Wright County, Minnesota - Chapter 9: The Sioux Uprising, 1915

Indians Take Revenge for the Wrongs of the Centuries - Summary of the Tragedy - Wright County Terrified by Reports - Big Woods Deserted - Preparations for Defense at River Points - The Dustin Massacre - Indian Agent Takes His Own Life - An Indian Killed - Indians Pursued - Death of Little Crow.

The Sioux outbreak was the culmination of a long series of injustices toward the Indians on the part of the whites. Debauched, defrauded, degraded ; forced by fear of the strength of the whites, and bj- misrepresentations, to dispose of their lands; herded together on reservations; treated by the whites as halfwitted children, cheated by the traders and starved by the stupidity of higli officials at Washington, who, in addition to the provisions of already-unjust treaties, imposed additional conditions ; the Indians, knowing the revenge that the whites would take for a murder already committed by some renegade braves, arose in their might, and for a time nearly succeeded in regaining their hereditary holdings.

The Rice Creek Indians were deserters from the bands to which they originally belonged, because they were discontented with conditions, and had grievances against their chiefs or others of their fellow-clansmen. They were, too, malcontents generally. They did not like their own people, they did not like the whites. A few were good hunters and trappers, though none of them were farmers. They depended almost altogether for provisions upon their success in hunting and fishing. Detachments from the band were constantly in the Big Woods engaged in hunting.

Four of this band, on a trip to Aeton township, August 17, 1862, found a hen's nest in the corner of a settler's fence, and, against the remonstrance of his companions, one of them took the eggs. This resulted in a quarrel over the question of bravery, after which the four started out in angry mood to show how brave they were. They accordingly proceeded to settlers' homes and shot and killed three white men and two women, Mr. and Mrs. Robinson Jones, Howard Bakei-, Viranus Webster and Clara D. Wilson. Realizing that these murders would cause their arrest and severe punishment, they rapidly proceeded to Rice Creek, near the lower Sioux agency, informed their relatives, and an immediate uprising was decided upon. Little Crow was asked to lead ; he at first hesitated, and then consented, saying : "Trouble is sure to come with the whites sooner or later. It ma.y as well take place now as any time. I am with you. Let us hurry to the agency, kill the traders and take their goods."

At this date there was a great deal of bad feeling among the Indians towards, and dissatisfaction with the Federal governmeut. Their annuity payments were long past due and they were suffering for want of sufficient food. The fact that many white men had enlisted in the Union army and gone South, had led many Indians to the belief that they could drive the whites out of the Minnesota Valley and from their former hunting grounds. This was the situation when the young Indian murderers reached their band at Rice Creek near the lower Sioux agency, where the hidians had gathered some months before to await the annuity payment.

"The Indians were grievously disappointed with their bargains. They had now nearly disposed of all their land, and had received scarcely anything for it. They were 6,200 in number and their annuities when paid in full, were hardly $15 apiece. Their sufferings from hunger were often severe, especially during the winter ])revious to the massacre."

Agency Attacked - Country Devastated. The Lower Agency was located on the Minnesota river about twelve miles above Fort Ridgley - a small frontier post with a stone barracks for the troops and frame residences for offices, but no defences. Little Crow was a prominent chief and recognized leader. He had been well treated by the Indian agents and was regarded as a friend of the whites, but on this occasion was carried away by the wild fury of the Indians. When he gave the word, the savages rushed to the agency and the slaughter began. The Avhites were taken unawares and were easy victims. All men were shot down ; few women were killed. The stores proved such an attraction that the Indians poured into them, pillaging and looting, during which time souit' i\-\y wliitcs inanai^'ftl t(i csi-apc across tlio rivi>r. I/ater in the day, the savages crossed the Minnesota river, scattered throughout the setth'iiients, and l)egaii their work of murder, rapine, unspeakabK' outrages, burning of houses and general destruction and (h'vastation. Men, women an<l cliihlren were shiughteretl under tlie most hori'ihie circumstances, and theiibodies slioekingly mutihited. For generations the wiiite man iiad snb,iected tlu' hulian and his family to hist, to greed, to wi'ongs and to avarice. Now the smouldering tii-es had broken loose. The unsuspecting settlers were taken eomi)letely liy sur])rise, and made no resistanci': indeed, very few had tircarms, and wei-e not even accustomed to using them. Though hundreds of whites were slain that day, not a single Iiulian was killed. In some localities, the whites, learning of the uprising, hurriedly assembled together, naturally thinking luimbers would add to their safety, and started for Fort Kidgley.

In a German settlenu'nt in western Renville county, twentyfive families had thus gathered and were waiting for neighbors to join them, when a war ])arty of Shakopee's band suddenly aj)- peared, surrounded them, and slaughtered 100 men, women and children within an area of two acres. At a war dance that evening. Chief Shakojiee exidtingly declared that he had tomahawked so many whites that day that his ;irni was hune.

