Freeborn County, Minnesota - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 24 of those read), 1882

And Children

We come now to the massacre itself, the terrible blow which fell, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, with such appalling force and suddenness, upon the unarmed and defenceless border, crimsoning its fair iielda with the blood of its murdered people, and lighting up the midnight sky with the lurid blaze of burning dwellings, by the light of which the affrighted survivors fled from the nameless terrors that beset their path, before the advancing gleam of the uplifted tomahawk, many of them only to fall victims to the Indian bullet, while vainly seeking a place of security.

The first blow fell upon the town of Acton, thirty-five miles north-east of the Lower Sioux agency, in the county of Meeker. -On Sunday, August 17, 18C2, at 1 o'clock P. M., six Sioux Indians, said to be of Shakopee's band of Lower Annuity Sioux, came to the house of Jones and demanded food. It was refused them, as Mrs. Jones was away from home, at the house of Mr. Howard Baker, a son-in-law, three fourths of a mile distant. They became angry and boisterous, and fearing violence at their hands, Mr. Jones took his children, a boy and a girl, and went himself to Baker's, leaving at the house a girl from fourteen to sixteen years of age, and a boy of twelve - brother and sister - who lived with him. The Indians soon followed on to Baker's. At Howard Baker's were a Mr. Webster and his wife. Baker and wife and infant child, and Jones and his wife and two children.

Soon after reaching the house, the Indians proposed to the three men to join them in targetshooting. They consented, and all discharged their guns at the target. Mr. Baker then traded guns with an Indian, the savage giving him $3 as the difference in the value of the guns. Then all commenced loading again. The Indians got the charges into their guns first, and immediately turned and shot Jones. Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Baker were standing in the door. When one of the savages leveled his gun at Mrs. Baker, her husband saw the movement, and sprang between them, receiving the bullet intended for his wife in his own body. At the same time they shot Webster and Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Baker, who had her infant in her arms, seeing her husband fall, fainted, and fell backward into the cellar (a trapdoor being open), and thus escaped. Mrs. Webster was lying in their wagon, from which the goods were not yet unloaded, and escaped unhurt. The children of Mr. Jones were in the house, and were not molested. They then returned to the house of Mr. Jones, and killed and scalped the girl. The boy was lying ou the bed and was undiscovered, but was a silent witness of the tragic fate of his sister.

After killing the girl the savages left without disturbing anything, and going directly to the hoiise of a settler, took from his stable a span of horses already in the harness, and while the family was at dinner, hitched them to a wagon standing near, and without molesting any one, drove off in the direction of Beaver Creek settlement and the Lower Agency, leaving Acton at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. This span of horses, harness and wagon were the only property taken from the neighborhood by them.

The boy at Jones's who escaped massacre at their hands, and who was at the house during the entire time that they were there, avers that they obtained no liquor there that day, but even that when they came back and murdered his sister, the bottles upon the shelf were untouched by them. They had obtained none on their first visit before going over to Baker's. It would seem, therefore, that the very general belief that these first murders at Acton, on the 17th, were the result of drunkenness, is a mistake.

Mrs. Baker, who was unhurt by the fall, remained in the cellar until after the Indians were gone, when, taking the children, she started for a neighboring settlement, to give the alarm. Before she left, an Irishman, calling himself Cox, came to the house, whom she asked to go with her, and carry her child. Cox laughed, saying, "the men were not dead, but drunk, and that, falling down, they had hurt their noses and made them bleed," and refusing to go with Mrs. Baker, went off in the direction taken by the Indians. This man Cox had frequently been seen at the Lower Agency, and was generally supposed to be an insane man, wanderiQg friendless over the country. It has been supposed by many that he was in league with the Indians. We have only to say, if he was, he coimterfeited insanity remarkably well.

Mrs. Baker reached the settlement in safety, and on the next day (Monday) a company of citizens of Forest City, the county seat of Meeker county, went out to Acton to bury the dead. Forest City is twelve mUes north of that place. The party who went out on Monday saw Indians on horseback, and chased them, but failed to get near enough to get a shot, and they escaped.

As related in -a preceding chapter, a council was held at Kice Creek on Sunday, at which it was decided that the fearful tragedy should commence on the next morning. It is doubtful whether the Acton murders were then known to these conspirators, as this council assembled in the afternoon, and the savages who committed those murders had some forty miles to travel, after 3 o'clock in the afternoon, to reach the place of this council. It would seem, therefore, that those murders could have had no influence in precif>itating this council, as they could not, at that time, have been known to Little Crow and his conspirators.

The final decision of these fiends must luive been made as early as sundown; for by early dawn almost the entu'e force of warriors, of the Lower tribes, were ready for the work of slaughter. They were already armed and painted, and dispersed through the scattered settlements, over a region at least forty miles in extent, and were rapidly gathering in the vicinity of the Lower Agency, until some 250 were collected at that point, and surrounded the houses and stores of the traders, while yet the inmates were at their morning meal, or asleep in their beds in fancied security, all unconscious of the dreadful fate that awaited them. The action was concerted, and the time fixed. The blow was unexpected, and unparalleled! In the language af Adjutent-General Malniros:

"Since the formation of our general Government, no State or Territory of the Republic has received so severe a blow at the hands of the savages, or witnessed within its borders a parallel scene of murder, butchery, and rapine."

Philander Presoott, the aged Government Interpreter at that Agency, who had resided among the Sioux for forty-five years, having a wife and children alhed to them by ties of blood, and who knew their language and spoke it better than any man of their own race, and who seemed to understand every Indian impulse, had not the sUghtest intimation or conception of such a catastrophe as was about to fall upon the country. The Kev. S. R. Riggs, in a letter to a St. Paul paper, under date of August 13, writes that "all is quiet and orderly at the place of the forthcoming payment." This gentleman had been a missionary among these people for over a quarter of a century. His, intimate acquaintance with their character and language were of such a nature as to enable him to know and detect the first symptoms of any intention of committing any depredations upon the whites, and had not the greatest secrecy been observed by them, the knowledge of their designs would undoubtedly have been communicated to either Mr. Prosoott, Mr. Riggs, or Dr. Williamson, who had also been among them almost thirty years. Such was the position of these gentlemen that, had they discovered or suspected any lurking signs of a conspiracy, such as after developments satisfy us actually existed, and had failed to communicate it to the authorities and the jjeople, they would have laid themselves open to the horrible charge of complicity with the murderers. But whatever may be the public judgement upon the course afterward pursued by the two last-named gentlemen, in their etTorts to shield the guilty wretches from that punishment their awful crimes so justly merited, no one who knows them would for a moment harbor a belief that they had any suspicion of the coming storm until it burst upon them.

