the state, which should be sold after its admission, should be paid to the state for the purpose of roads, and internal improvements.
All the five propositions, if accepted, were to be on the condition, to be expressed in the constitution or an irrevocable ordinance, that the state should never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil within the state by the United States, or with any regulations congress should make for securing title to said lands in bona fide purchases thereof, and that no tax should be imposed on lands belonging to the United States, and that non-resident proprietors should never be taxed higher than residents.
These propositions were all accepted, ratified and confirmed by section 3 of Article II. of the constitution.
The election for delegates took place as provided for, and on the day set for the convention to meet, nearly all of them had assembled at the capital. Great anxiety was manifested by both the Democrats and the Republicans to capture the organization of the convention. Neither party had a majority of all the members present, but there were a number of contested seats on both sides, of which both contestant and contestee were present, and these duplicates being counted, were sufficient to give each party an apparent majority. It was obvious that a determined fight for the organization was imminent. The convention was to meet in the house of representatives, and to gain an advantage, the Republicans took possession of the hall the night before the opening day, so as to be the first on hand in the morning. The Democrats, on learning of this move, held a caucus to decide upon a plan of action. Precedents and authorities were looked up, and two fundamental points decided upon. It was discovered that the secretary of the territory was the proper party to call the convention to order, and as Mr. Charles L. Chase was the secretary, and also a Democratic delegate, he was chosen to make the call. It was further found that when no hour was designated for the meeting of a parliamentary body, that noon of the day appointed was the time. Being armed with these points, the Democrats decided to wait until noon, and then march into the hall in a body with Delegate Chase at their head, and as soon as he reached the chair he was to spring into it and call the convention to order. General Gorman was immediately to move an adjournment until the next day at 12 o'clock M., which motion was to be put by the chair, the Democrats feeling sure that the Republicans being taken by surprise would vote no, while the Democrats would all vote aye, and thus commit more than a majority of the whole to the organization under Mr. Chase. On reaching the chair, Mr. Chase immediately sprang into it, and called the convention to order. General Gorman moved the adjournment, which was put by the chair. All the Democrats loudly voted in the affirmative and the Republicans in the negative. The motion was declared carried, and the Democrats solemnly marched out of the hall.
The above is the Democratic version of the event. The Republicans, however, claim that John W. North reached the chair first, and called the convention to order, and that as the Republicans had a majority of the members present, the organization made under his call was the only regular one. Nothing can be determined as to which is the true story from the records kept of the two bodies, because they are each made up to show strict regularity, and as it is utterly immaterial in any substantial point of view, I will not venture any opinion, although I was one of the actors in the drama,—or farce,—as the reader may see fit to regard it.
The Republicans remained in the hall, and formed a constitution to suit themselves, sitting until August 29th, just forty-seven days. The Democrats on the next day after their adjournment, at 12 o'clock M., went in a body to the door of the house of representatives, where they were met by Secretary and Delegate Chase, who said to them: "Gentlemen, the hall to which the delegates adjourned yesterday is now occupied by a meeting of citizens of the territory, who refuse to give possession to the constitutional convention."
General Gorman then said: "I move the convention adjourn to the council chamber." The motion was carried, and the delegates accordingly repaired to the council chamber, in the west wing of the capitol, where Mr. Chase called the convention to order. Each branch of the convention elected its officers. The Republicans chose St. A. D. Balcombe for their president, and the Democrats selected Hon. Henry H. Sibley. Both bodies worked diligently on a constitution, and each succeeded in making one so much like the other that, after sober reflection, it was decided that the state could be admitted under either, and if both were sent to congress that body would reject them for irregularity. So towards the end of the long session a compromise was arrived at, by the formation of a joint committee from each convention, who were to evolve a constitution out of the two for submission to the people; the result of which, after many sessions, and some fisticuffs, was the instrument under which the state was finally admitted.
A very curious complication resulted from two provisions in the constitution. In section 5 of the schedule it was provided that "All territorial officers, civil and military, now holding their offices under the authority of the United States or of the Territory of Minnesota shall continue to hold and exercise their respective offices until they shall be superseded by the authority of the state," and section 6 provided that "The first session of the legislature of the State of Minnesota shall commence on the first Wednesday of December next," etc.
These provisions were made under the supposition that the state would be admitted as soon as the constitution would be laid before congress, which it was presumed would be long before the date fixed for the holding of the first state legislature; but such did not turn out to be the case. The election was held as provided for on the thirteenth day of October, 1857, for the adoption or rejection of the constitution, and for the election of all the state officers, members of congress and of the legislature. The constitution was adopted by a vote of 36,240 for, and 700 against, and the whole Democratic state ticket was also chosen; and to be sure not to lose full representation in congress, three members of the house of representatives were also chosen, who were all Democrats.
The constitution was duly presented to congress, and admission for the state demanded. Much to the disappointment of our people, all kinds and characters of objections were raised to our admission; one of which I remember was, that as the term of office of the state senators was fixed at two years, and as there was nothing said about the term of the members of the house they were elected for life, and consequently the government created was not republican. Alexander Stevens of Georgia seriously combatted this position, in a learned constitutional argument, in which he proved that a state had absolute control of the subject, and could fix the term of all its officers for life if it so preferred, and that congress had no right to interfere. Many other equally frivolous points were made against our admission, which were debated until the eleventh day of May, 1858, when the federal doors were opened and Minnesota became a state. The act admitting the state cut down the congressional representation to two. The three gentlemen who had been elected to these positions were compelled to determine who would remain and who should surrender. History has not recorded how the decision was made, whether by cutting cards, tossing a coin, or in some other way, but the result was that George L. Becker was counted out, and W. W. Phelps and James M. Cavanaugh took the prizes.
It was always thought at home that the long delay in our admission was not from any disinclination to let us in, but because the house was quite evenly divided politically between the Democrats and the Republicans, and there being a contested seat from Ohio, between Mr. Valandingham and Mr. Lew Campbell, it was feared by the Republicans that, if Minnesota came in with three Democratic members, it might turn the scale in favor of Valandingham.
This delay created a very perplexing condition of things. The state legislature elected under the constitution met on the first Wednesday of December, before the constitution was recognized by congress, and while the territorial government was in full force. It passed a book full of laws, all of which were state laws, approved by a territorial governor. Perhaps in some countries it would have been difficult to harmonize such irregularities, but our courts were quite up to the emergency, and straightened them all out the first time the question was raised, and the laws so passed have served their purpose up to the present time.
The first governor of the state was Henry H. Sibley, a Democrat. He served his term of two years, and the state has never elected a Democrat to that office since, unless the choice of Hon. John Lind, in 1898, may be so classified.
ATTEMPT TO REMOVE THE CAPITAL.
At the eighth session of the legislative assembly of the territory, which convened on Jan. 7, 1857, a bill was introduced, the purpose of which was the removal of the seat of government from St. Paul to St. Peter, a small village which had recently come into existence on the Minnesota river about one hundred miles above its mouth. There could be no reason for such action except interested speculation, as the capitol was already built in St. Paul, and it was much more accessible, and in every way more convenient than it would be at St. Peter; but the movement had sufficient personal and political force behind it to insure its success, and an act was passed making such removal. But it was destined to meet with unexpected obstacles before it became a law. When it passed the house it was sent to the council, where it only received one majority, eight voting for and seven against it. It was, on the 27th of February, sent to the enrolling committee for final enrollment. It happened that Councillor Joseph Rolette, from Pembina, was chairman of this committee, and a great friend of St. Paul. Mr. Rolette decided he would veto the bill in a way not known to parliamentary law, so he put it in his pocket and disappeared. On the 28th, not being in his seat, and the bill being missing, a councillor offered a resolution that a copy of it be obtained from Mr. Wales, the second in order on the committee. A call of the council was then ordered and Mr. Rolette not being in his seat, the sergeant-at-arms was sent out to bring him in, but not being able to find him, he so reported. A motion was then made to dispense with the call, but by the rules it required a two-third vote of fifteen members, and in the absence of Mr. Rolette only fourteen were present. It takes as many to make two-thirds of fourteen as it does to make two-thirds of fifteen, and the bill had only nine friends. During the pendency of a call no business could be transacted, and a serious dilemma confronted the capital removers; but, nothing daunted, Mr. Balcombe made a long argument to prove that nine was two-thirds of fourteen. Mr. Brisbin, who was president of the council and a graduate of Yale, pronounced the motion lost, saying to the mover, who was also a graduate of Yale, "Mr. Balcombe, we never figured that way at Yale." This situation produced a deadlock, and no business could be transacted. The session terminated on the fifth day of March by its own limitation. The sergeant-at-arms made daily reports concerning the whereabouts of the absentee, sometimes locating him on a dog-train, rapidly moving towards Pembina, sometimes giving a rumor of his assassination, but never producing him. Matters remained in this condition until the end of the term, and the bill was lost.
It was disclosed afterwards that Rolette had carefully deposited the bill in the vault of Truman M. Smith's bank, and had passed the time in the upper story of the Fuller House, where his friends made him very comfortable. Some ineffectual efforts have been made since to remove the capital to Minneapolis and elsewhere, but the treaty, made by the pioneers in 1849, locating it at St. Paul, is still in force.
CENSUS.
One of the provisions of the enabling act was that in the event of the constitutional convention deciding in favor of the immediate admission of the proposed state into the Union, a census should be taken with a view of ascertaining the number of representatives in congress to which the state would be entitled. This was accordingly done in September, 1857, and the population was found to be 150,037.
GRASSHOPPERS.
The first visitation of grasshoppers came in 1857, and did considerable damage to the crops in Stearns and other counties. Relief was asked from St. Paul for the suffering poor, and notwithstanding the people of the capital city were in the depths of poverty, from the financial panic produced by over-speculation, they responded liberally. The grasshoppers of this year did not deposit their eggs, but disappeared after eating up everything that came within their reach. The state was not troubled with them again until the year 1873, when they came in large flights, and settled down in the western part of the state. They did much damage to the crops, and deposited their eggs in the soil, where they hatched out in the spring, and greatly increased their number. They made sad havoc with the crops of 1874, and occupied a larger part of the state than in the previous year. They again deposited their eggs, and appeared in the spring of 1875 in increased numbers. This was continued in 1876, when the situation became so alarming that Gov. John S. Pillsbury issued a proclamation, addressed to the states and territories which had suffered most from the insects, to meet him by delegates at Omaha, to concert measures for united protection. A convention was held, and Governor Pillsbury was made its president. The subject was thoroughly discussed, and a memorial to congress was prepared and adopted, asking for scientific investigation of the subject, and a suggestion of preventive measures.
Many appeals for relief came from the afflicted regions, and much aid was extended. Governor Pillsbury was a big-hearted, sympathetic man, and fearing the sufferers might not be well cared for, he travelled among them personally, incognito, and dispensed large sums from his private funds.
In 1877 the governor, in his message to the legislature, treated the subject exhaustively, and appropriations were made to relieve the settlers in the devastated regions. In the early spring of 1877, the religious bodies and people of the state asked the governor to issue a proclamation appointing a day of fasting and prayer, asking Divine protection, and exhorting the people to greater humility and a new consecration in the service of a merciful Father. The governor, being of Puritan origin, and a faithful believer in Divine agencies in this world's affairs, issued an eloquent appeal to the people to observe a day named as one of fasting and prayer for deliverance from the grasshoppers. The suggestion was quite generally approved, but the proclamation naturally excited much criticism and some ridicule, but, curious as it may seem, the grasshoppers, even before the day appointed for prayer arrived, began to disappear, and in a short time not one remained to show they had ever been in the state. They left in a body; no one seemed to know exactly when they went, and no one knew anything about where they went, as they were never heard of again on any part of the continent. The only news we ever had from them came from ships crossing the Atlantic westward bound, which reported having passed through large areas of floating insects. They must have met a western gale when well up in air, and have been blown out into the sea and destroyed. The people of Minnesota did not expend much trouble or time to find out what had become of them.
The crop of 1877 was abundant, and particularly so in the region which had been most seriously blighted by the pests.
Before the final proclamation of Governor Pillsbury every source of ingenuity had been exhausted in devising plans for the destruction of the grasshoppers. Ditches were dug around the fields of grain, and ropes drawn over the grain to drive the hoppers into them, with the purpose of covering them with earth. Instruments called "hopperdozers" were invented, which had receptacles filled with hot tar, and were driven over the ground to catch them as flies are caught with tanglefoot paper, and many millions of them were destroyed in this way, but it was about as effectual as fighting a Northwestern blizzard with a lady's fan, and they were all abandoned as useless and powerless to cope with the scourge. Nothing proved effectual but the governor's proclamation, and all the old settlers called it "Pillsbury's Best," which was the name of the celebrated brand of flour made at the governor's mills.
Prof. N. H. Winchell, the state geologist, in his geological and natural history report, presents a map which, by red lines, shows the encroachments of the grasshoppers for the years 1873-76. To gain an idea of the extent of the country covered by them up to 1877, draw a line on a state map from the Red River of the North about six miles north of Moorhead, in Clay county, in a southeasterly direction, through Becker, Wadena, Todd and Morrison counties, crossing the Mississippi river near the northern line of Benton county, continuing down the east side of the Mississippi, through Benton, Sherburne and Anoka counties, there recrossing the Mississippi, and proceeding south, on the west side of the river, to the south line of the state in Mower county. All the country lying south and west of this line was for several years devastated by the grasshoppers to the extent that no crops could be raised. It became for a time a question whether the people or the insects would conquer the state.
MILITIA.
During the territorial times there were a few volunteer militia companies in St. Paul, conspicuously the "Pioneer Guard," an infantry company, which, from its excellent organization and discipline, became a source of supply of officers when regiments were being raised for the Civil War. To have been a member of that company was worth at least a captain's commission in the volunteer army, and many officers of much higher rank were chosen from its members.
There was also a company of cavalry at St. Paul, commanded by Capt. James Starkey, called the "St. Paul Light Cavalry"; also, the "Shields Guards," commanded by Capt. John O'Gorman. There may have been others, but I do not remember them. The services of the pioneer guards and the cavalry company were called into requisition on two occasions, once in 1857 and again in 1859. During the summer of 1857 the settlers near Cambridge and Sunrise complained that the Chippewas were very troublesome. Governor Medary ordered Captain Starkey to take part of his company and arrest the Indians who were committing depredations, and send the remainder of them to their reservation. The captain took twenty men, and, on Aug. 24, 1857, started for the scene of the trouble. On the 28th he overtook some six or seven Indians, and in their attempt to escape a collision occurred, in which a young man, a member of Starkey's company, named Frank Donnelly, was instantly killed. The troops succeeded in killing one of the Indians, wounding another, and capturing four more, when they returned to St. Paul, bringing with them the dead, wounded, and prisoners. The dead were buried, the wounded healed, and the prisoners discharged by Judge Nelson on a writ of habeas corpus.
The general sentiment of the community was that the expedition was unnecessary, and should never have been made. This affair was facetiously called the "Cornstalk War."
THE WRIGHT COUNTRY WAR.
In the fall of 1858 a man named Wallace was killed in Wright county. Oscar F. Jackson was tried for the murder in the spring of 1859, and acquitted by a jury. Public sentiment was against him, and he was warned to leave the county. He did not heed the admonition, and on April 25th a mob assembled, and hung Jackson to the gable end of Wallace's cabin. Governor Sibley offered a reward for the conviction of any of the lynchers. Shortly afterwards one, Emery Moore, was arrested as being implicated in the affair. He was taken to Wright county for trial, and at once rescued by a mob. The governor sent three companies of the militia to Monticello to arrest the offenders and preserve order, the Pioneer Guards being among them. This force, aided by a few special officers of the law, arrested eleven of the lynchers and rescuers, and turned them over to the civil authorities, and on the 11th of August, 1859, having completed their mission, returned to St. Paul. As there was no war or bloodshed of any kind connected with this expedition, it was called the "Wright County War."
Gov. Sibley, having somewhat of a military tendency, appointed as his adjutant general, Alexander C. Jones, who was a graduate of the Virginia Military Academy, and captain of the Pioneer Guards. Under this administration a very complete militia bill was passed, on the twelfth day of August, 1858. Minnesota from that time on had a very efficient militia system, until the establishment of the national guard, which made some changes in its general character, supposed to be for the better.
THE CIVIL WAR.
Nothing of any special importance occurred during the years 1859 and 1860 in Minnesota. The state continued to grow in population and wealth at an extraordinary pace, but in a quiet and unobtrusive way. The politics of the nation had been for some time much disturbed between the North and the South, on the question of slavery, and threats of secession from the Union made by the slave-holding states. The election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency of the United States, in 1860, precipitated the impending revolution, and on the fourteenth day of April, 1861, Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, was fired upon by the revolutionists, which meant war between the two sections of the country. I will only relate such events in connection with the Civil War which followed as are especially connected with Minnesota.
When the news of the firing upon Fort Sumter reached Washington, Alexander Ramsey, then governor of Minnesota, was in that city. He immediately called on the president of the United States, and tendered the services of the people of Minnesota in defense of the republic, thus giving to the state the enviable position of being the first to come to the front. The offer of a regiment was accepted, and the governor sent a dispatch to Lieut. Gov. Ignatius Donnelly, who, on the 16th of April, issued a proclamation, giving notice that volunteers would be received at St. Paul for one regiment of infantry composed of ten companies, each of sixty-four privates, one captain, two lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals and one bugler, and that the volunteer companies already organized, upon complying with these requirements as to the numbers and officers, would be entitled to be first received.
Immediately following this announcement, which, of course, meant war, great enthusiasm was manifested all over the state. Public meetings were held in all the cities; almost every man capable of doing soldier duty wanted to go, and those who were unable, for any reason, to go in person, subscribed funds for the support of the families of those who volunteered. The only difficulty the authorities met with was an excess of men over those needed. There were a good many Southerners residing in the state, who were naturally controlled in their sentiments by their geographical affinities, but they behaved very well, and caused no trouble. They either entered the service of the South or held their peace. I can recall but one instance of a Northern man who had breathed the free air of Minnesota going over to the South, and the atrocity of his case was aggravated by the fact that he was an officer in the United States army. I speak of Major Pemberton, who at the breaking out of the war was stationed at Fort Ridgely in this state, in command of a battery of artillery. He was ordered to Washington to aid in the defense of the capital, but before reaching his destination resigned his commission, and tendered his sword to the enemy. I think he was a citizen of Pennsylvania. It was he who surrendered Vicksburg to the United States army on July 4, 1863.
The first company raised under the call of the state was made up of young men of St. Paul, and commanded by William H. Acker, who had been adjutant general of the state. He was wounded at the first battle of Bull Run, and killed at the battle of Shiloh, as captain of a company of the Sixteenth Regular Infantry. Other companies quickly followed in tendering their services.
On the last Monday in April a camp for the First Regiment was opened at Fort Snelling, and Capt. Anderson D. Nelson of the United States army mustered the regiment into the service. On the 27th of April John B. Sanborn, then adjutant general of the state, in behalf of the governor, issued the following order:
"The commander-in-chief expresses his gratification at the prompt response to the call of the president of the United States upon the militia of Minnesota, and his regret that, under the present requisition for only ten companies, it is not possible to accept the services of all the companies offered."
The order then enumerates the ten companies which had been accepted, and instructs them to report at Fort Snelling, and recommends that the companies not accepted maintain their organization and perfect their drill, and that patriotic citizens throughout the state continue to enroll themselves, and be ready for any emergency.
The governor, on May 3d, sent a telegram to the president, offering a second regiment.
The magnitude of the rebellion becoming rapidly manifest at Washington, the secretary of war, Mr. Cameron, on the 7th of May, sent the following telegram to Governor Ramsey:
"It is decidedly preferable that all the regiments from your state not already actually sent forward should be mustered into the service for three years, or during the war. If any persons belonging to the regiments already mustered for three months, but not yet actually sent forward, should be unwilling to serve for three years, or during the war, could not their places be filled by others willing to serve?"
A great deal of correspondence passed between Lieutenant Governor Donnelly at St. Paul and Governor Ramsey at Washington over the matter, which resulted in the First Minnesota Regiment being mustered into the service of the United States for three years, or during the war, on the eleventh day of May, 1861. Willis A. Gorman, second governor of the territory, was appointed colonel of the First. The colonel was a veteran of the Mexican War. The regiment when first mustered in was without uniform, except that some of the companies had red shirts and some blue, but there was no regularity whatever. This was of small consequence, as the material of the regiment was probably the best ever collected into one body. It included companies of lumbermen, accustomed to camp life, and inured to hardships; men of splendid physique, experts with the axe; men who could make a road through a forest or swamp, build a bridge over a stream, run a steamboat, repair a railroad, or perform any of the duties that are thrust upon an army on the march and in the field. There are no men in the world so well equipped naturally and without special preparation for the life of a soldier as the American of the West. He is perfectly familiar with the use of firearms. From his varied experience, he possesses more than an average intelligence. His courage goes without saying, and, to sum him up, he is the most all-around handy man on earth.
On May 25th the ladies of St. Paul presented the regiment with a handsome set of silk colors. The presentation was made at the state capitol by Mrs. Ramsey, the wife of the governor. The speech was made on behalf of the ladies by Captain Stansbury of the United States army, and responded to by Colonel Gorman in a manner fitting the occasion.
On the 21st of June the regiment, having been ordered to Washington, embarked on the steamers, Northern Belle and War Eagle, at Fort Snelling, for their journey. Before leaving the fort the chaplain, Rev. Edward D. Neill, delivered a most impressive address, concluding as follows:
"Soldiers: If you would be obedient to God, you must honor him who has been ordained to lead you forth. Your colonel's will must be your will. If, like the Roman centurion, he says 'Go,' you must go. If he says 'Come,' come you must. God grant you all the Hebrew's enduring faith, and you will be sure to have the Hebrew's valor. Now, with the Hebrew's benediction, I close: 'The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and given you peace.' Amen."
The peace the good chaplain asked the Lord to give to the regiment was that peace which flows from duty well performed and a conscience free from self-censure. Judging from the excellent record made by that regiment, it enjoyed this kind of peace to the fullest extent, but it had as little of the other kind of peace as any regiment in the service.
