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032 - Colonel Sibley Moves Upon the Enemy The Battle of Wood Lake · History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier, Part 1

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty two of the History of Minnesota and Tales
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  Speaker 1: of the Frontier, Part one. This is a livervox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All livervox recordings are on the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or a volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Elijah Fisher. The History of Minnesota and Tales of
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  Speaker 1: the Frontier, Part one by Charles E. Flantra, Section thirty two.
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Sibley moves upon the Enemy. We left Colonel Sibley
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  Speaker 1: on the fourth of September at forty, having just relieved
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  Speaker 1: the unfortunate command of Major Joseph R. Brand after the
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  Speaker 1: fight of birch Kom. Knowing that the Indians had in
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  Speaker 1: their possision many white captives, and having their rescue alive
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  Speaker 1: uppermost in his mind, the colonel laughed on the battlefield
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  Speaker 1: at bert Coli the following communication attached to the stake
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  Speaker 1: driven in the ground, failing to sure that it would
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  Speaker 1: fall into the hands of Little Crow, the leader of
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  Speaker 1: the Indians. If Little Crow has any proposition to make,
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  Speaker 1: let him send a half breed to me, and he
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  Speaker 1: shall be protected in and out of Camp. H. H. Sibley,
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Commanding Military expedition was found in answered by Little
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  Speaker 1: Crow in a manner rather irrelevant to the subject most
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  Speaker 1: desired by Colonel Sibley. It was dated at Yellow Medicine,
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  Speaker 1: September fourth, and delivered by two half breeds. Colonel Sibley
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  Speaker 1: returned the following answer by the bearers, Little Crow, you
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  Speaker 1: have murdered many of our people without any sufficient cause.
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  Speaker 1: Return me the prisoners under a flague of truce, and
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  Speaker 1: I will talk with you like a man. No response
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  Speaker 1: was received to this letter until September twelfth, when the
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  Speaker 1: Little Crow sent another saying that he had one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifty five prisoners, not including those held by c
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  Speaker 1: Setons and wat Paythons, who were at Laciuparo and were
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  Speaker 1: coming get down. He also gave assurance says that the
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  Speaker 1: prisoners were affairing well. Clonel Sibley, on the toweltubst sent
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  Speaker 1: a reply by Little Crow's messengers saying that no peace
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  Speaker 1: could be made without a surrender of the prisoners, but
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  Speaker 1: no promising peace of any terms in charging the commission
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  Speaker 1: of nine mergers. Since the receipt of Little Crow's last letter,
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  Speaker 1: a messenger that brought this letter from Little Crow also
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  Speaker 1: delivered quite a long one from the Wabasha and Teopi,
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  Speaker 1: two lower chiefs who claimed to be friendly and desired
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  Speaker 1: a meeting with Colonel Sibley, suggesting two places where it
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  Speaker 1: could be held. The Colonel replied that he would march
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  Speaker 1: in three days and was powerful enough to crush all
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  Speaker 1: the Indians, that they might approach his column in open
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  Speaker 1: day with a flight of truths and place themselves under
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  Speaker 1: his protection. On the receipt of this note, a large
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  Speaker 1: council was held at which nearly all the annuity Indians
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  Speaker 1: were present. Several speeches were made by the lower Sioux,
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  Speaker 1: some in favor of continuance of the war and dying
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  Speaker 1: in the last ditch, and some in favor of surrendering
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  Speaker 1: the prisoners. High quote speech made by Paul Nasa Kuratanani,
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  Speaker 1: who will be remembered as one of the Indians who
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  Speaker 1: volunteer to rescue the white captives from the Inkpaduta's band
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  Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty seven and who was always true to
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  Speaker 1: the whites. He said, among other things, in fighting the whites,
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  Speaker 1: you are fighting the thunder and lightning. You saying you
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  Speaker 1: can to make a.
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  Speaker 2: Treaty with the British government, that is not possible. Have
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  Speaker 2: you not yet come to your senses? They are also
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  Speaker 2: white men and neighbors to the soldiers.
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  Speaker 1: They are by a petticoat, and she has the tender
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  Speaker 1: heart of the squaw. What will she do for the
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  Speaker 1: men who have committed the murders you have? This correspondence
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  Speaker 1: was kept up for several days, quite a number of
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  Speaker 1: letters coming from the Indians Colonel Sibley, But with those
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  Speaker 1: satisfactory results, on the fourteenth of September, Colonel Sibley determined
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  Speaker 1: to move upon the enemy, and on that day cave
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  Speaker 1: was broken at the fort. A boat constructed in a
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  Speaker 1: crossing of the Minnesota River effected near the fort to
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  Speaker 1: prevent the possibility of an abukuskane. Colonel Sibley's force consisted
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  Speaker 1: of the sixth Regiment under Colonel Crooks, about three hundred
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  Speaker 1: men of the third Major Welch, several companies of the
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  Speaker 1: seventh under Clone William R. Marshall, a small numbered mountain
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  Speaker 1: men under Colonel Lakefale, and a battery under the command
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  Speaker 1: of Captain Mark Hendricks. The expedition moved up the river
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  Speaker 1: without encountering any opposition until the morning of the twenty
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  Speaker 1: third of September. Indians had been in sight during all
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  Speaker 1: the march, carefully watching the movements of the troops, and
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  Speaker 1: several messages of defiance were found attached to the fouences
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  Speaker 1: and houses. The Battle of Wood Lake. On the evening
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  Speaker 1: of the twenty second, the expedition camped at Lone Tree Lake,
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  Speaker 1: about two miles from the Yellow Meta. Everth In, about
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  Speaker 1: three miles east from Wood Lake. Early next morning, several
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  Speaker 1: foraging the terms belonging to the third Regiment were fired
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  Speaker 1: upon they returned to the fire and treated towards the camp.
