Waseca County, Minnesota - Chapter 29, 1905

Chapter 29

NEW OFFICIALS - CANFIBLD, WARD AND BALDWIN SCHOOL LAND APPRAISERS - SCHOOL EXAMINERS, WOODRUFF, MOSHER, SMITH - HORSBTHIEVES, HORSES OF ORRIN PEASE STOLEN - HORSETHIEF DETECTIVES - INDIAN MASSACRE - COMPANY F, 10th REGIMENT, ROSTER THEREOF - THE OUTBREAK AUG. 18 - TRIP TO MANKATO AND THE AGENCY - PEOPLE PANIC STRICKEN-BRISBANE'S ACCOUNT OP TRIP - MOUNTED RAKGERS FROM WASECA COUNTY - INDIANS HANGED AT MANKATO, DEC. 2G.

The new officers of the county, viz.: S. J. AYillis, auditor; Geo. T. Whit(% treasurer; Tarrant Putnam, re.u'ister of deeds; D. L. "Whipple, sheriff; H. D. Baldwin, ,iudi;e of probate and county attorney; Geo. P. Johnson, surveyor; J. A. Canfield, court commissioner; H. P. AVe.st, elerk of court; Nathaniel Wood, coroner; and John S. il. Honor, of loseo, B. A. Lowell, of Otiseo, and J. B. Jackson, of W^ilton, county commissioners, met at the court house in Wilton, Jan. 7th 18tiL', filed the necessary official bonds and dvdy qualified for their rcs[)eetive duties.

The coiinty eonimissionc'i's were in session but a short time. ^Iv. Lowell was elected chairman for the ciisuinii' year. The board of county commissioners ;it that time, under the statute, fixed the salaries of a number of the county ofHeers.

It was ordered that the salary of the county att(u-ney. H. D. Baldwin, be (ixed at $180 per annum; the salary of the county auditor, S. J. Willis (no clerk hire) l)e fixed at $4-2:) per anniuu - salaries payable monthly in equal installments. Quite a chanu'C from that day to this.

It was also ordered that $275 be allowed to S. J. Willis & Co., proprietors of the "Home Views," for doing the county printing for the year 1862, "said printing to include all printing of tax notices and delinquent tax sales, except only assessors' tax rolls, payment for same to be made quarterly."

The county board met again February 28, but nothing of general interest was transacted. The next meeting of the board was held June 26th upon call of the county auditor. At this meeting of the board, John G. Ward, of Iosco; J. A. Canfield, of Otisco, and H. D. Baldwin, of Wilton, were appointed by the board as land commissioners to appraise the school lands of the county. At this session of the board the saloon keepers put in some work on the license question, and, "on motion, B. A. Lowell was appointed to receive and accept proposals for liquor licenses, the amount to be paid for the same, where liquors were to be sold by the glass, pint or quart, not to be less than $10 for each license granted. ' '

The next meeting of the county board was held Sept. 2d. Besides the usual routine of allowing bills, etc,, the following gentlemen were appointed to serve as school examiners (superintendents) in their respective commissioner districts, to-wit: Philo Woodruff, of Blooming Grove ; H. G. Mosher, of Otisco ; and Rev. E. S. Smith, of Wilton.

The summer of 1862 revealed the fact that we had in our midst a gang of horsethieves. In the month of June, Orrin Pease, who had just settled in the town of St. Mary, had a fine pair of horses stolen. After considerable search by Sheriff Whipple and others, the horses were found in the possession of men named Eno, Beatty and Anderson, a colored person. All three of these were convicted of the larceny, but, pending an appeal to the supreme court, broke jail at Wilton and made good their escape. The stealing of these horses, the escape of the thieves, and the expense attending their arrest and trial created a strong feeling of indignation on the part of our people against thieves in general, and against horse thieves in particular, and were the primary cause of the organization of the Waseca County Horsethief Detective Society, which still exists and the history of which appears elsewhere in this

No business of importance was transacted except that Mr. Willis, having engaged in the drug business, tendered his resignation as county auditor. This was not accepted, at the time, but at a special meeting called Nov. 22nd, the resignation of Mr. Willis was accepted, and Col. J. C. Ide was appointed in his place.

The War And The Indian Massacre

On the first day of July President Lincoln called for six hundred thousand more men, volunteers, to more vigorously prosecute the war ; and on the 4tli of August a draft was ordered of three hundred thousand men to serve nine months. The draft order was never enforced in .Minnesota. But the stirring events of the war, the call of the president for volunteers, and the draft ordered created great activity in enlistments and militarj- organization throughout the whole state.

