ChapterPage
[I.]General Remarks—Death of Dr. Weiser.[11]
[II.]St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1836 and 1896—Father Hennepin.[14]
[III.]A Pathetic Chapter—Captain Chittenden’s Minnehaha.[20]
[IV.]Origin of Indians—Captain Carver—Sitting Bull.[27]
[V.]Fort Snelling.[33]
[VI.]The Alarm.[38]
[VII.]Some of the Causes of the War.[43]
[VIII.]Little Crow at Devil’s Lake.[50]
[IX.]Fort Ridgely Besieged.[63]
[X.]Siege of New Ulm.[67]
[XI.]Col. Flandreau in Command.[75]
[XII.]Mrs. Eastlick and Family.[78]
[XIII.]The Missionaries—Their Escape.[85]
[XIV.]The Indian Pow-wow.[87]
[XV.]Gov. Sibley Appointed Commander.[97]
[XVI.]March to Fort Ridgely.[103]
[XVII.]Burial of Capt. Marsh and Men.[106]
[XVIII.]Battle of Birch Coolie.[112]
[XIX.]Birch Coolie Continued.[118]
[XX.]Battle of Wood Lake.[128]
[XXI.]Camp Release.[139]
[XXII.]The Indian Prisoners—The Trial.[146]
[XXIII.]Capture of Renegade Bands—Midnight March.[153]
[XXIV.]Homeward Bound.[156]
[XXV.]Protests—President Lincoln’s Order For the Execution.[163]
[XXVI.]The Execution—The Night Before.[169]
[XXVII.]Squaws Take Leave of Their Husbands.[176]
[XXVIII.]Capture and Release of Joe Brown’s Indian Family.[178]
[XXIX.]Governor Ramsey and Hole-in-the-Day.[185]
[XXX.]Chaska—George Spencer—Chaska’s Death—The “Moscow” Expedition.[190]
[XXXI.]The “Moscow” Expedition.[195]
[XXXII.]Campaign of 1863—Camp Pope.[199]
[XXXIII.]“Forward March.”[205]
[XXXIV.]Burning Prairie—Fighting Fire.[209]
[XXXV.]Death of Little Crow.[211]
[XXXVI.]Little Crow, Jr.—His Capture.[218]
[XXXVII.]Camp Atchison—George A. Brackett’s Adventure—Lieutenant Freeman’s Death.[221]
[XXXVIII.]Battle of Big Mound.[232]
[XXXIX.]Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake.[237]
[XL.]Battle of Stony Lake—Capture of a Teton—Death of Lieutenant Beaver.[241]
[XLI.]Homeward Bound.[252]
[XLII.]The Campaign of 1864.[257]
[XLIII.]The Battle of the Bad Lands.[261]
[XLIV.]Conclusion.[271]

[CHAPTER I.]

GENERAL REMARKS—DEATH OF DR. WEISER.

Historians have written, orators have spoken and poets have sung of the heroism and bravery of the great Union army and navy that from 1861 to 1865 followed the leadership of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Logan, Thomas, McPherson, Farragut and Porter from Bull Run to Appomattox, and from Atlanta to the sea; and after their work was done and well done, returned to their homes to receive the plaudits of a grateful country.

More than thirty years have elapsed since these trying, melancholy times. The question that then called the volunteer army into existence has been settled, and the great commanders have gone to their rewards. We bow our heads in submission to the mandate of the King of Kings, as with sorrow and pleasure we read the grateful tributes paid to the memories of the heroes on land and on sea,—the names made illustrious by valorous achievements, and that have become household words, engraven on our memories; and we think of them as comrades who await us “on fame’s eternal camping ground.”

Since the war, other questions have arisen to claim our attention, and this book treats of another momentous theme. The Indian question has often, indeed too often, been uppermost in the minds of the people. We have had the World’s Fair, the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the discovery of America, the recollection of which is still fresh in our memories. Now we have politics and doubtless have passed through one of the most exciting political campaigns of our day and generation; but, let us take a retrospective view, and go back thirty years; look at some of the causes leading up to the Indian war of 1862; make a campaign with me as we march over twelve hundred miles into an almost unknown land and defeat the Indians in several sanguinary battles, liberate four hundred captive women and children, try, convict and hang thirty-nine Indians for participating in the murder of thousands of unsuspecting white settlers, and if, upon our return, you are not satisfied, I hope you will in the kindness of your heart forgive me for taking you on this (at the time) perilous journey.

I will say to my comrades who campaigned solely in the South, that my experience, both North and South, leads me to believe there is no comparison. In the South we fought foemen worthy of our steel,—soldiers who were manly enough to acknowledge defeat, and magnanimous enough to respect the defeat of their opponents. Not so with the redskins. Their tactics were of the skulking kind; their object scalps, and not glory. They never acknowledged defeat, had no respect for a fallen foe, and gratified their natural propensity for blood. Meeting them in battle there was but one choice,—fight, and one result only, if unsuccessful,—certain death. They knew what the flag of truce meant (cessation of hostilities), but had not a proper respect for it. They felt safe in coming to us with this time-honored symbol of protection, because they knew we would respect it. We did not feel safe in going to them under like circumstances, because there were those among them who smothered every honorable impulse to gratify a spirit of revenge and hatred. As an illustration of this I will state, that just after the battle of the Big Mound in 1863, we met a delegation of Indians with a flag of truce, and while the interpreter was talking to them and telling them what the General desired, and some soldiers were giving them tobacco and crackers, Dr. Weiser, surgeon of the Second Minnesota Cavalry, having on his full uniform as major, tempted a villainous fellow, who thinking, from the uniform, that it was General Sibley, our commander, jumped up, and before his intention could be understood, shot him through the back, killing him instantly. Treachery of this stamp does not of course apply to all the members of all tribes and benighted people; for I suppose even in the jungles of Africa, where tribes of black men live who have never heard of a white man, we could find some endowed with human instincts, who would protect those whom the fortunes of war or exploration might cast among them. We found some Indians who were exceptions to the alleged general rule—cruel. The battles we fought were fierce, escapes miraculous, personal experiences wonderful and the liberation of the captives a bright chapter in the history of events in this exciting year.