Down the ^linnesota river on both siiles below Fort Kidgley as far as New Ulm, and up the river to Yellow Medicine, the bloody slaughter extended that day. The fiendish butcheries and horrible killings beggar description. Here is one or many like instances: Cut Nose, a savage of savages, with half a dozen other Sioux, overtook a number of whites in wagons. He sprang into one of the vehicles in which were eleven wonuMi and children and tomahawked every one of them, yelling in fiendisli delight as his weapons went crashing through the skulls of the helpless victims. Twenty-five whites were killed at this jioint. Settlers were slain from near the Iowa line in Jackson county, as far north as Breckenridge, including Glencoe, Hutchinson, Forest City, Manannah and other places, fourteen were killed at White Lake, Kandiyohi county. The much greater number of whites were slaughtered, however, within the reservations, and in Renville and Brown counties. During the fii-st week, it is estimated that over 600 whites were killed and nearly 200 women and children taken captive. Only one man escaped death - George Spencer, wounded at the Lower Agency, was saved by a friendly Indian, and became a prisoner.

The Whites at the Yellow Medicine Agency above the Lower Agency, to the number of sixty-two, among them the family of Indian Agent Galbraith, escaped by the aid of John Otherday, a friendly Indian.

When the news of tlie outbreak reached Fort Ridgley, Captain John S. Marsh, with forty-six of his men of Company B, Fifth Minnesota, started for the Lower Agency. He was ambushed at Redwood Ferry, twenty-four of his men were killed, and he himself was drowned in attempting to cross the river. The survivors of his command hid in the thickets and worked their way back to the fort at night.

Fort Ridgley Attacked Twice. The Indians attacked Fort Ridgley on the twentieth and again on the twenty-second of August, the latter day with 800 warriors. The force in the fort numbered 180 men, commanded by Lieutenant T. J. Sheehan. A small battery under Sergeant John Jones, of the regular army, did effective service. There were 300 refugees in the fort. After seven hours' fighting, the Indians retired. Had they charged they could have captured the fort, but Indians do not fight in that manner. The saving of Ridgley was the salvation of the country below, as its capture would have enabled the Indians to sweep the valley. The loss of the garrison was three killed and twelve wounded.

The most momentous engagements of the Indian war were the attacks upon New Ulm, as the fate of more than 1,500 people was at stake. The Sioux first assaulted it on the day following the outbreak, but were driven off. That night Judge C. E. Flandrau, of the Supreme court, arrived with 125 men, and the next day 50 arrived from Mankato. Judge Flandrau was chosen to command. On August 23 the Indians, some 500 strong, again attacked the little city and surrounded it, apparently determined to capture it. The battle lasted five or six hours. The Indians set fire to the houses to the windward, and the flames swept towards the center of the city, where the inhabitants had barricaded themselves, and complete destruction seemed inevitable. The whites, under Flandrau, charged the Indians and drove them half a mile. They then set fire to and burned all the houses on the outskirts in which the Indians were taking shelter. In all, 190 structures were destroyed. Towards evening the Indians retired. Thirty-six whites were killed, including ten slain in a reconnaissance on the nineteenth. Seventy to eighty were wounded.

Owing to a shortage of provisions and ammunition, the city was evacuated on August 25. The sick and wounded and women and children were loaded into 153 wagons and started for Mankato. No more pathetic sight was ever witnessed on this continent than this long procession of 1,500 people forced to leave their homes and flee from a relentless foe, unless it be the pathetic l)ieture, seen so many times on this continent, of the Indians being driven from the lands of their ancestors by the no less relentless whites.

"Shakopee, Belh' IMaiiie and llendi-rson were tiUed witli fugitives. Giiai'ds pat lolled the outskirts, an<l attacks were constantly apprehended. Oxen were killed in tlie streets, and the meat, hastily preparetl, was cooked over tires on the ground. The grist mills were sxirrendered by their owners to the publie and kept in constant motion to allay the denianil for food. All thought of property was abandoned. Safet.y of life prevailed over every other consideration. Poverty stared in the face those who had been afHuent, but they thought little of that. Women were to be seen in the street hanging on each other's necks, telling of their mutual losses, and the little terror-stricken children, surviving remnants of once happy homes, crying piteously around their knees. The houses and stables were all occupied by peojile, and hundreds of fugitives had no covering or shelter but the canopy of heaven."

"You can hardly conceive the panic existing along the valley. In Belle Plaine I found 60 people crowded. In this place leading citizens assure me that there are between 3,000 and 4,000 refugees. On the road between New Ulm and Mankato are over 2,000; Mankato is also crowded. The people here are in a state of panic. They fear to see our forces leave. Although we may agree that much of this dread is without foundation, nevertheless it is producing disastrous consequences to the state. The people will continue to povw down the valley, carrying consternation wherever they go, their property in the ineaiitinie abandoned and going to ruin."

