Columns of Vengeance: Soldiers, Sioux, and the Punitive Expeditions, 1863-1864 080614596X, 9780806145969

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Columns o f Vengeance

Columns o f Vengeance Soldiers, Sioux, and the P unitive E xpeditions,

1863-1864

PAUL N. BECK

U n iv e rs ity o f O klahom a Press : N o rm a n

Also by Paul N. Beck The First Sioux War: The Grattan Fight and Blue Water Creek, 1854-1856 (Lanham, Md., 2004) Inkpaduta: Dakota Leader (Norman, Okla., 2008)

Library o f Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Beck, Paul Norman, 1958Columns o f vengeance : soldiers, Sioux, and the Punitive Expeditions, 1863-1864/Paul N. Beck, pages; cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8061-4344-6 (hardback) 1. Dakota Indians—Wars, 1862-1865. 2. Dakota Indians— History. 3. Dakota Indians—Wars, 1862-1865—Personal narratives. 4. Indians of North America—Wars— 1862-1865. 5. United States— History— Civil War, 1861-1865. I. Title. E83.86.B44 2013 978.004*975243—dc23 2012046593 The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability o f the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity o f the Council on Library Resources, Inc. °o Copyright © 2013 by the University o f Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publish­ ing Division of the University. Manufactured in the U.S.A. A ll rights reserved. No part o f this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise— except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Act—without the prior written permission o f the University o f Oklahoma Press. To request permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, University of Oklahoma Press, 2800 Venture Drive, Norman OK 73069, or e-mail [email protected]. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10

To H ugh and M ary

C ontents

List o f Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgments 1 The Coming o f War: “ We . . . were in a starving condition” 2 The Dakota War o f 1862: “ Let it be a war o f extermination” 3 Preparing for the First Expeditions: “To crush the Sioux L illip u t under the ponderous heel o f strategy” 4 Sibley’s Expedition Departs: “One day was much like another” 5 The Battles o f Big Mound, Dead Buffalo Lake, and Stony Lake: “We must Fight for our children” 6 Sully’s 1863 Expedition: “ Your movements have greatly disappointed Me” 7 Whitestone H ill: “The prairie was covered with White warriors”

ix xi 3 25

50 81 99 129 153

viii

8 Sully’s 1864 Expedition: “Generals Pope and Sully are anxious for another campaign” 9 The Battle o f Killdeer Mountain: “The prairie seemed alive with Indians” 10 The Fight in the Badlands: “The Indians were all around us trying to break in” 11 Aftermath: “This whole thing is one confounded humbug” Notes Bibliography Index

CONTENTS

177 202 220 247 255 293 305

Illu s tra tio n s

FIG URES Charles Eastman Frank Griswold John Jones Gabriel Renville Standing Buffalo

174 174 175 175 176

MAPS 1863 Punitive Expedition 1864 Punitive Expedition

80 201

ix

Preface a n d A cknow ledgm ents

In the summer o f 1862, Minnesotans found them­ selves engaged in fighting two wars. The first was an external war versus the rebellious southern states that had seceded from the Union to create the Confederate States o f America, and the second an internal war against the Eastern Dakotas or Santee Sioux. Although the C ivil War lasted longer and was vastly more im portant to the history o f the United States, it was the Dakota War o f 1862 that proved far more destructive to the people o f Minnesota— both whites and American Indians. Growing up in Minnesota, as I did, one learned early on o f the Dakota War. As a child I visited many o f the sites involved in the fighting and read numerous books dealing w ith the conflict. Later, while doing research for my dissertation, I encountered the diaries and letters o f soldiers who had served on the Punitive Expeditions against the Sioux in 1863 and 1864. I found the in ­ formation in these documents about the soldiers’ experiences, fam ily life, and views o f the Dakotas to be fascinating, and I never forgot them. XI

XII

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It is because o f those diaries and letters that I decided to write a book about the Punitive Expeditions. There are a number o f sources that adequately discuss the expeditions. However, they all tend to approach the expeditions the same way, as a m ilitary campaign o f the Indian wars: the army marched into the West, defeated the Sioux in battle, and then returned home. These sources were often from the top ranks, the official reports o f the main officers and generals serving in the campaigns. W hile they provide an adequate coverage o f the events, they leave key as­ pects o f the campaigns untouched. Although fought in the West against American Indians, the Punitive Expeditions were part of a larger conflict, the C ivil War. The strategy and tactics o f the campaigns were like those o f the war back East. The officers and enlisted men, for the most part, had joined the army to fight against the Confederacy. Officers had seen their careers advanced, or in General John Pope’s case damaged, by the eastern m ilitary campaigns o f 1861 and 1862. Planning, supplies, reinforcements, and transportation for the operations in the West were all affected by events occurring in the Civil War back East. Also not discussed in most sources is the massive impact the warfare had on all divisions o f the Dakota people— Santees, Yanktonais, and Lakotas. For the Santees, the Dakota War and Punitive Expeditions brought them to the edge o f national de­ struction, shattering and dividing them as a people and scatter­ ing them across the Great Plains from Canada to Nebraska. For the Yanktonais, one m ilitary engagement struck them as hard as Pearl Harbor and the events o f 9/11 did the United States. The Lakotas, still smarting from their defeat in the First Sioux War, engaged the U.S. Army once more, growing in their knowledge o f how to fight the whites and beginning a war that would even­ tually embrace much o f the Northern Plains. Further, although the common view is that the expeditions were a complete victory for the m ilitary, this is not exactly accurate. The Sioux showed an

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Xltl

ability to adapt to the a rtille ry and small arms advantages o f the army, fought a successful rearguard action to the Missouri River, made excellent use o f terrain during the army’s march through the Badlands, and scored numerous individual feats against the soldiers. What also sets this study apart from early works on the Puni­ tive Expeditions are the points o f view o f the common soldier and those Sioux caught up in the conflict. In doing research for this book, I read the books, articles, diaries, and letters o f more than 120 soldiers who served in the campaigns. Often left untold is the Dakotas’ view o f these events. Personal narratives from the Sioux are more d ifficu lt to obtain, but those I have located, along with those o f the soldiers, tell us much about the expeditions and add a human side to the conflict. By using a more “ bottom up” approach, a richer, more complete understanding o f the Punitive Expeditions o f 1863 and 1864 and their impact on the partici­ pants emerges. For the soldiers, the campaigns remained a mat­ ter o f revenge even after the generals and politicians claimed other reasons for the expeditions to continue. For the Sioux, the conflicts rained disaster down upon the Dakotas, many o f whom had no desire for war; led to a devastating slaughter o f the Yanktonais; and caused the Lakotas to be pulled into the fighting. Overall, the m ilita ry offensives often struck the wrong targets among the Sioux, leaving one to wonder if the expeditions were necessary or just an opportunity for John Pope to use a m ilitary solution in order to redeem his career. There are many people to thank for their support and assis­ tance in the w ritin g o f this book: The staff o f the Minnesota H istorical Society, Greg Wysk and Jim Davis o f the N orth Da­ kota H istory Society, and Ken Stewart o f the South Dakota H is­ torical Society for their help in obtaining the diaries and letters o f the soldiers on the expeditions. K ristina Southwell, Univer­ sity o f Oklahoma Library, and Starla Siegmund and Jenny

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PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Baker, Wisconsin Lutheran College Library, for their assistance in finding much-needed materials. La Donna Brave B ull A lla rd for her help with the Yanktonais. Everyone associated w ith the University o f Oklahoma Press, including Emily Jerman and free­ lance copyeditor Margery Tippie, with particular thanks to ac­ quisitions editor Alessandra Tamulevich for her guidance and support. My gratitude to Gary K raft for his excellent maps. A very special thank-you to Bobby Reece, who encouraged me to start this project and got the ball ro llin g for me. Finally, as al­ ways, Pro Gloria Dei.

Colum ns o f Vengeance

CHAPTER 1

The C om ing o f W ar “ WE . . . WERE I N A STARVING C O N D IT IO N ”

From the earliest settlements at Plymouth and James­ town, Americans had always been expansionists. Ever moving westward, crossing the Appalachian Mountains into the inte rio r o f the continent, they were driven by a desire for land ownership, personal independence, and the idea o f a better life. Indepen­ dence from Great Britain only accelerated the expansion. The new United States grew with more states jo in in g the Union, a rising population, and the continuing desire to push farther west, which meant defeating those American Indian tribes that resisted the encroachment. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson finalized the purchase o f Louisiana from the French, doubling the size o f the United States. Shortly thereafter, Jefferson sent a m ilita ry expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and W illiam Clark to explore up the Missouri River and report on what they discovered. As the Lewis and Clark expedition made its way up the Missouri, they encountered the N orthern Plains leaders o f the Dakota, or Sioux, nation. The meeting was cordial, and the Americans continued their journey.3 3

4

COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

Two years later in 1805, farther to the east, another army of­ ficer, Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike, also met with chieftains o f the Sioux. Traveling up the Mississippi River, Pike held a conference with the Sioux near the mouth o f the Minnesota River in presentday Minnesota. Pike’s purpose for the conference was to pur­ chase two sections o f land from the Sioux for the establishment o f two m ilitary posts in the area, one o f which would be Fort Snelling.1 Pike’s conference occurred hundreds o f miles to the east from where Lewis and Clark met with the Sioux. Spreading from the woodlands of eastern Minnesota to the western prairies of presentday Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana, the Sioux nation encom­ passed an extensive territory. It is unknown whether Lewis, Clark, or Pike realized they had encountered a people as expansionist as the Americans. The origins o f the Sioux are unclear. It is known that they m i­ grated to the region that became Minnesota, but when and from where is not known. The Lakota Sioux believed that their people emerged from the W ind Cave in the Black Hills. The Mdewakantons of the Eastern Sioux felt their place of origin was the mouth of the Minnesota River.2 By the seventeenth century, the Sioux were firm ly settled in Minnesota but soon began to move westward. The Sioux called themselves Dakotas, the “ Da” meaning “considered” and the “ kota” or sometimes “ koda” meaning “united or allied.” Sioux was the name given to them by neighboring tribes, meaning “snakes,” and quickly picked up by the white Americans moving into the region. Initially, certain Sioux bands—the Lakotas, Yanktons, Yanktonais, Sissetons, Wahpekutes, Wahpetons, and Mdewakantons—comprised an alliance called the Seven Council Fires.3 In turn, these seven bands were made up o f smaller bands. The Lakotas consisted o f seven—the Oglalas, Brules, Miniconjous, Hunkpapas, Sans Arcs, Two Kettles, and Blackfeet— and would push the farthest to the west. The Yanktonais had

THE COMING OF WAR

5

four bands— Hunkpatias, Wazikutas, Kiyuksas, and Cutheads— while the Yanktons consisted o f seven. The Yanktons and Yanktonais, who saw themselves as one people, along with the Sissetons, Wahpekutes, Wahpetons, and Mdewakantons called themselves Dakotas. However, the Lakotas referred to the four latter bands as Santees and considered them the elder, or father, division o f the tribe that remained in Minnesota when the Lakotas, Yank­ tons, and Yanktonais m igrated farther to the west. The name Santee meant “camp at knife,” a name whose origin is unclear but may refer to the pipestone region in southwestern M inne­ sota. The Santees, never a cohesive group but four independent bands, held high prestige among the Sioux, especially the Mde­ wakantons, as they were believed to be the descendants o f Tohake, the first Sioux man to emerge from the W ind Cave.4 As the various band and tribal names can be confusing, the term “ Sioux” w ill be used to refer to the entirety o f the Dakota nation, while “ Santee” or “ Dakota” w ill be used when discussing the four eastern bands. Starting in the late seventeenth century, the Lakotas, Yank­ tons, and Yanktonais left Minnesota, expanding the Sioux te rri­ tory westward. W hile the hunting o f buffalo and trapping o f beavers for trade w ith the British were the main motivators for the m igration, a lesser factor was the increasing warfare w ith the better-armed Ojibwas pushing into Minnesota from the northeast.5 Although a m ilitant nation, the Sioux never saw themselves as the aggressor. To them all warfare was defensive. T h e ir expan­ sion to the west was necessary to obtain the resources such as grass, water, and hunting they needed to survive. They believed that to obtain the lands they wanted, they had to fight those na­ tions that currently held them. The first wave o f this westward surge occurred from the late seventeenth century through the m id-eighteenth. The Lakotas, Yanktons, and Yanktonais, well armed with trade muskets and equally well mounted on horses,

6

COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

drove the Otos, Cheyennes, Missouris, and Iowas out o f the lands east of the Missouri River in present-day North and South Da­ kota. They were then halted from crossing to the west banks o f the Missouri River by three powerful tribes: the Hidatsas, Mandans, and Omahas.6 By 1775 the Lakotas felt the need to again expand their te rri­ tory. Buffalo hides were in high demand for trade with the Span­ ish and French, yet the buffalo herds east o f the Missouri River were becoming depleted. From 1779 to 1802 outbreaks o f small­ pox devastated the sedentary Hidatsas and Mandans, weakening them m ilitarily and making possible a second wave o f Sioux con­ quest, this time across the Missouri River. Moving rapidly, the Lakotas soon reached the Black Hills. They further expanded to the south with m ilitary victories over the Omahas and Poncas. By 1803 the Lakotas held new hunting grounds that ran as far west as the Yellowstone River in present-day Montana.7 Involved more with trapping beaver than hunting buffalo, the Yanktons and Yanktonais were content to remain behind in the lands east o f the Missouri River. Numbering some five thousand, the Yanktons settled in the lower James River valley and the Yanktonais occupied the lands between the Missouri River and the James River south o f Devil’s Lake. Unlike the Lakotas, who were nomadic, the Yanktons and Yanktonais embraced a more seminomadic or even sedentary lifestyle. They settled into round earthen lodges, used bull boats, planted crops, and fished. A l­ though not as dependent on the buffalo for survival, the Yank­ tons and Yanktonais still continued to hunt them for trade and meat.8 The Yanktons, and especially the Yanktonias, became the bridge between the Lakotas and Dakotas. Members from all three divisions intermixed and maintained a close alliance. Charles Eastman, a writer of Mdewakanton and Wahpeton descent, stated that the Sioux were “a patient and clannish people; their love for one another is stronger than that of any civilized people I know.”

THE COMING OF WAR

7

Living in the center o f the Sioux nation, it was the Yanktonais who took on the im portant role o f mediators for the various v il­ lages, bands, and divisions o f the Sioux, easing tensions, working out problems, and keeping everyone united. They often preferred diplomacy to confrontation.9 Faced with a depleted buffalo herd and a rising population (Lakota numbers had increased to fifteen to twenty thousand people), the Sioux initiated one final burst o f expansion, starting in the 1830s. Along with their allies the Cheyennes and Arapahos, the Lakotas pushed southward into present-day Nebraska and Kansas. By 1849 they had defeated the Pawnees along the Platte River and so badly crushed the Hidatsas, Mandans, and Arikaras as to make them nearly subjugated nations to the Sioux. Meanwhile, the Yanktons and Yanktonais pushed northward to­ ward Canada, giving battle to the Crees and Assiniboines.10 A t the m idpoint o f the nineteenth century, the Sioux were at the height o f their power. They controlled an impressive amount o f territory, encompassing parts or all o f eight present-day states. They had decisively defeated a number o f their enemies and neu­ tralized many more. Soon, however, pressure from a larger, even more expansionist people put all their victories in jeopardy. In 1820, after exploring the Platte River, Major Stephen Long wrote a report o f his expedition that referred to the Great Plains as the “ Great American Desert.” Long deemed impossible the settlement o f this vast, barren region by Americans. But although a daunting barrier, the Great Plains only briefly stopped the ex­ pansionist Americans. Stephen Long may have believed that the Great Plains would prove an impassable barrier to further American expansion, but by the 1840s trails were being created across the prairie to the rich farmlands o f Oregon beyond the Rocky Mountains. What started as a trickle o f some 200 emigrants in 1842 became a flood by the end o f the decade. Thousands o f Americans fleeing eco­ nomic hardships back East and encouraged by the success o f the

8

COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

Mexican-American War and the discovery of gold in California poured into the West. In 1849 30,000 miners heading for the mine camps in California passed through Fort Laramie, and the following year 50,000 people used the Oregon Trail. Between 1850 and 1854, another 145,000 travelers passed through Fort Laramie. These newcomers crossed over Sioux territory, putting increased pressure on the supplies of grass, water, and wood as well as making hunting more difficult. In 1851, with tensions mounting on both sides, the federal gov­ ernment held a meeting with the various Northern Plains tribes at Fort Laramie. The resulting Fort Laramie Treaty was to keep the peace among the tribes as well as with the incoming emigrants. The treaty also allowed the United States Army to establish posts along the roads to better administer the peace, for which the tribes would receive annuities from the government.11Three years later, although stationed in the West to ensure peace, the army instead initiated a war with the Lakotas. The First Sioux War began in August 1854 with the killin g of a cow by a Miniconjou man after it had been left behind by a Mor­ mon emigrant train heading for Utah. Upon reaching the nearby Fort Laramie, the owner of the cow demanded justice from the army. Eventually a small expedition of soldiers, led by inexperi­ enced Second Lieutenant John Grattan and supported by a drunken interpreter, was sent to arrest the man responsible for the killing. The ensuing conflict, known as the Grattan Fight, left all twenty-nine men of the expedition dead and led the following year to a much larger punitive military expedition, commanded by General William S. Harney. Harney’s victory at Blue Water Creek against a surprised Brule camp left many women and chil­ dren dead and so shocked the Lakotas that they quickly requested a peace conference with Harney, ending the war.12Later, in 1857, a summer conference of the Lakotas was to take place at Bear Butte, near the Black Hills, where a consensus was reached by those who attended that the Lakotas would defend their lands

THE COMING OF WAR

9

and not back down before the Americans again.13 The 1850s were also to find the Dakotas under increasing pressure from white settlement. In 1849 the Minnesota Territory was established, with Alexan­ der Ramsey appointed the first territorial governor. A rriving in St. Paul in May, Ramsey immediately advocated that a treaty be signed with the Dakotas, placing them on a reservation and open­ ing their lands to white settlers. Ramsey stayed at the home of Henry H. Sibley, a local Indian trader, businessman and Demo­ cratic Party politician, who endorsed the idea of a treaty, using his influence among the Santees to encourage their involvement.14 At the time, the white population of the new territory was small but growing at a rapid rate. In 1849 there were 3,814 white set­ tlers; by 1858, the year Minnesota became a state, the number had jumped to 150,000. The demand that the approximately 6,000 Dakotas sell their vast land holdings was impossible to deny. In the summer of 1851, two treaty conferences were held with the four Dakota bands. The Upper Sioux bands of the Sissetons and Wahpetons met with government officials at Traverse des Sioux and the Lower Sioux bands of the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute at Mendota. What transpired at the conferences was a disaster for the Santees. The treaties sold some twenty-four m illion acres of land in Minnesota, Iowa and the soon-to-be created Dakota Territory for minimal amounts of money. The upper bands received $1,665,000 and the lower bands $1,410,000 in cash and annuities. Against these totals, Indian traders such as Sibley put in claims and were awarded cash payments by the government. Sibley asked for and received $145,000. The corruption was obvious, with Indian trad­ ers, government officials, and Indian agents all working together to steal from the Dakotas, who were quite aware o f what was being done to them. Even Ramsey profited by the treaties, accept­ ing $55,000 of the available money. In 1853 the U.S. Senate inves­ tigated the charges of fraud, finding that deceit and oppressive

10

COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

actions had occurred, but did not punish anyone for the crim inal and unethical behavior.15 The reservation awarded to the Dakotas consisted o f a section of land running 150 miles along the north and south banks o f the Minnesota River with a width o f 10 miles on each side o f the river. In 1858, with settlers still desiring more land, the Santees were pressured to sell o ff their lands on the north bank o f the Minnesota. Joseph Brown, the current Indian agent, hoped to obtain $5.00 an acre for the land, but the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs lowered the price to $1.25. Even this was too high for the Senate, which further decreased the amount. Eventually the Treaty o f 1858 paid the Dakotas 33 cents an acre for the one m illion acres o f land sold to the government. Yet again, the cor­ ruption of the Indian traders robbed the Santees o f most o f the $266,880 they had been awarded. Sibley and thirty-fou r other claimants were granted $155,000 o f the treaty money.16 Placed on a reservation where they did not want to live, the Dakotas soon saw the Minnesota River valley inundated by settlers who surrounded the reservation, making hunting in ­ creasingly d ifficu lt and causing the Santees to become ever more dependent on the annuity money and foodstuffs provided by the government. W ith growing hunger and social problems, the Da­ kotas began to divide over the issue o f assimilation. Some Santees believed the only hope for their people was to convert to C hristi­ anity and take up farming, while others firm ly insisted on retain­ ing the traditional culture. The Yanktons and Yanktonais were also under pressure to sell land to the federal government. In 1856 the government began talks with the Yanktons to sell a sizable section o f land between the Big Sioux and Missouri Rivers. On A pril 19, 1857, Indian trader John B. S. Todd, who led the American delegation, finally achieved the signing of a treaty. The Yanktons sold 14 m illion acres of land for 12 cents an acre. They also received a 400,000acre reservation, the Greenwood Agency, with annuities to be

THE COMING OF WAR

11

paid over the next fifty years. W ithin four years the new Dakota T erritory would be established and the lands thrown open for white settlement.17 The government had less success with the Yanktonais, who refused to sign any treaty giving away tribal lands unless the en­ tire Sioux nation, including the Lakotas and Dakotas, agreed to the sale. In the Dakota language, Yanktonais meant “ little end dwellers.” The Yanktonais lived from the western borders o f Minnesota across the northern plains o f what would soon be the Dakota T erritory. A seminomadic people, they served as gobetweens for the Lakotas and Dakotas. They had close ties to the Hunkpapa band o f the Lakotas and they also had a long history o f peaceful relations with whites, having never harmed or fought against them. In fact, some Yanktonais had supported the Amer­ icans in the War o f 1812. But as with the Lakotas and other Da­ kotas, their interactions with the Americans were changing. By the 1850s the Yanktonais were faced with declining food sources, disease, and pressures to sell their lands. Upset w ith the Yanktons and Santees for selling tribal lands, especially because cer­ tain areas sold belonged to them and thus were sold illegally, the Yanktonais were also unhappy over troops being stationed at Fort Pierre and newly established Fort Randall, bu ilt on Sioux lands.18 The Yanktonais were not alone in their feelings o f betrayal over the signing o f the various treaties. The Yanktons felt they too should receive part o f the Santees’ annuities for land sales in Minnesota, and the Lakotas were furious at the Yanktons for signing away their lands, lands they believed the Yanktons had no right to sell, as they had belonged to the Lakotas through ear­ lier conquests. The 1850s proved to be a time of growing problems and tum ult for the entire Sioux nation. There were disagreements among the Lakotas and Dakotas over land sales and quarreling among bands and villages over whether to assimilate or resist the rising white

12

COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

encroachment and threats to the traditional way o f life, including the ability to hunt and trade for a living. And always there were more roads, new forts, and constantly increasing numbers o f white settlers. Violent acts were starting to occur between the Sioux and the Americans. In 1854 it had been the b rie f First Sioux War. Then, in 1857, came shocking massacres o f white set­ tlers at Spirit Lake, Iowa, and Springfield, Minnesota, led by a Wahpekute chieftain named Inkpaduta. Inkpaduta and a small band o f followers, numbering some forty to fifty people, had refused to sign the Mendota Treaty sell­ ing Wahpekute lands and declined to move onto the new reser­ vations, preferring to continue to live on traditional Wahpekute lands in northern Iowa. These same lands soon attracted white settlers. In 1838 Iowa had become a territory and, eight and h a lf years later, a state with a population o f eighty thousand whites.19 Most citizens of the new state lived in eastern Iowa along the Mis­ sissippi River, but more hardy souls pushed into northern Iowa. For several years relations between Inkpaduta and the incom­ ing settlers were sometimes tense, with Inkpaduta and other Sioux harassing whites, wanting them to leave the area, but over­ all interaction between the two groups was cordial. Inkpaduta even had several good friendships with whites. But in 1854 a kinsman o f Inkpaduta was wantonly murdered and the m ur­ derer never apprehended by the white authorities. This embit­ tered Inkpaduta, only fueling his frustrations over the in flu x o f whites onto lands Inkpaduta still believed belonged to the Wahpekutes. Yet Inkpaduta’s village continued to exist next to the emerging towns of the area until a devastating winter struck in 1856. The winter was brutally cold, with massive amounts o f snow that did not let up for months. Running low on food and facing starvation, the citizens of the town of Smithland took out their fears on the Sioux. A m ilitia surrounded Inkpaduta’s camp, took

THE COMING OF WAR

13

all their weapons, and exiled them from the area. Soon after leaving Smithland, a grandson o f Inkpaduta died from the cold and hunger. Rearming themselves by robbing unsuspecting set­ tlers, the Wahpekutes moved to Spirit Lake in northern Iowa, only to find this remote area had also been settled by a number o f whites living in cabins spread along the three local lakes. From March 8 to 10, 1857, Inkpaduta’s band proceeded to m urder every man, woman, and child they found except for the four women they took prisoner. Leaving thirty-two people dead behind him , Inkpaduta moved into southern Minnesota and attacked the small frontier community o f Springfield some two weeks later. An­ other seven people died in this assault.20 Inkpaduta’s revenge raids threw the region into a panic. Thou­ sands o f settlers fled to escape the wrath o f the Sioux, who, it was believed, were rising to massacre all the settlers. Several m ilitary expeditions failed to capture Inkpaduta. He escaped to the west, living among the Yanktons and Yanktonais. Unpunished, Ink­ paduta became a frontier boogeyman constantly accused o f com­ m itting further hostilities against the whites. Some Santees saw Inkpaduta as a renegade and aided the army in trying to appre­ hend him , but most respected him and quietly approved o f his actions in defending his people— especially since the 1860s found conditions worsening for the Sioux. In 1860, gold was discovered along the upper Missouri River in present-day Montana, and hundreds o f hopeful miners started to make the ir way to the minefields. To reach the fields, they passed through lands held by the Lakotas and Yanktonais. Some traveled up the Missouri River, but many crossed overland to Montana. The Sioux objected to this overland travel, m aintain­ ing that the Fort Laramie Treaty allowed only for river travel up the Missouri River. Over the next five years. Congress autho­ rized three wagon roads and established m ilitary posts at Forts Berthold, Union, Rice, and Wadsworth, while miners continued

14

COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

to reach the minefields by steamboat and road.21 Frustrated, the Sioux became divided over how best to respond to this new chal­ lenge to their sovereignty. On March 2, 1861, President James Buchanan signed legisla­ tion authorizing the establishment o f the Dakota Territory. P rior to this, settlers had already been moving into the southern cor­ ner of present-day South Dakota, founding the town o f Sioux City in 1855 and Sioux Falls the following year. By 1860 two thousand whites were living in the region, and w ithin two years, when the new territory was officially opened to settlement, this number had risen to five thousand.22 Also living in the territory were the Yanktons on their reservation and the still roaming Yanktonais, along with bands o f Lakotas and Dakotas who hunted buffalo there. In Minnesota, conditions on the Santee reservation were at poverty levels. With so many settlers in the Minnesota River val­ ley, hunting was largely ineffectual. Traders on the reservation were charging high prices for food and taking more o f the annu­ ity monies when they arrived. Starving, with their culture and traditions under assault from Indian agents and Christian mis­ sionaries, and constantly facing the racism of local settlers, some Santees tried to escape by assimilating into the white culture, becoming Christians and taking up farm ing. Many Dakotas just tried to survive as their resentment toward the whites grew, and events took another turn for the worse with the coming o f the C ivil War. It was the expansionist desires o f Americans that led to the United States’ most destructive war. Victory over Mexico in the Mexican-American War added nearly 500,000 square miles o f territory to the growing nation. This victory came with a price, as the North and the South divided over the issue o f slavery in the newly acquired region. After the presidential election o f 1860, when the Republicans—opponents of slavery expansion—won the contest by electing Abraham Lincoln, eleven southern slave

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15

states eventually seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States o f America. In A p ril 1861 the Confederacy’s firin g on Fort Sumter started the Civil War. Governor Alexander Ramsey was in Washington, D.C., when word reached the capital o f Fort Sumter’s surrender. The next day, A p ril 14, Ramsey went to the War Department and offered to raise a Minnesota regiment o f 1,000 for the Union. The fol­ lowing day President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to be raised by the states to defeat the insurrection.23 On A p ril 29, with much enthusiasm, Minnesota organized the 1st Minnesota Infan­ try Regiment, which was then dispatched to Washington, D.C. Eventually Minnesota would send 15 percent o f its population into the army during the war. As young men made up 25 percent o f the state’s population, this number was quite high.24 Naively, Lincoln believed that the rebellion could be put down by the small 15,000-man regular army supported by the newly raised 75,000 state volunteers, who enlisted for three months. The federal losses at Bull Run and Wilson’s Creek soon dispelled that idea. On May 3, 1861, Lincoln issued a call to the states for an additional 300,000 men, this time to serve for three years. Un­ der this new call, Minnesota pledged to contribute four additional in fa ntry regiments and three companies o f cavalry. Recruit­ ment for the new regiments started that summer and continued through the winter. Much o f the romance o f warfare had dissi­ pated by this time, and recruitm ent was slow. Yet C. C. Adams, a member o f the 3rd Minnesota Regiment, later believed that it could have been worse: “ I f anyone had dreamed that in the course o f a year our peaceful frontier would have been swept by Indian war, success in recruiting would have been much less than it was.” 25 Recruitment dragged to a point that the government issued bounties o f money to men who would enlist. Minnesota was able to fu lfill its quota o f new regiments but soon faced another call for volunteers. The summer o f 1862 brought new problems and

16

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defeats for the Union. A fter a positive spring that saw Union armies advance to the outskirts of Richmond, occupy much o f Tennessee, and move southward down the Mississippi River, the summer proved a disaster. General George McClellan’s Arm y o f the Potomac was defeated by Robert E. Lee in the Seven Days’ Battles and forced to retreat from Richmond, and Union attempts to capture Vicksburg on the Mississippi River failed. These set­ backs were followed by three Confederate offensives, into Mary­ land, Kentucky, and Missouri. In June and July 1862, fearing that Great Britain and France might intervene in the war and faced with mounting dissatisfaction with the overall war effort, Lincoln issued a third call for men, this time for 600,000.26 There was still support for the war as shown by a popular re­ frain, “We are coming from the hillside, we are coming from the plains; we are coming, father Abraham, 600,000 more.” 27 For Minnesota the call meant the raising o f five new infantry regi­ ments. Once more recruitment started o ff slowly, but many men still did volunteer to fight even as casualties in the war mounted at an alarming rate. The C ivil War historians Earl Hess, Reid Mitchell, and James McPherson have all written well-received books on what motivated Union soldiers to enlist. The reasons are numerous but also consistent: the need to save the Union and to safeguard the republican form of government that the found­ ing fathers had created, now in jeopardy from the conspiracyminded South that would destroy the Constitution. Often sol­ diers commented on their willingness to die “on the altar o f freedom,” in order to protect the laws and rights that made all American citizens equals. Also important was the need to prove one’s manhood. A true man stepped forward when called to fight not only for his country but for home and loved ones. How he carried out his duties, with self-discipline and in a civilized moral fashion, rejecting such things as drunkenness and brawling, also marked the individual as a man. Others fought to end slavery

THE COMING OF WAR

17

and to continue to move the country in a progressive manner into the future.28 The findings o f these historians are reflected in the personal accounts o f the men jo in in g the army in response to Lincoln’s th ird call, men who would soon be serving on the Punitive Expeditions. “ In 1862 I thought myself quite a man, being then seventeen so made up my mind to be a soldier,” wrote Charles Horton, whose fam ily was from England and received lands in Minnesota following the Treaty o f 1851, after jo in in g Company D, 10th M in­ nesota Infantry. He added with some pride, “ Three brothers out o f four fu ll blooded Englishmen enlisted to protect Old Glory or die in It’s defense.” At thirty, Pehr Carlson, 9th Minnesota Infan­ try, was much older than Horton yet echoed the younger man’s willingness to defend his country: “The Union flag is my home and I am ready with my life to safeguard its freedom against its enemies.” George Clapp, 7th Minnesota Infantry, agreed w ith Carlson, w riting his wife that he was w illing to die to “ uphold the flag o f my country.” Clapp was thirty-nine when he enlisted, leav­ ing his wife, Mariette, at home with their five children. “ Before going into the service,” wrote Clapp, “ I counted the cost, and now feel compelled to go forward.” James T. Ramer, 7th Minne­ sota Infantry, was raking grain with his brother when they heard of the call for five new regiments, w riting, “ I stepped o ff [the wagon], telling my brother Charles to take the rake, for I was go­ ing to enlist.” Months after volunteering, Duren Kelley, 7th M in­ nesota Infantry, believed he had done the rig ht thing. He wrote in a letter to his then girlfrien d Emma Rounce that “ I have never regretted the move for how could I stay out at home when all the boys were o ff for the wars.” The following year he and Emma were m arried.29 O ther men found comfort in their faith and drew upon it after enlisting. “ I believe that leaving all the endearments o f home and

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coming into the army in the midst o f my present surrounding and circumstances,” wrote Jacob Ham lin, 7th Minnesota Infan­ try, “ has been the means o f bringing me nearer to God. The ways of the Lord are mysterious and past finding out we do not always understand the designs o f God’s providence towards us and probably we never shall.” In 1864 Ham lin was to die from wounds suffered at the battle o f Nashville.30 Love o f country and willingness to die for the flag were not reasons that made Christopher Byrne, an Irish im m igrant, jo in the 10th Minnesota Infantry. He had heard the government was initiating a draft and, in a panic, volunteered to serve instead. “ I am a soldier in the so-called Union Army, not from a conviction o f fighting in a Just cause but the excitement o f the time and the misrule o f the administration has forced me,” acknowledged a bitter Byrne. He went on to call the conflict an “ unholy war.” Thomas Hodgson, 8th Minnesota Infantry, also joined to avoid being drafted. His parents strongly opposed the war. They could “scarcely have been more opposed to it had they been life-long Quakers,” remembered Hodgson.31 The desire to prove their manhood by jo in in g the army and fighting for their country was complicated for those men who were married. Victorian-era mores dictated that a real man took care o f his family. A husband’s enlistment, lasting for years, did place hardships on those left behind at home. Captain John Jones, 3rd Minnesota A rtillery, whose wife had difficulties with his leaving, wrote more than one letter trying to explain why he had to serve and encouraging her to focus on “ the cause.” Henry McConnell, 10th Minnesota Infantry, wanted his wife, Delia, to remember that she was “ the dearest being on the Earth to me.”32 Soldiers from Nebraska and Iowa who also served on the Pu­ nitive Expeditions shared the same views on enlisting and fam ily as their Minnesota comrades. George Belden was a frontiersmen living in polygamy with several American Indian wives on the Northern Plains when word arrived o f the war back East. “ I can

THE COMING OF WAR

19

not describe how these tidings affected me,” Belden recalled. “ I could not sleep, and all night long walked up and down the camp.” Soon after, he bid his wives good-bye and traveled to Omaha, where he enlisted in the 1st Nebraska Cavalry before later transferring to the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry.33 Siegmund Rothammer, 6th Iowa Cavalry, poured out his feel­ ings to his wife, Rosanah: “Oh Love! My country is dear to me, and my love for it, and my fam ily combined, caused me to make the sacrifice I did, conscientiously believing at the time, that it was my duty and that by so doing I could advance and better the conditions o f those who were nearest to my heart. But how little did I th in k, what a great sacrifice I was making.” He added, touchingly, “ My only consolation on such moments is, to look on your likeness, and I am not ashamed to say, that many a tear has dropped on its glass, and many a kiss have moistened it.”34 Unlike most other Union soldiers fighting in the war, men from Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska had another, more specific reason for jo in in g the army: the Dakota War o f 1862. Newcombe Kinney, 10th Minnesota, commented that most o f the men in the regiment had some connection to the victims killed in the fight­ ing: “ O ur regiment was made up mostly o f farmers and o f friends o f the murdered whites.” Amos Glanville, another soldier in the 10th Minnesota, decided “ that my duty is to go where my country calls, and I w ill, God’s grace assisting me, do all I can for this glorious cause.” The 1st Minnesota Mounted Rangers was a cav­ alry un it specifically organized to serve in the war with the Sioux. One member o f the regiment, Frank Griswold, wrote his parents why he had enlisted: “A horrible Indian raid upon our frontier has induced me to volunteer my services in a company o f cav­ alry.” Upon jo in in g the 10th Minnesota because o f the uprising. First Sergeant Thomas Jefferson Hunt sent his wife and three daughters back to Vermont to wait until his enlistment was over. His wife supported his enlistment, telling him to “go if you feel you ought, and God be with you.” Although he did not jo in because o f

20

COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

the Indian war, Charles Watson, 6th Minnesota Infantry, did not resent that it stopped him from fighting in the South, stating, “ I have made up my mind long ago that I am w illin g to go any where that we are ordered.”35 Watson was not the only Union soldier to discover he would not be engaging the Confederate enemy in combat but instead would face a much different foe. When the Civil War commenced, much of the regular army was stationed at numerous forts across the West. When these soldiers were recalled to serve in the East, replacements were needed for the regulars. Lincoln’s adm inistra­ tion decided that regiments o f volunteers would be posted to the West, and by 1865 twenty thousand Union soldiers were sta­ tioned there. The volunteers, often from frontier states and ter­ ritories, tended to hold a more pronounced racist attitude toward American Indians than had the regulars they replaced, so it was not surprising that, imbued with deep suspicion and loathing o f Indians, they engaged in a series o f wars with various tribes across the West. These wars were marred by atrocities and mas­ sacres, and deeply involved in several o f these new conflicts were the Sioux. In June 1861, companies from the newly raised 1st Minnesota Infantry were ordered to Forts Ridgely, Ripley, and Abercrombie as garrison troops to replace the departing regulars. They, in turn, were relieved by companies from the 2nd Minnesota Infan­ try later that year, and companies from the 3rd Minnesota Infan­ try and 4th Minnesota Infantry would then take their places. In A pril of 1862 Companies B and C, 5th Minnesota Infantry, were posted to oversee the reservations. Unlike other volunteers, the Minnesota soldiers treated the Sioux fairly and attempted to con­ tinue the regulars’ policy of keeping the peace and enforcing the treaties. Soon after their enlistments, three hundred soldiers from companies A, B, and C, 14th Iowa Infantry, led by Captain John Pattee, were ordered to the western outpost, Fort Randall in the

THE COMING OF WAR

21

Dakota Territory. Here they replaced the regular army garrison for service back East. Sworn into the army in October 1861, Amos Cherry, 14th Iowa Infantry, soon was marching from Iowa City, Iowa, to the distant Fort Randall. A t Clear Creek, Iowa, accord­ ing to Cherry, women gave the soldiers a handmade flag while bands played, and a Miss Washburn called upon them “ to prove true to this ju st cause and . . . that we as brave men o f Iowa would m aintain the honor o f that beautiful emblem of our Countrys glory.” This was followed by a feast thrown for them by the citi­ zens o f G rinnell, Iowa. The men were fed so royally that “our camp looked like one vast Bakery.” They received a quite differ­ ent reception at Bear Grove Station, Iowa. Here the war was not popular, and one woman declared that her son, serving with the 4th Iowa Infantry, “was a fool.” Displeased, Cherry commented, “ We found we was talking to a lot o f sescisionists.”36 Eventually, in December, the Iowans reached their destina­ tion. “ Here we came . . . some wigwams and a few Indians. These were the first Indians we had seen. They were quite a curiosity to us all,” wrote Cherry. Cherry was not impressed by the local Indian agent, who, he heard, “ from all accounts is a rascall and cheets the Indians out o f their ju st dues.”37 Cherry was con­ cerned that the poor treatment o f the Yanktons and Yanktonais could lead to an uprising against the Iowa garrison. He was mis­ taken, but a war with the Sioux did commence back in M inne­ sota, involving the Santees. The coming o f the C ivil War only exacerbated the problems on the Dakota reservation. Faced with ever-increasing white set­ tlement in the Minnesota River valley, the Dakotas confronted the clearly racist attitude exhibited by many o f the emigrants. One individual wrote, “ Minnesota was anti-slavery regarding the Negroes, but locally it was more anti-Indian.” Yet the Santees were expected to assimilate into this hostile culture. Big Eagle, a leader o f the Mdewakanton, argued, “ if the Indians had tried to make the whites live like them, the whites would have resisted.. . .

22

COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

The Indians wanted to live as they d id before the T reaty o f T ra ­ verse des Sioux— go where they pleased and when they pleased.” Many older chiefs encouraged assim ilation, w hile younger leaders advocated the traditional way o f life. T h e ir view was reinforced by contact w ith the s till freely roam ing Yanktonais. A ssim ilation was a threat to male honor and to the male role as hu nte r and w arrior. Traditionalists form ed soldier lodges to challenge the assim ilationists, especially those Sioux converting to C hristianity, pro m o tin g ritu a l and social customs.38 Always there was the problem o f hunger. W ith so m any people in the valley, hu nting and tra p p in g were becom ing d iffic u lt, and it was no longer possible to feed the roughly six thousand D ako­ tas on the reservation. In d ia n traders continued to abuse the system, overcharging fo r th e ir provisions and cla im in g m uch o f the annuity monies. The b ru ta l 1861-62 w in te r b roug ht w ith it starvation. By sum mer 1862 the Santees were desperate fo r re­ lief, and the annuity payment was late, not a rriv in g u n til August. T his desperation nearly caused an outbreak o f violence at the U p­ per Sioux Agency when, in June, large numbers o f Sissetons and Wahpetons gathered for the d istrib u tio n o f an nuity provisions and money. “ We went there because we wanted some food,” Good F ifth Son remembered. “ We . . . were in a starving co n d itio n .” 39 Indian Agent Thomas G albraith, an incom petent p o litic a l ap­ pointee, refused to release any o f the food stored in the w are­ houses u n til the money arrived, w hile the In d ia n traders rejected a ll pleas to extend fu rth e r cre d it to the hu ngry Sioux. O nly the a rriva l o f two companies o f the 5th M innesota In fa n try and the quick th in k in g o f Captain John Marsh saved the situation. The reason the annuity was late had everything to do w ith the C ivil War. The conditions in the treaty stated tha t the paym ent to the Santees must be made in gold, but the m ounting costs o f the war made gold d iffic u lt to obtain. A d d itio n a l impacts o f the con­ flic t back East influenced the Dakotas' decision to go to war. T h e Sioux were not impressed w ith the volunteer soldiers who had

T H E C O M ING OF WAR

23

replaced the regulars and had little respect fo r them . T h e fact th a t no m ilita ry force, ne ither regulars nor volunteers, had been able to apprehend Inkpaduta, whose stature only increased as conditions worsened on the reservations, led many Santee w ar­ rio rs to question the fig h tin g abilities o f the army. Soon after, of­ ficers came to the reservation and re cruite d m ixed-bloods fo r m ilita ry service. T h is convinced many tha t the whites were ru n ­ n in g low on m anpower and tha t few able-bodied men rem ained in M innesota.'10 Tensions were high when, on August 17,1862, fo u r young San­ tee men, out h u n tin g , stole some eggs fro m a local farm er, then k ille d five settlers near A ction, M innesota. Fleeing back to the Low er Sioux villages, they to ld th e ir elders w hat they had done. B elieving a ll w ould be punished fo r this incident, a m a jo rity o f the M dewakantons and W ahpekutes decided upon a w ar w ith the whites. Less enthusiastic about fig h tin g , fa r fewer Sissetons and W ahpetons, m a in ly younger men, jo in e d in the co n flict. A lth o u g h at firs t reluctant to become involved, the M dewakanton c h ie f L ittle Crow soon became the recognized leader o f the rebellion. B orn in 1820, L ittle Crow was forty-tw o, w ith six wives and tw enty-tw o ch ild re n , and had been c h ie f fo r seventeen years at the sta rt o f the Dakota W ar o f 1862. As a young m an, he had led a questionable life o f im m oral behavior th a t included d rin k ­ in g and sexual prom iscuity. A t one po in t, upon becom ing chief, two o f his h a lf brothers had trie d to k ill h im . However, L ittle Crow m atured as a leader o f his people and was now w ell respected.11 O n A ugust 18 the w ar started w ith an attack on the Low er Sioux Agency. T h irty -o n e people, in clu d in g In d ia n traders, agency employees, women, and ch ild re n , died in the attack, w ith ten m ore persons taken prisoner. S urvivors fled to the safety o f Fort Ridgely. C aptain M arsh, not understanding the severity o f the situation, proceeded w ith most o f the seventy-eight-m an gar­ rison tow ard the Low er Sioux Agency. Reaching the M innesota

24

C O LU M N S OF V E N G E A N C E

River, Marsh prepared to cross at the Redwood Ferry, on ly to be ambushed by the Dakotas. Marsh and tw enty-three men died in the attack. The rem ainder o f the soldiers made th e ir way back to the fo rt as best they could.42 Le ft in command at Fort Ridgely was nineteen-year-old L ie u­ tenant Thomas Gere. W ith only th irty men and the post fillin g up w ith panicked civilians, Gere sent a messenger ra cin g fo r St. Paul w ith a re p o rt to G overnor Ramsey. T h e D akota W ar o f 1862— a war that w ould leave hundreds o f w hite settlers dead, divide the various bands and villages o f the Dakotas, and lead to punitive expeditions— had commenced.

CHAPTER 2

The D akota W ar o f 1862 “ L E T I T BE A W AR OF E X T E R M IN A T IO N ”

Successful in its surprise attacks on the Low er Sioux Agency and against in d iv id u a l settlers, the Sioux offensive was b lu n te d by two lost engagements. T h e firs t assault occurred at New U lm , the nearest w hite settlem ent to the reservation. O n A ugust 19 the Dakotas moved against New U lm . Soon fierce fig h tin g broke o u t between the S ioux w a rrio rs and various qu ickly raised m ilitia groups defending the town. A lth o u g h a l­ most the e n tire tow n was destroyed in the fig h tin g , the defenders held and the Sioux w ithd rew in defeat. T h e next day, A ugust 20, the Sioux trie d to overw helm the reinforced g a rrison at F o rt Ridgely. M a kin g good use o f a rtille ry , soldiers stopped the Dako­ tas fro m en terin g the post and drove the attackers o ff. T h e two losses were a serious check to the spreading o f the war. M eanw hile, having been info rm e d o f the u p risin g , G overnor Ramsey was w o rkin g to deal w ith the crisis. O n A ugust 21 he in ­ form ed Secretary o f W ar E dw in Stanton o f the new w ar w ith a c h illin g telegram : “ T h e Sioux In d ia n s on o u r western b o rd e r have risen, and are m u rd e rin g men, women and c h ild re n .” 1 S till, 25

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COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

even w ith this alert, the Lincoln a d m in istra tio n in itia lly d id nothing about the uprising. T he new crisis could not have come at a worse tim e fo r President Lincoln. A fte r a sp rin g th a t prom ­ ised much fo r the U nion, thanks to strong advancements dow n the Mississippi R iver and General George M cC lellan’s approach to Richmond, the sum mer saw only setbacks. G eneral Ulysses S. G rant failed in his firs t attem pt to capture V icksburg, and a C on­ federate arm y under General B raxton Bragg outm aneuvered U nion general Don Carlos Buell and advanced deep in to K en­ tucky, setting up a pro-C onfederate state governm ent and th re a t­ ening northern states w ith invasion. N ot only was M cC lellan de­ feated by Robert E. Lee outside o f R ichm ond in the Seven Days’ Battles, but in August Lee followed up his victo ry w ith a move northw ard, his inte nt to defeat a second U nion arm y u n d e r Gen­ eral John Pope. O nly Pope’s A rm y o f V irg in ia stood between Lee and W ashington, D.C. The outcome o f the cu rre n t cam paign was s till in doubt when Ramsey’s telegram reached the capital.2 The second step Ramsey took was to appoint the fifty-ye a r-o ld H enry H. Sibley as a colonel o f the volunteers, tasking h im w ith preparing a force to rescue Fort Ridgely and the settlers caught up in the conflict. Sibley had firs t come to M innesota in 1834 after earning a degree in law in M ichigan, becom ing a successful fu r trader and politician. A lthough long-term p o litica l opponents, Ramsey and Sibley had over the years rem ained firm friends. Sibley was a m ild ly antislavery, Jeffersonian-style Dem ocrat. He had been the firs t Minnesota te rrito ria l delegate to Congress be­ fore ru nnin g for te rrito ria l governor against Ramsey in 1857. Sib­ ley won the contest in a razor-close election, by a m argin o f 240 votes. In 1859, however, the new state o f Minnesota went over­ whelm ingly fo r the new Republican Party. Ramsey was elected the first state governor, the legislature became controlled by the Republicans, and two Republican congressmen and one senator went to W ashington.3

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27

Sibley had declined to ru n fo r governor and rem ained non­ com m ittal as the sectional crisis deepened th ro u g h o u t the coun­ try . In the 1860 presidential election some Dem ocrats, in c lu d in g Senator H e n ry Rice, an old tra d in g p a rtn e r o f Sibley’s and now a b itte r enemy, supported a pro-southern approach w hile a m a jo rity o f the pa rty backed the nom ination o f Senator Stephen Douglas o f Illin o is . A lth o u g h a state delegate to the D em ocratic conventions in C harleston and B altim ore, Sibley d id n o t actively take a side bu t urged com prom ise to keep the p a rty un ited. W hen w ar broke o u t the fo llo w in g year, Sibley, u n like many politicia ns, d id not seek a m ilita ry com mission.4 However, w ith an In d ia n w ar in his own state, he agreed to Ramsey’s request to take com m and o f the m ilita ry offensive against the Sioux. Five in fa n try regim ents— the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th— were a ll re c ru itin g in M innesota when the uprising began, but only the 6th M innesota In fa n try, supported by some local m ilitia s and a few m ounted troops, was well enough organized to serve against the Dakotas. In spring 1862, when firs t authorized to re cru it, the 6th M innesota In fa n try had found few men ready to enlist. N ot u n til later in the year, after the U nion m ilita ry setbacks and L in ­ coln’s announcem ent o f the Em ancipation Proclam ation, had re­ cru its begun appearing. Enlistm ents were fu rth e re d spurred by news o f the Dakota War. T h e men were recruited from various regions o f the state and came from a wide variety o f backgrounds and ethnicities. Company E was heavily Germ an, and the men re­ ferred to themselves as Sigel’s Guards, after a prom inent Germ an general in the U nion Arm y. Tw enty-four men in Company E had served in the m ilita ry p rio r to th e ir enlistm ents, and seventeen o f these had been in European armies, includ ing one man who had actually fought in the Battle o f W aterloo.5 T h e 6 th M innesota In fa n try was not the on ly re g im e n t to see enlistm ents increase w ith the news o f S ioux atrocities in the M innesota R iver valley. Charles H orton, 10th M innesota In fa n try ,

28

COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

acknowledged that “ blood was in our eyes, we had been am ong the Indians all our lives and had no fear o f them .” Most whites placed blame fo r the war com pletely on the Dakotas. “A massacre . . . fo r extent o f m o rta lity and h o rrib le details, was w ith o u t a p a ra l­ lel in Am erican histo ry o f the Sioux” was how Eugene W ilson saw the recent events, adding th a t the Sioux were “ a fierce 8c w arlike race.” W ilson soon became a captain in the newly raised 1st Minnesota M ounted Rangers, organized to fig h t the Dakotas. Others were more pragm atic in th e ir opinions o f the causes fo r the conflict. Captain John Pattee o f the 14th Iowa In fa n try, serv­ ing in the Dakota T e rritory, saw things differently. T he forty-tw oyear-old Canadian-born officer believed the citizens o f M innesota to be gu ilty: “ It was conceded at last that the w hite people o f M in ­ nesota, but mostly the people near and connected w ith the agency, were responsible fo r this appalling calam ity that ch ille d the blood o f the white race o f the U nited States.” 6 A lthough often criticized later fo r being too slow and cautious, Sibley gathered what forces were available and moved qu ickly in to the valley, reaching Fort Ridgely on August 27. Five days p rio r to Sibley’s a rrival, the soldiers at the post had defeated a second at­ tack, led by L ittle Crow. The Dakotas had suffered several set­ backs but were s till able to in flic t punishm ent on th e ir enemies. On September 2 a b u ria l party, includ ing Company A o f the 6 th Minnesota Infa n try, was ambushed at B irch Coulee. A fte r a des­ perate defense that lasted tw enty-four hours, re lie f forces fro m Fort Ridgely arrived to rescue the defenders. Sibley’s forces continued to grow as companies o f the various newly recruited regiments jo in e d the campaign. As the soldiers entered the combat area, they encountered the destruction and death caused by the Santee war parties. Charles Johnson, 6th Minnesota Infa n try, wrote o f the regim ental march in to the val­ ley: “ W ho shall describe the horrors and distresses witnessed in the march up the M innesota [River]? T he roads were lite r­ ally lined w ith fugitive settlers, w ith th e ir fam ilies, cattle and

T H E DAKOTA WAR OF 1862

29

household effects, terror-stricken and alm ost e n tire ly unarm ed.” Eighteen-year-old Charles Watson was also serving in the 6th M innesota In fa n try . A devout C hristian, Watson, usually an u p ­ beat man who took p rid e in being a good soldier, was depressed by w hat he witnessed, w ritin g , “ I have seen a great m any things since I le ft home. I have seen some aw ful sights, men w ith th e ir heads cut o ff and th e ir sculls a ll mashed to pieces.” 7 C orp ora l D uren Kelley, 7th M innesota In fa n try , missed his fiancee, “ my little d a rlin g ” Emma, deeply, confessing, “ W hat I have to w rite is ge tting to be an old story fo r me to w rite and te ll you how much 1 love you . . . but I can’t help it.” Troubled by w hat he had seen, he w rote to her, “ I have beheld scenes o f th e ir atrocities tha t w ould make the blood ru n cold. I have seen men— soldiers— butchered by them — lite ra lly cut in pieces— th e ir hearts cut out and th e ir bodies so m utilated tha t you w ould h a rdly m is­ tru s t they were once men.” A n enraged K elley wanted to “ k ill and spare not, ob litera te the last traces o f th is detestable race” ; twice he argued fo r the shooting o f Dakota prisoners taken by the arm y.8 “ I went ou t in a northw esterly d ire ctio n , 20 m iles, I found eve rythin g tu rn e d up side down, not a house escaped the ravages o f the miserable savages.” C aptain Leonard A ld ric h info rm e d his b ro th e r that he had found bodies “ m angled in every conceivable way. L ittle ch ild re n nailed up to doors o f houses by th e ir feet and thus le ft to die w ith th e ir heads hanging dow nw ard.” S erving w ith A ld ric h in Com pany F, 8th M innesota In fa n try , George Doud m arched throug h the nearly destroyed New U lm , noting, “ T h e town is now one com plete reck.” In his d ia ry Doud related m ore g rim images, in clu d in g “one g irl about twelve years old was found scalped and a ll o f her garm ents was to rn o ff fro m her. She was fastened to the side o f a house by d riv in g nails through her feet, her head was dow nw ard.” He also rem arked on wom en’s breasts cut o ff and pregnant women w ith u n born babies cut out fro m the womb. W illia m Paist, 8th M innesota In fa n try , w rote his

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wife o f a M r. Eton, found later in the year. H is head had been cut o ff and the flesh o f his body eaten by anim als. Paist recorded, “ I remembered the sorrow ful w ife and 2 little ch ild re n when they left here w ithout hope o f ever seeing th e ir husband 8c father any more.” W ritin g to his wife, Abby, George Adams, 6th M innesota, related details o f a patrol he had been on tha t discovered a woman and her child. They had been liv in g in the woods fo r eight weeks: He reported, “ She escaped from the Ind ians w ith two children and one o f them died from starvation. . . . T hey were nothing but skeletons,” having lived on leaves and a few raw potatoes. The woman had seen her husband k ille d and was s till so te rrifie d she couldn’t sleep.9 As soldiers continued to skirm ish w ith the Sioux and p a rtic i­ pate in b u ria l details, the Lincoln A dm in istratio n had come to view the war in a d iffe re n t lig h t. There was a grow ing concern that Confederate agents were behind the uprising. Horace Gree­ ley, the in flu e n tia l e d ito r o f the New York Tribune, believed so: “ The Sioux have doubtless been stim ulated . . . by w hite and red villains sent among them fo r this purpose by the Secessionists.” Secretary o f the In te rio r Caleb B. Smith agreed, in fo rm in g L in ­ coln that after exam ining a ll the data he was “ satisfied the c h ie f cause is to be found in the insurrection o f the Southern States.” T his caused Lincoln to claim Southern involvem ent in his State o f the Union address to Congress in December.10 Lincoln was also under m ounting political pressure to act on the crisis. Iowa’s governor, Samuel K irkw ood, believed tha t the Yankton Sioux had risen to jo in the Santees and Iowa was now facing a terrible massacre. W illiam Jayne, the governor o f the Da­ kota Territory, agreed w ith Kirkw ood, stating that the few tho u­ sand settlers o f the te rrito ry were being challenged by fifty tho u­ sand Sioux. The war was devastating for the new te rrito ry , w ith over h a lf o f the settlers fleeing the area fo r safety; the only inh ab­ ited city to rem ain was Yankton, the capital o f the te rrito ry . T h e Mankato Semi-Weekly Record reported that Sioux Falls had been

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abandoned by its citizens and later burned by the Sioux. From M innesota, Ramsey continued his call fo r aid, sending a b lu n t telegram to Lin coln: “ T h is is not o u r w a r . . . it is a national war.” 11 R ealizing the im portance o f the Midwest to the overall w ar e ffo rt against the Confederacy, supplying not only many men fo r the arm y but also vast amounts o f foodstuffs, Lin coln fi­ n a lly took action. On September 7, 1862, Secretary o f W ar Edwin Stanton issued General O rd e r no. 128 creating the m ilita ry D epartm ent o f the N orthw est, consisting o f the states o f M innesota, Iowa, and W is­ consin and the te rrito rie s o f Dakota and Nebraska, w ith depart­ m ental headquarters to be located in St. Paul. T he head o f the new departm ent was M ajor General John Pope.12 T he op p o rtu ­ n ity to assign Pope to the departm ent solved an em barrassing situation fo r Lin coln. Unhappy w ith the perform ance o f General M cC lellan, Lincoln had hoped to replace him w ith Pope, a suc­ cessful general who had shown leadership abilities in early cam­ paigns in the western theater o f the war. In sum m er 1862, Pope was ordered back East, where Lincoln gave him com mand o f the newly organized A rm y o f V irg in ia . W hen M cC lellan’s Peninsular Cam paign failed, Robert E. Lee and his A rm y o f N o rthern V ir­ g in ia were able to swing northw ard to challenge Pope. Here was Pope’s chance to achieve greatness and replace M cC lellan. A l­ though a talented officer, Pope was also outspoken, seemingly c ritic a l o f the troops and officers he commanded in the A rm y o f V irg in ia . He received little o r no support from M cC lellan, who clearly realized what Lincoln was attem pting. W hat followed was the disastrous Battle o f Second B u ll Run. O n August 29 and 30, Pope, outm aneuvered by Lee, suffered a crushing defeat that le ft L in coln’s plans in ru in . Pope, a loyal supporter o f Lincoln and the war, was now a lia b ility to the ad­ m in istra tio n and the perfect choice fo r the D epartm ent o f the N orthw est, a departm ent conveniently fa r removed from Wash­ ing ton. A t least one soldier serving under Sibley approved o f the

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appointment. Duren Kelley had never cared fo r Sibley, ca llin g him a “cowardly old poltroon” fo r his cautious actions in the val­ ley and noting, “ We are apprised that General Pope is to take command o f this division which news the men hail fo r jo y as we don’t like old Sibley at all.” 13 It was a d iffic u lt tim e fo r Pope. H is h u m ilia tin g loss at Second B ull Run was followed by the denigration o f his quick rem oval to a remote area o f the war. A ll o f this occurred as Pope was suffer­ ing deep personal pain; ju s t weeks before, his baby daughter had died. Pope’s career had been badly damaged, his personal life was unsettled, and he understood tha t this new assignm ent marked his fa ll from grace. Yet it did not stop him fro m under­ taking his current duties w ith energy and enthusiasm. O n Sep­ tember 16, 1862, Pope form ally took command o f the departm ent and immediately contacted General in C hief H enry H alleck. “ You have no idea o f the te rrib le destruction already done and o f the panic everywhere,” wrote Pope. “ Unless very prom p t steps are taken these states w ill be h a lf depopulated before the w in te r begins.” The fro n tie r was alive w ith rum ors o f an expanded war. The local Ojibwas and Winnebagos were said to be pre p a rin g to attack, along w ith the Yankton Sioux. Pope requested th a t H a l­ leck send four in fa n try regiments to M innesota fro m W isconsin and expressed his need fo r twenty-five hundred horses because o f the great lack o f cavalry.14 The follow ing day, September 17, Pope w rote Sibley o f his plans for a m ajor offensive to be launched from Iowa in to the Dakota T e rrito ry against the Yanktons and hostile Santees. Pope, excited by the rum ors and the fears o f the civilia n population, believed the Yanktons to be hostile and p a rt o f the uprising. He wrote, “ I th in k as we have men and means now we had best p u t a fin a l stop to Indian troubles by exterm inating o r ru in in g a ll the Indians engaged in the late outbreak.” Pope wanted the Sioux to be treated like “ maniacs or w ild beasts.” A lthough so fa r in his campaign against the Dakotas Sibley had not shown such a desire

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fo r revenge, sensing the m ood o f his new com m ander, he re­ sponded in kin d . They are “ devils in hum an shape,” he w rote Pope.15 B ut the greater needs in other theaters o f the C iv il W ar soon ended Pope’s plans. To ca rry out the offensive, Pope wanted to use Iowa troops cu rre n tly u n der the com m and o f B rig a d ie r General John M. Schofield, head o f the D epartm ent o f M issouri, who sw iftly com­ plained to H alleck, “ I beg o f you do not let him take them fro m me.” O n Septem ber 19 H alleck in fo rm e d Pope th a t he was to cease his attem pts to obtain Iowa troops meant fo r M issouri, add­ ing, “ It is not believed tha t you w ill require a very large in fa n try force against the Indians” and that Sioux num bers “cannot be very great.” T h is rebuke was followed fo u r days later by fu rth e r rejection o f Pope’s intended offensive by both H alleck and Secre­ ta ry o f W ar S tanton. S tanton in stru cte d H alleck to lim it the am ount o f money Pope could spend and to refuse a d d itio n a l troops and equipm ent fo r his departm ent. H alleck com plied, in fo rm in g Pope, “ Y our requisitions on the Q uarterm aster’s C om m issary and O rdnance D epartm ents are beyond a ll expec­ tations. . . . T hey cannot be fille d w ith o u t ta kin g supplies fro m o th e r troops now in the fie ld .” Stanton went even fu rth e r, ex­ p la in in g th a t not only w ould no ad d itio n a l troops be sent to Pope, but C onfederate general B raxton Bragg’s invasion o f Ken­ tucky “ requires th a t every man should be on the ground there who is not absolutely needed elsewhere” and ordered Pope to send a ll the men he could to Kentucky who were not “ absolutely necessary.” 16 H alleck and Stanton had made it clear; regardless o f Pope’s attem pts to make it so, the N orthw est D epartm ent was not a p ri­ o rity o f the war, especially w ith Lee’s offensive in the East, Bragg’s invasion o f Kentucky in the West, in clu d in g destructive raids by John M organ and N athan B edford Forrest, and sm aller C onfed­ erate forces threatening M issouri and western Tennessee. T here w ould be no grand offensive against the Sioux in 1862.

