MR. BABCOCK served on. the staff of the Miimesota Historical Society for forty-two years. Since his retirement in 1960 he has been associated with the institution as a research fellow.

MINNESOTA'S FRONTIER A Neglected Sector of the Civil War

WILLOUGHBY M. BABCOCK

A HUNDRED and one years ago this sum­ the war department immediately appointed mer, the new state of , while giv­ Major General John Pope as commander of ing enthusiastic support to the Union in the a newly created "Department of the North­ Civil War, was suddenly confronted with west," comprising Minnesota, Wisconsin, the additional burden of suppressing a ma­ Iowa, and the territories of Dakota and Ne­ jor Indian uprising within its borders. From braska, with headquarters in St. Paul. He mid-August until early September, 1862, the was instructed to "take such prompt and vig­ task of defending the Minnesota frontier fell orous measures as shall quell the hostilities to the state, which mustered a mixed force and afford peace, security, and protection to of volunteer militia and new recruits under the people."^ the command of Henry H. Sibley, a fur The military problem confronting Pope trader without previous military experience. was twofold: to strike at the center of While these hastily gathered, untrained power, while at the same time protecting soldier-citizens were advancing slowly up the lives and property of settlers along the the Minnesota Valley in pursuit of the Sioux frontier. Sibley's small army of ill-equipped commanded by Chief , state offi­ foot soldiers had relieved , sur­ cials frantically appealed for help from the vived a disastrous ambush at Bffch Coulee, federal government. Hard-pressed in its and continued to threaten the main Sioux fight against the Confederacy, Washington force. In Minnesota as elsewhere, however, did not respond until early September. From Indian warfare was closely akin to guerrilla that time on Minnesota's Sioux Uprising be­ fighting. The chiefs had httle real control came officially a sector of the Civil War, and over their warriors, and raiding groups responsibility for its prosecution shifted spread out in many directions from the prin­ from state officials to the war department. cipal field of operations. Over five hundred Minnesota's appeals for help met with lit­ people had already been killed, and mur­ tle more than shrugs in Washington until ders continued to occur in rapid succession Governor addressed a along the whole western frontier and well hard-hitting telegram to to the rear of Sibley's line of advance. It was on September 6. "This is not our war;" he told the president bluntly, "it is a national ' Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars 2:225 war."^ In response to Ramsey's curt wffe. (St. Paul, 1892). 'Civil and Indian Wars, 2:225.

274 MINNESOTA Histovy therefore necessary to provide for the pro­ Paul as Rice Lake and Little Canada, the tection of settlers in hamlets and on isolated settlers were skedaddling and coming into farms throughout the vast extent of wood­ town with the wildest of stories about the land and prairie from St. Cloud and the doings of the Chippewa." Mississippi on the northeast to Fort Aber­ Farther north such fears had some justi­ crombie on the Red River, and south to the fication, for the warlike band of Chief Hole- Iowa border. in-the-Day assumed a threatening attitude, Further complicating the problem was and on August 18 the Chippewa agent, Lu­ the fact that terror of Indians, real or imag­ cius C. Walker, reported that the warriors ined, reigned everywhere in the threatened were collecting at Gull Lake and talking of area. On August 23 it was reported from an attack upon the agency near Crow Wing. Glencoe that "400 women and children" Walker withdrew to Fort Ripley, and many were "gathered there from the surrounding residents of the region also took refuge with­ towns. The nearest any Indians bad been to in the post. There they molded bullets by that place was within eight miles . . . and candlelight and prepared for a desperate de­ they did not seem warlike." The home guard fense. Hole-in-the-Day was mollified, how­ had been called out for protection, and "ev­ ever, and no Chippewa outbreak took place.^ ery able bodied man capable of bearing In southern Minnesota apprehension cen­ arms had not been permitted to pass, but tered not only on the Sioux but also on the compelled to take up arms."^ At Monticello Winnebago, whose reservation south of a wild rumor of Indians reached the town in Mankato was near the area of hostilities, the middle of the night. The women and and whose culture and tribal stock were children were aroused and taken to the ho­ closely akin to those of the Sioux. The Win­ tel, and "men ran in every direction for nebago were strongly suspected of giving guns, pitchforks, &c.," though no one had support to the Sioux in theff war to drive the seen an Indian.* whites from the Minnesota Valley. On Au­ Nor did the panic stop there. Fear that gust 28 Captain Alonzo J. Edgerton arrived the Chippewa Indians in the upper St. Croix at the Winnebago Agency with a company Valley and the Gull Lake region of northern of a hundred men and wrote to Governor Minnesota would join in the outbreak was Ramsey that be "found great alarm existing widespread, and throughout northern Wis­ here among the whites and half-breeds."^ consin and as far east as Milwaukee towns were stockaded and home guard companies TO ALLAY the panic, companies of volun­ went out on patrol duty. The St. Paul Daily teers or recruits from were dis­ Press for August 26, 1862, reported that the patched by state officials as quickly as people along the St. Croix were "coming in­ possible to garrison communities in the to the towns in the wildest terror in conse­ threatened areas. To oversee the troops Gov­ quence of reports regarding the Chippewas ernor Ramsey established regional com­ up in the woods of Wisconsin . . . and the mands. Protection of the southwest frontier, people of Hudson have united in a petition from New Ulm south to the Iowa line, was to the Governor of Wisconsin for firearms, entrusted to Judge Charles E. Flandrau, &c., for the protection of the border. The ex­ who had led the townspeople of New Ulm citement has since extended to Sunrise in their second successful stand against the above Taylor's Falls. . . . Even so near St. Sioux. On August 28 Ramsey authorized Flandrau to "take such measures as in his "S*. Paul Daily Press, August 23, 1862. judgment he may deem advisable to secure * Press, August 30, 1862. that portion of our frontier and restore con­ "Wilfiam W. Folwell, A , fidence to the settlers." He was to "employ 2:374 (St. Paul, 1961). 'Civil and Indian Wars, 2:209. such persons, organize such military com-