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  Speaker 1: At this juncture, at the third Regiment, without orders, sailed
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  Speaker 1: out across a deep raving and soon engaged the enemy.
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  Speaker 1: They were ordered back by the commander and had not
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  Speaker 1: reached the camp before indians appeared on all sides of
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  Speaker 1: great numbers, many of them, and between the third Regiment
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  Speaker 1: and the camp. Thus began the Battle of Wood Lake.
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  Speaker 1: Captain Hendricks opened it with his cannon and the howitzer,
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  Speaker 1: under the direct command of Colonel Sibley, and poured and shot,
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  Speaker 1: and in a sense been learned that Little Crow had
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  Speaker 1: appointed ten of his best men to kill Colonel Sibley
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  Speaker 1: at all hazards, and that the shows, directed by the
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  Speaker 1: colonel's on hand, go into this special squad and despired them.
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  Speaker 1: Captain Hendricks pushed his cannon to the head of the
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  Speaker 1: ravene and racked it with great effect, and Colonel Marshall,
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  Speaker 1: with three companies of the seventh and Captain Grand's company
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  Speaker 1: of the sixth charged down to the ravine in a
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  Speaker 1: double quick and routed the Indians. About eight hundred of
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  Speaker 1: the command were engaged in the conflict and met about
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  Speaker 1: an equal number of Indians. Our loss was about nine
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  Speaker 1: killed and between forty and fifty wounded. Major Welsh of
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  Speaker 1: the Third was shot in the lake, but not faithally.
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  Speaker 1: The Third and the Renville Rangers under Captain James Gorman
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  Speaker 1: bore the brunt of the fight, which lasted about an
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  Speaker 1: hour and a half and sustained the most of the losses. Cousively,
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  Speaker 1: in his official report of the encounter, gives great credit
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  Speaker 1: to his staff and all of his command, and paid
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  Speaker 1: to Tolkacha or John Orthidae, was with the Whites and
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  Speaker 1: took a conceptuous part in the fray. Thus ended the
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  Speaker 1: Battle of One Lake. It was an important factor in
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  Speaker 1: the war and was about the first time the Indians
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  Speaker 1: engaged large forces of well organized troops in the open country,
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  Speaker 1: and their utter discomfiture put them on the run. He
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  Speaker 1: will be noticed that I have not, in any of
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  Speaker 1: my narratives of battles use this Deiro typied expression. Our
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  Speaker 1: losses were so many, but the losses of the enemy
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  Speaker 1: were much greater. But as they always carry off their
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  Speaker 1: dead and wounded, it is impossible to give exact figures.
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  Speaker 1: The reason I have not made a use of this
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  Speaker 1: common expression is because I don't believe it. The philosophy
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  Speaker 1: of Indian warfare. Could killed your enemy and not get
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  Speaker 1: killed yourself, and they can take over more skillfully than
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  Speaker 1: any other people. In all our Indian wars from the
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  Speaker 1: Atlantic westward with regulars are militia. I believe it would
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  Speaker 1: not be an exaggeration to say that the Whites have
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  Speaker 1: lost ten to one and killed and wounded. But the
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  Speaker 1: Battle of Wood League was quite an open fight, and
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  Speaker 1: so rapidly conducted, and concluded that we have a very
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  Speaker 1: accurate account of the loss of the enemy. He had
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  Speaker 1: no time or opportunity to withdraw his dead. Fifteen dead
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  Speaker 1: were found upon the field, and one wounded prisoner was taken.
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  Speaker 1: No doubt, many others were wounded who were able to escape.
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  Speaker 1: After this fight, Clonia Sibley retired to it the vincent
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  Speaker 1: of an Indian camp located near opposite the north of
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  Speaker 1: the Chipea River where it empties into the Minnesota, and
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  Speaker 1: there encamped. This point was afterwards called Camp Release from
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  Speaker 1: the fact that the white prisoners held by the enemy
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  Speaker 1: were here delivered to Colonel Sibley's command. We will leave
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Sibley and his troves at Camp Reli's and arrate
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  Speaker 1: the important events that occurred and the Red River of
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  Speaker 1: the North at end of end of section thirty two
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  Speaker 1: read by Elijah Fisher