The regiment reached Washington early in July, and went into camp near Alexandria, in Virginia. It took part in the first battle of the war, at Bull Run, and from there to the end of the war was engaged in many battles, always with credit to itself and honor to its state. It was conspicuously brave and useful at the great conflict at Gettysburg, and the service it there performed made its fame world-wide. In what I say of the first regiment, I must not be understood to lessen the fame of the other ten regiments and other organizations that Minnesota sent to the war, all of which, with the exception of the Third, made for themselves records of gallantry and soldierly conduct, which Minnesota will ever hold in the highest esteem. But the First, probably because it was the first, and certainly because of its superb career, will always be the pet and especial pride of the state.
The misfortunes of the Third regiment will be spoken of separately.
The first conception of the rebellion by the authorities in Washington was that it could be suppressed in a short time; but they had left out of the estimate the fact that they had to deal with Americans, who can always be counted on for a stubborn fight when they decide to have one. And as the magnitude of the war impressed itself upon the government, continuous calls for troops were made, to all of which Minnesota responded promptly, until she had in the field the following military organizations: Eleven full regiments of infantry; the first and second companies of sharpshooters; one regiment of mounted rangers, recruited for the Indian war; the Second Regiment of cavalry; Hatche's Independent Battalion of Cavalry for Indian war; Brackett's battalion of cavalry; one regiment of heavy artillery; and the First, Second and Third Batteries of Light Artillery.
There were embraced in these twenty-one military organizations, 22,970 officers and men, who were withdrawn from the forces of civil industry, and remained away for several years. Yet notwithstanding this abnormal drain on the industrial resources of so young a state, to which must be added the exhaustive effects of the Indian war which broke out within her borders in 1862, and lasted several years, Minnesota continued to grow in population and wealth throughout it all, and came out of these war afflictions strengthened and invigorated.
THE THIRD REGIMENT.
Recruiting for the Third Regiment commenced early in the fall of 1861, and was completed by the 15th of November, on which day it consisted of 901 men all told, including officers. On the 17th of November, 1861, it embarked at Fort Snelling for its destination in the South, on the steamboats Northern Belle, City Belle, and Frank Steele. It landed at St. Paul and marched through the city, exciting the admiration of the people, it being an unusually fine aggregation of men. It embarked on the same day, and departed for the South, carrying with it the good wishes and hopes of every citizen of the state. It was then commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Smith, and afterwards by Col. Henry C. Lester, who was promoted to its command from a captaincy in the First, and joined his regiment at Shepardsville. Colonel Lester was a man of prepossessing appearance, handsome, well informed, modest and attractive. He soon brought his regiment up to a high standard of drill and discipline, and especially devoted himself to its appearance for cleanliness and deportment, so that his regiment became remarkable in these particulars. By the twelfth day of July, the Third became brigaded with the Ninth Michigan, the Eighth and Twenty-third Kentucky, forming the Twenty-third Brigade, under Col. W. W. Duffield of the Ninth Michigan, and was stationed at Murfeesboro, in Tennessee. For two months Colonel Duffield had been absent, and the brigade and other forces at Murfreesboro had been commanded by Colonel Lester. A day or two before the 13th Colonel Duffield had returned and resumed command of the brigade, and Lester was again in direct command of his regiment. In describing the situation at Murfreesboro on the thirteenth day of July, 1861, Gen. C. C. Andrews, the author of the "History of the Third Regiment," in the state war book, at page 152, says:
"The force of enlisted men fit for duty at Murfreesboro was fully one thousand. Forest reported that the whole number of enlisted men captured, taken to McMinnville and paroled was between 1,100 and 1,200. Our forces, however, were separated. There were five companies, 250 strong, of the Ninth Michigan in camp three-fourths of a mile east of the town, on the Liberty turnpike (another company of the Ninth Michigan, forty-two strong, occupied the court-house as a provost guard). Near the camp of the Ninth Michigan were eighty men of the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, under Major Seibert; also, eighty-one men of the Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, under Captain Chilson. More than a mile distant, on the other side of the town, on undulating, rocky and shaded ground, near Stone river, were nine companies of the Third Minnesota, five hundred strong. Near it, also, were two sections (four guns) of Hewitt's Kentucky Field Artillery, with sixty-four men for duty. Forty-five men of Company C, Third Regiment, under Lieutenant Grummons, had gone the afternoon of July 12th, as the guard on a supply train, to Shelbyville, and had not returned the thirteenth."
Murfreesboro was on the Nashville & Chattanooga railroad. It was a well built town, around a square, in the center of which was the court-house. There were in the town valuable military stores.
On July 13th, at daybreak, news arrived at Murfreesboro that the rebel general, Forest, was about to make an attack on the place, which news was verified by General Forest capturing the picket guard and dashing into the town soon after the news arrived, with a mounted force of 1,500 men. A part of this force charged upon the camp of the Seventh Pennsylvania, then reformed, and charged upon the Ninth Michigan Infantry, which made a gallant defense and repulsed the enemy's repeated charges, suffering a loss of eleven killed and eighty-nine wounded. The enemy suffered considerable loss, including a colonel killed, up to about noon, when the Ninth Michigan surrendered. General Crittenden was captured in his quarters, about eight o'clock. Almost simultaneous with the first attack, a part of Forest's force moved toward the Third Minnesota, which had sprung up at the first sound of the firing, formed into line, Colonel Lester in command, and with two guns of Hewitt's Battery on each flank, marched in the direction of Murfreesboro. It had not gone more than an eighth of a mile when about three hundred of the enemy appeared approaching on a gallop. They were moving in some disorder, and appeared to fall back when the Third Regiment came in sight. The latter was at once brought forward into line and the guns of Hewitt's Battery opened fire. The enemy retired out of sight, and the Third advanced to a commanding position in the edge of some timber. A continuous fire was kept up by the guns of Hewitt's Battery, with considerable effect upon the enemy. Up to this time the only ground of discontent that had ever existed in this regiment was that it had never had an opportunity to fight. Probably no regiment was ever more eager to fight in battle than this one. Yet while it was there in line of battle from daylight until about noon, impatiently waiting for the approach of the enemy, or what was better, to be led against him, he was assailing an inferior force of our troops, and destroying valuable commissary and quartermaster's stores in town, which our troops were, of course, in honor bound to protect. The regiment was kept standing or lying motionless hour after hour, even while plainly seeing the smoke rising from the burning depot of the United States supplies. While this was going on, Colonel Lester sat upon his horse, and different officers went to him and entreated him to march the regiment into town. The only response he gave was, "We will see." The enemy made several ineffectual attempts to charge the line held by the Third, but were driven off with loss, which only increased the ardor of the men to get at them. The enemy attacked the camp of the Third, which was guarded by only a few convalescents, teamsters and cooks, and met with a stubborn resistance, but finally succeeded in taking it, and burning the tents and property of the officers, after which they hastily abandoned it. The firing at the camp was distinctly heard by the Third Regiment, and Captain Hoyt of Company B asked permission to take his company to protect the camp, but was refused. While the regiment was in this waiting position, having at least five hundred effective men, plenty of ammunition, and burning with anxiety to get at the enemy, a white flag appeared over the crest of a hill which proved to be a request for Colonel Lester to go into Murfreesboro for a consultation with Colonel Duffield. General Forest carefully displayed his men along the path by which Colonel Lester was to go in a manner so as to impress the colonel with the idea that he had a much larger force than really existed, and in his demand for surrender he stated that, if not acceded to, the whole command would be put to the sword, as he could not control his men. This was an old trick of Forest's, which he played successfully on other occasions. From what is known, he had not over one thousand men with which he could have engaged the Third that day.
When Colonel Lester returned to his regiment his mind was fully made up to surrender. A consultation was held with the officers of the regiment, and a vote taken on the question, which resulted in a majority being in favor of fighting and against surrender, but the matter was reopened and reargued by the colonel, and after some of the officers who opposed surrender had left the council and gone to their companies, another vote was taken, which resulted in favor of the surrender. The officers who, on this final vote, were against surrender, were Lieutenant Colonel Griggs and Captains Andrews and Hoyt. Those who voted in favor of surrender were Captains Webster, Gurnee, Preston, Clay and Mills of the Third Regiment, and Captain Hewitt of the Kentucky Battery.
On December 1st an order was made, dismissing from the service the five captains of the Third who voted to surrender the regiment, which order was subsequently revoked as to Captain Webster.
The conduct of Colonel Lester on this occasion has been accounted for on various theories. Before this he had been immensely popular with his regiment, and also at home in Minnesota, and his prospects were most brilliant. It is hard to believe that he was actuated by cowardice, and harder to conceive him guilty of disloyalty to his country. An explanation of his actions which obtained circulation in Minnesota was, that he had fallen in love with a rebel woman, who exercised such influence and control over him as to completely hypnotize his will. I have always been a convert to that theory, knowing the man as well as I did, and have settled the question as the French would, by saying "Cherchez la femme."
General Buell characterized the surrender in general orders as one of the most disgraceful examples in the history of war.
What a magnificent opportunity was presented to some officer of that regiment to immortalize himself by shooting the colonel through the head while he was ignominously dallying with the question of surrender, and calling upon the men to follow him against the enemy. There can be very little doubt that such a movement would have resulted in victory, as the men were in splendid condition physically, thoroughly well armed, and dying to wipe out the disgrace their colonel had inflicted upon them. Of course, the man who should inaugurate such a movement must win, or die in the attempt, but in America death with honor is infinitely preferable to life with a suspicion of cowardice, as all who participated in this surrender were well aware.
The officers were all held as prisoners of war, and the men paroled on condition of not fighting against the Confederacy during the continuance of the war. The Indian war of 1862 broke out in Minnesota very shortly after the surrender, and the men of the Third were brought to the state for service against the Indians. They participated in the campaign of 1862 and following expeditions. For a full and detailed account of the surrender of the Third, consult the history of that regiment in the volume issued by the state, called "Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars."
It would please the historian to omit this subject entirely, did truth permit; but he finds ample solace in the fact that this is the only blot to be found in the long record of brilliant and glorious deeds that compose the military history of Minnesota.
A general summary will show that Minnesota did her whole duty in the Civil War, and that her extreme youth was in no way a drawback to her performance. She furnished to the war, in all her military organizations, a grand total of 22,970 men. Of this number, 607 were killed in battle and 1,647 died of disease, making a contribution of 2,254 lives to the cause of the Union on the part of Minnesota.
Our state was honored by the promotion from her various organizations of the following officers:
C. P. Adams, Brevet Brigadier General.
C. C. Andrews, Brigadier and Brevet Major General.
John T. Averill, Brevet Brigadier General.
James H. Baker, Brevet Brigadier General.
Theodore E. Barret, Brevet Brigadier General.
Judson W. Bishop, Brevet Brigadier General.
William Colville, Brevet Brigadier General.
Napoleon J. T. Dana, Major General.
Alonzo J. Edgerton, Brevet Brigadier General.
Willis A. Gorman, Brigadier General.
Lucius F. Hubbard, Brevet Brigadier General.
Samuel P. Jennison, Brevet Brigadier General.
William G. Le Duc, Brevet Brigadier General.
William R. Marshall, Brevet Brigadier General.
Robert B. McLaren, Brevet Brigadier General.
Stephen Miller, Brigadier General.
John B. Sanborn, Brigadier and Brevet Major General.
Henry H. Sibley, Brigadier and Brevet Major General.
Minor T. Thomas, Brevet Brigadier General.
John E. Tourtellotte, Brevet Brigadier General.
Horatio P. Van Cleve, Brevet Brigadier General.
George N. Morgan, Brevet Brigadier General.
THE INDIAN WAR OF 1862 AND FOLLOWING YEARS.
In 1862 there were in the State of Minnesota four principal bands of Sioux Indians—the M'day-wa-kon-tons, Wak-pa-koo-tas, Si-si-tons and Wak-pay-tons. The first two bands were known as the Lower Sioux and the last two bands as the Upper Sioux. These designations arose from the fact that, in the sale of their lands to the United States by the treaties of 1851, the lands of the Lower Sioux were situate in the southern part of the state, and those of the upper bands in the more northern part, and when a reservation was set apart for their future occupation on the upper waters of the Minnesota river they were similarly located thereon. Their reservation consisted of a strip of land, ten miles wide, on each side of the Minnesota river, beginning at a point a few miles below Fort Ridgely and extending to the headwaters of the river. The reservation of the lower bands extended up to the Yellow Medicine river; that of the upper bands included all above the last named river. An agent was appointed to administer the affairs of these Indians, whose agencies were established at Redwood for the lower and at Yellow Medicine for the upper bands. At these agencies the annuities were paid to the Indians, and so continued from the making of the treaties to the year 1862. These bands were wild, very little progress having been made in their civilization, the very nature of the situation preventing very much advance in that line. The whole country to the north and west of their reservation was an open, wild region, extending to the Rocky Mountains, inhabited only by the buffalo, which animals ranged in vast herds from British Columbia to Texas. The buffalo was the chief subsistence of the Indians, who naturally frequented their ranges, and only came to the agencies when expecting their payments. When they did come, and the money and goods were not ready for them, which was frequently the case, they suffered great inconvenience, and were forced to incur debt with the white traders for their subsistence, all of which tended to create bad feelings between them and the whites. The Indian saw that he had yielded a splendid domain to the whites, and that they were rapidly occupying it. They could not help seeing that the whites were pushing them gradually—I may say rapidly—out of their ancestral possessions and towards the West, which knowledge naturally created a hostile feeling towards them. The Sioux were a brave people, and the young fighting men were always making comparisons between themselves and the whites, and bantering each other as to whether they were or were not afraid of them. I made a study of these people for several years, having had them in charge as their agent, and I think understood their feelings and standing towards the whites as well as any one. Much has been said and written about the immediate cause of the outbreak of 1862, but I do not believe that anything can be assigned out of the general course of events that will account for the trouble. Delay, as usual, had occurred in the arrival of the money for the payment, which was due in July, 1862. The war was in full force with the South, and the Indians saw that Minnesota was sending thousands of men out of the state to fight the battles of the Union. Major Thomas Galbraith was their agent in the summer of 1862, and being desirous of contributing to the volunteer forces of the government, he raised a company of half-breeds on the reservation and started with them for Fort Snelling, the general rendezvous, to have them mustered into service. It was very natural that the Indians who were seeking for trouble should look upon this movement as a sign of weakness on the part of the government, and reason that, if the United States could not conquer its enemy without their assistance, it must be in serious difficulties. Various things of similar character contributed to create a feeling among the Indians that it was a good time to recover their country, redress all their grievances, and reestablish themselves as lords of the land. They had ambitious leaders. Little Crow was the principal instigator of war on the whites. He was a man of greater parts than any Indian in the tribe. I had used him on many trying occasions, as the captain of my bodyguard, and my ambassador to negotiate with other tribes, and always found him equal to any emergency; but on this occasion his ambition ran away with his judgment, and led him to fatal results. With all these influences at work, it took but a spark to fire the magazine, and that spark was struck on the seventeenth day of August, 1862.
A small party of Indians were at Acton, on August 17th, and got into a petty controversy about some eggs with a settler, which created a difference of opinion among them as to what they should do, some advocating one course and some another. The controversy led to one Indian saying that the other was afraid of the white man, to resent which, and to prove his bravery, he killed the settler, and the whole family was massacred. When these Indians reached the agency, and related their bloody work, those who wanted trouble seized upon the opportunity, and insisted that the only way out of the difficulty was to kill all the whites, and on the morning of the 18th of August the bloody work began.
It is proper to say here that some of the Indians who were connected with the missionaries, conspicuously An-pay-tu-tok-a-cha, or John Otherday, and Paul Ma-za-ku-ta-ma-ni, the president of the Hazelwood Republic, of which I have spoken, having learned of the intention of the Indians, informed the missionaries on the night of the 17th, who, to the number of about sixty, fled eastward to Hutchinson, in McLeod county, and escaped. The next morning, being the 18th of August, the Indians commenced the massacre of the whites, and made clean work of all at the agencies. They then separated into small squads of from five to ten and spread over the country to the south, east and southeast, attacking the settlers in detail at their homes and continued this work during all of the 18th and part of the 19th of August, until they had murdered in cold blood quite one thousand people—men, women and children. The way the work was conducted, was as follows: The party of Indians would call at the house, and, being well known, would cause no alarm. They would await a good opportunity, and shoot the man of the family; then butcher the women and children, and, after carrying off everything that they thought valuable to them, they would burn the house and proceed to the next homestead and repeat the performance. Occasionally some one would escape, and spread the news of the massacre to the neighbors, and all who could would escape to some place of refuge.
The news of the outbreak reached Fort Ridgely (which was situated about thirteen miles down the Minnesota river) from the agencies about eight o'clock on the morning of the 18th, by means of the arrival of a team from the Lower Agency, bringing a badly wounded man; but no details could be obtained. The fort was in command of Capt. John Marsh, of Company "B," Fifth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. He had eighty-five men in his company, from which he selected forty-five, leaving the balance, under Lieut. T. F. Gere, to defend the fort. This little squad, under command of Captain Marsh, with a full supply of ammunition, provisions, blankets, etc., accompanied by a six-mule team, left the fort at 9:00 a. m., on the 18th of August, for the Lower Sioux Agency, which was on the west side of the Minnesota river, the fort being on the east, which necessitated the crossing of the river by a ferry near the agency. On the march up the command passed nine or ten dead bodies, all bearing evidence of having been murdered by the Indians, one of which was Dr. Humphrey, surgeon at the agency. On reaching the vicinity of the ferry no Indians were in sight, except one on the opposite side of the river, who tried to induce them to cross over. A dense chaparral bordered the river on the agency side, and tall grass covered the bottom on the side where the troops were. Suspicion of the presence of Indians was aroused by the disturbed condition of the water of the river, which was muddy and contained floating grass. Then a group of ponies was seen. At this point, and without any notice whatever, Indians in great numbers sprang up on all sides of the troops, and opened upon them a deadly fire. About half of the men were killed instantly. Finding themselves surrounded, it became with the survivors a question of sauve qui peut. Several desperate hand-to-hand encounters occurred, with varying results, when the remnant of the command made a point down the river, about two miles from the ferry, Captain Marsh being of the number. Here they attempted to cross, but the captain was drowned in the effort. Only from thirteen to fifteen of the command reached the fort alive. Among those killed was Peter Quinn, the United States interpreter, an Irishman, who had been in the Indian territory for many years. He had married into the Chippewa tribe. He was a man much esteemed by the army and all old settlers.
Much criticism has been indulged in as to whether Captain Marsh, when he became convinced of the general outbreak, should not have retreated to the fort. Of course, forty-five men could do nothing against five or six hundred warriors, who were known to be at or about the agency. The Duke of Wellington, when asked as to what was the best test of a general, said, "To know when to retreat, and to dare to do it." Captain Marsh cannot be justly judged by any such criterion. He was not an experienced general. He was a young, brave, and enthusiastic soldier. He knew little of Indians. The country knows that he thought he was doing his duty in advancing. I am confident, whether this judgment is intelligent or not, posterity will hold in warmer esteem the memory of Captain Marsh and his gallant little band than if he had adopted the more prudent course of retracing his steps. Gen. George Custer was led into an ambush of almost the exact character, which was prepared for him by many of the same Indians who attacked Marsh, and he lost five companies of the Seventh United States Cavalry, one of the best fighting regiments in the service, not a man escaping.
Immediately previous to the outbreak Lieut. Timothy J. Sheehan, of Company "C," Fifth Minnesota, had been sent, with about fifty men of his company, to the Yellow Medicine Agency, on account of some disorder prevailing among the Indians; but having performed his duty, he had been ordered to Fort Ripley, and had on the 17th left Fort Ridgley, and on the 18th had reached a point near Glencoe, distant from Fort Ridgley about forty miles. As soon as Captain Marsh became aware of the outbreak, he sent the following dispatch to Lieutenant Sheehan, which reached him on the evening of the 18th:
"Lieutenant Sheehan:
"It is absolutely necessary that you should return with your command immediately to this post. The Indians are raising hell at the Lower Agency. Return as soon as possible."
Lieutenant Sheehan was then a young Irishman, of about the age of twenty-five years, with immense physical vigor, and corresponding enthusiasm. He immediately broke camp and returned to the fort, arriving there on the 19th of August, having made a forced march of forty-two miles in nine and one-half hours. He did not arrive a moment too soon. Being the ranking officer after the death of Captain Marsh, he took command of the post. The garrison then consisted of the remnant of Marsh's Company "B," fifty-one men, Sheehan's Company "C," fifty men, and the Renville Rangers, fifty men. This latter company was the one raised by Major Galbraith, the Sioux agent at the agencies, and was composed principally of half-breeds. It was commanded by Capt. James Gorman. On reaching St. Peter, on its way down to Snelling to be mustered into the service of the United States, it learned of the outbreak, and at once returned to Ridgley, having appropriated the arms of a militia company at St. Peter. There was also at Ridgley, Sergeant Jones of the regular artillery, who had been left there in charge of the military stores. He was quite an expert gunner, and there were several field-pieces at the fort. Besides this garrison, a large number of people from the surrounding country had sought safety at the fort, and there was also a party of gentlemen, who had brought up the annuity money to pay the Indians, who, learning of the troubles, had stopped with the money, amounting to some $70,000 in specie. I will here leave the fort for the present, and turn to other points that became prominent in the approaching war.
On the night of the 18th of August, the day of the outbreak, the news reached St. Peter, and, as I have before stated, induced the Renville Rangers to retrace their steps. Great excitement prevailed, as no one could tell at what moment the Indians might dash into the town, and massacre the inhabitants.
The people at New Ulm, which was situated about sixteen miles below Fort Ridgely, on the Minnesota river, dispatched a courier to St. Peter as soon as they became aware of the trouble. He arrived at 4 o'clock a. m. on the 19th, and came immediately to my house, which was about one mile below the town, and informed me that the Indians were killing people all over the country. Having lived among the Indians for several years, and at one time had charge of them as their agent, I thoroughly understood the danger of the situation, and knowing that, whether the story was true or false, the frontier was no place at such a time for women and children, I told him to wake up the people at St. Peter, and that I would be there quickly. I immediately placed my family in a wagon, and told them to flee down the river, and taking all the guns, powder and lead I could find in my house, I arrived at St. Peter about 6 a. m. The men of the town were soon assembled at the court-house, and in a very short time a company was formed of 116 men, of which I was chosen as captain, William B. Dodd as first, and Wolf H. Meyer as second lieutenant. Before noon two men, Henry A. Swift, afterwards governor of the state, and William C. Hayden, were dispatched to the front in a buggy to scout, and locate the enemy if he was near, and about noon sixteen mounted men under L. M. Boardman, sheriff of the county, were started on a similar errand. Both these squads kept moving until they reached New Ulm, at about 5 p. m.