June 1963 275 THE stockade erected at Forest City in 1862

panics and to use such means as may be ing rude fortifications. These varied in necessary for the objects." Flandrau was character and eflBciency. Some were log further given control of any companies Sib­ stockades, others mere earthworks. In St. ley might detail to the region and was in­ Peter a cordwood barricade was set up structed to report to the latter as his "around the principal portion of the town," commander. His area included the Winne­ but the editor of the St. Peter Tribune com­ bago reservation which was not far from mented that "after a careful inspection of his headquarters at South Bend, now a part this work, we are unable to say which is the of Mankato.'^ safest, inside or out."-'^ John H. Stevens of Glencoe, who had done At Maine Prairie in Stearns County an iso­ good work in organizing defenses in Mc­ lated band of settlers built a sturdy two- Leod County, was given temporary regional story fort with a double row of timbers, and command over the central area. He was suc­ defenders of nearby St. Joseph erected tbi-ee ceeded in mid-September by Captain Rich­ pentagonal blockhouses. Timber stockades ard Strout of the Tenth Minnesota.* On at Hutchinson and Forest City did good September 5 Colonel Francis R. Delano was service early in September during attacks authorized to advise and direct tbe move­ by a raiding band of Sioux. Similar small ments of "all officers in command of any forts erected by the citizens of Sauk Centre troops in the St. Croix Valley."^ and St. Cloud were not put to the test, nor During the last days of August, 1862, one did the citizens of Little Falls have to de­ special order after another had poured out fend their hastfly barricaded courthouse. of the Minnesota adjutant general's office, Along the southwestern frontier Flandrau's dispatching troops, supplies, munitions, equipment, and horses to points of maxi­ 'Civil and Indian Wars, 2:208; Folwell, Min­ mum danger, and authorizing the raising of nesota, 2:169. "Adjutant General of Minnesota, Reports, 1862 desperately needed volunteer companies of (Appendix), p. 277, 293; Press, August 23, 1862. "mounted infantry."^** These were to be part "Adjutant General, Reports, 1862 (Appendix), of the First Regiment of Mounted Rangers, p. 287. " In Civil War parlance, the term "mounted in­ called for by the adjutant general under au­ fantry" applied to troops equipped with infantry thorization from Washington. Each volun­ weapons who fought on foot, though using horses teer was asked to fumish his own horse, for quick movement. "Cavahy" on the other hand equipment, and arms until such time as the were trained to fight on horseback and were equipped with sabres and carbines. could supply these items. The " Civil and Indian Wars, 2:199; Adjutant Gener­ pay was to be the same as that of other al, Reports, 1862 (Appendix), p. 241, 247, 251. mounted troops, plus a dollar per day for Subsequent orders transferred most of the costs of the members to the account of the federal govern­ subsistence and risk to the horse.^^ ment. Many of the men who had first volunteered Meanwhile Minnesota settlers had not as irregular mifitia joined the regiment later under the prospect of pressure from the draft. Adjutant been idle. Gathering for protection in the General, Reports, 1863, p. 141-143. larger towns, they quickly set to work erect­ "" St. Peter Tribune, September 20, 1862.