A still stronger proof of the feeling of security of these upon the reservation, and the belief thai the recent demonstrations were only such as wer4> of yearly occurrence, and that all danger was passed, is to be found in the fact that, as late au, the 15th of August, the substance of a dispatcb. was published in the daily papers of St. Paul, from Major Galbraith, agreeing fully with thy views of Mr. Riggs, as to the quiet and orderlj^ conduct of the Indians. This opinion is accom. panied by the very highest evidence of humau sincerity. Under the belief of their peaceabli, disposition, he had, on the 16th day of August, sent his wife and children from Fort Ridgely tj- Yellow Medicine, where they arrived on Sunday, the 17th, the very day of the murda/o at Acton,, and on the very day, also, that the o^inncil at Rico Creek had decided that the white ioce in Minn&- sota must either perish or be drivfcu back east o/ the Mississippi. But early on tiis fatal Monday morning Mr. Prescott and Re/. J. D. Hinmaw learned from Little Crow that the storm of ss.vagt( wrath was gathering, and abowt to break upoj, their devoted heads, and that their only safety was in instant flight.

Mrs. Hinman was, fortunately, then at Faribault. All the other members of the family escaped with Mr. Hinman co Fort Ridgely. The slaughter at the Agency now commenced. John Lamb, a teamster, was shot down, near the house of Mr. Hinman, just as that gentleman and his family were starting on their perilous journey of escape. At the same time some Indians entered the stable, and were taking therefrom the horses belonging to the Government. Mr. A. H. Wagner, Superintendent oE Farms at that Agency, entered the stable to prevent them, and was, by order of Little Crow, instantly shot down. Mr. Hinman waited to see and hear no more, but fled toward the ferry, and soon put the Minnesota river between himself and the terrible tragedy enacting behind him.

At about the same time, Mr. J. C. Dickinson, who kept the Government boarding-house, with all his family, including several girls who were working for him, also succeeded in crossing the river with a span of horses and a wagon; these, with some others, mostly women and children, who had reached the ferry, escaped to the fort.

Very soon after. Dr. Philander P. Humphrey, physician to the Lower Sioux, with his sick wife, and three children, also succeeded in crossing the river, but never reached the fort. All but one, the eldest, a boy of about twelve years of age, were killed upon the road. They had gone about four miles, when Mrs. Humphrey became so much exhausted as to be unable to proceed further, and they went into the house of a Mr. Magner, deserted by its inmates. Mrs. Humphrey was placed on the bed; the son was sent to the spring for water for his mother. * * The boy heard the wild war-whoop of the savage break upon the stillness of the air, and, in the nest moment, the ominous crack of their guns, which told the fate of his family, and left him its sole survivor. Fleeing hastily toward Fort Eidgely, about eight miles distant, he met the command of Captain Marsh on their way toward the Agency. The young hero turned back with them to the ferry. As they passed Magner's house, they saw the Doctor lying near the door, dead, but the house itself was a heap of smouldering ruins; and this brave boy was thus compelled to look upon the funeral pyre of his mother, and his little brother and sister. A burial party afterward found their charred remains amid the blackened ruins, and gave them Christian sepulture. In the charred hands of the little girl was foimd her china doU, with which she refused to part even in death. The boy went on to the ferry, and in that disastrous conflict escaped unharmed, and finally made liis way into the fort.

In the mean time the work of death went on. The whites, taken by surprise, were utterly defenseless, and so great had been the feeling of security, that many of them were actually unai-med, although living in the very midst of the savages. At the store of Nathan Myrick, Hon. James W. Lynd, formerly a member of the State Senate, Andrew J. Myrick, and G. W. Divoll were among the first victims. * * * In the store of William H. Forbes were some five or six persons, among them Mr. George H. Spencer, jr. Hearing the yelling of the savages outside, these men ran to the door to ascertain its cause, when they were instantly fired upon, kilUng four of their number, and severely wounding Mr. Spencer. Spencer and his uninjured companion hastily sought a temporary place of safety in the chamber of the building.

" When I reached the foot of the stairs, I turned and beheld the store filling with Indians. One had followed me nearly to the stairs, when he took deliberate aim at my body, but, providentially, both barrels of his gun missed fire, and I succeeded in getting above without further injury. Not expecting to live a great while, I threw myself upon a bed, and, while lying there, could hear them opening cases of goods, and carrying them out, and threatening to burn the building. I did not relish the idea of being burned to death very well, so I arose very quietly, and taking a bed-cord, I made fast one end to the bed-post, and carried the other to a window, which I raised. I intended, in case they fired the building, to let myself down from the window, and take the chances of being shot again, rather than to remain where I was and bum. The man who went up-stairs with me, seeing 0 good opportunity to escape, rushed down through the crowd and ran for life; he was fired upon, and two charges of buckshot struck him, but he succeeded in making his escape. I had been up-stairs probably an hour, when I heard the voice of an Indian inquiring for me. I recognized his voice, and felt that I was safe. Upon being told that I was up-stairs, he rushed up, followed by ten or a dozen others, and approaching my bed, asked if I was mortally wounded. I told him that I did not know, but that I was badly hurt. Some of the others came up and took me by the hand, and appeared to be sorry that I had been hurt. ! Ih&s then asked me where the guns were. I

" The name of this Indian is Wakinyatawa, or, in English, 'His Thunder.' He was, up to the time of the outbreak, the head soldier of Little Crow, and, some four or five years ago, went to Washington with that chief to see their Great Father. He is a fine-looking Indian, and has always* been noted for his bravery in fighting the Chippewas. When we reached the foot of the stairs, some of the Indians cried out, 'Kill him!' 'Spare no Americans!' 'Show mercy to none!' My friend, who was unarmed, seized a hatchet that was lying near by, and declared that he would cut down the first one that should attempt to do me any further harm. Said he, 'If you had killed him before I saw him, it would have been all right; bu"; we have been friends and comrades for ten years, and now that I have seen him, I will protect him or die with him.' They then made way for us, and we passed out; he procured a wagon, and gave me over to a couple of squaws to take me to his lodge. On the we were stopped two or three times by armed Indians on horseback, who inquired of the squaws 'What that meant?' Upon being answered that ' This is Wakinyatawa's friend, and he has saved his life,' they suffered us to pass on. His lodge was about four miles above the Agency, at Little Crow's village. My friend soon came home and washed me, and dressed my wounds with roots. Some few white men succeeded in making their escape to the fort. There were no other white men taken prisoners."