Minnesota Aroused - Troops Dispatched. When William J. Sturgis, bearer of dispatches from Fort Ridgley to Governor Ramsey, reached him at Fort Snelling on the afternoon of August 19, the government at once placed ex-Governor Henry H. Sibley, with the rank of colonel, in command of the forces to operate against the Indians. Jnst at this time, in response to President Tjincoln's call for 600,000 volunteers, there was a great rush of ilinnesotans to Fort Snelling, so that there was no lack of men, but there was an almost entire want of arms and equipment. This caused some delay, but Colonel Sibley reached St. Peter on the twenty-second. Here he was delayed until the twenty-sixth and reached P^ort Ridgley August 28. A company of his cavalry arrived at the fort the day previous, to the great joy of garrison and refugee settlers.

Birch Coulie Disaster. August 31, General Sibley, then encamped at Fort Ridgley with his entire command, dispatched a force of some 150 men, under the command of Maj. Joseph R.

Brown, to the Lower Agency, with instructions to bury the dead of Captain Marsh's command and the remains of all settlers found. No signs of Indians were seen at the agency, which they visited on September 1. That evening they encamped near Birch Coulie, about 200 yards from the timber. This was a fatal mistake, as subsequent events proved. At early dawn the Sioux, who had surrounded the camp, were discovered by a sentinel, who fired. Instantly there came a deadly roar from hundreds of Indian guns all around the camp. The soldiers sprang to their feet, and in a few minutes thirty were shot down. Thereafter all hugged the ground. The horses to the number of 87 were soon killed, and furnished a slight protection to the men, who dug pits with spades and bayonets. General Sibley sent a force of 240 men to their relief, and on the same day followed with his entire command. On the forenoon of September 3, they reached the Coulie and the Indians retreated. Twenty-eight whites were killed and sixty wounded. The condition of the wounded and indeed the entire force was terrible. They had been some forty hours without water, under a hot sun, surrounded by bloodthirsty, howling savages. The dead were buried and the wounded taken to Fort Ridgley.

In Northwestern Settlements. After the battle of Birch Coulie, many small war parties of Indians started for the settlements to the Northwest, burning houses, killing settlers and spreading terror throughout that region. There were minor battles at Forest City, Acton, Hutchinson and other places. Stockades were built at various points. The wife and two children of a settler, a mile from Richmond, were killed on September 22. Paynesville was abandoned and all but two houses burned. The. most severe fighting with the Indians in the northwestern settlements was at Forest City, Acton and Hutchinson, on September 3 and 4. Prior to the battle at Birch Coulie, Little Crow, with 110 warriors, started on a raid to the Big Woods country. They encountered a company of some 60 whites under Captain Strout, between Glencoe and Acton, and a furious fight ensued, Strout "s force finally reaching Hutchinson, with a loss of five killed and seventeen wounded. Next day Hutchinson and Forest City, where stockades liad been erected, were attacked, but the Indians finally retired without much loss on either side, the Indians, however, burning many houses, driving ofi:' horses and cattle, and carrying away a great deal of i)ersonal property.

Twenty-two whites were killed in Kandiyohi and Swift counties by war parties of Sioux. Unimportant attacks Avere made upon Fort Abercrombie on September 3, 6, 26 and 29, in which a few wliites were killed.

cllii'f, hail smokfd the |ii|if of peace with his hei-edilai'.v enemies, the Sioux, aiul wouhl join tliein in a war ajjainst tin' wliites. There was good grouiul tor tiu'se appreluMisions, but l)y wise couiK'il and advice, Hole-iii-the-Day and his Chippewas remained passive.

Want of Supplies Delays Movements. Ceneial Sihley was greatly' delayed in his movements a<::iinst the Indians liy insutlieieney of supplies, want of eavalry and ju-oper sui>iily trains. Early in Sei)tember lie moved forward and on Se|itend>er '2'^, at Wood Lake, engaged in a spirited battle with ftOO Indians, defeating them with considerable loss. On the twenty-sixth, (leiieral Sibley moved forward to the Indian eami)s. Ijittle Crow and his followers had liastily retreated after the battle at Wood Lake and left the state. Several bands of frieiully hulians remained and through their action in guarding the captives they were saved and released, in all 91 whites and ir>() half-breeds. The women of the latter had been subjected to the same indignities as the white women.

General Sibley proceeded to arrest all Indians suspected of murder, abuse of wonuni and other outrages. Eventually 425 were tried by a military commission, 30:5 being sentenced to death and IS to imprisonment. President Lincoln commuted the sentences of all but 39. One of the 39 proved an alibi and was released. Thirty-eight were hanged at ^lankato December 2(5, 1862.