276 MINNESOTA History men were engaged in erecting "six substan­ crombie, on the Red River, and all along the tial fortifications, and other defensive works frontier exposed to Sioux depredations, of less magnitude." Starting at New Ulm from the Sauk valley, southward, via Fort these eventually extended down the Minne­ Ridgely to the Iowa line." Of these, some sota River to South Bend and up the Blue five hundred were assigned to Flandrau in Earth to the Iowa line, with advance posts the southwest. In addition, Ramsey re­ at Madelia and Fairmont.^^ ported, citizens of the threatened areas had On September 9, addressing a special ses­ been issued "1,056 stand of arms, 3,175 sion of the Minnesota legislature. Governor pounds of powder, 1200 pounds of lead, and Ramsey outhned the widespread defensive 88 sacks of shot" — all that "could be ob­ measures that had already been taken to se­ tained from any quarter." ^* cure tbe frontier in the rear of Sibley's expe­ dition. A total of 2,150 troops plus "several THE FIRST outside aid to reach the state hundred ffregular mounted men" were scat­ came on September 4, when troops of the tered at various points along the "whole In­ Thffd Minnesota arrived from St. Louis.*^ dian border . . . from Chengwatana [Pine They were on parole, following their surren­ City], in the St. Croix valley, to Crow Wing, der and subsequent exchange for Confeder­ on the Mississippi, and thence to Fort Aber- ate prisoners, and they had been ordered to Minnesota as soon as news of the outbreak "Adjutant General, Reports, 1862^ p. 86-91; reached Washington. Since they were the Civil and Indian Wars, 2:266; Folwell Minnesota, 2:169. only seasoned troops available, Ramsey sent " "Message of Governor Ramsey to the Legisla­ the majority of them up the Minnesota to ture of Minnesota, September 9, 1862," 7, in Min­ reinforce Sibley. A group of about sixty, nesota, Executive Documents, 1862. however, were retained for service along ^ "Message of Governor Ramsey," 6, in Execu­ tive Documents, 1862. tbe stage route from St. Cloud to Fort Aber- THE Sauk Centre stockade as it appeared in 1864

June 1963 277 crombie, a vital link in the strategic and of vehicles owned by St. Paul's Burbank and profitable line of communication between Company, which held a lucrative contract St. Paul and the Red River Settlement. to transport Hudson's Bay Company goods Keeping this line open was a matter of ma­ from St. Paul to Pembina. As time went on, jor concern to St. Paul business interests.i" escort duty on the road was divided into On September 11, therefore, the veterans sectors, one contingent going from St. Cloud of the Third Minnesota and two companies to Sauk Centre, and another from there to of recruits from Fort SneUffig, all com­ Alexandria, where the train would be met manded by Captain Emfl Buerger, set out by a force from .^'' for St. Cloud. Along the way they were General Pope arrived in St. Paul on Sep­ joined by other troops, and when the force tember 16, and the forces hitherto com­ reached Fort Abercrombie on September 23 manded by the state authorities were after a laborious march, it numbered better immediately placed under his control. His than four hundred men. Three days later first action was to requisition troops from a brief attack by the Sioux was successfully Wisconsin and Iowa and to place an order repulsed, and on September 30 a group of civihan refugees left the fort under a mih­ "Adjutant General, Reports, 1862 (Appendix), tary escort which included the men of the p. 286, 288-290; Civdl and Indian Wars, 2:230, 294; Third Minnesota. They reached St. Cloud Folwell, Minnesota, 2:165. "FolweU, Minnesota, 2:167; Adjutant General, safely, and thereafter supplies were sent Reports, 1862, p. 500; St. Cloud Democrat, October through regularly to Fort Abercrombie un­ 9, November 6, 1862. See also Wilfiam M. Goet- der heavy guard. Along with the military zinger, "Pomme de Terre: A Frontier Outpost in supply wagons went an even larger number Grant County," in Minnesota History, 38:63-71 (June, 1962).