The relation of "comrade," which existed between Mr. Spencer and this Indian, is a species of Freemasonry which is in existence among the Sioux, and is jDrobably also common to other Indian tribes.

The store of Louis Robert was, in like manner, attacked. Patrick McClellan, one of the clerks in charge of the store, was killed, There were at the store several other persons; some of them were killed and some made their escape. Mr. John Nairn, the Government carpenter at the Lower Sioux Agency, seeing the attack upon the stores and other places, seized his children, four in number, and, with his wife, started out on the prairie, making their way toward the fort. They were accompanied by Mr. Alexander Hunter, an attached personal friend, and his young wife. Mr. Nairn had been among them in the employ of the Government, some eight years, and had, by his urbane manners and strict attention to their interests, secured the personal friendship of many of the tribe. Mr. Nairn and his family reached the fort in safety that artemoon. Mr. Hunter had, some years before, frozen his feet so badly as to lose the toes, and, being lame, walked with great difficulty. When near an Indian village below the Agency, they were met by an Indian, who urged Hunter to go to the village, promising to get them a horse and wagon with which to make their escape. Mr. Hunter and his wife went to the Indian village, believing their Indian friend would redeem his promises, but from inabiUty, or some other reason, he did not do so. They went to the woods, where they remained all night, and in the morning started for Fort Ridgely on foot. They had gone but a short distance, however, when they met an Indian, who, without a word of warning, shot poor Hunter dead, and led his distracted young wife away into captivity.

We now return once more to the scene of blood and conflagration at the Agency. The whitehaired interpreter, Philander Prescott (now verging upon seventy years of age), hastily left his house soon after his meeting with Little Crow, and fled toward Fort Eidgely. The other members of his family remained behind, knowing that their relation to the tribe would save them. Mr. Prescott had gone several miles, when he was overtaken. His murderers came and talked with him. He reasoned with them, saying: "I am an old man: I have lived with you now forty-tive years, almost half a century. My wife and children are among you, of your own blood; I have never done you any harm, and have been your true friend in all your troubles; why should you wish to kill me?" Their only reply was: "We would save your life if we could, but the white manmust die; we cannot spare your life; our orders are to kill all white men; we cannot spare you."

Seeing that all remonstrance was vain and hopeless, and that his time had come, the aged man with a firm step and noble bearing, sadly turned away from the deaf ear and iron heart of the savage, and with dignity and composure received the fatal messenger.

Thus perished Philander Prescott, the true, tried, and faithful friend of the Indian, by the hands of that perfidious race, whom he had so long and so faithfully labored to benefit to so little purpose.

known to have reached other places of safety. All suffered incredible hardships; many hiding by day in the tall prairie grass, in bogs and sloughs, or under the trunks of prostrate trees, crawling stealthily by night to avoid the lurking and wily foe, who, with the keen scent of the blood-hound and ferocity of the tiger, followed on their trail, thirsting for blood.

Among those who escaped into the fort were BIr. J. O. Whipple, of Faribault; Mr. Charles B. Hewitt, of New Jersey. The services of Mr. Whipple were recognized and rewarded by the Government with a first lieutenant's commission in the volunteer artillery service.

James Powell, a young man residing at St. Peter, was at the Agency herding cattle. He had just turned the cattle out of the yard, saddled and mounted his mule, as the work of death commenced. Seeing Lamb and Wagner shot down near him he turned to flee, when Lamb called to him for help; but, at that moment two shots were fired at him, and, putting spurs to his mule he turned toward the ferry, passing close to an Indian who leveled his gun to fire at him ; biit the caps exploded, when the savage, evidently surprised that he had failed to kill him, waved his hand toward the river, and exclaimed, "Packachee! Puckachee!" Pcwell did not wait for a second warning, which might come in a more unwelcome form, but slipped at once from the back of his animal, dashed down the bluff through the brush, and I'eached the ferry just as the boat was leaving the shore. Looking over his shoulder as he ran, he saw an Indian in full pursuit on the very mule he had a moment before abandoned.

All that day the work of sack and plunder went on; and when the stores and dwellings and the warehouses of the Government had been emptied of their contents, the torch was applied to the various buddings, and the little village was soon a heap of smouldering ruins.

The bodies of their slain victims were left to fester in the sun where they fell, or were consumed in the buildings from which they had been unable to effect their escape.

So complete was the surprise, and so sudden and unexpected the terrible blow, that not a single one of all that host of naked savages was slain. In thirty minutes from the time the first gun was fired, not a white person was left alive. All were either weltering in their gore or had fled in fear and terror from that place of death.

At the Bedwood river, ten miles above the Agency, on the road to Yellow Medicine, resided Mr. Joseph B. Reynolds, in the employment of the Government as a teacher. His house was within one mile of Shakopee's village. His family consisted of his wife, a niece - Miss Mattie Williams, of Painesville, Ohio - Mary Anderson and Mary Sohwandt, hired girls. William Landmeier, a hired man, and Legrand Davis, a yoimg man from Shakopee, was also stoppmg with them temporarily.

On the morning of the 18th of August, at about 6 o'clock, John Moore, a half-breed trader, residing near them, came to the house and informed them that there was an outbreak among the Indians, and that they had better leave at once. Mr. Reynolds immediately got out his buggy, and, taking his wife, started off across the prairie in such a direction as to avoid the Agency. At the same time Davis and the three girls got into the wagon of a Mr. Patoile, a trader at Yellow Medicine, who had just arrived there on his way to New Ulm, and they also started out on the prairie. WiUiam, the hired man, would not leave until he had been twice warned by Moore that his life was in danger. He then went down to the river bottom, and following the Minnesota river, started for the fort. When some distance on his way he came ujDon some Indians who were gathering up cattle. They saw him and there was no way of escape. They came to him and told him that if he would assist them in driving the cattle they would not kiU him. Making a merit of necessity he complied, and went on with them tUl they were near the Lower Agency, when the Indians, hearing the firing at the ferry, suddenly left him and hastened on to take part in the battle then progressing between Captain Marsh and their friends. William fled in an opposite direction, and that night entered Fort Ridgely.