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COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

Even i f Pope’s plans fo r an offensive had been approved, the attack on the supposedly hostile Yanktons w ould have proven er­ roneous. N either the Yanktons n o r the Yanktonais, outside o f a few young men eager fo r war, became involved in the c o n flic t. There were also deeply co n flictin g opinions am ong the Dakotas over the uprising. Heavily com m itted to the w ar were the Low er Sioux bands o f the Mdewakantons and W ahpekutes, although not all agreed o r supported the conflict. The U pper Sioux bands, the Sissetons and Wahpetons, were fa r less enthused. A num ber o f in flu e n tia l leaders from both the U pper and Low er bands, in ­ cluding Wabasha, Wacouta, Traveling H a il, and S tanding B u f­ falo, opposed the war or gave it m ild support. Those Santees who were try in g to assimilate o r had converted to C h ristia n ity, such as John O ther Day or Paul Mazakutemane, also spoke ou t against the war. Mazakutemane advocated that the fig h tin g cease and a ll white prisoners held by the pro-w ar Dakota be released.17 Solomon Two Stars, a W ahpeton, years a fte r the co n flict testi­ fied that the m ajority o f Sissetons and W ahpetons d id no t favor involvem ent in the war. In councils. S tanding B u ffa lo , S carlet Plume, and others made convincing argum ents fo r no t jo in in g the Lower Bands against the whites. On August 28,1862, follow ing th e ir victory at B irch Coulee, representatives fro m the M de­ wakantons came to the Sissetons and Wahpetons, try in g to per­ suade the Upper Bands to participate in the fighting. Iro n W alker, Solomon Two Stars, Paul Mazakutemane, and G abriel R enville, a m ixed-blood, effectively countered every attem pt to push the Upper Bands into a desperate situation. They blamed the Low er Bands fo r the war and fo r sta rtin g the co n flict w ith o u t discus­ sions w ith the U pper Bands. Furious at this response, Low er Band w arriors surrounded the camp o f the U pper Sioux and threatened to k ill any man who d id not support the war. Pre­ pared for such a move, the U pper Sioux men had arm ed them ­ selves and stood ready to repel any attack. T h e Dakotas were

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standing on the b rin k o f open c iv il w ar before the w arriors fro m the Low er Bands backed down and le ft the area.18 For whites, the Dakota W ar o f 1862 had come to be seen as in c lu d in g a ll the Santee bands, as w ell as the Yanktons and Yanktonais. It was seen as a u n ifie d w ar e ffo rt by the Sioux against the whites. Yet the exact opposite was true. O nly a sizable m in o rity o f the Santees had come to the p o in t o f resistance against the h a rd ­ ships and oppressions o f a reservation life that was hateful to them . T h e m a jo rity o f Dakotas wanted no p a rt o f the co n flict, and the Yankton and Yanktonais were only m a rgina lly involved in the fig h tin g . So divided were the Dakotas over the u p rising tha t a fte r B irch Coulee, Sibley was able to re c ru it a body o f Sioux scouts, in clu d in g G abriel R enville and John O ther Day, to serve the arm y.19 T h e war was tearing the Dakotas apart as a people, and the w orst was yet to come. O n September 19, a fte r a long period o f preparation, Sibley’s arm y le ft Fort Ridgely and continued its advance through the M innesota R iver valley. Sibley now commanded a force o f 1,600 men, consisting m ainly o f the 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 9th M innesota In fa n try Regiments. W ood Lake, the decisive battle o f the war, was fought fo u r days later. O n September 23 L ittle Crow and some 740 w arriors were w aiting to ambush the advancing sol­ diers. M any o f the men in the w ar pa rty had been forced to jo in , and desertions were significant. By the m o rning o f the battle L ittle Crow like ly had only 300 men left. Big Eagle, a p a rticip a n t w ith the attackers, recalled, “ We expected to throw the whole w hite force in to confusion by the sudden and unexpected attack and defeat them before they could ra lly.” T h e tactic m ight have been successful i f not fo r a foray p a rty from the 3rd M innesota th a t moved ahead o f the m ain colum n and u n in te n tio n a lly en­ countered the w aiting Sioux. H eavily outnum bered, the Dakotas fought fo r two hours before being defeated and driven off. “ I have had considerable fu n today. S hooting the bloody aborigines,”

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COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

wrote Duran Kelley to his wife. “ I te ll you Emma, it does me good to see the Savage devils fa ll and to have the pleasure o f participating.” 20 Sioux men fought on both sides o f the battle, as those Santees who opposed the war fought w ith Sibley against th e ir own people. “ O ur frie ndly Indians fought like tigers,” noted M adison Bowler, 3rd Minnesota In fa n try. “ [John] O th er Day got three scalps and three ponies. He shot his own nephew, and w ouldn’t scalp him .” Bowler added that no mercy was shown to the w ounded Sioux left behind; they were bayoneted by the vengeful soldiers. L ittle Crow was stunned by the loss: “ I am ashamed to call m yself a Dakota.. . . O ur best w arriors were w hipped yesterday by the whites. Now we had better all ru n away and scatter out over the plains like buffalo and wolves.” 21 W ith the defeat, the power o f the pro-war faction lost control to those Dakotas desiring peace. In a little over one m onth Sibley, although criticize d fo r his slow approach in pursuing the war, had apparently crushed the uprising. Even p rio r to Birch Coulee, the peace faction am ong the Da­ kotas was tryin g to organize its resistance to the war. Those who did not favor hostilities w ith the whites form ed a camp west o f the Reverend Stephen Rigg’s Hazelwood Mission buildings. Here a soldier lodge, an organization o f experienced w arriors whose task was to defend the village, was established to protect the sup­ porters o f peace. One o f the early goals o f the group was to ob­ tain the release o f the large num ber o f w hite prisoners being held by the pro-w ar faction. A t a m eeting w ith the M dewakantons, attended by a thousand people, representatives o f the peace group argued for the prisoners’ release, only to have th e ir re ­ quest denied.22 To encourage the peace faction, Sibley sent a le tte r to leaders o f this group, assuring them that anyone who wanted to surren­ der would not be harmed. The fact was that harm seemed more im m inent from the group’s fellow Sioux. A t one p o in t three

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hundred m ounted and arm ed w arriors surrounded the peace camp, shouting w ar cries and dem anding that the members o f the village support the war. Soon after, under heavy pressure, the peace camp moved to a safer location. Its leaders then con­ tacted Sibley about surren derin g, w anting to know i f he was sincere. In response, Sibley again stated that no harm w ould come to those who had not taken p a rt in the fig h tin g b u t in ­ sisted the w hite prisoners be returned. Follow ing B irch Coulee, representatives o f the peace faction again met w ith the pro-w ar leaders, near the village o f Red Iro n , a pro-peace Sisseton leader. Once m ore th e ir desire fo r peace and the re tu rn o f the captives was rejected.23 T h e loss at W ood Lake, however, fin a lly moved the peace fac­ tio n in to a position o f authority, and most o f the prisoners were turned over to it. Red Iro n ’s village was fo rtifie d , w ith the peace supporters d ig g in g rifle pits and setting up a camp guard to de­ fend themselves and the w hite captives. W hen L ittle Crow came to his camp, Red Iro n boldly threatened to fig h t him i f he d id not remove him se lf from the area. W ith his forces greatly d im in ­ ished, L ittle Crow and some five hundred followers headed west. A fte r his departure, messengers were sent to Sibley to re p o rt that the prisoners were safe and the Sioux wanted to surrender.24 O n September 23, Sibley and his force entered the peace v il­ lage, soon named Camp Release by the soldiers. W ith cries o f jo y and thanks to th e ir rescuers, 269 w hite captives were freed. Paul Mazakutemane was present when the soldiers arrived and re­ counted, “A nd now General Sibley came w ith his arm y . . . when the w hite troops came near, I raised a w hite flag.” A n o th e r sup­ po rter o f the peace faction was Gabriel Renville. T he m ixed-blood R enville was th irty-e ig h t, broad-shouldered, ta ll, and athletic. He had suffered d u rin g the war; he re turned to his house to fin d it looted and everything he owned stolen. In late December, a fte r w ritin g “ H aving n o th in g to live on, and the outlook being very dreary,” R enville went to Sibley to volunteer his services as a

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COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

scout. He further suggested that Sibley hire other m ixed-bloods and full-blooded Sioux to assist the soldiers. In itia lly Sibley had his doubts about h irin g Sioux scouts and met w ith his officers to discuss the issue. He ultimately approved the re cruitm e nt of mixed-blood scouts, but when he confronted R enville over his recommendation o f full-blood Sioux, Renville re plied, “ You told me to pick out reliable men. I have done so. There are fu llblood Indians who are more steadfast and more to be de­ pended upon than many o f the mixed-bloods.” Sibley agreed, and in February 1863 thirty-tw o men from among the peace faction members were organized as scouts, in clu d in g Paul Mazakutemane.25 The day after his arrival at Camp Release, Sibley wrote a letter to several of the leaders of the village, including Mazakutemane and a man named Toopee. Calling them his friends who had nothing to do with the massacres of white settlers, Sibley assured them he had no intention of making war upon the innocent and asked them to “ have a white flag displayed so that my men may not fire upon you.” The same message was sent to those Dakotas who were hunting farther to the west and had mostly been absent during the fighting. Some 1,200 Dakotas, o f whom 250 were men, were present in the camp. Others soon either surrendered or were captured and brought to the camp. Hoping to blend in, a number of Dakotas who had participated in the war had moved into the camp when Little Crow and the resisters had departed the area. When Sibley was apprised o f this, he ordered measures be taken to apprehend the hostiles, causing some Sioux, both the guilty and the innocent, to flee the camp in fear o f the com ing punishment. Mazakutemane understood the fear: “ Indeed we knew that the Americans were furious.”26 Among those fleeing to the West was the fam ily o f Charles East­ man. Eastman, a full-blooded Dakota, was four years old at the time of the Dakota War and known by his Sioux name o f O hiyesa, meaning “the winner.” Before leaving, “a yoke o f oxen and

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a lumber-wagon were taken from some white farm er and brought home fo r o u r conveyance,” Eastman remembered. To Eastman, the wagon was like a liv in g anim al, w ith wheels that squealed like a pig through lack o f grease. Too young to understand what was happening around him , Eastman found the journey an adven­ ture u n til an incident nearly kille d him . W hile traveling in the wagon, older boys were enjoying themselves by ju m p in g over the high sides o f the m oving wagon to the ground. W orking up his courage, Eastman fin a lly trie d to ju m p from the wagon, only to firs t step on one o f the wheels. The m otion o f the wheel made him fa ll beneath the wagon, avoiding being crushed only because a neighbor saw and rescued him . Upset and scared, Eastman blamed the whites fo r his misadventure and “ rejoiced that we were m oving away from the people who made the wagon that almost ended my life.” 27 Those Santees who had remained behind in Minnesota did encounter the w rath o f the whites. “ To-day we are having a court m artial to try these frie n d ly Indians many o f whom have been foremost in the work o f m urder and theft, and w ill no doubt be either shot o r hanged,” wrote Madison Bowler to his wife, Eliza­ beth. Four hundred Dakota and m ixed-blood men were put on tria l by Sibley for possible atrocities com m itted du ring the upris­ ing. Given the num ber o f Sioux presently detained by the army, this included almost all the men, o f whom 303 were found g u ilty o f war crimes and sentenced to be hanged. Cool heads intervened on behalf o f the many innocent Dakotas who had been condemned to die, and President Lincoln reduced the number to 38: even w ith this reduced number, several innocent men were executed. Those men pardoned by Lincoln were sentenced to one- to three-year prison term s at Davenport, Iowa.28 On December 26, 1862, the condemned men were hanged in the city o f M ankato. Charles Watson, 6th Minnesota infantry, was present for the hangings and found them troubling. Showing no hatred toward the Sioux, Watson stated, “ It was an awful sight

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to see th irty eight men ju s t at the blow o f an ax send them a ll to eternity.” “A severe but deserved punishm ent” was how Jacob Ham lin, 7th Minnesota Infantry, found the sentence o f hanging. Ham lin did feel some pity for the women and children o f the men set to die: “ There w ill be . . . squaws and children deprived o f the means o f liv in g and le ft homeless upon these barren and almost boundless praires and unless the governm ent pro­ vided for them, they w ill certainly freeze and fam ish.” S till, he could not help but feel they were responsible fo r th e ir fate: “ L ittle did they th in k when at the silent hour o f m idn ight they crept stealthily from house to house m urdering helpless women and children robbing and burning the houses . . . that they were bringing upon themselves such terrible punishm ent.” 29 The rem ainder o f the Dakotas who had surrendered, some sixteen hundred people, were taken overland to Fort Snelling. Along the route furious white civilians attacked the defenseless Sioux, causing harm and in ju ry while expressing th e ir deep ha­ tred. Although representing the peace faction, the Dakotas were treated as prisoners o f war and kept under guard at Fort Snelling u n til their future could be determ ined.30 A ttention was now fo­ cused on those Dakotas who were s till at large and out on the prairies o f the Dakota Territory. There were an estimated six thousand Dakotas at the start o f the war. O f these, two thousand were being detained at Fort Snelling, in prison at Davenport, or serving as scouts fo r the m ili­ tary. The other four thousand can be roughly divided in to three groups. The largest, some twenty-eight hundred people, were m ainly Sissetons and Wahpetons who, except fo r a num ber o f young men, had taken no part in the uprising. A second faction o f five hundred people was still following L ittle Crow, w anting to continue the conflict, and the rem ainder had fled from Camp Release fearing arrest. This last group, consisting o f seven hun­ dred Mdewakantons and Wahpekutes, was a m ixture o f resisters

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and peace supporters.31 Given that in trib a l societies one out o f every fo u r people is an adult male o f figh ting age, this would mean tha t up to a thousand w arriors were unaccounted fo r by the m ilita ry. Yet a m ajority o f these men would either have been neutral o r had favored peace d u rin g the conflict. L ittle Crow, although decisively defeated at Wood Lake, s till supported a continuation o f the war. On September 23 Sibley sent A ntoine Campbell to L ittle Crow, asking him to surrender. Campbell, a long-tim e friend to L ittle Crow, could not convince him to capitulate. “ The long merchant Sibley would like to put the rope around my neck, but he won’t get the chance,” L ittle Crow responded w ith a laugh. Soon after, on September 26, L ittle Crow and a sm all force b rie fly attacked Fort Abercrom bie. L ittle Crow now dream ed o f creating a pan-Sioux alliance among the Lakotas, Yanktons, Yanktonais, and rem aining Dakotas.32 His efforts to re c ru it the neutral Sissetons and Wahpetons had already proven a failure. Even p rio r to Wood Lake, L ittle Crow had been unable to convince im portant leaders, including the Sisseton chie f Standing Buffalo, to jo in the resisters. W hen the war commenced, most o f the Sissetons and Wahpe­ tons were h u n tin g buffalo in the Dakota T erritory. Two popular locations for these hunts were in present-day southeastern N orth Dakota, around the Bear’s Den region and along the lower Chey­ enne River. One Sisseton group hunting along the Cheyenne River was from the village o f Standing Buffalo. Standing Buffalo was th irty years old and had become chief fou r years earlier when his father stepped down as leader. A handsome man, Standing B uffalo was six feet ta ll w ith an athletic build. Practical and frie n d ly as well, he was a good man and a successful leader. W hen two Wahpetons rode into his village and inform ed him o f the outbreak o f war. Standing Buffalo was shocked: “ The news o f a ll the wrongs that had been com mitted by my nation reached my ears and anguish took possession o f my heart,” and he wanted

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no part in the conflict. However, some o f the younger men o f the village thought differently and soon began to slip away, heading back to Minnesota to fight.33 Along with other chiefs, including Scarlet Plume and Waanaton. Standing Buffalo hoped to keep his people out o f the war and stayed well away from the fighting. On September 15, near Montevideo, Minnesota, Scarlet Plume and Waanaton met w ith L ittle Crow in an attempt to obtain the release o f the w hite pris­ oners. Four days later, L ittle Crow met again w ith the neutral chiefs, including Standing Buffalo, Scarlet Plume, and Waana­ ton, in an effort to convince them to jo in the war. One o f the con­ ference attendees, Little Paul, remembered that Waanaton spoke out against the war and wanted to send a letter to Sibley explain­ ing their position. Another attendee, Light Face, heard Standing Buffalo state it was not rig h t to fight the whites, saying, “ 1 th in k it is not proper that we should be enemies o f the whites, but I th in k we ought to w rite a letter to General Sibley.” L ittle Crow argued his case but could not move the chiefs. “ You have already made much trouble for my people,” responded Standing Buffalo. “ Go to Canada or where you please, but go away from me and o ff the lands o f my people.” Growing angry, he added, “ You have brought me into great danger w ithout my knowing o f it before hand. By killin g the whites it is ju st as if you have waited for me in ambush and shot me down.”34 L ittle Crow left in failure. The same day as the conference, a letter dictated by Standing Buffalo was sent to Sibley. Standing Buffalo explained he had no part in the war and believed “ the nation is about to sacrifice itse lf for the sake o f a few foolish young men.” He placed the blame for the uprising on the Lower Sioux bands and asked Sibley not to punish the Dakotas u n til Standing Buffalo could gather up his people and keep out o f the way. To his dismay, this earnest e ffo rt to avoid trouble was quickly compromised when w arriors from Standing Buffalo’s village returned from the fighting, including the assault on Fort Abercrombie, w ith scalps and plunder and

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held a victory dance.35 No chieftain was an absolute king; he man­ aged his people through respect, persuasion, and good leader­ ship. Young men wanted to be w arriors, gaining fame and social advancement through war. Successful men o f war were heroes. When elders or parents objected to participation in a war party, young men would s till go, leaving at night to avoid any protests. A leader like Standing Buffalo could do only so much to restrain the norm al desires o f a w arrior to gain honors and success in conflict. Yet how could Standing Buffalo now convince Sibley that his village was peaceful when members o f the community he led had been involved in the conflict? On October 3 Sibley replied positively to the letter sent by the chiefs. He wanted them to know that he knew the Sisseton lead­ ers had not condoned the uprising and that they wanted to sur­ render to the army in order to show the ir innocence. C alling them friends, Sibley asked them not to come in at this tim e as “ I have a great num ber o f men who are very angry.” 36 Instead, he wanted them to rem ain in the ir villages and he would come to them. H eeding Sibley was a decision the chieftains would come to regret. Sibley understood that the Sissetons and Wahpetons who w rote him wanted peace and had not participated in the war, yet this would not save them from a devastating m ilita ry of­ fensive in 1863. Sibley’s more tolerant approach to those Dakotas who were s till free displeased Pope. Pope, under political pressure from Minnesota senator H enry Rice and eager to redeem him self after the Second B ull Run debacle, wanted a harsher approach. On September 28 he wrote Sibley that “ it is my purpose utterly to exterm inate the Sioux i f I have the power to do so and even if it requires a campaign lasting the whole o f next year.” Pope fu rth e r instructed Sibley that “ no treaty must be made w ith the Sioux.. . . I f they desire a council let them come in, but seize L ittle Crow and all others engaged in the late outrages.” T ire d o f the c riti­ cism he was receiving and the sti'ess o f the m ilita ry campaign.

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Sibley was ready to step down and re turn to his civilia n occupa­ tions. President Lincoln, however, had other plans, and on Sep­ tember 29, while Sibley was involved in the colloquy w ith Pope, he was promoted by Lincoln to the rank o f brigadier general and given command o f the new m ilita ry d istrict o f M innesota.37 Having been thus encouraged to remain in the m ilita ry, Sibley did believe that the campaign season, i f not the war itself, was nearing an end. Although Pope was still advocating fu rth e r strikes against the resisters, on September 30 Sibley inform ed him that this simply was not possible. He had virtu a lly no cavalry, was low on provisions and forage, and the grass was “so d ry as to afford insufficient nourishment to the horses and cattle . . . , ” conclud­ ing, “The campaign may be considered as closed for this autum n.” Nor did Sibley see the rem aining resisters as much o f a threat. He reported to Pope that L ittle Crow and “a small band” o f fol­ lowers were moving toward Yankton on the James River w hile “ the m ajority o f his form er adherents are slowly re tu rn in g w ith their families to deliver themselves up to me.” In early October, among those who capitulated were eighty-six lodges likely num ­ bering some four to five hundred people. Sibley did note that two bands o f Sissetons led by Sleepy Eye and W hite Lodge, linked to the massacre o f settlers at Lake Shetek in 1862, were on either the Big Sioux or James Rivers but that the m ajority o f the Sisse­ tons “ have been friendly throughout the outbreak and give strong assurances o f amity” and that this “should insure them against in ­ ju ry by our troops.”38 Later actions proved Sibley wrong. On October 7, Pope, in a report to Halleck based on Sibley’s reports, explained the current situation in Minnesota by stating, “ 1 th in k there w ill be no more Indian hostilities this season . . . ,” but he still insisted that “a campaign should be made in the spring.” Two days later Pope wrote Halleck that “ the Sioux W ar may be considered at an end,” indicating that he was pursuing the approval o f a new campaign against the Sioux, not in order to win the war but to punish those he still held responsible fo r the

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conflict. H alleck was pleased by Pope’s verdict on the uprising in Minnesota, since a possible Confederate invasion into Missouri was proving to be a concern. “ How many regiments are ready for service in the Southwest?” queried Halleck. In answer, by the end o f the year Pope had sent the 25th Wisconsin Infantry, 27th Iowa In fa n try, and 3rd Minnesota In fa n try southward, leaving only the m ainly green 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th Minnesota In fa n try regiments and the 1st Minnesota Mounted Rangers scattered among various forts and outposts along the fro ntier region o f M innesota.39 Pope’s announcement o f the term ination o f the war did not find approval w ith the civilian population o f the region. In re­ sponse came calls fo r revenge upon, i f not a deliberate genocide against, the Sioux. “ It is not ended!” proclaimed the editor o f the St. Paul Press. “ W hat the people o f Minnesota demand is not that the enemy shall re tire . . . but that the war should now be offen­ sive.” The e d ito ria l concluded w ith “ In God’s name let the col­ umns o f vengeance move on!” The October 23 editorial in the St. Paul Pioneer agreed w ith the sentiments expressed by the St. Paul Press, adding that i f Governor Ramsey allowed “a soldier o f this state to be w ithdraw n u n til this m atter is satisfactorily settled, the blood o f his thousands [of] m urdered constituents . . . cry out against him .” Letters to the St. Paul Daily Press included one w ith the position that “ we must do one o f two things: either k ill every Sioux In d ia n w ith in o u r borders or drive the tribe out o f the state.” A nother advocated, “ Let it be a war o f exterm ination.” 40 There was also political opposition to the ceasing o f hostilities. Governor Ramsey wrote that “ the Sioux Indians must be exter­ m inated o r driven forever beyond the borders o f the state,” in ­ sisting that “ we whites are blameless . . . for the outrages o f the Sioux.” In the sum mer o f 1863 Ramsey placed a bounty on male scalps by o ffe rin g $25.00 per scalp but later raised it to $200.00. Dakota te rrito ria l governor W illiam Jayne and other te rrito ria l officials, supported by reports from In d ia n traders, warned

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Lincoln o f a new organized spring offensive by the Sioux. T h e Dakota te rrito ria l council and legislative assembly called on the president for more m ilita ry aid and approved o f Pope’s planned 1863 campaign.41 The desire fo r revenge and to continue the w ar against the Sioux was apparent, but could an enemy be located? A n Iowa soldier stationed in the Dakota T e rrito ry w rote in a le tte r to the Iowa City Republican that “ the great tribes o f the Sioux, C uthands and the Yankton are m oving in concert,” but no such alliance actually existed. The Lakotas had not been involved in the war, although two bands o f the Lakotas, the Hunkpapas and the Blackfeet, had heard o f the conflict. S itting B ull, a ris in g leader among the Hunkpapas, was hu nting buffalo at the m outh o f the M issouri River when the people o f his village were m et by In k paduta, the perpetrator o f the S p irit Lake Massacre. Inkpaduta, who had played only a m inor role in the fig h tin g back in M inn e­ sota, inform ed S itting B ull o f the war and how the Santees had been starved and mistreated by the whites. Encouraged by In k ­ paduta to support his Dakota brethren, S ittin g B u ll declined, w anting to be le ft alone to live the tra d itio n a l ways o f the Lakotas. Later, L ittle Crow may also have met w ith H unkpapa and Blackfeet leaders. He too wanted th e ir aid to continue the war, but the Lakotas wanted to know what would happen to the San­ tee prisoners held by the whites i f they d id jo in the uprising. L ittle Crow told them not to w orry; they would not be punished, much as the Sioux were treated after S p irit Lake, because the whites had a “ soft heart” toward Indians. Again, no support was forthcom ing from the Lakotas. A lthough not concerned w ith events occurring fa rth e r east in M innesota, the Lakotas were troubled by the rising number o f white miners crossing over th e ir lands to reach the m ining camps in the Rocky M ountains. In 1862 some five to six hundred m iners came up the M issouri River and crossed through Lakota te rrito ry, and in Ju ly o f th a t

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year, p rio r to the Dakota War, nine Hunkpapa chiefs met w ith the In d ia n agent Samuel Latte over the issue. Feather T ied To His H a ir spoke fo r Hunkpapas when he told Latte that no more travel w ould be allowed and wanted the agent to “ tell o u r Great Father w hat we say, and te ll him the tru th .” 42 L ittle C row ’s attem pts at a pan-Sioux alliance also failed w ith the Yanktons and Yanktonias. Follow ing his disappointing meet­ ings w ith the Sisseton and W ahpeton chiefs, L ittle Crow and his supporters, now down to three hundred people, had moved fa r­ th e r west to the M issouri River. In December 1862 he attempted to persuade the Yanktons and Yanktonais to enter the war, and w hile discussions were held fo r a m onth, once more L ittle Crow’s efforts were m et w ith rejection. T he Yanktons in p a rticu la r re­ m ained adam ant in th e ir determ ination to rem ain at peace w ith the whites, going so fa r as to send men to protect the w hite trad­ ers at Fort Pierre after L ittle Crow suggested the post be attacked. In the presence o f th e ir In d ia n agent, W. A. Burleigh, the Yank­ tons swore loyalty to the U nited States, pledging to “ stand by it w hile they lived and die under its protection.” O ther Yanktons related news o f certain Santees going to Canada to obtain arms and am m un itio n and being told by a w hite man there that soon the B ritish w ould openly support the Sioux war against the Am er­ icans. A n o th e r Yankton chief, Strikes The Rees, journeyed to the camps o f Sleepy Eye and W hite Lodge to negotiate a release o f two w hite women and five ch ild re n being held by them. T he Yankton leader offered seven horses fo r the prisoners, but his ransom o ffe r was met w ith contempt. In response, the Yanktons made it clear th a t the Santee resisters were on Yankton land and w ould be attacked i f they did not hand over the captives. The prisoners were given to Strikes The Rees.43 N o r were the Yanktonais persuaded to enter the con flict, although some young men d id participate in the figh ting, so w ith the Lakotas, Yanktons, and Yanktonais not open to em bracing the struggle, only the Dakotas rem ained as a possible opponent

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to the army i f the war were to continue. Here too there was little support for hostilities. Forced onto the plains in the fa ll, the woodland Sioux suffered great hardships. T he b u ffalo had le ft the region, and w ith the com ing o f w inter food and shelter proved d iffic u lt to obtain. Many people died fro m hunger and the b itte r cold weather. The suffering was great that w inter, w ith horses dy­ ing and the people surviving m ainly on fish. Those who survived camped together, resisters and peace faction, in the D e vil’s Lake region o f the Dakota T e rrito ry, close to the Canadian border. Some six hundred lodges spent the w inte r there, in c lu d in g the village o f Standing B uffalo, who, fearing the whites w ould come to see him as a supporter o f fu rth e r w arfare, rem ained nervous dwelling so close to the resisters. In early November, sick o f the terrible conditions, the firs t Sioux crossed the border in to Can­ ada. Over the next year, Dakota bands to ta lin g a thousand people made th e ir way across the border. They pleaded w ith B ritish officials fo r sanctuary based on th e ir support fo r Great B ritain d u rin g the W ar o f 1812, promises made to them by K in g George I I I to protect th e ir culture and freedom , and the fact that p a rt o f th e ir tra d itio n a l homeland was now p a rt o f Canada. B ritish representatives allowed the Sioux to stay, c a llin g them “ alien Indians.” 44 As a m ilita ry opponent, the Dakotas were a shattered people. W ith 2,000 trib a l members under arrest o r detained by the whites, another 374 Santees (men plus th e ir fam ilies) em ployed as scouts for the army, and roughly 1,000 Sioux seeking asylum in Canada, only some 2,500 Dakotas rem ained at large on the plains. O f these, 300 were resisters, follow ing L ittle Crow, along w ith at least three small resister villages under Sleepy Eye, W hite Lodge, and Inkpaduta. A large m ajority o f the Sioux were those who had remained neutral or supported peace d u rin g the war. There were likely only 100 to 200 men s till w illin g to continue the struggle. A force o f this size would be able to m ount sm all raids upon the settlers in Minnesota and along the borders o f

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Iowa and the Dakota T e rrito ry , but not enough to seriously chal­ lenge the arm ed m ig h t o f the U nited States. Pope may have wanted a cam paign and Minnesotans may have feared renewed violence, bu t the Santees were sim ply too devastated to put up much resistance. S till, factors d id exist tha t w ould m otivate a punitive expedi­ tion against the Dakotas, a cam paign that stressed the need fo r revenge o r punishm ent fo r those who had started the bloodshed. T h is cam paign w ould come in 1863 and in flic t new destruction not only on the h a n d fu l o f resisters but also on those who favored peace and who had had no p a rt in the war. The called-for “ Col­ umns o f Vengeance” w ould march.

C H AP TER 3

Preparing fo r the F irst Expeditions “ TO CRUSH T H E S IO U X L I L L I P U T UNDER TH E PONDEROUS H E E L OF S T R A T E G Y ”

The desire to take revenge was a strong m o tivator for the 1863 campaign against the Sioux, as was Pope’s personal plan to promote the significance o f his D epartm ent o f the Northwest. But the foremost argum ent fo r a punitive expedition to advance onto the plains o f the Dakota T e rrito ry was the firm ly held b e lie f that the Sioux had not been defeated and were, in fact, p repa ring a massive new offensive against the w hite settlers. Rumors abounded over what L ittle Crow was p re p a rin g fo r the spring. Pope was convinced that the Santee leader had form ed a large army consisting o f Santees and Yanktonais, w ith the Lakotas, who were being armed by B ritish traders out o f Canada, soon to follow. It was believed by the Am ericans that these forces were gathering around D evil’s Lake, known as M innew akan to the Dakotas, and that the way to stop the upcom ing invasion was an expedition to smash the new Sioux alliance before a sec­ ond uprising took place. The e d ito r o f the St. P aul Pioneer and Democrat Weekly criticized the arm y fo r not attacking D e v il’s Lake—where, he m aintained, five thousand hostile Sioux were 50

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dw elling— d u rin g the w inter. T he surveyor general o f the Da­ kota T e rrito ry , G. D. H ill, w rote to the com missioner general, J. M. E dm und, tha t the Santee Sioux were s till causing problems in the te rrito ry and “ recently shot two men w ith in fo u r miles o f my office, the effect o f a ll th is is to create a general panic.” In the spring, m in o r raids in to M innesota only intensified argu­ ments fo r an e xp e d itio n .1 A lthough it was accurate that many Dakotas w intered at Dev­ i l ’s Lake, few o f those encamped there favored fu rth e r hostilities w ith the U nited States. Red Eagle, a Sisseton at D evil’s Lake, knew tha t no alliance fo r a new war existed, stating, “ They were frie n d ly to the w hites.” In M arch 1863 S tanding B uffalo, also cam ping at the lake, w rote another le tte r to Sibley re a ffirm in g the innocence o f his people and his willingness to brin g his village in to surrender at Fort Abercrom bie i f Sibley would guarantee the lives o f his followers. Even as the e d ito r o f the Si. Paul Pioneer and Democrat Weekly proclaim ed a force o f five thousand hostile Sioux, he adm itted tha t “A large p o rtion o f the Indians are anx­ ious fo r peace but are fe a rfu l i f they give themselves up they w ill be k ille d .” T ry in g to surren der was dangerous. W hile on patrol, fifty S ioux scouts u n der R enville discovered fifteen lodges o f Santees re tu rn in g from Canada who wanted to give up. Recog­ n izin g two men who had com m itted atrocities d u rin g the up ris­ ing, a scout nam ed Star shot one o f them, a grandson o f Inkpaduta, w hile he sat on the ground. The other man trie d to ru n fo r safety bu t was also k ille d .2 T he feared alliance o f the Yanktonais and Lakotas w ith the Santees was a m yth— L ittle Crow had trie d but had been re­ buffed fo r his efforts— and the In d ia n agent H enry Reed re­ ported on the lack o f w arlike behavior by the other Sioux bands: “ T here are again many frie n d ly Indians o f the Sioux who are loo kin g to you to be sustained in th e ir frie n d ly relations.” 3 In early February L ittle Crow was encamped at D evil’s Lake w ith only one hundred men. Undaunted by the re b u ff to his

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latest re cruiting efforts, he soon le ft, this tim e to try and create an alliance w ith the Mandans and A rikaras, tra d itio n a l enemies o f the Sioux. His delegation was fire d upon when they approached the two tribes. Failing w ith the Mandans and A rika ra s, L ittle Crow then pursued an alliance w ith another lo n g -tim e foe o f his people, the Ojibwas in n o rthe rn M innesota. N ear Pembina, L ittle Crow met w ith representatives o f the O jibwas, o n ly to en­ counter fu rth e r rejection.4 One m ust give L ittle C row c re d it fo r his convictions; he had attempted alliances w ith the Lakotas, Yanktons, Yanktonais, Mandans, A rikaras, and Ojibwas, and he tried to persuade the peace faction o f the Dakotas to jo in w ith the resisters. In every case he was met w ith refusals to jo in a new campaign against the whites. Outside o f his im m ediate followers, only a handful o f Santees were s till w illin g to resist, and many o f these, like Inkpaduta, were w illin g sim ply because they could not surrender to the whites w ithout being severely punished. In A p ril L ittle Crow journeyed to Canada. A t Fort G a rry he met w ith representatives o f the B ritish governm ent to ask them fo r weapons and am m unition or possible refuge. G overnor A lex­ ander Dallas made the position o f the B ritish clear: there w ould be no support given to the resisters, and L ittle Crow m ust leave and not re turn to Canada. Secretary o f State W illia m Seward had already w ritten the B ritish foreign m iniste r over the issue o f B ritish m ilita ry support o f the Sioux and had received his assur­ ances that no such aid would be forthcom ing.5 Once more, L ittle Crow’s diplom atic overtures had failed. W ith the coming o f spring, many o f the Santees le ft in o rd e r to begin hunting buffalo. T his included Standing B uffa lo w ith six hundred lodges, who moved to the Bald H ills on the Cheyenne River. By May L ittle Crow had returned to D evil’s Lake and was s till advocating war. A t this point the rest o f the Santees gathered around the lake were wary o f the Mdewakanton leader and clearly desired peace. L ittle Crow was becoming a pariah am ong his people.6

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T he com ing sprin g was not kin d to the peace faction o f the Dakotas held in a concentration camp in Minnesota. In Decem­ ber 1862 M innesota senator M orton W ilkinson had introduced two b ills in the U nited States Senate fo r the removal o f the Sioux and W innebagos fro m Minnesota. U nder these bills, the tribes w ould fo rfe it a ll lands held by them in Minnesota and be moved to a new reservation in the West. In February and March 1863 the b ills passed Congress and were signed in to law by President Lincoln. For the 2,000 Sioux detained at M ankato and Fort Snellin g , the w in te r had proven costly, w ith 143 people dying; now they were faced w ith the loss o f th e ir homes and the annuity money they needed to survive. By May the Dakotas were prepar­ ing fo r the move to th e ir new reservation at Crow Creek, located eighty m iles above Fort R andall in the Dakota T e rrito ry.7 T he Santees were a defeated and shattered people, yet Pope was s till convinced they posed a threat. He w rote, “ There is no sort o f use to make a treaty o f peace w ith them ; such treaties am ount to n o th in g as they are only kept by Indians as long as they fin d it convenient.” A m ilita ry campaign against them, ar­ gued Pope, “ w ill give the governm ent the o p portun ity to make a fin a l and favorable disposition o f a large num ber o f troublesome Indians, so as to secure perfect quiet in the future.” In February Pope had made his plans known to Sibley: “As you know it has al­ ways been my purpose to make a vigorous campaign against the Indians as soon as possible in the spring.” 8 In itia lly , Pope’s plan called fo r three columns advancing against the Sioux. Two w ould come from the east— the firs t under Sibley based at Fort Ridgely, and the second from Iowa m oving by way o f the Big Sioux River. T he fin a l colum n, based at Fort Randall, w ould cam paign along the M issouri River. Also, a sm all force w ould rem ain in M innesota to shadow the Ojibwas around Red Lake.9 T h is plan w ould change over the com ing months and meet w ith opposition fro m various groups, but the fact that a punitive operation versus the Santees w ould happen was never in doubt,

COLUMNS OF VENGEANCE

54

once m ore b rin g in g Sioux men, wom en, and c h ild re n in to con­ flic t w ith the volunteer soldiers fro m M innesota, Iow a, and Ne­ braska sent against them . Several M innesota regim ents had already seen some com bat in the Dakota W ar, b u t the 6th, 7th, 9 th , and 10th In fa n try R egi­ ments who served on the upcom ing e xp e d itio n had been raised to fig h t against the South. However, o th e r u n its w ere o rg an ize d to serve in the West, especially a fte r the u p ris in g began. O n Sep­ tem ber 9, 1862, the 6 th Iow a C avalry was b ro u g h t in to b e in g under a special o rd e r fro m the W ar D epartm ent. T h e re g im e n t was to protect the n o rth e rn fro n tie r o f Iow a d u rin g th e D akota War. E nlistm ents fo r the new u n it proved slow, o c c u rrin g be­ tween January and M arch 1863. M ost o f the soldiers cam e fro m the n o rth e rn counties o f Iowa and tended to be o ld e r th a n men who had jo in e d e a rlie r Iowa regim ents, and m any w ere m a rrie d w ith ch ild re n .10 T h e 7th Iowa C avalry was also form ed to serve on th e w estern fro n tie r, around the same tim e as the 6 th Iow a C avalry. C om ­ m anded by Colonel Samuel Sum m ers, the 7th Iow a sta rte d to gather men in the sum m er o f 1863. A g a in , w ith slow enlistm e n ts, not u n til Ju ly d id the regim ent num ber eight com panies. T o f ill out the ranks, Companies A, B, and C o f the 41st Iow a In fa n try , already stationed at Fort R andall in the D akota T e rrito ry , were transferred to the u n it. T h e men o f these com panies had jo in e d in 1861 and came w ith nearly two years’ experience on th e fro n ­ tie r. Also transferred to the new regim ent was a veteran com pany o f cavalry from Sioux C ity, Iowa. Form ed in 1861, the com pany had spent the next year and a h a lf p a tro llin g the borders o f Iow a. A t the tim e o f the u p risin g, the Sioux C ity com pany was th e o n ly active m ilita ry u n it serving along the Iowa b o rd e r w ith M in n e ­ sota. A rm ed w ith G allager carbines, C o lt .44 p isto ls, and d ra ­ goon sabers, the 7th Iowa C avalry was assigned to th e M ilita ry D is tric t o f Nebraska, scattered across Nebraska, Kansas, and C olorado.11

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O ne o f th e problem s encountered by Sibley d u rin g his M in ­ nesota R ive r va lle y cam paign had been the lack o f cavalry. I f the arm y were to pursue the S ioux onto the p ra irie s o f the Dakota T e rrito ry , th is issue had to be addressed, and so in the fa ll o f 1862 the 1st R egim ent o f M ounted Rangers was raised. M any o f these e n liste d m en had lost loved ones in the u p risin g and were veterans o f th e fig h tin g in the valley.12 T h e C iv il W ar and the Dakota W ar o f 1862 not only affected the U n ite d States and S ioux at a n a tion a l level but forever changed the lives o f those in d iv id u a ls who became em broiled in the con­ flicts. These wars affected in d iv id u a ls , fam ilies, and com m unities, and as fa r as th e wars’ d isru p tio n s to the norm al flow o f life , expe­ riences o f the w h ite soldiers and In d ia n s were quite sim ilar. U pon e n lis tin g , soldiers broke the d ire c t connection they had w ith fa m ily and co m m un ity, yet fig h tin g fo r one’s co u n try also im p lie d defense o f fa m ily and com m unity. M ost men jo in e d com­ panies m ade u p o f soldiers fro m th e ir hom etown o r county, and the re s u ltin g sense o f co m m u n ity played a key role in keeping men in th e a rm y and th e ir m orale h ig h . H ow one perform ed as a so ld ie r in b a ttle and as a person o ff the b a ttle fie ld soon became know n back hom e. A p p ro v a l o f frie n d s and fa m ily was im p o rta n t to so ld ie rs.13 For th e m , the m ost d ire c t contact w ith the com m u­ n ity they had le ft b e h in d came th ro u g h letters— o f w hich, the soldiers believed, th e re were never enough. W hen S ergeant G eorge C lapp jo in e d the 7th M innesota In ­ fa n try , he le ft b e h in d his w ife, M a rie tte , and th e ir fo u r ch ild re n , M a ria , H a rrie , B elle, and Isadore. A t age th irty -n in e , C lapp was o ld e r th a n m ost m en w ho e nlisted. “ I d id expect to get a le tte r fro m you before th is b u t have been disappointed everyday as the m a il a rrive s fo r th e com pany fo r a lon g tim e I have received only one le tte r fro m you since m y a rriv a l here,” a dejected C lapp w ro te M a rie tte . S ergeant G eorge Adam s, 6 th M innesota In fa n ­ try , had been m a rrie d to his w ife, Abby, fo r ten years before en­ lis tin g . M issin g A bby and his fo u r-ye ar-o ld son, Frank, George

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instructed his w ife, “ You m ust w rite o fte n and good lo n g lette rs.” In O ctober 1864 Adam s died fro m typ h o id fever w h ile se rvin g in the South. C orp o ra l H e n ry Synder served in th e same com pany as George Adams. “ We have had th re e m ails since we have b in here But th a rr has n o t B in any fo r me,” a m o u rn fu l S ynder w rote his wife, M aria. Synder was greatly concerned over the health o f his two ch ild re n , Charles and Rachel, who b o th had been ill. “ I have fe lt very anxious to here fro m them B u t I have m a id u p m y m in d thet they are B etter o r else I should have heard B efore th is tim e .” P h ilip O sborn also longed to hear fro m his fa m ily , w ritin g hom e, “ I have b in to the post office and no le tte r yet I w ish I cold g it a le tte r from home it seems so lon g sence I hav heard fro m hom e.” He then added w hat was forem ost on his m in d , “ O h how I w od like to see my w ife and c h ild re n .” 14 As w ould be expected, m a rrie d soldiers were the m ost devoted to those fam ilies back home. Letters kept them in touch w ith th a t other life , the n o n m ilita ry life , they had le ft b e h in d . M uch o f the correspondence between husbands and wives was te n d e r and showed a close, lovin g relationship. H e n ry M cC on n e ll, 10th M in ­ nesota In fa n try , called his w ife, D elia, “ the dearest b e in g on E arth to me.” U pon receiving a p ictu re o f his w ife, Abby, G eorge Adams w rote h e r th a t “ it made m y h e art feel glad, it was the th in g th a t I w anted, it pleased me the m ost o f a n y th in g you co u ld have sent.” He fu rth e r noted th a t the photo was o f “ the ve ry g ir l I used to c o u rt.. . . I could alm ost see you. I im a g in e d ju s t the way you look when you set by the table.” H e n ry H a g a d o rn , 7 th M innesota In fa n try , w rote in his d ia ry how he “ received a le tte r fro m my w ife this evening in w hich I was very glad to h e ar th a t they were a ll w ell w hich is o f m uch co m fo rt to me at th is tim e in these lonely hours w hich I pass alone in m y te n t.” 15 Soldiers drew strength fro m news th a t a ll re m a in w ell fo r th e ir fam ilies at home. W hen H agadorn received w ord th a t his w ife and ch ild re n were in good health, he fou n d it “ the m ost pleasant news th a t I could hear and it gives me great courage to e n d u re

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the soldiers life in g re at patience and look fo rw a rd w ith great pleasure fo r th e happy day, th a t day when peace shall again bless th is once peaceful and happy land.” M any soldiers were con­ cerned fo r th e fin a n c ia l w ell-be in g o f th e ir fam ilies. “ I giv Sam­ uel m y nots and 6 d o lla rs in m oney to give to you and I w ill te ll you w hat I w ant you to do[.] g it James G reer to tend my bisness,” in s tru c te d P h ilip O sborn to his w ife. O sborn acknowledged his “ pore h a n d ” in w ritin g , b u t kn o w in g his w ife could not read, told h er “ you w ill have to g it someone to read fo r you.” 16 W hen Jo h n Leo, 10th M innesota In fa n try , fa ile d to hear fro m his w ife, A n n ie , he becam e convinced th a t he had said o r done som ething to upset h e r in his last letter. H e r lack o f correspon­ dence a fte r th a t caused h im to w rite her, “ I concluded th a t I m ust have said so m e th in g w ro n g in it and w ish you to answer this and le t me know i f it is so, and also w hat it was as i f I am g u ilty it is th ro u g h Ig n o ra n c e and am n o t to be blam ed.” For Thom as C heetham , 8 th M innesota In fa n try , concerns over his w ife, M a ry’s, health were m ore serious. C heetham was fro m G reat B rita in and had m a rrie d M a ry in 1855. In the seven years o f th e ir m arriage they had th re e c h ild re n , C aro lin e , E m ily, and Charles. Thom as was devoted to his fa m ily : “ I am a p o o r homeless fellow my D ear w ife , I w ish you was w here I could see and ta lk to you b u t we m ust do th e best we can fo r the present and pray fo r a b e tte r tim e to come.” T h a t b e tte r tim e was n o t to be. M ary was unw ell, and a lth o u g h it was n o t rea lize d at the tim e , suffered fro m tu b e rcu lo ­ sis. She d ie d on J u ly 22, 1863, w h ile Cheetham was on the 1863 e x p e d itio n a gainst the S io ux.17 S oldiers also w ro te to th e ir c h ild re n . T h e letters were fille d w ith love, concern fo r physical and m ental w ell-being, and ad­ vice. W h a t th e co n te n t o f th is correspondence also shows was a d e p a rtu re fro m th e m ore ste rn , d iscip lin e d , and c o n tro llin g pa­ re n ta l approach o f the eighteenth and early nineteenth century to a m ore m o d e rn view o f an a ffe ctio n a te and ch ild -ce nte re d fa m ily .18

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To his son, Wesley, P h ilip O sborn w rote, “ You m ust be a good boy and not cry and I w ill send you a present. You and W illia m must cut wood fead the sheap and pigs and calvs and I w ill send you som ething nice.” George C lapp w ondered “ i f B e ll, H a rrie and M aria w ill fo rg e t th e ir fa th e r at n ig h t w hen M o th e r puts them to bed and in the m o rn in g when they arise I sh a ll th in k o f them often and n o t o n ly them , but you a ll w h ile on th e m a rch, in the camp on guard duty d u rin g long and tiresom e hours o f the n ig h t w hile you q u ie tly asleep and perhaps d re a m in g th a t you see me o r o f b rig h t visions o f happy days to com e.” W ritin g d i­ rectly to his daughter Isadore, C lapp was glad she was re c itin g Bible verses in church and called upon h e r to com e to C h ris t: “ W ill you not now embrace the savior o f sinners heed his p a rd o n ­ in g voice w hispering th a t yo u r sins are a ll fo rg iv e n .” W illia m Paist, 8th M innesota In fa n try , missed his son so m uch th a t “ i f I had you here I w ould alm ost eat you up. Save me a ll th e kisses. You can w rite me a little le tte r Ma w ill h old y o u r ha nd b u t you must te ll her what to say.” Paist concluded by a d d in g , “ I have kissed your p ictu re everyday.” Thom as C heetham also yearned to see his son Charles: “ T e ll my son fa th e r wants a kiss and wants him to come and see h im .. . . I w ant to see you a ll so bad it makes my heart beat.” He ended the le tte r as he ofte n d id , h o p in g M a ry fe lt better. “ May God restore you to health is m y p ra yer fro m y o u r loved husband.” 19 Bonds to th e ir com m unities at home and concern over loved ones influenced the s p iritu a l lives o f m any soldiers. S oldiers po n ­ dered th e ir relationship w ith G od, as w ell as the re lig io u s lives o f th e ir fam ilies, and often w o rrie d w hether b e in g in th e a rm y w ould affect th e ir m oral beliefs o r i f th e ir fa m ilie s w ould com e to feel th a t th e ir m orals had declined since leaving hom e. C o rp o ra l D uren Kelley, 7th M innesota In fa n try , was engaged at th e tim e o f his enlistm ent in August 1862. He missed his soon-to-be-w ife, Emma, w ritin g her, “ I w ould give one m onths wages to see you to n igh t and have one sweet kiss.” Kelley became deeply tro u b le d

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when he le a rn e d th a t Em m a was re a din g novels and n o t regu­ la rly a tte n d in g ch u rch . “ You say you don’t go to m eeting every Sunday. You kn o w th a t w on’t answer. A n d about those novels w hat sh a ll I say,” chastised K elley. “ See here Em m a,” he u rged, “ you m ust go to th e m e e tin g re g u la rly . You know fo r I am n o t th e re to take care o f you and I am a fra id th a t you w ould get to re a d in g novels and th a t w o u ld n o t loo k good on Sunday.” Em m a responded by a skin g h im to read th e B ible once a week and kid d e d h im a b o u t his m orals now th a t he was in the arm y. K el­ ley fe lt h e r request to read th e B ible a “ very reasonable request.” T h e n he added, “ N ow I w ish to exact one prom ise fro m you, th a t you read a c h a p te r o f the B ible as o fte n as you read a novel.” 20 Jo h n S m ith , 10th M innesota In fa n try , a fa ith fu l C h ristia n , d id “ firm ly believe and tru s t th a t G od shall o ve rru le the present re­ b e llio n so th a t T ru th , R ig h t and L ib e rty shall triu m p h .” Yet he was am azed at th e w ide d is p a rity o f m orals shown by the soldiers he served w ith : “ W h a t a cu rio u s anolom y [anom aly] is soldiering. Some spend th e ir tim e in card playing, others ro u nd saloons lo i­ te rin g . O th e rs sm o kin g and chew ing tobacco. O thers in cursing and sw earing and u sin g obscene language. O thers d rin k in g and carousing. Some g ro w lin g and dissatisfied w ith every th in g th a t tu rn s up. W h ile oth e rs in ta lk in g p o litics and a ll m anner o f ta lk. O thers are s till and m e d itative . W h ile others endeavor to live in c o n fo rm ity w ith T ru th and Justice and act w ith good w ill un to th e ir fe llo w m en.” 21 Even am ong th e re lig io u s, disputes could arise. W hen a M r. C ox, a closed co m m u n io n B aptist m iniste r, attem pted to become the re g im e n ta l c h a p la in fo r the 7 th M innesota In fa n try , Jacob H a m lin objected. “ I co n sid e r a m in is te r o f th a t o rd e r u n fit to preach to any b u t his c h u rc h ,” w ro te an ira te H a m lin . “ I f a sol­ d ie r was d y in g d e s irin g to have the sacram ent adm inistered to h im he w o u ld n o t do it, n e ith e r w ould he baptize one except by im m e rsio n .” 22

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T he im portance o f fam ily, m arriage relationships, and ch ild re n to soldiers serving in the arm y w ould have been w ho le he a rte d ly accepted by the Sioux they were to face on the u p co m in g e xp ed i­ tion. K inship was an essential p a rt o f the D akotas’ social fa b ric. It was through kinsh ip th a t the Sioux learned ab ou t social h a r­ mony. T h e a u th o r and scholar E lla D elo ria , a D akota, e xp la in e d : “ By kinsh ip a ll Dakota people were held to g e th e r in a g re a t rela­ tionship th a t was th e o retica lly all-inclu sive and co-extensive w ith the Dakota D om ain. Inside o f D akota society, no one was alone; one was always related to someone else. T h ro u g h k in s h ip one had a m other and fa th e r w ith y o u r fa th e r’s b ro th e rs and m ale cousins serving as yo u r secondary fathers. Y o u r m o th e r’s sisters and female cousins became yo u r secondary m others. U po n m a r­ riage, your spouse’s relatives became yo u r relatives.” 23 Loyalty was always firs t to one’s fa m ily. Fam ilies w ere very close, w ith strong bonds between brothers and sisters. I f parents should die, grandparents o r o ld e r brothers o r sisters w o u ld as­ sume the raising o f the younger ch ild re n. C h ild re n were never le ft as orphans o r alone. W ith so many kinsh ip ties, c h ild re n w ere au­ tom atically cared fo r and loved. W ith such in tim a te k in s h ip ties a m ajor disaster, such as an attack on the villa g e th a t le ft s ig n ifi­ cant num bers o f people dead, had a m ajor social im p a ct.24 M arriage was a p rim a ry fo rm o f kin sh ip . T h e S ioux had th re e classes— upper, m iddle, and low er— based on b irth , accom plish­ ments, and economic w ealth, and ra re ly d id anyone m a rry o u t­ side o f th e ir class. Susan Bordeaux B ettleyoun, a L a kota , added another factor to whom one m a rrie d th ro u g h w hich th e bravest men obtained the prettiest women. She fu rth e r noted th a t “ w om en were the p ro pe rty o f the parents and m ale c h ild re n o f the fa m ily, they had to be obedient and go wherever they were sold o r g ive n .” B ut women could have a say in who they m a rrie d , a lth o u g h the fa m ily w ould make the fin a l decision. Oscar O ne B u ll, also a La­ kota, described gettin g m a rrie d as “ when the m an was ready to m a rry a woman he selected one and i f she satisfied h im , he

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m a rrie d her. H e m erely b ro u g h t h e r to his tepee where she lived w ith h im : th a t was th e m a rria g e . T h e re was no m arriage cere­ m ony.” U po n becom ing m a rrie d , Sioux men, fo r the most p a rt, were devoted husbands and fathers. T h e Reverend Samuel Pond, a m issionary to th e Santee S ioux, noted, “ We could not expect lovers am ong them to be very dem onstrative, b u t evidently m any husbands and wives were very m uch attached to each other.” 25 T h e S io ux loved c h ild re n ; a couple th a t proved to be barren were believed to have co m m itte d some offense. Relationships be­ tween parents and c h ild re n were fille d w ith tenderness, respect, and love. C h ild re n were cherished and ra re ly punished, and never spanked o r s tru ck physically. C h ild re n grew up in a closek n it extended fa m ily o f parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, cousins, and secondary m others and fathers. A very close bond existed betw een fa th e rs and sons. L u th e r S tanding Bear, a Lakota, re ca lle d th a t his fa th e r “ played often w ith me. I t was a pas­ tim e w ith h im to lie on th e g ro u n d on his back and w ith his legs crossed to toss me u p and dow n on one foot.” W h ile playing this game o f horse, S ta n d in g B ear’s fa th e r w ould sing w a rrio r songs to his son.26 By th e s p rin g o f 1863 Pope’s plans fo r the upcom in g exp ed i­ tions a g a in st th e S ioux were being fin a liz e d . I t w ould be a tw o ­ p ro ng e d offensive. T h e firs t p ro n g , u n d e r the com m and o f Sib­ ley, was to consist o f tw o thousand in fa n try and e ig h t h u n d re d ca va lry w ith a r tille r y s u p p o rt. Sibley was to advance to D e v il’s Lake, s till seen as the center o f resistance, and defeat the Santee resisters he fo u n d there. D e v il’s Lake was roughly six hu nd re d m iles fro m F o rt R idgely, the base fo r Sibley’s colum n. T h e second pro ng , based at S ioux C ity and to consist o f two thousand cavalry and th re e h u n d re d in fa n try plus a rtille ry , was to move up the M isso u ri, then rendezvous w ith Sibley a fte r “ show ing the flag” to in tim id a te the Lakotas, Y anktons, and Y anktonais.27 T h e firs t serious issue to arise was who w ould com m and the second p ro n g o f the offensive. In late 1862 B rig a d ie r General