FORT Abercrombie

278 MINNESOTA History for 2,500 horses, as "we can do nothing against mounted Indians with footmen." ^^ On the foUowing day he wrote to Sibley, confirming tbe Minnesotan as commander of the Indian expedition and outlining his own plans for a strong defense perimeter. "We can get no cavalry," he wrote, "but I will send 1,000 mounted men as rapidly as I can." To keep open the vital stage route, he proposed to "place 1,000 men (500 mounted) at Abercrombie, 500 mounted men at Otter Tail, [and] 1,000 men at Rip­ ley." A thousand more, half infantry and half mounted, would be placed at Crystal Lake between the Winnebago and the Sioux. He assured Sibley that he hoped further to "put out at once expeditions into Dakota along the Big Sioux and farther west, so as GENERAL Jolin PopC to push the Yankton Sioux at the same time IN WASHINGTON, meanwhile, Pope's first you are dealing with those in front of you."^^ demands evoked a terrific outburst from Though not a military man, Sibley knew General Henry W. Halleck. Answering him the country and the difficulty of organizing on September 23, Pope outlined the situa­ raw troops. He frankly doubted if the latter tion in Minnesota, where there were "includ­ part of this ambitious plan could be accom­ ing one Wisconsin regiment, about 4,000 plished so late in the season, and events men" plus some 1,200 unarmed volunteers proved him right.^" Within four days after and '"not a wagon, mule, or horse belonging receiving Pope's letter, Sibley met the main to the United States." ^i body of the Sioux and defeated them at the The Wisconsin regiment referred to by . This brought an end Pope was the Twenty-Fifth, composed of to organized warfare by the Indians within mounted infantry and commanded by Colo­ the boundaries of Minnesota, but the prob­ nel Milton Montgomery, who was ordered lem of sporadic raids, murders, and guerrilla to reheve Flandrau as commander of the fighting carried on by red men based far out southwestern sector. On September 20 Pope on the Dakota plains was to continue for an­ had assigned it to stations as follows: one other three years. company at Sauk Centre; two companies '^ Civil and Indian Wars, 2:232; Adjutant Gen­ each at Paynesville, Acton, and New Ulm; eral, Reports, 1862, p. 67. one company at Leavenworth; one at Fair­ " Civil and Indian Wars, 2:233. mont; one at Winnebago City; two compa­ '"Civil and Indian Wars, 2:236. ^Cit;jZ and Indian Wars, 2:238. nies, already at Forest City, to go to °° The assignments are listed in Pope's General Greenleaf, with a half company at Manan- Orders No. 3, which was published in the Press and nab; and one company, already stationed at other Minnesota newspapers. It appears in the issue Hutchinson, to move to Buffalo Creek and of September 23 and for several days thereafter. The post at "Two Lakes" must have been in the take post near "Two Lakes," ten miles south­ vicinity of Lakes Preston and Allie in Renville west of Hutchinson.^^ County. Early settlers in the area could recall seeing evidences of a fortified camp along the shore The Wisconsin Twenty-Fifth and the of Preston Lake. A similar ruin reported on the Twenty-Seventh Iowa Infantry, which ar­ shore of nearby Buffalo Lake was probably the re­ rived on October 13, were the only regular mains of a post built in 1863. (See below, p. 283.) See Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge, The History of Ren­ troops from outside the state that Pope could ville County, 1:553 (Chicago, 1916). obtain. With their coming, however, the June 1963 279 Minnesota adjutant general on October 14 mainly mixed-bloods and friendly Indians, dffected "all companies of troops and other headed by Major Joseph R. Brown and Ga­ mihtary organizations in the volunteer State briel Renville, kept Sibley informed of pos­ Militia, organized for the purpose of serving sible trouble along the western frontier.^^ within tbe State only ... to retire from the active service" unless retained by special THE MINNESOTA VALLEY campaign orders.2^ and the energetic defensive measures be­ The stay of the Wisconsffi and Iowa troops hind the troops left conditions reasonably proved short, for in early winter, just before quiet during the winter of 1862-63. Little the closing of navigation on the Mississippi, Crow, however, was reported to be working they along with the Third Minnesota were among the Sisseton and Yankton Sioux of sent south. The burden of defending the the upper Missouri Valley in preparation for frontier was left to the Sixth, Seventh, further warfare. When weather conditions Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Minnesota Vol­ permitted, therefore, the troops busied unteers, and the First Regiment of Minne­ themselves strengthening or rebuilding the sota Mounted Rangers.-* fortifications which had been raised by lo­ At the end of 1862 these troops were cal defenders at most of the outposts. stationed as follows: The Sixth Minnesota A circular sent in early February, 1863, to under Colonel William Crooks had five com­ the various commanding officers instructed panies at Fort Snelhng, three at Glencoe, them "that if no sufficient defensive work one at Forest City, and one at Kingston. The has been prepared at the post under your Seventh, commanded by Colonel Stephen command, you proceed forthwith to con­ A. Miller, had its headquarters at Mankato, struct a bullet proof stockade at least nine where four companies were stationed, with feet high which [will] serve not only for de­ one company each at Fairmont, Tivoli fense, but as a place of refuge to families in (probably the Winnebago Agency), Win­ the neighborhood in case of attack by In­ nebago City, Fort Abercrombie, Madelia, dians." Where pickets for building a stock­ and South Bend. The Eighth, with head­ ade were unavailable, "the defences must be quarters at Fort Ripley to guard the stage made of earth or logs of suflScient height." ^^ route, was under Colonel Minor T. Thomas, Pope and Sibley hoped to organize a sec­ and had four companies at that post, and ond major offensive against the Sioux in ear­ one each at Chippewa Agency, Manannah, ly summer. Like Pope's abortive plan of the Little Falls, Fort Abercrombie, Sauk Centre, previous year, it called for a pincer move­ and Chippewa Station. Colonel Alexander ment of two forces. One under Sibley, large­ Wilkin's Ninth Minnesota had companies at ly infantry, was to march up the Minnesota Hutchinson, St. Peter, Judson, Fort Aber­ VaUey from the Fort Ridgely area, timing its crombie, Glencoe, and Butternut Valley, in addition to four at Fort Ridgely. The Tenth, •''Press, October 13, 14, 1862; Adjutant General, under Colonel James H. Baker, was based Reports, 1862, p. 255, 459. Two Brown County companies and one volunteer unit of Mounted at Le Sueur and was even more scattered, Rangers were retained. Reports, 1862 (Appendix) having two companies at the Winnebago p. 248, 298, 305. Agency, two at Henderson, and one each at '-* Adjutant General, Reports, 1862, p. 67. '"Adjutant General, Reports, 1862, p. 159; Garden City, Fort Ridgely, Le Sueur, Swan , "A Sioux Narrative of the Out­ City, and Norway Lake. Colonel Samuel break in 1862, and of Sibley's Expedition in 1863," McPhail's First Minnesota Mounted Rang­ in Minnesota Historical Collections, vol. 10, part 2, ers had units at Paynesville, Richmond, Sauk p. 611-613; St. Peter Tribune, February 13, 1863. =° Rolfin G. Olin, Assistant Adjutant General, St. Centre, New Ulm, Sunrise, and Fort Ridge­ Paul, to Captain Samuel McLarty, February 13, ly, as well as tbi-ee companies each at Fort 1863 (photostatic copy), in letterbook of the De­ Snefling and St. Peter. A body of scouts. partment of the Northwest, War Department Papers, Minnesota Historical Society.