We return now to Patoile and his party. After crossing the Redwaod near its mouth, he drove some distance up that stream, and, turning to the left, struck across the prairie toward New Ulm, keeping behind a swell in the prairie which ran parallel with the Minnesota, some three miles south of that stream.

They had, unpursued, and apparently unobserved, reached a point within about ten miles of New Uhn, and nearly opposite Fort Ridgely, when they were suddenly assailed by Indians, who killed Patoile and Davis, and severely wounded Mary Anderson. Miss Williams and Mary Sehwandt were captured unhurt, aud were taken back to Waucouta's village.

The poor, injured young woman survived her and the brutal and fiendish violation of her person to which she was subjected by these dej)ils incarnate, but a few days, when death, in mercy, came to her relief and ended her sufferings in the quiet of the grave!

Mattie Williams and Mary Sehwandt were afterwards restored to their friends by General Sibley's expedition, at Camp Eelease. We say, resstored to their friends; this was hardly true of Mary Sehwandt, who, when release came, found alive, of all her father's family, only one, a little brother; and he had witnessed the fiendish slaughter of all the rest, accompanied by circumstances of infernal barbarity, without a parallel in the history of savage brutality.

On Sunday, the 17th, George Gleason, Government stoie-keeper at the Lower Agency, accomjsanied by the family of Agent Galbraith, to Yellow Medicine, and on Monday afternoon, ignorant of the terrible tragedy enacted below, started to return. He had with him the wife and two children of Dr. J. S. Wakefield, physician to the Upper Sioux. When about two miles above the mouth of the Eedwood, they met two armed Indians on the road. Gleason greeted them with the usual salutation of "Ho !" accompanied with the inquiry, in Sioux, as he passed, "Where are you going ?" They returned the salutation, but Gleason had gone but a very short distance, when the sharp crack of a gun behind him bore to his ear the first iutimntion of the death in store for him. The bullet passed through his body and he fell to the ground. At the same moment Chaska, the Indian who had not fired, sprang into the wagon, by the side of Mrs. Wakefield, and driving a short distance, returned. Poor Gleason was lying upon the groimd, still alive, writhing in mortal agony, when the savage moniter completed his hellish work, by placing his gun at his breast, and shooting him again. Such was the sad end of the life of George Gleason; gay, jocund, genial and generous, he was the life of every circle. His pleasant face was seen, and his mellow voice was heard in song, at almost every social gathering on that rude frontier. He had a smile and pleasant woi-d for all; and yet he fell, in his manly strength, by the hands of these bloody monsters, whom he had never wronged in word or deed. Some weeks afterward, his mutilated remains were found by the troops imder Colonel Sibley, and buried where he fell. They were subsequently removed by hia friends to Shakopee, where they received the rites of Christian sepulture.

Whites From Yellow Medicine Settlement

Early on the morning of the 18th, the settlers on the north side of the Minnesota river, adjoining the reservation, were surprised to see a large number of Indians in their immediate neighborhood. They were seen soon after the people arose, simultaneously, all along the river from Birch Coolie to Beaver Creek, and beyond, on the west, apparently intent on gathering up the horses and cattle. When interrogated, they said they were after Chippewas. At about 6 or 7 o'clock they suddenly began to repair to the various houses of the settlers, and then the flight of the inhabitants and the work of death began.

In the immediate vicinity of Beaver Creek, the neighbors, to the number of about twenty-eight, men, women, and children, assembled at the house of Jonathan W. Earle, and, with several teams, started for Fort Ridgely, having with them the sick wife of S. K. Henderson, her children, and the family of N. D. White, and the wife and two children of James Carrothers.

There were, also, David Carrothers and family, Earle and family, Henderson, and a German named Wedge, besides four sons of White and Earle; the rest were women and children. They had gone but a short distance when they were surrounded by Indians. When asked, by some of the party who could speak their language, what they wanted, the Indians answered, "We are going to kiU you."

Massacre At Oerman Settlement

When asked why they were to be killed, the Indians consented to let them go, with one team and the buggy with Mrs. Henderson, on giving up the rest. They had gone but a short distance when they were again stopped by the savages, and the remaining team taken. Again they moved on, drawing the buggy and the sick woman by hand but had gone but a few rods further, when the Indians began to fire upon them. The men were with the buggy ; the women and children had gone on ahead, as well as the boys and Carrothers.

Mr. Earle, seeing the savages were determined to kill them, and knowing that they could not now save Mrs. Henderson, hastened on and came up with the fleeing fugitives ahead. Mr. Henderson waved a white cloth as a flag of truce, when they shot off his fingers, and, at the same time, killed Wedge. Henderson then ran, seeing that he could not save his wife and children, and made his escape. They came up with his buggy, and, taking out the helpless woman and children, threw them on the prairie, and placing the bed over them, set it on fire, and hastened on after the fleeing fugitives.

Coming up with the escaping women and children, they were all captured but two children of David Carrothers. These they had shot in the chase after Carrothers, Earle, and the sons of Earle and White. They killed, also, during this chase and running fight, Eugene White, a son of N. D. AVhite, and Eadner, son of Jonathan W. Earle.

Carrothers escaped to Crow Kiver, and thence to St. Paul. Mr. Earle and two of his sons, and one son of Mr. White, after incredible hardships, escaped to Cedar City, and subsequently made their way back to St. Peter and Fort Ridgely. All the captives taken at this time were carried to Crow's village, and, with the exception of Mrs. James Carrothers and her children, were recovered at Camp Eelease.

After they had captured the women and children, they returned to the houses of the settlers, and plundered them of their contents, carrying off what they could, and breaking up and destroying the balance. They then gathered up the stock and drove it to their village, taking their captives with them.

emigrants, numbering some forty persons, quiet, industrious, and enterprising. Early on the morning of the 18th these had all assembled al the house of John Meyer. Very soon after they had assembled here, some fifty Indians, led by Shakopee, appeared in sight. The people all fled, except Meyer and his family, going into the grass and bushes. Peter Bjorkman ran toward his own house. Shakopee, whom he knew, saw him, and exclaimed, "There is Bjorkman; kill him!" but, keeping the building between him and the savages, he plunged into a slough and concealed himself, even removing his shirt, fearing it might be the means of revealing his whereabouts to the lurking savages. Here he lay from early morning until the darkness of night enabled him to leave with safety - suffering unutterable torments, mosquitoes literally swarming upon his naked person, and the hot sim scorching him to the bone.

