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RAMSEY COUNTY The St. Paul Volunteer Fireman and the HıstoryA Publication of the Ramsey County Historical Society Page 13 Spring, 2003 Volume 38, Number 1

An ‘Attempt’ on His Life? Sitting Bull’s 1884 Visit to St. Paul —Page 4

Sitting Bull around 1880, just before his 1884 visit to St. Paul. Minnesota Historical Society photograph. See article beginning on page 4 on Sitting Bull’s visit and an alleged attempt on his life. Minnesota Historical Society photograph. 02 RCHS Sp03-Mast 6/12/03 7:45 PM Page 2

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Executive Director RAMSEY COUNTY Priscilla Farnham Editor Virginia Brainard Kunz Hıstory RAMSEY COUNTY Volume 38, Number 1 Spring, 2003 HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS James A. Russell C O N T E N T S Chair Marlene Marschall 3 Letters President 4 ‘A Shady Pair’ and an ‘Attempt on His Life’— George Mairs First Vice President Sitting Bull and His 1884 Visit to St. Paul W. Andrew Boss Paul D. Nelson Second Vice President 13 The St. Paul Fireman Who Rose to Command the First Judith Frost Lewis Secretary Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Gettysburg Peter K. Butler Patrick Hill Treasurer 17 The Volunteer Pioneer Hook and Ladder Company Duke Addicks, Charles L. Bathke, W. Andrew Boss, Peter K. Butler, Norbert Conzemius, 18 Oakland Cemetery and Its First 150 Years Anne Cowie, Charlton Dietz, Charlotte H. Chip Lindeke Drake, Joanne A. Englund, Robert F. Garland, Howard Guthmann, Joan Higinbotham, Scott 19 Roots in the English John Wesley Hutton, Judith Frost Lewis, John M. Lindley, George A. Mairs, Marlene Marschall, Richard St. Paul’s First German Methodist Church T. Murphy, Sr., Richard Nicholson, Marla Helen Miller Dickison Ordway, Marvin J. Pertzik, Penny Harris Reynen, Glenn Weissner, Richard Wilhoit, 25 Growing Up in St. Paul Laurie Zenner, Ronald J. Zweber. ‘Homer Van Meter, a Member of the Karpis Gang, EDITORIAL BOARD Was Shot Across the Street from Our House’ John M. Lindley, chair; James B. Bell, Thomas Bernice Fisher H. Boyd, Thomas C. Buckley, Mark Eisenschenk, Pat Hart, Thomas J. Kelley, Tom Mega, Laurie Murphy, Richard H. Nicholson, Paul D. Nelson, Publication of Ramsey County History is supported in part by a gift from David Riehle, G. Richard Slade. Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen in memory of Henry H. Cowie, Jr. and by a contribution from the late Reuel D. Harmon HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD Elmer L. Andersen, Olivia I. Dodge, Charlton The Society regrets an omission from the 2002 Donor Recognition Roll Dietz, William Finney, William Fallon, Robert in the Winter issue of Ramsey County History. The list of supporters should S. Hess, D. W. “Don” Larson, George Latimer, have included the name of Albert W. Lindeke, Jr., a generous and loyal supporter. Joseph S. Micallef, Robert Mirick, Marvin We apologize for this omission. J. Pertzik, James Reagan, Rosalie E. Wahl, Donald D. Wozniak. RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS A Message from the Editorial Board Commissioner James McDonough, chairman Commissioner Susan Haigh n 1884 the Lakota Indian leader Sitting Bull visited St. Paul. Our feature article in this issue fo- Commissioner Tony Bennett Icuses on the circumstances of his two brief stays in the city that year and whether during the lat- Commissioner Rafael Ortega ter visit there was an attempt to assassinate the man who embodied so much of the conflict between Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt Commissioner Janice Rettman the white settlers and the native inhabitants of the American West. This issue also includes Civil Commissioner Jan Wiessner War historian Patrick Hill’s account of Wilson B. Farrell, a St. Paul volunteer fireman, who gave his life as a member of the First Minnesota Regiment in the Battle of Gettysburg and a brief salute to Paul Kirkwold, manager, Ramsey County the sesquicentennial of the founding of St. Paul’s Oakland Cemetery, where Farrell is now buried. Ramsey County History is published quarterly This issue concludes with Helen Miller Dickison’s history of today’s Fairmount Methodist Church, by the Ramsey County Historical Society, 323 Minnesota’s first German Methodist church, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2002. Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street,St. Paul, Readers of Ramsey County History and anyone interested in the history of Ramsey County and Minn. 55102 (651-222-0701). Printed in U.S.A. St. Paul now have a new resource for history searches: the Society’s web site at www.rchs.com. On Copyright, 2003, Ramsey County Historical the site’s home page, the researcher can click on several links that are of value. One is “Ask the His- - Society. ISSN Number 0485 9758. All rights torian,” which provides questions and answers about the area’s history that recently have come to reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced Society staff members. Another briefly profiles the histories of some of St. Paul’s neighborhoods. without written permission from the pub- All the information on this link comes from the Society’s Ramsey County Historic Site Survey Re- lisher. The Society assumes no responsibility port, a major resource in the RCHS library. The final link on the Society web page connects the user for statements made by contributors. Fax 651- to information on the contents of the most recent issues of Ramsey County History and ties to a 223-8539; e-mail address [email protected].; complete listing of articles published in the magazine since its initial publication in 1964. We hope web site address www.rchs.com this new link will get many hits from users and increase awareness of the richness of the content of our magazine’s back issues. John M. Lindley, Chair, Editorial Board