280 MINNESOTA History movements so as to meet another force, rity varies in proportion as tbe military are largely cavalry, coming up the Missouri removed. The daily scouting which has been River. The aim was to close from both sides kept up all the spring, for from twenty to upon the Sioux — presumed to be some­ thirty miles in every direction has ceased of where in the Devils Lake () course since the cavalry left, and a large ex­ area — and break their power in the West. tent of country is now left open to the in­ Low water on the Missouri was to prevent cursions of the villainous red skins, if they the successful operation of this scheme, for choose to take advantage." the river proved unnavigable, and the troops Three days later, on May 31, the Sf. Paul scheduled to ascend it never arrived. Sibley Daily Press published what may have been did, however, engage several bands of Sioux intended as a semiofficial answer to this and in a series of sharp encounters, and drove similar complaints. It included "a carefully them west of the Missouri.^'' prepared statement of the forces that are to While plans for the 1863 expedition were remain, and the places at which they will be being formed. Pope, writing from Milwau­ stationed," and attempted to draw for its kee, told Sibley that it was not "necessary or readers some sort of logical pattern from the desirable that you should keep up the small confused scattering of posts that had sprung posts you have established for the winter up in response to immediate needs or set­ along the frontier. Don't put yourself on the tlers' demands. Claiming that there existed defensive, but on the offensive."-^ Governor both interior and exterior lines of defense, it Ramsey disagreed, pointing out to Sibley maintained that the former "commences that "a feverish apprehension exists that you near the northwestern limit of settlement at may be unable with the force at your com­ Fort Ripley and extends along the border of mand to protect our border settlements from Our most western settlements southward to the stealthy encroachments of the wily the Iowa line." According to the paper, as­ foe."29 The military logic of offensive action signments along this line were as follows: might be well and good, but tbe ordinary Fort Ripley, one company of infantry, twen­ Minnesota farmer wanted some assurance ty-five cavalrymen, and four pieces of that he would not be picked off while plow­ artillery; Richmond, a detachment of Com­ ing his field or have his isolated cabin pany A, Eighth Minnesota; Sauk Centre, one burned in the night. company of infantry and forty cavalrymen; Caught in the middle, Sibley acknowl­ Manannah and Kingston, detachments of edged the need for some protection along Company A, Eighth Minnesota; Forest City, the frontier, but nevertheless found it neces­ one company of Mounted Rangers, to patrol sary to withdraw troops from many of the Meeker, Kandiyohi, Lincoln, McLeod, Sib­ garrison outposts. Soon anguished outcries ley, and Renville counties; Hutchinson, one rose from all directions. company. Ninth Minnesota, with a detach­ A Sauk Centre correspondent writing in ment at Lake Addie (Brownton); Fort the St. Cloud Democrat of May 28, 1863, Goodhue near Kelso in Sibley County, twen­ voiced the alarm of many a frontier settler: ty-five convalescents, plus others that might "The withdrawal of the cavalry from this become available. Three companies of the garrison is looked upon with considerable Ninth Minnesota were to be stationed at alarm," he noted, "and the feeling of secu- Fort Ridgely, and a company of Mounted Rangers at New Ulm was to "scout from " Kenneth Carley, The Sioux Uprising of 1862, that post through Blue Earth, Faribault, Wa­ 72 (St. Paul, 1961). tonwan, and Martin counties as far down as °' United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records the Iowa line." of the Union and. Confederate Armies, series 1, vol. 22, part 2, p. 123 (Washington, 1888). As defined by the Pre.ss, the so-called "ex­ "" Civil and Indian Wars, 2:293. terior line" was simply the road to Fort