Great activity was displayed in equipping the main body of the company for service. All the guns of the place were seized, and put into the hands of the men. There not being any large game in this part of the country, rifles were scarce, but shot-guns were abundant. All the blacksmith shops and gun shops were set at work moulding bullets, and we soon had a gun in every man's hand, and he was supplied with a powder horn or a whiskey flask full of powder, a box of caps and a pocket-full of bullets. We impressed all the wagons we needed for transportation, and all the blankets and provisions that were necessary for subsistence and comfort. While these preparations were going on a large squad from Le Sueur, ten miles further down the river, under the command of Captain Tousley, sheriff of Le Sueur county, joined us. Early in the day a squad from Swan lake, under an old settler named Samuel Coffin, had gone to New Ulm to see what was the matter.
Our advance guard reached New Ulm just in time to participate in its defense against an attack of about one hundred Indians who had been murdering the settlers on the west side of the river, between the town and Fort Ridgely. The inhabitants of New Ulm were almost exclusively German, there being only a few English-speaking citizens among them, and they were not familiar with the character of the Indians, but the instinct of self-preservation had impelled them to fortify the town with barricades to keep the enemy out. The town was built in the usual way of western towns, the principal settlement being along the main street, and the largest and best houses occupying a space of about three blocks. Some of these houses were of brick and stone, so with a strong barricade around them, the town was quite defensible. Several of the people were killed in this first attack, but the Indians, knowing of the coming reinforcements, withdrew, after firing five or six buildings.
The main body of my company, together with the squad from Le Sueur, reached the ferry about two miles below the settled part of New Ulm, about 8 p. m., having made thirty-two miles in seven hours, in a drenching rainstorm. The blazing houses in the distance gave a very threatening aspect to the situation, but we crossed the ferry successfully, and made the town without accident. The next day we were reinforced by a full company from Mankato under Capt. William Bierbauer. Several companies were formed from the citizens of the town. A full company from South Bend arrived on the 20th or 21st, and various other squads, greater or less in numbers, came in during the week, before Saturday, the 23d, swelling our forces to about three hundred men, but nearly all very poorly armed. We improved the barricades and sent out daily scouting parties who succeeded in bringing in many people who were in hiding in swamps, and who would have undoubtedly been lost without this succor. It soon became apparent that, to maintain any discipline or order in the town, some one man must be placed in command of the entire force. The officers of the various companies assembled to choose a commander-in-chief, and the selection fell to me. A provost guard was at once established, order inaugurated, and we awaited events.
I have been thus particular in my description of the movements at this point because it gives an idea of the defenseless condition in which the outbreak found the people of the country, and also because it shows the intense energy with which the settlers met the emergency, at its very inception, from which I will deduce the conclusion at the proper time that this prompt initial action saved the state from a calamity, the magnitude of which is unrecorded in the history of Indian wars.
Having described the defensive condition of Fort Ridgely and New Ulm, the two extreme frontier posts, the former being on the Indian reservation and the latter only a few miles southeast of it, I will take up the subject at the capital of the state. The news reached Governor Ramsey, at St. Paul, on the 19th of August, the second day of the outbreak. He at once hastened to Mendota, at the mouth of the Minnesota river, and requested ex-Governor Sibley to accept the command of such forces as could be put in the field, to check the advance of and punish the Indians. Governor Sibley had a large experience with the Sioux, perhaps more than any man in the state, having traded and lived with them since 1834, and besides that, was a distinguished citizen of the state, having been its first governor. He accepted the position, with the rank of colonel in the state militia. The Sixth Regiment was being recruited at Fort Snelling for the Civil War, and, on the 20th of August, Colonel Sibley started up the valley of the Minnesota with four companies of that regiment, and arrived at St. Peter on Friday, the 22d. Capt. A. D. Nelson of the regular army had been appointed colonel of the Sixth, and William Crooks had been appointed lieutenant colonel of the Seventh. Colonel Crooks conveyed the orders of the governor to Colonel Nelson, overtaking him at Bloomington Ferry. On receipt of his orders, finding he was to report to Colonel Sibley, he made the point of military etiquette, that an officer of the regular army could not report to an officer of militia of the same rank, and turning over his command to Colonel Crooks, he returned to St. Paul and handed in his resignation. It was accepted, and Colonel Crooks was appointed colonel of the Sixth. Not knowing much about military etiquette, I will not venture an opinion on the action of Colonel Nelson in this instance, but it always seemed to me that, in the face of the enemy, and especially considering the high standing of Colonel Sibley, and the intimate friendship that existed between the two men, it would have been better to have waived this point, and unitedly fought the enemy, settling all such matters afterwards.
On Sunday, the 24th, Colonel Sibley's force at St. Peter, was augmented by the arrival of about two hundred mounted men, under the command of William J. Cullen, formerly superintendent of Indian affairs, called the Cullen Guard. On the same day six more companies of the Sixth arrived, making up the full regiment, and also about one hundred more mounted men, and several squads of volunteer militia. The mounted men were placed under the command of Col. Samuel McPhail. By these acquisitions Colonel Sibley's command numbered about 1,400 men. Although the numerical strength was considerable, the command was practically useless. The ammunition did not fit the guns of the Sixth Regiment, and had to be all made over. The horses of the mounted men, were raw and undisciplined, and the men themselves were inexperienced and practically unarmed. It was the best the country afforded, but was probably about as poorly equipped an army as ever entered the field—and to face what I regard as the best warriors to be found on the North American continent; but fortunately the officers and men were all that could be desired. The leaders of this army were the best of men, and being seconded by intelligent and enthusiastic subordinates, they soon overcame their physical difficulties; but they knew nothing of the strength, position or previous movements of the enemy, no news having reached them from either Fort Ridgely or New Ulm. Any mistake made by this force, resulting in defeat, would have been fatal. No such mistake was made. Having now shown the principal forces in the field, we will turn to the movements of the enemy. The Indians felt that it would be necessary to carry Fort Ridgely and New Ulm, before they extended their depredations further down the valley of the Minnesota, and concentrated their forces for an attack on the fort. Ridgely was in no sense a fort. It was simply a collection of buildings, principally frame structures, facing in towards the parade ground. On one side was a long stone barrack and a stone commissary building, which was the only defensible part of it.
THE ATTACK ON FORT RIDGELY.
On the 20th of August, at about 3 p. m., an attack was made upon the fort by a large body of Indians. The first intimation the garrison had of the assault was a volley poured through one of the openings between the buildings. Considerable confusion ensued, but order was soon restored. Sergeant Jones attempted to use his cannon, but to his utter dismay, he found them disabled. This was the work of some of the half-breeds belonging to the Renville Rangers, who had deserted to the enemy. They had been spiked by ramming old rags into them. The sergeant soon rectified this difficulty, and brought his pieces into action. The attack lasted three hours, when it ceased, with a loss to the garrison of three killed and eight wounded.
On Thursday, the 21st, two further attacks were made on the fort, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, but with a reduced force, less earnestness, and little damage. On Friday, the 22d, the savages seemed determined to carry the fort. About eight hundred or more, under the leadership of Little Crow, came down from the agency. Concentrating themselves in the ravines which lay on several sides of the fort, they made a feint, by sending about twenty warriors out on the prairie for the purpose of drawing out the garrison from the fort, and cutting them off. Such a movement, if successful, would have been fatal to the defenders; but fortunately there were men among them of much experience in Indian warfare, who saw through the scheme, and prevented the success of the maneuver. Then followed a shower of bullets on the fort from all directions. The attack was continued for nearly five hours. It was bitterly fought, and courageously and intelligently resisted. Sergeant Jones and other artillerists handled the guns with effective skill, exploding shells in the outlying buildings, and burning them over the heads of the Indians, while the enemy endeavored to burn the wooden buildings composing the fort, by shooting fire arrows on their roofs. One of the most exposed and dangerous duties to be performed was covering the wooden roofs with earth to prevent fire. One white man was killed and seven wounded in this engagement. Lieutenant Sheehan, who commanded the post through all these trying occurrences, Lieutenant Gorman, of the Renville Rangers, Lieutenant Whipple, and Sergeants Jones and McGrew, all did their duty in a manner becoming veterans, and the men seconded their efforts handsomely. The Indians, after this effort, being convinced that they could not take the fort, and anticipating the coming of reinforcements, withdrew, and, concentrating all their available forces, descended upon New Ulm the next morning, August 23d, for a final struggle. In the official history (written for the state) of this battle at Fort Ridgely, I place the force of the Indians as 450, but have learned since from reliable sources that it was as above stated.
BATTLE OF NEW ULM.
We left New Ulm, after the arrival of the various companies which I have named on the 21st of August, strengthening its barricades and awaiting events. I had placed a good glass on the top of one of the stone buildings within the barricades for the purpose of observation, and always kept a sentinel there to report any movement he should discover in any direction throughout the surrounding country. We had heard distinctly the cannonading at the fort for the past two days, but knew nothing of the result of the fight at that point. I was perfectly familiar, as were many of my command, with the country between New Ulm and the fort, on both sides of the river, knowing the house of every settler on the roads.
Saturday, the 23d of August, opened bright and beautiful, and early in the morning we saw column after column of smoke rise in the direction of the fort, each smoke being nearer than the last. We knew to a certainty that the Indians were approaching in force, burning every building and grain or hay stack they passed. The settlers had either all been killed, or had taken refuge at the fort or New Ulm, so we had no anxiety about them. About 9:30 a. m. the enemy appeared in great force, on both sides of the river. Those on the east side, when they reached the neighborhood of the ferry, burned some stacks as a signal of their arrival, which was responded to by a similar fire in the edge of the timber, about two miles and a half from the town on the west side. Between this timber and the town, was a beautiful open prairie, with considerable descent towards the town. Immediately on seeing the smoke from the ferry the enemy advanced rapidly, some six hundred strong, many mounted and the rest on foot. I had determined to meet them on the open prairie, and had formed my men by companies in a long line of battle, with intervals between them, on the first level plateau on the west side of the town, thus covering its whole west front. There were not over twenty or thirty rifles in the whole command, and a man with a shotgun, knowing his antagonist carries a rifle, has very little confidence in his fighting ability. Down came the Indians in the bright sunlight, galloping, running, yelling, and gesticulating in the most fiendish manner. If we had had good rifles they never would have got near enough to do much harm, but as it was we could not check them before their fire began to tell on our line. They deployed to the right and left until they covered our entire front, and then charged. My men, appreciating the inferiority of their armament, after seeing several of their comrades fall, and having fired a few ineffectual volleys, fell back on the town, passing some buildings without taking possession of them, which mistake was instantly taken advantage of by the Indians, who at once occupied them, but they did not follow us into the town proper, no doubt thinking our retreat was a feint to draw them among the buildings, and thus gain an advantage. I think if they had boldly charged into the town and set it on fire, they would have won the fight; but, instead, they surrounded it on all sides, the main body taking possession of the lower end of the main street below the barricades, from which direction a strong wind was blowing towards the center of the town. From this point they began firing the houses on both sides of the street. We soon rallied the men, and kept the enemy well in the outskirts of the town, and the fighting became general on all sides. Just about this time, my first lieutenant, William B. Dodd, galloped down the main street, and as he passed a cross street the Indians put three or four bullets through him. He died during the afternoon, after having been removed several times from house to house as the enemy crowded in upon us.
On the second plateau, there was an old Don Quixote windmill, with an immense tower and sail-arms about seventy-five feet long, which occupied a commanding position, and had been taken possession of by a company of about thirty men, who called themselves the Le Sueur Tigers, most of whom had rifles. They barricaded themselves with sacks of flour and wheat, loopholed the building and kept the savages at a respectful distance from the west side of the town. A rifle ball will bury itself in a sack of flour or wheat, but will not penetrate it. During the battle the men dug out several of them, and brought them to me because they were the regulation Minie bullet, and there had been rumors that the Confederates from Missouri had stirred up the revolt and supplied the Indians with guns and ammunition. I confess I was astonished when I saw the bullets, as I knew the Indians had no such arms, but I soon decided that they were using against us the guns and ammunition they had taken from the dead soldiers of Captain Marsh's company. I do not believe the Confederates had any hand in the revolt of these Indians.
We held several other outposts, being brick buildings outside the barricades, which we loopholed, and found very effective in holding the Indians aloof. The battle raged generally all around the town, every man doing his best in his own way. It was a very interesting fight on account of the stake we were contending for. We had in the place about twelve or fifteen hundred women and children, the lives of all of whom, and of ourselves, depended upon victory perching on our banners; for in a fight like this, no quarter is ever asked or given. The desperation with which the conflict was conducted can be judged from the fact that I lost sixty men in the first hour and a half, ten killed and fifty wounded, out of less than 250, as my force had been depleted by the number of about seventy-five by Lieutenant Huey taking that number to guard the approach to the ferry. Crossing to the other side of the river he was cut off, and forced to retreat toward St. Peter. It was simply a mistake of judgment to put the river between himself and the main force, but in his retreat he met Capt. E. St. Julian Cox, with reinforcements for New Ulm, joined them, and returned the next day. He was a brave and willing officer. The company I mentioned as having arrived from South Bend, having heard that the Winnebagoes had joined in the outbreak, left us before the final attack on Saturday, the 23d of August, claiming that their presence at home was necessary to protect their families, and on the morning of the 23d, when the enemy was in sight, a wagon load of others left us and went down the river. I doubt if we could have mustered over two hundred guns at any time during the fight.
The enemy, seeing his advantage in firing the buildings in the lower part of the main street, and thus gradually nearing our barricades with the intention of burning us out, kept up his work as continuously as he could with the interruptions we made for him by occasionally driving him out; but his approach was constant, and about 2 o'clock a roaring conflagration was raging on both sides of the street, and the prospect looked discouraging. At this juncture Asa White, an old frontiersman, connected with the Winnebagoes, whom I had known for a long time, and whose judgment and experience I appreciated and valued, came to me and said: "Judge, if this goes on, the Indians will bag us in about two hours." I said: "It looks that way; what remedy have you to suggest." His answer was, "We must make for the cottonwood timber." Two miles and a half lay between us and the timber referred to, which, of course, rendered his suggestion utterly impracticable with two thousand noncombatants to move, and I said: "White, they would slaughter us like sheep should we undertake such a movement. Our strongest hold is in this town, and if you will get together fifty volunteers, I will drive the Indians out of the lower town and the greatest danger will be passed." He saw at once the propriety of my proposition, and in a short time we had a squad ready, and sallied out, cheering and yelling in a manner that would have done credit to the wildest Comanches. We knew the Indians were congregated in force down the street, and expected to find them in a sunken road, about three blocks from where we started, but they had worked their way up much nearer to us, and were in a deep swale about a block and a half from our barricades. There was a large number of them, estimated at about seventy-five to one hundred, some on ponies and some on foot. When the conformation of the ground disclosed their whereabouts, we were within one hundred feet of them. They opened a rapid fire on us, which we returned, while keeping up our rushing advance. When we were within fifty feet of them, they turned and fled down the street. We followed them for at least half a mile, firing as well as we could. This took us beyond the burning houses, and finding a large collection of saw logs, I called a halt and we took cover among them, lying flat on the ground. The Indians stopped when we ceased to chase them, and took cover behind anything that afforded protection, and kept up an incessant fire upon us whenever a head or hand showed itself above the logs. We held them, however, in this position, and prevented their return toward the town by way of the street. I at once sent a party back with instructions to burn every building, fence, stack or other object that would afford cover between us and the barricades. This order was strictly carried out, and by six or seven o'clock there was not a structure standing outside of the barricades in that part of the town. We then abandoned our saw logs and returned to the town, and the day was won, the Indians not daring to charge us over an open country. I lost four men killed in this exploit, one of whom was especially to be regretted. I speak of Newell Houghton. In ordinary warfare, all men stand for the same value as a general thing; but in an Indian fight, a man of cool head, an exceptionally fine shot, and armed with a reliable rifle, is a loss doubly to be regretted. Houghton was famous as being the best shot and deer hunter in all the Northwest, and had with him his choice rifle. He had built a small steamboat with the proceeds of his gun, and we all held him in high respect as a fine type of frontiersman. We had hardly got back to the town before a man brought me a rifle which he had found on the ground near a clump of brush, and handing it to me said, "Some Indian lost a good gun in that run." It happened that White was with me, and saw the gun. He recognized it in an instant, and said: "Newell Houghton is dead. He never let that gun out of his hands while he could hold it." We looked where the gun was picked up, and found Houghton dead in the brush. He had been scalped by some Indian who had seen him fall, and had sneaked back and scalped him.
That night we dug a system of rifle pits all along the barricades on the outside, and manned them with three or four men each, but the firing was desultory through the night, and nothing much was accomplished on either side.
The next morning (Sunday) opened bright and beautiful, but scarcely an Indian was to be seen. They had given up the contest, and were rapidly retreating northward up the river. We got an occasional shot at one, but without effect except to hasten the retreat. And so ended the second and decisive battle of New Ulm.
In this fight between ourselves and the enemy we burned one hundred and ninety buildings, many of them substantial and valuable structures. The whites lost some fourteen killed and fifty or sixty wounded. The loss of the enemy is uncertain, but after the fight we found ten dead Indians in burned houses, and in chaparral where they escaped the notice of their friends. As to their wounded we knew nothing, but judging from the length and character of the engagement, and the number of their dead found, their casualties must have equalled, if not exceeded ours.
About noon of Sunday, the 24th, Capt. E. St. Julien Cox arrived with a company from St. Peter, which had been sent by Colonel Sibley to reinforce us. Lieutenant Huey, who had been cut off at the ferry on the previous day, accompanied him with a portion of his command. They were welcome visitors.
There were in the town at the time of the attack on the 23d, as near as can be learned, from 1,200 to 1,500 noncombatants, consisting of women and children, refugees and unarmed citizens, all of whose lives depended upon our success. It is difficult to conceive a much more exciting stake to play for, and the men seemed fully to appreciate it, and made no mistakes.
On the 25th we found that provisions and ammunition were becoming scarce, and pestilence being feared from stench and exposure, we decided to evacuate the town and try to reach Mankato. This destination was chosen to avoid the Minnesota river, the crossing of which we deemed impracticable. The only obstacle between us and Mankato was the Big Cottonwood river, which was fordable. We made up a train of 153 wagons, which had largely composed our barricades, loaded them with women and children, and about eighty wounded men, and started. A more heart-rending procession was never witnessed in America. Here was the population of one of the most flourishing towns in the state abandoning their homes and property, starting on a journey of thirty odd miles, through a hostile country, with a possibility of being massacred on the way, and no hope or prospect but the hospitality of strangers and ultimate beggary. The disposition of the guard was confided to Captain Cox. The march was successful; no Indians were encountered. We reached Crisp's farm, which was about half way between New Ulm and Mankato, about evening. I pushed the main column on, fearing danger from various sources, but camped at this point with about 150 men, intending to return to New Ulm, or hold this point as a defensive measure for the exposed settlements further down the river. On the morning of the 26th we broke camp, and I endeavored to make the command return to New Ulm or remain where they were—my object, of course, being to keep an armed force between the enemy and the settlements. The men had not heard a word from their families for more than a week, and declined to return or remain. I did not blame them. They had demonstrated their willingness to fight when necessary, but held the protection of their families as paramount to mere military possibilities. I would not do justice to history did I not record, that, when I called for volunteers to return, Captain Cox and his whole squad stepped to the front, ready to go where I commanded. Although I had not then heard of Captain Marsh's disaster, I declined to allow so small a command as that of Captain Cox to attempt the reoccupation of New Ulm. My staff stood by me in this effort, and a gentleman from Le Sueur county, Mr. Freeman Talbott, made an impressive speech to the men, to induce them to return. The train arrived safely at Mankato on the 25th, and the balance of the command on the following day, whence the men generally sought their homes.
I immediately, on arriving at Mankato, went to St. Peter, to inform Colonel Sibley of the condition of things in the Indian country. I found him, on the night of August 26th, in camp about six miles out of St. Peter, and put him in possession of everything that had happened to the westward. His mounted men arrived at Fort Ridgely on the 27th of August, and were the first relief that reached that fort after its long siege. Sibley reached the fort on the 28th of August. Intrenchments were thrown up about the fort, cannon properly placed, and a strong guard maintained. All but ninety men of the Cullen Guard, under Captain Anderson, returned home as soon as they found the fort was safe. The garrison was soon increased by the arrival of forty-seven men under Captain Sterritt, and on the 1st of September, Lieut. Col. William R. Marshall of the Seventh Regiment arrived, with a portion of his command. This force could not make a forward movement on account of a lack of ammunition and provisions, which were long delayed.
BATTLE OF BIRCH COULIE.
On the 31st of August a detail of Captain Grant's company of infantry, seventy men of the Cullen Guard, under Captain Anderson, and some citizens and other soldiers, in all about 150 men, under command of Major Joseph R. Brown, with seventeen teams and teamsters, were sent from Fort Ridgely to the Lower Agency, to feel the enemy, bury the dead, and perform any other service that might arise. They went as far as Little Crow's village, but not finding any signs of Indians, they returned; and on the 1st of September they reached Birch Coulie, and encamped at the head of it. Birch Coulie is a ravine extending from the upper plateau to the river bottom, nearly opposite the ferry where Captain Marsh's company was ambushed.
The Indians, after their defeat at Fort Ridgely and New Ulm, had concentrated at the Yellow Medicine river, and decided to make one more desperate effort to carry their point of driving the whites out of the country. Their plan of operation was, to come down the Minnesota valley in force, stealthily, passing Sibley's command at Ridgely, and attacking St. Peter and Mankato simultaneously. They congregated all their forces for this attempt, and started down the river. When they reached the foot of Birch Coulie they saw the last of Major Brown's command going up the coulie. They decided to wait and see where they encamped, and attack them early in the morning. The whites went to the upper end of the Coulie, and camped on the open prairie, about 250 feet from the brush in the coulie. On the other side of their camp there was a roll in the prairie, about four or five feet high, which they probably did not notice. This gave the enemy cover on both sides of the camp, and they did not fail to see it and take advantage of it. The moment daylight came sufficiently to disclose the camp, the Indians opened fire from both sides. The whites had ninety horses hitched to a picket rope and their wagons formed in a circular corral, with their camp in the center. The Indians soon killed all the horses but one, and the men used their carcasses as breastworks, behind which to fight. The battle raged from the morning of September 2d to September 3d, when they were relieved by Colonel Sibley's whole command, and the Indians fled to the west.