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John Cook was assigned com m and o f the new ly created 1st M ili­ ta ry D istrict, D epartm ent o f the N orthw est. T h e headquarters fo r the new d is tric t was Sioux C ity. C ook was o rd e re d by Pope to begin preparation, in c lu d in g m a kin g contacts fo r supplies and h irin g steamboats, fo r the upcom ing p u n itiv e e x p e d itio n . A t some p o in t Pope found Cook to be in co m p e te n t and unable to meet the requirem ents fo r a fie ld com m and. Pope w anted to replace Cook w ith a personal frie n d and fo rm e r s ta ff o ffice r, B rigadier G eneral C. W. Roberts. H is request was approved by the com m ander o f the arm y, H e n ry H a lle ck, b u t he was over­ ru le d by Secretary o f W ar E dw in Stanton. S tanton believed Rob­ erts too inexperienced fo r the com m and, his o n ly q u a lific a tio n being th a t he was Pope’s frie n d . Stanton w anted a d iffe re n t o ffi­ cer fo r the position, B rig a d ie r G eneral A lfre d S ully. S u lly was an experienced In d ia n fig h te r who had served over tw e n ty years on the fro n tie r; he had seen action in the S em inole W ar, Rogue R iver War, and F irst Sioux War, and against the Cheyennes. C u r­ rently Sully was in com m and o f the 2nd D ivisio n , 3 rd C orps, o f the A rm y o f the Potomac, m ostly recently seeing com bat d u rin g the Battle o f Second B u ll Run. T h e fo rty-tw o -ye a r-o ld ca re er of­ ficer was ordered to Sioux C ity to take com m and o f th e second colum n o f the exp ed itio n.28 Instead o f appreciating the aid o f a veteran o ffic e r lik e S ully, Pope resented S ully’s being assigned to his d e p a rtm e n t. H e de­ clared Sully to be too old, too ill, and too d ru n k to be given a fie ld command. Pope s till wanted Roberts and w orked actively to have Sully removed. In May Pope w rote H a lle ck th a t S u lly had arrived at Sioux C ity b u t stated th a t his health was n o t stro n g enough fo r an active cam paign. Pope suggested tw o o ffice rs who could replace Sully, in c lu d in g Roberts. H alleck m oved q u ic k ly to b lu n t Pope’s negative attacks, re p lyin g , “ S ully is the m an fo r th a t place.” Conceding the argum ent, Pope responded to H a lle c k , “As you desire I have sent S ully” and added he w ould “ do th e best I can w ith the means at my com m and.” 29

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Pope was also irrita te d w ith Sibley, the o th e r colum n com­ m ander. S ibley had concerns w ith the o p e ra tio n . F irs t he re ­ quested th a t co n tra b a n d slaves fro m St. Louis be attached to his co lu m n to be used as team sters fo r his supply wagons. Pope g ra nted th is request, sending 260 men along w ith th e ir fam ilies to Sibley. Sibley also w anted m ore troops, b u t th is request was stro n g ly re jected by Pope, w ho insisted th a t the five and a h a lf regim ents a lre a d y se rvin g u n d e r Sibley were m ore than enough to defeat th e S io ux. Pope in fo rm e d Sibley th a t the colum n o f 2,000 m en was h a lf the size o f the e n tire old re g u la r arm y p rio r to th e C iv il W ar, and th a t given the m anpow er needs o f the U n io n a fte r th e B a ttle o f M u rfre e sbo ro and w ith the upcom ing cam paign against V icksb urg , no m ore troops were available.30 Sibley also lacked s u p p o rt fo r the offensive operations p u t fo rth by Pope. Sibley was concerned th a t too m any men were be­ in g taken away fro m the M innesota fro n tie r, leaving the area de­ fenseless. C le a rly u n h a p p y w ith Sibley, Pope responded that six and h a lf re g im e n ts w ould be le ft to p ro te ct the fro n tie r and added, “ I sh a ll n o t re fe r y o u r le tte r to W ashington, where I am sure it w ill occasion as m uch surprise as it d id me.” 31 Sibley was n o t the o n ly voice questioning Pope’s expeditions. T h e re was b o th p u b lic and p o litic a l opposition to the cam paign. T h a t th e 2nd N ebraska C avalry was to serve on the exp ed itio n was n o t p o p u la r w ith the governor o f Nebraska, who believed the re g im e n t necessary fo r local defense. H alleck in fo rm e d Pope th a t “ he tw ice begged to have the o rd e r counterm anded, w hich I refused.” C o m p la in ts also arose fro m the Dakota T e rrito ry . A gent H e n ry Reed w anted troops to be stationed at F o rt P ierre and F o rt B enton: “ We have fro m F o rt R andall to F o rt Benton a dis­ tance o f some eighteen h u n d re d m iles . . . n o t a single m ilita ry post n o t a c iv il o ffic e o f any k in d .” Secretary o f the In te rio r J. P. U sher also w anted tro o p s fo r the Dakota T e rrito ry , m aking the request to S tanton. T h e secretary o f w ar re p lie d , “A regim ent o f ca va lry was o rd e re d

to S ioux C ity . . . w ill be p a rt o f the

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expedition.” However, Stanton stated it was up to th e com m ander o f the departm ent to determ ine how best to use th e re g im e n t. T he commissary general, J. M. E dm unds, spoke o u t against the expedition, insisting it w ould “o n ly a ffo rd p ro te c tio n o f a tem po­ ra ry character and in the im m ediate v ic in ity o f th e force fo r the tim e being.” Newton Edm unds, the new g o ve rn o r o f th e D akota T e rrito ry , also opposed the expeditions, c a llin g th e m expensive, useless, cumbersome, and slow. H e advocated th a t a lin e o f m ili­ ta ry posts be created across the southeastern re g io n o f th e te r r i­ to ry to ensure the peace. Such a series o f fo rts w ould also m ean a steady source o f money and m ilita ry contracts fo r th e citizens o f the te rrito ry .32 A more d ire ct p o litica l attack came fro m th e U n ite d States Senators fro m M innesota, H enry Rice and M o rto n W ilk in s o n . Rice, a m em ber o f the C om m ittee on M ilita ry A ffa irs , had o p ­ posed the appointm ent o f Sibley, c la im in g there w ere a lre a d y too many generals in the arm y, b u t the tru th was th a t R ice, Sibley’s fo rm e r business p a rtn e r but now b itte r enemy, d id n o t w ant his riv a l prom oted. H is efforts had fa ile d when on S eptem ber 29, 1862, Sibley had been prom oted to b rig a d ie r general and given command o f the new m ilita ry d is tric t o f M innesota. U n d e te rre d , Rice had then focused his attentions on h a vin g Pope rem oved as com m ander o f the D epartm ent o f the N orth w e st. A D em o cra t, Rice realized his chances o f reelection were slim , and he had hoped that i f he could oust Pope, he m ight be made the new d e pa rtm e n t commander. Pope, who soon became aware o f the p o litic a l m aneu­ vering, had called upon G eneral H alleck fo r assistance, re fe rrin g to Rice as “a reckless and ru in e d speculator and In d ia n tra d e r.” H alleck had promised Pope his fu ll support, and once m ore R ice’s plans were blocked.33 Rice may have failed in his e a rlie r attem pts to d is c re d it Sibley and have Pope replaced as com m ander o f the D e p a rtm e n t o f the Northwest, but the expeditions gave h im m ore a m m u n itio n to fire at his opponents. Rice and W ilkin so n w ent to see H a lle ck,

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c o m p la in in g th a t th e e xp e d itio n s w ould leave M innesota de­ fenseless. T h e y w anted Sibley’s colum n to be reduced to a th ird o f its c u rre n t size, w ith m a jo rity o f the troops to rem ain in M in ­ nesota. A lth o u g h th e senators were men o f considerable p o litic a l influ e n ce , H a lle c k su p po rte d Pope and refused to cut the size o f the co lu m n . U n d a u n te d , Rice and W ilkin so n then proceeded to meet w ith S ecretary o f W ar Stanton. T hey asked th a t an inde­ p e nd e n t c a va lry b a tta lio n be a u th o rize d fo r service along the M innesota fro n tie r. E dw in A . C. H atch, a frie n d o f Rice’s, was to be given com m and. Stanton agreed to the b a ttalion, w hich started re c ru itin g in J u ly 1863, to the gre at annoyance o f Pope and Sib­ ley. Pope q u ic k ly blocked the a tte m p t to make H atch ’s b attalion an in d e p e n d e n t u n it, p la cin g the new cavalry b a tta lio n u n de r his com m and.34 Pope’s plans were m et w ith fu rth e r com plaints fro m M inn e ­ sota citizens. T h e e d ito r o f the St. Paul Press scoffed at the need fo r such a larg e offensive o p e ra tio n , c a llin g Sibley’s e xpedition an a tte m p t “ to cru sh th e S ioux L illip u t u n d e r the ponderous heel o f strategy.” T h e St. Cloud Democrat voiced its lack o f enthusiasm fo r the o p e ra tio n because it w ould draw needed troops away fro m the b o rd e r: “ T h e w ith d ra w a l o f the cavalry fro m th is garrison [Sauk C en ter] is looked upon w ith considerable alarm .” 35 A t stake were th e very lu cra tive m ilita ry contracts to feed and supply a ll the va rio u s fo rts and outposts created to protect the border. I f Pope’s e xp e d itio n s proved successful, m any o f these posts w ould be closed, the tro o p s sent elsewhere, and the contracts disappear. For m any in M innesota, it was m ore p ro fita b le fo r the arm y to re m a in on th e defense, p ro v id in g a steady incom e fo r the local economy. T h e a w a rd in g o f contracts by the W ar D epartm ent could in ­ volve larg e am ounts o f money. F o rt R idgely, ju s t one outpost, had num erous contracts w ith local businessmen and farm ers. Just tw o contracts, one fo r th irty -fiv e thousand bushels o f oats at $1.11 p e r bushel and a n o th e r fo r fifte e n thousand bushels o f corn at

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$1.17 a bushel, cost the governm ent $61,350. T h e econom ies o f local com m unities close to F o rt R idgely prospered. Jacob N ix , a butcher from New U lm , received the b e e f co n tra ct at 5.2 cents per pound o f beef delivered, Thom as W elch, a b a n ke r fro m H en­ derson, provided firew ood at $3.75 a cord, and p a rtn e rs H e n ry Behake and T heodore C rone o f New U lm sold fifte e n h u n d re d bushels o f oats to the fo rt at 37 Vs cents p e r bushel.36 Needless to say, such p ro fits o n ly increased th e dem and fo r even m ore troops to be stationed in the state. A n exasperated Pope believed th a t the settlers in M innesota w ould n o t be happy u n til a regim ent, o r at least a company, was stationed “ in the fro n t door o f every settler’s house in the co u ntry.” Pope a rg ue d th a t a successful offensive cam paign w ould end the In d ia n w a r and a l­ low fo r the transfer o f troops to the m ore v ita l theaters o f w a r in the South. B ut bow ing to the “ ca rp in g and fin d in g fa u lt” people o f M innesota, Pope d id agree to leave soldiers b e h in d so th a t the “ tim id , spiritless p opulation o f foreigners along the fro n tie r w ill not abandon th e ir villages and farm s.” Even w ith th is co m p ro ­ mise, Pope discovered his plans were s till opposed: “ T h e re came up a te rrib le outcry fro m the whole people west o f the M issis­ sippi, through the newspapers, th a t they were be in g abandoned.” B luntly, Pope stated th a t there were people in M inn e so ta who absolutely refused to allow any troops to leave the state.37 Pope’s 1863 p u n itive expeditions were not some isolated events that occurred in the West as the C iv il W ar raged back East. D u r­ in g the C iv il War, a num ber o f wars and exp ed itio ns w ere c a rrie d out against various Am erican In d ia n tribes. Pressures over in ­ creased w hite settlem ent, the dem and fo r tribes to give up lands and move to reservations, and the C iv il W ar were some o f the factors in a heightened level o f w arfare in the e arly 1860s. T h e volunteer units stationed in the West, replacing the re g u la r sol­ diers who had served there p rio r to the C iv il W ar, o fte n sought c o n flict w ith Indians. C om ing fro m western states and te r r ito ­ ries, the volunteer soldiers to o k a m ore h a rd -lin e approach to

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re la tio n sh ip s w ith nearby trib e s. C e rta in officers came to repre­ sent th is m ore ra cist view o f In d ia n s. In sum m er 1862 B rig a d ie r G eneral James H . C arle to n began his cam paign against the Mescalero Apaches w ith these in s tru c tio n s to his com m and: “ T h e re is to be no c o u n c il held w ith the In d ia n s, n o r any talks. T h e men are to be s la in w henever and w herever they can be fo u n d .” 38 A fte r d e fe a tin g th e Apaches, the fo llo w in g year, 1863, C arleton was successful in fo rc in g the Navahos onto a reservation. B riga­ d ie r G eneral P a trick E dw ard C on n o r led volunteer troops against the Shoshonis, Bannacks, Utes, and Sioux in various cam paigns d u rin g th e same tim e p e rio d , and in 1864 came the infam ous Sand C reek Massacre, p e rpe tra ted by C olorado soldiers under the com m and o f C olonel Jo h n C h ivin g to n . T h is event led to a war w ith th e S ioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahos th a t swept across the N o rth e rn Plains, lea vin g hundreds dead. F u rth e r, as Pope org an ize d his expeditions, 1863 proved a key year in the C iv il W ar. In May, in the eastern theater, the U nion A rm y o f the Potom ac lost the B attle o f C hancellorsville, allo w in g Lee’s A rm y o f N o rth e rn V irg in ia to invade the N o rth . T h e c li­ m actic b a ttle o f th e invasion came in Ju ly, at G ettysburg. Also in May, in th e w estern theater, G eneral G ra n t placed the c ity o f V icksb u rg u n d e r siege. A t stake was the co n tro l o f the M ississippi River, and V icksb u rg fe ll to U nion forces in July. In the fa ll, U nion and C onfederate arm ies engaged at the Battle o f C hickam auga. For the m en p re p a rin g to serve on the p u n itive expeditions, thoughts o f th e S ioux, the com ing cam paign, and the events oc­ c u rrin g back East were o fte n on th e ir m inds. M any o f the sol­ diers had e n liste d to fig h t against the Confederacy b u t were now being called upon to fig h t a to ta lly d iffe re n t opponent. For others, this was a chance to avenge the te rrib le assault unleashed against unsuspecting settlers. In w ar it is n o t uncom m on fo r soldiers to dem onize th e ir en­ emy. E arly in the c o n flic t, U nion soldiers often w rote h ig h ly nega­ tive th in g s about the C onfederate soldiers they faced in battle.

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Southerners were p o rtra ye d as tra ito rs , cow ards, a n d savages who needed to be punished fo r a tte m p tin g to b re a k th e U n io n . One captain se rvin g in the 91st New Y o rk In fa n try believed th a t "a rebel against the best go vern m e n t th e w o rld ever saw is w orthy o n ly o f one o f tw o th in g s to w it a b u lle t o r a h a lte r.” However, as the w ar w ent on, U n io n s o ld ie rs’ view s changed, w ith m any com ing to see C onfederate so ld ie rs as h o n o ra b le and courageous.39 In the same vein, those U nion troops re a dyin g to m arch against the Sioux often used racist and dem eaning term s about th e m . T h e most com m on expressions were references to A m e ric a n In d ia n s as “ savages,” “ b lo o d th irsty savages,” or, as H e n ry H a g a d o rn , 7th M innesota In fa n try , w rote, “ o u r savage enemy.” O th e r term s in ­ cluded “ M r. Lo” and “ M r. Red.” A fte r serving against S outhern soldiers and Am erican Indians, A. P. C on n o lly m ade th is co m p a ri­ son: “ In the South we fo u g h t foem an w o rth y o f o u r steel, soldiers who were m anly enough to acknowledge defeat, and m a g n a n i­ mous enough to respect the defeat o f th e ir opponents. N o t so the Redskins. T h e ir tactics were o f the s k u lk in g k in d ; th e ir object scalps, and not glory. T h e y never acknow ledged defeat, had no respect fo r a fallen foe, and g ra tifie d th e ir n a tu ra l p ro p e n sity fo r blood.” 40 Never w ould the soldiers fig h tin g the S ioux change th e ir opinions o f th e ir foe. T he Sioux rem ained savages and in fe rio rs who were b lo o d th irsty. T he desire fo r revenge, o r actual e x te rm in a tio n o f the Santees, m otivated many soldiers. W ith great re lish E li P icke tt, 10th M innesota In fa n try , looked fo rw a rd to the “ re trib u tio n w hich awaits the . . . accursed In d ia n s.” In a le tte r to his w ife , P hilena, Pickett stated, “ I know that my hatred fo r the In d ia n is g r e a t . . . so great I believe I could m u rd e r the most helpless o f th e ir wom en and ch ild re n w ith o u t a feeling o f rem orse.” P ickett also believed the expeditions could benefit his state: “ T h is In d ia n w a r w ill n o t only rid M innesota o f the In d ia n s, b u t w ill b rin g m illio n s and m illio n s o f dollars to o u r state.” K n o w in g he co u ld soon d ie in

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com bat, P icke tt concluded by a d d in g th a t he “ has given a ll fo r his countries g o o d ” and even o ffe rs his life “ upon the a lte r o f lib ­ e rty ” In stro n g agreem ent w ith P ickett’s views was A. P. C onnolly, who th o u g h t th e u p co m in g cam paign was being fought “ fo r the fin a l e x tin c tio n o f th e In d ia n s .” A n d D uren K elley w rote to Em m a: “ T h is is g o in g to be a trem endous expedition. I f it don’t do e xecution som ebody w ill be to blam e . . . the In d ian s had bet­ te r say th e ir prayers fo r they are surely g o in g to be snuffed out.” 41 N ot m e n tion e d was the fact th a t m ost o f the Santees the soldiers w ould face w ere fro m the peace fa ctio n and had n o t particip a te d in the w ar. D angerously, a ll the S ioux were s ta rtin g to be found g u ilty o f b e in g h o stile sim p ly because they were Sioux. O th e r so ld ie rs w ere n o t th a t b e llig e re n t tow ard the Dakotas: they were ju s t b o re d w ith se rvin g at the sm all posts along the fro n tie r and w anted some excitem ent. D uren K elley fe lt th a t “ it is p re tty c e rta in th a t I sh a ll go w ith the e xp e d itio n w hich w ill suit me b e tte r th a n la y in g a ro u n d th is d u ll tow n [W innebago C ity, M in n e so ta ].” E ager fo r a ctio n , W illia m Paist had a gre at desire to “ t r y m y p lu c k on e ith e r an In g e n o r a rebel and I don’t care w hich .” 42 H e n ry M cC o n n e ll was n o t sure o f the destination o f the expe­ d itio n : “ R u m o r says th a t we are to go somewhere but where it is n o t kn o w n . Some say across the plains.” W herever it was bound M cC on n e ll d id n o t m in d , as he was bored and “ w ould m uch p re ­ fe r a change and m ore active service, the danger I consider no g re a te r th a n re m a in in g here.” Yet in w ritin g to his w ife, D elia, M cC on n e ll d id express one reservation about leaving: “ I should p re fe r g o in g , b u t i f we re m a in I can have the satisfaction o f hear­ in g fro m you o fte n and perhaps o f seeing you occasionally.” U pon le a rn in g th a t his re g im e n t, the 10th M innesota In fa n try , w ould be p a rtic ip a tin g on the e xp e d itio n , M cC onnell was disap­ p o in te d w ith th e news— “ M y h e a rt fille d w ith sadness th in k in g how soon I m ust leave here and a ll prospects o f seeing my loved ones again fo r m onths and m onths”— b u t was th a n k fu l th a t the

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regim ent was n o t heading south th a t year as m en were being “ slaughtered by thousands.” 43 G. M e rrill D welle, Jones A rtille ry B attery, had seen action in the east as a sharpshooter. W ounded at the B a ttle o f A n tie ta m , Dwelle had been m ustered o u t and then com m issioned as a sec­ ond lie u te n a n t in the a rtille ry . To D w elle, the w hole e x p e d itio n was a waste o f money and “ a grand hum bug.” O th e r m en were m ore pragm atic in th e ir response to the e xp e d itio n . “ I have made up my m in d along ago th a t I am w illin g to go any w here th a t we are o rd ere d ,” acknow ledged C harles W atson, 6 th M in n e so ta In fa n try .44 A lth o u g h most were w illin g o r desired to serve on the co m in g e xp e d itio n against the S ioux, m any soldiers s till b elieved the c o n flic t w ith the C onfederacy was a p rio rity . As D u re n K e lle y w rote to Em m a, “ I should pray th a t o u r re g t. M ig h t be sent South. I have confidence in the men th a t I d o n ’t believe they w ould ever flin c h place them where they w ou ld , o n ly give us a chance at O ld J e ffs ra g -m u ffin s and we should be h e a rd fro m .” Sergeant George C lapp was m ore concerned w ith N o rth e rn D em ocratic support fo r the Southern cause. H e denounced them as the “ m iserable so called D em ocratic Party,” w hom he accused o f being “ in league w ith o u r enemies o f co u ntry. T h e y have been sought by a ll the means in th e ir power to destroy o u r go vern ­ m ent p re fe rrin g th a t o f J e ff Davis whose cornerstone is slavery. U nconditional loyalty to the governm ent is a ll the soldiers in the arm y w ill endure.” S till, in sp rin g 1863 C lapp was p o sitive on the outcome o f the w ar: “ I t is my o p in io n the w ar w ith the S o u th e rn Rebels is fast being brought to a close. A ll the news we have had fo r the last ten days seems to indicate a speedy te rm in a tio n .” John Sm ith was also w aitin g fo r the end o f the c o n flic t: “ I hope and pray that this u n n a tu ra l w ar may soon end and th a t tru th and righteousness may triu m p h .” Yet he d id w o n d e r how th is w ould be achieved when “ so m uch sin and selfishness are ra m ­ pant among o u r soldiers and officers.” 45

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T h ro u g h o u t A p ril and May the various units th a t were to par­ ticipate in the cam paign began the m arch to Camp Pope, the ren­ dezvous p o in t fo r th e e x p e d itio n , located near F ort R idgely. “ We received o u r o rd ers on Sunday to s ta rt today fo r Fort Pope o r Redw ood,” w ro te C o rp o ra l Thom as M ontgom ery to his parents. “A gre at m any o f the wives and frie n d s o f the soldiers were up yesterday to see us and some s till rem ain.” T h e m arch th ro u gh the M inn e so ta V alley im pressed H e n ry H agadorn. In August 1862 H a g a d o rn had m oved to M innesota fro m New York and had im m e d ia te ly th e re a fte r enlisted. He found the area he trav­ eled th ro u g h a “ b e a u tifu l ro llin g p a ra rie [sic] w ith meadow and w ater in abundance and the soil excellent.” T h e valley was also the center o f the previous year’s fig h tin g and slaughter, and the signs o f th e c o n flic t were s till apparent. As Thom as M ontgom ery noted, “ T h e devastation occasioned by the In d ia n s last August becomes visib le dozens o f houses b u rne d to the g ro un d and the bones and carcases o f anim als ly in g strewed around.” 46 E li P icke tt re fle cte d on th e scenes o f carnage— “ It seems th e ir inate savage desire fo r b lo o d had been so long pent up th a t when it once g o t loose no e a rth ly consideration could pre vail to stay the hand o f savage [u n clea r]” — and viewed the fig h tin g as a “great car­ n iva l o f b lo o d .” M em bers o f the 8 th M innesota In fa n try went to a St. Peter h o spita l to see victim s o f the u p risin g. Thom as Hodgson called it a “ ghastly sig h t” and said the “ tales o f woe and h o rro r th a t these p o o r v ic tim s could te ll w ould fire one’s blood against the redskins.” W h ile on a p a tro l near Camp Pope, C orporal H en ry Synder, 6 th M inn e so ta In fa n try , discovered eight bodies: “ N oth ­ in g le ft o f them b u t th e ir bones w hich were very m uch scattered.” John Leo was w ith th e 10th M innesota d u rin g its m arch to Camp Pope. T h e evidence o f Dakota raids was everywhere, “ the distructio n o f th e ir hands was visible in the shape o f dead horses and cattle and the graves o f tw o w hite men.” W hen passing through the Low er S ioux Agency, Leo noted the presence o f Sioux b u ria l scaffolds c o n ta in in g fo u r o r five bodies. H e w rote, “ I t was some

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satisfaction to fin d th a t some o f them w ent to th e s p irit la n d o r some o th e r land before they were sent fo r.” 47 T h e destru ction fou n d in the valley m oved nin e te e n -yea r-o ld John Nelson, 6 th M innesota In fa n try , to p o etry. In his poem en­ title d “ M inn ie -ha -h a !,” Nelson w rote: M inn ie ha h a la u g h in g w ater Cease th y la u g h in g now fo r aye Savage hands are red w ith slaughter O f the innocent today Have they k ille d my Hans and O tto D id they fin d them in the corn Go te ll th a t savage m onster N ot to k ill my youngest b o rn 48 T h a t spring, stories o f raids and m in o r skirm ishes convinced the soldiers th a t the fro n tie r was s till vuln e ra b le . O n A p r il 24 a San­ tee ra id in g p a rty consisting o f some fifty to one h u n d re d w ar­ rio rs attacked the sm all com m unity o f S outh Bend in W atonw an C ounty, M innesota. T h e g a rris o n , tw enty-one m en o f th e 7th M innesota In fa n try , fo u g h t o ff the s u rp rise a tta ck. T h e y sus­ tained a loss o f one soldier k ille d and tw o others w ounded, a long w ith the deaths o f a sm all boy and tw o wom en. Soon a fte r, an­ other attack, lik e ly by the same w ar party, o ccu rre d on th e u n fin ­ ished stockade at nearby M adelia, M innesota. A de ta ch m e n t o f tw enty-five men o f the 7th M innesota In fa n try g a th e re d up local c iv ilia n s and rushed them to th e stockade, w here th e y defeated the Sioux assault. F u rth e r ra id s c o n tin u e d th ro u g h o u t the summer.49 T here is little doubt th a t the images o f the d e s tru c tio n in the valley, coupled w ith new raids, led soldiers to believe th a t those Santees s till free in the West were h ostile and th re a te n e d the fro n tie r com m unities o f w hite settlers, increasing th e ir desire fo r

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revenge. M e a n w h ile , those D akotas w ho had surrendered o r never p a rtic ip a te d in th e w a r were b e g in n in g to be rem oved fro m M innesota, banished to the new reservation o f Crow Creek 150 m iles up th e M isso u ri R ive r fro m F o rt R andall. O n M ay 4 and 5, as Lee was once again defeating the A rm y o f the Potom ac, at th e B a ttle o f C ha n ce llo rsville , 1,318 Sioux, m ainly women and c h ild re n , w ere herded onto two steamboats, Daven­ port and N ortherner, and d e pa rte d F o rt S nelling. Aboard ship, the discouraged D akotas d id n o t know w here they were destined. T h e jo u rn e y was n o t w ell h a nd le d, having been com pared by la te r w rite rs to th e M id d le Passage fo r A fric a n slaves, but on June 3 the D akotas a rriv e d at th e ir new reservation. W ith the govern­ m ent s u p p ly in g flo u r and m eat, they started to p la n t potatoes, corn, and o th e r vegetables in the h a rd , d iffic u lt soil. In J u ly th e ir efforts to feed them selves were d e a lt a devastating blow by a se­ vere d ro u g h t. T h e co rn d ie d , and the o th e r crops produced little food as the grass b u rn e d and dust blew th ro u g h the area. T here was gam e in th e re g io n , b u t few had a n yth in g w ith w hich to hunt. Slowly, th e D akotas sta rte d to starve, but they w ould not su ffe r alone. In Ju n e 2,000 W innebagos, com pletely innocent o f any ro le in the u p ris in g , were also rem oved fro m M innesota and sent to C row C ree k.50 A lso in May, Pope had trie d to expand the theater o f opera­ tions w ith an invasion o f C anada. Pope was concerned th a t the Sioux w ere crossing the b o rd e r and w ould avoid the punishm ent he so desired to in flic t up on them . A n e a rlie r request by Pope to enter C anada had been firm ly denied by H alleck, who spoke fo r the pre sid e n t, fe a rin g a possible w ar w ith the B ritish . O n May 19 Sibley w ro te Pope o f re p o rts th a t L ittle Crow was m oving in to Canada, a d d in g th a t i f he was n o t allow ed to follow , “ the m ain objective o f th e e x p e d itio n may be fru s tra te d .” Once m ore Pope asked p e rm issio n fro m H a lle ck fo r the rig h t to invade Canada, in fo rm in g th e co m m a n d in g general th a t the H udson Bay Com­ pany, the p o w e rfu l fu r tra d in g business located in Canada, had

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no issue with such a m ilita ry action on the p a rt o f the U nited States. Halleck replied that governm ent o fficia ls were speaking to representatives o f the B ritish governm ent over the issue. U n til then, “care must be taken that our troops do not cross the fro n ­ tie r in the eagerness o f pursuit.” As L ittle Crow d id n o t rem ain in Canada and the British government never approved an A m e ri­ can m ilita ry intrusion into Canada, the issue became m oot.51 Pope was focused on events dealing w ith his d e partm ent, but soldiers in the 6th and 7th M innesota In fa n try fou n d news o f the war back East far more com pelling. On May 9 w ord a rriv e d o f a Union victory at the Battle o f Fredericksburg. In his d ia ry , H e n ry Hagadorn stated that while on dress parade the men learned o f “ the news o f our great victory at Fredericksburg and the 6 th and 7th regiments gave cheer after cheer fo r the brave soldiers and their glorious cause.” As cannons were fire d three tim es to m ark the occasion, many men rejoiced at the news, assum ing th a t the war would soon be over and they could re tu rn hom e.52 The next day word arrived that cut short the soldiers’ ju b ila ­ tion. “ We reed news this pm that instead o f victo ry we have been defeated at Fredericksburgh which was reed w ith great sadness,” wrote Hagadorn. The follow ing day at dress parade the real story o f the loss at Fredericksburg was related to the m en. “ How changed were the feelings from that o f 48 hours previous,” noted Hagadorn. The regiments “ marched to th e ir quarters in perfect silence w ith anguish in th e ir hearts.” Hagadorn concluded his May 11 entry with the pained “alas: alas: my co u ntry where is thy boasted liberty,” as he wondered i f the defeat came fro m the in ­ competence o f General Ambrose Burnside, com m ander o f the Arm y o f the Potomac, and, i f so, why the governm ent d id n o t know o f this.53 Ever optim istic, w ithin days Hagadorn accepted a new ru m o r, about the fall o f Richmond. A captain from the 6 th M innesota Infantry had a copy o f the St. Paul Press that re p orted the cap­ ture o f the rebel capital: “ The a ir resounded w ith shouts o f jo y

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from the hearts o f m ore than 1,000 soldiers and the 121bs can­ non bu rst fo rth it fire and smoke w hich reverberated from h ill to h i l l . . . n o t o f deadly s trife in battle but in jo y fo r the great Union victory.” Once m ore men dream ed th a t the war would soon cease: “ T hey now loo k fo r a speedy closing o f this great rebellion,” re­ m arked H agadorn.54 S h o rtly thereafter, the good news was again proved false. H aving tw ice been disappointed, H agadorn was more cau­ tious when at th e end o f the m onth, fo u r cavalrym en rode into camp w ith re p o rts o f the fa ll o f V icksburg on the Mississippi River. H e sim ply noted the ru m o r in his d ia ry w ithout commen­ tary. T h is was n o t the case w ith George Clapp, who eagerly wrote his w ife th a t “good news reaches u s . . . o f victories in various parts o f the South. V icksburg is reported captured by o u r forces under Gen G r a n t . . . soon we shall hear o f the dow nfall o f Rich­ m ond and C harleston. Heaven w ill b rin g order out o f confu­ sion.” 55 A lth o u g h G ra n t had placed Vicksburg under siege, the city d id n o t fa ll u n til J u ly 4. W ith such hope fo r the end o f the war, the realization that the reports had a ll proven to be erroneous led soldiers to once again pine fo r th e ir fam ilies and home. I ll in bed, Hagadorn took tim e to w rite , “ I received a le tte r fro m my wife this evening in which I was glad to hear th a t they are a ll well which is o f much com fort to me at th is tim e in these lonely hours w hich I pass alone in my tent w ith no one to c o m fo rt me in my sickness.. . . Oh home sweet home how I long fo r home.” U pon learning that his w ife’s illness was g e ttin g worse, Thom as Cheetham urged her to “ tend to your m edicine. . . . You must take the best o f care o f yourself and may G od help you.” R ealizing that his wife m ight be dying, Cheetham added th a t i f G od saw fit to call her home she should “ above a ll th in g s be prepared.” 56 By early June m ost o f the troops going on the expedition had a rrive d at Cam p Pope, located some twenty-two miles above Fort Ridgeley. C harles W atson, 6th M innesota In fa n try , found it a

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pleasant spot: “ This is a beautiful place it lies in the valley o f the Minnesota [River] on the second rise o f g ro un d the cam p is laid out nice and there is quite a num ber o f b u ild in g s such as hospi­ tal, store house, guard house, headquarters and a place to keep ammunition stores.” Nearby Fort Ridgely became a massive sup­ ply depot for the column. Enough supplies fo r tw enty-five hun­ dred men, including fifty thousand rounds o f a m m un itio n and forage for a thousand horses, were gathered there. T h e now aban­ doned Lower Sioux Agency was stripped o f a ll available lum ber, blacksmith equipment, and carpentry tools.57 A. P. Connolly estimated that 3,052 in fa n try , 800 cavalry, and 146 artillerym en were assembled at Camp Pope. W ritin g shortly before the expedition left, Amos G lanville, 10th M innesota In ­ fantry, described the column as consisting o f “ three regim ents o f infantry and regiment wagons; one regim ent o f cavalry and wag­ ons; battery and wagons; two hundred and tw enty-five q u a rte r­ master and commissary wagons, containing ninety days o f rations for the expedition, or as some estimate, three hundred thousand rations for man and beast. . . am m unition tra in and three o r four hundred beef cattle. The whole, when underw ay, stretches out several miles.” 58 Among those who prepared fo r the expedition were fo u r hu n ­ dred teamsters hired to drive the more than three h u n d re d wag­ ons accompanying the column. O f these drivers, three hu nd re d were African Americans from the South. In a le tte r to his par­ ents, Thomas Montgomery referred to them as “a heavy squad o f niggers for teamsters,” while Duren Kelley w rote, “ T h e re w ill be about three hundred niggers along, enough to stock a pla n ta ­ tion.” The African Americans were not the only members o f the expedition to experience the racist attitudes o f the w hite soldiers. The Sioux scouts brought their fam ilies w ith them in to camp. Jon Leo found the Santee women to be w anting in com parison to white women: “A ll the females we can have the pleasure o f seeing now is the very amiable handsome looking but sooty squaws

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when we look at them and th in k o f those we once had the p riv i­ lege at least to lo o k in g at, we tu rn away in disgust.” 59 In d iv id u a lly , the soldiers also got ready to depart fo r the West. Each soldier was responsible fo r a wide assortment o f equipm ent and rations. G la n ville noted w hat was included: “ a haversack stuffed w ith ‘h a rd ta ck’ and p o rk; a canteen fille d w ith water; a knap sack stretched to its utm ost capacity w ith clothing; an over­ coat on top; a S p rin g fie ld [rifle ] and bayonet; and a supply o f am­ m u n itio n accouterm ents. T h e whole com bination, in its com­ pleteness, in c lu d in g a spare cone and conepick, ta rp a ulin , makes one feel m ore lik e a pack m ule than a soldier.” Part o f the food rations were desiccated vegetables fo r use in soups. The vegeta­ bles were n o t h ig h ly th o u g h t o f by the troops. Captain Theodore C arter, 7th M innesota In fa n try , sarcastically called them “ des­ ecrated vegetables” and described them as “ various vegetables cooked and m ixed together, d rie d and pressed together into a sheet iro n can fro m 1 to 2 feet square.” 60 One purpose fo r the vegetables was to help combat illness w hile serving in the fie ld . T h e health o f soldiers was a serious problem in the C iv il War, causing fa r greater casualties than ac­ tual com bat. “ O u r com pany is g e ttin g very sm all,” Charles Wat­ son w rote his fa th e r. “ T h e re w ill be th irty men less this year than there was last.” A n o th e r way fo r soldiers to im prove th e ir health was to cu t th e ir h a ir short to prevent lice. “ I te ll you it is a fine th in g fo r th e re is no chance fo r the lice and another th in g it requires no com bing,” a contented D uren Kelley inform ed Em m a.61 O n June 6 Sibley a rriv e d at Camp Pope, and fo u r days later he took fo rm a l com m and o f the expedition. Sergeant James Ramer, 7th M innesota In fa n try , recalled th a t “ Gen Sibley arrived at 5 o’clock the cannon was fire d and the whole camp was called out to salute h im .” Im pressed by Sibley, C onnolly believed he had “gained the confidence and universal respect and love o f the soldiers.” 62

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Sibley’s prom ising assum ption o f com m and was soon m arred by personal tragedy. O n June 13 the general received w ord th a t his seven-year-old daughter, M ary, w ho had been i ll fo r weeks, had died. She had been his favorite c h ild , and he re fe rre d to her as “ my dear lam blike little Mamie.” A fa th e r in m o u rn in g , Sibley stated, “ How dear to us this gentle c h ild was.” M a ry was the th ird , but unfortunately not the last, ch ild o f Sibley and his w ife , Sarah, to die.63 Sibley was not alone w ith his thoughts o f hom e and the ap­ proach o f a campaign w ith an unforeseeable fu tu re . M any men contemplated the com ing expedition and the fa m ilie s they were leaving behind. H enry Synder took tim e to pen one last le tte r to his wife, M arie, before leaving: “ Keep in good h e a rt and do the best thee can. For I do not th in k it w ill Be a very lo n g tim e Before I w ill be back w ith thee and the c h ild re n then we w ill see some good times yet in this w orld o f trouble and care.” S ynder asked M arie to give his love to th e ir ch ild re n and to “ save a larg e p o r­ tion for thy self fore thee is one that I owe the m ost o f m y love to.” Ever concerned about how his own w ife M arie was h a n d lin g th e ir being apart, Captain John Jones, L ig h t A rtille ry B a ttery, encour­ aged her to “ bear up and meet your tria ls c h e e rfu lly , you m ust not despair, you have o u r child re n to care fo r and w atch over. L e t that be some com fort to y o u . . . . We m ust subm it and sa crifice so that we may hereafter live in peace.” 64 O ther soldiers were concerned over how they w ou ld p e rfo rm in the campaign. In a lette r to his m other, Thom as M o n tg om e ry acknowledged there would be “ many hardships g re a te r th a n we can now image but we hope to have Courage to overcom e a ll cheerfully, and be able to come back safe in the fa ll.” C harles W at­ son’s thoughts turned to death: “ May my life be spared th ro u g h this campaign if not may I so live so as to meet you a ll in th a t u p ­ per and better world.” Duren Kelley desired to “ bag an In d ia n this summer,” yet was pleased to learn th a t his w ife, E m m a, was tryin g to get him discharged from the arm y. I f th a t happened,

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Kelley “ w o u ld com e hom e w illin g ly .” A lso ready to leave the arm y was H e n ry M cC o n n e ll. T o his w ife, D elia, M cC onnell confessed, “ I should be the happiest m an on e a rth i f I thought I could come home fo r c e rta in n e x t fa ll. . . . I pray and hope th a t I can. I am g e ttin g m ore tire d o f th e service everyday and so is everybody else th a t I see.” 65 O n Ju n e 15 E noch E astm an, a team ster on the e xp ed itio n, w rote a b rie f e n try fo r th a t day: “ O rders received today for expedi­ tio n to s ta rt to m o rro w m o rn at 4 o’c lo c k. . . . O rders that any sutler found se llin g in to x ic a tin g d rin k to soldiers o r officers shall be co u rt-m a rtia le d and dism issed fro m service.” 66 Sibley’s expedition m arched o u t o f C am p Pope the next day. Pope’s long-anticipated cam paign to w reak havoc on the Dakotas had commenced.

C o p y rig h t © 2013, U n iv e rs ity o f O k la h o m a Press.

CHAPTER 4

Sibley’s Expedition Departs “ O N E D A Y WAS M U C H L I K E A N O T H E R ”

O n June 16, 1863, before dawn, the roughly two thou­ sand men o f Sibley’s colum n le ft Camp Pope. “ Great noise and confusion at 3 O ’clock” was how teamster Enoch Eastman remem­ bered -the m o rn in g . T h e colum n extended some distance: the wagon tra in alone was five m iles long, w ith the last units not leav­ ing Cam p Pope u n til noon. T h e scouts led the way, followed by pioneers, a detachm ent o f cavalry, the a rtille ry , wagon tra in , and in fa n try , w ith m ore ca va lry b rin g in g up the rear. C avalry also protected the flanks. T h e standard d a ily march fo r the expedi­ tion was one h o u r o f m arching, follow ed by a ten-m inute break, sta rtin g at fo u r a.m. and co n tin u in g u n til five o r six p.m. Each man carried equipm ent w eighing some fo rty pounds.1 Few o f the m en could have know n th a t the c h ie f opponent o f the e xp ed itio n w ould be n o t the Sioux but rather M other Nature. T he com ing weeks saw b ru ta lly hot tem peratures and a long, sustained d ro u g h t th a t d rie d up the lakes and rivers, m aking fresh w ater d iffic u lt to obtain. T h e firs t day provided a foretaste o f what the soldiers could expect, w ith the tem perature reaching 81

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100 degrees. “ We suffered from the heat, the dust and the weight o f our knapsacks, gun and equipments, fro m the firs t day,” A. P. Connolly reflected. A fte r the campaign, in his m em oirs C onnolly was more descriptive: “ It was a season o f d ro u th such as was never before known in the West. The prairies were lite ra lly parched up with the heat, the grass was burned up, and the sloughs and little streams were dry. The fierce p ra irie w inds were lik e the hot Si­ roccos o f the desert, and great clouds o f dust, raised by the im ­ mense column, could be seen fo r m iles and were view ed w ith wonder.” 2 A fter a march o f six to eight miles, the colum n stopped fo r the day at what was named Camp Crooks, a b e a u tifu l location close to the Minnesota River. N ot u n til noon d id the m arch resume on June 17, but the column made better tim e, covering twelve miles and camping at the site o f the Battle o f Wood Lake. W ood Lake was a symbolic victory for the troops. “ W here g allant C olonel M ar­ shall o f the Seventh [M innesota In fa n try ] had made the biggest charge ever made in an Indian battle,” C aptain C h ris tia n Exel, 6th Minnesota Infantry, wrote w ith pride. “ T h is action had de­ cided the fate o f the Indians under L ittle Crow and had b ro ug h t a start to our commanding general.” Enoch Eastman echoed th a t belief, stating Wood Lake had “ resulted in the d isco m fitu re o f the Indian and the final delivery up o f w hite prisoners.” 3 The current camp, named M iller, was near the abandoned Yel­ low Medicine, or Upper Sioux, Agency; Enoch Eastman described it as “a heap o f ruins. A great number o f scythes, pieces o f iro n and what fire could not consume lying about in every d ire ctio n .” Some soldiers decided to take small measure o f revenge upon the Santees. “The boys burned some deserted Indian houses,” noted Ran­ som Walters, 7th Minnesota Infantry.4 It was likely th a t the homes belonged to those who had not supported the war and were in n o ­ cent o f any actions occurring during the fighting. On the th ird day o f the march the colum n crossed the Yellow River, reaching Hazelwood Creek five miles above the agency.

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Amos G la n ville , tire d o f the heat, was concerned over the lack o f ra in : “ T h e re hasn’t been any ra in since we l e f t. . . . The p ra irie is rent w ith large cracks. B ut, so far, we have managed to get water by hard scratching i.e. d ig g ing . Every n ig h t a detail is made to d ig a fte r water.” T h is changed on June 20. H aving reached Camp Release, the soldiers awoke at fo u r a.m. to a change o f weather. “ D riz z lin g ra in and so cold th a t I suffered w ith two coats on . . . a most disagreeable day,” g ru m b le d one soldier. W ith a sharp w ind blow ing, the m en, sh ive rin g in th e ir overcoats, pushed forw ard eighteen m iles th a t day. A lth o u g h m iserable in the weather, Cap­ tain John Jones could s till w rite th a t evening to his wife w ith op­ tim ism th a t “ I th in k when the In d ian s see . . . the num ber o f our men, they w ill th in k th a t a ll the w arrio rs o f the U nited States are a fte r them .” 5 O n June 21, a Sunday, the colum n rested fo r the day after four days o f m arching. K elley explained to his wife, “As it is Sunday we are la yin g over. A very good arrangem ent as it affords an op­ p o rtu n ity to read o u r bibles and m editate on the errors o f our ways.” T h a t day also b ro u g h t the firs t rum ors about the Sioux. “ Rumors say th a t S tanding B u ffa lo and Sweet Corn are at Stone Lake w ith a band o f w a rrio rs w a itin g to give themselves up . . . but I have some doubts about this being true,” H enry M cConnell told D elia in a letter. D uren Kelley fe lt the same way about Stand­ ing B u ffa lo and Sweet C orn ’s desire to surrender: “ Now this may be so b u t I don’t believe it.” 6 A large p o rtio n o f the Dakotas liv in g on the plains were fro m the peace faction o f the Santees; Stand­ ing B u ffa lo was a key leader o f those who had not participated in the war and was recognized as such by Sibley. Yet soldiers doubted that any Sioux could be trusted, and Pope had demanded a harsh cam paign o f punish m e nt against them . Future events would be determ ined by how Sibley decided to view the Santees he would soon co n fro n t. For Thom as Cheetham , having a day o f rest o r whether Stand­ ing B u ffa lo could be tru ste d was not forem ost on his m ind. He

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had ju s t received w ord fro m his w ife , M a ry, o f w ha t he m ost feared— she was dying. M ary w anted to know w h a t should be done w ith th e ir three ch ild re n — E m ily, C harles, and th e youn­ gest, Caroline. A heartbroken Thom as re p lie d , “ You have asked me some very hard questions fo r me to answer as you said. You spoke o f giving the child re n away. I f you th in k it best to le t M rs Wheaton have one o f them , do so, as it is a good steady place. I f she w ill let you, had better let her have C a ro lin e as she needs a steady place and steady hand to take care o f her. A lm o s t anyone can get along w ith Em ily and I w ill see th a t E m ily and C harles have good care.” Cheetham added he w ould pay fo r ro o m and board and send money fo r clothes. L o n g in g to be w ith his w ife, Thomas wrote tenderly, “ Dear M ary keep up y o u r courage and may God prolong your days th a t we may meet again on e a rth . I f not, my prayer is that we may a ll meet again in heaven to p a rt no more forever.” 7 Thomas and M ary d id n o t see each o th e r again; M ary died one m onth later. N or d id Thom as re cla im his c h il­ dren. Following the war, he le ft them w ith th e ir fo ste r parents and rem arried. By June 22 the hot weather had re tu rn e d , and th e soldiers were fin d in g it d iffic u lt to obtain wood and water. E ncam ping at the end o f “ a very severe m arch” th a t had le ft “ a ll m uch ex­ hausted,” A rth u r Daniels, 6th M innesota In fa n try , fo u n d to his displeasure “ very filth y and green” water th a t he de cla re d “ the worst water we had ever seen.” Daniels survived the e x p e d itio n but died o f disease in a Memphis hospital one year la te r a t age twenty-one. Sibley had ordered no stopping fo r w ater d u rin g the march, even though the arm y passed th ro u g h a riv e r. A d e fia n t H enry Hagadorn stated, “ T he boys declare th a t th e y w ill get water at every opportunity here a fte r le t come w hat w ill.” T h e re was also no wood for fires in the camp except fo r tw o o r th re e o ld barrels. A glum Hagadorn w rote, “ We now began to see w ha t hardships we have to endure before we get to D e v il’s Lake and back to civilization.” 8

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T h e heat and lack o f good d rin k in g water continued. The tw e n ty -th ird o f Ju n e proved a b ru ta l day. “ Today, in te rrib le heat, we m arch fifte e n m iles th ro u g h a deserted and grassless sandy p ra irie whose g lo o m and m o n oton y was o n ly am eliorated by a few p ra irie fire s ,” observed an exhausted C aptain Exel. Daniels found the “ w eather h o t, grass d ry . . . w a t e r . . . only in sloughs, and then offensive and im p u re .” A m ore v iv id description was presented by O scar W a ll, 1st M ounted M innesota Rangers: “ had n o th in g b u t p ra irie slew w ater to d rin k and it was so filth y that I had to s tra in it betw een m y teeth and spit the young frogs out or swallow them as I chose.” 9 T h e d iffic u lt co n d itio n s o f d ro u g h t, heat, and lack o f water ham pered the e x p e d itio n fo r the rest o f the cam paign. In five weeks Sibley’s co lu m n was able to m arch o n ly two hundred miles. T he w eather was so d ry th a t h a rdtack boxes broke apart and had to be repackaged and reloaded. M any o f the men had brought along pet dogs th a t now e ith e r d ie d o f th irs t o r had to be m erci­ fu lly shot. C om b in ed w ith th e above problem s were swarms o f grasshoppers th a t devoured w hat grass there was, leaving little fo r the horses and m ules to eat. So severe were the issues o f heat, lack o f w ater, and grasshoppers th a t the colum n was alm ost forced to re tre a t.10 T h a n k fu lly , Ju n e 24 p roved to be a b e tte r day. T h e arm y crossed the Y ellow E a rth R iver, “ a p re tty little stream ” w ith good water, a cco rd in g to Exel. R eaching the B ig Stone River, the expe­ d itio n was now in th e D akota T e rrito ry . A lo ng the river, men took tim e o u t to fish , as “ o u r m ouths were g e ttin g quite sore fro m eating m uch h a rd tack,” e xp la ine d Am os G la n ville .11 T h e n e xt tw o days the co lu m n m arched over a “ dead p ra irie ” situated betw een B ig Stone Lake and Lake Traverse. T h e men were able to catch five thousand fish w hile camped by Swan Lake, b u t th e y also discovered th e bodies o f o th e r w hites k ille d by Sioux ra id in g p a rtie s the previous year. “ Found the rem ains o f fo u r w h ite persons w hich was k ille d last fa ll,” noted Sergeant

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James Ramer, 8th M innesota, in his d ia ry. E noch Eastm an re­ lated a fu rth e r discovery o f two m ore bodies at th e b u rn e d -o u t M yrick Trading Post. “ General Sibley w ith a ca rria g e , attendants and twenty horsemen went out near evening and th e rem ains were decently inte rre d .” Soon after, soldiers located an In d ia n grave where “ some inquisitive u n th in k in g m en d u g it open and exposed the corpse in the air,” w rote a d isa p p ro vin g Eastm an.12 Lewis Paxton was not concerned w ith fis h in g o r discovery o f bodies. Paxton had only resided in M innesota fo r fo u r m onths before enlisting in the 8th M innesota In fa n try . A m eticulous m an, Paxton spent his free tim e keeping s tric t accounts o f how m uch money he spent and how much money he was owed. H is e n try fo r June 25 read, “ M ajor Sm ith came and p a id m e $26. I paid Thompson $ 2 5 .1 s till owe him $15. Two com panies p a id o ff.” 13 Sibley halted the army, w orn down by the heat and lack o f water, for a three-day rest near the Lake Traverse area, a region that John Pettibone, 6th M innesota In fa n try , believed to be “ the most rom antic place I ever saw.” Pettibone was to d ie o f illness at Helena, Arkansas, in August 1864, serving against th e C onfed­ eracy. On June 27 the men relaxed, w ashing th e ir clothes and bathing. There were s till problem s w ith the w ater supply. “ T h e worst thing I have to contend w ith is the water. We have to d rin k slough water principally and frequently have to wade in to w ater above our knees to procure it and then strain it th ro u g h o u r hand­ kerchiefs, or chew it, one o f the two,” a sarcastic K e lle y w ro te Emma. For the first tim e the soldiers tasted b u ffa lo m eat. W h ile on patrol, members o f the 1st M innesota M ounted R angers shot some buffaloes and brought the meat back to camp. Am os G lanville found the meat “ rather tough,” but John Jones w rote M arie that it was “very sweet and tender too.” Thom as Jefferson H u n t echoed Jones’s opinion, declaring “ it was the sweetest m eat I ever tasted," while Eastman thought “ it is sweet and m uch m ore tender than this grass fed beef though somewhat coarser.” 14

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As June 28 was a Sunday, ch u rch services were held by Chap­ lain L ig h t, 7 th M inn e so ta In fa n try , and C haplain Lathrop, 10th M innesota In fa n try . Sibley had proclaim ed that every Sunday w ould be a day o f rest d u rin g the cam paign, confident th a t “ we shall m arch fa rth e r, week a fte r week, by resting on G od’s day, than we should by m a rc h in g th ro u g h the seven.. . . I f God be not w ith us, we sh a ll fa il o f a ccom plishing the desired objects, and one way to secure th e presence and assistance o f God is to rem em ber th e Sabbath day to keep it holy.” T he service con­ ducted by L ig h t m oved Jacob H a m lin : “ We are a ll seated on the ground in a se m i-circle a ro u n d the preacher, some h o ld ing th e ir knees in th e ir hands, others re c lin in g upon th e ir elbows b u t not w ith sta n d in g th is we have a excellent m eeting and the gospel seems to sound sw eeter to us soldiers here in the wilderness than ever b e fo re ."15 M eanw hile, o th e r m en fro m the 7th M innesota In fa n try dis­ covered a n o th e r pastim e. A lo n g some nearby b lu ffs, they en­ countered a S io ux b u ria l g ro u n d . T h e y proceeded to tear the graves up, sca tte rin g the bodies over the ground. W hile traveling to Cam p Pope, G. M e rrill D w elle had seen s im ila r destruction o f Sioux graves. “ O ne th in g I was sad to see,” he w rote his sister C arrie, “ was w herever th e re was a grave o f an In d ia n the body was dug up and allow ed to ro t above the ground. W ith a ll the boasting o f o u r c iv iliz a tio n are we not alm ost as barbarous as they?” A n g ere d by these acts, Sibley ordered punishm ent fo r any­ one fou n d d is tu rb in g th e b u ria l sites. Eastman found Sibley’s po­ sition to be “ a sensible o rd er.” A n o th e r man from the 7th found tim e to w an d e r away fro m cam p and become lost. James Ramer noted in his d ia ry th a t “ th is m o rn in g a man fro m Co K strayed a little to fa r fro m cam p and has n o t re tu rn ed . He is supposed to be lost.” Sibley o rd e re d a m ounted d e ta il to search fo r the m issing soldier, w hom they located the n e xt day ten m iles from camp, where “ he had layed dow n to d ie .’’16

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W hile the men rested in camp, ru m o rs s ta rte d th a t tw o Da­ kota villages, likely those o f S tanding B u ffa lo and Sweet C orn, were in the Dakota Ridges— a series o f b lu ffs located fifte e n miles to the west. Excitem ent ra n th ro u g h th e cam p, and Sibley sent two companies o f cavalry to investigate. H ow ever, K e lle y re­ mained doubtful: “ I place no confidence at a ll in th e In d ia n scouts and very little in Gen Sibley.” T h e ca va lry re tu rn e d the next day after fin d in g no evidence o f the villages. D iscouraged, soldiers wondered i f it even m attered, b e lie vin g th a t th e d ro u g h t would make the colum n tu rn back anyway.17 Sibley had no intention o f retreating. O n June 29 he ordered Lieutenant Colonel John A v e rill w ith th re e in fa n try and three cavalry companies to escort a tra in back to F o rt A bercrom bie. The next day, after paying the men, the advance c o n tin u e d . A twenty-m ile march brought them to Cam p B radley, w here once again A rth u r Daniels encountered “ very filth y w ater.” 18 Now more than 130 miles to the west o f C am p Pope, any ex­ citement the soldiers felt at the start o f the e xp e d itio n had waned. Captain Ole Paulson, 9th M innesota In fa n try , sum m ed up the feelings o f many: “ One day was much lik e another. We saw n o th ­ ing but sky overhead and the p ra irie u n d e rfo o t; th e sun b u rn e d mercilessly.” Men suffered from m irages. T h e o d o re C a rte r re ­ called, “ We could see fa r ahead o f us a b e a u tifu l lake w ith tim b e r a ll around i t . . . men would start ca llin g water, w ater as th e col­ um n suffered from lack o f water.” Yet the lake proved an illu s io n . A depressed Exel described the region as being “ ch a racterize d by many small, clear lakes w ith sandy shores. W ith o u t these lakes this vicinity would be a desert where neither hum an b e in g n o r a n i­ mals could live, w ith the exception o f grasshoppers w hich p o pu ­ late the prairie by the m illions and make life fe a rfu lly unpleasant for us.” Exhausted from the day’s m arch, D aniels was b rie fe r, w ritin g , “ We are very fatigued.” 19 On July 1 a new problem emerged in the fo rm o f a p ra irie fire . “ The Barnes spread, becoming one vast sheet, sweeping over the

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prairies,” w rote A . P. C onnolly. “A very ro a rin g cataract o f fire , the billows o f w hich reached to the clouds.” T he horses and mules re­ acted to th e flam es w ith fear, n e arly leading to a stampede. Sol­ diers sta rte d a c o u n te rfire th a t saved the colum n.20 T h e n e xt few days w ere am ong the w orst encountered on the e xp e d itio n . R eaching the a p p ro p ria te ly nam ed Skunk Lake, sol­ diers im m e d ia te ly n o ticed a te rrib le sm ell, a smell so bad that, as Exel insisted, “ I t is h a rd to believe th a t there could be a place w ith a worse sm ell.” H ow ever, the lake was fu ll o f fish, and o ffi­ cers and m en m ade ra fts and w ent fish in g . T h e water its e lf was barely d rin k a b le , b e in g “ w arm and green.” T h e firs t soldiers who a rrive d in cam p d u g a w ell fo r fresh water, and then sold it to the late r tro o p s as they a rriv e d fo r ten cents fo r a canteen and fifty cents fo r a g a llo n . C om bined w ith the bad water was the plague o f grasshoppers. E xel com m ented th a t they “ increased te rrify ­ in g ly in num bers as w ell as in size and are destroying every ves­ tige o f green w h ich has su rvive d the d ro u th .” 21 T h e th ird o f J u ly daw ned w ith ris in g tem peratures. Exel w rote, “ Today the heat was f e a r f u l . . . m any soldiers fe ll h a lf dead by the wayside; o th e rs had to sit dow n in o rd e r to rest; again others had such s tro n g nose b le e d in g th a t they could no longer m arch, but had to sit o r lie d o w n . . . . M any a p o or devil, tire d and sick, had to d ra g h im s e lf over th e p ra irie .” Am bulances were sent to c a rry the fa lle n b u t “ were soon fille d to overflow ing.” Eastman declared it “ th e w orst day we have had since we started. T he a ir so close you co u ld h a rd ly breathe, and m any fe ll down w ith the heat, as soon as they g o t in to cam p.” “ T h e earth like an oven, the a ir lik e the blast o f a fu rn a ce ” was how Lieutenant Colonel W il­ liam M a rsh a ll, com m ander o f the 7th M innesota In fa n try , re­ m em bered th e day.22 A fte r a m arch o f tw e n ty m iles in the heat w ith no water, the soldiers m ade cam p n e ar a lake c o n ta in in g fo u l water. “ I t was a g reenish-yellow ish m u d dy m ix tu re o f such te rrib le taste that even in o u r d rie d -o u t, th irs ty state we could n o t d rin k it,” w rote