They immediately attacked the house of Meyer, killing his wife and all his children. Seeing his family butchered, and having no means of detense, Meyer effected his escape, and reached Fort Eidgely. In the meantime the affrighted people had got together again at the house of a Mr. Sitzton, near Bjorkman's, to the number of about thirty, men, women, and children. In the afternoon the savages returned to the house of Sitzton, kiUing every person there but one woman, Mrs. Wilhelmina Eindeutield, and her child. These ware captured, and afterward found at Camp Eelease, but the husband and father was among the slain. From his place of concealment Mr. Bjorkman witnessed this attack and wholesale massacre of almost an entire neighborhood. After dark he came out of the slough, and, going to his house, obtained some food and a bundle of clothing, as his house was not yet plundered; fed his dog and calf, and jvent over to the house of Meyer; here he foimd the windows all broken in, but did not enter the house. He then went to the house of Sitzton ; his nerves were not equal to the task of entering that charnel-house of death. As he passed the yard, he turned out some cattle that the Indians had not taken away, and hastened toward Fort Ridgely. On the road he overtook a woman and two children, one an infant of six months, the wife and children of John Sateau, who had been killed. Taking one of the children in his arms, these companions in misfortune and suffering hurried on together. Mrs. Sateau was nearly naked, and without either shoes or stockings.

The rough prairie grass lacerated her naked feet and limbs terribly, and she was about giWng out in despair. Bjorkman took from his bundle a shirt, and tearing it in parts, she woimd it about her feet, and proceeded on.

At daylight they came in sight of the house of Maguer, eight miles above the fort. Here they saw some eight or ten Indians, and, turning aside from the road, dropped down into the grass, where they remained until noon, when the Indians disappeared. They again moved toward the fort, but slowly and cautiously, as they did not reach it until about midnight. Upon reaching the fort Mrs. Sateau found two sons, aged ten and twelve years respectively, who had efl'ected their escape and reached there before her.

Mrs. Mary, widow of Patrick Hay den, who resided about one and a half miles from the house of J. W. Earle, near Beaver Creek, in Kenville county, says :

"On the morning of the 18th of August, Mr. Hayden started to go over to the house of Mr. J. B. Keynolds, at the Redwood river, on the reservation, and met Thomas Kobinson, a half-breed, who told him to go home, get his family, and leave as soon as possible, for the Indians were coming over to kill all the whites. He came immediately home, and we commenced to make preparations to leave, but in a few minutes we saw some three or four Indians coming on horseback. We then went over to the house of a neighbor, Benedict June, and found them all ready to leave. I started off with June's people, and my husband went back home, still thinking the Indians would not kiU any one, and intending to give them some provisions if they wanted them. I never saw him again.

"We drove on tiU we came to the house of David Faribault, at the foot of the hill, about one and a half miles from the Agency ferry. When we got here two Indians came out of Faribault's house, and stopping the teams, shot Mr. Zimmerman, who was driving, and his two boys. I sprang out of the wagon, and, with my child, one year old, in my arms, ran into the bushes, and went up the hill toward the fort. When I came near the house of Mr. ISIaguer, I saw Indians throwing furniture out of the door, and I went down into the bushes

"While I lay here concealed, I saw the Indians taking the roof off the warehouse, and saw the buildings burning at the Agency. I also heard the firing during the battle at the ferry, when Marsh and his men were killed.

"I then went up near the fort road, and sitting down under a tree, waited till dark, and then started for Fort Ridgely, carrying my child all the way. I arrived at the fort at about 1 o'clock A. M. The distance from our place to Eidgley was seventeen miles.

"On Tuesday morning I saw John Magner, who told me that, when the soldiers went up to the Agency the day before, he taw my husband lying in the road, near David Faribault's house, dead. John Hayden, his brother, who lived with us, was found dead near La Croix creek. They had got up the oxen, and were bringing the family of Mr. Eisenrich to the fort, when they were overtaken by Indians. Eisenrich was killed and his wife and five children were taken prisoners.

"Mrs. Zimmerman, who was blind, and her remaining children, and Mrs. Jime and her children, five in number, were captured and taken to the house of David Faribault, where they were kept till night, the savages torturing them by teUing them that they were going to fasten them in the house and bum them alive, but for some inexplicable reason let them go, and they, too, reached the fort in safety. Mr. Jime, who with one of his boys, eleven years old, remained behind to drive in his cattle, was met by them on the road and killed. The boy was captured, and, with the other prisoners, recovered at Camp Release."

The neighborhoods in the vicinity of La Croix creek, and between that and Fort Ridgely, were visited on Monday forenoon, and the people either massacred, driven away or made prisoners. Edward Magner, living eight miles above the fort, was killed. His wife and children had gone to the fort. He had returned to look after his cattle when he was shot. Patrick Kelley and David O'Coimor, both single men, were killed near Magnor's.

"I lived four miles from the Lower Sioux Agency, on the fort road. On the 18th of August Patrick Horan, my brother, came early from the Agency and told us that the Indians were murdering the whites. He had escaped alone and crossed the ferry, and with some Frenchmen was on bis waj to the fort. My brothers and Wilham and Thomas Smith went with me. We saw Indians in the road near Magner's. Thomas Smith went to them, thinking they were white men, and I saw them kill him. We then turned to flee, and saw men escaping with teams along the road. All fled towards the fort together, the Indians firing ujjon us as we ran. The teams were oxen, and the Indians were gaining upon us, when one of men in his excitement dropped his gun. The savages came up to it and picked it up. All stopped to examine it, and the men in the wagons whipped the oxen into a run. This delay enabled us to elude them.

"As we passed the house of Ole Sampson, Mrs. Sampson was crying at the door for help. Her three children were with her. We told her to go into the bush and hide, for we could not help her. We ran into a ravine and hid in the grass. After the Indians had hunted some time for us, they came along the side of the ravine, and called to us in good English, saying, 'Come out, boys; what are you afraid of? We don't want to hurt you.' After they left us we crawled out and made our way to the fort, where we arrived at about 4 o'clock P. M. My family had gone there before me. Mrs. Sampson did not go to the bush, but hid in the wagon from which they had_ recently come from Waseca county. It was what we call a prairie schooner, covered with cloth, a genuine emigrant wagon. They took her babe from her, and throwing it down upon the grass, put hay imder the wagon, set fire to it and went away. Mrs. Sampson got out of the wagon, badly burned, and taking her infant from the ground made he, w y to the fort. Two of her children were burned to death in the wagon. Mr. Sampson had been previously killed about eighty rods from the house.