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The St. Paul Fireman Who Rose to Command the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Gettysburg

Patrick Hill

lthough it had been anticipated all morning, when the first artillery Ashell burst over Union comman- der Major General ’s headquarters at Gettysburg, surprised men scattered for cover in all directions. A steward who had been serving lunch to a group of Union generals of the high command was killed instantly, his body nearly torn in half by a shell fragment. Among those scrambling for safety was Wilson Farrell, Company C, First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. On this July 3, 1863, afternoon Company C was on detached duty serving as provost guard of the Second Division, Second Corps posted near the Army of the Po- tomac Headquarters. There was no cover available, neither natural nor artificial, in the area where Company C was sta- tioned, so the only course available for these men, who had all been recruited in St. Paul, was to hug the ground. Farrell probably wondered for a moment if even his duties as a volunteer fireman in St. Officers of the First Minnesota Volunteers at Camp Stone near Edwards Ferry, Virginia, pho- Paul had been as dangerous as this. tographed by Matthew Brady on March 16, 1862. Wilson Farrell is standing on the left. Others are (standing, left to right) Samuel T. Ragnet, Louis Muller, Charles Zierenberg, and Henry In 2002 the St. Paul Fire Department Coates. Seated is Mark W. Downey. Photo is from the Minnesota Historical Society collections. celebrated its 125th anniversary as a pro- fessional department of city government. However, it should not be forgotten that their fortunes from the abundance of nat- fantry, would first earn the laurels of a there was a period of twenty-five years ural resources to be found there. Soon hero at the Battle of Birch Coulee during between 1852–1877 when the vital com- this primitive arrangement for fire de- the Dakota Uprising of 1862, only to be- munity service of fire fighting was per- fense gave way to better organization. come a scapegoat for the same event formed by volunteers. In those times, By 1858 small fire stations were lo- later. Among the recruits in his company much like volunteer departments of cated strategically about the town were James J. Hill, eventually to be today, when the fire bell sounded, men equipped with pumper wagons, ladders, renowned world-wide as “The Empire would respond from the businesses and hose. One of the first three of these Builder,” one of America’s greatest rail- around the town. At first, it was a small stations was designated the Minnehaha road tycoons. Norman Kittson was also a group led by R.C. Knox who traveled on Company located at Third and Jackson member. Kittson already had made his foot carrying their equipment, comprised Streets. Servicing the heart of the busi- fortune in the fur trade and later would essentially of ladders and pails, which ness community that would become partner with Hill in the purchase of Hill’s were stored in an alley at Wabasha and known as Lowertown, the station was first railroad, the St. Paul and Pacific. His Third Street. Yet from its beginnings, St. captained by Hiram P. Grant a shop- home once stood where the St. Paul Paul was a boomtown with people surg- keeper who later, as Captain of Company Cathedral does now. The fire station ros- ing toward the frontier hoping to make A of the 6th Minnesota Volunteer In- ter also carried the name of an obscure

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“Charge of the First Minnesota,” from Northwestern Photograph Company’s Book of St. Paul Views, 1888. Minnesota Historical Society collec- tions. This is from a section of the which was on display in downtown St. Paul in 1887-1888. This depicts the moment of death for Wilson Farrell, who fell in the area shown in the upper left quarter of the photograph.