Sioux Driven from State. 'I'he Rattle of Wootl Lake ended the campaign against the Sioux for that year. Small war parties occasionally raided the settlements, creating "scares" and excitement, but the main body of Indians left the state for Dakota. Little Crow and a son returned in 1863, and on July 3 was killed near Hutchinson by a farmer named Nathan Lamson. In 1863 and 1864 expeditions against the Indians drove them across the Missouri river, defeating them in several battles. Thus Minnesota was forever freed from danger from the Sioux.

In November, 1862, three months after the outbreak, Indian Agent Thomas J. Galbraith prepared a statement giving the number of whites killed as 738. Historians Heard and Flaiidrau placed the killed at over 1,000.

Wright county suffered severely during the ujirising. for, though the Indians tliemselves brought harm to but one family, the people were swept by a panic of fright that left its effect for many years thereafter.

August 20, 1862, soon after the departure of Company E, Eightli ^Minnesota Vohniteer Infantry, for Ft. Snelling, word came of the terrible revenge that was being taken by tiie defrauded Sioux at Acton, Yellow ^Medicine and elsewhere.

widespread pillage, rapioe and massacre. Every settler believed that the region just to the west of him was swarming with the infuriated red warriors. The people along the Mississippi and Crow rivers were told that Waverly had been burned and that Buffalo was running red with blood. In the central part of the county, the western portions were supposed to be the scenes of carnage and ruin, while the people in these western portions in turn received news that every family in Meeker county had been wiped out.

Then the exodus began. From every direction the pioneers started for St. Paul, Minneapolis, Ft. Suelling and St. Anthony, leaving their crops and sometimes their live stock, and taking only such household effects as could be hastily gathered together. In the face of impending and horrible death, material possessions were considered of little importance.

In a short time scarcely a family was left in the Big Woods. Here and there a man braver than the rest stayed behind his wife and children, but such men spent their time in scouting in the timbers, going for days at a time without food, often not daring to look after their stock or crops, and sometimes afraid even to go near their own cabins.

The Indian scare in Wright county was greater than in any other portion of the state except in parts of Hennepin and Carver counties - in fact, much worse than it was in the regions where hundreds of people were killed. In the Big Woods there was panic, uncurbed, and the words and admonitions of a few cooler and wiser citizens availed nothing. The clearings about the cabins were small ; unlike the people who lived in the prairie country, the pioneer in the Big Woods could command a view of the landscape for only a few rods from his home. The Indians, had tliey so desired, could have crept upon the isolated claims entirely unseen until making their last dash from the dark forests. The placing of sufficient guards around each home to prevent the Indians from approaching unawares was out of the question, and the people could think of nothing but flight.

During the first maddened rush, measures were taken to stay the throng at Buffalo, but witliout avail. For a few days similar attempts in other places were no more successful. But after a while reason asserted itself, and stands were made at Monticello, Clearwater and Rockford. Stockades were erected at various points and an effort made to accommodate all who desired to find shelter. Every shop, house, store, shed and barn was filled with families from the western part of the county. Military law was established, and the men and boys took tlu'ir turn as guards. The state sent up some amiiuuiition, and some nmskets, which at the time were received as a welcome protection, but whose clumsy proportions were later a source of nuich amusement.

III tiiiif the fxcitciiiriit stilisidcd, ;i sriisi' of security asserted itself, ami jifople went hack to tlie |ilaces tliey had deserted. Many, however, had hdt permanently. Probably fully a third of the entiri' [jopulation never ajjjain eaiiie to the county. Some went to their former homes in the older states, some settled in the cities in this state, some took \ip pioneei- life in communities far removed from dandier of Indian raids. When the undaunted ones who deternnned to remain in the county returiK'd to their homes in the fall of ISti'J their claims were the scenes of desolation. No Indians had ravaged the land, but the tudiarvestetl crops were ruined, donu'stic animals had run wild or disappeared, ami a season of vacancy had set its hand upon tlie interior of the cabins.

In the spring of 18615 a few more settlers returned, some new families moved in, a period of peace ensued, and the people were looking for the close of the Civil war to again bring })rosperity and happiness. Then, on June 30, came the news of the Dustiu massacre. The exodus was worse than that of the previous year. In the words of one old settler :

"The whole population started at once, and it seemed for a time that nothing could stop the rush. The roads to St. Paul and Minneapolis were filled with a motley procession of human beings, interspersed with cattle, horses, sheep, swine and poultry, all in one seething mass, hurrying or actiuilly running, all anxious to reach a place of safetj'. Rumors had sent them forth the previous year, this time five Indians luul actually been seen, murder had actually been committed, and thousands of persons were in flight."