Piguar, Andrew Bahlke, Henry Keartner, old Mr. Closen and Mrs. WiUiam Vitt, and several others were killed. Mrs. Maria Frorip, an aged Ger-v man woman, was wounded fom- different times with small shot, but escaped to the fort. The wife of Henry Keartner also escajied and reached the fort. The wife and child of a Mr. Cardenelle were taken prisoners, as were also the wife and child of Frederick Closen.

Word came to this neighborhood about sundown of the 18th, that the Indians were murdering the whites. This news was brought to them by two men who had started from the Lower Agency, and had seen the lifeless and mutilated remains of the murdered victims lying upon the road and in their plundered dwellings towards Beaver Creek. The whole neighborhood, with the exception of one family, that of Mr. Schwandt, soon assembled at the house of Paul Kitzman, with their oxen and wagons, and prejjared to start for Fort Eidgely.

A messenger was sent to the house of Schwandt but the Indian rifle and the tomahawk had done their fearful work. Of all that family but two sui-vived; one a boy, a witness of the awful scene of butchery, and he then on his way, covered with blood, towards Fort Kidgely. The other, a young girl of about seventeen years of age, then residing at Redwood, who was captured as previously stated.

This boy saw his sister, a young married woman, ripped open, while ahve, and her unborn babe taken, yet struggling, from her person and nailed to a tree before the eyes of the dying mother.

This party started in the evening to make their escape, going so as to avoid the settlements and the traveled roads, striking across the country toward the head of Beaver creek.

They traveled this way all night, and in the morning changed their course towards Fort Eidgely. They continued in this direction until the sun was some two hours high, when they were met by eight Sioux Indians, who told them that the murders were committed by Chippewas, and that they had come over to protect them and punish the murderers; and thus induced them to turn back toward their homes. One of the savages spoke Enghsh well. He was acquainted with some of the company, having often hunted with Paul Kitzman. He kissed Kitzman, telling him he was a good man; and they shook hands with all of the party. The simple hearted Germans believed them, gave them food, distributed money among them, and, gratefully receiving their assurances of friendship and turned back.

They traveled on toward their deserted homes till noon, when they again halted, and gave their pretended protectors food. The Indians went away by themselves to eat. The suspicions of the fugitives were now somewhat aroused, but they felt that they were, to a great extent, in the power of the wretches. They soon came back, and ordered them to go on, taking their position on each side of the train. Soon after t)i ey went on and disappeared. The train kept on toward home; and when within a few rods of u house, where they thought they could defend themselves, as they had guns with them, they were suddenly surrounded by fourteen Indians, who instf ntly fired upon them, killing eight (all but three of the men) at the first discharge. At the next fire tJiey killed two of the remaining men and six of the women, leaving only one man, Frederick Kreiger, alive. His wife was also, as yet, unliurt. They soon dispatched Kreiger, and, at the same time, began boating out the brains of the screaming children \\ith the butts of their guns. Mrs. Kreiger was standing in the wagon, and, when her husband fell, attempted to spring from it to the grouisd, but was shot from behind, and fell back in the wagon-box, although not dead, or tntirely unconscious. She was roughly seized and dragged to the ground, and the teams were driven off. She now became insensible. A few of the children, during this awful scene, escaped to the timber near by ; and a few also, maimed and mangled by these horrible monsters, and left for dead, survived, and, after enduring incredible hardships, got to Fort Ridgely. Mrs. Zable, and five children, were horribly mangled, and almost naked, entered the fort eleven days afterward- Mrs. Kreiger also survived her unheard-of sufferings.

Some forty odd bodies were afterward found and buried on that fatal field of slaughter. Thus perished, by the hands of these terrible scourges of the border, almost an entire neighborhood. Quiet, sober, and industrious, they had come hither from the vine-clad hills of their fatherland, by the green shores and gliding waters of the enchanting Rhine, and had built for themselves homes, where they had fondly hoped, in peace and quiet, to spend yet long years, under the fair, bluo sky, and in the sunny clirae of Miimosota, when suddenly, and in one short hour, by the hand of the savage, they were doomed to one common annihilation.

During all the fatal 18th of August, the people at the Upper Agency pursued their usual avocations. As night approached, however, an unusual gathering of Indians was observed on the hill just wejit of the Agency, and between it and the house of John Other Day. Judge Givens and Charles Crawford, then acting as interpreters in the absence of Freniere, went out to them, and sought to learn why they were there in coimcil, but coidd get no satisfactory reply. Soon after this. Other Day came to them witli the news of the outbreak below, as did also Joseph Laframbois, a halfbreed Sious. The families there were soon all gathered together in the warehouse and dwelling of the agent, who resided in the same building, and with the guns they had, prepared themselves as best they could, and awaited the attack, determined to sell their lives as dearly as possible. There were gathered here sixty-two persons, men, women, and children.

Other Day, and several other Indians, who came to them, told them they would stand by them to the last. These men visited the council outside, several times during the night; but when they were most needed, one only, the noble and heroic Other Day, remained faithful. AH the others disappeared, one after another, during the night. About one or two o'clock in the morning, Stewart B. Garvie, connected with the traders' store, known as Myrick's, came to the warehouse, and was admitted, badly wounded, a charge of buckshot having entered his bowels. Garvie was standing in the door or his store when he was fired upon and wounded. He ran up stairs, and jumping from the window into the garden, crawled away, and reached the Agency without further molestation. At about this time Joseph Laframbois went to the store of Daily & Pratt, and awakened the two men in charge there, Duncan R. Kennedy and J, D. Boardman, and told them to flee for their lives. They hastily dressed and left the store, but had not gone ten rods when they saw in the path before them three Indians. They stepped down from the jiath, which ran along the edge of a rise in the ground of some feet, and crouching in the grass, the Indians passed within eight feet of them. Kennedy went on toward Fort Ridgely, determined to reach that post if possible, and Boardman went to the warehouse. At the store of William H. Forbes, Constans, book-keeper, a native of France, was killed. At the store of Patoile, Peter Patoile, clerk, and a nephew of the proprietor, was shot just outside the store, the ball entering at the back and coming ont near the nip-