Major Joseph R. Brown was one of the most experienced Indian men in the country, and would never have made the mistake of locating his camp in a place that gave the enemy such an advantage. He did not arrive until the camp was selected, and should have removed it at once. I have always supposed that he was lulled into a sense of security by not having seen any signs of Indians in his march; but the result proved that, when in a hostile Indian country, no one is ever justified in omitting any precautions. The firing at Birch Coulie was heard at Fort Ridgely, and a relief was sent, under Colonel McPhail, which was checked by the Indians a few miles before it reached its destination. The colonel sent a courier to the fort for reinforcements, and it fell to Lieutenant Sheehan to carry the message. With his usual energy he succeeded in getting through, his horse dying under him on his arrival. Colonel Sibley at once started with his whole command, and when he reached the battle ground the Indians left the field.
This was one of the most disastrous battles of the war. Twenty-three were killed outright or mortally wounded, and forty-five were severely wounded, while many others received slight injuries. The tents were, by the shower of bullets, made to resemble lace work, so completely were they perforated. One hundred and four bullet holes were counted in one tent. Besides the continual shower of bullets that was kept up by the Indians, the men suffered terribly from thirst, as it was impossible to get water into the camp. This fight forms a very important feature in the Indian war, as, notwithstanding its horrors, it probably prevented awful massacres at St. Peter and Mankato, the former being absolutely defenseless, and the latter only protected by a small squad of about eighty men, which formed my headquarters guard at South Bend, about four miles distant.
OCCURRENCES IN MEEKER COUNTY AND VICINITY.
While these events were passing, other portions of the state were being prepared for defense. In the region of Forest City in Meeker county, and also at Hutchinson and Glencoe, the excitement was intense. Capt. George C. Whitcomb obtained in St. Paul seventy-five stand of arms and some ammunition. He left a part of the arms at Hutchinson, and with the rest armed a company at Forest City, of fifty-three men, twenty-five of-whom were mounted. Capt. Richard Strout, of Company "B," Ninth Regiment, was ordered to Forest City, and went there with his company. Gen. John H. Stevens of Glencoe was commander of the state militia for the counties of McLeod, Carver, Sibley and Renville. As soon as he learned of the outbreak he erected a very substantial fortification of saw-logs at Glencoe, and that place was not disturbed by the savages. A company of volunteers was formed at Glencoe, under Capt. A. H. Rouse. Company "F" of the Ninth Regiment, under Lieut. O. P. Stearns, and Company "H" of the same regiment (Capt. W. R. Baxter), an independent company from Excelsior, and the Goodhue County Rangers (Capt. David L. Davis), all did duty at and about Glencoe during the continuance of the trouble. Captains Whitcomb and Strout, with their companies, made extensive reconnoisances into the surrounding counties, rescuing many refugees, and having several brisk and sharp encounters with the Indians, in which they lost several in killed and wounded. The presence of these troops in this region of country, and their active operations, prevented its depopulation, and saved the towns and much valuable property from destruction.
PROTECTION OF THE SOUTHERN FRONTIER.
On the 29th of August I received a commission from the governor of the state, instructing and directing me to take command of the Blue Earth country, extending from New Ulm to the north line of Iowa, embracing the then western and southwestern frontier of the state. My powers were general—to raise troops, commission officers, subsist upon the country, and generally to do what in my judgment was best for the protection of this frontier. Under these powers I located my headquarters at South Bend, being the extreme southern point of the Minnesota river, thirty miles below New Ulm, four from Mankato, and about fifty from the Iowa line. Here I maintained a guard of about eighty men. We threw up some small intrenchments, but nothing worthy of mention. Enough citizens of New Ulm had returned home to form two companies at that point. Company "E," of the Ninth Regiment, under Capt. Jerome E. Dane, was stationed at Crisp's farm, about half way between New Ulm and South Bend. Col. John R. Jones of Chatfield collected about three hundred men, and reported to me at Garden City. They were organized into companies under Captains N. P. Colburn and Post, and many of them were stationed at Garden City, where they erected a serviceable fort of saw-logs. Others of this command were stationed at points along the Blue Earth river. Capt. Cornelius F. Buck of Winona raised a company of fifty-three men, all mounted, and started west. They reached Winnebago City, in the county of Faribault, on the 7th of September, where they reported to me, and were stationed at Chain Lakes, about twenty miles west of Winnebago City, and twenty of this company were afterwards sent to Madelia. A stockade was erected by this company at Martin Lake. In the latter part of August Capt. A. J. Edgerton of Company "B," Tenth Regiment, arrived at South Bend, and having made his report, was stationed at the Winnebago agency, to keep watch on those Indians and cover Mankato from that direction. About the same time Company "F," of the Eighth Regiment, under Capt. L. Aldrich, reported, and was stationed at New Ulm. E. St. Julien Cox, who had previously reinforced me at New Ulm, was commissioned a captain, and put in command of a force which was stationed at Madelia, in Watonwan county, where they erected quite an artistic fortification of logs, with bastions. While there an attack was made upon some citizens who had ventured beyond the safe limits, and several whites were killed.
It will be seen by the above statement that almost immediately after the evacuation of New Ulm, on the 25th of August, the most exposed part of the southern frontier was occupied by quite a strong force. I did not expect that any serious incursions would be made along this line, but the state of alarm and panic that prevailed among the people rendered it necessary to establish this cordon of military posts to prevent an exodus of the inhabitants. No one who has not gone through the ordeal of an Indian insurrection can form any idea of the terrible apprehension that takes possession of a defenseless and noncombatant population under such circumstances. There is an element of mystery and uncertainty about the magnitude and movements of this enemy, and a certainty of his brutality, that inspires terror. The first notice of his approach is the crack of his rifle, and no one with experience of such struggles ever blames the timidity of citizens in exposed positions when assailed by these savages. I think, all things being considered, the people generally behaved very well. If a map of the state is consulted, taking New Ulm as the most northern point on the Minnesota river, it will be seen that the line of my posts covered the frontier from that point down the river to South Bend, and up the Blue Earth, southerly, to Winnebago City, and thence to the Iowa line. These stations were about sixteen miles apart, with two advanced posts, at Madelia and Chain Lakes, to the westward. A system of couriers was established, starting from each end of the cordon every morning, with dispatches from the commanding officer to headquarters, stopping at every station for an indorsement of what was going on, so I knew every day what had happened at every point on my line. By this means, the frontier population was pacified, and no general exodus took place.
In September Major General Pope was ordered to Minnesota to conduct the Indian war. He made his headquarters at St. Paul, and by his high rank took command of all operations, though not exerting any visible influence on them, the fact being that all imminent danger had been overcome by the state and its citizens before his arrival. In the latter part of September the citizen troops under my command were anxious to return to their homes, and on presentation of the situation to General Pope, he ordered into the state a new regiment just mustered into the service in Wisconsin—the Twenty-fifth—commanded by Col. M. Montgomery, who was ordered to relieve me. He appeared at South Bend on the 1st of October, and after having fully informed him of what had transpired, and given him my views as to the future, I turned my command over to him in the following order: I give it, as it succinctly presents the situation of affairs at the time.
"HEADQUARTERS INDIAN EXPEDITION
SOUTHERN FRONTIER,
"SOUTH BEND, October 5, 1862.
To the Soldiers and Citizens who have been, and are now engaged in the defense of the Southern Frontier:
"On the eighteenth day of August last your frontier was invaded by the Indians. You promptly rallied for its defense. You checked the advance of the enemy and defeated him in two severe battles at New Ulm. You have held a line of frontier posts extending over a distance of one hundred miles. You have erected six substantial fortifications, and other defensive works of less magnitude. You have dispersed marauding bands of savages that have hung upon your lines. You have been uniformly brave, vigilant and obedient to orders. By your efforts, the war has been confined to the border; without them, it would have penetrated into the heart of the state.
"Major General Pope has assumed command of the Northwest, and will control future operations. He promises a vigorous prosecution of the war. Five companies of the Twenty-fifth Wisconsin Regiment and five hundred cavalry from Iowa are ordered into the region now held by you, and will supply the places of those whose terms of enlistment shortly expire. The department of the southern frontier, which I have had the honor to command, will, from the date of this order, be under the command of Colonel M. Montgomery of the Twenty-fifth Wisconsin, whom I take pleasure in introducing to the troops and citizens of that department as a soldier and a man to whom they may confide their interests and the safety of their country, with every assurance that they will be protected and defended.
"Pressing public duties of a civil nature demand my absence temporarily from the border. The intimate and agreeable relations we have sustained toward each other, our union in danger and adventure, cause me regret in leaving you, but will hasten my return.
"CHAS. E. FLANDRAU,
"Colonel Commanding Southern Frontier."
This practically terminated my connection with the war. All matters yet to be related took place in other parts of the state, under the command of Colonel Sibley and others.
COLONEL SIBLEY MOVES UPON THE ENEMY,
We left Colonel Sibley, on the 4th of September, at Fort Ridgely, having just relieved the unfortunate command of Major Joseph R. Brown, after the fight at Birch Coulie. Knowing that the Indians had in their possession many white captives, and having their rescue alive uppermost in his mind, the colonel left on the battlefield at Birch Coulie the following communication, attached to a stake driven in the ground, feeling assured that it would fall into the hands of Little Crow, the leader of the Indians.
"If Little Crow has any proposition to make, let him send a half-breed to me, and he shall be protected in and out of camp.
"H. H. SIBLEY,
"Colonel Commanding Military Expedition."
The note was found, and answered by Little Crow in a manner rather irrelevant to the subject most desired by Colonel Sibley. It was dated at Yellow Medicine, September 7th, and delivered by two half-breeds.
Colonel Sibley returned the following answer by the bearers:
"Little Crow, you have murdered many of our people without any sufficient cause. Return me the prisoners under a flag of truce, and I will talk with you like a man."
No response was received to this letter until September 12th, when Little Crow sent another, saying that he had 155 prisoners, not including those held by the Si-si-tons and Wak-pay-tons, who were at Lac qui Parle, and were coming down. He also gave assurances that the prisoners were faring well. Colonel Sibley, on the 12th of September, sent a reply by Little Crow's messengers, saying that no peace could be made without a surrender of the prisoners, but not promising peace on any terms, and charging the commission of nine murders since the receipt of Little Crow's last letter. The same messenger that brought this letter from Little Crow also delivered, quite a long one from Wabasha and Taopee, two lower chiefs who claimed to be friendly, and desired a meeting with Colonel Sibley, suggesting two places where it could be held. The Colonel replied that he would march in three days, and was powerful enough to crush all the Indians; that they might approach his column in open day with a flag of truce, and place themselves under his protection. On the receipt of this note a large council was held, at which nearly all the annuity Indians were present. Several speeches were made by the Upper and Lower Sioux, some in favor of continuance of the war and "dying in the last ditch," and some in favor of surrendering the prisoners. I quote from a speech made by Paul Ma-za-ku-ta-ma-ni, who will be remembered as one of the Indians who volunteered to rescue the white captives from Ink-pa-du-ta's band, in 1857, and who was always true to the whites. He said among other things:
"In fighting the whites, you are fighting the thunder and lightning. You say you can make a treaty with the British government. That is not possible. Have you not yet come to your senses? They are also white men, and neighbors and friends to the soldiers. They are ruled by a petticoat, and she has the tender heart of a squaw. What will she do for the men who have committed the murders you have?"
This correspondence was kept up for several days, quite a number of letters coming from the Indians to Colonel Sibley, but with no satisfactory results. On the 18th of September, Colonel Sibley determined to move upon the enemy, and on that day camp was broken at the fort, a boat constructed, and a crossing of the Minnesota river effected near the fort, to prevent the possibility of an ambuscade. Colonel Sibley's force consisted of the Sixth Regiment under Colonel Crooks, about three hundred men of the Third under Major Welch, several companies of the Seventh under Col. William R. Marshall, a small number of mounted men under Colonel McPhail, and a battery under the command of Capt. Mark Hendricks. The expedition moved up the river without encountering any opposition until the morning of the twenty-third of September. Indians had been in sight during all the march, carefully watching the movements of the troops, and several messages of defiance were found attached to fences and houses.
THE BATTLE OF WOOD LAKE.
On the evening of the 22d the expedition camped at Lone Tree lake, about two miles from the Yellow Medicine river, and about three miles east from Wood lake. Early next morning several foraging teams belonging to the Third Regiment were fired upon. They returned the fire, and retreated toward the camp. At this juncture the Third Regiment without orders, sallied out, crossed a deep ravine and soon engaged the enemy. They were ordered back by the commander, and had not reached camp before Indians appeared on all sides in great numbers, many of them in the ravine between the Third Regiment and the camp. Thus began the battle of Wood Lake. Captain Hendricks opened with his cannon and the howitzer under the direct command of Colonel Sibley, and poured in shot and shell. It has since been learned that Little Crow had appointed ten of his best men to kill Colonel Sibley at all hazards, and that the shells directed by the colonel's own hand fell into this special squad and dispersed them. Captain Hendricks pushed his cannon to the head of the ravine, and raked it with great effect, and Colonel Marshall, with three companies of the Seventh and Captain Grant's company of the Sixth, charged down the ravine on a double quick, and routed the Indians. About eight hundred of the command were engaged in the conflict, and met about an equal number of Indians. Our loss was about nine killed and between forty and fifty wounded. Major Welch of the Third was shot in the leg, but not fatally. The Third and the Renville Rangers under Capt. James Gorman bore the brunt of the fight, which lasted about an hour and a half, and sustained the most of the losses. Colonel Sibley, in his official report of the encounter, gives great credit to his staff and all of his command. An-pay-tu-tok-a-cha, or John Otherday, was with the whites, and took a conspicuous part in the fray.
Thus ended the battle of Wood Lake. It was an important factor in the war, as it was about the first time the Indians engaged large forces of well organized troops in the open country, and their utter discomfiture put them on the run. It will be noticed that I have not in any of my narratives of battles, used the stereotyped expression, "Our losses were so many, but the losses of the enemy were much greater, but as they always carry off their dead and wounded, it is impossible to give exact figures." The reason I have not made use of this common expression is, because I don't believe it. The philosophy of Indian warfare is, to kill your enemy and not get killed yourself, and they can take cover more skillfully than any other people. In all our Indian wars, from the Atlantic westward, with regulars or militia, I believe it would not be an exaggeration to say that the whites have lost ten to one in killed and wounded. But the battle of Wood Lake was quite an open fight, and so rapidly conducted and concluded that we have a very accurate account of the loss of the enemy. He had no time or opportunity to withdraw his dead. Fifteen dead were found upon the field, and one wounded prisoner was taken. No doubt many others were wounded who were able to escape. After this fight Colonel Sibley retired to the vicinity of an Indian camp, located nearly opposite the mouth of the Chippewa river, where it empties into the Minnesota, and there encamped. This point was afterwards called "Camp Release," from the fact that the white prisoners held by the enemy were here delivered to Colonel Sibley's command. We will leave Colonel Sibley and his troops at Camp Release, and narrate the important events that occurred on the Red River of the North, at and about
FORT ABERCROMBIE.
The United States government, about the year 1858, erected a military post on the west side of the Red River of the North, at a place then known as Graham's Point, between what are now known as the cities of Breckenridge and Fargo. Like most of the frontier posts of that day, it was not constructed with reference to defense, but more as a depot for troops and military stores. It was then in the midst of the Indian country, and is now in Richland county, North Dakota. The troops that had garrisoned the fort had been sent south to aid in suppressing the Southern rebellion, and their places had been supplied by one company of the Fifth Regiment of Minnesota Volunteers, which was commanded by Capt. John Van der Horck. There was a place down the river, and north of the fort, about fifty miles, called Georgetown, at which there were some settlers, and a depot of stores for the company engaged in the navigation of the river. At the commencement of the outbreak Captain Van der Horck had detached about one-half of his company, and sent them to Georgetown, to protect the interests centered at that point.
About the 20th of August news reached Abercrombie from the Yellow Medicine agency that trouble was expected from the Indians. An expedition was on the way to Red lake to make a treaty with the Chippewa Indians, consisting of the government commissioners and party, accompanied by a train of thirty loaded wagons and a herd of two hundred cattle. On the 23d of August, news reached Fort Abercrombie that a large body of Indians were on the way to capture this party. A courier was at once dispatched to the train, and it sought refuge in the fort. Runners were also sent to all the settlements in the vicinity, and the warning spread of the approaching danger. Happily nearly all of the surrounding people reached the fort before the arrival of the enemy. The detachment stationed at Georgetown was also called in. A mail coach that left the fort on the 22d, fell into the hands of the Indians, who killed the driver and destroyed the mail.
The garrison had been strengthened by about fifty men capable of duty from the refugees, but they were unarmed. Captain Van der Horck strengthened his post by all means in his power, and endeavored to obtained reinforcements. Captain Freeman, with about sixty men, started from St. Cloud, on the Mississippi, to relieve the garrison at Abercrombie, but on reaching Sauk Center the situation appeared so alarming that it was deemed imprudent to proceed with so small a force, and no addition could be made to it at Sauk Center. Attempts were made to reinforce the fort from other points. Two companies were sent from Fort Snelling, and got as far as Sauk Center, but the force was even then deemed inadequate to proceed to Abercrombie. Part of the Third Regiment was also dispatched from Snelling to its relief on September 6th. Another expedition, consisting of companies under command of Captains George Atkinson and Rollo Banks, with a small squad of about sixty men of the Third Regiment, under command of Sergeant Dearborn, together with a field piece under Lieutenant Robert J. McHenry, was formed, and placed under the command of Capt. Emil A. Burger. This command started on September 10th, and after a long and arduous march, reached the fort on the 23d of September, finding the weaned and anxious garrison still in possession. Captain Burger had been reinforced at Wyman's station, on the Alexandria road, on the 19th of September, by the companies under Captains Freeman and Barrett, who had united their men on the 14th, and started for the fort. The relief force amounted to quite four hundred men by the time it reached its destination.
While this long delayed force was on its way the little garrison at the fort had its hands full to maintain its position. On the 30th of August a large body of Indians made a bold raid on the post, and succeeded in stampeding and running off nearly two hundred head of cattle and one hundred head of horses and mules which were grazing on the prairie. Some fifty of the cattle afterwards escaped, and were restored to the post by a scouting party. This band of marauders did not, however, attack the fort. No one who has not experienced it can appreciate the mortification of seeing an enemy despoil you of your property when you are powerless to resist. An attack was made on the fort on the 3d of September, and some stacks burned and a few horses captured. Several men were killed on both sides, and Captain Van der Horck was wounded in the right arm from an accidental shot from one of his own men. On September 6th a second attack was made by a large force of Indians, which lasted nearly all day, in which we lost two men and had several wounded. No further attack was made until the 26th of September, when Captain Freeman's company was fired on while watering their horses in the river. These Indians were routed and pursued by Captain Freeman's company, and a squad of the Third Regiment men, with a howitzer. Their camp was captured, which contained quite an amount of plunder. A light skirmish took place on the 29th of September, in which the enemy was routed, and this affair ended the siege of Fort Abercrombie.
CAMP RELEASE.
Colonel Sibley's command made Camp Release on the 26th of September. This camp was in the near vicinity of a large Indian camp of about 150 lodges. These Indians were composed of Upper and Lower Sioux, and had generally been engaged in all the massacres that had taken place since the outbreak. They had with them some 250 prisoners, composed of women and children, whites and half-breeds. Only one white man was found in the camp, George Spencer, who had been desperately wounded at the Lower Agency, and saved from death by an Indian friend of his.
The desire of the troops to attack and punish these savages was intense, but Colonel Sibley kept steadily in mind that the rescue of the prisoners was his first duty, and he well knew that any demonstration of violence would immediately result in the destruction of the captives. He therefore wisely overruled all hostile inclinations. The result was a general surrender of the whole camp, together with all the prisoners. As soon as the safety of the captives was assured, inquiry was instituted as to the participation of these Indians in the massacres and outrages which had been so recently perpetrated. Many cases were soon developed of particular Indians, who had been guilty of the grossest atrocities, and the commander decided to form a military tribunal to try the offenders.
TRIAL OF THE INDIANS.
The state has reason to congratulate itself on two things in this connection. First, that it had so wise and just a man as Colonel Sibley to select this important tribunal, and, second, that he had at his command such admirable material from which to make his selection. It must be remembered that this court entered upon its duties with the lives of hundreds of men at its absolute disposal. Whether they were Indians or any other kind of people, the fact must not be overlooked that they were human beings, and the responsibility of the tribunal was correspondingly great. Colonel Sibley at this date sent me a dispatch, declaring his intention in the matter of the result of the trials. It is as follows:
"Camp Release, nine miles below Lac qui Parle,
Sept. 25, 1862.
"Colonel: [After speaking of a variety of matters concerning the disposition of troops who were in my command, the battle of Wood Lake (which he characterized as "A smart conflict we had with the Indians"), the rescue of the prisoners and other matters, he adds:]
"N. B.—I am encamped near a camp of 150 lodges of friendly Indians and half-breeds, but have had to purge it of suspected characters. I have apprehended sixteen supposed to have been connected with the late outrages, and have appointed a military commission of five officers to try them. If found guilty they will be forthwith executed, although it will perhaps be a stretch of my authority. If so, necessity must be my justification.
"Yours,
"H. H. SIBLEY."