Several public meetings were held at Wilton. They were largely attended, and much enthusiasm and real patriotism were manifest among all the penple. From August 12 to August IS, company F of the Tentli .Minnesota infantry, Capt. George T. White's company, was laigely inereased by the following men from this county :

On the 18th day of August, ]S(VJ, the people on the western frontier of the state wei-e startled !iy the Sioux Indian massacre of white people at both of the Sioux agencies and in their imme- diate neighborhoods. These massacres were followed each succeeding day for a week by the indiscriminate slaughter of men, women and children all along the frontier, from Glencoe and Hutchinson, on the north, to Spirit Lake, in Iowa, on the south. More than two thousand white settlers were murdered in cold blood, and some two hundred fifty women and children were carried away as captives.

The trouble commenced at Acton, ileeker county, on August 17, 1862, when several settlers were murdered by a few roving Indians, said to have been partially intoxicated. Upon receipt of the news of the Acton murders by the Indians at the Upper Agency, on the 18th, the work of death was at once commenced.

After the slaughter of the white people at both the Indian agencies, early on the morning of the 18th, a wounded settler with a team drove immediately to Fort Ridgely, thirteen miles below, and gave the alarm. Captain Marsh, with eighty-five men, occupied the fort. With forty-five men he started for the Lower Agency, having with him a six mule team, hauling supplies and ammunition. Upon reaching the river at the agency his little company was surprised and surrounded by Indians in great numbers, who opened a deadly fire. About half of his company were instantly killed, and then followed a desperate hand to hand fight, in which the white soldiers fought to the death. Only fifteen of the forty-five survived and returned to the fort - Captain Marsh himself being drowned while crossing the river.

Before leaving the fort on the 18th, Captain Marsh wisely sent a messenger to Lieutenant Tim J. Sheehan, who was on his way to Fort Ripley with fifty men, to return at once. 'This Sheehan did, arriving at Fort Ridgely on the 19th. Indian Agent Galbraith had raised a company of fifty men for the United States service and was on the way to Fort Snelling to be mustered in, having reached St. Peter on the evening of the 18th when news arrived of the massacre at the Upper and Lower Agencies. Taking the muskets of the militia company of St. Peter he immediately returned with his company to Fort Ridgely, where he arrived on the 19th. This increased the number of men at the fort to about one hundred fifty, under command of Lieutenant Sheehan.

fort was heroically and successfully defended by Lieutenant Sheehan and his command. Only four men were killed and fifteen wounded in the fort during the siege. At the time of the attack on the fort it contained $7l!,000 in gold and silver, which had been sent out by the government to make Indian payments.

Then followed the assault apon New Ulm and its defense on the 23d, where the Indians were severely repulsed after burning a part of the town. In one of the battles at New Ulm ten white men were killed and fifty wounded.

The news of tlie massacre did not reach the settlers of Waseca county until the '2'M. about noon, when the staj^e came into Wilton from the west. A larjie number of enlisted men of Company F, Tenth reuinient, uiuler command of Captain White, had left Wilton that morning to join their regiment at Fort Saelling.