In a few days reason returned. The exodus was again stopped at IMonticello, Clearwater and Roekford, forts and stockades were erected in various places, and preparations for defense took the place of fleeing terror. But as before, the people returned to their cabins to find their crops ruined, and their prospects for a future happj' and prosperous home blasted. Facing a hard winter with no provisions, many were forced to leave the county forever.

And thus, depoi>ulated first by the grasshopper ravages of 1856-57, next by the financial inability of the pioneers to purchase their claims when the land was put in the market in 1859, and finally by the Indian scare and its consequent desolation, Wright county and its widely separated families, awaited the return of the soldiers and the dawn of prosperity.

The Dustin Massacre. Four members of a Wright county family fell victims of the fury of the Sioux during the Indian uprising, and the story will ever live in the annals of Wright county events. So long as an old settler remains the tale will be told by evening firesides, and to younger generations for decades to come it will typify the dangers which their forebears braved

Among the early settlers of Marysville were the members of the Dustin family, who arrived in 1857. In the household were Mrs. Jennette Dustin, a widow, and six children, Amos, Nathan M., Timothy, Dallas, Mrs. Amnion D. Kingsley and Belle. They established their home in section 24, township 119, range 26, and experienced the usual vicissitudes of pioneer life. They were friendly with the Indians, and did considerable trading with the braves of Medicine Bottle's band, who in 1858 or 1859 spent nearly all the winter near them on the north fork of the Crow river.

In 1863, the Dustins determined to change their location. Accordingly they sold their farm to David Beatle, and the sons went to Moores" prairie, now Stockholm, and took a claim in the southern part of the town near Collinwood. Amos then went back to Marysville after the rest of the family.

June 29, the party set out for their new home. They had a yoke of oxen, a wagon, and the household goods, and on top of the load were seated Mrs. Jennette Dustin, aged fifty-four years, her son, Amos Dustin, aged about thirty, his wife, Mrs. Kate Miller Dustin, aged twenty-four, and their three children, Almeda, six, Robert, four, and Leon, two.

They went by way of Waverly, and about noon stopped at the home of Aaron E. Cochran, on the northwest quarter of section 2, in what is now the town of Victor. Then they traveled west on the old Moores prairie road, which ran south of Smith lake. Late in the afternoon, when they were about two and a half miles west of what is now the village of Howard Lake, and near the east end of Smith lake, they encountered five Indians, in black war paint. They had no blankets, and to the terrified family appeared to be wearing black, shiny, tight, rubber coats. It is possible that the Indians had somewhere plundered the coats, but it is more likely that their black breech clothes and their painted black bodies gave them the appearance of being clothed in rubber. They were armed with bows and arrows, war clubs and knives, but had no fire arms.

The marauders ranged along either side of the wagon, and the startled oxen ran the vehicle into a fallen tree, broke the wagon, and thus liberated, plunged into the forest. The frightened family made no effective resistance, though it is said that Amos Dustin had a loaded gun leaning against the seat in front of him.

Then the arrows began to fly. Pierced through and through, Amos Dustin fell over, insensible ; horrible wounds from a war club coiii])leted the murderous work, and the man dropped dead to the bottom of the wagon, his stifl:'ening body protecting the ilaufrhttT, Almrda, who t'diuul slu'ltiM' bfiiratli him. In the iiioaiitiinu others of tlif war pai'tN' hail \vrouf,'ht thrir unholy will on till' olil lady, whose vif^orous si'lt'-dclVnso with a caiu' availed nothing. They eiit otV her haiuls, her nose anil her lips, tore out her heart ami tlourished it as a trophy, then shot her quivering body full of arrows. The frigliteneil shriek of Robert, the fo>iryears-old boy, had been stitied with an ari'ow that passed eonipletely through him, leaving his life blood to How over the uneonseious form of his father, and the terrified sister who lay heneatii.

I\Irs. Kate Dustin, with her husband and little boy dead, and with what was once her uu)thi'r-in-law a shapeless horror, shrieked aloud her terror, and an arrow pierced her baek, the head projecting about half an inch below her l)reast bone, where it remained. Another ari'ow penetrated her shoulder. Then she was taken from the wagon and severely beaten.

The Indians having for a time satisfied theii- blood-lust, tossed Leon, aged two, into a thicket, and started jilundering the wagon. They took the bed clothing, provisions, trinkets and a bed tick, which they first emptied of featliers. Then they departed.

Sustained by that never-daunted courage of the pioneer mother, Mrs. Kate Dustin pulled her blood-stained daughter from under the body of Amos Dustin, picked up her baby from the thicket, and started back toward Cochran's. Sorely wounded and bruised, an arrow still piercing her body, blinded by blood and mosquitoes, intense agony shaking her frame, she stumbled on, carrying one child part of the time and guiding the other. In the gathering darkness she lost the road, and after wandering about nearly till sunrise, she committed her children to the care of Heaven and lay down to die.