June 1963 281 282 MINNESOTA History Abercrombie, which was protected by three ' On June 4 Sibley directed Miller to station fortified posts (including Abercrombie it­ his troops along a line "From Paynesville, in self) extending out to the north and west of Stearns County — leaving that post and the settled region. At the fort on the Red Manannah garrisoned — directly south to River were stationed four companies of in­ Fort Ridgely, thence to the station on the fantry and six pieces of artillery, while the Watonwan River, and southeasterly to Fair- two stockades which covered its supply line mount." Stockades or earthworks "of a de­ were garrisoned by a single infantry com­ fensible character" were to be constructed pany each, the one at Alexandria being about ten miles apart along this line, "having mounted. reference in the selection of points to con­ The entire force that would be left to veniences of wood and water." The men at guard the frontier during the summer's cam­ posts inside the new line were to construct paign was reckoned by the Press at 1,852 these fortifications, and then abandon their men. The paper named no source for this old locations, taking up stations along the figure or for the statements which preceded outer line of posts "in numbers according to it, but the implication was clear that they theff- importance and more or less exposed had ofRcial sanction. condition." Daily communication was to be maintained by mounted men riding between THE STATE authorities, meanwhile, had the posts.^^ not been inactive. As early as May 8 Emil Sibley's order meant the evacuation of Munch, a brigadier general of the state mili­ garrisons at Richmond, Forest City, King­ tia, had been directed to visit the counties ston, Hutchinson, Fort Goodhue, and New of Nicollet, Blue Earth, Sibley, Brown, Ren­ Ulm, and the construction of a new line of ville, Meeker, McLeod, and Stearns "for the posts somewhat farther west. That this purpose of ascertaining whether Indian movement was promptly accomplished is raids on the frontier settlements may rea­ indicated by the Mankato Weekly Union of sonably be expected and in what condition July 17, 1863, which published a tabulation the people of said counties are to resist at­ of the posts in Colonel Wilkin's subdistrict. tacks." On June 4, bis survey completed. It listed the garrison and the commanding Munch recommended a chain of posts some officer of each and showed the distances ten or fiteen miles apart on the Fort Ridgely- which separated them. Between Manannah Fairmont line, to be garrisoned by detach­ and Fairmont were ten fortified points, ments of from twenty to thirty men each, which, with the exception of Fort Ridgely, with patrols of infantry and cavalry moving were garrisoned by from twenty-five to fifty- constantly back and forth.^^ eight men. The distances between them Sibley himself had settled upon a very ranged from seven to fifteen miles. similar plan. On May 27 he named Colonel From Manannah they extended in a more Miller of the Seventh Minnesota as com­ or less direct line south to Acton and Pipe mander of all the forces that were to be left Lake in Meeker County, then to Buffalo in garrison. Two subdistricts were created, Creek and "Camp Burns," eleven miles one composed of the posts held mainly by north of Fort Ridgely. Twelve miles south the Eighth Minnesota, which were to be su­ of the fort was a post on the Cottonwood pervised from St. Cloud by Colonel Thomas. River, another was located at Lake Hanska, The others were to report to Colonel Wilkin and only seven miles farther stood a station at St. Peter. Fort SneUing was to be under listed as "Camp Wilkin" (probably on the the direct command of Miller.^^ site of the substantial Madelia stockade erected the year before by Flandrau's men). ""Adjutant General, Reports, 1863, p. 152, 39-41. Three more posts completed the line, one on " Press, May 28, 1863. "•-Press, June 5, 1863. the south branch of the Watonwan River,