Tbey then turned their attention to the stores. The clerlis in the store of Louis Koliert had effected their escape, so that there were now no white men left, and when they had become absorbed in the work of plunder, Patoile crawled off into the bushes on the banks of the Yellow Medicine, and secreted himself. Here he remained all day. After dark he got up and started for a place of safety; ascending the bluflf, outof the YeUow Medicine bottom, he dragged himself a mile and a haK further, to the Minnesota, at the mouth of the Yellow Medicine. Wading the Minnesota, be entered the house of Louis Labelle, on the opposite side, at the ford. It was deserted. Finding a bed in the house he lay down upon it and was soon fast asleejj, and did not awake until morning. Joseph Laframbois and Narces Freniere, and an Indian, Makacago, entered the house, and finding him there, awoke him, telUng bim there were hostile Indians about; that he must bide. They gave him a blanket to disguise himself, and going with him to the ravine, concealed bim in the grass and left him, promising to return, as soon as it was safe to do so, to bring him food, and guide him away to the prairie. He lay in this ravine until toward night, when his friends, true to their promise, returned, bringing some crackers, tripe, and onions. They went with him some distance out on the prairie, and enjoined upon him not to attempt to go to Fort Ridgely, and giving him the best directions they could as to the course he should take, shook hands with him and left him. Their names should be inscribed upon tablets more enduring than brass. That night he slept on the prairie, and the nest day resumed his wanderings, over an unknown region, without an inhabitant. After wandering for days without food or drink, bis little stock of crackers and tripe being exhausted, he came to a deserted bouse, which he did not know. Here he remained all night, and obtained two raw potatoes and three ears of green corn. These he ate raw. It was all the food he had for eight days. Wandering, and unknowing whither to go, on the twelfth day out from Labelle's house, he heard the barking of dogs, and creeping nearer to them, still fearing there might be Indians about, he was overjoyed at seeing white men. Soon making himself and his condition known, he was h'keu and kindly cared for by these men, who had some days before deserted their farms, and had now returned to look after their crops and cattle. He now learned for the first time where he was. He bad struck a settlement far up the Sauk Valley, some forty miles above St. Cloud. He must have wandered, in these twelve days of sufifering, not less than two hundred miles, including deviations from a direct course.

He was taken by these men, in a wagon, to St. Cloud, where his wound was dressed for the first time. From St. Cloud the stage took bim to St. Anthony, where he took the cars to St. Paul. A case of equal suffering and equal endurance is scarcely to be found on record. With a bullet wound through the lungs, he walked twelve days, not over a smooth and easy road, but across a trackless prairie, covered with rank grass, wading sleighs and streams on his way, almost without food, and for days without water, before he saw the face of a man; and traveled by wagon, stage, and cars, over one hundred miles.

His recovery was rapid, and he soon enlisted in the First Regiment Minnesota Mounted Rangers under General Sibley, in the expedition against the Siovix. Patoile was in the battles on the Missouri in the summer of 1863, where his company, that of Captain Joseph Anderson, is mentioned as having fought with great bravery.

We now return to the warehouse at Yellow Medicine, which we left to follow the strange fortunes of young Patoile. Matters began to wear a serious aspect, when Garvie came to them mortally wounded. Other Day was constantly on the watch outside, and reported the progress of aifairs to those within. Toward daylight every friendly Indian had deserted save Other Day; the yells of the savages came distinctly to their ears from the trading-post, half a mile distant. They were absorbed in the work of plunder. The chances of escape were sadly against them, yet they decided to make the attempt. Other Day knew every foot of the country over which they must pass, and would be their guide.

The wagons were driven to the door. A bed was placed in one of them; Garvie was laid upon it. The women and children provided a few loaves of bread, and just as day dawned, the cortege started on its perilous way. This party consisted of the family of Major Galbraith, wife and three children; Nelson Givens, wife, and wife's mother, and three children ; Noah Sinks, wife, and two children; Henry EscheUe, wife, and five children; John

History Op Tub Sioux Massacre

Fadden, wife, and three cliildren; Mr. German and wife; Frederick Patoile, wife, and two children; Mrs. Jane K. Murch, Miss IMaiy Charles, Miss Lizzie Sawyer, Miss Mary Daly, Miss Mary Hays, Mrs. Eleanor Warner, Mrs. John Other Day and one child, Mrs. Haurahan, N. A. Miller, Edward Cramsie, 'Zi. Hawkins, Oscar Canfil, Mr. Hill, an artist from St. Paul, J. D. Boardman, Parker Pierce, Dr. J. L. Wakefield, and several others.

They crossed the Minnesota at Labelle's farm, and soon turned into the timber on the Hawk river, crossed that stream at some distance above its mouth, and ascended from the narrow valley through which it runs to the open prairie beyond, and followed down the Minnesota, keeping back on the prairie as far as the farm of Major J. K. eight miles below the Yellow Medicine. Mr. Fadden and Other Day visited the house and found it deserted. A consultation th'en took place, for the purpose of deciding where they should go. Some of them wished to go to Fort Kidgely; others to some town away from the frontier. Other Day told them that if they attempted to go to the fort they would all be killed, as the Indians would either be lying in ambush on that road for them, or would follow them, believing they would attempt to go there. His counsel prevailed, and they turned to the left, across the prairie, in the direction of Kandiyohi Lakes and Glencoe. At night one of the pnrty mounted a horse and rode forward, and found a house about a mile ahead. They hastened forward and reached it in time to escape a furious storm. They were kindly received by the only person about the premises, a man, whose family were away. The next morning, soon after crossing Hawk river, they were joined by Louis Labelle and Gertong, his son-inlaw, who remained with them all that day.

On Wednesday morning they left the house of the friendly settler, and that night reached Cedar City, eleven miles from Hutchinson, in the county of McLeod. The inhabitants had deserted the town, and gone to an island, in Cedar Lake, and had erected a rude shelter. From the main land the island was reached through shallow water. Through this water our escaping party drove, guided by one of the citizens of Cedar City, and were cordially welcomed by the people assembled there.

That night it rained, and all were drenched to the skin. Poor Garvie was laid under a rude shed, upon his bed, and all was done for him that man could do; but, in the morning, it was evident that he could go no further, and he was taken to the house of a Mr. Peek, and left. He died there, a day or two afterward. Some of the company, who were so worn out as to be unable to go on beyond Hutchinson, returned to Cedar City and saw that he was decently interred.