The oxen returned to Cochran's before nightfall. Sujiposing, as he afterward said, that the oxen had been turned out to feed and had run away, Cochran paid little attention to the matter. At Waverly, the next morning, he happened to mention the incident to Henry Lammers and to A. 1). Kingsley, the latter of whom was married to one of the Dustin daughters.

As the hours passed it was suggested that an investigation be made. The two men accordingly took dinner with Cochran, and about 2 o'clock in the afternoon started out on their search for the Dustins. The idea of Indians had been suggested, and the men proceeded cautiously.

In the meantime the suffering Mrs. Dustin, having with the sunrise partly regained consciousness, lay sweltering in the heat, the prey to such agony of mind and body as few people ever experience.

The Indians, possibly, were still in the neighborhood. About a mile west of what is now the village of Howard Lake, the attention of the three men was attracted to an open space under a large oak, where the bent grass, still springing to an upright position, apparently showed that several persons had recently been sitting on the ground with their back to the trunk. Cochran interpreted this to mean that the Indians had just passed, the others suggested that hunters or travelers might have been there, or that some wild animal might have taken a nap there. A few minutes later, the men discovered in the rain-washed sand of the road what they believed to be the track of a moccasined foot.

Tliere the three stood a short time in silence, fearing that from each thicket an unseen rifle might be pointed at their hearts. While thus they halted, there came a low moaning sob to their ears. The men were inclined to believe that it was a sound made by the Indians to decoy them into the bushes that surrounded a neighboring thicket. Cochran was convinced that the wail was a genuine voice of distress, and cautiously advanced toward the meadow. The other two, after going up the road a few rods and again listening, came to the same conclusion, and joined Cochran in his quest. Soon they sighted the two Dustin children running about in the tall grass a few rods from the timber. The suspicion arose that the Indians had placed the youngsters there as a decoy. But after another cautious wait, no Indians appearing, the men started toward the children.

On their wary way around the meadow, Mr. Cochran encountered the almost unconscious form of Mrs. Kate Dustin. She was unable to move, and could do no more than gasp : ' ' They are all killed in the wagon by the Indians." Cochran and Lammers carried her to the roadside, and as soon as Kingsley could get his wagon and oxen, she and the children were taken to Cochran 's home, where she received the tenderest care until her death on the morning of July 3.

As soon as Mrs. Dustin was cared for, a general alarm was sent out. One man was sent to Watertown. Another went to Rockford to give the alarm and secure the services of a physician. Aaron E. Cochran and A. G. Sexton started for Moores' Prairie by way of Cokato Mills, to notify the settlers that the Indians were on the war path in the Big Woods. One of the first men to hear of the aft'air was D. C. Kreidler, whose account of the massacre appears in this work in the chapter entitled "Incidents and Events."

The messenger reached Rockford at midnight, and at sunrise the party was ready to start for Smith Lake. An old settler has said that in this party were : John Knights, G. F. Ames, Dr. J. S. Richardson, John Woodward, Miner W. Shultes, Wesley Powers, Jason Edgar, J. R. Ames, N. D. Sperry, William Rutherford, Martin Bisky, Sr., Moses Ripley and others. At Waverly they met the people from Watertown. On arriving at the place of the massacre the men placed the dead bodies in rudely con-

G. F. Ames went to .Moores' Prairie and assisted in moving the settlers to Koeklord. Then bet;an the t'rif;litened rush that left that part of the eoiiiity deserted for many months.

Tlie identity of the slayeis was never known. It was evident that a number of hulians had eamiieii for several days at a spot about three-(iuarters of a mile south of where the massaere took place. The settlers decided that tiiere were fourteen in the band. No sooner had this number been decideil upon, than stories of fourteen Indians having been seen liegan to come from various localities. Of the five Imlians who had attacked the Dustins, one had not jiarticipated in the orgie, but Juul appeared to be a chief. The dread name of Little Crow tiew from lip to lip, and there are many who still believe that Little Crow was present at this massacre. His baml is declared by several historians to have been not far from this general vicinity about the time that the crime was eomuutted. l>ut there are some who maintain that Little Crow was far away when the Dustins were killed. Others have declared the guilty chief was Medicine Bottle, and have purported to give liis exact route after leaving tliis county. As a matter of fact, several mai-auding bands were still at large: the dying, half-crazed woman and the terrified children could give no adequate description of the five painted savages wlio descended upon them, and any attempt to fix the responsibility or to tell whence the Indians came or where they went is largely in the realm of speculation.

The little boj' and little girl who escaped the massaere became respected citizens of Minneapolis. Other members of the family were widely scattered, some renmining in Wright county and some going elsewhere.