June 1963 283 another listed as "Camp Changuska" (pos­ deer hunting expedition some six miles sibly a misspelling of Fort Chanyaska, which north of Hutchinson, spied a pair of Indians was located in northwestern Martin Coun­ picking berries. Shooting on sight, they ty), and the last at Fairmont — again the killed one of the two, while the other fled. location of one of Flandrau's advance posts. The dead Indian was later identified as Chief Little Crow.^^^ xhg death of the Sioux DESPITE daily patrols between these points, leader, the defeats inflicted on the Indians small groups of Indians continued to slip by Sibley in the Missouri Valley, and the through and make sporadic raids behind vigorous patrolling and scouting along the the lines. Some 1,800 men could not seal off border, all lessened the tension on the Min­ completely a frontier four hundred miles in nesota frontier. length, particularly when they were handi­ capped by a continuing and acute shortage THE WINTER of 1863-64 passed peace­ of mounted troops. fully and saw most of the regular Minnesota After numerous thefts and several mur­ infantry regiments sent south. The Sixth and ders, some of which occurred almost as far Eighth remained to garrison the frontier east as the border of Hennepin County, the posts, while a newly recruited body of state authorities once again took the matter mounted troops was sent north to patrol the of local defense into their own hands. On Red River-Pembina area against forays July 4, 1863, the adjutant general ordered by hostile Sioux who had fled to Canada. "that a corps of volunteer scouts be organ­ This force, known as "Hatch's Independent ized immediately for sixty days ... to scour Battalion of Cavalry," had been organized the Big Woods from Sauk Centre to the by the United States in the summer of 1863 northern boundary line of Sibley County." for the express purpose of Indian fighting. The corps was to be composed of a captain It was led by Major Edwin A. C. Hatcb.-^'' and, sixty men, "divided into squads of not With the coming of spring the five com­ less than five men under the immediate com­ panies of Hatch's battalion were moved mand of their own chosen leader." The vol­ south to relieve the regular regiments of unteers would have to furnish their own garrison duty. The Sixth Minnesota was or­ equipment and supplies, but would be paid dered to Arkansas in June, 1864, and the at the rate of $1.50 per day with additional Eighth, along with six companies of the compensation of twenty-five dollars "for Second Minnesota Cavalry and two sections each scalp of a male Sioux delivered to this of the mixed gun and howitzer battery of office." ^^ the Third Minnesota, was sent to join On July 20 the plan was modified to in­ General Alfred Sully's 1864 expedition crease the regular pay of scouts to two against the Sioux in western Dakota Ter­ dollars a day and establish a reward of sev­ ritory. Following the close of that cam­ enty-five dollars for the killing of any hostile paign it, too, was ordered south.^^ Sioux warrior by a private citizen acting as an "independent scout." The organized vol­ Adjutant General, Reports, 1863, p. 132. unteer scouts were mustered out at the end Adjutant General, Reports, 1863, p. 136, 138, of the summer, but the reward for independ­ 157. *"'FolweU, Minnesota, 2:283-286; Walter N. ent hunting was raised to two hundred dol- Trenerry, "The Shooting of Little Crow: Heroism lars.3* or Murder?" in Minnescrta History, 38:150-153. No great number of the enemy was dis­ Though the hunters were not registered as "inde­ pendent scouts," one received the regular bounty posed of by this method, but the public as­ on the chief's scalp, and the actual slayer was voted sumption of an open season on Indians a reward by the state legislature. brought at least one important result. On ""Folwell, Minnesota, 2:289-292. ""Civil and Indian Wars, 2:524; Adjutant Gen­ July 3 two McLeod County farmers, on a eral, Reports, 1863, p. 21; 1864, p. 6.