young banker named Wilson B. Farrell. lows, a fraternal, community service- widower, too. Heartbroken, Farrell Farrell was born in 1830 in Cincinnati, based organization. He was active politi- turned to his friends in the Odd Fellows, Ohio, and orphaned at an early age, cally in the Democratic Party being a fire department, and politics, gaining so- spending his formative years in Indiana. member of the “Little Giants” who sup- lace from their support. At age sixteen he enlisted in a regiment ported Senator Stephen Douglas of Illi- In 1861, following the attack on the of Indiana volunteers, commanded by nois in the 1860 presidential election federal installation at Fort Sumter in Willis Gorman, which saw duty in the against . Undoubtedly Charleston, South Carolina, President Mexican War. Gorman was destined to the most important of his St. Paul rela- Lincoln called for volunteers to suppress become the second territorial governor of tionships was his marriage to Mary the rebellion and preserve the Union. Minnesota and the first of the Catherine Fitch in 1859. There is some Farrell would not allow his politics to in- First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry in the evidence that she may have been related terfere with his love of country and im- Civil War. With some intermediate stops to one of his fellow firemen at the Min- mediately answered the Republican pres- in the decade following the Mexican nehaha Station. Now just when it ap- ident’s call. Joining with William Acker War, Farrell eventually took up residence peared that Wilson Farrell, the rootless an active Republican and adjutant gen- in St. Paul in 1856, two years prior to wanderer, was finally beginning to de- eral of the young state, Farrell helped to Minnesota statehood. He held a number velop a sense of belonging in his life, this raise Company C, the first company ac- of responsible positions with various St. small tide of happiness quickly started to cepted in the first regiment offered to Paul banks and accounting firms, and be- recede. In 1860 Mary, his new bride and President Lincoln for defense of the came a member of the St. Paul Lodge #2 partner, took ill and died. At the age of Union, the First Minnesota Volunteer In- of the International Order of Odd Fel- thirty, the orphaned Farrell was now a fantry. The regiment was mustered into

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The “the Angle” and the “famous copse of trees,” photographed by theTipton Photography Studios of Gettysburg. The pastoral peace sug- gested here is in stark contrast to the violence wrought during this turning point in the Civil War, Pickett’s Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 32, 1863. Photograph by W. H. Tipton, Minnesota Historical Society collections.

federal service on April 29, 1861, and left at Antietam in 1862. At Fredrickburg in in the sleepy crossroads town of Gettys- for the Eastern Theater of the Civil War December of that year, while the regiment burg, . The First Minnesota in June of that year. Acker was elected was under fire in a particularly difficult arrived late on the first day and took no captain of the company and due to his ex- situation, as other regiments gave way part, but they would make up for their ab- perience as a veteran in the Mexican War threatening the collapse of the entire sence in the next two days. and the esteem in which he was held, Far- Union flank, the First Minnesota held on. Early on July 2 the regiment filed into rell was elected lieutenant. When Acker Noting their tenacity, division commander a position along , an im- accepted a commission in the regular Major General O. O. Howard was said to portant location in the center of the army in August, Wilson was promoted to have exclaimed to Brigadier General Al- Union line south of town. As the men captain of Company C. fred Sully, once a colonel of the First, massed along the ridge, one of the first The First Minnesota performed notably “Sully, your First Minnesota does not actions was the detachment of Captain in all its engagements during its service. run!” To which Sully replied, “The First Farrell and Company C for provost duty When other volunteer units would often Minnesota never runs.” At Gettysburg, the behind the division line by division com- leave a field of battle in panic or confu- regiment would experience its most diffi- mander Brigadier General John Gibbon. sion, the First earned its reputation for cult test. Wilson Farrell was with the regi- Since the provost guard essentially acted bravery. Memorable service was provided ment through all these trials. as the division police, the assignment at the First Battle of Bull Run (where the During the first three days of July in was allotted only to the most trustworthy regiment was the last to leave the field in 1863, the largest battle ever fought in the and responsible of units. Due to Farrell’s this Union defeat), on the Peninsula, and western hemisphere to that date occurred handling and training, Company C had