On the 28th of September an order was issued convening this court martial. It was composed of William Crooks, colonel of the Sixth Regiment, president; William R. Marshall, lieutenant colonel of the Seventh Regiment; Captains Grant and Baily of the Sixth, and Lieutenant Olin of the Third. Others were subsequently added as necessity required. All these men were of mature years, prominent in their social and general standing as citizens, and as well equipped as any persons could be to engage in such work. What I regard as the most important feature in the composition of this most extraordinary court is the fact that the Hon. Isaac V. D. Heard, an experienced lawyer of St. Paul, who had been for many years the prosecuting attorney of Ramsey county, and who was thoroughly versed in criminal law, was on the staff of Colonel Sibley, and was by him appointed recorder of the court. Mr. Heard, in the performance of his duty, was above prejudice or passion, and could treat a case of this nature as if it was a mere misdemeanor. Lieutenant Olin was judge advocate of this court, but as the trials progressed the evidence was all put in and the records kept by Mr. Heard. Some changes were made in the personnel of the court from time to time as the officers were needed elsewhere, but none of the changes lessened the dignity or character of the tribunal. I make these comments because the trials took place at a period of intense excitement, and persons unacquainted with the facts may be led to believe that the court was "organized to convict," and was unfair in its decisions.
The court sat some time at Camp Release, then at the Lower Agency, and Mankato, where it investigated the question whether the Winnebagoes had participated in the outbreak; but none of that tribe were implicated, which proves that the court acted judicially, and not upon unreliable evidence, as the country was full of rumors and charges that the Winnebagoes were implicated. The court terminated its sittings at Fort Snelling, after a series of sessions lasting from Sept. 30 to Nov. 5, 1862, during which 425 prisoners were arraigned and tried. Of these 321 were found guilty of the offenses charged, of whom 303 were sentenced to death, and the rest to various terms of imprisonment according to the nature of their crimes. The condemned prisoners were removed to Mankato, where they were confined in a large guardhouse, constructed of logs for the purpose, and were guarded by a strong force of soldiers. On the way down, as the party having charge of the prisoners passed through New Ulm they found the inhabitants disinterring the dead, who had been hastily buried in the streets where they fell during the fights at that place. The sight of the Indians so enraged the people that a general attack was made on the wagons in which they were chained together. The attacking force was principally composed of women, armed with clubs, stones, knives, hot water and similar weapons. Of course, the guard could not shoot or bayonet a woman, and they got the prisoners through the town with the loss of one killed and many battered and bruised.
While this court martial was in session the news of its proceedings reached the eastern cities, and a great outcry was raised, that Minnesota was contemplating a dreadful massacre of Indians. Many influential bodies of well-intentioned but ill-informed people beseeched President Lincoln to put a stop to the proposed executions. The president sent for the records of the trials, and turned them over to his legal and military advisors to decide which were the more flagrant cases. On the sixth day of December, 1862, the president made the following order:
"Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C.,
"Dec. 6, 1862.
"Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley, St. Paul, Minn.:
"Ordered, that of the Indians and half-breeds sentenced to be hanged by the military commission, composed of Colonel Crooks, Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, Captain Grant, Captain Bailey and Lieutenant Olin, and lately sitting in Minnesota, you cause to be executed on Friday, the nineteenth day of December, instant, the following named, to-wit:
(Here follow the names of thirty-nine Indians, and their numbers on the record of conviction.)
"The other condemned prisoners you will hold, subject to further orders, taking care that they neither escape nor are subjected to any unlawful violence.
"ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
"President of the United States."
Colonel Sibley had been appointed, by President Lincoln, a brigadier general, on the 29th of September, 1862, on account of his success at the battle of Wood Lake, the announcement of his promotion being in a telegram, as follows:
"Washington, D. C., Sept. 29, 1862.
"Major General Pope, St. Paul, Minn.,
"Colonel Henry H. Sibley is made a brigadier general for his judicious fight at Yellow Medicine. He should be kept in command of that column, and every possible assistance sent to him.
"H. W. HALLECK,
"General in Chief."
His commission as brigadier general was not issued until March 26, 1864, but, of course, this telegram amounted to an appointment to the position, and if accepted, as it was, made him subject to the orders of the president; so, notwithstanding his dispatch to me, stating that the Indians, if convicted, would be forthwith executed, he could not very well carry out such an extreme duty without first submitting it to the federal authorities, of which he had become a part.
My view of the question has always been that, when the court martial was organized, Colonel Sibley had no idea that more than twenty or twenty-five of the Indians would be convicted, which is partly inferrable from his dispatch to me, in which he said he had "apprehended sixteen supposed to have been connected with the late outrages." But when the matter assumed the proportions it did, and he found on his hands some three hundred men to kill, he was glad to shift the responsibility to higher authority. Any humane man would have been of the same mind. I have my own views, also, of the reasons of the general government in eliminating from the list of the condemned all but thirty-nine. It was not because these thirty-nine were more guilty than the rest, but because we were engaged in a great civil war, and the eyes of the world were upon us. Had these three hundred men been executed, the charge would have undoubtedly been made by the South, that the North was murdering prisoners of war, and the authorities at Washington, knowing full well that the other nations were not capable of making the proper discrimination, and perhaps not anxious to do so if they were, deemed it safer not to incur the odium which might follow from such an accusation.
EXECUTION OF THE THIRTY-EIGHT CONDEMNED INDIANS.
The result of the matter was that the order of the president was obeyed, and on the 26th of December, 1862, thirty-eight of the condemned Indians were executed, by hanging, at Mankato, one having been pardoned by the president. Contemporaneous history, or, rather, general public knowledge, of what actually occurred, says that the pardoned Indian was hanged, and one of the others liberated by mistake. As an historian, I do not assert this to be true, but as a citizen, thoroughly well informed of current events at the time of this execution, I believe it to be a fact. The hanging of the thirty-eight was done on one gallows, constructed in a square form, capable of sustaining ten men on each side. They were placed upon a platform facing inwards, and dropped all at once by the cutting of a rope. The execution was successful in all its details, and reflects credit on the ingenuity and engineering skill of Captain Burt of Stillwater, who was intrusted with the construction of the deadly machine. The rest of the condemned Indians were, after some time, taken down to Davenport in Iowa, and held in confinement until the excitement had generally subsided, when they were sent west of the Missouri and set free. An Indian never forgets what he regards as an injury, and never forgives an enemy. It is my opinion that all the troubles that have taken place since the liberation of these Indians, with the tribes inhabiting the western plains and mountains, up to a recent date, have grown out of the evil counsels of these savages. The only proper course to have pursued with them, when it was decided not to hang them, was to have exiled them to some remote post,—say, the Dry Tortugas,—where communication with their people would have been impossible, set them to work on fortifications or other public works, and allowed them to pass out by life limitation.
The execution of these Indians practically terminated the campaign for the year 1862, no other event worthy of detailed record having occurred; but the Indian war was far from being over, and it was deemed prudent to keep within the state a sufficient force of troops to successfully resist all further attacks, and to inaugurate an aggressive campaign in the coming year. The whole of the Sixth, Seventh and Tenth Regiments, the Mounted Rangers, some artillery organizations, scouts and other troops were wintered in the state at various points along the more exposed frontier, and in 1863 a formidable expedition, under command of General Sibley, was sent from Minnesota to crush the enemy, which was to be aided and cooperated with, by another expedition, under Gen. Alfred Sully, of equal proportions, which was to start from Sioux City, on the Missouri. After the attack at Birch Coulie and its relief, Little Crow, with a large part of his followers, branched off, and went to the vicinity of Acton, and there attacked the command under Capt. Richard Strout, where a severe battle was fought, in which several of Captain Strout's men were killed. On the 3d of July, 1863, Crow ventured down to the neighborhood of Hutchinson, with his young son, probably to get something which he had hidden, or to steal horses, and while he was picking berries, a farmer named Lamson, who was in search of his cows, saw him and shot him dead. His scalp now decorates the walls of the Minnesota Historical Society.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1863.
The remnant of Little Crow's followers were supposed to be rendezvoused at Devil's lake, in Dakota Territory, and reinforced by a large body of the Upper Sioux. An expedition against them was devised by General Pope, to be commanded by General Sibley. It was to assemble at a point near the mouth of the Redwood river, some twenty-five miles above Fort Ridgely. On the 7th of June, 1863, General Sibley arrived at the point of departure, which was named Camp Pope, in honor of the commanding general. The force composing the expedition was as follows: One company of pioneers, under Captain Chase; ten companies of the Sixth Regiment, under Colonel Crooks; eight companies of the Tenth Regiment, under Colonel Baker; nine companies of the Seventh, under Lieutenant Colonel Marshall; eight pieces of artillery, under Captain Jones; nine companies of Minnesota Mounted Rangers, under Colonel McPhail; seventy-five Indian scouts under Major Brown, George McLeod and Major Dooley; in all 3,052 infantry, 800 cavalry and 148 artillerymen. The command, from the nature of the country it had to traverse, was compelled to depend upon its own supply train, which was composed of 225 six-mule wagons. The staff was complete, consisting of Adjutant General Olin, Brigade Commissary Forbes, Assistant Commissary and Ordnance Officer Atchison, Commissary Clerk Spencer, Quartermaster Corning, Assistant Quartermaster Kimball, Aides-de-camp Lieutenants Pope, Beever, Hawthorne and A. St. Clair Flandrau, Chaplain, Rev. S. R. Riggs.
The column moved from Camp Pope on June 16, 1863. The weather was intensely hot, and the country over which the army had to march was wild and uninhabited. At first the Indians retreated in the direction of the British line, but it was discovered that their course had been changed to the direction of the Missouri river. They had probably heard that General Sully had been delayed by low water and hoped to be able to cross to the west bank of that stream before his arrival to intercept them, with the future hope that they would, no doubt, be reenforced by the Sioux inhabiting the country west of the Missouri. On the 4th of July the expedition reached the Big Bend of the Cheyenne river. On the 17th of July Colonel Sibley received reliable information that the main body of the Indians was moving toward the Missouri, which was on the 20th of July confirmed by a visit at Camp Atchison of about three hundred Chippewa half-breeds, led by a Catholic priest named Father Andre. On becoming satisfied that the best fruits of the march could be attained by bending towards the Missouri, the general decided to relieve his command of as much impedimenta as was consistent with comfort and safety and would increase the rapidity of its movements. He therefore established a permanent post at Camp Atchison, about fifty miles southeasterly from Devil's lake, where he left all the sick and disabled men, and a large portion of his ponderous train, with a sufficient guard to defend them if attacked. He then immediately started for the Missouri, with 1,436 infantry, 520 cavalry, 100 pioneers and artillerymen, and twenty-five days' rations. On the 22nd he crossed the James river, forty-eight miles west of Camp Atchison, and on the 24th reached the vicinity of Big Mound, beyond the second ridge of the Missouri coteau. Here the scouts reported large bodies of Indians, with Red Plume and Standing Buffalo among them.
BATTLE OF BIG MOUND.
The general, expecting an attack on the 24th, corralled his train, and threw up some earthworks to enable a smaller force to defend it. The Indians soon appeared. Dr. Weiser, surgeon of the First Rangers, supposing he saw some old friends among them, approached too close and was instantly killed. Lieutenant Freeman, who had wandered some distance from the camp, was also killed. The battle opened at three p. m., in the midst of a terrific thunderstorm, and after some sharp fighting, the Indians, numbering about fifteen hundred, fled in the direction of their camp, and were closely pursued. A general panic ensued, the Indian camp was abandoned, and the whole throng, men, women and children, fled before the advancing forces. Numerous charges were made upon them, amidst the roaring of the thunder and the flashing of the lightning. One private was killed by lightning, and Colonel McPhail's saber was knocked out of his grasp by the same force.
The Indians are reported to have lost in this fight, eighty killed and wounded. They also lost nearly all their camp equipment. They were pursued about fifteen miles, and had it not been for a mistake in the delivery of an order by Lieutenant Beever, they would undoubtedly have been overtaken and destroyed. The order was to bivouac where night caught the pursuing troops, but was misunderstood to return. This unfortunate error gave the Indians two days' start, and they put a wide gap between themselves and the troops. The battle of Big Mound, as this engagement was called, was a decided victory, and counted heavily in the scale of advantage, as it put the savages on the run and disabled them from prosecuting further hostilities.
BATTLE OF DEAD BUFFALO LAKE.
On the 26th the command again moved in the direction of the fleeing Indians. Their abandoned camp was passed on that day early in the morning. About noon large bodies of the enemy were discovered, and a brisk fight ensued. Attacks and counter attacks were made, and a determined fight kept up until about three p. m., when a bold dash was made by the Indians to stampede the animals which were herded on the banks of a lake, but the attempt was promptly met and defeated. The Indians, foiled at all points, and having lost heavily in killed and wounded, retired from the field. At night earthworks were thrown up to prevent a surprise, but none was attempted, and this ended the battle of Dead Buffalo Lake.
The general was now convinced that the Indians were going toward the Missouri, with the intention of putting the river between them and his command, and, expecting General Sully's force to be there to intercept them, he determined to push them on as rapidly as possible, inflicting all the damage he could in their flight. The campaign was well conceived, and had Sully arrived in time, the result would undoubtedly have been the complete destruction or capture of the Indians. But low water delayed Sully to such an extent that he failed to arrive in time, and the enemy succeeded in crossing the river before General Sibley could overtake them.
BATTLE OF STONY LAKE.
On the 28th of July Indians were again seen in large numbers. They endeavored to encircle the troops. They certainly presented a force of two thousand fighting men, and must have been reinforced by friends from the west side of the Missouri. They were undoubtedly fighting to keep the soldiers back until their families could cross the river. The troops were well handled. A tremendous effort was made to break our lines, but the enemy was repulsed at all points. The artillery was effective, and the Indians finally fled in a panic and rout towards the Missouri. They were hotly pursued, and, on the 29th, the troops crossed Apple creek, a small stream a few miles from the present site of Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota, and pushing on, struck the Missouri at a point about four miles above Burnt Boat Island. The Indians had succeeded in crossing the river with their families, but in a very demoralized condition as to supplies and camp equipage. They were plainly visible on the bluffs on the opposite side. It was here that Lieutenant Beever lost his life while carrying an order. He missed the trail and was ambushed and killed. He was a young Englishman who had volunteered to accompany the expedition, and whom General Sibley had placed upon his staff as an aide.
Large quantities of wagons and other material, abandoned by the Indians in their haste to cross the river, were destroyed. The bodies of Lieutenant Beever and a private of the Sixth Regiment, who was killed in the same way, were recovered and buried. It was clear that the Indians, on learning of the magnitude of the expedition, never contemplated overcoming it in battle, and made their movements with reference to delaying its progress, while they pushed their women and children toward and across the river, knowing there was no resting place for them on this side. They succeeded admirably, but their success was solely attributed to the failure of General Sully to arrive in time. General Sibley's part of the campaign was carried out to the letter, and every man in it, from the commander to the private, is entitled to the highest praise.
On August 1st the command broke camp for home. As was learned afterwards, General Sully was then distant down the river 160 miles. His delay was no fault of his, as it was occasioned by insurmountable obstacles. The march home was a weary but uneventful one. The campaign of 1863 may be summed up as follows: The troops marched nearly 1,200 miles. They fought three well-contested battles. They drove from eight to ten thousand Indians out of the state, and across the Missouri river. They lost only seven killed and three wounded, and inflicted upon the enemy so severe a loss that he never again returned to his old haunts. For his meritorious services General Sibley was appointed a major general by brevet on Nov. 29, 1865, which appointment was duly confirmed by the senate, and he was commissioned on April 7, 1866.
In July, 1863, a regiment of cavalry was authorized by the secretary of war to be raised by Major E. A. C. Hatch, for duty on the northern frontier. Several companies were recruited and marched to Pembina, on the extreme northern border, where they performed valuable services, and suffered incredible hardships. The regiment was called Hatch's Battalion.
CAMPAIGN OF 1864.
The government very wisely decided not to allow the Indian question to rest upon the results of the campaign of 1863, which left the Indians in possession of the country west of the Missouri, rightly supposing that they might construe their escape from General Sibley the previous year into a victory. It therefore sent out another expedition in 1864, to pursue and attack them beyond the Missouri. The plan and outfit were very similar to those of 1863. General Sully was again to proceed up the Missouri with a large command, and meet a force sent out from Minnesota, which forces when combined were to march westward, and find and punish the savages if possible. The expedition, as a whole, was under the command of General Sully. It consisted of two brigades, the first composed of Iowa and Kansas infantry and cavalry, and Brackett's Battalion, to the number of several thousand, which was to start from Sioux City and proceed up the Missouri in steamboats. The second embraced the Eighth Regiment of Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel Thomas, mounted on ponies; the Second Minnesota Cavalry, under Colonel MacLaren; the Third Minnesota Battery, under Captain Jones. The Second Brigade was commanded by Colonel Thomas. This brigade left Fort Snelling on June 1st, and marched westward. General Sibley and staff accompanied it as far as Fort Ridgely. On the 9th of June it passed Wood Lake, the scene of the fight in 1862. About this point it overtook a large train of emigrants on their way to Idaho, who had with them 160 wagon loads of supplies. This train was escorted to the Missouri river safely. The march was wearisome in the extreme, with intensely hot weather and very bad water, and was only enlivened by the appearance occasionally of a herd of buffalo, a band of antelope, or a straggling elk. The movements of the command were carefully watched by flying bands of Indians during its whole march. On July 1st the Missouri was reached at a point where now stands Fort Rice. General Sully and the First Brigade had arrived there the day before. The crossing was made by the boats that brought up the First Brigade. The column was immediately directed toward Cannon Ball river, where 1,800 lodges of Indians were reported to be camped. The Indians fled before the approaching troops. On the last of July the Heart river was reached, where a camp was formed, and the tents and teams left behind. Thus relieved, the command pressed forward for an Indian camp eighty miles northward. On the 2d of August the Indians were found in large numbers on the Big Knife river, in the Bad lands. These were Unca-Papa Sioux, who had murdered a party of miners from Idaho the year before, and had given aid and comfort to the Minnesota refugee Indians. They were attacked, and a very spirited engagement ensued in which the enemy was badly beaten and suffered severe losses. The place where this battle was fought was called Ta-ka-ho-ku-tay, or "The bluff where the man shot the deer."
On the next day, August 3d, the command moved west through the Bad Lands, and just as it emerged from this terribly ragged country it was sharply attacked by a large body of Indians. The fight lasted through two days and nights, when the enemy retired in haste. They were very roughly handled in this engagement.
General Sully then crossed to the west side of the Yellowstone river, where the weary soldiers found two steamboats awaiting them, with ample supplies. In crossing this rapid river the command lost three men and about twenty horses. From this point they came home by the way of Forts Union, Berthold and Stevenson, reaching Fort Rice on the 9th of September.
On this trip General Sully located Forts Rice, Stevenson and Berthold.
On reaching Fort Rice, considerable anxiety was felt for Colonel Fisk, who, with a squad of fifty troops, had left the fort as an escort for a train of Idaho immigrants, and had been attacked 180 miles west of the fort, and had been compelled to intrench. He had sent for reenforcements, and General Sully sent him three hundred men, who extricated him from his perilous position.
The Minnesota brigade returned home by way of Fort Wadsworth, where they arrived on September 27th. Here Major Rose, with six companies of the Second Cavalry, was left to garrison the post, the balance of the command reaching Fort Snelling on the 12th of October.
In June, 1865, another expedition left Minnesota for the west, under Colonel Callahan of Wisconsin, which went as far as Devil's lake. The first, second and fourth sections of the Third Minnesota battery accompanied it. Again, in 1866, an expedition started from Fort Abercrombie, which included the first section of the Third Battery, under Lieutenant Whipple. As no important results followed from these two latter expeditions, I only mention them as being parts of the Indian war.
The numbers of Indians engaged in this war, together with their superior fighting qualities, their armament, and the country occupied by them gives it rank among the most important of the Indian wars fought since the first settlement of the country on the Atlantic coast. But when viewed in the light of the number of settlers massacred, the amount of property destroyed, and the horrible atrocities committed by the savages, it far surpasses them all.
I have dwelt upon this war to such an extent because I regard it as the most important event in the history of our state, and desire to perpetuate the facts more especially connected with the gallant resistance offered by the settlers in its inception. Not an instance of timidity is recorded. The inhabitants engaged in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, utterly unprepared for war, sprang to the front on the first indication of danger, and checked the advance of the savage enemy in his initial efforts. The importance of battles should never be measured by the number engaged, or the lists of killed and wounded, but by the consequences of their results. I think the repulse of the Indians at Fort Ridgely and New Ulm saved the State of Minnesota from a disaster the magnitude of which cannot be estimated. Their advance was checked at the very frontier, and they were compelled to retreat, thus affording time and opportunity for the whites to organize for systematic action. Had they not met with this early check, it is more than probable that the Chippewas on the Upper Mississippi and the Winnebagoes in the Lower Minnesota valley would have joined them, and the war have been carried into the heart of the state. Instances of a similar character have occurred in our early wars which illustrate my position. The battle of Oriscany, which was fought in the Revolutionary War in the valley of the Mohawk, between Rome and Utica, was not more of an encounter than Ridgely or New Ulm, yet it has been characterized as one of the decisive battles of the world, because it prevented a junction of the British forces under St. Ledger in the west and Burgoyne in the east, and made American independence possible. The State of New York recognized the value of Oriscany just one hundred years after the battle was fought, by the erection of a monument to commemorate it. The State of Minnesota has done better, by erecting imposing monuments on both the battlefields of Ridgely and New Ulm, the inscriptions on which give a succinct history of the respective events.
The state also presented each of the defenders of Fort Ridgely with a handsome bronze medal, especially struck for the purpose, the presentation of which took place at the time of the dedication of the monument, on the twentieth day of August, 1896.
The medal has a picture of the fort on its obverse side, surrounded by the words, "Defender of Fort Ridgely, August 18-27, 1862." Just over the flag staff, in a scroll, is the legend, in Sioux, "Ti-yo-pa-na-ta-ka-pi," which means, "It shut the door against us," referring to the battle having obstructed the further advance of the Indians. This was said by one of the Indians in the attacking party in giving his view of the effect of the repulse, and adopted by the committee having charge of the preparation of the medal as being appropriate and true. On the reverse side are the words, "Presented by the State of Minnesota to——," encircled by a wreath of moccasin flowers, which is the flower of the state.