284 MINNESOTA History In May, 1864, some companies officially whole force was stationed "along the line known as the First United States Volun­ of frontier defenses." Officers and men re­ teers, composed partially of Confederate ceived $2.50 per day of active service in prisoners who had taken tbe oath of al­ lieu of all other payments. They remained legiance, began to arrive in Minnesota for active until October 2, when they were frontier service. "They are hard looking retired, "perfect quiet being restored to customers," commented the St. Cloud Dem­ the frontier and all fear of danger from ocrat of May 19. Among these volunteers attacks removed from the minds of the were some so-called "bounty jumpers." ^^ people."*" Sibley obviously did not think much of the The following May another multiple caliber of these troops, for he wrote to Pope murder in Blue Earth County touched off a on October 10, 1864, "Many . . . are des­ second wave of terror. For several months, perate characters, requiring an equal num­ while the rest of the country slowly came ber of men to keep them in subjection and to the realization that the four-year agony prevent theff desertion." Some of the of civil war was over — while the Union United States Volunteers accompanied the army disbanded and thousands of weary Minnesota brigade to join the Sully expedi­ soldiers turned toward home — Minnesota tion in 1864, while others did duty at Fort was gripped by a surge of Indian hysteria. Ripley, Sauk Centre, and elsewhere.^" Though no hostile force of any size existed Reports of Indian murders and outrages within hundreds of miles of the state's in Blue Earth County during August, 1864, border, the adjutant general once again caused the adjutant general to direct "the called the "Mounted Minute Men" into volunteer organization of 'Mounted Minute active service and ordered the organization Men' to co-operate with the U. S. forces of volunteer militia forces "not to exceed stationed at . . . frontier settlements." One in the aggregate six hundred men" in each company of "Minute Men" was to be or­ of the northern and southern subdistricts.*^ ganized at Mankato and one at New Ulm, A half-breed implicated in the Blue Earth each composed of between eighty-five and County murders was summarily lynched a hundred men. Smaller squads, of thirty at Mankato, and newspapers throughout to forty men each, were to be organized the state raged at "the milk-blooded, white- at Vernon Center, Blue Earth City, and livered Pharisaic hypocrites" who held out Winnebago City. A later order added an­ against a policy of Indian extermination.*^ other squad from Martin County. The The St. Paul Press of May 7, 1865, declared that "the only way to defend the frontier "^ These were men who "volunteered" in order is to hunt tbe Indians to their holes and to get the sizable bounty offered for enfisting. to kill them there." Accordingly it started Having received the money and been sworn in as soldiers, they deserted at the first opportunity, went a subscription to buy bloodhounds for elsewhere, and repeated the performance. Five such tracking red marauders and called for a "bounty jumpers" were tried at Fort Snelling in reinstatement of the bounty on scalps.*'^ November, 1864, and sentenced to be shot, but President Lincoln suspended the sentence after ap­ Gradually, however, confidence was re­ peals by Governor Stephen A. Miller and former stored, and tbe mihtia was disbanded. The Senator Henry M. Rice. Press, November 15, 1864; St. Paul Pioneer, November 15, 16, 18, 22, 26, 1864; forts along the frontier had been continu­ St. Cloud Democrat, November 17, 1864. ously occupied, and troops were main­ '"Civd and Indian Wars, 2:526. tained there throughout the summer. In "Adjutant General, Reports, 1864, p. 30, 118, July an army quartermaster advertised for 120. "Adjutant General, Reports, 1865, p. 173, 174. bids on furnishing hay for garrisons at '"-Press, May 10, 1865. Fort Snelling, Manannah, Amelia Lake, "Press, May 10, June 4, 1865. See also Folwefl, Head of the Little Cottonwood, Salmon Minnesota, 2:346-3.51, for an account of the state­ wide hysteria. Lake, Bird Island, Camp Pope, Three

June 1963 285 Lakes, Big Cottonwood, Princeton, Forest either rotted where they stood or became City, Lake Johanna, Kandiyohi Lakes, Fort sources of lumber and firewood for nearby Ridgely, Paynesville, Fort Abercrombie, settlers. At last, so far as Minnesota was Norway Lake, Alexandria, Fort Ripley, concerned, the war within a war was over. Jackson, Pomme de Terre, Heron Lake, Bend of the Des Moines, Head of Spirit "With the exception of the four forts and the Lake, Sauk Centre, Chengwatana, Made­ garrisons at Chengwatana, Princeton, Forest City, Pomme de Terre, Sauk Centre, and Alexandria, lia, Fairmont, and Old Crossing.** Aside these posts seem to have formed a new fine from from the four forts, only Princeton, Alex­ north to south along the state's western frontier. andria, Pomme de Terre, and Sauk Centre (See map, p. 282.) The exact location of many of them is difficult to determine. There is, for instance, required more than fifty tons, so the troop no record of a "Salmon Lake" in the state. However, detachments must have been very small. Solomon Lake in Kandiyohi County is approximate­ At the end of the year the adjutant general ly half way between Norway Lake and Big Kandi­ yohi Lake, at a point where a post might logically reported about 1,400 men "retained for the have been located. protection against Indian depredations, of « See Press, July 18, 1865; St. Cloud Democrat, the frontiers of our ov\m State, and in great August 13, 1865; Adjutant General, Reports, 1865, part stationed within her borders."*^ p. 5. "Adjutant General, Reports, 1866, p. 3. Some of the posts, at least, were occu­ THE DRAWING on page 276 is by John Bodin and pied as late as the spring of 1866. Between appeared in the Condensed History of Meeker December and June the troops on garrison County (Litchfield, 1939). The picture on page duty were gradually mustered out, the last 277 is from an oil painting made in 1864, and the to be released being those of Hatch's bat­ sketch of Fort Abercrombie was drawn by George K. Elsbury, a member of the Seventh Minnesota, in talion.*® The stockades and blockhouses May, 1863. The sketch below is by Edwin Forbes.

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