Indian Agent Takes Own Life. In relating his experience as a government surveyor in Minnesota for the ^Mimiesota Historical Society, Nathan Butler told of the following incident :

"In 1862, I hired out with George B. Wright and Isaac A. Banker to go on a survey on Pine river, north of where Brainerd now is. The night we camped opposite Clearwater we heard that the Indians had killed Jones and Baker at Acton in the west part of ileeker county. Between Sauk Rapids and Watab we met the Ojibway Indian Agent, Walker, with his family leaving the conntry. He left his wife at St. Cloud, telling her he was going out on business. As he did not return, she secured a conveyance at the stage office and went to St. Anthony Falls, which was their home. Mr. Walker had not been heard from there. He was found dead opposite Monticello, with a bullet hole through his head. His saddle horse was found grazing near by, with his saddle on. Walker had gone onto the ferry boat, cast off the lashings, and ferried himself across the Mississippi river. The ferryman hailed him and asked him to return, promising that he would set him over, but he refused, saying that there were three hundred Indians after him and he was afraid of them. He had evidently become insane and therefore shot himself."

An Indian Killed. One Indian is believed to have been killed in Wright county during the Sioux uprising. Small bands probably passed through the county in addition to the one which murdered the Dustius, but they kept to the trails and did not burn the cabins or devastate the crops, and with one or two exceptions had no encounters with the scouts or settlers.

After the Dustin massacre, troops were scattered throughout this region. Sixteen members of Company I, Eighth Volunteer Infantry, were stationed at the Holmes house in Albion township, with Andrew Hart as scout and guide. One morning in the latter part of July, the Holmes brothers and all but two of the soldiers started for Monticello, where a dance was to be held. After they were gone, Mr. Hart set out on an expedition along the old Indian trail to Lake Swartout. This trail was much used as a main route of travel. After reaching the outlet of the lake, Hart started hunting for bee trees. Then a flock of ducks alighted in the lake, and Hart fired at them, killing two from a shelter he had found among some ridges of sand. After reloading his gun and while waiting for the ducks to float to shore, a noise attracted his attention, and looking back along the trail he saw three Indians approaching, a few rods distant. From his concealed position, he took deliberate aim with his double-barreled gun, and pulled the trigger of the rifle barrel. But the cap alone exploded. Then he pulled the trigger of the other barrel, which he had loaded with buckshot, and, according to Hart's version of the atfair, the foremost Indian fell dead. The other two Indians fired at Hart, but he was already fleeing in a zig-zag course toward a group of trees in the middle of a meadow. There he could command the approach on all sides. An hour later. Hart ventured forth, and after reaching the Holmes house, where two of the soldiers were waiting, he sent one of them after the Holmes brothers and the other fourteen soldiers. About this time five scouts arrived from Stearns county. They stated that the Indians were accused of stealing two horses and a colt near Fair Haven, from which place the scouts had followed the trail.

Soon after they had related their story, shots and the jingle of cow bells were heard a mile south, evidently on the old Indian trail which there had a southwestwardly course. Hart proposed that, with their now augmented forces, they follow the Indians at once, but the scouts from Fair Haven were rehictant about doing so. So Hart, with several soldiers, started out along the trail. After going about a mile, they came to a steer which the

The next morning the sixteen soldiers stationecl at the Holmes house, the live from Fair Haven, ami other seoiits starteil o\it about sunrise, came upon tlie Indians" camp, and finally', in the present township of Cokato, discovered the two Indians at rest under a tree, while their horses were feeding in a small meadow. Over seventeen shots were tired at the Indians froin ambush at shoi't range, but none took eft'ect, and the retl men .jumped on tlieii' horses and escaped through the woods, leaving behind several articles of dress, gun and aninumition. and a saddle and bridle.

In the meantime the cavalry from Kingston had startetl out at suni'ise in the hope of intercepting the Indians at the point where the trail left the tinibei's for the prairies, near Rice City, now Darwin. But the horsemen were too late, so they followed the red men closely to Foot lake, near Will mar, where the Sioux abandoned their horses and escaped through a marsh. Something like forty mi'ii, fully armed and ju'epared, had been in pursuit of two Sioux and had allowed them to escape.

The body of the Indian which Hart believed he killed was never found. Some of the scouts suggested that the Indians had concealed the body in the marsh, while others believed that Hart in his excitement had overestimated the deadliness of his charge of buckshot.

Indians Pursued. Indians \\-ere seen in Silver Creek, in July, 1863. Col. J. S. Locke declared he saw six one evening while looking after his cows near Sanborn Prairie. These Iiulians are believed to be the same ones who stole two horses belonging to Henry Ferguson. The trail was taken up by the citizens. Later the soldiers followed the band as far as Swede Grove, in Meeker county, where the horses were recovered after a fight with the Indians, in which ('apt. John S. Cady. of the Eighth Minnesota \'olunteei- Infantry, was killed.""