The state has also placed monuments at Birch Coulie, Camp Release and Acton. I regret to be compelled to say that a majority of the committee having charge of the building of the Birch Coulie monument so far failed in the performance of their duties as to the location of the monument and formulating its inscriptions that the legislature felt compelled to pass an act to correct their errors. The correction has not yet been made, but in the cause of true history it is to be hoped that it will be in the near future. The state also erected a handsome monument, in the cemetery of Fort Ridgely, to Captain Marsh and the twenty-three men of his company that were killed at the ferry, near the Lower Sioux Agency, on Aug. 18, 1862, and, by special act, passed long after at the request of old settlers, added the name of Peter Quinn, the interpreter, who was killed at the same time and place. The state also built a monument in the same cemetery in remembrance of the wife of Dr. Muller, the post surgeon at Ridgely during the siege, on account of the valuable services rendered by her in nursing the wounded soldiers.
A LONG PERIOD OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY.
After the stirring events of the Civil and Indian wars Minnesota resumed its peaceful ways, and continued to grow and prosper for a long series of years, excepting the period from 1873 to 1876, when it was afflicted with the plague of grasshoppers. Possessed of the many advantages that nature has bestowed upon it, there was nothing else for it to do. The state, as far as it was then developed, was exclusively agricultural, and wheat was its staple production, although almost every character of grain and vegetable can be produced in exceptional abundance. Potatoes of the first quality were among its earliest exports, but that crop is not sufficiently valuable or portable to enter extensively into the catalogue of its productions, beyond the needs of domestic use.
INTRODUCTION OF THE NEW PROCESS OF MILLING WHEAT.
The wheat raised in Minnesota was, and always has been, of the spring variety, and up to about the year 1874 was regarded in the markets of the world as an inferior article of grain, when compared with the winter wheat of states further south, and the flour made from it was also looked upon as much less valuable than its competitor, made from winter wheat. The state labored under this disability in realizing upon its chief product for many years, both in the wheat, and the flour made from it. Many mills were erected at the Falls of St. Anthony, with a very great output of flour, which, with the lumber manufactured at that point, composed the chief export of the state. The process of grinding wheat was the old style, of an upper and nether millstone, which left the flour of darker color, less nutritious, and less desirable than that from the winter wheat made in the same way. About the year 1871 it was discovered that a new process of manufacturing flour was in operation on the Danube and at Budapest. Mr. George H. Christian, a partner of Gov. C. C. Washburn in the milling business at Minneapolis, studied the invention, which consisted of crushing the wheat by means of rollers made of steel and porcelain, instead of grinding it, as of old, to which the French had added a new process of eliminating the bran specs from the crushed product, by means of a flat oscillating screen or bolt with an upward blast of air through it, upon which the crushed product was placed and cleansed of all bran impurities. In 1871 Gen. C. C. Washburn and Mr. Christian introduced this French invention into their mills in Minneapolis, and derived from it great advantage in the appearance and value of their flour. This was called a "middlings purifier." In 1874 they introduced the roller crushing process, and the result was, that the hard spring wheat returned a flour superior to the product of the winter wheat, and placed Minnesota upon more than an equality with the best flour-producing states in the Union. This process has been universally adopted throughout the United States in all milling localities, with great advantage to that industry.
It is a rather curious fact that, as all our milling knowledge was originally inherited from England, which country is very sluggish in the adoption of new methods, it was not until our improved flour reached that country that the English millers accepted the new method, and have since acted upon it. It is a case of the pupil instructing his preceptor.
I regard the introduction of these improvements in the manufacture of flour into this state as of prime importance to its growth and increase of wealth and strength. It is estimated by the best judges that the value of our spring wheat was increased at least twenty per cent by their adoption, and when we consider that the state produced, in 1898, 78,418,000 bushels of wheat, its magnitude can be better appreciated. It formerly required five bushels of wheat to make a barrel of flour; under the new process it only takes four bushels and seven pounds to make a barrel of the same weight—196 pounds.
The only record that is kept of flour in Minnesota is for the two points of Minneapolis and the head of the lakes; the latter including Duluth, and Superior, in Wisconsin. The output of Minneapolis for the crop year of 1898-99 was 15,164,881 barrels, and for Duluth-Superior for the same period 2,637,035 barrels. The estimate for the whole state is 25,000,000 barrels. These figures are taken from the Northwestern Miller, a reliable publication in Minneapolis.
The credit of having introduced the Hungarian and French processes into Minnesota is due primarily to the late Gov. C. C. Washburn of La Crosse, Wis., who was greatly aided by his partner at the time, Mr. George H. Christian of Minneapolis.
While I am convinced that the credit of first having introduced these valuable inventions into Minnesota belongs to Gov. C. C. Washburn and his partner Mr. George H. Christian, I am in justice bound to add that Gov. John S. Pillsbury and the late Mr. Charles A. Pillsbury, who were large and enterprising millers at Minneapolis, owning the Excelsior Mills, immediately after its introduction adopted the process, and put it into their mills, and by employing American skilled artizans and millers to set up and operate their machinery, succeeded in securing the first absolutely perfect automatic mill of the new kind in the country. General Washburn, having imported Hungarian millers to start and operate his experimental mills, found himself somewhat handicapped by their inefficiency and sluggishness in adopting American ways and customs.
THE DISCOVERY OF IRON.
From the earliest days of the territory the people had predicted the growth of cities at several points. At St. Paul, because it was the head of navigation of the Mississippi river; at St. Anthony, on account of its great water power; at Superior, as being the head of navigation of the Great Lakes system; and at Mankato, from its location at the great bend of the Minnesota river. It must be remembered that when these prophesies were made Minneapolis and Duluth had no existence, and Superior was the natural outlet of the St. Louis river into Lake Superior, and had its land titles not been so complicated when the railroad from St. Paul to the head of the lakes was projected, there is no doubt Superior would have been the terminus of the road; but it was found to be almost impossible to procure title to any land in Superior, on account of its having been sold by the proprietors in undivided interests to parties all over the country, and it was situated in Wisconsin, so the railroad people procured the charter of the company to make its northern terminus on the Minnesota side of the harbor, where Duluth now stands, and founded that town as the terminus of the road. Some years after Minnesota Point was cut by a canal at its base, or shore end, and the entrance to the harbor changed from its natural inlet, around the end of the point, to this canal. This improvement has proved to be of vast importance to the city of Duluth and to the shipping interests of the state, as the natural entrance was difficult and dangerous.
Duluth increased in importance from year to year by reason of the natural advantages of its situation, as the outlet of much of the exports of the state and the inlet of a large portion of its imports. As railroads progressed, it became connected with the wheat producing areas of the state, which resulted in the erection of elevators for the shipment of wheat and mills to grind it. As nearly all the coal consumed in the state came in by the gateway of Duluth, immense coal docks were constructed, with all the modern inventions for unloading it from ships and loading it on cars for distribution. Duluth soon attained metropolitan proportions. About the year 1870 Mr. George C. Stone became a resident of the city, and engaged in business.
In 1873 Jay Cooke, who had been an important factor in the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, failed, which was a serious blow to Duluth. Mr. Stone had given his attention largely to the investigation of the mineral resources of the Lake Superior region in Minnesota, and had become convinced of the presence of large beds of iron ore in its northeastern portion, now known as the Vermillion Range. When he first made known his discovery, the location of the ore was so remote from civilization that he found it difficult to interest any one in his enterprise. Few shared his faith, but undismayed by lack of support, he undertook, with steady persistence, the task of securing the capital necessary to develop what he was convinced was a great natural wealth-producing field. Comparatively alone, and with little encouragement at home, he visited the money centers of the country, and assiduously labored to induce men of capital to embark in the enterprise, but found it to be uphill work.
The first men whose support he secured were Charlemagne Tower of Pottsville, Pa., and Samuel A. Munson of Utica, N. Y., both men of education and great wealth. They became sufficiently interested to secure a proper test of the matter. Professor Chester of Hamilton College was sent out on two occasions. Mr. Munson died, and after the lapse of a few years Charlemagne Tower, then a resident of Philadelphia, undertook to furnish the necessary funds to make the development, which involved the expense of $4,000,000 in building a railroad eighty miles in length, with docks and other operating facilities.
The railroad was opened in July, 1884, and there was shipped that season 62,124 tons of ore, and in 1885 the shipment reached 225,000 tons. In 1886 304,000 tons were shipped; in 1887, 394,000 tons; in 1888, 512,000. The output of the iron mines at and about the head of the lakes had, by 1898, grown to the enormous quantity of 5,871,801 tons. The grade of the ore is the highest in the market. This product is one of the most important in the state, and seems destined to expand indefinitely.
No better idea of the growth and importance of Duluth, and, in the same connection, the advance of the state, since the war, can be presented than by a statement of a few aggregates of different industries centered at the head of the lakes. The most recent record obtainable is for the year 1898. For example:
- Lumber cut 544,318,000 feet.
- Coal received 2,500,000 tons.
- Number of vessels arrived and cleared 12,150
- Wheat received, and flour as wheat 82,118,129 bushels.
- Other grain 19,428,622 bushels.
- Flour manufactured 2,460,025 barrels.
- Capacity of elevators 24,650,000 bushels.
- Capacity of flour mills per day 22,000 barrels.
Many other statistics could be given, but the above are sufficient to show the unexampled growth of the state in that vicinity.
COMMERCE THROUGH THE ST. MARY'S FALLS CANAL.
Another very interesting and instructing element in considering the growth of Minnesota is the commerce passing through the St. Mary's Canal, which connects Lake Superior with Lakes Huron and Michigan, the greater part of which is supplied by Minnesota. No record of the number of sailing vessels or steamers passing through the canal was kept until the year 1864. During that year there were 1,045 sailing vessels, and 366 steamers. The last report for the year 1898 shows an increase of sailing vessels to 4,449 and of steamers to 12,461. The first record of the net tons of freight passing the canal was opened in 1881, which showed an aggregate of 1,567,741 net tons of all kinds of freight. In 1898 it had grown to the enormous sum of 21,234,664 tons. These figures, like distances in astronomical calculations, require a special mental effort to fully comprehend them. An incident occurred in September, 1899, in connection with this canal traffic, that assists in understanding its immense proportions. By an accident to a steamer, the channel of the river was blocked for a short time, until she could be removed, during which time a procession of waiting steamers was formed forty miles in length.
I have been unable to obtain any reliable figures with which to present a contrast between the commerce of this canal and that of the Suez, connecting the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, but it is generally estimated that the St. Mary's largely exceeds the Suez, although the commerce of the world with the Orient and Australia largely passes through the latter.
AGRICULTURE.
In the early days of Minnesota its agricultural population was largely centered in the southeastern portion of the state. The soil was exceptionally fertile, and produced wheat in unusual abundance. The Western farmer of early days was a careless cultivator, thinking more of the immediate results than permanent preservation of his land. Even if he was of the conservative old New England stock, the generous soil of the West, the freedom from social restraint, and the lessened labors of the farm, led him into more happy-go-lucky methods than he had been accustomed to in the East. It was Mark Twain who once said that if you plant a New England deacon in Texas, you will find him in about a year with a game chicken under his arm, riding a mule on Sunday to a cock-fight. When farms were opened in the southeastern counties of Minnesota it was not an unusual thing to be rewarded with a crop of from thirty to forty bushels of wheat to the acre. The process of cultivation was simple, and required scarcely any capital, so it was natural that the first comers should confine their efforts to the one product of wheat. They did so, regardless of the fact that the best soil will become exhausted unless reenforced. They became accustomed to think that land could always be had for the taking, and in twenty or twenty-five years, the goose that laid the golden eggs died, and six or eight bushels was all they could extract from their lands. About 1877 or 1878 they practically abandoned the culture of wheat and tried corn and hogs. This was an improvement, but not a great success. Many of the farmers of the pioneering and roving class sold out, and went west for fresh lands.
DAIRYING.
About this time the dairy business had become quite profitable in Iowa, and the Minnesota farmers turned their attention to that branch of industry. Their lands were excellent for pasturing purposes and hay raising. They began in a small way, with cows and butter-making, but from lack of experience and knowledge of the business their progress was slow; but it improved from year to year, and now, in the year 1899, it has become one of the most important, successful and profitable industries in the state, and the farmers of southern Minnesota constitute the most independent and well-to-do class of all our citizens. It was not very long ago when a mortgage was an essential feature of a Minnesota farm, but they have nearly all been paid off, and the farmer of southern Minnesota is found in the ranks of the stockholders and depositors of the banks, and if he has anything to do with mortgages, he is found on the winning side of that dangerous instrument. A brief statement of the facts connected with the dairy business will demonstrate its magnitude. There are in the state:
- Creameries, about 700
- Creamery patrons 55,000
- Capital invested $3,000,000
- Cows supplying milk 410,000
- Pounds of milk received in 1898 1,400,000,000
- Pounds of butter exported 63,000,000
- Pounds of butter made, 1898 50,000,000
- Gross receipts, 1898 $10,400,000
- Operating expenses, 1898 $1,100,000
- Paid to patrons $8,600,000
Since 1884 Minnesota butter has been exhibited, in competition with similar products from all the states in the Union and the butter-making countries of the world, at all the principal fairs and expositions that have been held in the United States, and has taken more prizes than any other state or country. Its cheese has kept pace with its butter. There are in the state, in active operation, ninety-four cheese factories. This industry is constantly on the increase, and Minnesota is certainly destined to surpass every other state in the Union in this department of agriculture.
While this new and valuable branch of industry was gradually superseding that of wheat in southern Minnesota, the latter was not being extinguished by any means, but simply changing its habitat. About the time that wheat culture became unprofitable in southern Minnesota, the valley of the Red River of the North began to attract attention, and it was at once discovered that it was the garden of the world for wheat culture. An intelligent and experienced farmer, Mr. Oliver Dalrymple, may be said to have been the pioneer of that enterprise. Lands in the valley were cheap, and he succeeded in gaining control of immense tracts, and unlimited capital for their development. He opened these lands up to wheat culture, and gave to the world a new feature in agriculture, which acquired the name of the "Bonanza Farm." Some of these farms embraced sixty and seventy thousand acres of land, and were divided by roads on the section lines. They were supplied with all the buildings necessary for the accommodation of the army of superintendents and employes that operated them; also, granaries and buildings for housing machinery, slaughter houses to provision the operatives, telephone systems to facilitate communication between distant points, and every other auxiliary to perfect an economic management. These great farms, of course, produced wheat at much lower rates than could the lesser ones, but did not materially interfere with wheat production by the smaller farmers, as the output of 1898 of nearly 79,000,000 bushels sufficiently proves. There seems to be no need of apprehension about the lands of the Red River Valley becoming exhausted, as they appear to be as enduring as those in the valley of the Nile.
THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA AND ITS SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE.
The University of Minnesota, for the establishment of which the United States donated to the state nearly 100,000 acres of land, and the agricultural college, which was similarly endowed, have been consolidated, and both have long been in successful operation. The university proper opened its doors for the admission of students about the year 1869, and has since attained such proportions as to entitle it to a place among the leading educational institutions of the United States, its roll of students for the last college year numbering over three thousand. Its curriculum embraces all studies generally taught in the colleges of this country, professional and otherwise. The state of efficiency and high standing of the University of Minnesota is largely attributable to the work of its president, Hon. Cyrus Northrop, a graduate of Yale, who had attained eminence in the educational world before being called to the university.
The school of agriculture is of the highest importance to the welfare of the state, the influence of which will soon remove its chief industry from dependence on the crude methods of the uneducated Western farmer, and place it upon a basis of scientific operation and management. Every branch of the art of farming is taught in this institution, from a knowledge of the chemical properties of the soil and its adaptation to the different vegetable growths, to the scientific breeding and economical feeding of stock. Much of the success in the dairy branch of farming is the direct result of knowledge gained at this school. It is well patronized by the young men of the state who intend to devote themselves to agriculture as a profession. Quite recently a new department has been added to the institution, for the instruction of women in all that pertains to the proper education of the mistress of the farm. It goes without saying that when Minnesota farming is brought under the management and control of men and women of scientific and practical education in that particular line there will be a revolution for the better.
The methods of instruction in this school are not merely theoretical. It possesses three experimental farms for the practical illustration and application of its teachings, the principal one of which is situated at St. Anthony Park, and the other two respectively at Crookston and Grand Rapids. Work is also done in an experimental way in Lyon county, but the state does not own the station.
THE MINNESOTA STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
This society dates its corporate existence from the year 1868, although for many years previous to that date, even back to the territorial days, a society had been in existence covering the main features of this organization. In 1867 the state recognized this society by appropriating $1,000 for its encouragement. Its object was the promotion of agriculture, horticulture and the mechanic arts. The society held annual fairs in different localities in the state, with varying success, until 1885, when the county of Ramsey offered to convey to the State of Minnesota, forever, two hundred acres of land adjoining the city limits of St. Paul, for the purpose of holding annual exhibitions thereon, under the management of the society, of all matters pertaining to agriculture, human art, industry or skill. The state met this munificent donation with the same liberal spirit that characterized the offer, and appropriated $100,000 for permanent improvements.
The board of managers proceeded immediately to erect the necessary buildings for the first exhibition, but found the appropriation inadequate by about $32,000, which was readily supplied by public spirited citizens of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The state being again appealed to in 1887, made a further appropriation of $50,000.
In 1887 the society was reorganized by act of the legislature, and its membership designated and made to consist of the following persons:
First—Three delegates from each of the county and district agricultural societies.
Second—Honorary life members, prominent by reason of eminent services in agriculture, or in the arts and sciences connected therewith, or of long and faithful services in the society, or of benefits conferred upon it.
Third—The presidents ex-officio of the Horticultural Society, the Amber Cane Society, the State Dairymen's Association, the Southern Minnesota Fair Association, the State Poultry Association, the State Bee-Keepers' Association, and the president and secretary of the Farmer's Alliance.
Fourth—The president of any society having for its object the promotion of any branch of agriculture, stock raising or improving, or mechanics relating to agriculture.
By this selection of membership it will be seen that the society is composed of the leading agriculturists of the state. It holds annual meetings in St. Paul for the transaction of its business. The state appropriates $4,000 annually to aid in the payment of premiums to exhibitors.
The society is in a prosperous condition, and holds annual fairs, in the month of September, on its grounds, which have been extensively improved. Each year there is a marked increase in the magnitude and variety of exhibits, and extended interest and attendance. Its financial statement for the year 1898 was: Receipts, $62,523.70; expenditures, $56,850.83. It has just closed its fair for the year 1899, which in extent and perfection of its exhibits and financial results surpassed any of its previous attempts.
There are in the state the following named societies, all more or less connected with agriculture, and all in flourishing condition: The State Horticultural Society, the State Forestry Association, the Dairymen's Association, the State Butter and Cheese Makers' Association, the State Farmers' Institute, the State Poultry Association, the State Bee-Keepers' Association, and perhaps others. These associations have done much in the promotion of the agricultural interests of the state, and by their intelligent guidance will, no doubt, soon make it the leading agricultural state in the Union.
THE MINNESOTA SOLDIERS' HOME.
In the year 1887 it became apparent that the Civil War and the Minnesota Indian War had left a large number of soldiers of the state in dependent circumstances from old age, wounds and other disabling causes. The state, recognizing its obligation to these men, determined to provide a home for their comfort and maintenance. By an act of the legislature, passed March 2d of that year, provision was made for the purchase of a site and the erection of suitable buildings for that purpose. The act provided for bids for the purpose of a site, and also authorized the acceptance of donations for that purpose. Minneapolis responded handsomely, by offering fifty-one acres of its beautiful Minnehaha park as a donation. It was accepted, and is one of the most beautiful and picturesque locations that could have been found in the state, being near the Mississippi river and the Falls of Minnehaha. The beginning of the home was small, one old house being used for the first six months, and then, from year to year, handsome and commodious brick houses were erected, until the home became adequate to accommodate all those who were entitled to its hospitality. The conditions of admission are: Residence in Minnesota, service in the Mexican War, or in some Minnesota organization in the Civil or Indian Wars, honorable discharge, and indigent circumstances. As there are no accommodations for the wives and families of the old soldiers and sailors at the home, provision is made for relief being furnished to married soldiers at their own homes, so as to prevent the separation of families. There were in the home at the date of the last report (August 3, 1899) 362 beneficiaries. The home is conducted by a board of trustees, consisting of seven members, whose election is so arranged that they serve for six years. This beneficent establishment is to be commended as an evidence of the generosity and patriotism of the state.
OTHER STATE INSTITUTIONS.
I have been somewhat explicit in mentioning the institutions of the state which are connected with its prominent and permanent industry—agriculture; but it must not be supposed that it has not provided for the many other interests that require regulation and control to constitute a perfectly organized state government. There are, besides those I have mentioned, four normal schools (located at Winona, Mankato, St. Cloud and Moorhead), all devoted to the education of teachers, state high and graded schools scattered all over the state, a state board of corrections and charities, and state hospitals for the insane (of which there are three), located as follows: One at St. Peter, one at Rochester, and one at Fergus Falls, and a fourth in contemplation. According to the latest report, these hospitals contained 3,302 patients, as follows: St. Peter, 1,045; Rochester, 1,196; and Fergus Falls, 1,061. For a small, new state, this showing would seem alarming, and indicate that a very large percentage of the population was insane, and that the rest were preparing to become so. The truth is that a case of insanity originating in Minnesota is quite as exceptional and rare as other diseases, and can usually be accounted for by some self-abuse of the patient. The population is drawn from such diverse sources, and the intermarriages are crossed upon so many different nationalities that hereditary insanity ought to be almost unknown. The climate and the general pursuits of the people all militate against the prevalence of the malady.
The explanation of the existence of the numerous cases is, as I am informed by the very highest authority on the subject, that in nearly all European countries it has become the habit of families afflicted with insanity to export their unfortunates to America as soon as any symptoms appear, and thus provide for them for the rest of their lives. I cannot say that the governments whence these people emigrate participate in the fraud, but it is not reasonable to suppose that they would interpose any serious objections even should they have knowledge of the fact. A comparison of the nationalities of the patients found in these hospitals with the American element, given by the census of the state, proves my statement, and an inquiry of the medical authorities of these institutions will place the question beyond doubt.
MINNESOTA INSTITUTES FOR DEFECTIVES.