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a frustrated Exel. Desperate, men started to d ig w ells in the hope o f fin d in g better water. Soldiers fro m the 7 th M inn e so ta In fa n try found water after d ig g ing some fifte e n to tw e n ty feet dow n. A guard was placed on the well to ensure the w ater w ould be d is trib ­ uted equally. Although Sibley had ordered no alcohol be bro ug h t on the expedition, certain officers, la ckin g w ater, d ra n k cham ­ pagne instead.23 On the Fourth o f July, bracing themselves fo r a n o th e r d iffic u lt day, the soldiers had barely sta rtin g m a rch in g w hen it sta rte d to rain. “ It made us feel like new-born c h ild re n ,” E xel re jo ice d. A f­ ter advancing ten miles, Sibley called a h a lt fo r the day alo n g the Cheyenne River. Exel wrote, “ It flows th ro u g h a deep va lle y th a t cut through the m idst o f the p ra irie and is lin e d by trees and populated by fish.” Wells were dug th a t produced good w ater and the colum n was to rem ain by the riv e r fo r a week.24 The short march gave the men a chance to celebrate th e h o li­ day. As Eastman recorded it, “ T h irty -n in e guns were fire d by the battery in honor o f the states and te rrito rie s .” T h irty -fiv e men from the 6th Minnesota picked up th e ir com m ander. C olonel W illiam Crooks, and carried him around the cam p as a brass band played. Crooks was popular w ith his men because “ he th in k s a great deal o f his boys and they o f h im ,” Charles W atson to ld his father. Soldiers bought oysters, sardines, and peaches fro m the sutler, m aking a great feast.25 For some officers, the celebration started to get o u t o f hand. “ Gambling and d rin k in g everywhere. Mzyor d ru n k . . . ” was how Lewis Paxton saw things. Theodore C arte r also re m arke d on the number o f high-ranking officers who became in to x ic a te d . Sol­ diers were quick to criticize officers who they fe lt were incom pe­ tent, cowards, or drunks. C arter was s till hard on h ig h e r-ra n k e d officers, especially those from West Point. T h e y were. C a rte r a r­ gued, “w ith few exceptions . . . hard d rin ke rs and in tw o cases at least, drunkenness caused the loss o f lives o f soldiers and p ro p ­ erty o f the government.” In order to be a successful general,

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C arte r fu rth e r m a in ta in e d , you needed a v iv id im agination, an a b ility to m ake th e m ost o f every occasion, and the disposition to claim e v e ry th in g in sig h t as b e in g y o u r w ork.26 C a rte r m ay have been c ritic a l o f ce rta in officers, but C orporal Thom as M o n tg o m e ry was earnestly try in g to become one. M ont­ gom ery was a m em ber o f C a rte r’s com pany in the 7th Minnesota In fa n try . A L ie u te n a n t C utte r, an u n p o p u la r company officer, had resigned his com m ission, leaving a lieutenancy position open. N ine m en, in c lu d in g M o n tg o m e ry and C arter, vied to fill the va­ cancy. In a le tte r to his parents, M ontgom ery went in to great de­ ta il about th e lie u te n a n t’s e xam ination fo r the position. I t consisted o f questions d e a lin g w ith th e “ school o f so ld ie r and company,” duties o f lin e o ffice rs, th e e vo lu tio n o f a company, skirm ish d rill, arm y re g u la tio n s , and w ritin g and spelling. It was so d iffic u lt th a t tw o m en d ro p p e d o u t befo re even ta k in g the exam ination. M o n tg om e ry scored th e hig h e st, and re p o rte d th a t “ this an­ nouncem ent was received by the boys w ith 3 hearty cheers and co n g ra tu la tio n s.” H is p ro m o tio n was sh o rt lived, as on Ju ly 10 L ie u te n a n t C u tte r re tu rn e d to the com pany a fte r his resignation was d enied. T h e o th e r tw o com pany officers were not pleased w ith C u tte r’s re tu rn , as they d id n o t “ lik e h im at a ll,” w rote a dis­ appointed M ontgom ery. L a te r in the war, M ontgom ery, like other am bitious e n lis te d m en, tra n s fe rre d to a colored regim ent in o rd e r to becom e an o ffic e r.27 In th e m id s t o f c e le b ra tin g th e F o u rth , ce rta in soldiers took tim e fo r som e solem n re fle c tio n . T h o u g h ts tu rn e d to the w ar back East and experiences on th e e xp e d itio n . "T h e great and g lo rio u s day has d a w n e d ,” w ro te Exel. “ B ut the heavens are not clear; they are gloom y and clouded lik e the p o litic a l horizon o f o u r g lo rio u s u n io n w hich is so close to destruction. Does nature w ant to p re se n t us w it h a m irro r o f w hat is happening in the U nite d States? Does n a tu re w ant to te ll us th a t o u r country is in danger and its sons are m ore desperately needed in Pennsylvania than on th e deserted p ra ire s o f the dakotahs? May o u r comrades

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there be victorious!” Yet a m o u rn fu l Exel com m ented th a t the colum n kept m arching “ in a w estern d ire c tio n , d e e p e r in to the wilderness, w itho u t hope o f ever seeing a re d s k in . H ow w ill the whole th in g end?” H enry H agadorn was m ore p o sitive about his experiences in the West: “ I sit on the b lu ff V2 m i fro m camp and look on the scene before me m y m in d w anders, back to the East and my Native State but o f a ll the beauties th e re I have seen none that w ill compare w ith this spot so w ild and u n in h a b ite d and so far from civilization.” 28 Unknown to the soldiers was the death o f the c h ie f leader o f the resisters. L ittle Crow, having fa ile d everyw here to create a new alliance fo r continuing the w ar and w ith his request fo r as­ sistance from the B ritish governm ent in C anada d e n ie d , could do little else than gather a few follow ers fo r a ra id in to M in n e ­ sota. By now there was a bounty o f five h u n d re d d o lla rs on L ittle Crow’s head, placed by the W ar D epartm ent upon th e request o f General Sully. On July 3, near H u tch in so n , M in n e so ta , L ittle Crow was kille d by farm ers w hile he and his son, W ow inapa, were picking w ild berries. The sixteen-year-old W ow inapa escaped and started a long, desperate jo u rn e y to re tu rn to his people fa r to the west.29 On July 5 excitement raced through the cam p w ith th e re p o rt that the Sioux were nearby. “ The Indians have m ade a ju n c tio n and are at D evil’s Lake in force, and inte nd co m in g o u t to m eet us, on the p ra irie , five days m arch this side, and fig h t a g re at battle,” wrote an eager Eastman. Sibley accepted the h o stile in ­ tentions o f the Dakotas, ordering the men to d ig entrenchm ents. A cautious man, Sibley took this precaution th ro u g h o u t th e cam ­ paign, to the disgust o f A lfre d H ill, 6th M innesota. T h e m en were often tire d and hated doing the task, as m any fe lt it unnec­ essary. Especially, H ill grum bled, fo r an enemy they “ n e ith e r re ­ spected or feared.’’30 Although it is understandable that the soldiers desired com ­ bat, especially since they wanted a measure o f revenge on the

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Santees, it is u n cle a r w hy Sibley fe lt so threatened. Sibley was very aware th a t the m a jo rity o f the Dakotas the colum n was approach­ ing were fro m the peace faction. H e had been in correspondence w ith S ta n d in g B u ffa lo and o th e r Santee leaders on several occa­ sions, in s tru c tin g the S ioux chiefs to rem ain where they were u n til he could come fo r them in th e West. As a long-tim e In d ia n trader, he was know ledgeable about the Santees, th e ir numbers and lead­ ers, and had even fa th e re d a m ixed-blood daughter. Know ing that many o f the leaders had n o t p a rticip a te d in the war, Sibley was not m otivated by revenge on th is cam paign. S till, he was preparing for trouble and soon engaged the Dakotas in combat. T h is w illin g n e s s to see the situ a tio n as dangerous like ly came fro m Sibley’s u n d e rs ta n d in g o f Pope’s desires fo r the campaign. Pope had been q u ite d ire c t in w hat he wanted the expeditions to accom plish. These were to be p u n itiv e expeditions, to punish and destroy th e Santees s till at large. Pope needed m ilita ry ac­ tion to ju s tify th e im p o rta n c e o f the departm ent he comm anded. W here th e m a jo rity o f th e Santees looked fo r peace and an end to h o s tilitie s , th e a rm y was in te n t on war. F o llo w in g th e ce le b ra tio n s on the F o u rth , the exp ed itio n rem ained fo r six days in w hat was called Camp Hayes, aw aiting the a rriv a l o f a su p ply tra in fro m F o rt Abercrom bie. O n Ju ly 9 the supply wagons a rriv e d and the colum n prepared to advance once ag ain . T h e heat and th e plague o f grasshoppers made m any d o u b t th e y w o u ld ever reach D e v il’s Lake. W ritin g to his w ife, M a rie tte , G eorge C lapp to ld her, “ It is the b e lie f o f many wise m en in th e com m and th a t we can never reach o u r p o in t o f d e stina tio n on account o f fo o d fo r the anim als.” However, Clapp supposed “ o u r G eneral knows how to manage his business and I don’t b o rro w tro u b le .” T h e d ro u g h t had also led to the death o f 120 cattle, m a k in g fe e d in g the men m ore d iffic u lt.31 C lapp was n o t th e o n ly so ld ie r who found m atters depressing and needed to voice his concerns. “ I fear it w ill not be to accom­ p lish m u ch ,” T h o m a s M o n tg o m e ry opined in a le tte r to his

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parents. “ For there is one o p in io n p re va le n t th a t we w ill n o t see any hostile Indians this sum m er; b u t it m ay be a m istaken one. Some th in k we may meet the In d ia n s in force w ith in a few days march but I rather th in k we w ill not.” C a p ta in J o h n Jones was more hopeful they w ould fin d the S ioux “ in tw o o r th re e da y s. . . . I hope so, and that God in his m ercy . . . w ill ever be on o u r side and give us the victory.” Jones was s till w o rrie d over how his w ife, Marie, was handling his absence. He w rote th a t he knew she missed him but urged her to draw strength fro m the know ledge th a t he fought fo r “ the cause.” Sibley was also d e a lin g w ith issues o f a personal nature. He had received w ord th a t his son F ra n k was now ill. Having ju s t lost one ch ild , Sibley was th ro w n in to depres­ sion w orrying over his son. Unable to sleep w ell, he su ffe re d fro m nightmares.32 The supply tra in also brought news o f Lee’s invasion o f Penn­ sylvania. There was great concern over the outcom e o f Lee’s C on­ federate offensive into the N orth. “ B ut u n fo rtu n a te ly the decisive battle in Pennsylvania had not yet been fo u g h t, and th e specula­ tions about the situation w hich we discovered in th e p a p e r were not very encouraging,” noted Exel. In his d ia ry Sibley w ro te , “ I feel much depressed to-day. . . by the gloom y news o f th e ad­ vance o f the rebels.” Thom as M orton, 7th M inn e so ta In fa n try , included the news from the East in his ra n t against th e a rm y in general. Upset over the “ red tape” o f the m ilita ry , M o rto n com ­ plained about the poor food, that “ the hardtack is s p o ilin g ” and the pork had gone bad. I f this was how the go vern m e n t ra n the war, M orton raged in a letter, they should ju s t g ra n t th e C onfed­ eracy its independence and be done w ith the w ar.33 On July 11 the advance continued, w ith the days th a t follow ed passing much like the earlier days. T he heat caused th e m arches to end early in the day, the men entrenched each cam p, and the lack o f good water persisted. Every n ig h t the soldiers d u g w ells, up to sixty at a tim e, to try and fin d better w ater th a n th a t a va il­ able from nearby lakes. The bad water led to increased illness

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am ong the soldiers. G la n v ille noticed th a t “ the teeth o f a great many becam e loose and o th e r sym ptom s s im ila r to m ercurial salivation, re n d e re d a la rg e n u m b e r u n fit fo r duty.” 34 A fte r a m o n th o f arduous m a rchin g , Sibley fin a lly received d e fin ite w ord fro m some Red R ive r hunters on the location o f the Dakotas. O n J u ly 17 th re e m ixe d -b lo o d Chippewa men rode in to camp. T h e y in fo rm e d Sibley th a t the Sioux were no longer at D e v il’s Lake b u t re tre a tin g to w a rd the M issouri River. T he v il­ lages o f S ta n d in g B u ffa lo , Red Plum e, and Sweet C orn, num ber­ ing six h u n d re d lodges, w ere west o f the James R iver and m oving westward. T h e n e x t day Sibley advanced to a m ore defensible position nam ed C am p A tch iso n , located fifty m iles southeast o f D e vil’s Lake.35 Sibley p re p a re d to s p lit his com m and, leaving behind at Camp A tchison those m en to o ill o r u n fit to continue the advance, along w ith supplies and a g u a rd . O ne o f those to be le ft behind was H en ry M cC o n n e ll. M cC o n n e ll had gone fo r a bath in the riv e r and encountered poison ivy. “ M y legs very badly, my rig h t leg com m enced b re a k in g o u t and in fla m in g fro m my foot clear up to my knee and m any places p e rfe ctly raw,” a pained M cC onnell told his w ife, D e lia . As g u ard s, Sibley chose Companies C and G, 6th M innesota In fa n try ; C om panies C and I, 7th M innesota In ­ fa n try ; C om pany D, 10th M innesota In fa n try ; and some cavalry and a b a tte ry o f lig h t a rtille ry . Heavy earthw orks were throw n up to enclose th e area s h e lte rin g the 600 sick soldiers and guards as well as 150 wagons and supplies being le ft behind. T he sod walls were fo u r feet h ig h and encompassed a two-acre area. Twentyfive days o f ra tio n s w ere loaded in to wagons, one wagon per com­ pany, fo r th e 1,500 in fa n try , 500 cavalry, and 100 a rtille rym e n p re p a rin g to c o n tin u e th e advance.36 As Sibley o rg a n ize d his slim m ecl-dow n exp ed itio n, the men were shocked by a m u rd e r. A m o n g the m en serving as soldiers on the e x p e d itio n w ere several fu ll-b lo o d Santees and m ixed-bloods. A . P. C o n n o lly had th re e Santees in his com pany o f the 6th

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Minnesota In fa n try . One, Joe A lo rd , was said “ to have a g ru dg e against his people. He said they had always tre a te d h im badly, and he wanted to fig h t them . T h e second S io ux, nam ed M ille r, embraced assim ilation and was a devout C h ris tia n , and the th ird Connolly referred to as “ W alker.” 37 T h e re had been no tro u b le between the w hite soldiers and th e ir Santee and m ixe d -b lo o d comrades. On July 18 a shot rang through the camp. A L ie u te n a n t Fields, Company G in the 1st M innesota M ounted R angers, had shot a mixed-blood private serving in Com pany L o f the same regim ent. It was unclear what caused the assault, b u t the soldiers placed the blame on the lieutenant, now under arrest. Thom as M ontgom ery wrote his brothers that the attack was “ a pparently un pro vo ke d ” and that he “ saw the poor fellow shortly a fte r he was shot th ro u g h the body.” Oscar W all wrote in his d ia ry th a t “ the L t. w ill be trie d tonight or to morrow i f he gets his ju s t dues he w ill soon d e p a rt this life.” Another unnamed soldier agreed w ith W all: “ T h e L ie u te n ­ ant is under arrest and i f he gets his due he w ill be shot.” However, at the tria l Fields claimed that the m ixed-blood so ld ie r had draw n his saber and was waving it around at h im before the lie u te n a n t shot him in self-defense. Fields was acquitted.38 W hile soldiers in the 1st M innesota M ounted R angers m o u rn e d the loss o f a comrade, Sibley suffered w ith the death o f a n o th e r child. He received word that Frank had died fro m his illness, and he continued to have nightm ares fo r the rest o f the cam paign. W illiam Paist also received a lette r from home, fro m his d a u g h te r L illy . In an e ffo rt to coax her father to re tu rn , L illy to ld h im th a t i f he did not come home soon, his w ife w ould m a rry som eone else. Paist was touched by his daughter’s tra n sp a re n t attem pts, but it did rem ind him o f how badly he missed his fo u r c h ild re n . “ I look at th e ir pictures everyday, oh I w ant them to be good children and m ind th e ir Ma and teachers and w hen Pa comes home they w ill get some nice presents,” Paist w ro te h is w ife , Henrietta.39

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F u rth e r news d e a lin g w ith th e w ar back East reached the ex­ p e d itio n w h ile s till at C am p A tch iso n. W ord arrived o f the Battle o f G ettysburg and th e ca p tu re o f V icksburg. “ O u r papers con­ firm e d the news fro m th e w ar,” w rote Paist, “ but oh at what a cost. Yet it w ill n o t d o to stop now it m ust be gone through u n til effe ctua lly and peace fu lly restored o r m illio n s o f unborn hus­ bands b ro th e rs and sons w ill yet b ite the dust in fu tu re wars that w ill s p rin g u p o u t o f o u r un settle d nigger d iffic u ltie s .” Paist asked H e n rie tta i f she th o u g h t th e w ar was nearly over, adding, “ I am h e a rtily tire d o f it. I w ant to be w ith you so bad.” Hagadorn called it “g lo rio u s news.” C harles W atson, however, was concerned over the losses s u ffe re d by the 1st M innesota In fa n try at Gettys­ burg: “ T h e y say th a t th e firs t re g t is nearly a ll k ille d o r wounded that is bad news.” 40 Rested and ready, th e reduced colum n p u lle d out o f camp on Ju ly 20, b u t th e a rm y had n o t proceeded fa r when it encountered a large n u m b e r o f m ix e d -b lo o d C hippew a hunters led by a Cath­ o lic p rie st. F ather A n d re . T h e one h u n d re d hunters, along w ith several h u n d re d w om en and c h ild re n , were h u n tin g b u ffalo, and “ they m ade a re a lly fin e appearance, rid in g lik e Arabs o f the desert,” noted W illia m M a rsh a ll. M ore im p o rta n t to Sibley, the hunters had seen the Santees. T h e y confirm ed the earlier report Sibley had received, th a t the Dakotas were heading fo r the M issouri River. L o n g -tim e enem ies o f the Santees, the m ixed-blood C hippewas fu rth e r cla im e d th a t the “ S ioux inte nd to fig h t,” George C lapp w ro te h is d a u g h te r Isadore.41 Even though they were cu r­ re n tly m o vin g away fro m th e a rm y and Sibley knew th a t the lead­ ers were peaceful, th is news o n ly increased the desire fo r battle am ong th e so ld ie rs w ho had jo u rn e y e d so fa r to the West looking fo r revenge. Sibley encouraged th is fe e lin g by g iv in g a speech to the m en, u rg in g his tro o p s to “ give them such a dressing as they w ould n o t soon fo rg e t.” T h e m en cheered th e ir com m ander.42 Father A n d re had re p o rte d th a t some fifte e n to tw enty lodges o f Santees s till re m a in e d at D e v il’s Lake. To co n firm this, Sibley

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ordered two companies o f the 7th M innesota and one cavalry company to scout the D evil’s Lake area. T h e p a tro l re tu rn e d on July 22, having discovered no village, b u t they d id capture the half-dead, emaciated son o f L ittle Crow, s till try in g to re tu rn to his people. “ The scouts found h im in th e weeds w ith o u t any thing to load his gun w ith he had shot a w o lf w ith the last charge he had,” remembered Thomas M orton. For the firs t tim e , fro m Wowinape, Sibley learned that L ittle Crow was dead and n o t w ith the Dakotas whom the expedition w ould soon encounter. Charles Watson was pleased w ith the news o f L ittle C row ’s dem ise and hoped that “ i f we are prospered we w ill doe som ething w ith the rest o f them in a day o r two.’’43 By July 22 the column had crossed the James R iver, c u rre n tly dry because o f the drought. T he men passed over w ith o u t get­ tin g wet and advanced forty-eight miles. T h a t same day, a cold and windy day good fo r m arching, the soldiers m et w ith six m ore mixed-bloods. The hunters claimed the Sioux were o n ly one day away, w ith a village consisting o f eleven h u ndred lodges and five thousand warriors. A terrible exaggeration, b u t H agadorn found the rum or troubling: “ i f this should prove tru e I fe a r th a t they w ill be too much for our boys.” M ontgom ery too voiced concerns over upcoming events, w ritin g his parents th a t “ I shall endeavor by God’s help to live in accordance, w hile I do live, and i f called to give up my life as a sacrifice fo r my country tru s t it w ill be a ll well w ith me.” 44 Two days later the arm y found the Santees.

CHAPTER 5

The Battles o f B ig M ound, Dead Buffalo Lake, and Stony Lake “ W E M U S T F I G H T FOR OUR C H IL D R E N ”

Bloketu is the D akota w ord fo r summer. “ When the new-born b ird s try to fly, sum m er is h e re .. . . T he buffalo calves, the ones b o rn in the sp rin g , tu rn e d d a rk ” was how Oscar One B ull, a Lakota, rem em bered the season.1 For the Lakotas, Yanktons, and Y anktonais, M ay was the tra d itio n a l m onth to break w inter cam p and s ta rt fo llo w in g the buffalo. W hen food supplies were low, h u n tin g became a p rio rity . W in te rin g at D evil’s Lake had been d iffic u lt fo r the Dakotas, and the need fo r food was great. S ta n d in g B u ffa lo and the various other Sisseton and Wahpeton ch ie fta in s w ho favored peace banded together to pursue a buffalo h u n t. As they traveled, re m ain ing to the east o f the Mis­ souri R iver, they received w ord th a t Inkpaduta’s smaller, resister village was encam ped near Lo ng Lake, w hile several villages o f Lakotas had crossed the M issouri R iver and were also hunting buffa lo .2 By m idsum m er, on J u ly 23, the Dakotas were at Big Mound. The previous day, In k p a d u ta w ith six to ten lodges had met up w ith th is la rg e r g ro u p and now resided near the Sisseton and 99

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Wahpeton camps. Jo in in g w ith In kp a d u ta w ere tw o o th e r sm all resister camps, those o f W hite Lodge and Lean B ear. T h e three villages totaled around fifty lodges, perhaps tw o to th re e h u n ­ dred people, a ll located to the west o f B ig M o u n d . T h re e to fo u r miles south o f Big M ound was a g ro u p o f M dew akantons num ­ bering one hundred lodges, ro u gh ly fo u r to five h u n d re d people. Finally, the Sisseton and W ahpeton v illa g e , co n sistin g o f three hundred lodges o f nearly fiftee n h u n d re d people, lay southwest o f Big M ound and fo u r m iles fro m In k p a d u ta ’s v illa g e . O f these groups, the leaders In kp a d u ta , W h ite L o dg e , and Lean Bear— firm in th e ir resistance and already considered out­ laws by the m ilita ry — realized th a t su rre n d e r was n o t an o p tio n for them. The Mdewakantons to the south consisted m a in ly o f those who had participated in the u p risin g ; however, th e g ro u p did contain a num ber o f people who had n o t favored th e war, and many, weary o f liv in g in the west, fa r fro m th e ir k in , desired to surrender. The m ajority o f the Sissetons and W ahpetons had not been involved in the e a rlie r fig h tin g , b u t th e re was concern among them about those young men who had gone a g ain st the advice o f th e ir elders and participated in the c o n flic t.3 Iro n Hoop, Daniel Paul, and G ood S inger, a ll Sissetons o r Wahpetons, later insisted that the three groups cam ped a ro u n d Big Mound were not together but h u n tin g separately. T h e y d id not m ix and were not even frie n d ly to one another. A c c o rd in g to these men, it made the Sisseton and W ahpeton leaders nervous and unhappy that there were resisters d w e llin g so close to them . Most o f the Santees camped around Big M ound were o n ly try in g to survive and wanted to surrender; S tanding B u ffa lo and Sweet Corn, along w ith other leaders, were w a itin g fo r Sibley to a rriv e in order to do ju s t that. O nly a small group s till favored resistance and continuation o f the conflict.4 For the Santees, July 24 started out lik e any o th e r day. T h e men prepared to go hunting. Iro n H oop recalled, “ E a rly in the m orning, it was reported that there was b u ffa lo east o f us, and we

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got together and s ta rte d in th a t d ire c tio n to h u nt buffalo.” Daniel Paul was am ong the m en heading eastward. He wrote, “ There was in sight q u ite a du st ris in g ; o u t o f sight, b u t they could see the dust o f somebody m o vin g , and it was supposed th a t they were buffalo.” It was n o t lo n g b e fo re th e h u n te rs realized they were m istaken. “ One m an on horseback w ent q u ite aways ahead and got up top o f a h ill and im m e d ia te ly tu rn e d a ro u n d and come back towards where we w ere, and said th a t a ll the Am ericans in the land were close,” rem em bered Iro n H o o p .5 A fte r the discovery o f th e a rm y so near, the reactions o f the Santees prove in te re s tin g . F irst, the women d id not start ta kin g down the lodges. I f an attack was expected o r feared, the im m e­ diate expected response w o u ld have been fo r the Santees to p u ll down the lodges and get th e w om en, c h ild re n , and elders out o f harm ’s way. F u rth e r, th e m en d id n o t s ta rt to prepare fo r war. For the S ioux, w a rfa re invo lve d the p a in tin g on o f sym bolic col­ ors and w e a rin g o f feathers and objects such as bear claws. R itu ­ als were p e rfo rm e d to p re p a re m edicines th a t w ould protect o r heal the w a rrio rs w h ile in b a ttle .6 A lth o u g h the Santees had tim e to prepare fo r b a ttle , th e y d id n o t; th is m eant the w arriors were not e xp ectin g to fig h t. In ste a d , fo r m ost present, here was the op­ p o rtu n ity th e y had been w a itin g fo r— a chance to surrender and end the tension w ith w h ich they had been liv in g fo r months. For several days, scouts b ro u g h t w ord to Sibley o f Sioux sight­ ings, sending th ro u g h o u t the co lu m n a wave o f excitem ent that a village m ig h t be close. S till, m any soldiers wondered i f they would ever m ake co n ta ct and believed the e xp ed itio n was becom ing a waste o f tim e . “ O u r w ild goose chase is a standing joke ,” g ru m ­ bled Am os G la n v ille , and on J u ly 24 A rth u r Daniels w rote, “ T ru ly, we know n o t w ha t a day may b rin g fo rth .” A t one P.M. that day, this view a b ru p tly changed. Sibley was in fro n t o f the colum n w ith his s ta ff ch e ckin g o u t possible campsites when scouts raced in a n n o u n cin g co n ta ct w ith the Sioux. T h e soldiers im m ediately a n ticip a te d com bat, w h ile Sibley o rd ere d ten men fro m each

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company to start d ig g ing entrenchm ents as w e ll as wells; the wagon tra in was corralled near a sm all salty lake. S om etim e be­ tween two and three p.m . three Santee m en appeared on the sur­ rounding h ills and were soon jo in e d by o th e rs.7 The firs t to make contact w ith the Santees w ere th e Sioux scouts serving w ith Sibley’s colum n. L ittle Paul ro d e rig h t up to the Santees and sta rtin g shaking hands. G a b rie l R e n ville , who had been vocal in his opposition to the w ar, was m ore cautious: “ Some o f them wanted to shoot me, b u t th ro u g h th e bravery o f O-win-e-ku who was a relative o f m ine and to o k m y p a rt, I fin a lly met and shook hands w ith them .” A lth o u g h contact was peaceful, one m ixed-blood scout, A ntoine C am pbell, to ld a d iffe re n t story to Sibley. Campbell reported th a t the Santees w ere a c tin g hostile and that the general “ had to look out, them In d ia n s say they are going to fight, and they are going to.” C am pbell fu rth e r stated that through a relative he had been passed a message fro m Scar­ let Plume, a leader o f the antiw ar group, th a t the S io ux intended to trick Sibley and m urder h im .8 Even so, Sibley sent word th a t he w anted to m eet w ith Stand­ ing B uffalo and other leaders and th a t he had no in te n tio n o f making war upon them , only those who had p a rtic ip a te d in the uprising. A t firs t excited, the soldiers began to re la x , b re a kin g ranks to pitch tents and d ig fo r water. James H a rt, 10th M in n e ­ sota, did not th in k the Santees were lo o k in g fo r a fig h t but, rather, that “ they were out on a b u ffa lo h u n t.” In his d ia ry James Ramer noted, “ The Indians seemed to be frie n d ly & said they did not want to fight but surrender.” T h e fact th a t Sibley d id not immediately strike the village annoyed a n u m be r o f th e m en. A frustrated Ole Paulson com plained, “ T h e re stood th e soldiers armed to the teeth, b u rn in g w ith the desire to have p e rm issio n to fire on the blood thirsty savages. But we had to w a it p a tie n tly u n til the word o f command was given.” Thom as M o rto n disagreed w ith Sibley’s approach, m aintaining that the general sh o uld have

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“ dem anded th e ir s u rre n d e r and i f they refused pitched in and cleaned them o u t.” C ritic a l o f Sibley, Oscar W all claim ed, “ O ld Sibley is n o t w o rth a n ish to fig h t. I f they had have le t Colonel M cPhail have his ow n way th e reds w ould have been cleaned out.” Thom as Je ffe rso n H u n t d id n o t understand why Sibley would not attack, as th e S io ux “ w ere brave against the feeble and de­ fenseless and g lo rie d in to rtu rin g a captive” but w ould not stand against a re a l m ilita ry force.9 As b o th sides w aite d fo r th e chiefs to a rriv e fo r a conference, a num ber o f Santees cam e dow n to the arm y camp. T h e ir interac­ tion w ith th e a rm y began sm oothly. T h e soldiers even gave out crackers to some o f th e young Santee m en. For D aniel Paul it was a tim e fo r a re u n io n w ith his fa th e r, who was serving as a scout for the arm y, and w hen he w ent to the camp to see him , his father took h im to m eet Sibley, w ith w hom Paul shook hands.10 Soon various trib a l leaders were approaching the arm y lines. Suddenly, only th re e h u n d re d yards way, th e ir hopes o f a peaceful surren­ der were b ro ken a sunder w ith a senseless m urder. D o cto r Jo sia h S. W eiser, re g im e n ta l surgeon fo r the 1st M in ­ nesota M o u n te d R angers, was fro m Shakopee, M innesota, and had live d am ong th e D akotas, le a rn in g th e ir language and serv­ ing as th e ir d o cto r. B e lie v in g he saw men th a t he knew, Weiser and his A fric a n A m e ric a n o rd e rly rode o u t o f camp to a nearby h ill, w here scouts w ere m e e ting w ith some young w arriors. One o f the Santee m en was H andsom e Boy, the b ro th e r o f Standing B uffalo, w ho was h a vin g a conversation w ith A lexis LaFromoise, a m ixed -b loo d scout. W eiser a rriv e d and began to shake hands w ith the m en he re co gn ize d. A lth o u g h several o f these w arriors had p a in te d th e ir faces fo r w ar, e ve ryth in g appeared calm u n til a m em ber o f In k p a d u ta ’s band, o fte n re fe rre d to as T a ll Crown, pulled a g u n and shot W eiser in the back, perhaps m istaking the doctor fo r Sibley. T h e scouts q u ic k ly fire d , w ounding one man. T he w a rrio rs re tu rn e d fire and h it a scout, Salon Stevens, in the

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hip. Soon after, the scouts drove the young m en away. Behind them, Weiser’s assistant raced back to the cam p, scream ing, “They’ve killed the doctor!” 11 There was no conspiracy to m u rd e r D r. W eiser. E ve ryth ing up to that point had been peaceful and in c id e n t free. T h e news of the k illin g sent the soldiers in to a rage. A. P. C o n n o lly called it “ treachery, pure and simple.” Charles W atson was pleased that peace efforts had failed: “The ball was noe open. A n d p itch in was the game.” Always a pragm atist, T h e o d o re C a rte r com m ented that he felt that Weiser had been k ille d by some young w arriors operating on th e ir own. He d id not believe th a t the m a jo rity o f the Sioux wanted to fig h t but that it was m ore probable “ th a t all that they tried to do was to keep o u r forces in check w hile they got their families away.” 12 The k illin g o f one man did not autom atically m ean th a t peace was unattainable. Sibley could have seen the in c id e n t fo r w hat it was, the foolish actions o f some young m en. H ow ever, having listened to Campbell’s reports and u n d e r pressure by Pope to pursue a more aggressive approach, Sibley o rd e re d his arm y to prepare for combat: the Battle o f Big M ound had com m enced. The first casualties for the Santees were the chiefs and elders who had ridden out to meet w ith Sibley. C aught in the open, they were shot down by the scouts as they tu rn e d to flee. W itness­ ing what happened, Iro n Hoop related, “A few o ld m en th a t had gone to the fro n t, expecting to have a ta lk , w ere caught by the soldiers and killed.” Standing B uffalo was n o t am ong them ; he had not yet le ft camp when the fig h tin g sta rtin g . S tranded in the soldier’s camp was Daniel Paul, s till v isitin g w ith his father. He stated, “ Immediately a cannon was fire d tow ard the south where there were a great many Indians on the top o f a h ill, and they all dropped down behind the h ill.” Frantic that his son m ig h t be murdered by the soldiers, Paul’s father rushed h im to Sibley and requested Daniel be enlisted as a scout. Paul rem ained safe fo r the remainder o f the battle.13

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W hen the fig h tin g sta rte d , the 6th M innesota In fa n try were on the le ft fla n k o f the lin e next to the lake. T he 10th Minnesota In fa n try were next in lin e b u t had been charged w ith protecting the camp. O n the rig h t fla n k was the 7th Minnesota Infa n try, along w ith the 1st M innesota M ounted Rangers. Sibley ordered Colonel Samuel M cP hail, com m ander o f the M ounted Rangers, to retrieve W eiser’s body. A dvancing tow ard the h ill, the cavalry discovered the g ro u n d to be so rough that Companies A, D, and E dism ounted, sending th e ir horses back to camp w hile Compa­ nies B and F stayed m ounted. M ajor George Bradley, 7th M in ­ nesota In fa n try , was o rd ere d to support the dism ounted cavalry w ith Com panies B and H o f his regim ent. A id in g the attack was an a rtille ry piece sent up to the top o f a sm all h ill protected by 10th M innesota’s C om pany B .14 Big M ound was one and a h a lf m iles away, w ith a series o f h ills, broken te rra in , and a ravine ru n n in g d ire ctly east o f the camp ly in g before the soldiers. T h e Sioux were try in g to hold a defensive lin e a lo n g the ravine. T h e a rtille ry opened fire on this position w ith spherical-case shot as the dism ounted cavalry and in fa n try pressed fo rw a rd . W atching w ith the 10th Minnesota in ­ fantry, G la n v ille rem arked th a t he saw “some splendid a rtille ry practice.” F a llin g back fro m the ravine, the Sioux ra llied on a h ill to the east. O le Paulson describe the scene: “ The great sugar-top swarmed w ith In d ia n s : T h e a rtille ry fire d a few shells in th e ir m idst and cleared th e h ill.” T h e cavalry then charged and cap­ tured the p o s itio n .15 W ith the attack processing nicely on the rig h t. Lieutenant Colonel W illia m M a rsh a ll, com m ander o f the 7th Minnesota In ­ fantry, requested th a t five m ore o f his companies be brought forw ard in su p p o rt. C om panies A , E, F, G, and K came forw ard at the double q u ic k , ra c in g up one peak as they deployed into a skirm ish lin e to the le ft o f the dism ounted cavalry. Both the in ­ fa n try and ca va lry s ta rte d a steady advance, fla n k in g the Sioux as they pushed to w a rd the su m m it range to the rig h t o f Big

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M ound. George Clapp w rote his w ife th a t he was p ro u d o f how the 7th M innesota In fa n try perform ed in the engagem ent: “ N ot a man flinched at a ll o r showed any sign o f cow ardice.” D escrib­ ing one tough area, an “ extended rocky em inence” h e ld by the Sioux, Thomas M ontgom ery recalled th a t the m en w ere “ cheered on by o u r gallant colonel,” w ith M arshall y e llin g , “ U p and on the devils. Give them H e ll boys.” To a m an, M o n tg om e ry’s com pany rushed forw ard. “ T he balls w histled past up close and fast.” 16 Much o f the firin g was long range; the Sioux were badly out­ numbered and lacked the firepow er the soldiers possessed. A rm e d w ith bows, shotguns, and even old flin tlo c k m uskets, the Dakotas could not close w ith the advancing soldiers, especially w hen they were supported by a rtille ry . Newcombe K inney, 10th M innesota In fa n try , recalled th a t “ th e ir old flin tlo c k guns . . . w o u ld n o t carry the distance,. . . although some w ould bravely rid e close.” Iro n Hoop agreed that the Santees could n o t com pete in an upclose battle w ith the soldiers and th a t “ the In d ia n s s ta rte d to ru n away” o r retreat from the onset o f the engagem ent. Sibley fu rth e r acknowledged this fact in his re p o rt on Big M o u nd , w ritin g th a t the Sioux were constantly driven back “ u n til, fe e lin g th e ir u tte r in a b ility to contend longer w ith o u r soldiers in the open fie ld , they jo in e d th e ir brethren in one common flig h t.” 17 Because o f th e ir a b ility to advance steadily against the Santees, soldiers who fought at Big M ound often dism issed th e com bat efforts o f the Sioux. However, adapting to the re a litie s o f the bat­ tle, including the superior arms o f the soldiers, the D akotas were actually quite successful in th e ir tactics. A Sioux w a rrio r w o u ld fig h t fo r personal glory and honor, fo r horses o r revenge on an enemy. But one o f the p rim a ry duties o f a w a rrio r was the p ro te c­ tion o f those people, inclu d in g his fam ily, who could n o t defend themselves. A w a rrio r was to be brave; S tanding Bear, a Lakota, remembered his father te llin g him , “ Son, I never w ant to see you live to be an old man. Die young on the b a ttle fie ld .” Now, w ith the soldiers threatening the capture o f the villages and h a rm in g

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the young and e ld e rly, the w a rrio rs , although they preferred fig h tin g fro m an am bush, chose to block the arm y fo r as long as possible to a llo w th e wom en tim e to take down the lodges, gather up th e ir possessions, and flee fro m the danger. W hat soldiers saw as a constant re tre a t was, in tru th , a skille d delaying action by experienced w a rrio rs .18 T h e w a rrio rs m ade sure th a t the so ld ie r’s attention was upon them and n o t on th e defenseless in the villages. T he w arrio rs gathered b e h in d the h ills , using them as cover, keeping up a level o f fire th a t slowed dow n the advancing soldiers. W hen the arm y gained one h ill, th e w a rrio rs retreated to another h ill, sta rtin g the process o f re tre a t and fig h t a ll over again. In his d ia ry Charles B o rn a rth , 7th M innesota In fa n try , described the Sioux tactic: “ T hen w ith a trem endous yell they w ould discharge th e ir pieces m aking the dust fly by the s in k in g o f th e ir balls losing distance in fro n t o f us,” then, w ith a n o th e r ye ll, the w a rrio rs w ould fa ll back to the next h ill. M o n tg om e ry also m entioned the actions o f the Sioux: “ T h e In d ia n s in num bers on the h ills in o u r fro n t dancing and w aving th e ir blankets before us in sign o f defiance.” Two leaders in p a rtic u la r. S ta n d in g B u ffa lo and Inkp a d uta, proved s k illfu l in th e ir defensive actions d u rin g the fig h tin g .19 A n o th e r d e la yin g ta ctic occurred when the Dakotas put pres­ sure on th e a rm y ’s le ft fla n k , th re a te n in g the soldier’s camp and supplies. In response. C olonel W illia m Crooks ordered Com pa­ nies E, I, and K o f his 6 th M innesota In fa n try regim ent and C om pany A o f the 9 th M innesota In fa n try to advance as s k ir­ m ishers to d riv e o ff the attackers. S upporting the counterattack was L ie u te n a n t W h ip p le ’s b a tte ry o f a rtille ry com m anded by a L ie u te n a n t W h ip p le . N ever m aking contact, the soldiers drove th e S io ux back over tw o m iles. S till, as a ju b ila n t A rth u r D aniels b e lie ved , “ O u r m en are chasing and chastising the sav­ ages severely.” 20 M eanw hile, M arshall and the 7th M innesota In fa n try had also advanced tw o m iles. F in a lly reaching the last row o f hills, M arshall

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could see the villages fleeing across the p ra irie one and a h a lf miles away. The te rra in made a m ounted charge on th e villages invitin g , so, rid in g to M cPhail, M a rsha ll encouraged th e com­ mander o f the 1st M innesota M ounted R angers to in itia te such an attack. M cPhail in itia lly hesitated, causing some m en in the 7th Minnesota In fa n try to see his lack o f aggressiveness as cow­ ardice. “ So much fo r the cowardice o f one m iserable cow ard. Let his name go down to posterity associated w ith cow ards,” a fu r i­ ous Clapp wrote his wife. I f M cPhail had acted, C la p p co n tinu e d , “ a hundred o r two o f the red m urderers o f m en, w om en and children on o u r fro n tie r could have been s la u g h te re d .” M o n t­ gomery concurred w ith Clapp, stating M cP hail had “ le t’s them slip off.” 21 McPhail d id order the cavalry to advance. As it d id , lig h tn in g from the darkened skies ove rlo o kin g th e b a ttle s tru c k John M urphy o f the 1st M innesota M ounted R angers, k illin g h im im m ediately. “A thunderstorm arose ju s t as a cavalry charge was b e g in n in g .. . . It burst in a ll its fu ry , as they neared the In d ia n s. One flash o f lightening seemed to envelop an e n tire com pany,” noted G lanville. W ith th e ir villages and loved ones in danger, the Sioux put up th e ir strongest opposition o f the day. P e rio d ica lly the w arriors would charge the soldiers before m a k in g a ra p id retreat. Five times M cPhail led a charge to break th ro u g h the Sioux defenders, one o f w hich was m et by an e xtre m e ly brave man. W rapped in an Am erican flag, a w a rrio r stood his g ro u n d and fired through the uniform s o f two soldiers w ho w ere ap­ proaching him . Private A rchy McNee re tu rn e d fire , o n ly to miss. Unable to reload his musket, the w a rrio r used it as a club, nearly unhorsing Private A ndrias Carlson before b e in g h it nu­ merous times by pistol fire and then sabered to the g ro u n d to his death. D uring the various charges, one m an, G u sta f S ta rk, was kille d and another, Andrew M oore, seriously w ounded.22 McPhail continued to push forw ard nearly fifte e n m iles, reach­ ing the area o f Dead B uffalo Lake. Here, late in the day, the

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Sioux p u t up th e ir fin a l defense in the rushes and w ild rice that su rrou n d e d th e lake. A fte r a fifte e n - to tw enty-m inute skirm ish, the Santees bro ke o ff th e engagem ent, and w ith th a t the battle ended. T h e villa g es and m ost o f th e ir possessions and food were, fo r now, secure, and th e people liv in g in them had survived; the tactics o f th e w a rrio rs had saved them . B ehind th e m th e m en o f the M ounted Rangers proceeded to scalp the dead Santees le ft on the fie ld . “ M any o f the cavalry, who were fro m th e co m m u n itie s w here they com m itted the depreda­ tions and w here th e y and th e ir frie n d s had lost loved ones, now showed no m ercy and scalped In d ia n s m arked the way the cav­ a lry had gone,” N ewcom be K in n e y explained. T h e cavalrym en took at least th irty -o n e scalps, and Charles Watson claim ed th a t the men o f the 6 th M innesota “ have 40 o f th e ir topknots in o u r possession,” so m e th in g Sibley fo u n d distasteful. “ I am ashamed to say th a t a ll w ere scalped. Shame upon such b ru ta lity ! G od’s im age sh o uld n o t be thus m u tila te d o r d is fig u re d ,” he w rote in his d ia ry . Sibley o rd e re d the practice o f ta k in g scalps to cease. However, th e scouts co n tin u e d to b rin g in scalps from th e ir pa­ tro ls to prove to the soldiers th a t they were fig h tin g against th e ir people. M cP h a il condoned these actions, e xp la in in g to Sibley th a t th a t was the o n ly way to know i f w hat the scouts were saying was tru e . Sibley then rescinded his e a rlie r o rd e r on scalping, al­ lo w in g the S ioux to be treated lik e w ild anim als to be hunted and skin n e d .23 H a vin g advanced anyw here fro m ten to eighteen m iles, by the evening o f th e b a ttle the arm y was badly spread out, and at­ tem pts to reassem ble were plagued by m iscom m unication. D u r­ in g the la te r stages o f the engagement, Sibley had ordered most o f the 6 th M innesota In fa n try and five companies o f the 10th M innesota In fa n try to p a rticip a te in the p u rsu it o f the re tirin g Santees. R e a liz in g th a t a fte r an eighteen-m ile m arch to Big M o u nd , and w ith the com ing o f n ig h t, the in fa n try w ould not be able to close w ith the w ell-m ounted Sioux, Sibley then ordered

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the 10th M innesota, now five m iles fro m th e cam p, to re tu rn ; he also instructed the 6th M innesota In fa n try , w ho had advanced nearly ten miles, to bivouac in the fie ld . T h e 10th M inn e so ta p ro ­ ceeded back to the camp, n o t a rriv in g u n til ten th a t n ig h t; Com ­ pany B became lost and d id not a rriv e u n til th e n e x t m o rn in g . Exhausted, having had n e ithe r food n o r w a te r fo r m ost o f the day and night, the soldiers collapsed to the g ro u n d , w ith G lanville observing, “ Had n o th in g to eat since th e m o rn in g o f the 24th.” In itia lly , the 6th M innesota In fa n try d id stop th e ir p u rs u it and were preparing to camp on the p ra irie w hen co n fu sio n w ith the orders led officers to in s tru c t the m en to m a rch back to the main camp. M arching a ll n ig h t, they reached cam p as re ve ille was being sounded. Some d id n o t m ake it back at a ll, over­ whelmed by fatigue and sleeping where they fe ll. T h o m a s J e ffe r­ son H unt was le ft behind d u rin g the m arch. H e re p o rte d , “ I fe ll over a stone and made no e ffo rt to rise. N o com rade was to be seen or heard, nor was I certain I was going in the rig h t d ire c tio n ; and properly concluding that I should lie there u n til d a y lig h t I went to sleep.” 24 Conditions were even worse fo r the men o f th e 7 th M innesota In fa n try and the cavalry. H aving continued th e advance fa r to the west, M arshall d id not o rd er his men to m ake cam p on the p rairie u n til nine P.M. H is com m and was badly d iso rg a n ize d , as John Danielson o f the 7th M innesota In fa n try stated: “ O u r forces were in fact scattered in small squads and w ith o u t com m and. Many not knowing where the next move was to be.” H a vin g found buffalo robes le ft behind by the Sioux, the m en w rap p e d themselves up and started to sleep on the g ro u n d . W hen M cP hail rode into the im provised camp, he im m ediately u rg e d a re tu rn to the main camp over ten miles away. R eluctantly, th e m en were woken, brought to th e ir feet, and directed to re tu rn to the en­ campment. The lack o f water was keenly fe lt; o n ly a b ra ckish slough was encountered. Clapp found the w ater “ in a m iserable slough near the Indian camp.” He fille d his canteen, to o k one

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d rin k , and th e n gave th e rest away to o th e r s u ffe rin g m en, as he “could n o t b e ar th e ir cries fo r w ater and keep any in my can­ teen.” A m bulances w ith w ate r were dispatched to the men in the field, b u t they had o n ly proceeded a sh o rt distance fro m the camp w hen, spooked by th e sounds o f the n ig h t, they took flig h t, re tirin g back to th e cam p. N o t u n til the next m o rn in g d id the men reach the cam p, w ith C a rte r observing th a t they “came strag­ g lin g back, tire d , h u n g ry and th irs ty .” 25 Sibley’s fa ilu re to keep c o n tro l over the p u rs u it o f the Santees had caused th e tro o p s to m arch some fo rty m iles, along w ith fig h tin g a b a ttle , d u rin g th e course o f one day. So exhausted was his com m and th a t th e day fo llo w in g the battle was m ainly one o f rest and re o rg a n iz a tio n ; th e colum n advanced five m iles to a b e tte r cam psite and b u rie d th e ir dead there. Casualties am ong the soldiers w ere low ; fo u r m en had been w ounded and three men— D r. W eiser, J o h n M u rp h y, and G u sta f Stark— k ille d . Later, A ndrew M oore also d ie d fro m his wounds. Two m en, G eorge A . B rackett, the beef contractor fo r the ex­ p e d itio n , and L ie u te n a n t A m brose Freeman, o f the 1st M innesota M ounted R angers, had been away fro m camp h u n tin g antelope when the fig h tin g com m enced a ro u n d B ig M ound. Unaware o f the com bat, the m en co n tinu e d th e ir hunt, lazily enjoying the day w h ile s h o o tin g at th e fast-m oving antelope. S topping to w ater th e ir horses by a sm a ll lake, they were jo in e d by three Dakota scouts fro m th e e x p e d itio n , led by Chaska. Chaska, th irty -tw o years o ld and an a ffirm e d believer in assim ilation, lived in a w hite-style house, w ore w hite c iv ilia n clothes, had both his c h il­ dren educated in school and had opposed the uprising. D u rin g the w ar, he saved a nu m be r o f whites fro m death o r captivity. W earing a straw hat, Chaska rode up to the hunters, curious to know w hy they were so fa r fro m camp, and shortly thereafter a w ar p a rty o f S ioux appeared three m iles away. F irst assuming the new a rriv a ls were a cavalry p a tro l, the group soon realized th e ir m istake w hen th e w a rrio rs attacked. Freeman was struck by an

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arrow and fell, m o rta lly wounded. A n o th e r w a rrio r fire d at Brack­ ett and missed, w hile Chaska re tu rn e d fire , w o u n d in g B rackett’s assailant. M ounting th e ir horses, the scouts and B ra cke tt made a ru n fo r it and were chased fo r fo u r m iles u n til th e y were sur­ rounded near a sm all m arsh. Bravely, Chaska ye lle d fo r B rackett to dism ount and hide in the m arsh w h ile he and th e o th e r scouts trie d to lure away the Sioux w ar p a rty. B ra c k e tt cra w le d in to the high grass as Chaska and the scouts led th e S io u x fro m the marsh.26 O w ing his life to Chaska, B rackett w andered across th e plains for the next seven days, liv in g on frogs and w hat w ater he could fin d before reaching Camp A tchison. Back in S ibley’s cam p it was believed that Brackett had died. A ru m o r em erged th a t instead o f protecting B rackett, Chaska, had, in fa ct, k ille d h im and Freeman, then placed the blam e on a ro a m in g S io u x w a r p a rty. Q uietly, certain soldiers decided th a t Chaska w o u ld have to be punished fo r his actions.27 Estimates on the losses suffered by the Santees, and how m any warriors were engaged, varied. James Ram er believed tw enty Sioux had been k ille d . Sibley re p orted fo rty -tw o causalities am ong his opponents. S tanding B u ffa lo la te r claim ed th irte e n had d ie d , and L ittle Six placed the num ber at tw enty-six, w ith m ost b eing “ old men and women who could not get away.” D an ie l Paul m a in ­ tained that only five Sioux had been k ille d : “ I saw them a ll. T h e fifth was a very old woman, and the others were o ld m en.” Sibley also reported that he had fought a Sioux force o f some one th o u ­ sand to fifteen hundred men. Given the size o f the villa g e, th is was a vast exaggeration. C arter placed the num ber at five h u n d re d , a more likely figure, then added sarcastically th a t he was n o t su r­ prised that the num ber was enlarged, as it had been his e x p e ri­ ence that when officers made th e ir battle re p orts “ the enem y nearly always exceeds the attacking force in num bers, and always fights desperately.” 28

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For m any o f th e so ld ie rs, B ig M o u nd was th e ir firs t tim e in combat. In re se a rch in g th e experiences o f soldiers fig h tin g in the C ivil War, the h is to ria n s E a rl Hess and James McPherson found that a fte r h a vin g been in a b a ttle , few m en w anted to endure an­ other. H e n ry Cross, a s o ld ie r fro m Massachusetts, w rote home that “a b a ttle is a h o rrid th in g . You can have no conception o f its horrors.” A fte r his firs t fig h t, an In d ia n a so ld ie r acknowledged, “ Got to see th e E le p h a n t at last and to te ll you the honest tru th I don’t care about seeing h im ve ry o fte n any m ore.” Com bat in the East consisted o f la rg e arm ies fig h tin g over great sections o f land w ith an a m azing a m o u n t o f smoke, noise, and confusion, often unable to even see th e enem y. T h is was n o t the case in the West, where m uch sm a lle r forces faced foes th a t often d id not w ant to engage in close com bat and fo u g h t in w ide open spaces. In the East, re g im e n ta l losses co u ld range as h ig h as 50 percent a fte r a m ajor engagem ent, n o t in c lu d in g the num erous men who died from disease. Far few er losses, fro m e ith e r com bat o r illness, oc­ cu rred in th e W est.29 A t B ig M o u n d soldiers d id n o t hesitate to engage the enemy. “ T hey were n o t a fra id to face the m usic, M innesota may w ell be proud o f h e r R egim ents i f they a ll fig h t as w ell as these have done,” Jo h n Jones in fo rm e d his w ife, M arie. However, George C lapp w anted M a rie tte to know th a t “ when the balls o f the en­ emy Hew past o u r heads the thickest I though o f my w ife and five c h ild re n and asked G od to spare my life fo r th e ir sake.” Yet he s till fe lt “ im p e lle d to obey by such an in sp ira tio n as I never expe­ rienced before. L ife was dear to me as ever but duty upperm ost in m in d .” 30 O n J u ly 26 Sibley co n tinu e d his p u rsu it o f the Sioux. T he w a rrio rs had been able to p ro te ct th e ir people and, b rie fly, th e ir villages and th e ir m a te ria l contents, but as these items slowed the retreat, they were abandoned along the way. Sibley’s men encoun­ tered a w ealth o f food, b u ffa lo hides, lodges, and o th e r objects as

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they advanced. “ T here were q uantities o f je rk e d b u ffa lo pem m ican, robes, fu rs ect. [sic]," rem arked G la n v ille . A . P. C onnolly noted, “ The praires as fa r as the eye co u ld p e n e tra te on either side presented this condition o f abandonm ent by th e In d ia n s o f th e ir property and w in te r’s supply o f fo o d .” A ll such goods, along w ith the lodges, were burned by the soldiers.31 Also discovered were the dead bodies o f those k ille d in the fighting and several elderly women and sm all babies le ft behind d u rin g the retreat o f the Santees. T h e w om en and c h ild re n were treated fa irly by the soldiers. C onnolly was m oved to compassion by the things he witnessed, and by som ething he fo u n d : “ In the sand on the bank o f the lake, I fou n d a tin y pappose moccasin, and could see the im p rin t and count each separate toe o f the lit­ tle foot in the sand, as it probably was dragged a lo n g by the anx­ ious mother, who was too heavily laden to c a rry h e r little baby. I thought—poor, helpless ch ild , n o t in the least responsible fo r its unhappy condition.” C onnolly went on to observe th a t blam e fo r all the suffering could be placed solely upon the Santees fo r sta rt­ ing the war.32 Connolly and other men may have had p ity on th e young and elderly, but no soldier commented on the fact th a t th e m a jo rity o f the Santees whose villages they had destroyed and w ho were now economically devastated by the battle, le ft w ith no fo o d o r shelter fo r the w inter, had had little o r n o th in g to do w ith th e u p risin g . To the men on the expedition, a ll the S ioux they encountered were g u ilty o f crim es against the c iv ilia n s o f M in n e so ta and needed to be punished. “ Poor Indians! T h e y had to pay fo r the outrages which they had com m itted,” w rote O le Paulson.33 Although C onnolly believed Big M ound was a decisive victo ry, Sibley came under harsh criticism from m any o f the soldiers, who felt he had failed to in flic t enough revenge on the S ioux. Paulson thought Sibley had been deceived by the “ c ra fty R edskins” who lied about their intentions to surrender, only to buy tim e to escape. “ Sibaly completely out generald . . . ” com plained John P ettibone,

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6th M innesota In fa n try . “ We w haled them o u t as clean as we could w ith the leaders we had.” O scar W all firm ly believed that “ the Reds w ou ld have been cleaned o u t . . . so bad th a t they w ould never draw a g u n to th e ir faces against the w hite m an again” i f M cPhail had been a llow ed to com m and.34 As the a rm y re g ro u p e d in p re p a ra tio n fo r co n tin u in g its p u r­ suit o f the Santees, th e D akota leaders m et to look fo r a way out o f the dangerous s itu a tio n in w hich they found themselves. Stop­ p in g at Dead B u ffa lo Lake the n ig h t o f the battle, the chiefs gath­ ered to d e te rm in e a course o f action. S urrender was im possible w ith the solders h o t fo r vengeance. In kp a d u ta ’s bravery d u rin g the fig h tin g was recognized, b u t m any were angry w ith h im , be­ lie v in g it was his follow ers who had b ro u g h t this disaster upon them . A lre a d y the villa g es were in a state o f m o u rn in g over the dead. W om en w ere w eeping and w a ilin g , c u ttin g th e ir h a ir o ff to th e ir necks and slash in g th e ir legs to draw blood. T h e men p a in te d th e ir faces black and c u t ornam ents and frin g e o ff th e ir c lo th in g . I f a fa th e r had lo st a c h ild , he cu t h im s e lf in sorrow. Those in m o u rn in g p u t on rags, refused to wash, and started to fast. N o rm a lly possessions, in c lu d in g lodges, w ould be given away, b u t a fte r th e loss o f the lodges and th e ir m a te ria l goods, there was little fo r them to p a rt w ith . U n lik e the Lakotas, the Santees b u rie d th e ir dead, b u t even here there was little tim e fo r a fo rm a l fu n e ra l.35 T h e n e x t m o rn in g , w a n tin g no m ore trouble, S tanding B uf­ falo and the N o rth e rn Sissetons, along w ith many o f the W ahpetons, broke fro m the m a in gro up and fled tow ard Canada. “ We, the Sissetons h id and got away, fro m there— went o ff in another d ire c tio n ,” said L ittle Fish. Iro n H oop late r testified that the p ro ­ peace Santees w ent w ith S tanding B u ffalo w hile Inkpaduta and the o th e r resisters, along w ith the M dewakanton, continued head­ in g tow ards th e M issou ri R iver to the west, although other non­ resisters w ere lik e ly p a rt o f th a t group. T he fa m ily o f the w rite r o f M dew akanton and W ahpeton descent, Charles Eastman, was

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pro-peace and s till w ith those Santees fle e in g to w a rd th e M issouri River. Eastman related the hardships o f th e S io ux try in g to es­ cape the pursuing arm y: “ In o u r flig h t we little fo lks were strapped in the saddles o r held in fro n t o f an o ld e r person, and in the long night marches to get away fro m the soldiers, we su ffe re d from loss o f sleep and in su fficie n t food. O u r m eals w ere eaten hastily, and sometimes in the saddle. W ater was n o t always to be found.” As they retreated they encountered th e L a kota s, s till b u ffa lo hunting. M eanwhile, S tanding B u ffa lo and his people fle d across the border to M anitoba.56 A t five a.m. on July 26, the soldiers were once m ore on the march. It was a cold day, and the soldiers p u t on th e ir overcoats and wrapped blankets around themselves. S io ux scouts were sighted, and Companies A and B o f the 6 th M inn e so ta In fa n try were sent ahead as skirm ishers. Sibley o rd ere d no weapons to be fired that day unless the Sioux attacked, b u t w hen a d e er bounded out from the nearby bluffs, the h u n g ry m en, lo n g in g fo r fresh meat, could not resist shooting the a n im a l. H e a rin g the firin g , Sibley believed an assault was underw ay, and fo r a tim e the col­ umn was throw n into confusion. By noon the a rm y had covered fifteen miles and reached Dead B u ffa lo Lake. A lo n g th e way the scouts, m oving in fro n t o f the colum n, had fo u n d an o ld m an hiding under a blanket and an elderly wom an. “ She was nearly scared to death when we found her, p o or old th in g ,” w ro te E dw in Patch. James Ram er discovered “ a n u m be r o f bodies th a t had died from wounds received on Friday” in d ic a tin g such a flig h t by the Sioux that it had been impossible to care fo r th e ir seriously wounded, who were le ft behind upon death.57 The plans to camp at Dead B u ffa lo Lake w ere soon in te r­ rupted. “A ll o f a sudden the Indians hove in sight. T h e ir num bers were form idable and, being m ounted on s w ift fresh ponies, they circled around us w ith im punity, fillin g o u r ears w ith th e ir, any­ thing but pleasant, music,” w rote an amazed G la n v ille . C o n n o lly was also surprised that “ the savages came sw ooping dow n on us,

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and it seemed as th o u g h they sprang up o u t o f the earth, so nu­ merous were they.” M ore tro u b le d by the attack was Thom as Jef­ ferson H u n t, w ho cla im e d , “ We were suddenly m et by the whole Sioux n a tio n , naked and m o u n te d .” 38 T h e re m a in in g Santees had been re in force d by th e ir Lakota b rethren. T h e Lakotas w ere fro m the H unkpapa and Blackfeet bands. T h e re w ere lik e ly a va rie ty o f reasons why the Lakotas jo in e d the fig h t: k in s h ip ties, the th re a t to th e ir own nearby v il­ lages, the fru s tra tio n s s till fe lt over the F irst Sioux W ar loss and the desire fo r h o n o r and g lo ry fo r the younger w arrio rs. Black M oon was one o f th e ir chiefs, and lik e ly present was a n oth er upcom in g H u n k p a p a leader, S ittin g B u ll. As at B ig M ound, the Sioux w ere n o t a tte m p tin g to defeat the arm y b u t delay them . T h e ir m a in atta ck was aim ed at the m ule and cattle herds, to lim it the m o b ility o f th e soldiers and reduce th e ir food source. To b lo ck th e assault, Sibley ordered John Jones’s a rtille ry sec­ tion to a h ig h h ill six h u n d re d yards in fro n t o f the camp, along w ith tw o com panies o f the 6 th M innesota In fa n try , com m anded by W illia m C rooks. Jones raced his battery to the h ill and com­ menced fir in g a h a lf a dozen rounds at the attackers. One Sioux, an e ld e rly m an present at the attack, rem em bered the a rtille ry : “ T h e re was a heap o f ind ia ns made a break fo r Sibley’s wagon tra in . . . Sibley sh o o tin g guns th a t w ould make a noise going th ro u g h th e a ir, then a ll load up again & shoot second tim e, k ill heap m ore in d ia n s th a t tim e .” T h e a rtille ry fire halted the attack and forced th e S ioux to re tre a t, w hich A rth u r Daniels referred to as “ a n o th e r b e a u tifu l skedaddle.” T h e rest o f the 6th M innesota In fa n try was b ro u g h t up fo r su p po rt and proceeded to d rive the Sioux back a m ile and h a lf fro m the camp. Daniels commented th a t th e “ In d ia n s were im m ediately in o u r fro n t, on ponies, rid ­ in g backw ard and fo rw a rd and evidently try in g to feel us a little o r d ra w us on” and called these attem pts a “ farce.” 39 T h e firs t a tte m p te d attack stopped, the Sioux now moved to the le ft fla n k , to m ake a n oth er ru n at the m ules and cattle.

