Wi-Iyohi (Wee-Moon) – (eeyohee-Each) Volume 16 Number 4 July 1, 1962 Topics: o Marshall’s Expedition, 1862 o Pioneer Daughters of Dakota o Book Review—SD Political Almanac o Civil War News MOOl-t..Y BLUETIN SOUTH DAKOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY vOL. xv! July 1, 1962 NO. 4 After their initial MARSHALL·s successes in the Minnesota 0utbreak during the late • ·. 18 62 EXP E D I T I 0 N summer of 1862, the hostile Santee Sioux were checked by Nancy L. Woolworth by a military force under General Henry H. Sibley at the battle of Wood Lake on September 23. Soon thereafter,from Camp Release near Montevideo, Minnesota, Sibley sent o�t several detachments of troops in a westerly direction to look for additional parties of hostiles. One of the units of this little­ known reconnaisance was directed on Octbber lJ, 1862 to proceed from the Minnesota River towards the James River "to ,..Pursue a band of hostiles who had separated f,rom Little Crow Lthe Sioux chief who lead the uprising and were heading directly west to the MissouriRiver. " The orders from Sibley to the expedition's commander, Lieutenant-Colonel William Rainey Marshall read as follows: Headquarters Military Expedition Camp Release, Oct. lJ, 1862 Lieut. Col. William R. Marshall, Sir: I have placed you in command of an expedi- tion pri�cipally to secure any Indians, with their families, who may be straggling about Lac qui Parle or between that point and the Coteau des Prairies. It may be necessary to visit the coteau, about JO miles distant, and if there is good reason to believe any Indian camp near, to go toward its southwestern limit, about 15 miles farther; but as it is not the intention to make a distant expedition, you will use a wise discretion, upon the consultation with Major Joseph R. Brown, who accompanies yo�, and not penetrate too far into the country from this camp. You can assure the Indians that it is not the purpose of the �overnment Mrs. Alan R. Woolworth is married to a native South ( Dakotan who is currently the Museum Curator at the Minnesota Historical Societv. to punish innoce!llt persons, but they must surrender at discretion and come in un::ier guard. You will of course prevent the men under your command from using any undue or unnecessary violence toward the Indians, should you take any of the latter, an� �specially do not permit any insult to the females. I have directed the detachment to be furnished with six day's rations, although I do not expect you to be absent for so long a time. Reposing entire confidence in your judgement, I need hardly exhort you to exer­ cise great vigilance and caution against surprise or ambush. Very respectfully yours, H. H. Sibley Brigadier General Commanding The story of the experiences of this expedition is told vividly by the report of Lieutenant-Colonel Marshall, and the diary kept by Sergeant James T. Ramer, Company B, Seventh Minne.so.ta Regi.-. ment. Marshall 's report was published in The Monthly South Dakotan volume 5, number 4 (August, 1902 ), pp. 124-126. The Ramer diary, deposited in the Minnesota Historical Society appears to have been revised, probably by Marshall. Starting from Camp Release, Marshall in a letter to General Sibley, described the make-up of his command: General: In accordance with your order of lJth in- stant I left this camp at 10 o'clock on the morning of the 14th with a detachment comprising fifty ( mounted men and fifty infantry of the Third Regi- ment, under Lieutenant J. H. Swan; Company D of the Sixth Regiment, Captain Valentine, sixty-nine men; Company B of the Seventh Regiment, Captain John Curtis, seventy-five men and Sergeant O'Shea and eight men in charge of a howitzer, in all 252 men. Our train consisted of 13 two-horse wagons, carrying six-day rations, tents, etc. for the men and hardly two day's supply of forage (all there was in your camp ) for the horses. The daily occurrences of this e�pedition was recorded by Sergeant Ramer in his diary. "October 14th, we were on the march at one o'clock under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Marshall , of the 7th; and halted at Lac qui Parle and got break­ fast. About six o'clock we started in a South West direction toward Lake Kampeska near Watertown,S.D. we went into camp at four o'clock on a small stream, a branch northern of Lacqui Parle River. We have no fuel but a few green willows, we were very tired and foot sore, having no road to march in; the distance to-day was thirty-five miles." In Marshall's report to Sibley he wrote the following account ( - 2 - for the same day, "I proceeded to the mouth of the Lac qui Parle River and followed up the left bank twelve miles without ( finding Indians. I then struck westward following Nicollett's route as indicated on our map." Ramer continued in his diary, giving the narrative of the 15th of October, "The 15th we were on the march early in the morning, crossed the State line into Dakota Territory, during the afternoon we captured three half Breed Indians with their Squaws and children, but let them go as we were after bigger game. After marching about twenty-two miles went into c&�p early on a small stream .