There are also state schools for the deaf, dumb, blind, and the feeble-minded. These institutions are all located at Faribault, in Rice county, and each has a very handsome, commodious, and in every way suitable building, where these unfortunates are instructed in every branch of learning and industry of which they are capable. During the last two years there have been enrolled 275 deaf and dumb children in the school especially devoted to them, where they receive the best education that science and experience can provide. This school has already been instrumental in preparing hundreds of deaf and mute youth to be useful and intelligent citizens of the state, and year by year a few are graduated, well prepared to take their places beside the hearing and speaking youth who leave the public schools. About one-third of the time is devoted to manual training.
The school for the blind is entirely separate from that of the deaf and dumb, and is equipped with all the appliances of a modern special school of this character. It makes a specialty of musical instruction and industrial training, such as broom-making, hammock weaving, bead work and sewing. The course of study embraces a period of seven years, beginning with the kindergarten, and ending with the ordinary studies of English classes in the high schools. The school is free to all blind children in the state between the ages of eight and twenty-six, to whom board, care and tuition are furnished. The average number of pupils at this school for the past few years is between seventy and one hundred.
There is also a
STATE SCHOOL FOR DEPENDENT AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN.
This school is located at Owatonna, in Steele county, and is one of the most valuable of all the many establishments which the state has provided for the encouragement of good citizenship. There are eleven buildings, which comprise all the agencies that tend to make abandoned children useful citizens and rescue them from a life of vagrancy and crime.
The object of this institution is to provide a temporary home and school for the dependent and neglected children of the state. No child in Minnesota need go without a home if the officers of the several counties do their duty. There is not a semblance of any degrading or criminal feature in the manner of obtaining admittance to this school. Under the law, it is the duty of every county commissioner, when he finds any child dependent, or in danger of becoming so, to take steps to send him to this school. The process of admission wisely guards against the separation of parent and child, but keeps in view the ultimate good of the latter. Once admitted it becomes the child of the state, all other authority over it being canceled. Every child old enough to work has some fitting task assigned to it, to the end of training it mentally, morally and physically for useful citizenship. They are sent from the school into families wanting them, but this does not deprive them of the watchful care of the state, which, through its agents, visits them in their adopted homes, and sees that they are well cared for.
On Jan. 1, 1899, there had been received into the school, from seventy-two counties, 1,824 children, of whom 1,131 were boys and 693 were girls. Of these 233 were then in the school, the others having been placed in good homes. It is known that eighty-three per cent of these children develope into young men and women of good character.
THE MINNESOTA STATE TRAINING SCHOOL.
This institution was formerly "The Minnesota State Reform School," and was located in St. Paul. In 1895 the legislature changed its name to "The Minnesota State Training School for Boys and Girls," and its location has been changed to Red Wing, in the county of Goodhue. This institution has to do with criminals, and the statute provides, "That whenever an infant over the age of eight years and under the age of sixteen years shall have been duly convicted of any crime punishable with imprisonment, except the crime of murder, or shall be convicted of vagrancy or of incorrigibly vicious conduct," the sentence shall be to the guardianship of the board of managers of this school. Here they are given a good common school education and instructed in the trades of cabinet making, carpenter work, tailoring, shoemaking, blacksmithing, printing, farming, gardening, etc.
The inmates are furloughed under proper conditions, but the state watches over them through an agent, who provides homes for the homeless and employment for those who need help.
MINNESOTA STATE REFORMATORY.
This institution was established in 1887, and is located at St. Cloud. It is designed as an intermediate correctional school between the training school and the state prison, the object being to provide a place for young men and boys from sixteen to thirty years of age, never before convicted of crime, where they may, under as favorable circumstances as possible, by discipline and education best adapted to that end, form such habits and character as will prevent their continuing in crime, fit them for self-support, and accomplish their reformation.
The law provides for an indeterminate sentence, allowing of parole when earned by continuous good conduct, and final release when reformation is strongly probable.
Honest labor is required every day of each inmate. Almost every occupation and employment is carried on in a practical way, and each inmate is learning to fill some honest place and to do useful work. The workings of this reformatory have been very satisfactory, and have undoubtedly rescued many young people from a life of crime.
THE MINNESOTA STATE PRISON.
All prisons where criminals are sent to work out sentences for crimes committed are alike on general principles, and the Minnesota prison, situated at Stillwater, differs only in the fact that it combines in its administration all the modern discoveries of sociological research which tend to ameliorate the condition of the prisoner and fit him for the duties of good citizenship when discharged.
The plant is extensive and thorough. The labor of the prisoners is now devoted to three industries: the manufacture of binding twine, high school scientific apparatus on state account, and the manufacture of boots and shoes.
The discipline and management of the prison are the best. The most advanced principles of penology are in force. Sentences are reduced by good conduct, and everything is done to reform as well as punish the prisoner. A newspaper is published by the convicts, and a library of five thousand volumes is furnished for their mental improvement. Nothing known to modern social and penal science is omitted from the management.
THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
This society, as I have said before in speaking of the work of the first territorial legislature, was organized by that body in 1849, and has been of incalculable value to the state. The officers of the society are a president, two vice presidents, a treasurer and a secretary, and it is governed by an executive council of thirty-six members, which embraces the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary, auditor, treasurer of state and attorney general as ex-officio members. The state makes an annual appropriation in aid of the society. The executive council meets once a month for the transaction of its business, at which meetings, and at its annual meetings, interesting papers and essays are delivered on historical subjects, which are preserved, and with other matter are published in handsomely bound volumes when sufficient material is accumulated.
The society, in the manner prescribed in its by-laws, may establish the following separate departments:
Department of Annals and General History of Minnesota.
Department of Geology of Minnesota.
Department of Zoölogy of Minnesota.
Department of Botany of Minnesota.
Department of Meteorology of Minnesota.
Department of Northwestern Geography and Chartology.
Department of American History.
Department of Oriental History.
Department of European History.
Department of Genealogy and Heraldry.
Department of Ethnology and Anthropology.
It has corresponding members all over the world, and official connections with nearly all the historical and learned societies of Europe and America, with which it interchanges publications. It has a membership of 142 life and 37 annual members. It may receive donations from any source.
Its property, real and personal, is exempt from taxation of any kind. It has accumulated a splendid library of about 63,000 volumes of all kinds of historical, genealogical, scientific and general knowledge, all of which are open and free to the public. It also has a gallery of pictures of historical scenes in Minnesota, and portraits of men and women who have been prominent in, or who have contributed to, the history or growth of the state, together with an extensive museum of Indian and other curiosities having some relation to Minnesota. One of its most valuable attractions is a newspaper department, in which are complete files of all newspapers which have been and are published in the state, except a very few unimportant ones. The number of our state papers, daily, weekly and monthly, received at the beginning of the year 1899 is 421. These papers are all bound in substantial volumes, for preservation for the use of future generations. On Sept. 1, 1899, the society had on the shelves of its fire-proof vault 4,250 of these volumes. Its rooms are in the capitol at St. Paul, and are entirely inadequate for its accommodation, but ample space has been allowed it in the new capitol now in the course of construction.
STATE INSTITUTIONS MISCELLANEOUS IN THEIR CHARACTER.
Besides the general state boards and associations having special reference to the leading products of the state, and those of a reformatory and educational character, there are many others, regulating business of various kinds among the inhabitants, all of which are important in their special spheres, but to name them is all I can say about them in my limited space. Their number and the subjects which they regulate shows the care with which the state watches over the welfare of its citizens. I present the following catalogue of the state departments:
The Insurance Commission.
The Public Examiner.
The Dairy Food Commission.
The Bureau of Labor.
The Board of Railroad and Warehouse Commissioners.
The Board of Game and Fish Commissioners.
The State Law Library.
The State Department of Oil Inspection.
The State Horticultural Society.
The State Forestry Association.
The Minnesota Dairymen's Association.
The State Butter and Cheese Makers' Association.
The State Farmers' Institutes.
The Red River Valley Drainage Commission.
The State Drainage Commission.
The Commission of Statistics.
The State Board of Health and Vital Statistics.
The State Board of Medical Examiners.
The State Board of Pharmacy.
The State Board of Dental Examiners.
The State Board of Examiners in Law.
The Bureau of Public Printing.
The Minnesota Society for the Prevention of Cruelty.
The Geological and Natural History Survey.
The State Board of Equalization.
Surveyors of Logs and Lumber.
The Board of Pardons.
The State Board of Arbitration and Conciliation.
The State Board of Investment.
The State Board of Examiners of Barbers.
The State Board of Examiners of Practical Plumbing.
The Horseshoers' Board of Examiners.
The Inspection of Steam Boilers.
It is difficult to conceive of any other subject over which the state could assume jurisdiction, and the great number which are embraced already within its supervision would lead one who is not in touch with our state administration to believe that state paternalism dominated the business industries of the people; but nothing is further from the truth, and no state in the Union is freer from governmental interference in the ordinary channels of industry than Minnesota.
STATE FINANCES.
Since the settlement of the debt created by the old railroad bonds that I have heretofore mentioned, the finances of the state have always been in excellent condition. When the receipts of an individual or a state exceed expenditures the situation is both satisfactory and safe. At the last report, up to July 31, 1898, the receipts of the state from all sources were $5,429,240.32, and the expenditures were $5,208,942.05, leaving a balance on the right side of the ledger of $220,298.27. To the receipts must be added the balance in the treasury at the beginning of the year of $2,054,314.26, which left in the treasury on July 31, 1898, the large sum of $2,184,612.53.
The original indebtedness arising from the adjustment of the state railroad bonds was $1,659,000; other bonds, $300,000.00. This indebtedness has been reduced by payments to the sum of $1,475,647.22, on July 31, 1898, the date of the last report. If this debt had matured, it could at once be paid by the funds on hand, leaving the state entirely free from all indebtedness.
The taxable property of the state by last assessment, in 1897, including real and personal property, was $570,598,813.
THE MONETARY AND BUSINESS FLURRY OF 1873 AND PANIC OF 1893.
It has been customary in the United States to expect a disturbance in monetary and business affairs about once in every twenty years, and the expectation has not been disappointed since the panic of 1837. I have described the effect of the panic of 1857 on the Territory and State of Minnesota, and the difficulties of recuperating from the shock. The next similar event was not due until 1877, but there is always some special disaster to precipitate such occurrences. In 1857 it was the failure of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company, and in 1873 it was the failure of Jay Cooke & Co., of Philadelphia. This house had been very prominent in placing the bonds of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and in the construction of the road, and was relied upon by many classes of people to invest their money for them, and when their failure was announced, its effect in the East was disastrous, but here in Minnesota it only affected us in a secondary or indirect way, in stopping railroad building and creating general alarm in business circles. We had been diligently at work for sixteen years, endeavoring to recuperate from the disaster of 1857, and had to a great extent succeeded. Real estate had partially revived, but had not reached the boom feature, and the state was on a sound financial basis. Fortunately we had not recovered sufficiently to become investors in railroad securities to any great extent, and land speculation had not reached its usual twenty years' mark. We had, also, on hand a local affliction, in the presence of grasshoppers, so that, although it disturbed business generally, it did not succeed in producing bankruptcy, and we soon shook it off.
This periodical financial disturbance has been attributed to various causes. From the regularity of its appearance, it must be the result of some impelling force of a generally similar character. My opinion is, that the period of twenty years being the average time of man's active business life, the actors of the second period have not the benefit of the experience gained by those of the previous one, and they repeat the same errors that produced the former disasters; but be that as it may, when the period extending from 1873 to 1893 had passed, the same result had occurred, and with quite as much force as any of its predecessors. Land speculation had reached the point of absolute insanity. Everybody thought he could become rich if he only bought. Values, already ridiculously expanded, continued to increase with every sale. Anyone who had money enough to pay down a small amount as earnest and intelligence enough to sign a note and mortgage for the balance of the purchase price became purchasers to the limit of their credit. When a party whose credit was questioned needed an indorser, he found many requiring the same assistance who were ready to swap indorsements with him. Everyone became deeply in debt. The country was flooded with paper, which was secured on the impossibility of values continuing. The banks became loaded with alleged securities, and when the bubble was strained to the bursting point, and some one of supposed financial soundness was compelled to succumb to the pressure, the veil was lifted, which opened the eyes of the community and produced a rush for safety, which induced, and was necessarily followed, by a general collapse. In 1888 and 1889 banks suspended, money disappeared, and in 1893, in the expressive language of the West, everybody who was in debt, and all stockholders and depositors in defunct banks "went broke." Had the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis been captured by an enemy and a ransom of ten million dollars been demanded from each, paid and carried away, the consequences upon business would not have been worse. It was much the same in all the large cities of the state, as land speculation was more active there than in the rural districts, and no matter what may happen, some value always remains to farm lands, while under such a collapse as that of 1893 the greater part of city property becomes utterly valueless for the present, and much of it forever.
There was, however, a great difference between the consequences of 1893 and the previous disasters of 1857 and 1873. Although the disturbance was great, we were better prepared to meet it. Population had increased immensely. The area of civilization and production had kept pace with immigration. Manufactures of many kinds had been introduced, and although we were seriously wounded, our hopes of recovery had solid grounds to rest upon, and we were not dismayed. The only remedy in such cases—industry and economy—was applied, through necessity if not from choice, and recovery has been slowly progressing up to the present time (1900), when we may be classed as convalescent.
Will this experience serve to prevent a recurrence of the follies of the past? Most assuredly not. Those who have reaped wisdom will have surrendered the speculative arena to others before the financial cycle rolls around, and history will repeat itself, notwithstanding the state never had a better future outlook than at present. It does not follow that the panic due about 1913 will be caused by over speculation in real estate. It is more likely to be produced by the excessive and fraudulent capitalization of all sorts of corporations, called trusts, which will, of course, succumb to the first serious blow.
With the exception of the events I have narrated, including the financial troubles of 1873 and 1893, nothing of special importance to the state has happened, except a few occurrences of minor moment.
MINOR HAPPENINGS.
Sept. 5, 1878, President Hayes made a short visit to the state, and delivered an address at the state agricultural fair.
On the 7th of September, 1876, an organized gang of bandits, which had been terrorizing the State of Missouri and surrounding states with impunity, entered this state, and attacked a bank in the town of Northfield, in Rice county, with the intent of looting it. The cashier, Mr. Haywood, resisted, and they shot him dead. The people of the town, hearing of the raid, turned out, and opened fire on the robbers, who fled, with the loss of one killed. In their flight they killed a Swede before they got out of the town. The people of the counties through which their flight led them, turned out, and before any of them passed the border of the state, two more of them were killed and three captured. Two escaped. The captured were three brothers named Younger, and those who escaped were supposed to be the notorious James Brothers of Missouri. The three Younger Brothers pleaded guilty to a charge of murder, and on account of a peculiarity in the law, that only allowed the death sentence to be imposed by a jury, they were all sentenced to imprisonment for life. One of them has since died, and the other two remain in prison.
The manner in which this raid was handled by our citizens was of immense value to the state, as it proved a warning to all such desperadoes that Minnesota was a bad field for their operations, and we have had no more trouble from that class of offenders.
In 1877 the constitution was amended by providing for biennial, instead of annual, sessions of the legislature.
On May 2, 1878, a very singular and disastrous event took place at Minneapolis. Three large flouring mills were blown up by a dust explosion, and eighteen men killed. It was inexplicable for a time, but it was afterwards discovered that such explosions had occurred before, and prompt measures were taken to prevent a repetition of the trouble.
On the 15th day of November, 1880, a portion of the large insane asylum at St. Peter was destroyed by fire, and eighteen of the inmates were burned, others dying of injuries received. The pecuniary loss amounted to $150,000.
On the first day of March, 1881, the old capitol burned, while the legislature was in session. That body moved their sittings to the St. Paul market house, which had just been finished, where they remained until the present capitol building was erected upon the site of the one destroyed.
On the twenty-fifth day of January, 1884, the state prison at Stillwater was partially burned.
On the fourteenth day of September, 1886, St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids were struck by a cyclone. Scores of buildings were destroyed, and about seventy of the inhabitants killed.
In the year 1889 the Australian system of voting at elections was introduced in cities of ten thousand inhabitants and over, and in 1892 the system was made general throughout the state.
On the seventh day of April, 1893, the legislature passed an act for the building of a new state capitol in the city of St. Paul, and appointed commissioners to carry out the object. They selected an eligible and conspicuous site between University avenue, Cedar and Wabasha streets, near the head of Wabasha. They adopted for the materials which were to enter into it—granite for the lower and Georgia white marble for the upper stories. The whole cost was not to exceed $2,000,000. The corner stone of the building was laid on the twenty-seventh day of July, 1898, with appropriate and very imposing ceremonies, in the presence of an immense throng of citizens from all parts of the state. Senator Davis delivered the oration, and ex-Gov. Alexander Ramsey laid the corner stone. The building has reached the base of the dome, and will be a very beautiful and serviceable structure.
On Sept. 1, 1894, there was a most extensive and disastrous fire in Pine county. Four hundred square miles of territory were burned over by a forest fire, the towns of Hinckley and Sandstone were totally destroyed, and four hundred people burned. The money loss was estimated at $1,000,000. This disaster was exactly what was needed to awaken the people of the state to the necessity of providing means for the prevention of forest and prairie fires and the preservation of our forests. Shortly after the Hinckley fire a state convention was held at the Commercial Club in St. Paul, to devise legislation to accomplish this desirable end, which resulted in the passage of an act, at the session of the legislature in 1895, entitled, "An act for the preservation of forests of this state, and for the prevention and suppression of forest and prairie fires." Under this act the state auditor was made the forest commissioner of the state, with authority to appoint a chief fire warden. The supervisors of towns, mayors of cities and presidents of village councils are made fire wardens of their respective local jurisdictions, and the machinery for the prevention of fires is put in motion that is of immense value to the state. The forest commissioner appointed Gen. C. C. Andrews chief fire warden, one of the best equipped men in the state for the position, and no serious trouble has since occurred in the way of fires.
On the ninth day of February, 1887, the Minnesota Historical Society passed a resolution, declaring that the pretenses made by Capt. Willard Glazier to having been the discoverer of the source of the Mississippi river were false, and very little has been heard from him since.
On the tenth day of October, 1887, President Cleveland visited the state, and made a short stay.
This enumeration of passing events looks a little like a catalogue of disasters (except the building of the new capitol and the visits of Presidents Hayes and Cleveland), but it must be remembered that Minnesota is such an empire in itself, that such happenings scarcely produce a ripple on the surface of its steady and continuous progress. It is because these events can be particularized and described that they assume proportions beyond their real importance, but when compared with the colossal advances made by the state during the period covering them, they dwindle into mere points of educational experience, to be guarded against in the future, while the many blessings showered upon the state, consisting of the health and wealth imparting sunshine, the refreshing and fructifying rains and dews of heaven, which, like the smiles of providence and the life-sustaining air that surrounds us, are too intangible and indefinable for more than thankful recognition. Our tribulations were really blessings in disguise. The bold invasion of the robbers proved our courage; the storms and fires proved our generosity to the distressed, and taught us lessons in the wisdom of prevention. Minnesota has as much to be thankful for and as little to regret as any state in the West, and our troubles only prove that we have a very robust vitality, difficult to permanently impair.
THE WAR WITH SPAIN.
For many years there has been a growing sentiment in the United States that Spain was governing Cuba and her other West Indian colonies in an oppressive and unjust manner, and the desire to interfere in behalf of the Cuban people received a good deal of encouragement, and its general expression succeeded in creating very strained relations between Spain and the United States. It is a well known fact that the Spanish people, from the north line of Mexico to Cape Horn, as well as the inhabitants of the Spanish Islands, hate the Americans most heartily. Why, I do not know; except that our social, governmental and religious habits, customs and beliefs are radically different from their own; but that such is the case no one doubts who knows these people. In 1897 some effort at conciliation was made, and Spain sent one of her warships to New York on a friendly visit; but she did not stay long, and got away as soon as she decently could. The United States sent the battleship Maine to Havana on the same friendly mission, where she was officially conveyed to her anchorage. She had been there but a short time when she was blown up, on Feb. 15, 1898, and 260 American seamen murdered. There was an official investigation to determine the cause of the explosion, but it found no solution of the disaster. Various theories were advanced of internal spontaneous explosion, but no one was misled. The general sentiment of Americans was that the Spanish in Cuba deliberately exploded a submarine torpedo under her, to accomplish the result that followed. Previous to this cowardly act there was much difference of opinion among the people of all sections of the country as to the propriety of declaring war against Spain, but public sentiment was at once unified in favor of war on the announcement of this outrage. On the 25th of April, 1898, congress passed an act declaring that war against Spain had existed since the 21st of the same month. A requisition was made on Minnesota for its quota of troops immediately after war was declared, and late in the afternoon of the twenty-eighth day of April the governor issued an order to the adjutant general to assemble the state troops at St. Paul. The adjutant general, on the 29th, issued the following order, by telegraph, to the different commands:
"The First, Second and Third Regiments of infantry are hereby ordered to report at St. Paul on Friday morning, April 29, 1898, not later than eleven o'clock, with one day's cooked rations in their haversacks."
The order was promptly obeyed, and all the field, staff and company officers, with their commands, reported before the time appointed, and on the afternoon of that day went into camp at the state fair grounds, which was named Camp Ramsey. Such promptness on the part of the state militia was remarkable, but it will be seen that they had been prepared for the order of the adjutant general before its final issue, who had anticipated the declaration of war.
On April 18th he had issued the following order:
"The commanding officers of the infantry companies and artillery batteries composing the national guard will immediately take steps to recruit their commands up to one hundred men each. All recruits above the maximum peace footing of seventy-six men will be carried upon the muster roll as provisional recruits, to be discharged in case their services are not needed for field service."
On the 25th of April the adjutant general issued the following order:
"In obedience to orders this day received from the honorable secretary of war, calling upon the State of Minnesota for three regiments of infantry as volunteers of the United States, to serve two years or less, and as the three national guard regiments have signified their desire of entering the service of the United States as volunteers, the First, Second, and Third Regiments of Infantry of the national guard of the State of Minnesota will immediately make preparations to report to these headquarters upon receipt of telegraphic orders, which will be issued later."
This commendable action on the part of our military authorities resulted in the Minnesota troops being the first to be mustered into the service of the United States in the war with Spain, thus repeating the proud distinction gained by the state in 1861, when Minnesota was the first state to offer troops for the defense of the Union in the Civil War. It is a curious as well as interesting coincidence, that the First Minnesota Regiment for the Civil War was mustered in on April 29, 1861, and the first three regiments for the Spanish War were mobilized at St. Paul on April 29, 1898.