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Marshall was surprised by the attack. He w rote, “ Suddenly as the spring o f concealed tigers fifty to a hundred m ounted Indians dashed in upon the camp from the N o rth . M any o f the teams were out on that side getting hay and it seemed alm ost inevitable that they would be gobbled up.” Companies A and L o f the 1st Minnesota Mounted Rangers counterattacked, w ith C aptain Eu­ gene Ware o f that regim ent recalling th a t “ it was a smoky day, and the horses o f whites and Indians s tirre d up the dust, and the contestants m ingled w ith each other, it was often d iffic u lt to dis­ tinguish friend from foe.” The soldiers were impressed by the at­ tack; Connolly thought that “ there were those am ong them who knew something o f the tactics o f war.” It was lik e ly C h ie f Gray Eagle who led the assault. “ He was fin e ly painted, and his head profusely decorated w ith feathers,” according to one soldier. Clapp respectfully called Gray Eagle “ a bold, reckless c h ie f” who, along w ith his followers, “ dashed rig h t in to o u r cam p m ounted on th e ir fleetest ponies.” Gray Eagle was k ille d in the attack. John Platt o f the 1st Minnesota Mounted Rangers also d ied when he confronted a dismounted wounded w arrio r. W hen P la tt’s pistol m isfired, the w arrio r quickly shot him . Platt, m o rta lly wounded, died two days later. Scout Joe Campbell saw this exchange and fired, m ortally wounding the w a rrio r in tu rn . As the m an died, angry army scouts scalped him . A fte r a fifte e n -m in u te melee, the attackers were driven back.40 Long-range firin g continued u n til three P.M., when the Sioux retired. The Battle o f Dead Buffalo Lake had lasted th re e hours. A lfred H ill, 6th Minnesota In fa n try, p roudly proclaim ed th a t the Sioux had been “ repulsed in fine style.” C onnolly described it as a decisive engagement, and A rth u r Daniels noted th a t the Sioux who attacked them seemed different from those at B ig M ound. Theodore Carter characteristically downplayed the fig h t, re fe r­ ring to it as “ the celebrated Battle o f Dead B uffalo Lake” and be­ lieving far fewer Indians participated than were com m only stated; “ I know, for I watched them th ru my field glass.” Sibley re p orted

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that nine Sioux had been k ille d , but John Pettibone wrote that the soldiers recovered o n ly five bodies from the field. The arm y had one man k ille d and several wounded.41 Once again, the S ioux had been successful in delaying the arm y’s p u rs u it. T h e battle, along w ith a serious lack o f water, had w orn o u t the horses, and the arm y was unable to pursue th e ir attackers u n til the ne xt day. It was a long, fa tig u in g march o f tw enty m iles to the next campsite, called Camp Am bler, at Stony Lake. Horses and mules began to give out and died d u rin g the advance. A lo n g the route o f the march the soldiers followed a tra il o f discarded m aterials fro m the Sioux as they moved rapidly toward the M issouri River. Both sides were suffering from the drought, heat, and c o n flic t.42 On Ju ly 28 O scar W all took tim e to jo t down a quick entry in his d ia ry: “ S ta rt o u t this m o rn in g in pursuit o f our blood th irsty enemys.” T h e m o rn in g opened w ith fog. The wagon tra in , not in its usual four-w agon-w ide, close-in colum n, was spread out in a single wagon colum n, w ith the 7th Minnesota In fa n try protect­ ing the le ft fla n k . T h e 10th M innesota In fa n try served as the vanguard, and the 6 th M innesota In fa n try and 1st Minnesota M ounted Rangers were on the rig h t flank. O ut ahead rode the scouts. A t fo u r-th irty A.M. the head o f the column was one and a h a lf miles away, w ith p a rt o f the wagon tra in s till in the camp pre­ paring to leave. Daniels acknowledged, “ We were taken by sur­ prise this m o rn in g as we were leisurely com ing out o f camp.” 43 The B attle o f Stony Lake opened w ith the scouts racing back to the m ain body shouting, “ They are comingl They are com­ ing!” T he announcem ent was met w ith cheers from the soldiers. “ We had gained the firs t ridge, west o f camp, when we heard the unm istakable sound o f ra p id ly advancing Indians,” wrote Glanville. Soon a single Sioux w a rrio r appeared on a h ill waving a blanket; th is was follow ed by a m ounted charge o f several hun­ dred Sioux. Sibley called the attack “ one o f the most m agnifi­ cent sights” he had witnessed. Newcombe Kinney was equally

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impressed: “ Every In d ia n was at his best in p o in t o f p a in t, feath­ ers and trappings. They were a w o n d e rfu l sight— te rrify in g and fascinating at the same tim e. T hey too were fig h tin g fo r th e ir fam ilies, as well as th e ir own lives.” Unsettled by the assault, Clapp wrote M ariette that “ fo r a moment I thought we should m eet w ith considerable damage and loss o f life .” Paulson a d m itte d th a t the men under his command “ became te rro r-s tric k e n ” by th e charge but recovered quickly when he ordered them to fire . “ T h e n they awakened as though from a trance and th e ir vollies echoed in the h ills .” “ We gave them o u r usual com plim ents byway o f a little cold lead,” agreed Clapp.44 The a rtille ry was rushed to the fro n t and soon opened fire on the incom ing Sioux. The a rtille ry “ poured a ra p id and destruc­ tive fire from as many d iffe re nt points,” Sibley la te r re p o rte d . T h e rounds had a te llin g effect, and the attackers “ scattered as i f they thought every h a ir in th e ir heads was a snare d ru m and they were a ll playing Yankee Doodle,” recalled W all. W ith the a id o f the cannons, the assault was “ in a short tim e repulsed,” noted James C ornell, 6th M innesota In fa n try .45 The repulse discouraged the Sioux. T hey had believed th a t they would surprise the soldiers in th e ir camp, o n ly to fin d them already awake and prepared. “ We are too late; they are ready fo r us,” one man called out. T h is tim e the d e la ying atta ck had n o t worked. S till, shouts o f encouragement were heard by the sol­ diers. W arriors calling, “ We must fig h t fo r o u r c h ild re n ,” and “ Remember o u r children and fam ilies, we m ust n o t le t them get them,” only reinforced the im portance o f the s ta llin g attack to protect the w arriors’ loved ones, g ivin g them m ore tim e to move away from the approaching army. O the r Sioux were in d ig n a n t over the soldiers’ fa ilu re to fig h t w ith in d iv id u a l honor. W here was the glory or desire fo r personal honor when one used a r til­ lery and long-range rifles to keep the w a rrio rs at bay? O ne c h ie f m otioned by waving a blanket to stop shooting. He then yelled to

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the soldiers, “ P ut up y o u r shooting wagons [a rtille ry ] and long knives [sabers] and we w ill fig h t you like men.” 46 T he S ioux spread o u t along the w id th o f the colum n, some five to six m iles, h o p in g to fin d an o p ening th a t w ould allow them to attack the wagons. “ S ignal m en could be seen waving signal flags on certain parts o f the fie ld w hich was always followed by a rush o f Indians to th a t q u a rte r,” one re p o rt noted. Colonel James Baker, 10th M innesota In fa n try , w rote, “ They were well m ounted, and moved about w ith the utm ost ra p id ity and w ith th e ir charac­ teristic hideous yells.” A t one p o in t the cavalry charged the rig h t fla n k o f the S ioux lin e , fo rc in g them to re tire , but m ainly the fig h tin g was lo n g range, d o in g little damage.47 R ealizing th a t the goal o f the Sioux was to delay the expedi­ tion, Sibley o rd e re d an advance th ro u g h the attackers. Sibley cre­ ated a square, w ith ca va lry o u t fro n t and in fa n try to the flanks and rear, to p ro te c t the wagons, livestock, and a rtille ry in the center. C o n n o lly fo u n d it “ a b e a u tifu l sight to see the re g u la rity w ith w hich th e co lu m n m oved” and proclaim ed the Sioux “ d id not im pede o u t progress in the least.” W ith “ yells o f disappoint­ m ent and rage,” the S ioux fire d a few fin a l shots and departed, reported Sibley.48 T h is tim e th e d e la ying tactic had failed. T he arm y kept push­ ing on, u n d e te rre d by the b rie f fig h t at Stony Lake. In his com­ ments on th e b a ttle , Sibley gave in to b o u n tifu l exaggeration. He called the s k irm is h “ the greatest co n flict between o u r troops and the In d ia n s ,” e stim a tin g th a t his command faced between 2,200 and 2,500 w a rrio rs th a t included L ittle Crow’s followers and the Yanktonais, w hom Sibley called “ the most pow erful single band o f the D akotas.” U nable to stop him self, he concluded that “ no such co n cen tra tio n o f force has so fa r as my inform ation extends, ever been m ade by the savages o f the Am erican C ontinent.” The m ore p ra g m a tic C a rte r m ore accurately reviewed the last en­ gagem ent. H e believed o n ly 100 to 150 Sioux attacked, w ith the

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main purpose, as w ith Dead B uffalo Lake, being to fig h t a hold­ ing action. Reflecting on the three fights w ith the Sioux, C arter concluded that “ I believe that most o f the In d ian s at B ig M ound and at this camp, were peaceable, but the com paratively few hostiles brought on the trouble, as the A ction m urders b rought on the Outbreak.” The engagement at Stony Lake lasted somewhere between forty-five minutes and two hours. Sioux losses were ei­ ther three or eleven killed. One soldier recorded the ta kin g o f eight scalps from the Sioux dead.49 Later in the day the soldiers captured a young Y anktonai man. Having come to observe the battle, he had falle n asleep u n d e r a buffalo robe. A scout rid in g by saw the robe and bent down to pick it up. The man leaped up and started to ru n “ sw iftly, in a zig-zag manner,” wrote Connolly. “ Some th irty shots were fire d , all h ittin g the robe, but s till he kept on w ith the same zig-zag mo­ tion, so that it was impossible to h it him .” Finally, C on n o lly stated, “ He now stopped, dropped the robe, and threw up both hands, in token o f surrender.” The soldiers were impressed by his brav­ ery, and the Yanktonai man was taken to Sibley. T h e m an told Sibley that he and his father, a chief, had come to see the fig h tin g but had taken no part in the engagement. Sibley was m uch taken with the twenty-year-old man, soon releasing h im w ith a le tte r to his father, praising him for rem aining out o f the co n flict. Sadly, days later, as the lad approached some m iners w aving the letter, a nearby group o f Lakotas prepared to ambush the whites; the miners shot and killed the Yanktonai youth and were then them ­ selves murdered by the Lakotas. “ This was another sad chapter o f this unholy war,” a solemn C onnolly w rote.50 That evening, the army encamped on Apple Creek, n o t fa r from the Missouri River. A ll around them were signs o f the des­ perate flig h t of the Sioux. “ Near o u r camp in a ravine, a large amount o f jerked buffalo meat, buffalo skins and o th e r In d ia n property, were found and burned. The fleeing fam ilies have suf­ fered a great deal from the hardships o f th e ir hasty m arch, as we

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can see from the num ber o f graves o f children we fin d on the march,” wrote C arter.51 T he expedition had not been stopped at Stony Lake, and now the Sioux were forced to make an im m ediate crossing o f the M issou ri in o rd e r to o u tru n th e ir attackers. Sup­ plies, food, lodges, and wagons had to be abandoned in th e ir h u rry to cross. Charles Eastm an’s fa m ily le ft behind the lum ber wagon that he had come to despise a fte r his nearly fatal accident. Now his fam ily prepared to move across the M issouri River. Eastman re­ membered th a t “ the Washechu [w hite men] were com ing in great numbers w ith th e ir big guns, and w hile most o f our men were fig h ting them to gain tim e, the women and the old men made and equipped the tem porary boats, braced w ith ribs o f willow.” The crossing was not easy: “ Some o f these [boats] were towed in the water and some by ponies. It was not an easy m atter to keep them rig h t side up, w ith th e ir helpless freight o f little children and such goods as we possessed.” Frank Jetty, a m ixed-blood, had fled from the arm y w ith his m other and sister. D uring the night o f July 28, his fa m ily crossed the river. “ They started to improvise boats w ith sm all trees on which they tied buffalo hides. A ll dur­ ing the n ig h t the In d ia n swimmers guided these boats across the river w ith ropes held in th e ir teeth. Thus, all who could not swim and the women, ch ild re n and belongings were carried across,” wrote Jetty.52 Some o f the Sioux were s till fighting. S itting Bull was out lead­ ing a ra id against the approaching army. In June S itting B ull had been h u n tin g near A pple Creek when he encountered a patrol from Sibley’s arm y. Attacked, S itting B ull and his people fought back. “ I d id not w ant to fig h t the Whites, but I did not want them in o ur B u ffalo land . . . ” stated the rising Lakota leader. Now, as the arm y closed on the M issouri River, S itting B u ll’s war party struck at a m ilita ry supply tra in toward the rear o f the column. The Sioux could not close because o f the rapid fire o f the longerranged weapons o f the soldiers guarding the train. “ The soldiers

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had many guns and fire d rapidly, bullets were fly in g a ll around us,” noted S itting B ull. Unable to do m uch damage to the tra in , capturing only one mule, S itting B u ll d id count coup on a m ule skinner.53 On July 29, at two a m ., reveille was sounded in the arm y camp, “a sound we have almost learned to hate,” grum bled A rth u r Dan­ iels. A t daybreak the colum n marched fo r the M issouri, reaching the river at eight a .m . They arrived to see the last o f the Sioux crossing the river. “ They were rid in g ponies, some ponies ca rry­ ing a squaw and three or fo u r papooses. T hey plunged in to the water and swam across,” reported John S m ith, 10th M innesota Infantry. Left behind was a large qu an tity o f wagons and bug­ gies. Soldiers counted 175 such vehicles, along w ith an am azing find o f a new, brig h t red J. I. Case threshing m achine separator pulled by oxen that made more than one man w onder about its appearance.54 As the army approached the tim bers that grew along the river. Companies A, B, F, and G, 6th M innesota In fa n try , were sent forward as skirmishers. Spread out along a h a lf-m ile fro n t, w ith men spaced five paces apart and supported by two a rtille ry pieces, the skirmishers advanced. Daniels wrote th a t it was a severe way to march, “ for it is necessary to keep the lin e as nearly stra ig h t as possible, and a little sway in the center, th ro w in g e ith e r fla n k fo r­ ward a little , causes the other fla n k to m arch in quick o r doublequick time, to gain the alignm ent.” A t eleven a .m ., a fte r m arching two miles through the tim ber, the 6th M innesota In fa n try reached the river. The Sioux had crossed, and Daniels believed th a t “ both seemed to realize the farce was finished— they evidently enjoying the thought w ith gladness, and we w ith great bitterness.” Edward Patch also expressed disappointm ent: “ We are a ll disheartened that the Indians outw itted us though we drove them fro m M in ­ nesota and through the Dakota T e rrito ry .” T h e S ioux had escaped, but not w ithout losses. Soldiers found the bodies o f a num ber o f women and children who had drow ned d u rin g the

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river crossing. Newcombe K in n e y w rote, “ We drove the Indians across the M issouri and the women and ch ildren were drowned, many o f them .” 55 Having m arched m any m iles, the men “suffered from thirst,” recalled C arter. Now, reaching the M issouri River, the firs t thought on the m inds o f the soldiers was water. “A fte r having for weeks drank the brackish w ater o f the p ra irie lakes, we drank this sweet though tu rb id stream ,” a g ra te fu l C onnolly wrote. As they drank, the men came u n de r fire fro m w arriors shooting from the west bank. The soldiers re tu rn ed fire , keeping “ up a brisk firin g ,” stated Duren Kelley, u n til a rtille ry fire forced the Sioux back from the river. Soon a fte r this b rie f skirm ish, exhausted from the days o f m arching and com bat, soldiers dropped to the ground and quickly fell asleep. So fatigued were the men that “ when they would fire o ff a cannon we d id not hear it,” wrote Charles Watson.56 By evening, concern had arisen over the whereabouts o f two men, Lieutenant Frederick Beaver and Private Nicholas M iller. Beaver, an E nglish gentlem an, had come to Am erica to hunt buf­ falo and had jo in e d the arm y w ith the com ing o f the Dakota War. He was serving on Sibley’s s ta ff and had carried orders to Colo­ nel Crooks before try in g to re tu rn to Sibley’s headquarters at night. M ille r was a m em ber o f the 6th Minnesota In fa n try and had like ly become lost. Rockets were fire d that night to aid the lost men in fin d in g th e ir way back to camp. The gesture was fu ­ tile, as the next day the bodies o f the two men were found. Bea­ ver had taken a w rong tra il and been ambushed. He had fought back, e m p tyin g a ll three o f his revolvers before being kille d by three arrow s and a b u lle t. James Ramer noted that “ the Lieut was tom ahawked Sc his having h airy whiskers they skinned his chin . . . ” H a lf a m ile away, the lost M ille r also died in an attack. Several soldiers noted that Beaver was a Mason, so he was ac­ corded a M asonic b u ria l.57 In his re p o rt o f the campaign, Sibley was very pleased w ith what the e xpedition had accomplished, calling the results “ highly

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satisfactory.” D uring the M innesota Valley cam paign, Sibley had shown understanding o f the divisions inside the Santees and had reached out to the peace faction when establishing Camp Re­ lease. He had also corresponded w ith the Sissetons and Wahpetons who had remained neutral d u rin g the co n flict. Now, perhaps trying to impress the more vengeful Pope, Sibley was merciless in his evaluation o f the Sioux he had opposed on the expedition. Sibley wrote that the taking o f “ vast quantities o f subsistence, clothing, and means o f transportation” w ould leave “ many, per­ haps most o f them, to perish miserably in th e ir u tte r destitu tio n during the coming fa ll and w inter.” Sibley voiced his disappoint­ ment that he could not wipe out a ll the M dewakantons and Wahpetons, but took solace in knowing that “ the bodies o f m any o f the most g u ilty have been left unburied on the p ra irie s, to be devoured by wolves and foxes." Preparing to end the cam paign, Sibley issued General O rder 51 to the troops, w hich b u ilt on his earlier report. “ You have routed the miscreants who m urdered our people last year. . . and driven them in confusion and dis­ may across the Missouri River,” Sibley proclaim ed, but acknowl­ edged that “ it would be a gratification i f these remorseless sav­ ages could have been pursued and utterly e xtirp a te d , fo r th e ir crimes and barbarities m erited such a fu ll measure o f punish­ ment.”58 Left unreported were the numbers o f women and c h il­ dren killed, that the Lakotas had not com m itted any “crim es and barbarities,” and the fact that Standing B uffalo and most o f the other Dakota chiefs had been prepared to surrender before the fighting even began. On August 1, after camping near the M issouri R iver fo r two days, the expedition headed for home w ith the band playing “ T he G irl I Left Behind Me.” The men appreciated the announcem ent o f the return march. “Joy prevails in camp this m o rn in g hom e­ ward bound is the cry in all quarters the boys a ll rejoice th in k that we may again be perm itted to place o u r feet on the soil o f civilization again,” wrote a pleased Oscar W all. T here were only

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fifteen days w o rth o f food le ft; the men, horses and mules were worn down, and little m ore could be accomplished. However, A r­ th u r Daniels d id n o t look forw ard to re tu rn in g over the droughtridden plains: “ It is alm ost enough to make one sick to th in k o f going again over the d re a ry waste,” he adm itted. “A ll, I th in k, are sick o f In d ia n s, and In d ia n war.” Daniels disagreed w ith Sib­ ley over the success o f the cam paign and was s till b itte r toward the Sioux, “ who is as treacherous and cowardly as he is w ild, and only brave, when . . . he can steal upon his victim w ith serpentlike stealth, and g lo ry over h im thus fiendishly slain.” Daniels was not the only one to s till desire fu rth e r revenge. Some soldiers left behind beans laced w ith strychnine fo r the Sioux to discover.59 The colum n had barely le ft the camp when Sioux w arriors started reoccupying the abandoned area. The 6th Minnesota In fa n try was serving as the rear guard and did an about-face to counter the thre a t. A fte r a few volleys the Sioux fell back. It was the start o f a long, d iffic u lt day, hot w ith thick a ir from the smoke o f a p ra irie fire . Assum ing that water would be available on the march, the soldiers q u ickly em ptied th e ir canteens. W ith mirages o f lakes appearing in fro n t o f the colum n, men began to cry, “ Water, w ater!” w rote C onnolly, but “ We march and th irst again, and the b e a u tifu l lake seems ju s t as far away.” Not u n til later in the day, a fte r m a rchin g eighteen miles, did the expedition reach Apple Creek. “ T h e fam ishing men make a run fo r it, and do not stop u n til they are in waist deep, and then they d rin k th e ir fill and replenish th e ir canteens,” concluded Connolly.60 The firs t day o f the re tu rn march was one o f great physical d iffic u lty , b u t the fo llo w ing day, August 2, was one o f cruel injus­ tice. T h a t evening Edw in Patch noted in his diary, “ Tonight one o f o u r In d ia n scouts died suddenly— sick only an hour.” The dead scout was Chaska, who had died o f poisoning. Although Brackett was at Cam p Atchison, safely recovering from his weeklong ordeal, no one serving w ith the m ain colum n was aware o f his su rv iv a l, and rum ors s till existed that Chaska, the man

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responsible for saving Brackett’s life , had secretly m urdered him . Wanting revenge, a member o f the 6th M innesota In fa n try ob­ tained poison from a hospital clerk and adm inistered it to Chaska. W ithin a short while, Chaska died. O n A ugust 3 he was buried, to the sorrow o f Patch: “ T his m o rnin g we b u rie d the rem ains o f poor Chaska in his lonely grave. We feel his loss as he was one o f our best scouts.” Days later, when the colum n reached Camp Atchison, a very alive Brackett greeted them , p ra isin g Chaska fo r his survival. A solemn C arter reflected, “ Chaska was exonerated, but ju st the suspicion o f treachery had cost h im his life .” Con­ nolly also felt the loss, saying o f Chaska: “ He was fa ith fu l among the faithless.” 61 Chaska had embraced a ssim ilatio n , protected white settlers and Bracket, and had served alongside the whites against his own people. Yet, in the end, his being Sioux led the men he had befriended to m urder him .

CHAPTER 6

S ully’s 1863 Expedition “ Y O U R M O V E M E N T S HAVE GREATLY D IS A P P O IN T E D

ME”

Sibley claim ed his expedition had been a great suc­ cess, in flic tin g severe punishm ent on those Santees who had par­ ticipated in the D akota War. However, one key element in the operation had been absent— B riga d ier General A lfre d Sully’s col­ um n. S u lly’s e xp e d itio n was to have been the anvil to Sibley’s hammer. Pope had intended Sibley to strike against the Sioux at D evil’s Lake and then d rive them westward into the w aiting arms o f Sully’s force. S u lly’s colum n consisted solely o f cavalry, in order to give it the m o b ility to be in place fo r the decisive defeat that would a n n ih ila te the perpetrators o f the uprising. Yet Sibley fought a solo cam paign, reaching the M issouri R iver w ith no blocking force in place. Sibley had fought three engagements w ith the Sioux, always w ith the question, W here is Sully? As w ith Sibley’s expedition, the second prong o f the operation assembled over the sp rin g o f 1863, but in Sioux City, Iowa. In i­ tia lly, B rig a d ie r G eneral John Cook, a volunteer officer from I l­ lin o is, had been given the task o f organizing the expedition. Cook started the preparations and met w ith leaders o f the 129

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Yankton Sioux in an e ffo rt to keep them at peace. Found w anting as a top leader o f the expedition. Cook was replaced by Sully, over the strong objections o f Pope. The 6th Iowa Cavalry, eight companies o f the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry, Company I o f the 7th Iowa C avalry, and an a rtille ry bat­ tery were to compose the strike force u n d e r Sully, along w ith three companies o f the 45th W isconsin In fa n try , who were to both build and garrison a fo rt at a site chosen by Sully. T he 6th Iowa Cavalry had been organized in the w in te r o f 1862. Its colo­ nel was David W ilson, a lawyer and D em ocratic p o litic ia n from northern Iowa. Rotund, w ith an open and frie n d ly personality, he was popular w ith the men. In A p ril the 6 th Iow a C avalry started to arrive in Sioux City. T he men o f C om pany I, 7th Iowa Cavalry, were from the Sioux C ity area and were veterans o f serving on the fro n tie r. Sully would use them as his personal bodyguard during the expedition. Fearful o f increased troubles with the Sioux, the te rrito ria l legislature o f Nebraska asked the War Department fo r authorization to raise the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry. Colonel Robert W. Furnas, e d itor o f the Brow nsville Ne­ braska Advertiser and later governor o f Nebraska, was appointed the regim ent’s colonel. The regim ent arrived much la te r at Sioux City than the Iowa units.1 Unlike most o f the soldiers from M innesota, the men serving under Sully did not see the expedition’s m otive to be th a t o f re­ venge and punishment, and they were fa r m ore negative about th e ir participation. Although the 6th Iowa C avalry was orga­ nized for fro n tie r defense, someone forgot to in fo rm the men enlisting in the u n it o f this fact. R ecruiting officers fo r the re g i­ ment told would-be volunteers that the u n it w ould serve in the South against those states rebelling against the governm ent. Ser­ geant John W right, a twenty-year-old Q uaker, had jo in e d not only because o f patriotism but fo r his a b o litio n ist beliefs. J. H . Drips, also a sergeant, believed the men had been lie d to and “ recruited under false pretenses.” D rips enlisted to fig h t

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Confederates and n o t A m erican Indians. Frank Myers wrote, “ These outbreaks [D akota W ar o f 1862] prevented o u r regim ent from ever engaging in the war.” W ritin g to the Iowa City Register, Henry W ieneke re p o rte d rum ors o f the regim ent either jo in in g an expedition against the Sioux o r heading South, “ pray it may be the la tte r,” he concluded.2 A lth o u g h p a rt o f the U nion A rm y involved in the C iv il W ar, W rig h t, D rips, Myers, and the other men o f the 6 th Iow a C avalry found themselves m arginalized, sent to a backwater departm ent to wage w ar on a completely d if­ ferent enemy fro m the one they had expected to fight. In the w ritin g s o f soldiers fro m M innesota, a firm b e lie f is expressed in a righ teo u s cause against the Santees. The Santees had launched a surprise attack against th e ir w hite neighbors, of­ ten m arked by a trocities and death, and now needed to be pun­ ished. T he men on Sibley’s expedition viewed the campaign as a ju s tifie d w ar against a people whose g u ilt had already been de­ term ined. T h e re had been a specific threat to th e ir homes and kin, and they now took defensive action to elim inate that threat. T hat the soldiers fro m M innesota were suspicious o f any and all Sioux and re fe rre d to them in racist terms was played out against the backdrop o f the e a rlie r events o f the Dakota War. The soldiers fro m Iowa and Nebraska, as well as th e ir fam ilies, had not been so deeply affected by the uprising, although the war d id cause an increase o f alarm and fear along the frontier. Yet these m en’s views tow ard the Sioux were much more bitter and genocidal than the attitudes o f the Minnesota troops. Lieu­ tenant C olonel Samuel Pollock, 6th Iowa Cavalry, said that Cook had once to ld h im th a t the general “ had one infa llible rule o f ascertaining w hether an In d ia n was hostile or n o t . . . to examine his liver.” Pollock, very much a racist toward American Indians, embraced th is sentim ent, and these views were present as well among the enlisted men o f the 6th Iowa Cavalry. “ I wish they would a ll die,” W ieneke w rote to his wife. “ It would save us the trouble o f k illin g them next summer.” Wieneke also confided

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that the feeling among the regim ent’s men was one o f “ take no prisoners.” Drips believed that “ there was a ro m a n tic idea exist­ ing among a large num ber o f men th a t the great m a jo rity o f the Indians were the real n o b ility o f the co u n try. . . . B u t the firs t sight o f a camp o f frie n d ly In d ia n s . . . d isp e lle d th a t rom ance, and every subsequent acquaintance w ith ‘the noble re d ’ went to emphasize the idea that ‘the good In d ia n was the dead In d ia n .’ ” 3 W ith such attitudes, it is not su rp risin g th a t m em bers o f the 6th Iowa Cavalry would be involved in several atrocities. Those Sioux encountered by the soldiers were often described negatively. Siegmund Rothammer, a th irty-six-ye a r-o ld Germ an serving as a hospital steward fo r the 6 th Iow a C avalry, was a natural-science enthusiast, fillin g his d ia ry and letters to his wife, Rosanah, w ith lengthy entries o f in fo rm a tio n about the fauna, horticulture, soil, animals, and birds he experienced w hile in the West. In letters home he also w rote o f the Sioux. “ T h e Indians on this [side] o f the rive r are i f f anything, m ore d e g ra d in g . . . with but one exception, and that the w ife o f a w hite m an,” Rothammer told Rosanah. He noted th a t some o f the men were cohabitating w ith Sioux women even though “ they are a ll a d irty , nasty set, and as yet I have not seen one who could o ffe r e fficie nt attractions to a white man to choose her fo r a com panion, though all our men do not th in k so. Many are anxious o f th e ir company. They seem to be scant o f provisions and a few crackers can buy most anything, o f which many o f o u r Boys take advantage.” 4 Only one band o f the Sioux, the Yanktonais, m et w ith favor by the Iowa soldiers, who were impressed by how the Yanktonais had refused to be drawn into the co n flict and had w orked to free white prisoners held by the Santees. Amos C herry, 7th Iowa Cav­ alry, in a letter home discussed how the Lakotas had come to Fort Randall to encourage the Yanktonais there to d rive the soldiers out o f the fort: “The Yanktonais inform ed them they should leave and that they was going to stand by the traders who had befriended them and fed them a ll w in te r and th a t the soldiers

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had treated them w ell and they w ould fig h t w ith them and die all together.” Pleased, C h e rry stated, “ Thus you w ill see the Yanktonais are on o u r side.” C h e rry w ent on to name several chiefs, including B ear’s R ib, D rag the Rock, W hite Crane, and Crazy Dog, who had gone o u t to save w hite prisoners. “ W hat do you think o f th a t friends? Is n o t th a t a pattern o f p rinciple and feel­ ing w orthy o f being im ita te d by w hite men?” C herry queried. A letter to the Iowa City Press w ritte n by “ Co B” spoke o f a feast given at F ort R a n d a ll fo r sixteen chiefs o f the Yanktonais who had supported the w hites and saved w hite prisoners. “ Never were a party o f frie n d s m ore welcome,” stated the w rite r and called the Yanktonais “ firm and a b id ing friends.” 5 Sadly, these good feelings w ould n o t stop the Yanktonais from being slaughtered at W hitestone H ill by the very same soldiers who praised them months earlier. Reasons fo r the e xp e d itio n other than revenge and punish­ ment em erged am ong S u lly’s troops. Settlement and expansion o f the Dakota T e rrito ry and protection o f steamboat travel up the M issouri to the m in e fie ld s in M ontana were given as causes. Land com panies were lo o k in g at high losses o f money i f the Sioux continued to prove a problem fo r settlers afraid to venture into the Dakota T e rrito ry . In 1862 gold was discovered at Bannack and A ld e r G ulch, and the follow ing year in other areas o f Montana. W ith the ever-increasing cost o f the war back East, such gold resources were im p o rta n t to the government. The Sioux, not pleased w ith the steady flow o f w hite settlers across th e ir lands, were alarm ed at the volum e o f steamboats carrying miners up the M issouri R iver. George Kingsnorth, twenty-five years old and serving in the 7th Iowa C avalry along w ith his nineteen-year-old brother, Jesse, th o u g h t th a t a ll the Sioux had signed treaties plac­ ing them on reservations and the upcoming campaign was “ to persuade the In d ia n s, i f possible, to return to their agency and cease th e ir depredations” against the miners and Dakota T e rri­ tory settlers.6

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Like other U nion soldiers, the troops p re p a rin g to depart on the expedition often thought o f hom e and th e ir loved ones. Again, the lack o f letters from those at hom e was a constant com­ plaint. Rothammer, who had enlisted w ith p a trio tic zeal, wrote Rosanah, “O Love! My country is dear to me, and my love for i t . . . caused me to make the sacrifice.” H e chastised his wife, saying that the men received re g u la r m ail deliveries b u t he had lately found no letters from her. In one le tte r to his w ife he had mentioned a woman named N ellie. Rosanah’s next letter teased her husband about his fid e lity. A very serious m an, Rothammer quickly responded, “ I have never given you any reason to doubt my veracity and fid e lity to you, and you may rest assured, that I never w ill.” W ith heartfelt passion R otham m er told Rosanah that he was looking at her picture as he w rote her: “ I have you be­ fore me, and I can see in your Eies plainly, th a t you love me dearly and wish me to kiss you, and so I do so w ith m y w hole heart, and can only wish you were large enough, so I could p u t my arms around you, and press you to my true heart, and have the pleasure o f feeling yours beat near mine, as I can feel my lips press the cold glass which covers yours so dearly loved features.” 7 Even Colonel David W ilson, com m ander o f the 6 th Iowa Cav­ alry, complained over the lack o f correspondence. “ I was quite disappointed in not receiving a lette r fro m you today. A ll the of­ ficers heard from home but m e .. . . Oh! I f you o n ly knew how much your letters were prized you ce rta inly w ould w rite oftener,” pleaded Wilson to his wife, H enrietta. Amos C h e rry was not so concerned for him self but for another man in his com pany who rarely obtained m ail. “Archie never hears from hom e at a ll never has had but 2 letters from home since he entered the service,” Cherry inform ed some friends. “ I know he is lonesome and anx­ ious and would like to hear from th e m .. . . I do wish you would all write to him . . . . It would do him good I know.” 8 Growing tired o f Sioux City, the soldiers were ready fo r the cam­ paign to commence. D uring May and June the various elements o f

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the expedition proceeded to leave Sioux C ity, m arching firs t to Fort Reynolds and la te r to F o rt Pierre, the forw ard base for the operation. T h e firs t troops to advance were from the 6th Iowa Cavalry, follow ed sh o rtly by the rest o f the expedition. On June 16, fric tio n developed between the 6th Iowa Cavalry and 7th Iowa C avalry over a fire set by members o f the 2nd Battalion, 6th Iowa Cavalry. T h e in c id e n t occurred follow ing a d iffic u lt day that had the th irs ty horses o f both regim ents stampede down to the L ittle M issouri R iver. Soon after, fo r an unknown reason, men from the 2nd b a tta lio n started a fire that, w ith the dry con­ ditions, q u ickly g o t o u t o f hand and turned into a full-blow n p rairie fire th a t consum ed a ll the grass the expedition needed to feed the horses. T h e fire continued into the next day before b urning its e lf out. In a le tte r to his w ife, a furious H enry Wieneke raged against the men who set the fire : “ They are the meanest set o f men taken them a ll together th a t I ever set my Eyes on. Some few o f them are good b u t the greater p a rt o f them are Secession­ ists and ja o lb ird s — i f the whole reg’t are like the 2nd Batalion I would not give any th in g fo r the fig h tin g they w ill do.” 9 O ther members o f the 6th Iowa Cavalry caused controversy by th e ir p a rtic ip a tio n in an a tro city against frie n dly Lakotas at Ponca Creek. O n June 12, w hile at Fort Randall, a Sergeant Neu­ man had gone lo o k in g fo r his horse, which had wandered away d u rin g the n ig h t. He had late r returned to the fo rt and reported he had been fire d upon by a sm all group o f Sioux. A detachment o f the 1st Dakota C avalry under Sergeant Abner English was then sent o u t b u t could not locate the Sioux. The next day a Cap­ tain M oreland, w ith ten men from G Company, 6th Iowa Cav­ alry, and five men o f Company H , 1st Dakota Cavalry, had taken up the p u rsu it. By then, any Sioux who may have fired at Ser­ geant Neum an were long gone from the area. However, other Sioux— eight m ale members o f the Two Kettles band o f the Lako­ tas, innocent o f any w rong-doing—had been nearby, having ju st left the Yankton Agency. T h e ir leader, named either Puffy Eyes

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or Pouting Eye, had been an elderly m an who had recently been involved in saving w hite prisoners held by the Santee resisters, obtaining th e ir release by g ivin g ponies to th e ir captors. More­ land and his patrol had discovered the Two K ettles group and surrounded them. The Lakotas had offered no resistance and had w illin g ly turned th e ir weapons over to the soldiers. Puffy Eyes had produced a letter, signed by G eneral W illia m Harney, proclaim ing the chief to be a good man. A lth o u g h there are d if­ ferent versions o f what happened next, at some p o in t the Sioux had been told they were free to leave. W hen the Lakotas started to depart, w ith th e ir backs to the soldiers, they had been gunned down. Only one man had escaped the massacre.10 Reactions to the Ponca Creek Massacre and the way it was ex­ plained varied. Sergeant English later w rote th a t the Sioux were killed in battle, fa llin g before a m ounted charge o f M oreland’s men, “ the entire party were le ft food fo r the coyotes.” D rips re­ ported that the Sioux were k ille d when they trie d to escape. W riting to the Iowa City Republican, W ieneke stated th a t Captain Moreland “ had a little brush in w hich seven In d ia n s were kille d none o f our men were injured . . . ” and added th a t the Sioux were “excellently armed w ith rifles and shotguns.” O thers, upon learning the tru th , were shocked by the massacre. A fte r some men trie d to portray the massacre as a battle, M ilto n Spencer voiced his disapproval by w riting, “ I suppose the cow ardly wretches who committed that cold blooded m urder feel a little uneasy and so try to give the a ffa ir the appearance o f a battle.” Lieutenant Colonel John Pattee called the m urdered men “ the m ost loyal and friendly Indians that could be found in the whole country.” Rothammer, w ritin g to Rosanah, also declared the attack a “ cruel wanton outrage” and then related his conversation w ith the sole survivor of the massacre. The survivor was the son o f P u ffy Eyes and wanted to know why they had been attacked. W hat had they done except always befriend the w hite man? H e w ould not take revenge as his people were too few to fig h t the soldiers,

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and he was resigned to rem ain friends w ith the whites, wrote Rothammer.11 Local Sioux liv in g on the reservation near Fort Randall re­ sponded to the massacre w ith deep m ourning and resentment toward the arm y. W ieneke noted in his d ia ry that the m urdered men “ a ll have re la tio n s here and these have commenced howling and cryin g already.” R otham m er noted the absence o f any Sioux in the soldiers’ cam p fo llo w in g the incident: “ Heretofore plenty o f Indians and Squaws w ould be a ll around the camplines trad­ ing moccasins and Bows . . . and other trin k e ts .. . . Today none are visible, and o u r men begin to th in k , that trouble may result from the . . . butchery.” Pattee was concerned enough to go alone to a Sioux camp near F o rt P ierre and apologize fo r the actions o f the soldiers. U pon h e a rin g o f w hat became known as the Ponca Creek Massacre, S ully was fu rio u s, having Lieutenant Colonel Pollock, the bigoted com m ander o f the 6th Iowa Cavalry, arrested and late r setting up a board o f investigation to look into the inci­ dent. E ventually the m atter was dropped.12 T he Ponca C reek Massacre was ju s t a larger m anifestation o f the racist attitu d e s held by many o f the soldiers. W hile at Fort R andall, a post R otham m er called “ not worthy o f the name, as it really is no fo rt at a ll, but only an assembly o f loghouses,” H enry Pierce related th a t, even a fte r the massacre that had upset the Sioux, men broke in to Sioux b u ria l mounds: “ T h e ir curiosity also incites them to d is tu rb th e ir dead, a dangerous passion in indulge in , even am ong hostile o r peaceful tribes.” A nd Abner English s till re fe rre d to the Sioux as “ blood-thirsty savages.” C am ping near the Crow Creek Agency, the men o f the 2nd Ne­ braska C avalry received the attention o f the near-starving women o f the reservation who were w illin g to sell their bodies for food and goods. W ith no sym pathy fo r th e ir plight, Furnas dismissed the women’s actions as “ seeking substitutes o f Bucks, I presume.” Furnas was disgusted by the women, calling them “ filth y hags whose ugliness was only equaled by th e ir want o f anything like

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modesty or virtue.” A t Fort Pierre, w hile soldiers unloaded sup­ plies from steamboats on the M issouri River, several Sioux ob­ jected, demanding a portion o f the supplies. Pattee gave them gifts of crackers and tobacco and defused the situation, to the frustra­ tion o f Drips. Desiring conflict, D rips com plained, “ H ere was lost one o f the finest chances for an In d ia n fig h t we had on the whole expedition through the cowardice . . . o f Col. Pattee.” 13 On July 4 most o f the expedition was s till at F o rt R andall and able to celebrate Independence Day. T h e com m ander o f the ex­ pedition rose to address the men. G eneral A lfre d S ully was a graduate o f West Point and, at age fo rty-th re e , an experienced officer. Sully had fought in the M exican-A m erican W ar and served in the West p rio r to the C iv il W ar, where he had come to respect and like the Sioux, who in some ways he fou n d superior to whites. D uring the early p a rt o f the C iv il W ar, S u lly had been in the eastern theater, where he had p a rticip a te d in the battles o f the Peninsular Campaign, Second B u ll R un, A ntie ta m , Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, earning a brevet ra n k o f brigadier general. Sully was blunt, opinionated, hot tem pered, and profane. He was a friend and supporter o f the out-of-favor George McClellan; hated reporters as, he said, they d isto rte d the facts; was openly critica l o f superior officers who, he fe lt, were incompetent; and already hated Pope, whom he found to be arrogant and a popinjay.14 On this Fourth o f July, Sully, dressed as he always d id in an old uniform w ith no markings o f rank, spoke n o t o f the upcom ­ ing campaign but rather o f the men he had know n w hile he had been stationed at Fort Randall years before. M any o f these men currently served w ith the Confederacy and were “ now in arm s against their and his country.” R otham m er was very disap­ pointed: “ We expected to hear some orations fro m o u r accom­ plished officers, but not a single sentence was utte re d , and had not a h a lf ration o f whiskey been distributed, the men w ould not have known the difference o f any other day.” 15 Some men o f the

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6th Iowa C avalry had obtained a few gallons o f poor whiskey mixed w ith w ater fro m the M issouri R iver to celebrate what be­ came a fa irly lackluster event. R otham m er soon perked up w ith news o f the Union victories at Gettysburg and V icksburg. “ G lory had been won by our gal­ lant arm ies,” R otham m er proclaim ed. “ T he heroes who by the shedding o f th e ir noble blood have won fo r it the liberties, which treacherous ty ra n n y attem pted to deprive them of. Thanks be to God.” T h e re p o rt o f eastern successes against the rebels led others to re fle ct on the c u rre n t cam paign against the Sioux. Henry Pierce was excited about the expedition, w ritin g , “ We ex­ pect to see som ething. A ll are anxious to smell the powder.” A lbert Childs w ondered i f the p o or water levels o f the Missouri River would cause the cam paign to fa il. “ It appears to me, to be one o f the most foolish th in gs in the w orld, to take this expedition any further,” he w rote his b ro th e r E llsw orth. Childs had heard ru ­ mors that Sibley had tu rn e d back, and i f so, then he felt it was Sully’s duty to also re tire fro m the fie ld .16 On Ju ly 25 the colum n reached Fort Pierre. Like Sibley’s men, they had encountered the te rrib le conditions caused by the drought. “ Creeks in th is co u ntry are not streams o f ru n n in g wa­ ter like you have in Io w a .. . . A t this tim e they are nothing but deep ditches w ith here and there a small pool o f water,” reported M ilton Spencer, a veteran o f the Battle o f Shiloh. Rothammer, the nature b u ff, was busy investigating a p rairie dog com m unity and “ th e ir little dens,” observing rattlesnakes and going o ff on short m ineralogical trip s by him self. Pleased with his adventures, R otham m er s till com plained o f the drought conditions, w ritin g Rosanah, “ We eat d irth , d rin k d irth , breath d irth , sleep in d irth and we are altogether a d irty sett.” On July 1 Colonel Furnas, com m ander o f the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry, jotte d down only two words in his jo u rn a l: “ Day hot.” Corporal Henry Pierce, also o f the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry, was even more repulsed by the ter­ rain, w ritin g on June 27, “ L e ft this miserable camp o f sand and

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drought and parched fields. T raveled to d a y over a d is tric t o f country that w ould starve a fo rlo rn hope o f c a ta p ille rs .. . . May God speed any man th a t deserts th is p a rt o f th e c o u n try fo r it is destitute o f wood & w ater & d e stitu te o f grass, d e s titu te o f game.” A lthough there was little game to be fo u n d , th e so ld ie rs d id find numerous frogs. “ M any suppers o f fro g s w ere ate . . . , ” recalled Pierce, who in itia lly refused to eat the re p tile s b u t then discov­ ered he loved the taste and “ W henever I can get fro g s enough to eat I ’m going to have them .” 17 Rotham m er described F o rt P ierre as “ b u ilt in a square, and consisted o f 4 log b u ild in g s w ith log tow ers, each o f w hich is p ro ­ vided w ith loopholes fo r in fa n try . O n one o f these little towers, who like a ll the b u ild in g s in th is fo rt are covered w ith shingles, is a small gallery fo r the accom m odations o f a S e n tin e l and lookout, and the whole is enclosed by a w a ll o f logs sett p e rp e n d ic u la r in the ground projecting about 12 feet o u t o f it.” A fte r a d ry , barren march to the post, M ilto n Spencer fo u n d the lands a ro u n d Fort Pierre to be quite good: “ T h is is a gre at co u n try , w ild and free, and w ill be so fa r a long tim e to come. N ea rly 400 m iles eastward to reach the advance guard o f w hite c iv iliz a tio n and th is is the nearest w hite neighbors to have.” 18 I t was good th e o u tp o st met w ith overall approval, as the e xp e d itio n w o u ld now spend weeks there w aiting fo r steamboats to b rin g supplies u p th e low w ater levels o f the M issouri River. As the arm y w aited fo r the necessary supplies in o rd e r to m ount th e ir operation against the S ioux, th e Y a n kto n a is were also m aking preparations fo r two im p o rta n t events— re lig io u s ceremonies and the sum m er b u ffa lo hunts. D u rin g th e e a rly p a rt o f the summer, A p ril and May, the various villa g es and bands would start to move across the p ra irie . I f food was low fo llo w in g the winter, some hunting w ould take place; th is was also th e tim e fo r young men to m ount raids against th e ir p e o p le ’s enem ies. By July, or the “ M oon o f C herry R ip e n in g ,” the va rio u s g ro up s would begin to gather together fo r a v a rie ty o f social and

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religious cerem onies. T h e Y a n kto n ais m et to deal w ith foreign and dom estic issues fa c in g th e ba nd , feast and spend tim e to ­ gether, play sp o rts, a n d h o ld re lig io u s ritu a ls , such as the Sun Dance.19 T he Sun D ance was a trib a l a ffa ir th a t included a variety o f ritu a ls and cerem onies. U sua lly held in July, the event lasted fo r twelve days. T h e firs t fo u r days were spent in p re pa ra tio n and reunions am ong th e d iffe re n t villa g es and bands. D u rin g the next fo u r days, th e m en w ho w ould partake in the dance were given in s tru c tio n s , and th e fin a l fo u r days were devoted to the dance itse lf. M en vo lu n te e re d to p e rfo rm the ritu a l to show th e ir devotion to th e trib e , to f u lf ill a vow they had made earlier, fo r s p iritu a l g u id a n ce, o r to achieve a vision. Fasting and self-torture, such as c u ttin g o f one’s skin , to o k place before a rawhide strap would be in se rte d th ro u g h each breast and an area o f the back. Black E lk, a L a ko ta h o ly m an, described the process: “ Then each w ould lie dow n beneath the tree as though he were dead, and the holy men w ou ld cu t a place in his back o r chest, so that a strip o f raw hide, fastened to the to p o f the tree, could be pushed through the flesh and tie d . T h e n th e m an w ould get up and dance to the drum s, le a n in g on th e raw hide s trip as long as he could stand the pain o r u n til th e flesh to re loose.” T h e Reverend Samuel Pond, a m issionary to th e Santees in M innesota, witnessed a Sun Dance and observed, “ T h e dancers danced w ith th e ir faces towards the Sun, t ill th e ir s tre n g th was exhausted." M any continued to dance u n til they c o u ld p u ll themselves o ff the rawhide strips; others re q u ire d help to g a in th e ir release. A lthough o f the highest im ­ portance to th e S ioux, the Sun Dance was dismissed by Wieneke when he saw one p e rfo rm e d , com m enting that the dance was “ to an unseen s p irit.” 20 T h u s, as th e a rm y prepared fo r war, the Yanktonais were c a rry in g o u t im p o rta n t social and religious rituals. A lthough con­ cerned over the events o c c u rrin g around them involving the San­ tees and Lakotas, the Yanktonais went on w ith th e ir day-to-day

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existence. They had not made w ar on the w hites; in fact, a num­ ber o f their leaders had aided the whites in o b ta in in g the release o f prisoners held by the Santee resisters fig h tin g the arm y. Yet, as they moved across the plains in search o f b u ffa lo , they were ap­ proaching the very area into w hich S ully was in te n d in g to ad­ vance while looking fo r an enemy to engage. Back at Fort Pierre, news o f another Sioux ra id incensed the soldiers gathered there. Life at the fo rt had become fa irly re­ laxed. Rothammer wrote about how the men spent th e ir off-duty time: “ Some . . . by singing, some by te llin g stories, some by danc­ ing, others by reading, playing cards sw im m ing, w restling, chum p­ ing, running, quarrelling, and a few by w in n in g squaws. W hiskey is not among the soldiers, though most O fficers have some.” Then word arrived o f what became known as the W iseman Massacre.21 Henson and Phoebe Wiseman and th e ir five c h ild re n had a farm near St. James, Nebraska. Henson enlisted, jo in in g Com­ pany I, 2nd Nebraska Cavalry, and was c u rre n tly serving w ith the expedition. Wiseman had wanted his w ife and c h ild re n to move to St. James u n til he could re tu rn fro m the war, b u t Phoebe disagreed, wanting to rem ain in th e ir home on the fa rm . O n July 16 Phoebe went to town to obtain supplies, leaving her sixteenyear-old son, A rth u r, in charge. A fte r spending the n ig h t in St. James, Phoebe returned home to discover a g risly sight. T h re e o f her children had been m urdered by a Sioux ra id in g party, and the other two, Lauren and Hannah, were m o rta lly wounded. Two detachments o f the 1st Dakota C avalry were sent to fin d the attackers but could not locate them. Rumors soon started th a t the massacre had been perpetrated by Inkpaduta, the leader respon­ sible for the 1857 S pirit Lake Massacre. However, although it was common to blame Inkpaduta for any k illin g s o r raids o c c u rrin g on the frontier during this tim e, he and his villa g e were not re­ sponsible for the Wiseman murders. T he perpetrators were dis­ covered during a patrol by Yankton scouts Sully had h ire d to make raids against the hostile Sioux. D u rin g the p a tro l, a sm all

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band o f w arriors was captured, and when th e ir two leaders con­ fessed to the W iseman m urders, they were executed by the scouts.22 The massacre had a deep im pact on the soldiers, especially those men who were m a rrie d and w orrie d about th e ir own fam i­ lies and th e ir safety. A cco rd in g to A lb e rt C hilds, “ We have passed by hundreds o f In d ia n s and le ft them unmolested because they claim to be frie n d ly . . . . We can not molest any o f them, i f they claim to be frie n d ly , t ill they have proved themselves hostiles, and it is my candid o p in io n , th a t 99 out o f 100 o f them, would profess frie n d sh ip to yo u r face . . . and as soon as they thought you was in [th e ir] power, w ould not hesitate to k ill you.” H enry Pierce, who was fro m Nebraska, noted the effect the attack had on the men in his regim ent: “A great sensation prevails in the reg’t in regard to th a t locality. A m ajority o f men in that part en­ listed fo r p a trio tic m otives & now they have been called away from those homes th a t they desired to protect.” Lashing out at the cu rre n t cam paign, Pierce a n g rily wrote, “ No greater abuse to the te rrito ry o f Nebraska never was offered in calling its own reg’t out o f its own lines, to chase retreating Indians over a coun­ try that is cursed by d ro u g h t & fam ine.” He ended solemnly w ith "May God forgive the man that called us hence.” 23 Furious over the massacre and being called away from Nebraska, even those men who had enlisted to serve on the fro n tie r against the Indians now resented the expedition, although for the Nebraska troops, the expedition also gave them a chance for revenge against any Sioux they encountered. T he men o f the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry were not the only ones unhappy w ith the expedition. Sully was also under heavy pres­ sure fro m Pope to fin d an enemy to engage. On August 5, after in fo rm in g Pope o f the d ro ug h t and difficulties he was encounter­ ing in g e ttin g supplies to his force in the field, Sully received an unsym pathetic and h ig h ly critica l letter from Pope. “ I have just received yo u r le tte r o f 27th instant, and I assure you it both sur­ prised and disappointed me,” Pope stated. “ I never had the slight

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idea you could delay thus along the riv e r, n o r do I realize the necessity o f such delay.” Pope to ld S u lly to sim p ly load up 120 wagons w ith supplies and get going, a d d in g , “ Sibley has had equal difficulties w ith yourself.” T h is was follow ed by a le tte r on August 25 that again criticized S ully fo r n o t reaching a position to block the Sioux being attacked by Sibley. “ I am constrained to believe that w ith energy this much at least could have been ac­ complished,” a chastising Pope w rote, adding, “ Y o u r movements have greatly disappointed me.” Six days la te r S ully received an­ other letter from the departm ent com m ander th a t placed any failures o f the campaign squarely upon h im : “ Y o u r presence on the Upper M issouri in tim e to have co-operated w ith General Sibley would probably have ended In d ia n troubles, by destroying or capturing the whole body o f Indians w hich fought General Sib­ ley, but your failure to be in proper position, at the p ro p e r tim e, however unavoidable, renders it necessary th a t you should prose­ cute with all vigor and dispatch the cam paign I have m arked out for you.” 24 Well aware that Pope did not like h im . S ully was convinced by Pope’s communication o f August 5 th a t he was being set up to take the blame i f the campaign failed. S ully needed to prove his worth to Pope, and he could do that only by achieving a victo ry in the field. Pope wanted the Santees to be punished fo r the Dakota War o f 1862, and Sully would do ju s t th a t i f he could fin d the Sioux, any Sioux, to fight. Sully had been w aiting for three steamboats— the Alone, Shreve­ port, and Belle Peoria— to arrive w ith his m uch-needed supplies. Only one, the Alone, fin a lly managed to w ork its way up the M is­ souri River to Fort Pierre. Determ ined to move, S ully ordered that twenty-three days’ w orth o f supplies be placed on m ules and announced to the troops that the colum n w ould m arch on A u­ gust 14. The news raised the m orale o f the soldiers, who grew more excited at the possibility o f action. W ith m ilita ry braggado­ cio, Furnas had earlier w ritten, “ We are approaching the region