What was to be done :' was the burning question of the hour. Few of our citizens hail anything better than nnizzleloading shotguns, in the way of firearms, and voiy little ammunition of any kind. As usual on such occasions there was great diversity of opinion as to the best course to pursue. While others were deliberating upon and discussing the subject, S. P. Child, Buel Welch, Esi|., .John Creening, and the writer each obtained a horse, a shotgun, a small amount of amnuinition and started for JMankato about '2 o'clock in the afternoon. The roads were slippery and slow ]n-ogress was made, but we reached the Winnebago Agency about 7 o'clock in the evening. We there found Hon. St. A. 1). Baleombe, the agent, and a number of white men residing at the agency, all of them more or less excited in fear of an uprising among the Winnebago Indians. They desired us to remain over night in order to help defend the place should there be an uprising of the Winnebagoes; but S. P. Child, who had spent over a year as a resident among these Indians, concluded from what he could see and hear that there was no danger from the Winnebagoes, so long as they should renuiin sober. Hence we concluded to push on to jMaid<ato. Shortly after we left the Agency, clouds came up from the west and about dark rain commenced to fall. After we had crossed the LeSueur river and reached the IMankato woods, it became so dark that it was impossible to see the road. In order to keeii the road, I pulled off my boots and walked in the roail leading my horse, feeling my wav as brsl I could. A drizzling rain continued until we reached Mankato, making the latter part of our journey a very slow and tedious one. We arrived at the town about 11 o'clock that ni^bt. AlthouKli Kiuii'ds had been placed at different points about the city, we proceeded to the M^nkato House without being discovered or ehalleijged by the city guards. The Mankato House was able to furnish lunch but no beds. Fred Kittredge then had chni'^e of tlie hotel and did the very best he could for our comfort. Every hotel and house was crowded with people who had come in fi'om the country [jiinic-striekeri. About daylight the next mor-uing, news was received from the battle at New Ulm and of the re[)ulM(t of the Indians. At the same time there were many i-umors of a threatened outbreak by the Winnebagoes who, as was claimed, had made an alliance with the Sioux. The more level-h(;adcd gave little credence to these reports regarding the Winriebagos, but the musses actually believd that there was iiri'.at dauger of an immediate outbreak by them. It was argued by the people of Mankato that inasmuch as the troops from Fort .Siielling had reached St. Peter there was really no danger from the Sioux, while there was no protection whatever to the people of Blue Earth and Waseca counties from an outbi'eak by the Winnebagoes. After consultation, those of us who went from Wilton consented to return to the Winnebago Agency and watch for further developments. Upon our arrival there about noon, we found a number of men from Wilton, under the command of Colonel Ide, who had arrived a short time before. The excitement at the Agency was still intense owing to fear of an outbreak on the part of the Winnebagoes. After we had discussed the matter with Colonel Ide and others of the Wilton company, it was thought best for me to return to Waseca county to inform the people of the situation and to assure them that there was really no danger of further outrages by the Indians. I immediately returned to Waseca county and traveled the settlement from Janesville to New Richland, assuring the people that there was no real danger, and that it was for their interest to remain at their homes and save their crops; that the Indians had been repulsed at New Ulm and driven west, and that armed men were then guarding the whole frontier. While most of our people became satisfied with these assur- anees, still quite a number could not be reasoned with and they determined to leave their homes, crops, and cattle to go to destruction. There Avas a general stampede from the southwestern porton of Waseca county and from the northern portion of Faribault county. The people of Wilton and St. Mary deemed it best to place a guard at the Wilton bridge to prevent the fleeing people from going further east. No doubt this drastic measure saved many families from losing nearly all they possessed and suffering in consequence, for many returned to their homes, saved their crops, and recovered their cattle.

The following from the pen of the late Hon. Wm. Brisbane, of Wilton, who remained at the Agency a day and a night, will be of interest. It reads :

"A report had come to the Agency that the Indians had burned Mankato. The stage coach being some two hours late, gave color to the report. John Greening started on horseback for Mankato to make a reconnoissance and report as quickly as possible. John started off in gallant style, an excellent caricature of Don Quixote charging windmills. Shortly after, he came galloping back shouting: 'Mankato all right; no burn, and stage a comin'. ' A few of us promptly seized the stage when it drove up and demanded to be taken back to Wilton. This caused considerable flutter. One woman said she wouldn't give that - snapping her fingers - for her lite if the Waseca county men went away. Dyer, head farmer at the Agency, bareheaded and excited, came and told me that Balcombe wanted to see me. I told him to tell Balcombe that we are all killed.' 'Yes,' said I, 'very.' * * * You may judge of our surprise when we came to Wilton to find Mrs. Balcombe and Mrs. Hubbell there waiting for the stage. I learned long afterward that they bad taken a team at the Agency early in the morning and traveled by what they called the timber road. A day or two after all the Wilton men returned home.

"As there were no troops in this section, and our own homes were exposed to danger, a military company was formed at Wilton, called the 'Home Guards.' James E. Child was elected captain and drilled us in the manual exercises. He was assisted by Col. Ide, when difficult military maneuvers were to be executed. I remember that Warren Smith was one of the lieutenants. I often thought that I would die of laughing when the Colonel was teaching us how to march through a narrow defile. We had to march sidewise, which gave us a limping kind of gait, so that a stranger would have thought that we had all been wounded in battle and crippled for life. We were dressed in blue-jean jackets and pants. I am sure that if such a military company were to appear on the streets

Aside from Capt. White's company which participated in the Indian war, the following named men served a year in the First Minnesota Mounted Rangers : S. P. Child, John Cunningham, GuUick Knutesen, Egle Olson, J. H. Blliston, W. M. Fay, Louis W. Krassin, John Murphy, Jordan Smith, L. F. Preston, A. J. "Williams. Jonas Whitcomb, Lieutenant T. F. West. They enlisted immediately after the outbreak.

During the winter of 1862-3, most of the enlisted men from Waseca county, in the Fifth and Tenth regiments, were stationed at Mankato and the Winnebago Agency, and had the satisfaction - if it were a satisfaction - of being present in their military capacity at the hanging of the thirty-eight Sioux murderers, at Mankato, Dee. 26, 1862.