On Thursday they went on, by way of Hutchinson and Glencoe, to Carver, and thence to Shakopee and St. Paul. Major Galbraith, in a report to the department, says of this escape:

"Led by the Noble Other Day, they struck out on the naked prairie, literally placing their lives in this faithful creature's hands, and guided by him, and him alone. After intense suffering and jirivation, they reached Shakopee, on Friday, the 22d of August, Other Day never leaving them for an instant; and thia Other Day is a pure, fullblooded Indian, and was, not long since, one of the wildest and fiercest of his race. Poor, nolile fellow! must he, too, be ostracized for the sins of his nation ? i commend him to the care of a just God and a Uberal government ; and not only him, but all others who did Ukewise."

After a knowledge of the designs of the Indians reached the people at the Agency, it was impossible for them to more than merely communicate with the two families at the saw-miU, three miles above, and with the families at the Mission. They were, therefore, reluctantly left to their fate. Early in the evening of Monday, two civilized Indians, Chaskada and Tankanxaceye, went to the house of Dr. Williamson, and warned them of their danger, informing them of what had occurred below; and two halt-breeds, Michael and Gabriel Renville, and two Christian Indians, Paul Maxakuta Mani and Simon Anaga Mani, went to the house of Mr. Kiggs, the missionary, at Hazelwood, and gave them warning of the danger impending over them.

There were at this place, at that time, the family of the Eev. Stephen R. Eiggs, Mr. H. D. Cunningham and family, Mr. D. W. Moore and his wife (who reside in New Jersey), and Jonas Pettijohn and family. Mr. Pettijohn and wife were in charge of the Government school at Red Iron's village, and were now at Mr. Eiggs'. They got up a team, and these friendly Indians went with them to an Island in the Minnesota, about tliree miles from the Mission. Here they remained till Tuesday evening. In the afternoon of Tuesday, Andrew Hunter, a son-in-law of Dr. Williamsou, came to him with the information that the family of himself and the Doctor were secreted below. The families at the saw-mill had been informed by the Eenvilles, and were with the party of Dr. Williamson. At night they formed a junction on the north side of the Minnesota, and commenced their perilous journey. A thunder-storm effectually ob- Uterated their tracks, so that the savages could not follow them. They started out on the prairie in a northeasterly direction, and, on Wednesday morning, changed their course south-easterly, till they struck the Lac qui Parle road, and then made directly for Fort Eidgely. On Wednesday they were joined by three Germans, who had escaped from YeUow Medicine. On Wednesday night tliey found themselves in the vicinity of the Upper Agency, and turned to the north again, keeping out on the prairie. On Friday they were in the neighborhood of Beaver Creek, when Dr. Williamson, who, with his wife and sister, had remained behind, overtook them in an ox-cart, having left about twenty -four hours later. They now determined to go to Fort Bidgelj. When within a few miles of that post, just at night, they were discovered by two Indians on horseback, who rode along parallel with the train for awhile, and then turned and galloped away, and the fugitives hastened on, momentarily expecting an attack. Near the Three-Mile creek they passed a dead body lying by the road-side. They drove on, passing the creek, and, turning to the left, passed out on to the prairie, and halted a mile and a half from the fort. It was now late at night; they had heard firing, and had seen Indians in the vicinity. They were in doubt what to do. It was at length decided that Andrew Hunter should endeavor to enter the fort and ascertain its condition, and learn, if possible, whether they could get in. Hunter went, and, although it was well-nigh surrounded by savages (they had been besieging it all the afternoon), succeeded in crawling by on his hands and knees. He was told that it would be impossible for so large a party, forty-odd, to get through the Indian lines, and that he had better return and tell them to push on toward the to\vns below. He left as he had entered, crawling out into the prairie, and reached his friends in safety. It seemed very hard, to be so near a place of fancied security, and obliged to turn away from it, and, weary and hungry, press on. Perils beset their path on every hand; dangers, seen and unseen, were around them ; but commending themselves to the care of Him who "suffereth not a sparrow to fall to the ground without His notice," they resumed their weary march. They knew that all around them the work of death and desolation was going on, for the midnight sky, on every side, was red with the lurid flame of burning habitations. They heard fiom out the gloom the tramp of horses' feet, hurrying past them in the darkness; but they still pressed on. Soon their wearied animals gave out, and again they encamped for the night. With the early dawn they were upon the move, some eight miles from the fort, in the direction of Henderson. Here, four men, the three Germans who had joined them on AVeJuesday, and a young man named Gilligan, left them, and went off in the direction of New Ulm. The bodies of these unfortunate men were afterward found, scarcely a mile from the place where they had left the guidance of Other Day.

They traveled on in the direction of Henderson, slowly and painfully, for their teams, as well as themselves, were nearly exhausted. That day the savages were beleaguering New Ulm, and the sounds of the conflict were borne faintly to their ears upon the breeze. They had flour with them, but no means of cooking it, and were, consequently, much of the time without proper food. On the afternoon of this day they came to a deserted house, on the road from Fort Ridgley to Henderson, the house of Michael Cummings, where they found a stove, cooking utensils, and a jar of cream. Obtaining some ears of corn from the field or garden near by, and " confiscating" the cream, they prepared themselves the first good meal they had had since leaving their homes so hastily on Monday night.

After refreshing themselves and their worn animals at tliis place for some hours, their journey was again resumed. That night they slept in a forsaken house on the prairie, and, on Sabbath morning early, were again on their way. As they proceeded, they met some of the settlers returning to their deserted farms, and calh'ng a halt at a deserted house, where they found a large company of jjeople, they concluded to remain until Monday, and recuperate themselves and teams, as well as to observe in a proper manner the holy Sabbath. On Monday morning they separated, part going to Henderson and part to St. Peter, all feeling thai the All-seeing Eye that never slumbers or sleeps had watched over them, and that the loving hand of God had guided them siifely through the dangers, seen and unseen, that had beset their path.

In the region of the State above the Upper Agency there were but few white inhabitants. Of all those residing on the Cliippewa river, near its mouth, we can hear of but one who escaped, and he was wounded, while his comrade, who lived with him was killed. This man joined the party of the missionaries, and got away with them.

On the Yellow Medicine, above the Agency about twelve mUes, was a settler named James W. Lindsay. He was unmarried, and another single man was "baching it" with liim. They were both killed. Their nearest white neighbors were at the Agency, and they could not be warned of their danger, and knew nothing of it until the savages were upon them.