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where cowards ru n and brave men prepare themselves fo r fightin g ” J. H . D rip s ca lle d it “ the g re at e xp e d itio n .” H earing some say that ce rta in m en w ere a fra id to face the Sioux in battle, Pierce rejected the ru m o r, b e lie vin g the colum n made “a fo rm i­ dable appearance” and th a t they were “confident we can thrash any force o f In d ia n s we may m eet.” He concluded w ith the state­ ment “ We in th is cam paign are a ll bravados.” N ot everyone agreed with Pierce; the n ig h t before the expedition le ft Fort Pierre, six men deserted.25 On A ugust 14 the colum n p u lle d o u t o f Fort Pierre. The ad­ vance gu ard o f one com pany w ent firs t, followed by Sully, his staff, Com pany I o f the 7th Iowa C avalry (S ully’s bodyguard), and an a rtille ry battery. T h e m ule tra in , separated into two files, came next, w ith the 2nd Nebraska C avalry on the le ft flank and the 6th Iowa cavalry on the rig h t fla n k. Close behind followed the ambulance wagons and, fin a lly , a rear guard o f one company. The m arch ended th a t day on the bluffs o f the Missouri River, with D rips com m enting th a t the campsite had “ no wood, no grass and very p o o r w ater.” 26 The m arch had started w ith cool weather, but w ithin days this changed to ever-increasing w arm temperatures. Sully, intending to travel lig h t, ordered a ll spare equipm ent, along w ith the men’s overcoats and e xtra luggage, sent back to the fo rt. August 18 opened w ith a viole n t w indstorm . “ W ind blew perfect hurricane,” reported Furnas. “ Horses stampeded, tents blew down, followed by the heaviest ra in we have experienced.” The next day the rain turned to h a il. M ilto n Spencer recalled, “ Men and horses quickly broke ranks fo r the shelter o f brush . . . but horses could not stand such a p e ltin g very quietly. Some threw th e ir riders and themselves, others g e ttin g w ild and crazy . . . ran across the flat about h a lf a m ile as fast as th e ir legs could carry them.” The hailstorm lasted tw enty m inutes, w ith hailstones as large as “ hen eggs and th e sm allest were as large as hickory nuts,” added Spencer.27

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The storm resumed again on A ugust 20. P rivate James Thom ­ son, 6th Iowa Cavalry, called it “ one o f the hardest h a il storms that ever I did see, the h a il was as b ig as chicken eggs and it rained awful.” D rips also described the co m in g o f the storm : “ The sky darken up and looked very portentous, indeed. It still came blacker and blacker, and lou d e r and lo u d e r roared the thunder . . . the ra in soon began to come, and come it d id w ith a vengeance.” It rained fo r an hour and was then follow ed by more hail. The camp was soon under anywhere fro m six inches to three feet o f water, causing great confusion.28 Wet and discouraged by M other N atu re ’s recent assaults, Wieneke’s thoughts turned to home and the w ar back East as he wrote in his diary, “ Most o f the boys gone . . . to hear a sermon. Very d ull, and set me to th in k in g o f home and o f m y fa m ily . . . ju st imagine myself in my dear old home on th is day. . . . In such moments as these (silting bored in camp) how sweet are the lines o f that dear old song ‘Home sweet home T h e re is no place like home.’” S till, even w ith the bad weather, W ieneke w ould be satis­ fied to serve on the expedition “ i f my stay here were o n ly doing my beloved country any good, but I w ould p re fe r serving in the southern fields where I could show that I were indeed a soldier.” 29 As was true o f many o f the men serving against the Sioux, Wieneke did not deem the fig h tin g to be as c ru c ia l as the w ar against the South. Union soldiers, even i f they had enlisted fo r fro n tie r defense, s till wanted to prove th e ir love o f co u n try by defeating the secession o f the Confederacy. On August 21 Sully left the M issouri R iver at the m outh o f the Cheyenne River and headed toward D e vil’s Lake. T h e colum n was entering buffalo country. On August 25, a fte r sig h tin g buf­ falo several times, Sully decided to allow the men to go h u ntin g . The men took to the hunt w ith a great glee but very little a bility. “ It was our first buffalo chase and a ll were greatly excited,” w rote Abner English. Although he was not successful, “ I kept a fte r the herd u n til I had emptied my revolver, when I realized th a t I was

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alone on the p ra irie w ith o u t a m m u n itio n and no meat for sup­ per.” Between fifte e n and tw enty b u ffa lo were brought down and taken back to cam p, w ith at least one man shooting his own horse. Furnas was su rp rise d th a t “ m any more were not as most o f them who went o u t were inexperienced.” The meat was appreci­ ated fo r supper th a t n ig h t, w ith D rips com m enting, “ We had a pretty good feast. T h e m eat was good.” S till th in k in g o f the war back East, the men nam ed the sm all stream where the buffalo had been k ille d B u ll R un, a fte r the firs t battle o f the conflict.30 The next day the h u n t continued but quickly got out o f hand. In large num bers, green soldiers were rid in g and shooting at w ill, many k illin g th e ir own m ounts. First Lieutenant James Brown, 6th Iowa C avalry, a L ieutenant Stewart, 2nd Nebraska Cavalry, and several enlisted men shot th e ir horses w hile attem pting to bring down a b u ffa lo . Private J e rry Pyles, 2nd Nebraska Cavalry, rode o ff by h im s e lf w ith o u t orders to hunt. The eighteen-yearold Pyles attacked a b u ll, firin g at him twice. The bull, angered by the assault, tu rn e d and charged the surprised Pyles. Pyles’s horse panicked and th re w its rid e r to the ground. Pyles would have been k ille d i f a n oth er h unter had not happened by and shot the b u ll. N ot o n ly d id Pyles fa il to show much hunting prowess, but he lost his horse and a ll his equipm ent, totaling some $150. Pierce found th is fa ir: “ He le ft ranks w ithout permission & this was his penalty fo r not m in d in g his own business.” Sully, alarmed by the damage to the horses o f the colum n, called a halt to any fu rth e r h u n tin g . M any o f the buffalo already killed were simply left to ro t.31 As S u lly’s men fire d clum sily at buffalo, the more experienced Yanktonais were h u n tin g in a m anner quite different from that of the soldiers. H u n tin g buffalo was both a religious and an eco­ nomic u n d e rta k in g fo r the Sioux. They attributed wisdom, a sp irit, and soul to anim als. Anim als were to be revered and ven­ erated. In p a rtic u la r, there was a strong relationship between hum anity, the b u ffa lo , and the entire universe; a hunt was not

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something done on a w him . To the S ioux, W akan Tankahad, or “ the Great Mystery,” had given b u ffa lo to m a n kin d . I f the buffalo were by a river, then the Sioux went to the riv e r. W hen the buf­ falo moved, the Sioux also moved. T h e sum m er h u n t, lasting for two months d u rin g June and July, b ro u g h t the various villages and groups o f the Yanktonais together. T h e massed camp could spread out for over a m ile.32 The decision to hunt was made by the headmen o f the trib e and was a communal event. The hu nt needed to be w ell organized, controlled, and supported by the entire village. I f it was critica l to find buffalo, holy men would be called at the s ta rt o f the hu nt to find the buffalo through visions, dancing, m a kin g m edicine, and other rituals. Scouts were sent out to locate a b u ffa lo herd. Once buffalo were discovered, a crie r went th ro u gh the encampment, calling, “ Many bison, I have heard; many bison, I have heard! Your children, you must take care o f them .” A w a rrio r society was cho­ sen to act as a police force to stop any in d ivid u a ls fro m leaving the camp early and possibly ru in in g the h u nt.33 On the day o f the hunt, the men chose a bow, p re fe rrin g this to a gun or lance, w ith which to k ill the b u ffa lo . W ith a good, experienced horse the hunter w ould race to the side o f a b uffalo and fire one arrow into the anim al, a im in g fo r the heart. Black Elk described one hunt: “ Then we had come near to where the bison were, the hunters circled around them . . . . then there was great dust and everyone shouted and a ll the hunters w ent in to k ill— every man for h im s e lf.. . . they w ould rid e rig h t up to a b i­ son and shoot him behind the le ft shoulder. Some o f the arrows would go in up to the feathers and sometimes those th a t struck no bones went rig h t straight through.” A n o th e r account comes from Standing Bear: “ One o f them went down a draw and I raced after him on my pony. My firs t shot d id n o t seem to h u rt him at all; but my pony kept rig h t a fte r h im , and the second ar­ row went in h a lf way. I th in k I h it his heart, fo r he began to wobble as he ran and blood came out o f his nose.” T h e h u n t was

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well organized and accom plished, w ith great s k ill shown, in com­ parison to th a t o f the soldiers. O scar One B u ll remembered, “ No one ever k ille d ju s t fo r fu n o f k illin g , lik e so many whites d id .” 34 Hunters w ould each k ill one b u ffa lo fo r th e ir fam ilies and an­ other for the helpless and p o or o f the village. The distribution o f the meat was done by the leaders o f the hunt, w ith the support o f the policing society. T h e women took charge o f handling the car­ cass. “ When the b u tch e rin g was a ll over, they hung the meat across the horses backs and fastened it w ith strips o f fresh bison hide. On the way back to the villa g e a ll the h u n tin g ponies were loaded, and we little boys who could not w ait fo r the feast helped ourselves to all the raw liv e r we w anted,” recalled Black Elk. Once in camp, the women w ould cu t long poles and make fo rk sticks to create drying racks fo r the meat. Black E lk continued, “ The women were all busy cu ttin g the meat in to strips and hanging it on racks to dry. You could see red meat hanging everywhere.” 35 The Yanktonais were fin is h in g th e ir hunts and busily prepar­ ing the m eat fo r w in te r as S u lly’s colum n marched closer. On August 26, th e same day as the arm y’s disastrous hunt, scouts brought in to cam p tw o Sioux women and th e ir children who were on th e ir way to the C row Creek Agency. From them. Sully learned m ore about the e a rlie r Sibley fights. A ttem pting to locate Sibley and any possible Sioux villages, Sully sent out on patrol Captain D. LaB oo and Company F, 6th Iowa Cavalry. The fol­ lowing day, A ugust 27, S ully’s men found a crippled, elderly Sioux man, whom the soldiers called Keg. Keg likely had become too much o f a bu rde n on his fam ily and been le ft behind w ith some food and water. T h is practice o f leaving the elderly behind was frow ned upon by the Sioux but s till occurred. This man gave more in fo rm a tio n about Sibley’s battles w ith the Sioux and dis­ cussed an attack by the Sioux upon a small boat on the Missouri River. T he boat’s passengers had been ambushed and twenty-one men, three women, and some children had all been killed. Sully also learned th a t the Sioux had recrossed the Missouri after Sibley

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left; this fact was reinforced when th e c o lu m n fo u n d numerous signs o f large numbers o f S ioux in the area. C oncerned fo r the safety o f the fifty men u n d e r C ap tain L a B o o , whose p a tro l was overdue to re tu rn . Sully sent M a jo r J. W. Pearm an and five com­ panies out to fin d the patrol. O n A u g u s t 29 L a B o o a rriv e d back in camp, having traveled 187 m iles w ith o u t u n c o v e rin g any sign o f the Sioux other than ten abandoned lodges, w h ich he burned. A second patrol also reported fin d in g the site o f th e B ig M ound fight, Doctor Weiser’s grave site, and Sibley’s tr a il th a t led back toward Minnesota. T h e tra il was th re e to fo u r weeks old; Sully was too late to rendezvous w ith Sibley.36 Sully was in the m idst o f his cam paign, b u t fo r Sibley’s men, their expedition was nearly over. A lth o u g h th e c o lu m n had been placed on h a lf rations fo r the re tu rn jo u rn e y , m o ra le am ong Sib­ ley’s troop was high. T h e jo y o f r e tu r n in g to M in n e s o ta and the ru m or that they w ould then be sent to serve in th e South put the men in a positive m ood. A n tic ip a tin g th a t he soon w ould be seeing his family, Captain John Jones w rote a le tte r to his wife. His son George had requested that his fa th e r b rin g h im a pony back from the expedition, b u t Jones w rote, “ T e ll G eorge th a t the Indians ran to fast fo r me to capture h im a pony.” T enderly, Duren Kelley wrote his young wife, “ I never knew how m uch I loved you till now.” 37 Others took tim e to reflect on the m e rits o f Sibley and the campaign. E li Pickett, who in June had been v e ry o p tim is tic about the expedition, now was consumed w ith bitterness tow ard Sibley, who he felt had lacked enthusiasm fo r s la u g h te rin g the Sioux and actually supported them. Pickett re g ard e d “ every m o­ ment here as so much wasted tim e— wasted because we are nei­ ther benefiting o u r country o r ourselves— most o f us are men who left home not to better themselves o r because they had a desire to go to war, but because they felt it to be a d u ty to lend a helping hand to sustain the cause o f o u r co u n try.” As fo r the

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campaign itself, P ickett stated, “ I have no interest in i t . . . . I re­ gard it as one o f the greatest h u m bugs th a t was ever got up.” 38 Henry H a g a d o rn had become disillu sio ne d w ith his fellow man. On A u g ust 9, a fte r an illness, a m an named Starbuck, 10th Minnesota In fa n try , d ie d in the hospital tent. Just feet away men were playing horseshoes, “ sw earing so loud that they can be heard all through the cam p,” stated H ag a d o rn. Even as the coffin was brought o ut c o n ta in in g S ta rb u c k ’s rem ains, the p ro fa nity contin­ ued w ith no one chastising the men, n o t even a chaplain who "passes them tim e a fte r tim e w ith o u t a w ord o f advice.” Haga­ dorn confessed “ th a t I have seen b ut little o f the wickedness and depravity o f m an u n til I jo in e d the arm y.” In a letter to Mariette, George C lapp acknow ledged to his w ife that many o f the men had seemed to have lost th e ir p a trio tism and would not reenlist. Yet, he d id n o t share these feelings, m a in ta in in g , “ I don’t see that I feel any d iffe re n t o r have any less p a trio tic zeal in the cause then when I firs t e n liste d .” 39 On A u g ust 11 the co lu m n reached Camp Atchison, where the men discovered th e tr u th about Chaska’s faithfulness. Two days later the Cheyenne R ive r was crossed. Fort Abercrombie was reached on A u g u s t 21, H agadorn ca llin g the post “a beautiful place and the P ra irie ab ou t it is as p re tty as any in the w orld.” Four days later the eastward m arch continued with A rth u r Daniels w ritin g in his d ia ry , “ H om ew ard bound again, and in M i n n e ­ s o t a !”

O n S eptem ber 12 the 6 th Minnesota arrived at Fort Snel-

ling, th e ir p a rt o f the P u n itive E xpedition o f 1863 at an end.40 M eanw hile, S u lly ’s co lu m n had encountered the remains o f the battle at B ig M o u n d . N ot o n ly were the carcasses o f a num ber o f mules and horses located, but also the bodies o f several Sioux believed to have been w ounded and left to die alone. Frank My­ ers, 6 th Iow a C avalry, believed they had “crawled o ff to die” as would an in ju re d a n im a l. S ully’s scouts had inform ed him that i f the S io ux had recrossed the M issouri River, they were likely

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camping around the Coteau o r M is s o u ri C oteau re g io n , areas of small ro llin g hills, ravines, and n u m ero u s sm a ll lakes. T h e Co­ teau region was th irty miles east o f the Jam es R iv e r and eightyfive miles west o f the M issouri River. H e re th e S ioux could find good grass, fish in the lakes, and m any b u ffa lo . F ro m here they would then move back to the M isso u ri, crossing over before the winter.41 Sm arting fro m Pope’s criticism s, w a n tin g a victory to redeem his professional honor, S ully decided to m a rch to the re­ gion, still hoping to gain som ething positive fo r the campaign. Although some o f the resister groups had recrossed the M issouri River after the departure o f Sibley, the S io ux d id n o t come back in great numbers. T h e m a jo rity o f the S ioux present in the area now being entered by Sully were the Y a n ktonais, ju s t ending their summer buffalo h u n t and unaw are o f the disaster they were soon to face.

CHAPTER 7

W hitestone H ill “THE

P R A I R I E WAS C O V E R E D W I T H

W H IT E

W A R R IO R S ”

O n S eptem ber 3, at seven A.M ., the Sully colum n started m a rching as th e w e a th e r tu rn e d cooler. A fte r an eighteen- to tw enty-m ile advance over a level p ra irie covered w ith numerous lakes fille d w ith geese and ducks, the soldiers reached a small lake c o n ta in in g p o o r water. H ere they discovered the carcasses o f some fifte e n to tw enty-five b u ffa lo k ille d w ith in the last two to three days. T h e S ioux were nearby and still involved in hunting. A t two p.m . S u lly o rd e re d the arm y to encamp.1 A t fiv e -th irty A .M ., p r io r to the departure o f the m ain body that m o rnin g , S u lly had o rd ere d M a jo r A lb e rt E. House and Compa­ nies C, F, H and I, 6 th Iowa Cavalry, to scout ahead for any sign o f the Sioux. A c c o rd in g to E lkanah Richards, Company F, 6th Iowa Cavalry, the m en were excited, as they believed they were close to those w ho “ so savagely massacred the citizens, men, women and ch ild re n at New U lm , M innesota.” T h e m ain body headed in a southerly d ire c tio n . Five miles in fro n t o f the patrol rode the scout F ra n k La Fram boise; two miles behind La Framboise came a n oth er scout. C razy Dog. A ro u n d noon, having found a spring 153

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with good water, House called a h a lt to w ater and feed the horses and for the men to eat a b rie f lunch o f raw p o rk and h a rd tack. The soldiers were relaxing when La Fram boise came ra cin g back to the patrol, shouting that he had stum bled u p o n tw enty lodges located five miles ahead. Richards w ro te th a t the m en nervously loaded th e ir pistols as “ we knew th a t we were n o t in D ix ie where the enemy took prisoners, but hundreds o f m iles fro m civilization where the savages took no prisoners.” W ith w is h fu l th in k in g , some men thought that La Fromboise, a lth o u g h an experienced frontiersman, had actually seen S u lly’s camp. A d va n cin g five miles soon relieved everyone o f th a t idea. R eaching a sm all rise, “ We suddenly came upon a whole In d ia n city o f tepees,” recalled J. C. Luse, 6th Iowa Cavalry.2 Luse estimated that there were between five to e ig h t thousand people in the village, w ith House re p o rtin g th a t the camp con­ tained some four to six hundred lodges w ith a p o te n tia l fig h ting force o f twelve to fifteen hundred men. T h e cam p was located at Whitestone H ill, near the headwaters o f E lm C reek, fifte e n miles west o f the James River. T h e Sioux, m a in ly Y anktonais b u t also some Lakotas and several small groups o f resister Santees, were in the m idst o f p e rform ing the B uffalo C all C erem ony, since they were still hunting buffalo even as fall approached. Luse acknowl­ edged, “The ground was covered w ith B u ffa lo skins w hich were d ryin g and curing. T h e women were scraping th e m and d ry in g the meat.” T he village was in a region where, tra d itio n a lly , the various bands o f Sioux gathered to trade, h u n t, and h o ld cere­ monies. Reacting quickly to his discovery, House sent La From ­ boise and two soldiers, W hitcom b M oon and W. C. Evans, back to re p ort th e ir discovery to Sully. A n o th e r soldier, James T h o m ­ son stated, “ We seen there was more ind ia n s th a n we co u ld easy handle so we dispatched to the m ain body o f the brigade.” 3 As with many aspects o f what occurred at W hitestone H ill, there was disagreement between the arm y and the S ioux over the makeup o f the camp at the tim e o f House’s a rriv a l. T h e soldiers

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who gazed up on the larg e v illa g e o f some th irty-five hundred people believed th a t these were the Sioux who had perpetrated the atrocities in M in n e s o ta and engaged Sibley’s troops in com­ bat. In th e ir re p orts a fte r the fig h t, Sully and Furnas stated that the village consisted o f a large n u m b e r o f Lakotas— m ainly Brules, Blackfeet, and H u n kp a p a s— resister Santees, and, finally, Yanktonais. T h e S io ux m a in ta in e d th a t although there were some Lakotas and resisters, the cam p was largely Yanktonais and p ro ­ peace Santees, n e ith e r g ro u p h a ving played a p a rt in the earlier fighting in M innesota. K n o w n d e finite ly to have been present were the H unkpapa c h ie fta in Black M oon; the small resister groups led by W hite Lodge, Lean Bear, and Inkpaduta; and various Yank­ tonais leaders, in c lu d in g Tw o Bears and L ittle Soldier, both sup­ porters o f peace, and T u rn in g T h u n d e r, Chasing Bear, Big Head, and M edicine Bear.4 A lth o u g h th e v illa g e d id co n ta in resisters who had fought against the w hites in M innesota and certain Lakotas who may have p a rtic ip a te d in the skirm ishes against Sibley, the camp overall was a peaceful one, focused on h u n tin g buffalo and not prepared to m ake w a r against the soldiers who were now over­ loo kin g the cam p. H isto rica lly, it was not uncommon fo r the Santees to jo in w ith the Y anktonais fo r a trib a l hunt. Further, in th e ir tra d itio n a l ro le as m ediators fo r the larger Sioux confedera­ tion and p ra c tic in g the im p o rta n t kinship roles, the Yanktonais had allow ed the Lakotas and Santees, regardless o f their position on the D akota W a r o f 1862, to be present among th e ir camps. To the Yanktonais, th is arrangem ent d id not change th e ir peaceful relations w ith the arm y, and they did not appreciate that the sol­ diers m ig h t see this d iffe re n tly. D ire ct accounts fro m the Yanktonais on what transpired at W hitestone H ill are few in comparison to those o f the soldiers. T he Reverend A a ro n McGaffey Beede was a missionary to the Yanktonais m any years a fte r the events at Whitestone H ill. Beede had the o p p o rtu n ity to get to know many o f the Sioux survivors

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o f the engagement, and based on the in fo rm a tio n he had gath­ ered from them, wrote the play Heart-in-the-Lodge: A ll a Mistake, about the Yanktonais’ experiences. A lth o u g h the play cannot be taken as a prim ary or completely accurate source, it can still be used to ascertain how the Yanktonais rem em bered what occurred. In the play, Beede writes that the Yanktonais “ had no p a rt in the ‘Minnesota Massacre’ in 62. They were at hom e p la n tin g and harvesting and hunting meat and w ild fru its by the Missouri River.” When House’s men appear, a messenger runs through the camp yelling, “The enemy! The enemy!” B ut an old man responds, “ We have no enemies. They are white people always friendly to our people.” Chief Two Bears then announces that he w ill send messengers to meet with the soldiers and says, “ We can make peace with them, i f we are hearty and careful.” Soon, an arm y cap­ tain enters the camp inq u irin g i f there are any Santees present and calling upon the Yanktonais to surrender.5 Over time, a totally different inte rpre ta tio n o f House’s contact with the Yanktonais emerged fro m w hite w riters. In those ac­ counts, House confronted a hostile village ready fo r war; he was soon surrounded and faced w ith an overw helm ing assault that would wipe out his command. Fortunately, In kp a d uta, the over­ all leader o f the villages, decided, arrogantly, to w ait before at­ tacking, either to allow the men to ritu a lis tic a lly prepare them ­ selves for battle or because he was in a sweat lodge p u rify in g himself and could not be disturbed. One historian o f the battle declared that “ heavily outnumbered and q u ickly o u tfla n ked by the Indians, the troopers prepared to make a stand— most probably their last one.” A biographer o f Pope w rote th a t House “stumbled upon a warparty o f 1,500 w arriors . . . and a fte r sur­ rounding House, haunted the trapped Iowans and prepared for a ceremonial slaughter.” 6 In reality, there was no overall com m anding ch ieftain; the Sioux had no such tradition o f placing one man over a collection o f villages or bands such as those that gathered at W hitestone

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H ill. N or was In k p a d u ta even present at that time, being away hunting b u ffa lo w ith his sons. H e had placed one o f his wives and two o f his sm a lle r c h ild re n who were in the village under the care and p ro te c tio n o f the Yanktonais’ leader, Medicine Bear.7 House’s situation was never as threatening as later accounts have im plied. S preading his men out, w ith Company I in the center, Companies F and H on the flanks, and Company C in reserve, House waited fo r S ully’s m ain body to arrive. The ap­ pearance o f the soldiers d id not cause a panic in the village or an attack by the w arrio rs, as could have been expected i f the village were as hostile as believed. A group o f young men did start put­ ting on war paint. A cco rd in g to Elkanah Richards, “ W ith a wild yell that still lingers in m y ears, the young warriors rushed to a little lake and ta k in g up some o f the blue clay they daubed it over their bodies, m a rk in g themselves hideously, as they did not have time to get the re g u la r w ar paint.” However, the leaders o f the camp sent out embassies u n der a flag o f truce to meet with the soldiers. House responded by com ing out with four other officers to parley. T h e Sioux wanted to smoke pipes and discuss what the soldiers wanted. Several o f the Sioux delegation spoke English, and d u rin g the parley it became clear to the Sioux that House was there lo o kin g fo r Santee resisters. The offer by the delega­ tion to tu rn over certain resister leaders was rejected by House, as was the w illin g n ess o f the Sioux to tu rn over hostages to the army, who now demanded that the entire camp surrender. The Sioux declined to do this, and the embassies returned to the camp, nervous and alarm ed at what was happening. Only now did the women sta rt to take down the lodges and prepare to leave the area. “A ll this tim e the Indians were busy backing up and getting ready to leave,” recalled James Thomson. Seeing this movement, House trie d to spread his command out even farther in an attem pt to su rrou n d the village, but warriors blocked his efforts.8

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Meanwhile, La Fromboise and the soldiers w ith h im were rid ­ ing back to fin d Sully. La From boise la te r c la im e d th a t along the way several young w a rrio rs approached, s h o u tin g th a t they had fought Sibley and "they could n o t see w hy th e w hites wanted to come and fig h t them unless they were tire d o f liv in g and wanted to die.” I f true, it was em pty bravado, as th e w a rrio rs d id not at­ tempt to stop the three men. T h e messengers covered m ore than ten miles before seeing S ully’s camp. “ We discovered a m an on horseback com ing towards o u r cam p at fu ll speed,” C o rw in Lee, 6th Iowa Cavalry, rem em bered. T o H e n ry Pierce, “ th e scouts came in at fu ll rate u n d e r the w h ip s ta tin g th e In d ia n s were camped w ith in eight ms o f us!” La From boise a rriv e d at fo u r p.m . and inform ed Sully th a t House had “ su rp ris e d and s u rro u n d e d a large camp o f Indians” some ten miles away.9 N o th in g in La Fromboise’s report im plied that House was in d a n g e r o r was him self surrounded. Also, there is no evidence th a t S ully in q u ire d i f the camp was hostile o r to what Sioux bands the cam p belonged. Now the desire was for battle; Pope had dem anded action fro m him , and Sully was going to comply. Sully ordered the colum n to break cam p, and the news met w ith cheers from the men. “ I ca re fu lly fin is h e d m y supper, and took out a supply o f hard bread in m y saddle-pockets, in case o f an emergency,” a th o u g htfu l Lee w rote. In less th a n an h o ur, the 6th Iowa and 2nd Nebraska Cavalries were on the m arch. “ Every­ one seemed eager fo r the Fray and in a few m inu tes the forces were galloping to the scene o f action,” S iegm und R oth am m e r wrote to Rosanah. T he horses were not, at firs t, ready fo r the advance. They had been ready fo r a rest and d id n o t appreciate the new movement. To Lee, the advance looked m ore lik e a rout, w ith some o f the horses “ rearing, k ic k in g and p lu n g in g , and put­ ting forth th e ir best endeavors to dislodge th e ir rid e rs . . . hats, caps, haversacks and picket-ropes strewed the way.” 10 Sully left camp w ith the 2nd Nebraska C ava lry to the rig h t and the 6th Iowa Cavalry on the left. Sully, w ith his b o d y g u a rd o f

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the 7th Iowa C a va lry a n d th e a rtille ry , rem ained in the center. The colum n ro d e at a f u ll g a llo p, w ith the men fro m the 2nd Nebraska C avalry y e llin g , “ R em em ber New U lm ,” and “ D on’t take prisoners.” M a n y years a fte r W hitestone H ill, Joseph S. Phebus, a Nebraska so ldier, stated th a t S ully had told the men they were fig h tin g u n d e r a “ black flag,” a reference to Confeder­ ate g u e rilla fig h te rs in M is s o u ri, and to take no prisoners. T h is may have been how the soldiers fro m Nebraska felt about the up­ coming action, re c a llin g th e W isem an Massacre, b ut given that Sully took prisoners d u r in g the action, it is u n like ly he made this statement.11 As the soldiers d re w near, S ioux scouts fro m the village rode in to warn the cam p o f the a p pro a ch in g troops. One scout yelled, “The soldiers a re c o m in g o u t o f the g ro u n d !” w hile another shouted th a t “ the p ra irie was covered w ith W hite w arriors.” The news sent a wave o f p a nic th ro u g h o u t the camp. T he women were in the process o f ta k in g dow n the lodges and packing up all the goods and supplies, b u t the village was immense; J. C. Luse estimated th a t it n u m b e re d between three and fo u r hundred lodges spread o u t over one m ile. W ith successful hunts there likely w ould have been over 200,000 pounds o f dried buffalo meat to recover. W a tc h in g fro m the h ill, Luse could see that “ the Squaws made b ig packages o f a ll this meat and the skins about two feet w ide and th re e feet th ick and about five feet long, each weighing th re e o r fo u r h u n d re d p o u n d s .. . . They tied several long poles to g e th e r w hich they call a traviox [sic] and upon this they c a rry the package o f skin and meat.” 12 Sully’s force reached the camp near sundown. Many, but not all, o f the lodges had been taken down, and grabbing th e ir most necessary o r valuable possessions, the Sioux were “ moving slowly toward the south,” recalled Lee. In his report. Sully later stated that it was n o t supplies o r possessions being removed by the Sioux b u t p lu n d e r taken fro m whites. Sully was determined to strike the villa g e a lth ou g h it was offering no resistance, had not

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attacked House, and was attem pting to leave. A c tin g quickly, Sully ordered the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry to attack fro m the right and the 6th Iowa Cavalry to charge fro m the left, w hile Sully, the artillery, and three companies struck in the center. T h e 2nd Ne­ braska Cavalry under Furnas “ took to the rig h t o f the camp and soon lost in a cloud o f dust over the h ills,” w rote Sully. Frank My­ ers, 6th Iowa Cavalry, recalled “ the superior speed o f o u r horses over the Indian ponies, soon placed us in a position to flank them and bring the reds between the fire o f the divided com­ mand.” Reaching House’s command, Colonel David W ilson, 6th Iowa Cavalry, ordered House to m ount his men and prepare for an advance on the camp.13 Outmaneuvered by the sw iftly m oving cavalry, the Sioux were forced to retreat into a ravine approxim ately one h a lf m ile from the village. Richards wrote, “ We drove them in to a deep ravine where there were thousands o f men, women and ch ild re n , ponies and dogs and they were a hard loo kin g lo t o f hum anity, I can assure you, after they were surrounded.” T h e ravine had ju tte d sides and a deep hollow in the center that now sheltered the women and children. Fearing the worse, many o f those trapped in the ravine started to sing their death songs w hile w arriors, in ­ cluding the members o f the Brave H eart Society charged with the protection o f the helpless, along w ith others, prepared for the coming assault. Two chiefs did not take th e ir people in to the ra­ vine but surrendered as the army entered the abandoned village. Little Soldier, a Lower Yanktonais deemed a “ good In d ia n ” by Sully, with a few followers, and Big Head, an U p p e r Yanktonais who Sully viewed as “ notorious,” and 120 people surrendered. These Sioux were taken prisoner and removed to the rear.14 The 2nd Nebraska Cavalry dismounted and was p re p a rin g to advance on the ravine when Sully ordered a halt as he met w ith Little Soldier and Big Head. Frustrated by the delay, a Captain Bayne addressed the men: “ Boys, we have come a long way to fight the Indians, and now that we have got them, I am in favor

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of whaling them . Shall we advance?” According to George Belden, the men responded w ith a hearty “ Yes! Yes!” Moving forward, Pierce believed th a t “ never could I have supposed that 9 months men, raw re cruits, w holly unused to fire, could advance with such coolness & steady.” S till attem pting to avoid bloodshed, a man stepped o ut o f the ravine wrapped in a U.S. garrison flag. He gestured to the Nebraska men that he wanted to talk by mov­ ing his hands up and down in a shaking hands motion. “ The Indian in the flag continued to advance, and when he was close to our line, a little D utchm an on the left fired and killed him , he gathered the flag about h im as he f e l l . . . ” acknowledged Belden. One hundred yards fro m the ravine, the regiment commenced firing, “which they d id w ith precision and effect, creating quite a confusion in the enemy ranks,” reported Furnas.15 To the left o f the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry position, House’s bat­ talion had been steadily approaching the ravine. “ They were now completely in o u r control,” recalled M ilton Spencer, “and every­ one supposed they w ould surrender, or else be obliged to fight us at a great disadvantage.” One hundred fifty yards from the ra­ vine, the Sioux opened fire on the Iowa men. The 6th Iowa Cav­ alry returned fire, Lee recording that the men “fired their guns and revolvers am ong the Indians who lined the ravine as thick as they could stand, and among whom our Minnie balls told with fearful effect, and the Nebraska boys were pitching into them from the opposite side.” F iring from both sides o f the ravine proved dangerous to the soldiers, who soon came under friendly fire. John W rig h t, 6 th Iowa Cavalry, was h it in the left leg, and at one p o in t the Nebraska soldiers were ordered to cease fire for fear o f h ittin g the Iowa troops. The fig h tin g was intense and lasted from twenty minutes to half an hour. C aptain Lewis Wolfe, 6th Iowa Cavalry, wrote to the Iowa City Press that he believed it a miracle more soldiers weren’t kille d , as “ we were very close to them and the bullets and arrows flew about us like hail.” To Pierce, the Sioux “ fought like

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enraged men that had n o th in g b u t th e ir lives to lose o r a victory to gain. Volley a fte r volley flew the leadened h a il fro m o u r en­ raged fire.” Earlier, the men fro m N ebraska had declared that they were fig h tin g fo r the p ro te ctio n o f th e ir homes and families. Pierce failed to understand th a t now it was th e Y anktonais war­ riors who died to defend th e ir loved ones. H e was disappointed that the troops were unable to d riv e the S io ux a ro u n d a sm all h ill and into the fire o f the w aiting a rtille ry , w hich “ w ou ld have poured their grape & shell, till that ravine w o u ld have r u n blood. Infants & innocent children & women alike shared t he fate o f th e ir g u ilty fathers.” 16 T he nighttim e combat was co n fu sin g fo r th e m en, having to fire at close range, and a n ig h tm a re fo r the s o ld ie r’s horses. W ith “such a storm o f bullets and a r r o w s . . . the horses became unm an­ ageable . . . the horses could n ot be persuaded to go in amongst the yelling, screeching crowd . . . ” w rote D avid W ilson . Sensing the troubles, the Sioux attem pted a bre ako u t o f th e slaughter pit. “The Indians charged rig h t at us, shooting, fir in g arrow s and hurling weapons at us,” stated Luse. W ilson’s horse was h it, th ro w ­ ing the officer to the ground. T h e attack by the S ioux w arrio rs was both desperate and heroic: even Pierce was im pressed, call­ ing the w arriors men and saying th a t they fo u g h t w ell. As the warriors opened a hole in the soldier’s lin e , the w om en and c h il­ dren poured out and ran fo r safety. P rio r to th e b re ako u t, par­ ents had tied th e ir small children to the backs o f dogs and ponies and sent them th ro u gh the broken lines, s c a tte rin g th e m out onto the p ra irie and hoping they could fin d th e m at a later tim e.17 D uring the night, the soldiers started to re g ro u p and deter­ mine their losses. David W ilson re p orted one o ffic e r and ten en­ listed men killed and eleven wounded, in c lu d in g one w ho sh o rtly thereafter died. Sergeant D rips noted th a t the o ffic e r was L ie u ­ tenant T .J. Leavitt o f Company B, adding, “ He was a noble m an, a good and brave soldier,” and one o f the enlisted m en was E ld er

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Clark o f C om pany C, w ho m J. H . D rip s th o u g h t “ one o f the best men in the re g im e n t.” C la rk had been shot th ro u g h the head and died instantly. T h e 2 n d N ebraska’s losses were less than those o f the 6th Iowa C avalry, tw o m en k ille d and th irte e n wounded. T h e 6th Iowa C avalry su ffe re d h ig h e r casualties because the desper­ ate breakout o f the S io ux had s tru ck th e ir lines.18 Losses fo r th e S io ux were h a rd e r to determ ine. T h e Sioux claimed that 300 m en, w om en, and c h ild re n died in the fighting. Prisoners taken d u rin g the engagement, all Yanktonais, numbered 32 men and 124 w om en. H ow m any o th e r Sioux, now retreating from the villa g e , w ere w o u n d e d o r la te r d ie d is not known. In his play, Beede has an u n n a m e d w om an lam ent, “ Yes, yes a lo t were kille d , m en, w om en and c h ild re n . . . an iro n ham m er went through my little bo y’s head and s p lit it wide open . . . oh, oh, they chased us so fast I c o u ld n ’t pick up his body.” Nape Hote Win (Gray H a n d W om an), late r know n as M ary Big Moccasin, was nine years o ld w hen the soldiers attacked the village. She became separated fro m h e r fa m ily and was shot in the leg. She dragged h e rs e lf in to a sm all ravine and hid there fo r days u n til family members located her. T h e shock o f the events o f that day never left her; as an e lderly woman, she would still awake at night, crying out, “ T h e y are com ing, ru n , ru n !” 19 For the Yanktonais, Whitestone H ill was n o t a battle but an unprovoked slaughter. It is th e ir Pearl H a rb o r o r 9/11, som ething that changed th e ir his­ tory forever and is s till rem em bered today w ith sadness. For the soldiers at W hitestone H ill, the opinions on the fight were m ixed . D rip s fe lt “ the defeat o f the Indians was the worse from the fact th a t they had made this camp on purpose to put up th e ir w in te r’s meat and the season being well over they had a very large q u a n tity on hand, a ll which was destroyed.” W ith the usual C iv il W ar bravado expressed by many soldiers after any combat, Pierce announced, “ I don’t th in k there had been a battle so fierce 8c destructive to any one tribe as this.” Rothammer started a lette r to his w ife about the fig h t w ith “ Ever memorable to all our

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forces.” Sully’s only re g re t was th a t he d id n o t have m ore day­ light, fo r i f he had, “ I feel sure . . . I c o u ld have a n n ih ila te d the enemy. As it was, I believe I can safely say I gave th e m one o f the most severe punishm ents th a t the In d ia n s have ever received.” Others were not so positive about the engagem ent. Joseph Phebus, reflecting on the events o f the e x p e d itio n , stated, “ There was no glory in this whole cam paign.” N in e te e n -yea r-o ld Sam Brown, the m ixed-blood son o f Joseph B ro w n , a fo rm e r In d ian agent fo r the Santee reservation in M inn e so ta , was present at the camp when the soldiers came. H e denounced the actions o f the army, claim ing that some o f House’s m en were sh a kin g hands and speaking o f peace w ith the S ioux when S u lly ’s tro o p s arrived and attacked the village. B row n observed th a t it was m ainly women and children who were k ille d th a t day.20 Sully was sure he had struck the m a in g ro u p o f hostiles who had fought w ith Sibley and la te r recrossed th e M issouri. He claimed to have found proof, letters and papers, fro m the mas­ sacre o f the miners whose boat had been attacked on the river. As time passed, the soldiers began to believe th a t th e villa g e had been hostile. La Fromboise spoke o f e n c o u n te rin g S io ux w arriors on his ride back to Sully who confessed th e ir invo lve m en t in the Sibley fights. J. C. Luse, w ritin g lon g a fte r the fig h t, m a in tain e d that when the Sioux delegation rode o u t to speak w ith House’s battalion, one hundred w arrio rs had appeared, each h o ld in g a lance w ith a white scalp, and “ some o f th e m had as m any as a h a lf dozen” attached to it.21 Given th a t the Y anktonais had n o t par­ ticipated in the Minnesota uprising, had helped in th e release o f white captives, and had told House th a t they were peaceful and did not want to fight, it is hig h ly u n lik e ly th a t the leaders o f the camp would have been so foolish as to send o u t envoys w ith w hite scalps on their lances. Later w riters and h isto ria n s added the myth o f House being surrounded and the S ioux p re p a rin g to as­ sault his outnumbered com m and, even th o u g h no ne o f th is had been reported by House o r the o th e r key o ffice rs on the

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expedition. These la te r accounts also claim ed that Inkpaduta, not present th a t day, was th e e v il co m m a n d e r o f the hostile Sioux ready to de vou r H ouse’s tro o p s. In tru th , the Yanktonais were hunting b u ffa lo and n o t invo lve d in any hostile actions against the army. T h e Lakotas m ay have fo u g h t against Sibley, and there were resister a n d p ro -peace Santees in the camp. However, the numbers o f the Lakotas a n d Santees were m in o r compared to the Yanktonais present at W hitestone H ill. The n ig h t fo llo w in g th e end o f the fig h tin g was a d iffic u lt one. The men were to ld to sleep w ith th e ir rifles handy, but “such an awful noise as was k e p t u p d u r in g the n ig h t, the dogs howling, and the squaws sq u a llin g , th e re was n ot much chance to sleep,” a tired D rips w rote. M a n y o f the w ounded soldiers lay where they fell on the fie ld , w a itin g to be fo u n d in the m o rn in g light. One soldier fro m C om p a n y E, 2nd Nebraska Cavalry, had been h it in the ankle and spent the n ig h t in the cold, chilled and suffering from his w ou n d . M o re a la rm in g was the re tu rn o f some Sioux women to the cam p. L ik e ly they were loo kin g fo r loved ones and food, but when th e y came u p o n the dead and wounded soldiers they attacked th e m w ith a vengeance. As Lee recalled, “ O u r dead that were le ft u p o n th e g ro u n d over n ig h t were invariably toma­ hawked b u t n o t scalped. Some o f them had arrows driven into them so th a t th e ir p o in ts p ro tru d e d on the opposite side.” Belden remembered th a t the wom en also assaulted the wounded, “ beat their brains o u t, a fte r w hich they took a butcher-knife and cut out th e ir tongues.” L ie u te n a n t Leavitt was one o f those wounded and attacked by S ioux women. Using his saber, he fought them o ff but was stabbed th re e o r fo u r times. The next day, Leavitt died fro m his w ounds.22 W ith the s ta rt o f the n e xt day, the devastation was even more apparent to the m en in the occupied Sioux camp. According to Furnas, “ T h e w hole c o u n try fo r miles was covered with roving howling dogs and ponies. T h e Indians fled leaving everything, tents, meats, co o kin g utensils.” Lee walked to the ravine, the site

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o f the heaviest fighting. “ In the ra vin e th e In d ia n s p lu n d e r lay the thickest, lite ra lly covering the g ro u n d , sh o w in g unm istakable evidence o f the severity o f o u r fire . Dead a n d c rip p le d ponies, squaws, papooses and In d ia n s lay in co n fu sio n and blood scat­ tered on all sides,” he re ported. T h e m en were allow ed to loot whatever they found and took leggings, m itte n s, horse bridles, cooking utensils and kettles.23 Most troubling for the soldiers were the c h ild re n . “ We saw a little Indian boy on the field, naked and c ry in g ; no one paid any atten­ tion to him,” remembered Lee. “ T h e re were eight o r ten little chil­ dren scattered around. They were collected to g e th e r and p ut with the prisoners. A t one place there lay tw o papooses; one o f them four or five years old, the o th e r on ly a few m onths. A dead squaw probably their mother, lay by them ; the elder w ould insist on keep­ ing covered saying ‘shoot, shoot’ whenever uncovered. A n o th e r was crying ‘Mamma! M am m a!’ as p itifu lly as any w h ite c h ild could.” Not all the soldiers were as sympathetic as Lee; Joseph Phebus and a squad o f troops were sent out to fin d meat. W hen eight children were discovered, Phebus was sure that the men w ith h im were in ­ tent on m urdering them. Speaking w ith a lig h t tone, he an­ nounced, “ We were sent out fo r meat, these babies are meat, we w ill take them in.” Collecting up the c h ild re n before anyone could protest, Phebus likely saved th e ir lives. Pierce m entioned a little boy who had been shot through the head. S till alive, “ he has never cried or appeared to suffer pain.” 24 Most shocking was the sighting o f c h ild re n tie d to dogs who wandered back into the camp. F. E. C aldw ell, 2nd Nebraska Cav­ alry, wrote o f dogs p u llin g packs on sm all poles fastened to a col­ lar, “ in one instance a young baby” attached. Belden, w ho saw a number o f children pulled by dogs, rem em bered “ the little ba­ bies that the dogs were dragging about on th e ir travoises, never cried, but lay perfectly still though the dogs g a llo pe d over the ditches and gullies.” T he dogs w ould not let the soldiers get close enough to release the children; the only way to try to save the

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babies was to shoot th e dogs. However, when the soldiers at­ tempted to do so, several c h ild re n were h it and many o f the dogs ran away w ith th e ir passengers. “ Poor little creatures, however much we p itie d th e m we co u ld n o t help them ,” Belden recalled with regret.25 Warriors were also encountered in the village. One wounded man, w ith a bow and arrow s, lay hidden in some tall grass. Firing two arrows at a tim e, he w ounded two soldiers before a bugler and a sergeant fin a lly shot h im w ith th e ir revolvers. Lee observed that “the bugler scalped h im before he ceased kicking.” Lee fu rth e r witnessed an u n a rm e d w a rrio r who rose up from the ground after being discovered, sh a kin g a clenched fist in helpless rage at the destroyers o f his villa g e before being shot and killed. Lee dis­ missed the actions o f the m an, stating he was “ savage to the last.” 26 Sully ord ere d the d e stru ctio n o f the lodges, materials, and the massive a m o u n t o f b u ffa lo meat. D rip s w rote that it took a hun­ dred men two fu ll days to b u rn a ll the items in the village. Twelve wagonloads o f b u ffa lo m eat were packed up fo r the use o f the expedition. A n estim ated 400,000 to 500,000 pounds o f dried meat and 300 lodges were destroyed. T h e human and economic loss to the Y anktonais was overwhelm ing. T he home was the cen­ ter o f Sioux life, and the loss o f the lodges, th e ir possessions, and meat fo r the w in te r, coupled w ith the large loss o f life, crippled the Yanktonais’ society.27 O n Septem ber 5 S u lly sent out several patrols to reconnoiter the area and engage any Sioux that were found. Lieutenant Charles H ill, 2 n d Nebraska Cavalry, and th irty men were tasked w ith fin d in g th e d o cto r, Bowen, and a small group o f soldiers who had le ft cam p to b rin g back ambulances fo r the wounded men. T h e y had n o t yet re tu rn e d to camp, and Sully, w orried about th e ir safety, sent H ill to locate them. Dr. Bowen’s party soon a rriv e d at the village, but H ill’s patrol ran into a large Sioux war party. In a ru n n in g fig h t back to the camp. H ill lost six men kille d . S u lly o rd e re d Furnas and the 2nd Nebraska Cavalry to

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fin d the responsible w ar party. Furnas la te r re p o rte d th a t he only “ founded 4 straggling In d ia n s w ho I k ille d and b ro u g h t in one small In d ia n prisoner.” A n o th e r p a tro l b ro u g h t in a fu rth e r 130 women, children, and elderly men as prisoners. O ne o th e r patrol made contact w ith the Sioux. S ix ty m en u n d e r a Lieutenant Bayne spotted two Sioux on fo o t and w ounded. Bayne ordered a charge even though the w hite scout w ith the p a tro l proclaim ed it a trap. T he soldiers charged in to a canyon th a t co n ta in e d 300 to 400 warriors, who ambushed the troopers. W h e n Bayne pan­ icked, a Sergeant Bain took over and o rd e re d the m en to charge through the Sioux lines to safety. As th e soldiers fle d tow ard the camp, Bain’s horse was k ille d . N o one stopped to help the ser­ geant, who died fighting, alone and abandoned by the men his bravery had saved.28 Having completed his mission, S ully started his re tu rn march to Fort Pierre. T he In d ia n prisoners were loaded in to wagons for the journey. On September 11 the M issouri R ive r and F o rt Pierre came into sight. “ I tell you the faces o f the soldiers b rig h te n e d up when the fa m ilia r scenery o f the old M issouri once m ore loomed into view and we saw one o f o u r steamboats ly in g at the bank w ith supplies,” wrote a happy D rips. Soon a fte r th e ir a rriv a l fu ­ neral services were held fo r the men w ho had d ie d at W hitestone H ill. Drips recorded, “ T he C haplain had re g u la r re lig io u s ser­ vices today. He preached a funeral discourse on E ld e r C la rk ’s death. He had a large and attentive audience.” 29 A t Fort Pierre the expedition was broken up, w ith some troops remaining at the post, five companies o f the 6 th Iow a Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel Pollack ordered to b u ild a new post called Fort Sully eight miles below Fort Pierre, and a n o th e r com­ pany o f the regiment sent to Fort R andall. S ully and his head­ quarters traveled back to Sioux City. T h e S ioux prisoners were sent to the Crow Creek Reservation. T h e jo u rn e y was d iffic u lt fo r the prisoners, and the Yanktonais s till refer to it today as a death march. Once at Crow Creek, the prisoners jo in e d the o th e r Sioux

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there fo r a b ru ta l w in te r o f n e ar starvation. T h e Sioux were fed a watery g ru e l o f flo u r, beans, p o rk , and some beef poured into a vat. T he smell was h o rre n d o u s , w ith Dr. S. C. Haynes, a medical surgeon, re m a rk in g th a t “ the settlings smelt like carrion— like decomposed m eat.” Some S ioux chopped wood to exchange fo r flour, others stole horse feed to eat, and women once again pros­ tituted themselves to o b ta in fo o d .30 The w in te r was e q u a lly h a rd on those Sioux who had survived the assaults o f the Sibley and S u lly expeditions but had not been taken prisoner. S ta n d in g B u ffa lo and his people encamped at Dog’s Lodge, w here were gathered a num ber o f Sissetons, Wahpetons, M dew akantons, Y anktonais, and a few Lakotas. They were in h id in g ; m ost had lost th e ir homes and supplies fo r the winter. T e m peratures fe ll to th irty -fiv e below. Unable to locate food, the villages began to disperse. O th e r Santees, those not in Standing B u ffa lo ’s g ro u p , went to D e v il’s Lake. Here too the bit­ ing cold and lack o f food made liv in g d iffic u lt, and many decided to flee to Canada. As they made th e ir way north, the refugees were attacked by enem y tribes. A ccording to Charles Eastman, “ We were harassed by them alm ost daily and nightly. O nly the strictest vigila nce saved us.” Even worse was a blizzard that lasted for a fu ll day and n ig h t. Fortunately, when the storm ceased, a small herd o f b u ffa lo was located close by. A b rie f hunt provided everyone w ith a w arm , fillin g meal. Once in Canada, the Sissetons wintered on the U p p e r Assiniboine River and the Mdewakantons at T u rtle M o u n ta in .31 H a vin g been chastised often by Pope fo r his lack o f offensive spirit, it was w ith great satisfaction that Sully received a letter from Pope on O ctob e r 5 th a t congratulated him on his victory at W hitestone H ill and w a rm ly praised the field commander. Pope was pleased w ith the results o f his campaigns against the Sioux. Follow ing Sibley’s th re e battles. Pope wrote Halleck w ith vindica­ tion, saying, “ T h e results o f this expedition fu rnish a sufficient co m m e n ta ry u p o n the representation and recommendations

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made to you and the secretary o f w ar by irresponsible persons concerning the organization and conduct o f this expedition and the condition o f Indian affairs in M innesota.” Pope added that he believed that all the Am erican Indians in the region had been "reduced to a style o f quiet.” N ot only d id Pope appear to be the m ilitary victor, but by the fall o f 1863 he had clearly won the po­ litical war as well. Alexander Ramsey had defeated H e n ry Rice, Sibley’s and the punitive expeditions’ harshest critic, for the United States Senate, and Stephen M ille r, a pro-S ibley man, was elected governor o f Minnesota.32 Pope may have celebrated this victory, b ut n ot everyone agreed with the outcome o f the campaigns. C orp o ra l A lb e rt C hilds, 30th Wisconsin Infantry, had been sent to the West w ith his regiment to garrison the new posts being b u ilt. W ritin g his b ro th e r Ells­ worth, Albert discussed the recent expedition: “ W ell what has your expedition accomplished? It has enabled several individuals to obtain fortunes by defrauding the governm ent, and although it has cost thousands upon thousands o f d o llars, not a cents worth o f benefit has the governm ent received fro m it.” M ilton Spencer agreed w ith Childs. H earing a ru m o r th a t another ex­ pedition was planned for 1864, Spencer believed it w ould be good for “ those that is speculating out o f it” and w ould not be pleasant “ for the poor soldier” who would have to serve on it. He observed that “ some one is m aking a good th in g o f” p ro v id in g supplies and materials to the army fo r offensives against the Sioux. For most soldiers, interest in a new expedition was not high. A rth u r Daniels o f the 6th Minnesota In fa n try declared the e n tire expe­ dition a “ wild goose chase.” The 10th Minnesota, upon hearing they had been ordered South, went “ w ild w ith jo y,” as this was why the men had enlisted, having no interest in serving fu rth e r in the West.33 Most critical o f the operations were various editors o f regional newspapers. Sibley’s battles were viewed as inconclusive and his expedition a failure to annihilate the Santee menace. Sibley “ is

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not a soldier,” d e te rm in e d one Republican newspaper, while the Minneapolis State Allas declared, “ T h e hour for striking the aveng­ ing blow had a rrive d , but the blow was not struck.” The paper also focused on the reason why— the treason and cowardice o f General Sibley— and called fo r another expedition, set for 1864, to finish o ff the Sioux once and fo r all. “ They must be conquered,” also insisted the Yankton Dakotian, and the St. Paul Weekly Press agreed: “ I t w ill re q uire another season o f vigorous and active operations to reduce the fierce and haughty tribes o f the Mis­ souri Valley to submission.” 34 Regardless o f the reality, many in Minnesota and liv in g along the fro n tie r believed that hostile Sioux were still a threat and had to be dealt w ith before they could strike again. The true results o f the campaigns are mixed. There is no doubt that those resister Santees who engaged Sibley or Sully suf­ fered grave losses in personal lives and materials. Yet Sibley’s blow fell hardest upon the peace faction o f the Santees, destroy­ ing th e ir efforts to rem ain out o f the conflict and scattering them across the plains and in to Canada, often homeless, without food, and in m o u rn in g fo r the deaths o f loved ones. The Yanktonais had not participated in the Dakota War o f 1862 but received a devastating attack by Sully that inflicted tremendous losses, while the Lakotas were also draw n into the conflict. Instead o f ending hostilities, the arm y had enlarged the war, as many Yanktonais and Lakotas now advocated fo r revenge against the whites. W ith the expeditions over. Pope proceeded to organize for fro n tie r defense and where best to station the troops under his command. Part o f Sibley’s force was sent to the South to feed a grow ing need for troops to fight the Confederacy, while three companies o f in fa n try and one hundred cavalry were posted to Forts Abercrom bie and Ripley. Fort Ridgely, key to the line o f defensive posts, received ten companies o f infantry and one hun­ dred cavalry, and other infa ntry and cavalry companies occupied a series o f sm aller outposts. Pope believed that this defensive

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system, based on smaller outposts constantly p a tro llin g , would check any fu rth e r Sioux raids in to M innesota. T o break up any large-scale operations by the Sioux, Pope considered the creation o f forts at D evil’s Lake and on the James and M isso u ri Rivers. He also considered having Sully lead a co lu m n th ro u g h the Black H ills and establish a fo u rth post on the u p p e r Yellowstone River.35 There was no doubt th a t the m ilita ry presence in Minnesota was o f considerable im portance to the state’s economy. “ M ankato is emphatically a m ilita ry co m m un ity,” noted th e e d ito r o f the Mankato Semi-Weekly Record. “ O u r m ale p o p u la tio n is composed o f at least tw o-thirds soldiers.” T h e a rm y was everyw here. “A long the whole fro n tie r from Iowa to F o rt R idgely, 300 m iles, there is camps fo rtifie d and garrisoned . . . every ten o r fifte e n miles,” wrote Robert Perry o f the 1st M innesota M o u n te d Rangers.36 The needs o f thousands o f soldiers had to be m et, and the gov­ ernment contracts to accomplish this caused m any to achieve fi­ nancial success. Local merchants and farm ers vied fo r the con­ tracts. Some farmers started to raise cattle, w h ile others ceased to plant crops and went en tirely in to ra n c h in g . Steam boat travel increased at a rapid rate across the re g io n and in to the U pp e r Missouri River area. For the soldiers and officers back fro m the cam paign in the West, it was a tim e fo r reflection and the co n tinuous desire fo r letters. Siegmund Rotham m er missed his w ife and was tire d o f the vastness o f the plains: “ Perhaps never in m y life before have I felt so lonely, so much like a shipwrecked m a rin e r cast on some lonely Isle as at that moment,” he confessed to Rosanah. H a vin g complained often to his m other over h er lack o f le tte r w ritin g , H ubert Eggleston, 6th Minnesota In fa n try , fin a lly received an answer. Calling H ubert her “ absent son,” his g u ilt-rid d e n m o th e r wrote, “ I have taken my long neglected pen to tr y and w rite a few words to you as you say you w ill not excuse me any longer. I do not blame you for I th in k it quite to bad th a t y o u r fa th e r and I have not so much as answered one o f yo u r letters.” She assured

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her son that “ you m ust n o t say M o th e r has forgotten m e . . . you know not the m any a n x io u s feelings th a t I have w hile th in k in g o f the many hardships and dangers you are exposed to.” 37 The com ing o f w in te r fo u n d the soldiers established in posts from M innesota across the N o rth e rn Plains. T he campaign sea­ son was over, b u t the year ended w ith another atrocity committed by the soldiers. T h e D akotas were not the victim s this time; rather they were the Poncas, a sm all, peaceful tribe. On Decem­ ber 3 a small g ro u p o f Poncas was re tu rn in g from Omaha to their reservation. T h e p a rty consisted o f fo u r men, six women, and five ch ild re n. A t m id n ig h t, near N iobrara, Nebraska, some th irty miles fro m F o rt R a n d a ll, a g ro u p o f d ru n ke n soldiers from Com­ pany B, 7th Iow a C avalry, came across the encamped Poncas. The frie n d ly Poncas greeted the soldiers warm ly. The soldiers im m ediately ru sh ed u p o n the women dem anding sex, some of­ fering to pay a n d o th e rs p u llin g th e ir revolvers. T h e Poncas ran from the cam p, w h ile b e h in d them the intoxicated troopers burned th e ir tents. A fte r a cold, frig h te n in g night, the Poncas were resting when the soldiers encountered them again and this time opened fire. O ne wom an and the baby on her back were wounded as the Poncas again fled the scene. Unfortunately, three women and a g ir l w ho had trie d to hide were discovered and m urdered. O u tra g e d by th is atrocity, the Ponca agent, J. B. H off­ man, contacted G o ve rn o r Edm unds o f the Dakota Territory, in­ sisting the soldiers responsible be punished, bluntly adm itting, “ I call this m u rd e r.” A rm y officials promised the Poncas that the soldiers w o u ld be punished, but no action was ever taken.38

Charles Eastman. Eastman was a boy d u rin g the expeditions and later wrote about “ up Dakota.” Minnesota H istorical Soc iety.

Frank Griswold. During the expeditions, Sergeant Griswold served with the 1st Minnesota Mounted Rangers. Joel Emmons Whitney, Minnesota Historical Society. 174

John Jones. An experienced a rtille ry officer, Jones’s major prob­ lem was dealing w ith Ins w ile’s loneliness. Minnesota Historical Society.