The mustering in of the three regiments was completed on the eighth day of May, 1898, and they were designated as the Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Regiments of Infantry, Minnesota Volunteers. This classification was made because the state had furnished eleven full regiments of infantry for the Civil War, and it was decided to number them consecutively.
The Twelfth and Fourteenth left Camp Ramsey on the sixteenth day of May for Camp George H. Thomas in Georgia, and the Thirteenth departed for San Francisco on the same day. The Thirteenth was afterwards ordered to Manila. The others did not leave the country, and were subsequently mustered out. The Thirteenth did gallant service in the Philippines, in many battles, was mustered out in San Francisco, and, on Oct. 12, 1899, returned to our state. A warm welcome was given it in Minnesota, where it will always be regarded with the same pride and affection formerly bestowed upon the old First, of patriotic memory.
President McKinley and several of his cabinet arrived in St. Paul at the time of the arrival of the Thirteenth, and assisted in welcoming them to their homes.
There was a second call for troops, under which the Fifteenth Regiment was mustered in, but was not called upon for active duty of any kind. It is to be hoped that the war may be ended without the need of more volunteers from Minnesota, but should another call be made on our people no doubt can be entertained of their prompt response. Having given the part taken in the war against Spain and the Philippines by Minnesota, its further prosecution against the latter becomes purely a federal matter, unless we shall be called into it in the future.
When Spain sued for peace, soon after the destruction of her second fleet off Santiago de Cuba, a commission to negotiate a treaty of peace with her was appointed by the president, and Minnesota was honored by the selection of its senior senator, Hon. Cushman K. Davis, chairman of the senate committee on foreign relations, as one of its members. The commission consisted of William R. Day, secretary of state of the United States, Cushman K. Davis of Minnesota, William P. Frye of Maine, George Gray of Delaware, and Whitelaw Reid of New York. It met at Paris, and concluded its labors the tenth day of December, 1898, when the treaty was signed by the commissioners of both contracting parties. It is hardly necessary to add that the influence exerted on the result by the distinguished and learned representative from Minnesota was controlling.
THE INDIAN BATTLE OF LEECH LAKE.
Early in October, 1898, there was an Indian battle fought at Leech lake, in this state, the magnitude of the result of which gives it a place in the history of Minnesota, although it was strictly a matter of United States cognizance and jurisdiction. In Cass county there is a Chippewa Indian reservation, and like all other Indian reservations, there are to be found there turbulent people, both white and red. There is a large island out in Leech lake, called Bear island, which is inhabited by the Indians. On Oct. 1, 1897, one Indian shot another on this island. A prominent member of the tribe named Pug-on-a-ke-shig was present, and witnessed the shooting. An indictment was found in the United States district court against the Indian who did the shooting, but before any trial could be had the matter was settled among the Indians in their own way, and they thought that was the last of it. A subpoena was issued for Pug-on-a-ke-shig and a deputy marshal served it. He disregarded the subpoena. An attachment was then issued to arrest him and bring him into court. A deputy United States marshal tried to serve it, and was resisted by the Indian and his friends on three different occasions, and once when the Indian was arrested he was rescued from the custody of the marshal. Warrants were then issued for the arrest of twenty-one of the rescuers. This was in the latter part of August, 1898. Troops were asked for to aid the marshal in making his arrests, and a lieutenant and twenty men were sent from Fort Snelling for that purpose. This was simply a repetition of the many mistakes made by the military authorities in such matters. If troops were necessary for any purpose, twenty men were simply useless, and worse than none, and when the time came for the application of military force would, of course, have been annihilated. The United States marshal, with a squad of deputies, accompanied the troops. It soon became apparent that there would be trouble before the Indians could be brought to terms, and General Bacon, the officer in command of the Department of Dakota, with headquarters at St. Paul, ordered Major Wilkinson of Company "E," of the Third Regiment of United States Infantry, stationed at Fort Snelling, with his company of eighty men, to the scene of the troubles. General Bacon accompanied these troops as far as Walker, on the west bank of Leech lake, more in the capacity of an observer of events and to gain proper knowledge of the situation than as part of the force. On the 5th of October, 1898, the whole force left Walker in boats for a place on the east bank of the lake, called Sugar Point, where there was a clearing of several acres and a log house, occupied by Pug-on-a-ke-shig. They were accompanied by R. T. O'Connor, the United States marshal of Minnesota, and several of his deputies, among whom was Col. Timothy J. Sheehan, who knew the Indians who were subject to arrest. This officer was the same man who, as Lieutenant Sheehan, had so successfully commanded the forces at Fort Ridgely, during the Indian War of 1862, since when he had fought his way through the Civil War with distinction. When the command landed, only a few squaws and Indians were visible. The deputy marshals landed, and with the interpreters went at once to the house, and while there discovered an Indian whom Colonel Sheehan recognized as one for whom a warrant was out, and immediately attempted to arrest and handcuff him. The Indian resisted vigorously, and it was only with the aid of three or four soldiers that they succeeded in arresting him. He was put on board of the boat. The whole force then skirmished through the timber in search of Indians, but found none, and about noon returned to the clearing and were ordered to stack arms preparatory to getting dinner. They had scouted the surrounding country and had seen no Indians or signs of Indians, and did not believe there were any in the vicinity, when in fact the Indians had carefully watched their every movement, and were close to their trail, waiting for the most advantageous moment to strike. It was the same tactics which the Indians had so often adopted with much success in their warfare with the whites. While stacking arms, a new recruit allowed his gun to fall to the ground, and it was discharged accidentally. The Indians who were silently awaiting their opportunity, supposing it was the signal of attack, opened fire on the troops, and a vicious battle began. The soldiers seized their arms, and returned the fire as best they could, directing it at the points whence came the shots from the invisible enemy, concealed in the dense thicket. The battle raged for several hours. General Bacon, with a gun in his hands, was everywhere, encouraging the men. Major Wilkinson, as cool as if he had been in a drawing room, cheered his men on, but was thrice wounded, the last hit proving fatal. Colonel Sheehan instinctively entered the fight, and took charge of the right wing of the line, charging the enemy with a few followers and keeping up a rapid fire. The colonel was hit three times, two bullets passing through his clothes, grazing the skin, without serious injury, and one cutting a painful but not dangerous wound across his stomach. The result of the fight was six killed and nine wounded on the part of the troops. One of the Indian police was also killed, and seven citizens wounded, some seriously. No estimate has ever been satisfactorily obtained of the loss of the enemy. The most reliable account of the number of his forces engaged is from nineteen to thirty, and if I should venture an estimate of his losses, based upon my experience of his ability to select a vantage ground, and take care of himself, I would put it at practically nothing.
The killed and wounded were brought to Fort Snelling, the killed buried with military honors, and the wounded properly cared for. This event adds one more to the long list of fatal errors committed by our military forces in dealing with the Indians of the Northwest. They should never be attacked without a force sufficient to demonstrate the superiority of the whites in all cases and under all circumstances. Many a valuable life has been thus unnecessarily lost.
Major Wilkinson, who lost his life in this encounter, was a man who had earned an enviable record in the army, and was much beloved by his many friends and acquaintances in Minnesota.
The principal Indian engaged in this fight has been called, in every newspaper and other reports of it, Bug-a-ma-ge-shig; but I have succeeded in obtaining his real name from the highest authority. The name, Pug-on-a-ke-shig, is the Chippewa for "Hole-in-the-day."
Shortly after the return of the troops to Fort Snelling the settlers about Cass and Leech lakes became uneasy, and deluged the governor with telegrams for protection. The national guard or state troops had nearly all been mustered into the United States service for duty in the war with Spain, but the Fourteenth Regiment was in St. Paul, awaiting muster out, and the governor telegraphed to the war department at Washington to send enough of them to the front to quiet the fears of the settlers. This was declined, and the governor at once ordered out two batteries of artillery, all the state troops that were available, and sent them to the scene of the troubles, and then sent his celebrated telegram to the war department, which may be called the "Minnesota Declaration of Independence." It ran as follows:
"Oct. 8, 1898.
"H. C. Corbin, Adjutant General, Washington, D. C.:
"No one claims that reinforcements are needed at Walker. I have not been asked for assistance from that quarter. Although I do not think General Bacon has won the victory he claims, other people do not say so. The Indians claim to have won, and that is my opinion. The people all along the Fosston branch of railroad are very much alarmed, and asking for protection, which I have asked of the war department. The soldiers are here, and ready and willing to go, but as you have revoked your order of yesterday, you can do what you like with your soldiers. The State of Minnesota will try to get along without any assistance from the war department in the future.
"D. M. CLOUGH,
"Governor."
Rumor says that the telegram which was forwarded is very much modified from that originally dictated by the governor.
The United States government concluded to withdraw its refusal, and send troops to the front, and several companies of the Fourteenth were dispatched to the line of the Fosston branch railroad, and distributed along the line of that road.
In the meantime the commissioner of Indian affairs had arrived at Walker, and was negotiating with the Indians, and when it became known that matters were arranged to the satisfaction of the government and the Indians and no outbreak was expected the soldiers were all withdrawn, and the incident, so far as military operations were concerned, was closed. There were some surrenders of the Indians to the officers of the court, but nothing further of consequence occurred.
POPULATION.
One of the most interesting features of a new country is the character and the nativity of its population. The old frontiersman who has watched the growth of new states, and fully comprehended the effect produced upon their civilization and character by the nativity of their immigrants, is the only person competent to judge of the influences exerted in this line. It is a well known fact that the immigration from Europe into America is generally governed by climatic influences. These people usually follow the line of latitude to which they have been accustomed. The Norseman from Russia, Sweden, Germany and Norway comes to the extreme Northwestern States, while the emigrants from southern Europe seek the more southern latitudes. Of course, these are very general comments, and only relate to emigration in its usual directions, as the people of all parts of Europe are found in all parts of America. It is generally believed that the emigrants from northern Europe are more desirable than those from further south, and a presentation of the status of our population in point of nativity will afford a basis from which to judge of their general attributes for good or bad. There is no nation on earth that has not sent us some representative. The following table, while it will prove that we have a most heterogeneous, polyglot population, will also prove that we possess vast powers of assimilation, as we are about as harmonious a people as can be found in all the Union. Our governor is a Swede, one of our United States senators is a Norwegian, and our other state officers are pretty generally distributed among the various nationalities. Of course, in the minor political subdivisions, such as counties, cities and towns, the office holding is generally governed by the same considerations.
I give the various countries from which our population is drawn, with the numbers from each country, and the number of native born and foreign born, which, aggregated, constitute our entire population. These figures are taken from the state census of 1895:
- England 12,941
- Scotland 5,344
- Germany 133,768
- Norway 107,319
- Denmark 16,143
- Canada 49,231
- Poland 8,464
- Iceland 454
- Ireland 26,106
- Wales 1,246
- France 1,492
- Sweden 119,554
- Russia 6,286
- Bohemia 10,327
- Finland 7,652
- All other countries 11,205
- ____________
- Total native born 1,057,084
- Total foreign born 517,535
- ____________
- Total population 1,674,619
The total native born of our population is very largely composed of the descendants of foreign emigrants. These figures afford a large field for thought and future consideration, when emigration problems are under legislative investigation.
The census from which these figures are taken being five years old, I think it is safe to add a sufficient number of increase to bring our population up to two millions. The census of 1900 will demonstrate whether or not my estimate is correct.
THE STATE FLAG.
Up to the year 1893 the State of Minnesota had no distinctive state flag. On April 4, 1893, an act was passed by the legislature entitled, "An act providing for the adoption of a state flag." This act appointed by name a commission of six ladies, to adopt a design for a state flag. Section 2 of the act provided that the design adopted should embody, as near as may be, the following facts:
"There shall be a white ground with reverse side of blue. The center of the white ground shall be occupied by a design substantially embodying the form of the seal employed as the state seal of Minnesota at the time of its admission into the Union.... The said design of the state seal shall be surrounded by appropriate representations of the moccasin flower, indigenous to Minnesota, surrounding said central design, and appropriately arranged on the said white ground shall be nineteen stars, emblematic of the fact that Minnesota was the nineteenth state to be admitted into the Union after its formation by the thirteen original states. There shall also appear at the bottom of the flag, in the white ground, so as to be plainly visible, the word 'Minnesota.'"
The commission prepared a very beautiful design for the flag, following closely the instructions given by the legislature, which was adopted, and is now the authorized flag of the state. The flag-staff is surmounted by a golden gopher rampant, in harmony with the popular name given to our state. May it ever represent the principles of liberty and justice, and never be lowered to an enemy! The original flag, artistically embroidered in silk, can be seen at the office of the governor at the state capitol.
THE OFFICIAL FLOWER OF THE STATE, AND THE METHOD OF ITS SELECTION.
On the twentieth day of April, 1891, the legislature of the state passed an act entitled "An act to provide for the collection, arrangement and display of the products of the State of Minnesota at the World's Columbian Exposition of one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three, and to make an appropriation therefor." This act created a commission of six citizens of the state, to be appointed by the governor, and called "The Board of World's Fair Managers of Minnesota." The women of the state determined that there should be an opportunity for them to participate in the exposition on the part of Minnesota, and a convention of delegates from each county of the state was called, and held at the People's Church, in St. Paul, on Feb. 14, 1892. This convention elected one woman delegate and one alternate, from each of the seven congressional districts of the state. There were also two national lady managers from Minnesota, nominated by the two national representatives from Minnesota and appointed by the president of the United States, who were added to the seven delegates so chosen, and the whole was called "The Woman's Auxiliary to the State Commission." The women so chosen took charge of all the matters properly pertaining to the women's department of the fair.
At one of the meetings of the ladies, held in St. Paul, the question of the selection of an official flower for the state was presented, and the sentiment generally prevailed that it should at once be decided by the assemblage; but Mrs. L. P. Hunt, the delegate from Mankato, in the second congressional district, wisely suggested that the selection should be made by all the ladies of the state, and they should be given an opportunity to vote upon the proposition. This suggestion was approved, and the following plan was adopted: Mrs. Hunt was authorized to appoint a committee, of which she was to be chairman, to select a list of flowers to be voted on. Accordingly she appointed a subcommittee, who were to consult the state botanist, Mr. Conway MacMillan, who was to name a number of Minnesota flowers from which the ladies were to choose. He presented the following:
Lady Slipper (Moccasin Flower—Cypripedium Spectabile).
Silky Aster.
Indian Pink.
Cone Flower (Brown-eyed Susan).
Wild Rose.
The plan was to send out printed tickets, to all the women's organizations in the state, with these names on them, to be voted upon, which was done, with the result that the moccasin flower received an overwhelming majority, and has ever since been accepted as the official flower of the state. That the contest was a very spirited one can be judged from the fact that Mrs. Hunt sent out in her district at least ten thousand tickets, with indications of her choice of the moccasin flower. She also maintained lengthy newspaper controversies with parties in Manitoba, who claimed the prior right of that province to the moccasin flower, all of whom she vanquished.
The choice was a very wise and appropriate one. The flower itself is very beautiful, and peculiarly adapted to the purposes of artistic decoration. It has already been utilized in three instances of an official character, with success and approval. The Minnesota state building at the Columbian Exposition was beautifully decorated with it. It is prominently incorporated into the state flag, and adorns the medal conferred by the state upon the defenders of Fort Ridgely.
The botanical name of the flower is Cypripedium, taken from Greek words meaning the shoe of Venus. It is popularly called "Lady's Slipper," "Moccasin Flower" and "Indian Shoe."
About twenty-five species of cypripedium are known, belonging to the north temperate zone and reaching south into Mexico and northern India. Six species occur in the northern United States and Canada, east of the Rocky Mountains, all of these being found in Minnesota, and about a dozen species occur on this continent. They are perennial herbs, with irregular flowers, which grow singly or in small clusters, the colors of some of which are strikingly beautiful. The species adopted by the women of the State of Minnesota is the Cypripedium Spectabile, or the showy lady slipper.
The ladies naturally desired that their choice should be ratified by the state legislature, and one of their number prepared a report of their doings, in a petition to that body, asking its approval. Whoever drew the petition named the flower chosen by the ladies as "Cypripedium Calceolous," a species which does not grow in Minnesota, but is purely of European production. The petition was presented to the senate on the fourth day of February, 1893. The journal of the senate shows the following record, which is found on page 167:
"Mr. Dean asked the unanimous consent to present a petition from the Women's Auxiliary to the World's Fair, relative to the adoption of a state flower and emblem, which was read.
"Mr. Dean offered the following concurrent resolution, and moved its adoption:
"'Be it resolved by the senate, the house of representatives concurring, that the wild Lady Slipper, or Moccasin Flower ('Cypripedium Calceolous'), be, and the same is hereby, designated and adopted as the state flower or emblem of the State of Minnesota,' which was adopted."
In the Legislative Manual of 1893 appears, on page 606, the following:
"On April 4, 1893 [should be February], a petition from the Women's Auxiliary to the World's Fair was presented to the senate, relative to the adoption of a state flower. By resolution of the senate, concurred in by the house (?), the Wild Lady Slipper, or Moccasin Flower (Cypripedium) was designated as the state flower or floral emblem of the State of Minnesota."
The word "Calceolous" means a little shoe or slipper; but, as I said before, the species so designated in botany is not indigenous to Minnesota, and is purely a foreigner. As we have in the course of our growth assimilated so many foreigners successfully, we will have no trouble in swallowing this small shoe, especially as the house did not concur in the resolution, and while the mistake will in no way militate against the progress or prosperity of Minnesota, it should be a warning to all committees and Western legislators to go slow when dealing with the dead languages.
We now have the whole body of cypripediums to choose from, and may reject the calceolous.
If the house of representatives ever concurred in the senate resolution, it left no trace of its action, either in its journal or published laws, that I have been able to find.
Among the many valuable achievements of the Women's Auxiliary one deserves special mention. Mrs. H. F. Brown, one of the delegates at large, suggested a statue for the Woman's Building, to be the production of Minnesota's artistic conception and execution. The architect of the state building had disallowed this feature, and there was no public fund to meet the expense, which would be considerable. The ladies, however, decided to procure the statue, and rely on private subscription to defray the cost. Mrs. L. P. Hunt thought that sufficient funds might be raised from the school children of the state, through a penny subscription. Enough was raised, however, to secure a plaster cast of great beauty, representing Hiawatha carrying Minnehaha across a stream in his arms, illustrating the lines in Longfellow's poem:
"Over wide and rushing rivers
In his arms he bore the maiden."
This statue adorned the porch of the Minnesota building during the fair. It was designed and made by a very talented young Norwegian sculptor, then residing in Minneapolis—the late Jakob Fjelde. It is proposed to cast the statue in bronze and place it in Minnehaha park, Minneapolis, at some future day.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME "GOPHER STATE."
Most of the states in the Union have a popular name. New York is called the "Empire State," Pennsylvania the "Keystone State," etc. As you come west they seem to have taken the names of animals. Michigan is called the "Wolverine State," Wisconsin the "Badger State," and it is not at all singular that Minnesota should have been christened the "Gopher State." These names never originate by any recognized authority. They arise from some event that suggests them, or from some important utterance that makes an impression on the public mind. In the very early days of the territory—say, as early as 1854 or 1855,—the question was discussed among the settlers as to what name should be adopted by Minnesota, and for a time it was called by some the "Beaver State." That name seemed to have the greatest number of advocates, but it was always met with the objection that the beaver, although quite numerous in some of our streams, was not sufficiently so to entitle him to characterize the territory by giving it his name. While this debate was in progress the advocates of the beaver spoke of the territory as the beaver territory, but it never reached a point of universal adoption. It was well known that the gopher abounded, and his name was introduced as a competitor with the beaver; but being a rather insignificant animal, and his nature being destructive, and in no way useful, he was objected to by many, as too useless and undignified to become an emblem of the coming great state,—for we all had, at that early day, full confidence that Minnesota was destined to be a great and prominent state. Nothing was ever settled on this subject until after the year 1857. As I have before stated, in that year an attempt was made to amend the constitution by allowing the state to issue bonds in the sum of $5,000,000 to aid in the construction of the railroads which the United States had subsidized with land grants, and the campaign which involved this amendment was most bitterly fought. The opponents of the measure published a cartoon to bring the subject into ridicule, which was very generally circulated throughout the state, but failed to check the enthusiasm in favor of the proposition. This cartoon represented ten men in a line, with heads bowed down with the weight of a bag of gold hung about their necks, marked "$10,000." They were supposed to represent the members of the legislature who had been bribed to pass the act, and were called "Primary Directors." On their backs was a railroad track, upon which was a train of cars drawn by nine gophers, the three gophers in the lead proclaiming, "We have no cash, but will give you our drafts." Attached to the rear of the train was a wheelbarrow, with a barrel on it, marked "Gin," followed by the devil, in great glee, with his thumb at his nose. In the train were the advocates of the bill, flying a flag bearing these words: "Gopher train; excursion train; members of extra session of legislature, free. We develop the resources of the country." Over this was a smaller flag, with the words: "The $5,000,000 Loan Bill."
In another part of the picture is a rostrum, from which a gopher is addressing the people with the legend: "I am right; Gorman is wrong." In the right hand corner of the cartoon is a round ball, with a gopher in it, coming rapidly down, with the legend: "A Ball come from Winona." This was a pun on the name of Mr. St. A. D. Balcombe from Winona, who was a strong advocate of the measure. Under the whole group was a dark pit, with the words, "A mine of corruption."
The bill was passed, and the state was saddled with a debt of $5,000,000, under which it staggered for over twenty years, and we never even got a gopher train out of it.
This cartoon, coming just at the time the name of the state was under consideration, fastened upon it the nickname of "Gopher," which it has ever since retained. The name is not at all inappropriate, as the animal has always abounded in the state. In a work on the mammals of Minnesota, by C. L. Herrick, 1892, he gives the scientific name of our most common species of gopher, "Spermophilus Tridecemlineatus," or thirteen-striped gopher, and says: "The species ranges from the Saskatchawan to Texas, and from Ohio to Utah. Minnesota is the peculiar home of the typical form, and thus deserves the name of the 'Gopher State.'"
Although the name originated in ridicule and contempt, it has not in any way handicapped the commonwealth, partly because very few people know its origin, but for the greater reason, that it would take much more than a name to check its predestined progress.