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planned attack. For the next ninety min- acy’s “High Tide,” Farrell was mortally utes or so, Company C hugged the wounded by a rifle shot to the head. He ground praying that their lives would be was taken to the Second Corps hospital in spared. The day would culminate in a the rear, where the next day on July 4, Confederate assault known in American Wilson Farrell, age thirty-two, orphan, history as Pickett’s Charge, the “High widower, veteran of two wars, and St. Tide of the Confederacy” and the little Paul volunteer fireman, died. remnant of the First Minnesota, including His body was buried temporarily at Wilson Farrell, would be there. Gettysburg, until his lodge brothers from Just as Meade had predicted, Gibbon’s the Odd Fellows in St. Paul, led by his position was in the path of the Southern wife’s brother-in-law, Charles Mayo, attack, and when the artillery fire ended, then secretary of the Minnesota Histori- 13,000 Confederate infantrymen stepped cal Society, retrieved it. Farrell was re-in- out of the woods and advanced. Ulti- terred on August 2, 1863, in Oakland mately, the Union position was broken at Cemetery in St. Paul, next to his wife. a section of their line called “the Angle” Their grave site lies beneath a large oak Wilson Farrell’s grave at Oakland Cemetery, and the Confederates poured through the tree on a windswept, grassy knoll in a St. Paul. Photo from the author. gap to the right of the position of the re- quiet corner of the cemetery. It is seldom maining members of the First Minnesota, visited and the limestone marker pro- developed just such a reputation and fre- now commanded by Captain Nathan vided by his Odd Fellows lodge brothers, quently served as provost. Messick, Company G, from Red Wing. lies broken and deteriorated by weather. Later that day, as the battle developed, Immediately the First Minnesota and its This year marks the 140th anniversary of the remaining eight companies of the First brother regiments of Harrow’s Brigade the Battle of Gettysburg, and the death of Minnesota were ordered to plug a hole in wheeled right to help seal the breach. Captain Wilson B. Farrell, of St. Paul. the Union line being exploited by an Once the artillery fire ended, Farrell Efforts are underway to repair or replace enemy force at least six times its size. The and Company C were also on the move. his gravestone for that anniversary. regimental historian recalled that “Every After no doubt first detailing a portion of man realized in an instant what that order the company to deal with the increasing Patrick Hill is a St. Paul native, a buyer meant—death or wounds to us all . . . and numbers of Confederate prisoners begin- for a 120-year-old St. Paul company and every man saw and accepted the necessity ning to stream over the ridge, Farrell then a student of early St. Paul and Civil War of the sacrifice.” In this charge, the loss in advanced with the remainder toward the history. He has just finished work on a killed and wounded has traditionally been increasing sounds of battle. By complete book about the surrender of the Third reported as 82 percent, the highest casu- coincidence, as they cleared the crest Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment alty percentage suffered by any Union they were reunited with the rest of the at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 1862. regiment during the Civil War. There was First Minnesota moving in from their not a single shirker. All were accounted left. Now, as a single unit they moved Sources for. Fortunately in their position as forward toward the point of danger. provost guard, Farrell and Company C Captain Messick already had been W.B. Farrell obituary, St. Paul Press had been spared this cup. Their fortunes dealt a fatal wound during the move to Weekly, August 6, 1863, page 8 would change on the morrow. the right, but the enemy was now directly During the lunch at before the regiment and these sturdy vet- Minute Book of the Minnehaha Engine Headquarters on July 3, while taking erans knew instinctively what must be Co. #2 - MHS Collection BL1/. M666 measure of his Confederate opponent done. They rushed ahead to engage the box 1 General Robert E. Lee, General Meade enemy in hand-to-hand combat, shouting surmised that Lee’s forces would strike and cursing, clubbing with their muskets “Proceedings, Grand Lodge of Minnesota on Gibbon’s front. Because of the mili- and throwing stones over the heads of IOOF,” 1863, pages 322–323 MHS tary expertise of the men of the provost their comrades in front of them. It was a Collection guard, Meade ordered them to be re- bloody melee, but it was over in a few turned to their regiments for this day’s minutes as the outnumbered Confeder- Haskell, Frank A., “Battle of Gettysburg” work. Gibbon turned to Captain Farrell to ates died or surrendered. Bantam Books edition, pages 200–201, give him the order. “Very well, sir,” said When Messick fell, command of the 1992. Farrell, touching his hat in salute. It regiment devolved upon Farrell who was would be the last order he would receive. the next senior captain, but his command Moe, Richard, The Last Full Measure; A short time later, before Farrell could would be short-lived. While in the ad- The Life and Death of the First Min- move, the Confederate artillery opened vance of his company, leading them for- nesota Volunteers (Henry Holt and Co., fire on his position in advance of their ward to break the wave of the Confeder- 1993).

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“Little Sure Shot,” Annie Oakley. Photograph from the Annie Oakley Foundation Collection, Greenville, Ohio. See article beginning on page 4.

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