Gabriel Renville. O f mixed heritage, Renville supported the army and served as a scout on the 1863 expedition. Minnesota Historical Society. 175

Standing Buffalo. A leader o f the Sissetons, Standing Buffalo tried to keep his people out of the conflict but failed. W hitneys Gallery, Minnesota Historical Society. 176

CHAPTER 8

S u lly’s 1864 Expedition “ GENERALS A N X IO U S

POPE A N D S U L L Y ARE

FOR A N O T H E R C A M P A IG N ”

W illi the cam paigns o f 1863 over, Pope immediately started p la n n in g lo r new e x p e d itio n s to commence in the spring o f 1864. D u rin g the w in te r, Pope, Sully, and Sibley met to dis­ cuss the u p c o m in g o p era tio n s. Pope found no opposition for his intentions f ro m H a lle c k , who, on January 17 asked Pope to sub­ m it his p la n , in c lu d in g tro o p num bers and supply needs, but did insist th a t “ as the dem ands o f the p rincipal armies in the field fo r re in fo rce m e n ts are pressing, these proposed In d ian expeditions sh o uld be made as small as possible.” But “sm all” was not w hat Pope had in m in d ; what he proposed would be the largest ca m p aig n against A m erican Indians ever launched by the a rm y .1 He in fo rm e d Sibley that “ it is my purpose that the whole cav­ alry force in y o u r d is tric t shall be massed, with two or three pieces o f fie ld a rtille ry , to take the field as early as spring.” Sully was to o rg an ize a s im ila r force o f manpower. Four new forts were to be co nstructed, at D e v il’s Lake, the James River, the Upper M issouri R iver, and the Yellowstone River. The garrisons o f the 177

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posts would consist o f three o r fo u r in fa n tr y com panies and three to five cavalry companies.2 Secretary o f War Stanton was not in favor o f new operations against the Sioux, believing that “ i f we w ant w a r in the spring a few traders can get one up on the shortest notice.” However, Com­ missioner o f Indian A ffairs W illia m Dole endorsed Pope’s desire fo r offensive actions. Finally, on F e b ru a ry 14, h a v in g read over Pope’s plans, Halleck wrote, “ Your plan o f an In d ia n cam paign is approved, subject to such m odifications experience may suggest.” 3 Pope’s war w ith the Sioux w ould continue fo r a n o th e r year. The 1864 expeditions set to commence in the s p rin g w ould be quite different from those o f the previous year in b o th rationale and opponent. In 1863 the reasoning b e h in d the cam paigns was revenge for the uprising in Minnesota, directed specifically against the Santees, although the Lakotas and Y anktonais were draw n into the conflict. Sibley, in a lette r to c e rta in M inn e so ta news­ paper editors, laid out the reasons fo r the expeditions: “ T h e chas­ tisement and subjection o f the bands o f savages on the b o th sides o f the Missouri River” ; to protect the overland ro u te to the Idaho and Montana gold fields by b u ild in g posts along the route; and finally, “ the security o f the M innesota and Iowa fro n tie r against hostile raids.” In other words, gold was the c h ie f m o tiv a to r fo r a new round o f conflict. In 1861 gold had been discovered at the headwaters o f the Missouri River, setting o ff a rush to the new fields, and by 1864 Montana’s population had reached 30,000. The C ivil W ar did not cu rta il the a rriv a l o f m ore m in e rs and set­ tlers, many coming up the M issouri R iver o r ove rla n d th ro u g h Sioux te rrito ry. T he vast cost o f the w ar also made g o ld m in in g extremely im po rta n t to the Lincoln governm ent. As the m ine camps needed supplies, large am ounts o f m oney were to be made in the carrying o f supplies and goods to the fields. M in ­ nesota became a key starting p o in t fo r wagon tra in s h e ading west to the m inin g camps, as well a m ain source o f tra d e w ith the miners.4

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Standing in the way o f th is new encroachm ent by white set­ tlers were the Sioux. T h e Lakotas in p a rtic u la r opposed the flow o f miners across th e ir te rrito ry , and in the spring o f 1864 bands o f the L a kota were w illin g to fig h t to stop the invasion. T h e Sioux in te n d e d th a t steam boat travel up the M issouri would be stopped a n d th e o v e rla n d tra ils blocked. I f the arm y trie d to intervene, the S io u x believed, then let them sta rt a war. The Sioux d id n o t co n sid e r themselves to be the aggressors; once again, th e ir w a r w o u ld be a defensive a ffa ir. S tanding w ith the Lakotas w ou ld be over seven h u n d re d lodges o f the Yanktonais, driven to fig h t by S u lly ’s u n provoked assault at W hitestone H ill, as well as the re m a in in g Santees s till w illin g to continue the struggle. A lth o u g h it was a p o p u la r b e lie f that the Sioux m ainly made w a r w ith w a r p a rties and raids, the nation could, at times, rally to g e th e r to m ake w a r on a larg e r scale. T h is occurred af­ ter the Sand C reek Massacre, d u rin g Red C lo u d ’s War, and again w ith the S ioux W ar o f 1876-77. In 1864 elements o f the Lakotas and Dakotas were jo in in g in a united e ffo rt to deny fu r­ ther w hite encroachm ent. Pope was q u ite aware o f this massing o f the Sioux. Various reports had a rriv e d at his headquarters d u rin g the early spring. A m ixed -b loo d scout in fo rm e d the com m anding officer at Fort A bercrom bie th a t the Yanktonais were “ decided in th e ir hostil­ ity.” Sibley w rote, “ T h e Yanktonais have invited the disaffected o f the o th e r bands o f Sioux to jo in them, and are determ ined to at­ tack any boats o r parties found w ith in the lim its o f th e ir coun­ try.” S ully added that “ the Indians have a piece o f a rtille ry w ith which they in te n d to stop boats going up the river.” O ther in fo r­ m ation stated th a t the Hunkpapas and other Lakota bands had crossed to the east side o f the Missouri River, intending to lin k up w ith the Yanktonais near the James River.5 The enemy was no longer ju s t those Santees who had participated in the Dakota W ar o f 1862; instead. Pope and the arm y faced a Sioux alliance o f fa r g re a te r strength and willingness to engage in combat.

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T h is info rm a tio n only re a ffirm e d the reasons the expeditions needed to go fo rth . M ajor E dw in H atch, s e rv in g on the fro n tie r d u rin g the w inter, received a dispatch re p o rtin g th a t “ General Sibley has positive and detailed in fo rm a tio n fro m the M issouri o f the existence o f a form idable com bination o f the several bands o f Sioux on both sides o f the river, to h e rm e tica lly seal th e ir country against fu rth e r intrusions by em igrants to the g o ld m ines.” Pope wrote H alleck o f the Sioux alliance, s ta tin g th a t its purpose was to “give battle to General Sully, to o b stru ct the navigation o f the [Missouri] river, and to resist the passage o f e m ig ra n ts across the upper plains.” Yet Pope also assured Dakota T e rrito ry governor Newton Edmunds, who was concerned th a t the expeditions would leave his te rrito ry unprotected, th a t “ the sole object o f his expe­ dition is to accomplish this purpose,” the defense o f the fro n tie r settlements. To do this, Pope argued, “ the pow er o f the Yanktonais and Teton bands o f Sioux must be bro ken to pieces.” 6 The commanders o f the expeditions may have seen the up­ coming operations fro m a political/econom ic “ b ig p ic tu re ,” but for the common soldiers and civilians the reasons fo r the com ing campaign were more basic. P unishm ent o f the Santees was still the main focus, coupled w ith protection o f the fro n tie r fro m fu r­ ther attacks. To Frank Myers, 6th Iowa Cavalry, stationed at Sioux City, Iowa, the chief cause fo r the new operations was protection o f the frontier. Lieutenant David Kingsbury, 8th M innesota In fa n ­ try, later wrote that the expedition’s purpose was to fu rth e r chas­ tise the Sioux who had committed the massacres in M innesota and compel them to surrender, i f possible. K in g s b u ry ’s co m m an d ing officer, Colonel M in o r Thomas, agreed, stating th a t a lth o u g h the 1863 campaign had “ freed all o f M innesota and most o f Dakota o f their te rrifyin g presence,” the Sioux were “ s till stro n g and d efi­ ant, and openly boasted that the w hite soldiers dare n o t follow them further.” Thus the arm y had to “ follow the In d ia n s west o f the Missouri, and fight and conquer them i f possible.” Isaac Heard, whose book on the Dakota W ar o f 1862 was issued before

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the 1864 e xp ed itio ns, th o u g h t th a t “ in the spring another expe­ dition should be fitte d o u t to in flic t fu r th e r chastisement upon all wrong-doers and e n force security.” 7 There was d isa g re e m e n t a m o n g the enlisted men over the necessity o f a new c a m p a ig n . S ergeant M a jo r Eugene M arshall, Brackett’s C a va lry B a tta lio n , was a tw enty-nine-year-old fa rm e r from Caledonia, M inn e so ta ; to h im , “ these In d ia n Wars are a great hum bug. I expect th a t fo r the next few months after [the] grass starts we shall go on some w ild goose chase across the plains.. . . I am n o t m uch elated at the prospect before me, and on many accounts w o u ld p re fe r being in the South.” M ilton Spencer, sp e nd in g the w in te r stationed at Fort Randall, clearly understood w hat m o tiva te d the new campaign: “ Generals Pope and Sully are anxio u s fo r a n o th e r cam paign in the indian coun­ try, w hile a ll the Bobs and Nabobs in the te rrito ry are using all the influ e n ce th e y posses [sic] to get the governm ent to send out another e x p e d itio n . I fear they w ill get the th in g to work.” U n­ like many, Spencer d id n o t blam e the Sioux fo r fig h tin g back: “ I do not blam e th e m m u c h . . . . T h e y have had provocation enough for a few m onths past to make m ild e r tempered people than they are th in k o f m u rd e r.” 8 O th e r m en were less concerned about a possible In d ian war and m ore focused on events dealing w ith the defeat o f the Con­ federacy. A lb e rt C hild s, 30th Wisconsin In fa n try, fum ed over the lack o f good p a trio tic officers to command the army. C riticizing the ru n n in g o f th e war, C hild s com plained to his brother, “ First, i f o u r g o ve rn m e n t had good officers this rebellion would be crushed lo n g ago.” H e deemed th e ir failures were caused by a lack o f p a trio tic blood, and i f pressed together they “ would not get as m uch tru e p a trio tic blood as flowed in George Washington’s vanes.” I f officers were not paid, “ they would quit” the service, Childs surm ised. For James Thomson, the results o f the fighting back East were very personal. His A p ril 27 entry in his diary was d ire ct and p a in fu l: “ i received a letter stating that W illiam and

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Alexander was dead.” He never mentioned his feelings on the upcoming operation versus the Sioux.9 Other soldiers greeted the news o f new campaigns with antici­ pation. For Kingsbury it was a desire for revenge, even though the expeditions would not be directed at the Santees: “ Every soldier had witnessed scenes to arouse the utterm ost bitterness toward those who seemed destitute o f any sentiment o f human­ ity, and all were filled with an insatiable desire fo r revenge.” Cor­ poral John Robinson, 2nd Minnesota Cavalry, also desired ven­ geance, w riting his wife, Libbie, that when he thought o f what the Sioux did in the uprising, “ my blood would b o il and I would almost ache to send a bullet through th e ir hearts.” Benjamin Brunson received a commission as a first lieutenant in a colored regiment, but as it had yet to be organized, and being bored with camp life, he volunteered to accompany his form er regiment, the 8th Minnesota, saying, “ I preferred the active duty in the field.” Those soldiers coming from the Dakota T e rrito ry were ready for action. “We were ordered to hold ourselves in readiness to jo in the expedition against the Sioux,” wrote Abner English. “ This we hailed with delight, as we thought it would give us an opportu­ nity to meet the savages in battle.” 10 Just as soldiers disagreed over the coming warfare, there was disunity among the Sioux over the conflict. As some Sioux came together in a pro-war alliance, others surrendered or did not jo in in order to avoid further violence. D uring the winter, 91 Santees came down from Canada to Pembina and surrendered to Major Hatch. They were sent to Fort Snelling. Farther west, in Febru­ ary, Yanktonais leaders Bone Necklace, W hite Bear, and Buck, along with 280 of their people, came to Fort Sully asking for peace. They were soon joined by 500 to 700 more Yanktonais and Lakotas, who then encamped around the fort. A t Fort Wad­ sworth another seven chiefs desiring no further conflict met with the post commander. On April 20,200 lodges o f Sisseton followers

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of Scarlet Plume, Big Ribs, Sweet Corn, and other leaders surren­ dered at Fort Abercrom bie.11 Surrendering caused new problems for those Santees still out on the plains. There were those who had participated in the Da­ kota War and felt they could not surrender, others who feared a massacre if they gave up, and some who did not want to be sent to the Crow Creek Reservation. Not wanting to make peace, they put pressure on those Santees who wanted nothing more than to end the hardships they had been enduring for more than a year and a half. Santee women who had mixed-blood children were concerned that the disagreement would lead to bloodshed and their children would be killed. Frank Jetty was a six-year-old mixed-blood. A t Pleasant Lake his people met up with some M6tis from Canada. Jetty’s m other and other women pleaded with the M6tis to take th e ir mixed-blood children and raise them so they would remain alive. Jetty and thirteen other boys and girls were accepted by the Metis; Jetty would not see his mother for the next thirty-one years.12 The Santees, especially those who had fought in the Dakota War, had a rig h t to feel concerned over what would happen if they surrendered. At the start o f the new year, American agents had led a covert operation into Canada to capture two resister leaders, Shakopee and Medicine Bottle, who were wanted for war crimes. The chiefs were drugged with opium and chloro­ form, tied to sleds, and taken out o f the country by a Lieutenant Cochrane, part o f the m ilitary garrison stationed at Pembina. After a tria l, the two men were sentenced to death and later hanged, on November 11, 1864. The violation of an international border did not seem to bother Pope or Sibley; both had been re­ questing permission from the federal government to cross the border to attack those Santees who had taken refuge there. Sibley argued that the Santees being fed and cared for by the British government would, in the spring, cross back into the United States

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following the buffalo and soon after start ra id in g into Minnesota. In January Seward again asked the B ritish fo r permission to en­ ter Canada, only to be once more refused.13 As winter gave way to spring, the organization o f the expedi­ tions was completed. Sully’s column, from Sioux City, referred to as the 1st Brigade, would consist o f eleven companies o f the 6th Iowa Cavalry, three companies o f the 7th Iowa Cavalry, two com­ panies of the 1st Dakota Cavalry Regiment, M ajor A lfre d Brack­ ett’s Minnesota Cavalry Battalion o f four companies, a company of scouts, and an a rtille ry battery commanded by Captain Na­ thaniel Pope, the nephew o f the general. Sibley’s force, leaving from Fort Ridgley, was comprised o f the 8th Minnesota Infantry Regiment (mounted for the expedition), six companies o f the 2nd Minnesota Cavalry, 3rd Minnesota A rtille ry Battery, scouts, and the 30th Wisconsin In fa n try Regiment, who were to man the soon-to-be constructed Fort Rice. Sibley, however, soon begged o ff leading this new expedition, and Colonel M inor Thomas, 8th Minnesota Infantry, was designated the new commander of the Second Brigade, also called the Minnesota Brigade. Sully, the overall commander o f the expedition, had a powerful offensive weapon at his disposal: a strike force o f divisional strength consist­ ing of some thirty-five hundred well-armed and mounted men. O f the forces being sent on the expedition, few had seen ser­ vice in the 1863 campaigns. The 8th M innesota In fa n try, orga­ nized in 1862, had, because o f the needs o f the Sioux Uprising, never served together as a regiment p rio r to the expedition; they had been scattered out across the frontier, doing duty at small posts and garrisons. The regiment would not be brought to­ gether until May 1864. In 1862 the 30th Wisconsin In fa n try had also been organized but had yet to see any combat. It was first used to oversee draft inductions into the army before being or­ dered to proceed to the West to build and garrison the new posts authorized by Pope’s department. Two companies were sent to construct Fort Sully, while two other companies, under Colonel

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Daniel D ill—an officer Pope found to be “a poor soldier, though otherwise a clever, respectable man”—were sent to build Fort Rice. Brackett’s Minnesota Cavalry were veteran troops. Orga­ nized in 1861, the three Minnesota companies had been assigned to various larger units, the last being the 5th Iowa Cavalry. Brack­ ett’s men had seen action in M issouri and Kentucky and were present for G rant’s capture o f Forts Henry and Donelson and the Battle o f Shiloh. W hile on furlough in Minnesota, Pope requested that the battalion be transferred to his department for use on the expeditions. His requested was granted, even though the men o f the battalion preferred to fight in the South and saw their new assignment as a lesser a ffa ir.14 Creating such a large force had not been without problems for Pope. The demands o f the C ivil War were great, and Pope was under pressure to scale back his offensive. In February Halleck wrote Pope that members o f Congress had gone to the Secretary of War to request that the 30th Wisconsin Infantry be released for service in the South, and he wished to know if they could be spared. Pope responded firm ly that no regiment could “ be spared from this departm ent.” The follow ing month Pope tried to obtain the 2nd Nebraska or 7th Iowa Cavalry from Major Gen­ eral Samuel R. C urtis’s department. Like Pope, Curtis insisted, “I could not spare a man,” but Pope did receive part o f the 7th Iowa Cavalry. He fu rth e r retained the 6th Iowa Cavalry, even after Grant wanted the regim ent for other service. Pope, however, failed to retain the 6th Minnesota Infantry. In March, Halleck wanted that regim ent fo r the Southern campaigns. Pope blamed the re­ quest upon “agents, Indian traders, whiskey sellers, contractors etc.” who did not want to see his expedition successful in the In ­ dian War w ith the Sioux; he assumed they wanted the conflict to continue as it involved “ the payment from the government o f large sums o f money.” The thirty-eight hundred men of the ex­ pedition, Pope m aintained, could win his war while doing little to change the odds in the South. Halleck, briefly, rescinded the

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orders to remove the 6th Minnesota Infantry, but in May, with the growing needs of the Red River Campaign, the regiment was ordered to Helena, Arkansas.15 Under mounting political pressure from certain congressmen complaining that Pope’s department was too overmanned, cou­ pled with the Red River debacle and Sherman’s manpower needs for his offensive against Atlanta, Grant finally sent Lieutenant Colonel W. L. D uff o f the Inspector General’s Office to investi­ gate. D uff reported that many leaders in the area felt that Pope’s war was overblown and that “ the whole thing was a humbug,” yet he himself felt that those opposed to the expeditions had a secret agenda; many of Pope’s critics were making large sums o f money from the troops garrisoned in the department. Grant allowed Pope to keep his troops.16 The need for troops and the upcoming campaign caused fric­ tion between Pope and Sibley. Hearing a rum or that the 2nd Minnesota Cavalry was to be sent south to jo in the Red River Campaign, Sibley wrote Pope that this must not happen, as “there w ill not be left in the district a force sufficient to effectively protect the frontier against the powerful bands o f savages who inhabit the prairies within 200 or 300 miles.” The removal o f the 2nd Minnesota Cavalry was a mistake, although Pope did intend to use these men on the expedition, and Pope responded to Sibley’s statement with annoyance. Sibley was advocating for a stronger force to remain on the frontier instead o f serving in the campaign, something Pope strongly opposed. “ I think you en­ tirely over-estimate the danger from the Indians, as well as the amount needed in Minnesota,” he wrote Sibley, then followed up with a personal swipe: “ I f there be the danger you seem to ap­ prehend, surely it may fairly be said that your campaign o f last summer accomplished very little.” 17 The exchange did little to change Sibley’s mind that Pope was dangerously reducing the number o f men needed to protect the frontier regions of Minnesota. Sibley opposed Pope’s desire to

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establish posts at D evil’s Lake and on the James River. Pope’s expedition would involve so many troops that, as Sibley argued, “I shall then be left w ithout any infantry force to establish the two posts in the interior,” let alone to garrison Forts Ripley, Ridgely, and Abercrombie. Sibley further observed that if soldiers were not kept back, there would be trouble with the draft in Minnesota because “ in some localities in this state there will be resistance un­ less there is a m ilitary force on hand to compel submission.” But Sibley’s main concern still was the fear of new raids into the state from “the very scum o f the Isanti [Santees]” who were “ imbued with a spirit o f bitter hostility to the government and unless they shall be effectually chastised during the present summer there will be accumulated numbers to meet hereafter.” 18 It is unclear whether Sibley tru ly believed the frontier was in imminent dan­ ger, was supporting those political interests that wanted to see the war continue for economic profit, or desired to maintain the importance o f his district by retaining as many soldiers as possi­ ble. As with other officers and politicians that had opposed Pope, Sibley’s efforts to rein in the size of the coming campaign failed. The raids that Sibley feared did occur that summer in Min­ nesota and Iowa, but were far fewer than in the previous year. In May, a war party killed two soldiers at Spirit Lake, Iowa; another soldier died while fishing at Lake Hanska, Minnesota; and sixteenyear-old Ole Moss was killed near Madelia, Minnesota. Sibley reported the attacks to Pope, who dismissed them and informed Sibley not to report “small raids.” He claimed they were to be expected and instructed Sibley not to release the information to the public, as it would only create “ unnecessary and injurious alarm and excitement on the frontier.” 19 W hile Pope dealt with the larger strategy and kept the cam­ paign moving forward, the common soldiers who were soon to march westward focused on the basic issues confronting them. Gathering at Sioux City and Fort Ridgely, the men expressed

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their views on the Sioux and their com manding officer, Sully. A. N. Judd, 6th Iowa Cavalry, called the Sioux “ the fiend incar­ nate” and believed them to be “great cowards but very cunning.” O f all the Indians with whom he was fam iliar, Judd wrote, “I despise the Sioux the most.” John Robinson described the Sioux to his wife as “a miserable race o f beings.” 20 A fte r nearly two years o f war, the racism o f the soldiers toward the Sioux, and especially their m ilita ry prowess, had not dim inished. Where Union soldiers, after several years o f warfare, had come to re­ spect the Confederate soldiers as opponents, the N orthern troops facing the Sioux, for the most part, maintained a deep hatred toward their foes. I f the Sioux had the soldiers’ contempt, Sully as a commander had their admiration. According to M ilton Spencer, “Although his name is not known as far over the world as some other men, [Sully] is a very good officer, and for myself, would rather go into battle under his command than that o f many whose names are trumpeted over the states.” And according to A. R Connelly, Sully was unpretentious and experienced, had a genial temperament, and was an agreeable commander. George Doud, 8th Minnesota Infantry, did not recognize Sully when he first saw him and “would not have known him from a common plug had it not been for [the] star on his shoulder." “No one can question Genl Sully’s fighting qualities,” G. M errill Dwelle, 3rd Minnesota A rtille ry Battery, wrote his sister Carrie.21 As time grew short before the start o f the expeditions, soldiers took time to write home and reach out to loved ones. Albert Childs, 30th Wisconsin Infantry, wrote often to his brother Ells­ worth on a wide range of topics. One im portant concern was the conduct of their father. Their father was an alcoholic and deeply in debt. When Ellsworth wrote Albert o f the passing o f their fa­ ther, Albert responded by warning his brother, “ May it prove a warning to you . . . to keep clear o f the influence o f the intoxicat­ ing cup, and shun it even as would Satan himself. God only knows

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how I hate the death dealing soul damning poison.” Albert sent sixty dollars to aid their mother, who was in danger of losing her home to creditors. W orried about his brother, Ellsworth wanted to know how A lbert’s spiritual life in the army was. “ I am sorry that my letters have given you any reason to suppose for one mo­ ment that I had given up my hope in C h rist. . . ” replied Albert, but he reassured his brother that he never touched tobacco and had only drunk one beer since enlisting. Eugene Ware, 7th Iowa Cavalry, wanted everyone to know that the men were not afraid of the coming danger, as “ the men had no lack of courage, nor o f w ill to go into any fight, or into any dangerous place, or to do any valiant m ilita ry act.” Henry Wieneke’s letter to his wife did not contain such deep issues as those o f the Childs brothers or in Ware’s correspondence; he complained only of doing his laundry, “an ugly jo b no wonder that you women always are cross washdays it is enough to make any one cross.”22 Although not serving in the field on this campaign, Sibley was still concerned w ith the well-being o f the Minnesota troops head­ ing into the West. Ever the cautious commander, Sibley met with Colonel Thomas and encouraged him repeatedly to be careful and put safety first. Growing tired o f the interference, Thomas responded bluntly, “General, I am going to hunt for the Indians, and if they w ill hunt for and find me it w ill save me a heap o f trouble.” On June 5, with the band playing “The G irl I Left Be­ hind Me,” Thomas and the Minnesota Brigade marched out of Fort Ridgely. For David Kingsbury it was a glorious event: “I must confess that to me . . . this seemed more like war than anything we had previously experienced.” Nine days later, Sully and the 1st Brigade left Sioux City.23 The new campaign had begun. Thomas had received orders to unite with Sully’s 1st Brigade at Bordache Creek by June 20. He was to be careful with his horses and prepare defensive camps each night. Similar to the 1863 expeditions, the new offensive was challenged by rough ter­ rain, oppressive heat, and the lack of good water; the region was

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still held in the clutches o f a drought. S till, Lieutenant Colonel Robert McLaren, commander o f the 2nd Minnesota Cavalry, found the march compelling: “ One feels as though he was setting out on a long sea voyage when he starts on an Indian summer campaign.. . . Before us all is uncertain; behind us near and dear friends. God grant that we may all live to see each other in the land o f the living.” For Charles Hughes, the commencement o f the expedition was not so exciting. Hughes had served in the 1st Minnesota Infantry before being mustered out. He signed on to be a mule herder for the campaign and quickly came to regret his decision: “ This is a miserable low d irty life it is my opinion that I am about as low as a man can get that is in regard to the labor I perform.” 24 As with the 1863 expedition, the first few days o f marching took the column past the sites o f the Dakota War and invoked strong memories of the massacres. “ Sad evidence o f the Indian barbarity of 1862 are visible all around,” a solemn Ebenezer Rice, 2nd Minnesota Cavalry, noted in his diary. “ The ashes o f many houses is all that remain o f a once happy fam ily . . . Father, Mother, Babe youth and manhood gone.” Finding Sioux graves, some soldiers defiled them, an act that George Doud did not con­ done: “ Thay Dug up the bodies o f the red man and woman and kicked them around just as thay pleased and left them above the ground,” and their commanding officer did not put a stop to “ their horrid acts.” The next day the column reached the aban­ doned Lower Sioux Agency, The place, according to Doud, “showed the effects of the horrid massacre o f 62.” Here soldiers proceeded to burn down nearby Sioux lodges. T his tim e the sol­ diers were arrested, and Doud’s company captain congratulated his men for not participating in the burnings. On June 8, while marching by the site o f the Battle o f Wood Lake, First Lieutenant Lewis Paxton, 8th Minnesota Infantry, discovered the skulls o f three Sioux warriors. “ I got two teeth from one o f them as tro ­ phies,” he recorded in his diary.25

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Also on June 8, the column was joined by an emigrant train headed for the m in in g camps in Idaho. The leader o f the civil­ ians was Thomas Holmes, and the train consisted of 123 wagons and 250 people. Neither Sibley or Pope had favored civilian travel through the Dakota T e rrito ry during the summer because o f the coming Indian war. Sibley believed “ it would not be imprudent to attempt the trip u n til the route has been rendered safe by the troops,” while Pope sent out a circular entitled “ Notice to Emi­ grants by way o f the M issouri River and Upper Plains to the Idaho Mines.” In it Pope reported that strong forces o f Yanktonais and Lakotas planned to block passage on the Missouri River and harass any travel overland. He encouraged all civilians to wait until Sully’s campaign against the Sioux had concluded. Holmes and other wagon tra in bosses would not heed the warning; the allure o f gold was too powerful.26 Moving westward, soldiers kept record o f the temperature and number o f miles marched daily. The heat increased rapidly, from 76 degrees to 90 degrees in two days, and remained firm ly in the 80s u n til the later part o f June, when the temperature soared to over 100 degrees. W ith the sun beating down on them, the sol­ diers averaged marches o f sixteen to twenty miles a day. Sundays were a day o f rest and worship, something that McLaren firm ly supported: “ We can hope for success when we recognize Him, and not otherwise.” 27 As few men currently on the expedition had served during the 1863 campaign, lessons had to be relearned, and finding good water was a high p rio rity for the men. According to Kingsbury, “ Water was very scarce and when found was vile.” He insisted that “ water from the streets o f St. Paul would have been better, for it would have lacked the alkali.” The presence o f alkali, which burned the tongue and could cause dysentery, bothered John Robinson. He explained to his wife that alkali was “something I suppose you never saw and tasted, and I hope you may be never obliged to d rin k.” What small lakes they encountered were foul.

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“The proper name would be stinking lakes thay smelt very bad and mudy,” observed Doud. The heat and lack o f drinkable water led Thomas Hodgson, 8th Minnesota Infantry, to later note, “ I . . . conceived such a strong dislike for Dakota that, I have never had a desire to live there or own any o f it.” John Robinson concurred with Hodgson, telling his wife, “ I used to th in k, when a boy, that I would like to roam over the vast prairies o f the west and see the wild animals and hear the wolves howl, but I believe I have had enough of it.” 28 Finding no wood on the prairie, soldiers turned to collecting buffalo chips. The chips, which were plentiful, were collected by being pierced with a ramrod and placed in piles. Kingsbury wrote, “These chips make an intensive fire and were far prefera­ ble to wood, requiring less labor to secure.” 29 Overall the march was not d ifficu lt, and the Minnesota B ri­ gade made good time as it approached the rendezvous point with Sully’s forces. On June 29 Thomas’s scouts encountered ten scouts from the Sully column, and the next day contact was made with a cavalry patrol sent out by Sully and the unification o f the two columns achieved at three p.m . the same day.30 Sully’s march up the Missouri River went fa r better than that of the previous year. For a week, the column averaged eighteen miles a day before reaching Fort Sully on June 24. Along the way the men had been serenaded by two bands accompanying the expedition. “ I think I never heard music so clear and beautiful as it did on those prairies," recalled Frank Myers. A t Fort Sully, Sully found waiting two to three hundred lodges o f Lakotas and Yanktonais who wanted peace with the army. These Sioux in ­ formed Sully that a large encampment o f hostile Sioux were on the Heart River, preparing for battle with the soldiers. Sully greatly overestimated their numbers in his report to Pope, claim ing that six thousand warriors were massed to fight him .31 On June 26, after two days o f rest, Sully marched out once more, covering twenty-five miles and camping on Okoboji Creek.

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Two days later came the first skirmish o f the campaign and an incident that outraged the Sioux. Captain John Fielner was a forty-year-old German topograph­ ical engineer and naturalist assigned to the expedition by Pope. Pope, a natural science buff, had given him precise orders on his duties; Fielner was to make “as fu ll a report as possible upon the geology, botany, natural history, and physical character. . . o f the re gion .. . . I need not remind you o f the important results to science which w ill ensue from even a partial success in these ob­ servations,” Pope stressed.32 On June 28 Fielner, w ith a sergeant and private from the 6th Iowa Cavalry, rode out to inspect a rock formation and collect insects. Sully, an experienced frontiersman, warned Fielner to be careful, but Fielner simply laughed o ff his concerns. Later in the day, Fielner was returning towards the camp when he and his escort stopped near the L ittle Cheyenne River for water. Fielner was reaching into the water with his cup when a shot rang out and he was shot through his lungs. Three Yanktonais warriors emerged from the bushes to try and capture the soldiers’ horses, but the horses bolted and the attackers soon fled the scene. Fiel­ ner lived u n til ten o’clock that night, and Siegmund Rothammer was moved enough by the loss to write, “ By his death the country lost a brave, efficient & accomplished officer, our command a gentleman, who . . . commanded the respect o f all, who knew him.”33 Sully ordered an immediate pursuit of the warriors. Three groups rode out o f the camp: the Dakota scouts, elements o f the 6th Iowa Cavalry, and Company A, known as the Coyotes, 1st Dakota Cavalry. There is confusion over who made contact with the Sioux. Two soldiers, Sylvester Campbell and James Thomson, wrote in th e ir diaries that the Dakota scouts with the column hunted down the warriors. “The scouts followed them and killed 3 o f them,” recorded Campbell. Henry Wieneke, who was with the 6th Iowa Cavalry, stated that his company went in pursuit but

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“we were put on the wrong track and missed them,” adding that the Company A, 1st Dakota Cavalry, fought the Sioux.34 Company A and its captain, Nelson M inor, were experienced soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel John Pattee, 6th Iowa Cavalry, re­ membered, “ In this company there were many excellent men, most young men but old in experience as frontiersm en.” Minor ordered his company to mount, and they raced to the site o f the attack. Ole Oland, a member o f the Coyotes, stated, “ O ur com­ pany was called on to k ill his murderers.” Once at the site, they followed the tra il o f the Yanktonais, the company spreading out as they rode. Fifteen miles from the ambush site. M inor spotted three warriors ducking into a nearby ravine. As the soldiers grew closer, the Sioux opened fire. Dismounting, the soldiers advanced and a lively skirmish ensued. The Sioux put breechcloths on their ramrods and waved them to draw the soldiers’ fire, but the Coyotes were too experienced to fall for the trick. One w arrior was shot in the head as the troopers came w ith in twenty feet o f the ravine. W ith loud war cries the other two men, outnumbered and knowing they would die, charged the soldiers bravely before being shot and killed.35 However, A. N. Judd claimed that it was his company, the 6th Iowa Calvary, who had killed the Yanktonais. Judd was part o f the thirty-man detachment sent after the ambushers. According to Judd, “ We had gone but a mile or a little more when we sighted them on their ponies, going at a s tiff gait.” A fter a four-m ile chase, “ they deserted their horses, as our long range guns were knock­ ing the dust out of their hair. They took refuge in a d ry creek bottom but were too slow to get away.” Judd reported that there were five warriors in the ravine and the Iowa soldiers killed only three, the other two escaping.36 J. H. Drips, another member o f the 6th Iowa Cavalry, gave the credit to M inor and Company A. “ Had it not been for Capt M i­ nor’s men, who are Indian hunters, and Indian haters too," the Sioux would not have been apprehended. As Sergeant Abner

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English rounded up the scattered men from Company A, Minor returned to camp to report on the skirmish. Sully was pleased with the report and sent to jo in the troops a Lieutenant Bacon, 1st Dakota cavalry, w ith a keg o f water and some whiskey for the men in the field. Bacon was accompanied by an ambulance and had orders from Sully to cut o ff the heads of the three dead Sioux and bring them back to camp. This order was popular with the men, who saw the Sioux action as murder rather than what it was—a legitim ate act o f war. George Northrup, a scout with the column, cut o ff a partial scalp from one o f the bodies and sent it back East to his brother with a note: “ I enclose a lock of hair from one of the heads, it is yet bloody, but if you wish to preserve it you can wash it out.” 37 The Sioux, when hearing of the beheadings, had an opposite reaction: the news was met with shock and out­ rage. Furious at the soldiers, the Sioux became even more desir­ ous o f fighting them. The follow ing day, Sully had rockets fired to alert Thomas and the Minnesota Brigade that he was nearby, and on June 30 the two columns were joined. To Sully’s surprise and dismay, Thomas inform ed him o f the civilian wagon train accompanying his column. Later, in a report to Pope, Sully vented over the pres­ ence o f emigrants in a war zone. “Why w ill our government con­ tinue to act so foolishly, sending out emigrant trains at a great ex­ pense?” Sully fumed, maintaining that the civilians encouraged desertion and “curse and ridicule the expedition and officers in command.” S till, Sully did his best to provide for the emigrants as his command rested, waiting for the arrival of more supplies being brought up the Missouri River on a steamboat and then overland by wagon train.38 On July 3, resupplied, Sully continued his advance on a pleasant day that caused Eli Williamson, 2nd Minnesota Cav­ alry, to rem ark, “A ll is well. The Lord rules. I ’m satisfied.” The Fourth o f July was celebrated with a twenty-mile march; not u n til after the expedition had encamped was any attention paid

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to Independence Day. Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Pollock, com­ mander of the 6th Iowa Cavalry, gave a short address to his men, “assuring us that if we had a fight it would be w ith in th irty days, we gave him three rousing cheers and adjourned,” wrote Drips. The mood in the camp was less festive than in the previ­ ous year; Williamson noted, “ Not one gun has been fired today to commemorate the day our forefathers declared they would be free. Far different than the one a year ago.” Captain M inor brought his men in Company A, 1st Dakota Cavalry, cans of peaches in celebration of the day. “ I ate mine with some hardtack out on the picket that was the whole o f my supper,” a glum Ole Oland stated, adding, “ I felt bad here.”39 Once incident that day highlighted the racism that was a com­ ponent of the expedition. In his diary, Thomas Hodgson re­ ported on a sermon delivered by a soldier from his regiment named Harris, who was an Adventist minister. H arris first spoke of the flag, Constitution, and certain religious themes, but it was not until “the speaker turned upon the Sioux Indians that he completely captivated the boys,” related Hodgson. H arris “gave the redskins such a roasting . . . the more barbarous the speech became the more the boys applauded. There were to be no pris­ oners taken—even children or women were to be butchered if we ever got at them.” Sitting in the audience was another soldier who was a minister in civilian life. When H arris finished speak­ ing, this minster approached him and “severely rebuked Harris for his unchristian speech.” Unfazed by the criticism , H arris re­ sponded that Christians, when fighting savages, must use the Old Testament method. He quoted from the Bible, “ Destroy them ut­ terly, root and branch. They had forfeited their rig h t to life.” Hodgson believed that the more humane m inister was thoroughly vanquished in his debate with Harris and that most o f the men listening agreed with Harris.40 The following day the column passed between Beaver and Little Beaver Creeks. The Sioux called one prom inent butte the

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Thunder Nest. It was said to be the home o f the mythical Thunderbirds and where they hatched their eggs. The birth o f a Thunderbird was marked by thunder and lightning. Once, ac­ cording to legend, the noise awoke the Grizzly Bear spirit, who went to destroy the eggs. This led to a combat between the spirit and Thunderbirds that shook the entire earth.41 July 6 found the expedition one mile from the Missouri River and the soldiers annoyed with their officers. The officers had been pushing the march, and the horses were worn down. Ac­ cording to Doud, “ Horses faged out, and some of the men. O ffi­ cers have no mercy on the horses.” Making matters worse, once camp was reached that day the officers “then lay in thair tents and d rin k the best o f brandy & some very drunk,” Doud re­ ported. Upon reaching the Missouri River the next day, Sully decided that the new post. Fort Rice—named for General Clay Rice—would be b u ilt there. Rothammer approved of the location, as it had “an abundance o f heavy timber & excellent grazing— lands accompanied by a good boat-landing & ferry-site.” Abner English also praised the site as “the finest I have seen on the Mis­ souri River.” The construction of the fort commenced on the west bank o f the river.42 The materials and supplies needed to establish the post were brought up the river by the steamboats Peoria, Isabella, New Galy, General Grant, Tempest, and Island City. Doing most of the build­ ing were the four companies of the 30th Wisconsin Infantry, who would remain to garrison the fort. Pattee admired the Wisconsin men as good axmen and also for their pie-baking skills: “They had lots o f pies ready to sell us after we got across the river.” Fort Rice took two weeks to construct, with Pattee describing the new post as “ log building—general 80 feet long—erected 24 feet apart around a square that measured 400 feet on each side. The 24 feet between buildings was filled in with a stockade with a gate near the center o f the east, west and north site large enough to drive a wagon through.” 43

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While at Fort Rice, three men— Frank Femmone, Richard Clayton, and Ben Wallace, 2nd Minnesota Cavalry— deserted. A patrol o f six men was sent after them, but they made th e ir escape. Sully published an order that any fu rth e r deserters were to be shot. Soon after came word o f the death o f Andrew Doud. The twenty-two-year-old Doud was a veteran o f the Siege o f Vicks­ burg, where he had been wounded. He had jo in e d the 8th M in­ nesota Infantry only to die at Fort Rice o f “ bilious Colick.” More positive news was the arrival o f m ail from home. John Strong, 8th Minnesota Cavalry, wrote about the effect it had on the men: “ Mail day is o f all others the live lie st. . . in the faces o f the men you can see a smile upon their faces, and a sorrow ful! counte­ nance if bad news is received, and if the orderly says a ll done . . . a bewildered blank look as if they thought they were forgotten by those that they left behind them.” Taking time to w rite his brother Joseph, Leonard Aldrich, 8th Minnesota Infantry, agreed with Strong that “ the worst thing about it w ill be the lack o f mail. It has been three weeks since we had any . . . , ” and m ourned the failure o f his wife and children to correspond: “ I wish Martha and the girls would write.” Frustrated w ith the campaign and homesick, A ldrich complained, “ We fin d no sign o f Indians yet. They are something like going to the place where a rain bow comes to the earth. I don’t believe we shall be able to fin d any that w ill fight. This whole thing is a confound humbug.” 44 On July 17, a day that Amos Cherry, 7th Iowa Cavalry, found “awful hot,” Sully held a review o f his army. A fterw ard W illiam ­ son wrote that “ Isaac, Cory & myself went out into the woods & had a pray meeting. The Lord met us there— Bless His holy name.” Two days later, on July 19, Sully marched the column out of the post. Sully had planned on using pack mules fo r the sup­ plies, but a stampede occurred that “scattered boxes o f hard tack boiled sowbelly ect [stc] over miles o f plains” and changed his mind. One wagon per company, each carrying fifteen hundred pounds of supplies, was kept with the expedition instead. Coming

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with them were the em igrants, to Judd’s disgust. Judd disliked the fact that among them were men “who were trying, as some o f them said, to ‘shunt the draft.’ . . . It went against the grain some, as the m ajority o f them were Southern sympathizers.” 45 Marching along the Cannon Ball River, Frank Myers noted, “We entered a very d iffe re n t country from that on the east side o f the river.” Describing the region, Myers wrote, “The grass was all buffalo, scenery the w onderful and fantastical shaped buttes . . . the buttes were apparently piled up across the prairie, from one to five hundred feet high in all manners o f shapes.” 46 The antici­ pation that the arm y would soon be in action against the Sioux had everyone excited. Oland noted, “ Rumors are afloat o f large bands o f Indians a short distance in our advance.” The pressure perhaps led Sully to become intoxicated, as Captain W illiam Silvis, 8th Minnesota Infantry, tersely recorded in his diary, “Sully drunk.” A t m idnight on July 22, two messengers arrived from Fort Rice w ith news that the Sioux, estimated at eighteen hundred lodges, were camped on the Knife River and ready for a battle. The next day the colum n crossed the Cannon Ball River and marched toward the K nife River.47 July 24 proved a hard day’s march. The weather was brutally hot. “ I never experienced such a hot day in all my travels. Men were sun-struck, dogs died by the roadside, and oxen were left to die,” remembered Robert McLaren. Hoping for good water, the men were disappointed when the Heart River was reached. A thirsty Myers found the “ river contained very poor water for d rin kin g, strongly impregnated with coal and minerals.” 48 Knowing he was closing in on his opponents, Sully decided to strip down his command for action. At the Heart River he left behind the civilia n wagon train, a strong m ilitary guard, and many o f his supplies. On July 26, with a force o f some twenty-two hundred men and forty-five light wagons each loaded with less than a thousand pounds o f supplies, Sully continued toward the Knife River.49 He made contact with the Sioux that same day.

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Out in front o f the column was the Nebraska scout company. It encountered a Sioux war party o f some th irty to forty men. The party had been on a raid against the traditional enemies o f the Sioux, the Crows. Successful in their efforts, they were returning to their people with two Crow prisoners. Upon encountering the war party, the captain o f the scouts, Christian S tufft, who was drunk, panicked and ordered his men to retreat. His lieutenant refused the order and called for an attack. P ulling his pistol, Stufft insisted on a retreat as most o f the company broke for the rear, including him. Stufft raced back to camp, screaming that the scouts had been cut to pieces by the Sioux. Sully ordered Ma­ jo r Brackett to ride to the aid o f those scouts who were still fight­ ing. As Brackett rode out, furious at S tufft’s cowardice, he took a swipe at Stufft with his saber. A rriving on the battle scene, Brack­ ett found the skirmish over. During the fight, the Sioux had shot several horses and wounded one scout in the knee, while the scouts killed three men and saved one o f the two Crow prisoners, the other having died during the fighting. Back in camp, aware of Stufft’s condition, Sully placed the man under arrest and re­ moved him from command.50 Any hope of a surprise attack upon the Sioux village was now gone. Both sides were aware of each other and preparing for combat. Every night Sioux scouts signaled the movements o f the expedition by attaching burning twists o f grass to arrows and shooting them up into the sky from some piece o f high ground. Sully ordered the men to keep their horses saddled at night and to sleep with their weapons in hand. At ten a .m . on July 28, scouts for the army discovered the Sioux camp at a place called Killdeer Mountain.51 The largest battle of the Indian Wars was about to begin.

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CHAPTER 9

The Battle o f K illd e e r M ountain “ TH E PR AIRIE SEEMED A L I V E W ITH IN D IA N S ”

At m idnight on July 28, bugles sounded across the camp awakening the troops for a new day. Yawning and stretch­ ing, the men readied themselves and their mounts and proceeded to march at three-thirty A.M. Already it was proving to be a warm day; by midafternoon the temperature would reach 96 degrees. After advancing fifteen miles, the column stopped near a small lake for a quick breakfast o f coffee and hardtack at nine a .m . Resuming the march, the column again stopped at noon to eat. During this noon rest, scouts raced into the camp at noon to an­ nounce their discovery o f the Sioux encampment a few miles ahead. The Sioux scouts went to the headquarters wagon and changed into the blue uniforms o f the soldiers in order to not be confused with the enemy in the upcoming battle.1 The reaction to the news o f the village was mixed. Colonel Samuel Pollock, commander of the 6th Iowa Cavalry, turned to a nearby captain and exclaimed excitedly, “ Well, captain, we have found the Sons of Bitches at last!” as the men around him re­ sponded with a yell. Realizing it would be a hard fight, men in 202

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Company B, 6th Iowa Cavalry gave their watches, pictures, and other valuables to the regimental saddler, Dwight F. House, for safekeeping. “A few h u rriedly scratched o ff a farewell letter to loved ones, i f they should fall in the battle,” remembered Frank Myers. Some men started to d rin k, but when John Robinson was offered some alcohol he refused. Robinson admitted that he was “a little excited” but wanted to rely on his “native courage.” John Wright was more confident about the engagement: “We go to battle feeling rig h t and justice is on our side and we resolved to conquer or die.” However, Corporal Seth Eastwood, 3rd A rtillery Battery, a good, reliable soldier, was not so sure. Eastwood went to Captain John Jones and requested a pair o f spurs. When Jones asked why, Eastwood responded tru th fu lly: “ Well sir, I might want to run.” Lieutenant G. M e rrill Dwelle believed that a num­ ber o f men in the battery felt the same way.2 The soldiers were s till advancing across a rolling prairie that had little grass because o f the drought. “ The day was very hot and the boys sweat as they toiled steadily on over the dusty plain and suffered much fo r want o f water,” wrote John Pattee. Reaching a small creek, the th irsty men found some water, but it was too alkali to d rin k . Crossing the creek and moving up a steep rise, they soon witnessed the Sioux village for the first time. Although both sides knew that the enemy was near, it appears that the army s till took the encampment by surprise. Not u n til the sol­ diers were w ithin two or three miles did the Sioux see the ap­ proaching danger.3 In their letters and diaries the soldiers offered a variety o f spell­ ing for the Sioux pronunciation of the region. “Toc-Sha-O-WaCoo-Ta” was how Pattee wrote it, meaning “the place where they k ill deer,” or K illdeer Mountain. The location, with its rugged terrain, provided a good defensive position. The ground was un­ even and rose gradually into broken hills. Abner English de­ scribed the area this way: “The mountains were in fu ll succession o f ridges and buttes, each one rising above the other, broken by

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ravines, gulches and canyons . . . the whole rising several hun­ dred feet about the surrounding plains.” The hills ranged from four hundred to eight hundred feet high, Pollock stating that “ deep, wooded ravines almost inaccessible to cavalry protected nearly the whole front o f these buttes.” David Kingsbury could see that the difficult ground made “the chance o f flanking them and meeting them when they emerged near the tim b er. . . equally impractical and in fact, almost impossible.” A t the base o f these formidable hills was the Sioux village.4 The Hunkpapas o f the Lakotas had been the first to arrive at Killdeer Mountain. Among them were twenty-four-year-old Gall, a rising leader, and Sitting Bull, who was likely th irty years old. According to Ernie LaPointe, Sitting B u ll’s great-grandson, Sit­ ting Bull had come out o f curiosity. He wanted to observe how the white soldiers fought, and he later stated that he had not wanted to fight but “still just wanted to be left alone.” According to him, “Our Hunkpapa tribe was peacefully camped above the mouth of the Little Missouri in the Killdeer Mountains.” Here they were joined by the Lakota bands o f Sans Arcs, Miniconjous, and Blackfeet. Yanktonais, upset over Whitestone H ill, also gathered at the growing camp, and on July 26 Inkpaduta and his band o f resister Santees arrived. An experienced and well-respected warrior, Inkpaduta suggested the camp be moved up the mountain, and according to Sitting Bull, “selected a flat at the mouth canyon that was surrounded with wooded ravines and breaks, where he felt we could best avoid, or fight against the whites . . . i f neces­ sary.” Eventually some sixteen hundred lodges, occupied by eight thousand people, of whom two thousand would have been men of m ilitary age, settled at the base of the m ountain.5 Sitting Bull’s fourteen-year-old nephew. W hite Bull, was wa­ tering the family horses when a group o f young hunters brought word of the approach o f the army. Sitting Bull, W hite Bull, and Sitting Bull’s uncle Four Horns mounted their horses and rode out to a high hill. From there White Bull saw “a whole string o f

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soldiers coming a whole bunch o f infantry [Sully had dismounted part o f his command]— long string mile wide and companies on horses ride in bunches back o f them.”6 At first, neither side made much noise as both groups went about preparing for combat. Sully placed the 1st Brigade on the right and the 2nd Brigade on the left side o f the line. Three com­ panies o f the 7th Iowa cavalry were ordered to dismount and were sent out along the entire front o f the line as skirmishers. Sully also had six companies o f the 8th Minnesota Infantry, who had been mounted fo r the campaign, on his left and six compa­ nies o f the 6th Iowa Cavalry on his right dismount as well. The 2nd Minnesota Cavalry were left mounted to support the 8th Minnesota Infantry, as was Brackett’s Battalion, who would sup­ port the 6th Iowa Cavalry. In the center o f the line. Sully placed Nathaniel Pope’s a rtille ry battery supported by the two compa­ nies o f the 1st Dakota Cavalry. Behind the front line came the wagon train and ambulances, defended by John Jones’s artillery battery and several companies from the 6th Iowa Cavalry, 8th Minnesota Infantry, and 2nd Minnesota Cavalry. Quietly, a num­ ber o f the Sioux scouts slipped away to fight alongside their people, loyalty to their kin being more important than serving the whites.7 The Sioux took time to apply their war paint and go through the various rituals before entering combat. Slowly they rode out to meet the soldiers. It was an intim idating sight. The “Indians appeared covering [the] plains 6 miles or more front and back to the hills as far as you could see was Indians & ponies,” an im­ pressed Henry Wieneke wrote, adding that the Sioux were “show­ ing some very good horsemanship and defying us to come on." James Fisk, 2nd Minnesota Cavalry, recalled that the soldiers could “see them by the thousands in their camp, mounting their horses and getting ready for battle.” According to twenty-yearold Harlen Bruch, 8th Minnesota Infantry, “The Indians gath­ ered on their horses, stripped for battle, and began to leisurely

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ride out towards us, first a few fine looking fellows rode up nearly within gunshot to reconnoiter and then little bands would leave the camp and advance.” 8 In awe of this display of m ilitary might, numerous reports from soldiers present that day overestimated the numbers the army faced. A. N. Judd claimed that there were eight thousand warriors prepared to attack the column. Most other accounts, including the reports of Sully and Pattee, stated they were opposed by a force of five to six thousand men.9 Sully, an experienced veteran of the plains, likely knew that the figure was too high, but as was a com­ mon occurrence with reports during the C ivil War, wanted to im­ press Pope and others, in order to show the seriousness o f the fighting at Killdeer. Killdeer was the first battle in which the army faced a sizable portion of the Lakotas’ m ilitary power. The fight started in a very traditional Lakota fashion. Lakota warriors were known for their flamboyant and courageous behavior. Personal honor being ex­ tremely important, warriors tried to draw attention to themselves on the battlefield, so witnesses would later give them praise and recognition for their m ilitary accomplishments. As the soldiers approached, one Lakota man. Lone Dog, announced that he would ride close to the soldier’s front line to see if they would shoot at him, then “we w ill then all shoot at the soldiers.” W hite Bull states that Lone Dog was charmed: “ He ran close to the sol­ diers. When they came and gave them the chance to shoot first. . . , ” the soldiers fired but missed. Lone Dog once more rode along the soldier’s line, again returning unharmed. Impressed by Lone Dog’s bravery, the young White Bull could not resist joining on his third run toward the soldiers. “They all took a shot at us and we weren’t hit and returned to the h i l l . . . , ” W hite Bull remembered. Sitting Bull was pleased with W hite Bull: “ I was glad my nephew had taken this opportunity to show such cour­ age in his first battle.” 10

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Not as pleased w ith a performance that showed the poor marksmanship o f the army were the soldiers trying to k ill Lone Dog. Benjamin Brunson, 8th Minnesota Infantry, assumed Lone Dog was a chief, w riting that “at this point their apparent leader would ride out in advance o f his line, waving his banner of eagle feathers, then wheeling around give instructions to his forces." Pattee also remembered Lone Dog: “About this time an Indian very gaily dressed, carrying a large war club gorgeously ornamented appeared out front o f the 6th Iowa Cavalry and called loudly to us and gesticulated wildly about one-half mile away.” Three men fired at Lone Dog but could not bring him down. Even Sully grew angry at the affair, sending Pattee an or­ der: “The general sends his compliments and wishes you to k ill that Indian for God’s sake.” Taking his two best marksmen, Pat­ tee had them fire at Lone Dog, only to once more miss. Then Lone Dog “ immediately stretched himself out flat along the horse’s back and plied his left heel vigorously against the flank of his pony and disappeared from my sight over the h ill,” recorded Pattee.11 Few men gained the honor that Lone Dog did that day. Sully ordered an advance toward the village that Thomas Hodgson referred to as “slow and majestic.” Sent out front of their regiment as skirmishers were five companies o f the 8th Minne­ sota Infantry, spaced some twelve feet apart, and according to Colonel M inor Thomas, “There was a determined look on the faces o f the men that indicated that they now had a chance to get satisfaction from the redskins.” There may have been a number o f reasons for the 1864 expedition, but for the men on that expe­ dition there was still only one reason: revenge. At twelve-forty-five p.m. the first shots rang out, starting the battle, and for Thomas, “ Everything changed.” The Sioux opened fire on the skirmishers and then charged.12 More than one soldier remembered that first charge and the powerful psychological impact it had on them. “It looked awful,”

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wrote Fisk. “Thousands o f Indians were rushing down on us, in a dead run. It looked to me as though they couldn’t stop if they wanted to, and that we would be run over and have a hand to hand fighting with the savages. There’s no use denying it—I was badly scared.” Kingsbury also was shaken by the assault: “To sol­ diers, or others, who have not seen or heard an Indian charge, it cannot be described. It is calculated to strike terror into the hearts of the bravest. I have not the command o f words to attempt to give any proper description of it.” He could only compare the charge to “the imps of Hell let loose.” Impressive as it m ight have been, a mounted charge could not withstand the volley o f long-range ri­ fle fire. The attack was halted and driven back as the soldiers continued marching forward. “We gave it to them good,” a satis­ fied Fisk wrote. The Sioux responded with more charges that Harlan Bruch reported followed a sim ilar pattern: “The bands concentrated and, uttering their war cries, they dashed towards our lines. Riding at fu ll speed they would fire their guns and wheel and disappear to load and come again.” 13 The firepower of the troopers was something the Sioux could not compete with. The Hunkpapas were poorly armed with old flintlock muskets and little ammunition, and it is unlikely that the other bands were better armed. For Sitting Bull, “ I had never seen white troops fight before. The number o f guns and the amount of shooting was much more than I had ever expected.” During their attacks, the warriors were suffering losses. Although they boldly advanced at first, John Strong soon noted that “ they discovered that our guns were long range and in the hands o f men capable of making a good shot.” The reluctance o f the Sioux to push home a charge frustrated John Richardson, 2nd M inne­ sota Cavalry: “They came pretty near us once or twice but not never enough for to scare us much or fight much either.” To the soldiers the Sioux seemed to “all set up the war hoop and com­ menced to circle us around, each vying with the other to see which could make the most noise.” Stymied in their frontal

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attacks, the Sioux spread out all along the line, moving to attack the flanks, looking for an opening.14 As the battle expanded, the Sioux recorded an act of bravery. During the fighting, a group o f men emerged from the encamp­ ment singing and dragging a travois bearing a crippled man. The forty-year-old Man-Who-Never-Walked had been crippled from birth and now wanted to die a heroic death “as he cannot be of use.” His friends honored his request, giving him weapons, and as the man sang his death song, the horse pulling the travois was whipped and sent directly into the path o f the oncoming sol­ diers. The horse was h it first and went down; shortly afterward Man-Who-Never-Walked was shot to death. Proud of how their friend died, the Sioux renamed him Bear’s Heart.15 Soon after. Sitting B ull’s uncle, Four Horns, was wounded. Sit­ ting Bull had been engaged in the fighting, mounted on a fast sorrel he had purchased from some Canadian Indians for several buffalo robes. He was well armed with a good rifle and a bow. Observing the battle, Sitting Bull was shocked by the lack o f per­ sonal honor and bravery shown by the soldiers. When a Sioux warrior was wounded or killed, other men worked in pairs to rescue the wounded man, taking him to safety, or to throw a lariat around a dead man to save his body from the enemy. Sit­ ting Bull did not see the soldiers doing these things and con­ cluded, “ They seem to have no hearts . . . when a white soldier gets killed, nobody cries, nobody cares; they go right on shooting and let him lie there.” During one of the many charges on the troopers, Four Horn was struck “ in the back of the ribs.” Sitting Bull and White Bull raced to his side when Four Horns shouted, “I am shot.” The two men led Four Horn’s horse back to the vil­ lage, where Sitting Bull took care of the wounded man. White Bull stated that Sitting Bull had “medicines on hand at all times and put some on the sore—gave him some to drink then ban­ daged the hole.” For Sitting Bull, the battle was over as he cared for his relative.16

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Moving toward the flanks o f the arm y lines, the Sioux were starting to adapt to the soldiers’ fig h tin g style. To overcome the soldiers’ firepower, the Sioux would start firin g at one point of the line, diverting the attention o f the soldiers, and then charge at another point. T h e ir skills as horsemen fu rth e r reduced casu­ alties. As Robinson recalled, “ The Indians are fine horsemen, that is expert riders, when they saw that one o f our men was go­ ing to fire at them they would drop upon the side o f their horse in an instant.” 17 Using these tactics, the Sioux struck at the left flank of the army. To counter the attack, Major Ebenezer Rice and Companies A and D, 2nd Minnesota Cavalry, were ordered to the extreme left of the line. The cavalry raced “at a gallop fo r about one mile when we wheeled into line and dismounted,” according to Rice. For the next two hours they engaged the Sioux. Rice was almost killed, noting, “ I saw the Indian when he came up and took aim but not supposing him in the act o f firin g upon me I felt no alarm . . . but I soon found that I was his man . . . in a tw inkling a ball came hissing by my head.” Three other Sioux also tried, and failed, to shoot Rice. D uring the action, John W right, 8th Minnesota Infantry, saw three soldiers advancing up a h ill while several Sioux warriors were coming up from the other side. The two groups clashed, and one w arrior was kille d as the others retreated. W right noted that soon “ two Indians swooped back side by side and reached down gathered th e ir dead companion and was back over the ridge before our men recovered sufficient to give them another shot.” When joined by two more companies o f the 2nd Minnesota Cavalry, Rice mounted his command and charged the Sioux, driving them back nearly eight m iles.18 Another factor in the defeat o f the Sioux assaults was Sully’s use of artillery. Sully was a strong supporter o f the effect o f a rtil­ lery on Indians on the battlefield. At the start o f the engagement he had placed his artillery on high hills, giving them a wide range of fire. During the Sioux frontal assaults, th e ir charges

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were met by a rtille ry firin g canister. When the Sioux moved to challenge the flanks. Sully maneuvered his artillery into posi­ tions that gave him an enfilade fire that again swept the Sioux lines. “The cannons were a revelation to these Sioux,” Kingsbury maintained. “ They had probably never seen, much less heard, one before.” S itting B ull commented on the use o f the artillery: “The cannon which shot so loud and so far and so often was a big surprise.” Once more, however, the warriors learned to adapt. Thomas Hodgson observed that when the artillery fired at a group of Sioux, they would quickly scatter, thus lessening the impact o f the shells as they arrived. By doing this, Hodgson believed, the Sioux did not suffer the high casualties often claimed in the army reports o f the battle.19 Sully found a fu rth e r use for the artillery, one that was not used in any other theater o f the C ivil War. Approaching the vil­ lage, about a m ile from the encampment, soldiers noticed hun­ dreds o f women, children, and elderly on a butte watching the progress o f the battle. Sully ordered eight artillery pieces to open fire on them. The first volley o f shells fell short, but the second and following volleys were on target. Periodically, citizens during the C ivil War would come under artillery fire. However, no offi­ cer intentionally fired a rtille ry upon noncombatants; to do so would have been met with shock and censorship. Yet, at Killdeer, M inor Thomas not only approved of the act but called it “a mag­ nificent sight,” remembering, “ 1,600 lodges filled with women and children, dogs, horses and all paraphernalia of their homes, and their attem pting to save them with the shells bursting about them, carrying destruction in their path.”20 D uring the fighting on the left flank, the Sioux did force ele­ ments o f the 8th Minnesota Infantry to fall back, opening a hole in the line. W ith this, several hundred Sioux made a major effort to strike into the rear o f the army in an attempt to reach the wagon train. “A horde o f Indians tried to come up behind and take the batteries” was how Sylvester Campbell viewed the attack.