[probably Crow Timber Creek, Deuel Co.,:J; we camped in a cave in the side of a ravine where there was a little timber, had a good camping place." Of this incident Marshall later wrote to Sibley, "We crossed the state boundary line near the twenty­ sixth mile post ["2 miles southof highway 212], south of the foot of Big Stone Lake. Near the edge of the Coteau de Prairie about forty-four miles from Camp Release, we fou::id ':;w;i lodges of straggl­ ing Sioux. Takin� the young men-three-prisoners, we started the squaws and children with one old man for our camp. From these Indians we learned that twenty-seven lodges were west of us, supposed to be in the vicinity of Two-Wood Lakes [Two Woods Lake, north of Good;vin, S.D. J . " Ramer continued his account, "October 16th were on the march at daylight expect­ ing to- find the Indians at Two Lakes." On t h i s Marshall later reported: "Marching on these lakes, we found no Indians, but signs that they had left there only one or two days before, their trail leading northwest toward the Big Sioux River." When Marshall found that the Indians had left in great haste he knew they couldn't be far away,and that the chances of catching them were good. He divided his command into two groups. Sergeant Ramer recorded this incident like an infantry man would: ·"Early in the day Colonel Marshall took the third Minnesota, they being mounted, and pushed on leav­ ing the Infantry in command of Captain Valentine to follow as fast as they could, which was slow at times as we had to cross the Couteaus and the country was very broken making it hard for the teams to keep II ( ,;lith US• - 3 - ,.. Marshall, in charge of the fifty mounted men of the Third Regi­ ment, related their experiences in his report: "Fearing that I should not be able to overtake them ( with the infantry, I took the fifty mounted merr and the mountain howitzer, at noon on the third day out, and without tents or supplies of any kind, pressed on, leaving the infantry and wagons to follow as rapidly as possible. We crossed the Big Sioux River, passing on the north side of Lake Kampeska. Following the Indian trail, we reached at dark the east end of a lake (which the Indians call Goose Nest Lake) about eight miles long, east and west /: a lake eight miles northwest of Lake Kampeska, probably Lake Nicholson . We heard a report of a gun and saw signs of an Indian camp at the farther end of the lake. We halted until daylight, without shelter or food for men or horses, when, with a rapid march, we surprised and captured at the west end of the lake ten lodges of Indians, numbering thirteen warriors and their families. They told us of twelve or fifteen lodges that were one day's march west, toward the James River. Plac- ing a guard over the captured camp, we hurried on, and at a distance of ten or twelve miles, about midway between the Big Sioux and James River, we cameupon the second party just as they were moving out of camp. After an exciting chase we captured them with­ out any resistance of arms. We took twenty-one men prisoners with their families. Some of the men had separated from their camp before we reached it for ( the purpose of hunting. On our march back six of these followed and after ineffectual efforts to re­ cover their families surrendered themselves." The infa ntry, far behind this cavalry unit, was pushing hard to keep up with the mounted men. Sergeant Ramer noted the Third, Sixth and Seventh Infantry companies movements to try and keep up the pace: "When we reached the Two Lakes Two Woods Lake near the Station of Goodwin now on the Winona and St. Peter Rail Koad, we found that the Indians had been there very recently, their fires still burning and some fresh fish lying about; we pushed on, when near sundovm from a high raise of ground we saw in the distance Lake Kampeska and we still rushed on until dark, wnen many of the command wanted to stop for the night but Captain Valentine said we must reach the lake to get water.