Such is the story told by D. K. Farnham. It is probable that these Indians seen in Wright county were members of Little Crow"s immediate band. There has existed a conflict of testimony as to which raids Little Crow took part in personally, and also as to the exact identification of the Indians comi)osing the various wandering bands that were nuirauding throughout this part of the state in 1862 and 1863. As before stated, there has always been considerable doubt east upon the supposition that Little Crow was present at the Dustin massacre. So great was the terror this leader insi)ired, and so feverisii was the public

"Minnesota in Tliree Centuries," however, credits Little Crow witli the Wright county raids in the following words: "In June, 1863, Little Crow's band that recognized his authority, including his four wives and his children, did not nvimber more than fifty persons. In the first part of the month, he with fifteen men and one woman, set out on a raid in Minnesota. Two of his warriors were his sons, Wo-wi-nah-pa or the Appearing One, a boy of sixteen years, and his son-in-law, Hinkpa (or Inkpa) or The End. Below the Sheyenne river the party separated, eight warriors and the woman going northward, and seven men proceeding southeasterly into Meeker county. June 29, they murdered the Dustin family, as far east as Wright county. June 11, three of them shot and killed Capt. John S. Cady, of the Eighth Regiment, near Lake Elizabeth, in Kandiyohi county. July 1, Hinkpa the chief's son-in-law, killed James McGannon, a settler, between Kingston and Fairview, in Meeker county, stripped the body and gave the coat to his father-in-law. Two days later, or in the evening of July 3, in a berry patch, west of Hutchinson, Little Crow was sliot and killed by a settler named Nathan Lamson."

The whole countryside became panic stricken, the people, not knowing what to do or where to go for safety. The word soon became prevalent that the island in Lake Beebee offered the greatest security and protection. Lake Beebee is quite a large lake about six miles north of Rockford, and there is an island in it of about four acres which, at that time, was heavily timbered. There were quite a number of settlers then living around the lake, nearly all having boats. These boats were soon pressed into service and by nightfall the island was quite a popular piece of ground, upward of 150 souls having taken refuge there, with nothing but the stars for a roof. The people had taken scarcely anything from their homes except the clothes they wore. It was mutually agreed that no fires were to be made. In the morning the men took turns and ventured back to the mainland for food, also procuring quilts and blankets, making things more comfortable for the second night.

After three days and three nights on the island, word came that the Indians were checked in their march toward civilization, and that the danger had passed, so the people returned to their homes.

July 3, 1863, the settlers of North Rockford were again thrown into a panic on account of the reported massacre of the Dustin family on the Waverly and Rockford road.

Again we sonirht rftugf on tlu' ishinii in Lake Becboo. This time the settlei's took tiie preeaution to provide themselves with axes and eross-eut saws, witli whieh they i'elleii trees and cut them into logs to ereet a fort. Of eoiirse there were no oxen nor any beasts of burden taken onto the ishmd, so tlie men had to haul, carry, or roll the logs to the site of the fort. In due time the fort was ereeted and named "Fort Steel,"" after Thomas Steel, the oldest man on the island. We spent about two weeks on the island that time.

After gathering on the island they soon formed a regular military organization, with my father, Thomas Walker, as commander, and Thomas Steel and Amos Denncy as second officers. Disciplinary rules and regulations were rigidly enforcetl. At night, each man, in his turn, was assigned to so many hours picket duty.

These pickets were placed in regularly designated positions on the shore of the island behind logs or brush, so that they could not be seen from the mainland.

It was Tliomas Walker's duty to make the rounds several times during the night to see that the pickets were on duty and not asleep. On one occasion he found two of the pickets, a father and his son, had deserted their posts and were asleep in tl«?ir tent. The next day the two men were courtmartialed and sentenced to be shot. However, this part of the proceedings was never carried out, the officers postponing it under one pretext and another until we disbanded. Nevertheless the incident had a very salutary effect on the discipline of all the men from that day until we disbanded.

One of the rules was that no guns were to be sliot off either on or off the island except at Indians, but on one occasion a settler, George Avery, living "on the south shore, who had moved to Rockford during the summer, came up to look after his crop and, finding a drove of hogs in liis field, began shooting to scare the hogs. He succeeded in scaring the hogs, sure enough, but he scared the occupants of the island more than the hogs, for the people were sure that the shooting was either by Indians or at Indians, and were every nunute expecting to see Indians making for the island. To make matters worse it was at a time of day when every man W'ho could get a "leave of absence" was away on the mainland for supplies or looking after his affairs at home, so that an attack at that time, when our forces were so weakened by absentees, would have made hard fighting for the few left to hold the fort. It was a great comfort to the women and children when the men began to return to the island and tell the cause of the shooting.

death, and the settlers were assured that there was uo further danger. Then began a regular stampede to return to our homes once more. - By John B. Walker.