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Alarmed, Myers believed that “ the p ra irie seemed alive with Indians bent on our immediate destruction.” Sully saw the threat and ordered Jones’s battery and Company A, 1st Dakota Cavalry, to plug the hole. The Sioux charge was “ met by a steady fire o f our boys,” reported Abner English. Meeting in a ravine, the two sides fought it out at close range, including a hand-to-hand me­ lee. The Sioux fired arrows that “swished by our heads w ith great force,” stated English, as the soldiers replied w ith th e ir pistols. “The steady fire . . . and the shells o f Jones guns made sad havoc in their ranks.” Supported by the artillery, the Dakota troopers broke the attack, and the Sioux “never succeed in piercing that line o f blue,” boasted a proud English.21 Relentlessly, although the soldiers were suffering from the heat and lack o f water, the army came ever closer to the village; the warriors were unable to stop the advance. A tired Sergeant Drips wrote, “A ll this time our column was advancing, sometimes on the double-quick, under a scorching July sun and hardly any water fit to drink.” The men fought well; H enry Wieneke told his wife that “most o f the boys stood right up to the work and never flinched.” Fighting alongside the soldiers were m ixed-blood and full-blood scouts, a number o f whom were Sioux. M ilton Spencer believed the scouts “ fought like tigers” and were often taunted by the Sioux, who “abused them terribly” for being traitors to their people.22 Defeated in their efforts to break the soldier’s lines on the front, flanks, and rear, the Sioux grew alarmed at the obvious threat to their loved ones and homes in the village. A ll hopes o f winning the battle were gone, and the only thing the warriors could do was try to hold back the troopers to give th e ir families time to escape the coming destruction. Excelling as a good de­ fensive fighter, Inkpaduta rose to the occasion, ra llyin g his men for one more effort to hold the Sioux’s left flank, the closest to the panicking village.

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Inkpaduta’s Santee and Yanktonai forces charged out o f the ravine and into the rig h t flank o f Sully’s line. “They massed their forces between our lines and th e ir village, and made one final and desperate charge on our right, which was w ithin a short dis­ tance o f their camp,” observed Kingsbury. Brackett’s Battalion o f mounted cavalry counterattacked this new Sioux offensive. Brack­ ett’s men had been doing good service during the day, blocking Sioux assaults on the right. A t one point, Brackett had sent out a decoy o f ten to fifteen troopers to an exposed h ill. Watching the move, Myers thought the men would be slaughtered. As the Sioux attacked the soldiers, the troopers fled, leading their pursuers into an ambush prepared by Brackett. Now, faced with Inkpadu­ ta’s advance, Brackett ordered a saber charge into the flank o f the Sioux. “ No more welcome order could have been given,” re­ called Sergeant Isaac Botsford. “ W ith a yell, they swept down the hillside, across a ravine and up the opposite sloop and in a mo­ ment were upon them.” 23 The struggle was fierce, with neither side giving ground. Sit­ ting B ull, watching the fight, remembered, “ We pulled some o f the troopers from th e ir saddles, counting coup on them.” Re­ venge was again a m otivating influence on the actions o f the sol­ diers. Most o f the men in Brackett’s Battalion had lost loved ones in the Dakota War o f 1862. Corporal James Edwards’s father had been m urdered by the Sioux at Butternut, a small town near Mankato, Minnesota. The twenty-three-year-old Welshman had learned o f the death while serving with the 5th Iowa Cavalry. He swore revenge, and now seeing a w arrior on foot, drew his saber and charged him , yelling, “ Now is the time for revenge!” The Sioux w arrior calmly watched Edwards advance upon him, aimed his rifle , and fired, killin g Edwards’s horse. Both men now on foot, the w arrior swung his empty gun at Edwards, who parried w ith his saber before killin g his opponent with a lunge. A ser­ geant, who Judd believed to be deranged, also rushed ahead in

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vengeance for his murdered wife, Bella, who had died at New Ulm. Charging into a mass of Sioux warriors, the trooper slashed with his saber as the warriors tried to pull him from his horse. By the time other soldiers reached his side, the sergeant had been pierced with arrows, his horse killed, and his saber broken. “Tell the folks I am satisfied,” the dying man panted. “ They paid a good price for Bella.”24 The fighting was hand to hand. A sixteen-year-old trooper fought with a powerful, experienced warrior. The terrified boy shot o ff all the rounds from his pistol and finally killed the man with his saber. Later, after taking the dead man’s scalp, the scared trooper, half laughing and half crying, shared his story with his comrades. John Strong remembered that “ for a few minutes the fighting was desperate,” before the Sioux were driven back. Once more, Inkpaduta gathered his men for another attack, only to see this one dispersed by the effective use of artillery. Having bought what time he could, he called upon his followers to retreat. Be­ hind him were left the bodies of twenty-seven Sioux. Brackett, wounded in the hand during the fighting, had lost two men killed, one being Sergeant George N orthrup, the well-known frontiersman, who was struck by between eight and ten arrows. Brackett also had eight men wounded, one who later died.25 Supporting Brackett was Lieutenant G. M e rrill Dwelle and a section of the 3rd A rtillery Battery. Shells from Dwelle’s artillery dispersed Inkpaduta’s final attempt at a counterattack, and once the Sioux had retreated, Dwelle continued to fire rounds into the wooded butte near the village. He was soon joined by other a rtil­ lery, which commenced to bombard the encampment. Strong could see the village, noticing that “a large part o f their force were busy in taking down tepees, hiding their property and getting the women and children out of the way.” W ith the ar­ rival of the artillery, Strong said, “ the batteries were brought up and planted on another h ill with in reach o f them. Now com­ menced the work of death among the Indians. Shells were

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thrown into the tim ber, driving them out of it, then others would be thrown among them, till they broke and ran for the top of the m ountain.” 26 Even as the soldiers were on the verge of entering the village, which was in panic with people desperate to escape, some war­ riors continued to risk their lives to defend the encampment. White Bull remembered that shortly after Inkpaduta’s clash with Brackett’s men, another group o f soldiers charged some Sioux who had taken shelter behind a h ill. Noticing the attack, some warriors rode to their defense, and White Bull saw the soldiers “turn around and run and [Indians] whip their horses and catch up and pull some [soldiers] o ff horses and k ill some [soldiers]. . . and rest [soldiers] run clear back.” It was the last success the Sioux gained that day.27 Entering the village, the soldiers seemed to be consumed by a bloodlust. Soldiers from the 8th Minnesota Infantry found a helpless old man, whom “our boys dispatched to the happy hunt­ ing ground with as little compunction as if he had been a tiger,” wrote Hodgson bluntly. A major in the regiment tried to regain control o f the situation as the men chased the Sioux into the foot­ hills and tim ber behind the village, ordering them to cease fire, but Hodgson remarked that the men would not listen: “ We were after redskins and didn’t propose to lose a good chance.” Captain Christian Stufft, reinstated to the command of the scouts follow­ ing his disgraceful performance in the skirmish prior to Killdeer Mountain, proudly reported that finding three Sioux, one of whom was wounded, “ my Winnebago boys afterwards killed, scalped and beheaded.”28 The Sioux scattered into the deep ravines and woods behind the village, hounded by the artillery shells. The cannons kept fir­ ing u n til darkness fell, ending the ability to find further targets. Myers found the action humorous: “It was amusing to see the desperate efforts made by the Indians to get out of reach of the cannon.” Four companies of the 8th Minnesota Infantry kept up

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a pursuit until reaching a deep canyon, “ which the Indians had crossed by some path known only to themselves,” wrote Kings­ bury. “ Beyond this canyon the Indians, with their squaws, could still be seen retreating, but they were out o f reach o f our guns.” Kingsbury noted that, again, several warriors fought u n til killed to gain time for their people to flee. Eventually, the Sioux made good their escape and the pursuing soldiers were called back.29 The battle of Killdeer was over. The battle lasted anywhere from six to eight hours, depending on the accounts of the soldiers present. The numbers o f casual­ ties for both sides are confusing. Amos Cherry, 7th Iowa Cavalry, placed Sioux losses at 150, as did Kingsbury, while Abner English estimated the number to be closer to 200. Judd, later involved in the destruction of the village, claimed the troops buried 208 bodies, while Wieneke stated that 1,000 bodies were burned along with the village. On one point all accounts agree: no pris­ oners were taken the day of the battle. Two young boys were found and placed on a blanket by troopers, who gave them hard­ tack to eat, “which the little fellows ate with avidity and relish,” wrote one of the soldier who was present. When Sioux scouts rode up, they “struck their tomahawks into their brains .. ., ” killing the boys. Kingsbury recalled finding a baby who was only a few months old; since the soldiers were unable to care for the infant, the child was shot, “ by, or possibly without an order, but it could not be helped.” Estimates on the army losses also vary, but it is likely five men died and ten more were wounded in the fighting.30 The soldiers were pleased with their victory, although un­ aware o f the magnitude of the battle itself. English wrote that the army “ had been engaged in one of the most hotly contested bat­ tles ever fought with Indians.” Wieneke commented to his wife, “ I guess our Indian fighting is over as they got so badly drubbed that they w ill not let us get at them again. It is more fun to fight Indians they cannot do anything against our d rille d troops with

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our arms. Besides that they are too great a set of cowards to come up to us.”31 The night o f the battle, the soldiers—hot, thirsty, and tired— discovered a mud hole with water half a mile from the village. Myer followed a line o f men to the hole, where the men “filled our camp kettle and returned to strain the stuff through a towel, which, by the way, had not been to the laundry lately” Later the exhausted soldiers slept in the captured lodges of the Sioux. At four the next m orning. Sully ordered a pursuit o f the Sioux.32 The army marched six miles from the village before giving up the pursuit. The terrain was simply too rugged and rough for the wagons, and Sully ordered a return to the camp. Upon their ar­ rival the soldiers encountered Sioux who had come back to the camp looking for supplies, materials, and lost loved ones. After a brief skirmish the Sioux were driven away. Later another group of Dakotas approached the soldiers, bearing a white flag. The men ignored the peace delegation, and it is unknown why the Sioux wanted to speak with the soldiers.33 The rest o f the day was spent in the burning and destruction of the village. Fourteen companies from the various regiments were assigned the duty o f destroying the encampment. The work began at seven a .m . and continued until three p.m . More than sixteen hundred lodges were burned, and “ buffalo robes, dried buffalo meat, dried berries, numberless camp kettles and other utensils were piled on their lodge poles, the match applied and all went up in smoke,” reported English. Cherry also noted the burning o f fifty tons o f dried meat, after the men took what food they could carry, and that “many dogs [were] shot.” Admiring the Indian robes, Hodgson remembered that “some o f the robes were beautifully beaded and worked and many of us boys coveted them so much” that men appropriated them “ by using them for saddle blankets by day and bed blankets by night." After hours of destruction, Kingsbury was satisfied with what had been accom­ plished, believing that the annihilation of the camp and its

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supplies “was a greater blow to the Indians than the loss o f the braves who were killed.” 34 He was most like ly correct in his analysis. While in the midst o f burning the camp, the men encountered Sioux survivors o f the attack. In his diary Wieneke notes that “they also killed ten more Indians that were found in the brush.” Myers recorded the Sioux scouts’ discovery o f one wounded war­ rio r hiding in a small clump o f bushes. They set the man up on one side o f the brush, mounted th e ir ponies, and rode past the brush in single file, each then “shooting the poor wretch every time they came around.” This was the second act committed by the Sioux scouts upon defenseless members o f th e ir own people, but no motive for their actions was provided. For Dwelle, the dis­ covery o f the bodies o f two dead babies and a young teenage g irl was regretful. “ Is it not sad . . . such children never did us any harm,” he wrote his sister Carrie.35 At four p.m. Sully started his march back to the H eart River and the base camp. After marching six miles, the column made camp for the night. The evening proved a harsh one for the soldiers, leading to losses almost riva lin g those o f the battle at Killdeer. While on guard duty, a nervous sentry shot and killed Sergeant Isaac Winget of the 6th Iowa Cavalry. He thought the sergeant, who was checking the lines, was an Indian approaching the camp. Soon after, the Sioux did strike the camp, chasing o ff some horses. Successful, the Sioux, likely young w arriors en­ gaged in the long-time practice of horse stealing, attacked again. The pickets were driven in and more horses captured. Two o f the pickets were wounded and two others, privates David LaPlante and Anton Holzgen, 2nd Minnesota Cavalry, were reported missing.36 The next day, July 30, the column marched th irty-six miles, and along the way the bodies o f the two missing pickets were recovered. “The bodies o f the two piquets were found this a . m . Each had about ten or twelve arrows in i t . . . , ” wrote Wieneke. The dead men’s weapons, horses, and equipment had all been

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taken. LaPIante and Holzgen were buried where they were found, and the column marched over the graves to cover them. Riding to the top o f a nearby h ill, the warriors who had staged two suc­ cessful raids on the army showed o ff their captured horses to the soldiers. “ They made great sport o f us, dancing and hooting like demons,” a bitter Hodgson wrote. The warriors also taunted the Sioux scouts, claim ing that the soldiers had not fought fairly at Killdeer and that the Sioux would fight them again. The scouts answered that if there were another battle all the Sioux would be killed.37 On July 31 the column reached the base camp, where the re­ m aining soldiers with their supplies and the emigrant wagon train awaited. David Jenkins was sick o f the campaign and wished it would end: “ The boys want to start home having had enough of this kind o f sport.” 38 Jenkins did not realize that the worse part o f the expedition was yet to come, as the army would retire through the Badlands. Here the Dakotas were gathering for retaliation for Killdeer.

CHAPTER 10

The Fight in the Badlands “ T H E I N D I A N S WERE A L L A R O U N D US T R Y I N G TO BREAK I N ”

Having won his engagement with the Sioux, Sully now planned to finish o ff the campaign by advancing westward to the Yellowstone River. This would allow him to end his obligation to protect the emigrant wagon train, to build a fo rt on the river, and to link up with steamboats loaded with much-needed sup­ plies. Sully’s column was down to less than a week’s worth of provisions. However, for Sully to reach the Yellowstone River and make contact with the steamboats before running out o f supplies, the army would have to cross the Badlands—an area so rugged and desolate that it was believed to be impassable by wagons. Faced with few options, the column started toward the Badlands on August 3. It was a difficult journey. The heat was oppressive, and there was little good water available for the suffering soldiers and civil­ ians. The men’s tongues became so swollen that no verbal com­ mands could be given. To counter the heat, the men rose at three A.M., started marching by five a .m ., and camped by three p.m . Grass­ hoppers had consumed all the grass, forcing soldiers to feed 220

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their horses bare limbs o f trees and bushes. So exhausting were the days that entries in diaries were only a few words. Ending the first day’s march, Amos Cherry could only write, “Day hot. Water very scarce indeed.” 1 The party reached the outskirts of the Badlands two days later. Concerns over water and feed for the horses and livestock only increased. Cherry recorded that some water was found at the bottom o f a steep h ill and that he was “on watter squad to night, good joke on me.” W riting what was on the mind of many of the soldiers, Henry Wieneke stated bluntly, “Halted on edge of roughest country. Ahead no water except what stood in pools or depressions o f ground accumulation of heavy shower. No feed for horses and no fuel except Buffalo Chips.” Even more troubling to some o f the travelers was their first view of the Badlands. “Na­ ture seems to have tried her hand at freaks, as if to see into how many shapes she could pile molten clay and rock,” observed Lieutenant Colonel Robert McLaren. John Wright, intimidated by the scenery, claimed it “would take an abler pen than mine to describe and do it justice.” Adding to his concern was that “at first sight one would think no sane man would attempt to pass [through].” The day ended on a solemn note. While halted on a high bluff, a trooper became confused by the darkness and camp­ fires and fell o ff the embankment, plunging more than two hun­ dred feet. The next morning his body was found, “an unrecogniz­ able mangled, mass of broken bones and bloody flesh,” according to Nicholas Hilger.2 Confronted by this seemingly impassable barrier. Sully was counting on one man, an American Indian scout, to get the ex­ pedition through the Badlands. In his report, Sully stated that the scout was a Yanktonai, while other accounts say the guide was an eighteen-year-old Blackfoot man who had once traveled through the area with his people. A. N. Judd claimed the guide was the Crow man saved from the Sioux war party in the skir­ mish prior to Killdeer Mountain.3 Perhaps more than one scout

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stepped up to aid the struggling column as it maneuvered its way through the Badlands, but what is im portant is that without as­ sistance from American Indian scouts, the column may not have gotten through the region, especially as the Sioux gathered to oppose its march. The Sans Arc band of the Lakotas was the first to become aware of the army’s attempt to travel through the Badlands. Accounts of the fighting that was to come there often argue that the Sioux were trying to overwhelm and annihilate the entire expedition. When considering the dwindling supply situation and the Badlands’ difficult terrain, which made the standard defensive formation of the army—with flanking units—almost impossible, it is easy to understand how this conclusion could be reached. However, it is unlikely that the Sioux had formulated such a strategic plan when they first learned o f the column’s ap­ proach. Two more traditional forms o f Sioux warfare did come into play. Although the Sioux preferred an open battle with their enemies, the use of ambush was acceptable, and the Badlands made ambush an effective weapon against the superior weap­ onry of the soldiers. Secondly, when encountering a superior force, the Sioux would harass the enemy u n til it was forced to retire from the territory. Such harassment had already started, with horse raids and attacks upon pickets; now, with the terrain as an ally, the Sioux could mount a massive harassment cam­ paign. Upon discovery of the column, the Sans Arcs sent messen­ gers to the various nearby bands and villages, calling upon them to once more resist the soldiers in battle—a battle in the Bad­ lands they would call Waps-Chon-Choka.4 One of the villages found by the messengers was Sitting B ull’s. They “asked me if our tribe would help them fight the soldiers o f General Sully,” he recalled. Although not enthusiastic about fight­ ing the soldiers again, Sitting Bull had learned much about the whites’ style of warfare at Killdeer. After some time for reflection,

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he realized the m ilitary advantage the Badlands gave to a de­ fending force and agreed to support the other bands.5 In his report on the fighting in the Badlands, Sully stated that he faced the Lakota bands he fought at Killdeer Mountain and the Brules.6 I f this report is accurate, the war had changed once more. The Santees and Yanktonais were absent, and the sole force the army was now engaging was the Lakotas. In all prior battles with the Sioux, the soldiers had justified the warfare by the need for revenge, punishment, and defense of the border against those who had participated in the uprising in Minnesota. Now it was the Lakotas, who had in no way been involved in the Dakota War of 1862, who sought revenge, for the losses suffered at Killdeer Mountain. For them, fighting the soldiers in the Bad­ lands was clearly justifiable. On August 6 the army moved into the Badlands. Overwhelmed by the incredible terrain, soldiers were moved to write vivid de­ scriptions, and the scenery of the Badlands became the single most written-about subject o f the entire expedition. A. P. Con­ nelly wrote, “ The body o f the earth had been rent and torn a sunder, as though giant demons, in their infuriated defeat, had sought to disembowel the earth." For Judd, the Badlands “are like a vast desolate city, made of scoria, mostly spires and domes, made up o f all shades of red and brown, now and then as undis­ turbed strata o f schist and grey sandstone.” Far more briefly, Abner English described the region as “a terrible desolate world.” More concerned with the army’s need to march through it, David Kingsbury offered his view of the Badlands: “They consist of a depression or basin, covering an extent o f about forty miles, hav­ ing an average depth o f some six hundred feet below the level of the surrounding country.. . . There are many deep and numer­ ous canons, having no confirmed general direction and forming a bewildering labyrinth, in which one not familiar with the coun­ try must inevitably soon be lost."7

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The march on August 6 started at five A.M . Sully, gravely ill from a bout of rheumatism and dysentery, ordered 150 pioneers with picks and shovels and seven companies o f cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel John Pattee to carve out a road for the wag­ ons ahead of the column. Following close behind were individual soldiers who wanted to explore the area. The soldiers were amazed to discover petrified wood and images o f plants, fish, and reptiles embedded in the rock formations. To Hilger, the region was like a park “of circular stone monuments o f columns, that varied in size from three to eight feet in diameter and from ten to fifty feet in height, and which were o f an equal thickness from base to summit.” The formations had flat tops or caps that H ilger de­ scribed as looking like “a crop o f giant mushrooms.” J. H. Drips also found the formations fascinating: “We found here petrifac­ tion in every variety, from what had been a tree o f six or seven feet in circumference down to the merest atom, all hard as the granite rock.”8 Slowly, the column moved forward twelve miles through the wasteland, reaching the Little Missouri River. The drought had reduced the river to a trickle. The soldiers marched along the river for a mile, fording the stream twice before entering a nar­ row, deep crevasse that Hilger described as “ barely wide enough for the wagons to pass through.” The crevasse zigzagged for three miles before opening onto a high bluff.9 Still out in front of the column, Pattee’s men worked to open up a roadway through the crevasse. At one point a grizzly burst out from cover and ran o ff two companies’ horses, and it wasn’t until eleven a .m . that the dismounted men were able to retrieve all their mounts. Later in the day, Pattee ordered an end to their labors and a return to the camp, but Company K, 6th Iowa Cav­ alry, failed to receive the order and was to be left behind. Mean­ while, the main column made camp for the day. Looking for feed and water for their horses, the men arrived at a stand o f tim ber

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next to the L ittle Missouri River and placed pickets to guard the animals.10Then the Sioux struck. A war party drove the pickets back and seized a number of the horses. Quickly mounting, another cavalry force chased after the raiders and retrieved most of the horses. Judd had climbed up on some rocks and was busily carving his name and date into the soft rock. He had carved “A.N.J. Aug 7th 186-” when the attack on the camp commenced. He saw naked men, who had been bathing in the L ittle Missouri River, grab pistols and fire at the Sioux. One serious loss came with the death of the Crow scout who had led the expedition to the waters of the Little Missouri.11 Concerned with the attack and realizing that Company K had been left behind, Pattee saddled up his command and rode back to find the missing company. It was not long after leaving camp that Pattee saw Company K “coming out of the hills, while thou­ sands o f Indians, as if by magic, appeared all over the hills on the west side o f the river.” The soldiers fought their way back to camp, where the Sioux were driven o ff by the artillery.12 The fighting became general as “ from every point, cliff, hole or cave, the Indians fired upon us. Our parties of explorers rushed in from all directions. . . ” recalled Hilger. Earlier, Sully had referred to the Badlands as “ Hell with the fires put out,” but with the sudden Sioux onslaught, one chaplain declared that it was really “ Hell alive” with “ his Satanic majesty’s forces welcoming their new guests on Judgment Day.” The Sioux occupied the sur­ rounding buttes, close enough to shower the camp with arrows. When possible, given the lack of room, the artillery was placed to fire back at the buttes. As at Killdeer Mountain, the superiority of the soldiers’ weapons made the difference. “Owing to the inferi­ ority o f their arms we could keep the savages at a tolerably safe distance with our long range guns and the artillery; otherwise there m ight not have been a man of us left alive, so numerous were they and so persistent in their attacks,” wrote Hilger.13

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A ll through the night the Lakotas kept up their assault on the camp, with the twelve pieces o f a rtillery responding with solid shot, shell, and canister. According to Hilger, the camp was in con­ fusion; “ Such running and scrambling . . . many dismounted and bloody, and by riderless horses and ponies that went dashing in all directions . . . the noise of the guns and their roaring echoes made the hills almost shake.” Judd remembered there was “skirmishing all night; some of it quite heavy.” The wagons were placed in a single column, flanked on both sides by “a thin line o f platoons, ready for any emergency.” Trying to capture a wagon or two, the Sioux made swift, constant attacks, and the emigrants huddled in terror.14 For the Sioux, the day was successful: a number o f horses had been taken, several o f their enemies had been killed or wounded, avenging the losses the Sioux had suffered earlier in battle, and the soldiers clearly had been harassed. The morning of August 7 started with a small group o f young warriors attempting to steal more horses. Slipping past the pick­ ets, they rushed the horse herd. The half-asleep sentries pan­ icked, running for the camp, all except John Beltz, 1st Dakota Cavalry. Beltz charged the Sioux, firin g his carbine and pistol as he ran, and his courageous stand caused the warriors to retreat without achieving their goal.15 Still ill, Sully turned command o f the column over to Colonel Minor Thomas. Thomas repeated the previous day’s march, sending six to seven hundred men ahead to create a road for the wagons, while part of the 6th Iowa Cavalry went to the bluffs west of the Little Missouri River to guard those men. The pio­ neers cut open a road “through a strip o f brush and tim ber that skirted the banks o f a stream” for most o f the morning. At ten a .m . a large body of Sioux appeared, resuming the fight and forc­ ing the road builders to retreat to the main body.16 I f the column was to advance, it would have to fight its way through. Milton Spencer described the formation of the expedition as it moved forward: “The heavy guns, supported by skirmishers on

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each flank, would go to the front o f the column and clear away the Indians fo r h a lf a m ile in front. When the column would move forward .. . guns would be posted on either side of the road to protect the whole column.” With the narrow confines of the canyons, the flankers could not continue mounted but dis­ mounted, with every fourth man acting as a horse holder. Cover­ ing the fro n t o f the column was Brackett’s Battalion and three companies from the 6th Iowa and 1st Dakota Cavalries, sup­ ported by Pope’s a rtille ry battery. The 6th Iowa Cavalry, dis­ mounted, was on the right flank, and the 7th Iowa Cavalry, also dismounted, protected the left flank. With the bands ordered to play marches and polkas, the army advanced ten miles. Charles Hughes wrote that the army was “fighting the Indians all the way.. . . The Indians are plenty all around us.” 17 Warfare for the Sioux was often individualistic, with young men trying to obtain honor and status by acts of bravery, such as the counting o f coup on an enemy and the taking of horses. The own­ ership o f horses gave one status and wealth and allowed a young man to secure a wife. To steal horses from an armed enemy was also a matter o f great personal bravery and skill—something that would bring approval from the young man’s community. At one point, sections o f the 6th Iowa Cavalry dismounted and led their horses to the Little Missouri River for water. A sudden rush from cover allowed a Sioux party to strike the soldiers and stampede the horses, “creating a big racket, quite a number of horses being captured by the reds,” as witnessed by Wieneke. Later in the day the Sioux made another attempt, hitting the column from m ultiple locations. In confusion, the troopers ran to grab their horses, firin g their pistols as the warriors raced in, screaming their war cries. One soldier was leading his horse by a picket rope when a warrior ran up on foot, cut the rope, and seized the horse by jum ping on its back and racing off. Bullets “ whistling around him,” the skilled raider got away, leaving the stunned soldier holding a piece of rope.18

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The fighting was constant for most o f the day. When the col­ umn passed through a narrow canyon, the Sioux attacked in force. A shower of arrows from the surrounding buttes caused panic among the emigrants, and the soldiers were unable to re­ spond with artillery, since the canyon would not allow for move­ ment and elevation. The American Indian scouts with the army were nearly routed. Hilger forced his way to the leader o f the scouts, who was perhaps the incompetent Captain Stufft, pulled his pistol, thrust it into the face of the leader, and told him to stop the rout or he would k ill him. W ith H ilger’s threat, order was quickly restored, and the army fought its way out o f the canyon, a harrowing experience. Later Sergeant Eli Williamson, 2nd M in­ nesota Cavalry, reflected on his role in the action and found that “I have stood the fight well.” 19 Almost worse than the struggle with the Sioux was the lack of water; this, combined with the heat and their reduced food ra­ tions, nearly defeated the soldiers and emigrants. According to Judd, “ By eight o’clock we are strung out, the wounded and chil­ dren are moaning for water. Some begin to talk thick from swell­ ing of the tongue." One of Judd’s squad mates, Charlie G riffith, thought he saw a small pool of water a quarter of a mile to the left of the column, in an amphitheater. Friends warned that it was a warrior flashing a piece of glass. Undeterred, G riffith and Judd grabbed canteens and rode to the spot, finding water. F illing the canteens, they soon noticed Sioux breaking cover. The “reds fairly swarmed from the rocks, then came a race for life,” wrote Judd. Dismounting, Judd led his horse over an outcrop o f rocks. G riffith, remaining mounted, chose a different route, splitting up the two men. H alf a dozen Sioux chased Judd on foot while he fired his pistol back at them. As the Sioux returned fire, Judd could see that G riffith had also dismounted and was under fire. Hearing the shots, soldiers from the rear guard came to the res­ cue. Judd returned unharmed, but G riffith had been h it through

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his lungs and later died, on August 13. “ I never see a canteen but what I think o f him ,” Judd stated with sadness.20 At two p.m . a stagnant pool, roughly fifty feet in circumference, four inches deep, and filled with deep mud, was located. The water was o f poor quality and tasted terrible, but people offered a dollar for a canteen o f the muddy mixture.21 For most, the day ended with a desperate need for water still a priority. The fighting continued during the evening and all through the night. Having finished their work on preparing a road, six companies o f the 6th Iowa Cavalry retired back to the camp. Com­ pany M was the last company in line, and as it passed through a narrow ravine, Sioux from atop the bluffs, three hundred feet above the soldiers, rolled stones down on the mounted troops until they were driven o ff by artillery fire. During the night, the camp was attacked three times, and at one point the pickets were driven in as the Sioux, to increase the fear factor among the whites, howled like wolves. Pattee recalled, “Pandemonium seemed to have broken loose—wolves howling and guns being fired in every direction.” During the firefight, one soldier shot another soldier through his jaw.22 A fter a rough night with little sleep, an exhausted Frank My­ ers and the men o f his company awoke to find a Lakota warrior on a butte only a short distance from the northeastern corner of the camp. Commencing fire, the soldiers with artillery support drove the Sioux o ff and the battle resumed for a third day. Too ill to command. Sully had spoken with Thomas during the evening about the coming day. “ Meet them and you will then have the biggest Indian fight that will ever happen on this continent,” Sully advised, adding, “You must make history today.”23 With Sully riding in an ambulance in the rear, Thomas ordered Major Ebenezer Rice to take command of the advance guard, con­ sisting o f Company D, 8th Minnesota Infantry, and Companies C and H, 2nd Minnesota Cavalry. Part of the 6th Iowa, dismounted,

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formed the right flank guard, and the 7th Iowa Cavalry, also dis­ mounted, protected the left flank. The 1st Dakota Cavalry and the remainder of the 6th Iowa Cavalry provided the rear guard. At five A.M. the advance started, with eerie silence. The Sioux had faded away from the fight. “The advance seemed tedious; not a sound disturbed the progress,” noted Hilger. For three miles the column marched through the Badlands, following a dry creek bed up a canyon. As the soldiers emerged from the canyon, they started climbing up onto a high, wide plateau—which is when the Lakotas ambushed the column. Knowing they were out­ matched when it came to weaponry, the Sioux had made b rillia n t use of the terrain. “The sharp crack o f guns was heard in all di­ rections every peak in sight was covered with Indians” was how John Strong remembered the attack. To Thomas, “ The advance guard was enveloped by the Indians, and on either flank their bands were chasing, yelling and fighting.” “The Indians were all around us trying to break in on every side,” wrote Drips, “ but the Minnesota battery was mowing them in front and scattering them in all directions.”24 It was the most intense fighting seen so far in the Badlands. The well-laid trap so concerned Sully that he mounted a horse and rode to the front. During the struggle, the Blackfoot scout now leading the column through the Badlands was shot in the breast, the ball passing out of his body beneath the shoulder blade. Richard Hobrack, 8th Minnesota Infantry, carried the wounded man, whom the army was counting on to see them out of the region, to the surgeon, and the scout’s wound was treated as the soldiers fought o ff the attack. Once again, the Sioux simply lacked the firepower to make the ambush effective. Thomas re­ ported that the warriors were “poorly armed, bows and arrows being the best weapon many had.” The Sioux mounted serious attacks, admitted Drips, “ but the potency of the old muskets and Minnie rifles assisted when practicable by Capt. Pope’s battery, was a little too much lead for the great braves.”25

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Breaking out o f the ambush, the troopers pushed the Sioux back several miles before stopping at noon to rest. Regrouping, the Sioux massed in front o f the column to block any further ad­ vance. The a rtille ry was brought up and opened fire, to the plea­ sure o fju d d : “ These stands became amusing at times; they would come out o f cover, their naked bodies glistening with war-paint and perspiration making the most grotesque contortions and all kinds o f threatening and insulting gestures, but one or two cases of grape or canister and a carbine volley or two from the advance guard, and every one o f them was out of sight like so many prai­ rie dogs or ground squirrels.”26 In truth, the Sioux had no re­ sponse to the power of the artillery that proved a decisive factor in the battle. S till, the main goal of harassing the enemy until they left the te rrito ry was proving successful. The soldiers were wearing down, and the desire to escape from the Badlands was mounting. Keeping up the pressure, the Sioux launched a new attack at the rear guard, hoping to break through to the emigrant wagon train. Company H, 6th Iowa Cavalry, and Company A, 1st Dakota Cavalry, were among those protecting the rear of the column when the Sioux focused their efforts there. The rearguard had just entered a particularly rough section of country when from “every rock or possible cover on both flanks of the rearguard gave up what seemed to be thousands of yelling, whooping and shooting red-skins, swinging buffalo robes and blankets,” wrote Judd. To him nothing could cause a horse or mule to stampede as quickly as “a naked, yelling Sioux in full war paint, swinging an old smoky, greasy buffalo robe in his face.” Struggling to con­ trol his mount, Judd wished that “ for a few minutes . . . you had no horse.” Fighting dismounted, the troopers faced multiple at­ tacks, usually by groups of warriors numbering between thirtyfive and forty men. “The bullets zipped past our heads thick and fast, and the swish o f the deadly arrow was terrible to our ears,” recorded English.27

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The well-mounted Sioux moved quickly to engage the soldiers and made it difficult for the troopers to find good targets. “ 1 pre­ sume forty of us fired at them without apparent success,” admit­ ted George Campbell, 8th Minnesota Infantry. “A ll I saw o f the Indian I fired at was his leg hanging over the back o f his horse; but, as I had my horse’s bridle over my right arm and when I pulled the trigger the horse pulled back.” Campbell’s shot was sent straight up into the air. One group o f thirty-five warriors broke through the lines and got among the wagon train. One rider crashed into an ambulance, between the mules and wagon. The warrior ended up in the lap of the driver, who shot him under the armpit. With aid from the 7th Iowa Cavalry, the Sioux were slowly driven back from the wagons and finally retreated. Drips praised the Dakota troopers for a stout defense, with the Sioux finding “a little more then their match in Capt. M iner and his little band.” Still, the attacks had had success for the Sioux. One soldier had been killed and eleven more wounded, the last fourteen wagons had suffered damage, and five had been turned over.28 For the rest of the day, fighting was general all along the length of the column. To English, “ it seemed as though for every Indian killed, ten more sprang up in his place.” D uring one skir­ mish, English and his platoon were ordered to occupy a h ill over­ looking the column. “We soon found ourselves commanding the area,” wrote English, but they were surrounded by five hundred warriors until a charge by the rest of Company A, 1st Dakota Cavalry, came to their rescue.29 On another part of the field. Company G, 2nd Minnesota Cav­ alry, was ordered to drive forty or fifty Sioux from a ravine near a high h ill on the column’s left flank. The men o f Company G were German-American and from New Ulm, a town devastated during the Dakota War of 1862. Leading their horses, the com­ pany advanced until they reached a perpendicular rock forma­ tion blocking the way. Leaving the horses and guard, Captain

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Jacob Nix and eighteen men proceeded another five hundred yards toward the ravine. Nearing the ravine, Nix was ambushed by a force o f four to five hundred men. Under a hail of bullets and arrows, N ix and Sergeant F. Brandt rallied the company and fell back into a good defensive position before driving the Sioux back with good marksmanship. The Sioux rallied and attacked again. “ O ur position, however, was so strong that we could re­ pulse all attacks,” wrote Sergeant Major W. H. Meyer. Needing support, N ix sent Meyer back to the column. However, either Thomas or Sully refused to send out any rescuers, believing it impossible to reach the trapped men. Refusing to leave troopers from his regiment behind, McLaren, without orders, took twelve men from Company H and moved to help Nix, only to become surrounded themselves. McLaren was close enough to Nix to pro­ vide covering fire, and with this the two groups of soldiers first linked up and then fell back successfully to safety.30 Not so fortunate was Private Alfred Nicholson, Company H, 6th Iowa Cavalry. Heeding nature’s call, Nicholson dropped out of the column to find a spot to relieve himself. While squatting with his pants down, Nicholson was hit in the rear by an arrow. The wound was painful but not dangerous, and Nicholson went screaming for help, leaving his weapons behind. Members of the 2nd Minnesota Cavalry rode back for Nicholson, driving o ff his attackers, but the wounded trooper’s weapons—rifle, pistol, and saber—along with his horse, were taken. The warrior who had successfully acquired Nicholson’s horse and gear rode to the top of a high butte, where he taunted the soldiers by swinging his loot in the air and proclaiming his deeds. English wrote, “There was probably a hundred shots fired at him, but none of them hit him.”31 It was another example of personal victory for the Sioux. The Sioux tactic of harassment, greatly aided by the terrible terrain and hot weather, was working. During one action, the Sioux scouts started to yell over to the Lakotas. They said they were Yanktonais and one of them, Stuck-In-The-Mud, had been

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wounded in the arm. The Scouts wanted to know whom they were facing, and Sitting Bull, who was one o f the warriors pres­ ent, replied that it was the Sans Arcs, Hunkpapas, and Miniconjous, among others, fighting the soldiers. The scouts encouraged the Lakotas to keep fighting, as “most white boys are starving and thirsty to death, so just stay around and they w ill be dead.” Sitting Bull wanted to know why the scouts were fighting with the soldiers. By the scouts doing so, “we have to k ill you,” stated Sit­ ting Bull, adding, “You have no business with the soldiers.”32This exchange brings into question the role o f the Sioux scouts on the expedition. Given that the Badlands were in lands controlled and traveled over by the Sioux, and that the Lakotas had no problems maneuvering through the Badlands to give battle to the army, it is odd that not one of the Sioux scouts knew a route through the difficult terrain. Some had deserted at Killdeer Mountain and others were now encouraging the Lakotas to fight on, while at other times the scouts had brutally killed prisoners who fell into their hands. Likely it is an example o f the deep divi­ sions and conflicts the warfare had caused for the entire Sioux nation. I f the soldiers were worn down and the harassment o f the Sioux was having an effect, Sitting Bull also knew that the Lako­ tas were low on food and ammunition. Never having wanted to participate in the Badlands fight, he advocated letting the troop­ ers go and promised, “ We w ill go home.” Sitting Bull had yet to become an influential leader and his plea was not heeded, but the next day he and his village of two hundred people left the area.33 The need for water was of mounting urgency for the soldiers. The mules, oxen, and horses were starting to suffer, and a num­ ber were left behind. One soldier from Company F, 8th Minne­ sota Infantry, followed a gully to where a waterfall o f fifteen to twenty feet had made a basin of water. After he informed his com­ rades of his discovery, half the company went down and got

water white the other h a lf kept guard, then switched places, Hodgson and Elijah I louck were sent across a small valley to a hill to be lookouts for any possible Indian threat, and they soon discovered an approaching force o f Sioux. They raced hack to warn the company, onlv to find that the men had gotten their water and left, forgetting all about Hodgson and Houck. Fight­ ing for their lives, the two men were retreating when, realizing their mistake, men from their company came to their aid and drove o ff the attackers.34 Toward the end o f the day. and with relief, the expedition started to leave the Badlands behind. Judd noted that “the coun­ try was getting open and good charging ground, with plenty o f good grass and good water, a stranger to us since we crossed the Little Missouri." The Sioux broke o ff the attack, ending the fight­ ing for the day. Thomas was convinced the army had faced eight thousand warriors, killin g or wounding close to a thousand of them. In his diary, David Jenkins briefly acknowledged, “A good many were killed," mirrored closed by Amos Cherrys diary en­ try o f “ Many Indians killed to day.” The Sioux were not present in those numbers, and it is highly unlikely they suffered any­ where near those high figures of causalities. Hodgson was much more realistic, w riting, “ Whether we killed or hurt any Indians was probably never known. It was nigh impossible to know." The column suffered nine men killed and one hundred men wounded, which was roughly 4 percent of the army—a not insignificant number for combat during the Civil War.35 The exhausted soldiers and emigrants made camp an hour before sundown. Myers stated that the men “were tired and hun­ gry, having had nothing to eat since early in the morning and no water except what we had in our canteens in the morning.” The animals were badly in need of water and feed: they put up “piti­ ful cries” for water, and the civilians fed them flour, bread, and anything else they could use to keep the beasts alive. Having barely settled in, the soldiers and emigrants were faced with the

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Sioux, who once more returned to harass the camp. The emi­ grant train was close to the 6th Iowa Cavalry when the Sioux massed and charged over a ridge toward the civilians. “The women and children belonging to the im m igrant train came rushing and screaming to our camp,” recalled Myers. The sol­ diers ran quickly to defend them, and the a rtille ry opened up on the attackers—“The shells singing through the a ir and bursting in front or among them,” wrote Myers—breaking the assault.36 With sniping and brief assaults, which included firin g fire ar­ rows among the horses to create a stampede, the Sioux kept the whites awake and fearful and away from any source o f water that evening. A difficult night was passed, with men afraid to fall asleep for fear of being killed by stealthy warriors. It was with relief that Judd greeted the dawn: “ How thankful for daylight! It cannot have the sufferings of the last eight hours. Even the thirst, which is harder to endure than starvation, is condoned by the light of the east.”37 On August 9, even before daylight, the expedition was again moving forward and still under attack by the Sioux. By five a .m . fighting was general and involved the entire length o f the threeto-four-mile-long column. Wieneke wrote, “ Indians thick on all sides of us.” In contrast to the Badlands, this terrain, open and more level, favored the soldiers. The Sioux continued “whooping and shooting” but could not close against the superior weaponry of the army. Sioux struck again at the right flank and the rear o f the column, both times engaging the 6th Iowa Cavalry, who, ac­ cording to Drips, “ drove the Indians back with a vengeance.” By two p.m . the Sioux broke o ff their attack, leaving the soldiers in peace after days of conflict.38 Advancing twenty miles, the army came across the remains o f the large abandoned campsite of the Sioux. It was so massive that Sully commented, “I should judge all the Indians in the country had assembled there. The space they occupied was over one mile

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long and h a lf a mile wide.”39 One enemy had disappeared, but the soldiers still faced the problem of food and water. According to English, the troopers were living on “one hard­ tack a day, although we had plenty o f bacon; but that without vegetables or bread; is a poor diet.” Water was a greater issue. Horses were dying from the lack o f it. One hundred horses were shot that day by the rear guard because the animals were unable to continue. Wieneke was one soldier who found water: “ I had dismounted and passing around an immense rock discovered a depression o f the rock enough clean cool rain water to supply our company with good drinking 8c cooking water enough for supper & coffee next morning.” 40 The fight in the Badlands is often interpreted from a Western m ilitary tradition. It is viewed as a loss for the Lakotas, as they were unable to surround Sully’s forces and annihilate them in the dangerous terrain of the Badlands. Based on Civil War en­ gagements where one army faced another with the ultimate, al­ beit not often achieved, goal of destroying the opposing force, the Union soldiers did defeat the Sioux, again through the use of better weaponry and tactics. In simple terms, the Lakotas were outfought and thus failed in their objective. However, this is a narrow, Eurocentric approach to warfare, an approach not followed by the Sioux. Never in the history of the Lakotas had they fought a war with the intended eradication o f an entire tribe or nation. The destruction o f Sully’s army— numbering close to three thousand people, the size of a small Plains tribe—would have been such an event. The purpose o f fighting the army in the Badlands was threefold: personal honor, revenge for the defeat at Killdeer Mountain, and driving the army out o f their territory. The Badlands were chosen as the loca­ tion for this effort as the area mitigated the effectiveness of the rifles and artillery of the soldiers, proving that the Sioux were al­ ready adapting to m ilitary lessons learned at Killdeer Mountain.

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During the course of the fighting, certain warriors did achieve personal honor by capturing horses, taking soldier’s weapons, and counting coup. Revenge was always a major reason for war: if an enemy attacks your people and inflicts losses, you must strike them back. The losses of each side need not be equal, but revenge must occur. The Sioux did cause the army to suffer casualties, thus making the attempts at revenge successful. Finally, the army was driven out of the area low on food, desperately in need of water, and with many horses and mules succumbing to the conditions. True, the expedition was nearly at an end, and Sully was not intending to continue his operations against the Sioux. But the Lakotas would not have known this; to them, it was their harass­ ment that had forced the enemy to retire, a success that would be followed up by a positive new war with the whites starting later that year, following the Sand Creek Massacre in Novem­ ber, and then with the equally victorious Red Cloud’s War start­ ing in 1866. Regardless of the m ilitary outcome, there was little doubt that the expedition was in serious physical straits from the lack o f pro­ visions and water. By August 10 the animals had gone without water for thirty-six hours and were starving from the lack o f grass, and soldiers and civilians suffered from swollen tongues and cracked lips. By noon of that day the line o f march was marked for miles with dead horses and abandoned wagons. Walking their horses, the men staggered along, barely able to continue. Reaching a dry creek bed ten to twelve feet deep, they constructed a bridge in order for the wagons to pass over in a single column. Late in the day the column came to the Beaver River, which offered good water and grass. Water may have been an issue, but Amos Cherry recorded that that evening “orderly Berry Lee & Hull got quite happy to night. Very well educated indeed.” Where the two men found alcohol is not known, but the next morning Lee endured a chewing-out from his captain for

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not being prepared when the order to move out came. Cherry noted, “O rderly tight night before.” 41 The Beaver River proved only a brief respite for the army. Au­ gust 11 again found the column marching through a hostile envi­ ronment. “ Marched . . . over the most barren part of the country that we have ever seen.” wrote Drips. “ Not anything growing but wild sage, when we came to a stream. When we tasted the water we found it to be alkali: or salt water, worse than any we had yet had.” Sixty-three horses and mules died, and George Doud wrote. “ Most o f the boys on foot to favor thair horses.”4- Fortu­ nately, the next day brought relief. According to Myers, on the morning of August 12, the army awoke next to a “ beautiful spring o f water gushing out of the side of a bluff. It was strongly impregnated with minerals, but pure and cold and was accepted by man and beast as a precious boon from a kind Providence.” Also discovered was an area of dry grass for the horses. Reflecting on the prior few days, Myers stated, “ I never knew until after I had been through the year, what men or horses could endure and live through.” The expedi­ tion rested u n til ten a .m . before marching away from their little oasis. At noon the column reached the Yellowstone River, where steamboats were to meet them with supplies. Captain Nelson Mi­ nor was sent out to scout the river in search of the steamboats. M inor soon located the light-draft steamboats Alone and Chip­ pewa Falls, and the trials and hardships o f the expedition were now over. On board the ships were supplies for the soldiers and grain for the horses. The area was teeming with buffalo, elk, and deer, and wild berries grew along the river.43 Upon reaching the river, Harlen Bruch observed, “All disci­ pline was forgotten; men and animals rushed into the stream and swallowed life inspiring fluid and joy and happy shouts took the place o f misery. With food from the ships and the hunting o f game.” Wieneke wrote, “ By 10 o’clock p.m . we were feasting.” At peace with the world, most o f the men would have agreed with

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John Strong’s view of the country they had passed through: “The country taken as a whole is only fit for the Indian and they had ought. . . to posses[s] it, they and their children forever.” 44 During the next two days, the army and em igrant wagon train crossed over the river. It was a d iffic u lt passing, and several people and dozens of mules drowned. “ Genl curses terribly be­ cause the Boats were so slow. Very much mixed up. Many things lost altogether,” Cherry remembered.45 Once across the river, the emigrant wagon train, to the relief of Sully, left for the mining camps. The joy at the wagon train’s departure was cut short when Sully realized that “quite a number of horses, mules and oxen turned up missing.” Also stolen were pistols, rifles, and other army property. Troops were sent after the wagon train, which had scattered p rio r to the arrival o f the patrol. One group of wagons was apprehended and nine oxen, six horses, and several rifles recovered. But making good their escape were sixty soldiers who had deserted from the 2nd Brigade.46 The column advanced downriver toward Fort Union, a trad­ ing post owned by the Northwestern Fur Company. Before their arrival at the post, the column had to cross the Missouri River, leading to further difficulties. The current was swift, and the men had to swim their horses across. Hodgson confessed, “This made many of the boys white about the gills. It was a rather dan­ gerous undertaking for such as could not swim. They didn’t have the courage to trust even the horses. Several hired the horses led over and crossed themselves in a canoe.” A wise precaution, as six men drowned trying to cross the river.47 For a few days at Fort Union, the men relaxed and recovered, having spent weeks in the field. Each man took up his favorite pastime. Lewis Paxton took notes on a sermon delivered on Au­ gust 21, on the topic of “ Patience,” with the text coming from Romans 5:3: “ But we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience.” W illiam Silvis, for his part, played

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poker for four straight days, winning fifty, then two hundred, dollars on the first two days and losing seventy-five and twenty dollars on the following days.48 On August 22 Sully left Fort Union and, heading homeward, marched to Fort Rice. The expedition moved down the Missouri River to the mouth o f Snake Creek, then continued north to the Mouse River before heading southwest to Maison du Chien Butte and, finally, southward to Fort Rice. The march was an easy one, with men hunting buffalo, as “the Buffalo were so thick they could not be counted,” according to Charles Hughes. One bull ran right into the camp, where he was shot, and Hughes thought “ he was very good eating.” Thomas Priestly enjoyed the peaceful evenings when he could be “ listening to the howling of the wolves, beauti­ ful serenading.” 49 On September 7 the column reached the site of Sibley’s 1863 battles with the Sioux. An irritated Drips, still supporting a more complete punishment of the Sioux, proclaimed, “ Here is where the General had a splendid chance to whip the Indians but failed to do so for reasons I suppose satisfactory to himself; if not the whole country.” Earlier the grave of Lieutenant Frederick Bea­ ver, lost along the bluffs o f the Missouri River, had been located. The body was disinterred and later sent to his family in Wales.50 Beaver’s was not the only burial site located. In a letter to his wife, Libbie, John Robinson related the discovery of a burial scaf­ fold with the body of a five- to six-year-old child. “I could not help meditating upon the unhappy condition o f the race and their superstitious ideas o f religion,” Robinson wrote, adding that he believed that if the Sioux had only been Christian, then the atroc­ ities that occurred during the uprising would not have happened. To Robinson, “none but the most heathen and savage minds could have thought up such heart rending and soul sickening crimes as they perpetrated.”51 Less than two months after Robinson wrote his wife came the massacre o f a peaceful village of Cheyennes and Arapahos at

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Sand Creek. Soldiers of the 3rd Colorado Cavalry, led by Colonel John Chivington—who had been a Methodist m inister prior to joining the army—brutally slaughtered anywhere from 150 to 500 men, women, and children. Chivington ordered that no prisoners be taken, and an orgy o f bloodletting followed, with pregnant women killed, their stomachs ripped open, and their unborn children pulled out; toddlers thrown into fields and used for target practice, and the dead scalped and mutilated, with soldiers taking body parts as trophies. The massacre set o ff a war across the Northern Plains, as the Cheyennes, Arapahos, and Lakotas sought revenge for the attack. The Sioux had not completely forgotten about Sully’s expedi­ tion. The army had been dogged by small raiding parties on the march to Fort Rice. One group attacked some men cutting hay for the horses. The hay cutters were being guarded by Company J, 6th Iowa Cavalry, who drove o ff the warriors after losing several horses to the raiders.52 And then, having rid him self of one emi­ grant train. Sully now had to go to the aid o f another, besieged by a much larger war party led by Sitting Bull. James Fisk had ignored the warnings posted by Pope about traveling overland to the mining fields. W ith a wagon train of eighty-eight wagons, two hundred civilians, and a small m ilitary escort provided by the commander of Fort Rice, Fisk headed across the Dakota Territory. On September 2 his wagon train was discovered by a large force of Hunkpapas led by Sitting Bull that included Gall, another rising leader. Sitting Bull was still basking in the perceived victory over the army in the Badlands. “ We routed the enemy and made it clear we wished to be left alone to live our lives in our own land,” he later stated. Over the next few days the wagon train came under increasing attack, during which Sitting Bull was seriously wounded in the hip, before finally be­ ing surrounded. Hastily throwing up a fortification, Fisk sent for help from the army.53

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Sully, close to arriving at Fort Rice, organized a relief force of troops from the fort and the column. Units from the 7th Iowa Cavalry, Brackett’s Battalion, 30th Wisconsin Infantry, 2nd Min­ nesota Cavalry, and the 6th Iowa Cavalry, some nine hundred men, under the command o f Fort Rice commander Colonel Dan­ iel D ill, marched to the rescue of the trapped emigrants. Being so close to ending the campaign, the men who were forced to save the wagon train were not happy with this new adventure. The soldiers blamed Fisk and D ill for the situation.54 During the march, the Sioux struck the relief column at night, stealing a large number of horses and making the men even more irritated with the need to aid the emigrants. By the time the relief force arrived, after a nine-day journey, many of the Sioux, unable to penetrate the earthen fortifications established by the emigrants and soldiers and protected by an artillery piece, had departed. Harlen Bruch was impressed by the defensive po­ sition o f the emigrants: “ When we got there they had sod walls four feet thick and four feet high outside their wagon train, all the way around, and they had dug a underground trench to water 50 yards away.” However, Hodgson was shocked by the vast amount o f whiskey that was present in the camp: “ It was one vast whiskey camp. It was a first-class fraud. The government had been bamboozled into aiding a grand scheme for shipping whis­ key to Idaho, the men along were in a grand scheme for plun­ der.” Fisk gave D ill an entire barrel of whiskey in gratitude for the rescue, but this gift was not extended to the soldiers. Having marched hundreds of miles to save the train, the troopers were charged $4.50 a canteen, which held three pints, for whiskey. The men were furious at being so treated, and D ill ordered the price lowered to 50 cents a canteen. Taking advantage of the reduced price for whiskey, Hodgson confessed that “there was one general unstinted, hilarious drunk” that night among the soldiers.55

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Even after the expedition reached Fort Rice, the Sioux still made occasional raids. On September 21 Drips and his company, unarmed as usual, went out to care for their horses and hap­ pened upon a war party stealing horses. G iving the alarm, sev­ eral men from Companies J and L, 6th Iowa Cavalry, armed themselves, mounted their horses, and pursued the raiders. The Sioux, practicing one of the oldest forms o f American Indian warfare, allowed the soldiers to chase them for ten miles before leading them into an ambush. One private, named H ill, saw the Sioux closing in and yelled a warning that went unheeded. H ill broke free from the ambush and raced back to camp for assis­ tance. Companies D and L of the same regiment went to aid their comrades and on their way found one man walking back to camp in his shirt, drawers, and socks, holding his pistol. He had es­ caped by hiding in some bushes. The disheveled soldier informed the patrol that the Sioux numbered more than forty warriors. Ten miles farther on, they found the body o f a Sergeant Murphy. According to Drips, Murphy had been “ literally cut to pieces, be­ ing mutilated in a horrible manner, stuck fu ll o f arrows, an awful gash from a tomahawk in his side, scalped and stripped and robbed of everything.” One soldier, Thompson, had escaped by swimming the Missouri River and walking back to the fort. “ He was pretty badly used up, being s tiff from travelling and swim­ ming the river,” wrote Drips. When Brackett laid an ambush for the Sioux during the battle of Killdeer M ountain, Myers had found it amusing, but this attack struck him as ju st “one o f the traps the red devils were always planning.”56 The final action of the expedition occurred six days later near the Cannon Ball River. Company E, 6th Iowa Cavalry, was pro­ tecting a hay-cutting group hauling hay. The Sioux attacked, killing one soldier, wounding another, and taking several horses. One warrior was wounded.57Although these small raids did not change the larger outcome of the expedition, they were still

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considered successful victories by the Lakotas, for whom war was also a personal act. With their campaign coming to a close, the soldiers became more concerned about the events o f the larger conflict occurring in the South. Abner English reported the arrival of dispatches with “ the gratifying intelligence that General Sherman had taken Atlanta, Georgia.” When Albert Childs, 30th Wisconsin Infantry, learned his brother Ellsworth might be drafted, he encouraged Ellsworth to get out o f it if he could. “You could claim an exemp­ tion on the grounds o f being the only support of a widowed mother, and also over the grounds o f being the support of a sister less than 16 years o f age. Either one would clear you, as I read the law, if you would only stick for your rights,” insisted Childs. As many soldiers were by that period of fighting, Childs was sick of the war and did not want to see another member o f his family involved.58 Chelsey Pratt, 3rd Minnesota A rtillery Battery, also yearned for home but still believed in the righteousness of the Union cause, having enlisted in the army in March 1864. A reflective man, Pratt wrote a poem expressing his views: At M idnight on my lonely beat When darkness veils the woods and lea; A visitor seems my view to greet O f one at home who prays for me She prays for me that’s far away The soldier in his holy fight; And asks that God in mercy may Shield the loved one, and bless the right!59 Sully’s last march was to Fort Sully. With his arrival on October 7, the expedition officially came to an end. The units were sent into winter quarters at various locations, and in November some o f

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the men o f the 6th Iowa Cavalry were given th e ir discharges, having served three years in the army. Wieneke, one o f the lucky men, remarked, “ Finally a rrivin g at Sioux C ity where we reed our discharge and Q uit.” “ Mustered out and started fo r home. Good time and happy as a clam,” a pleased Amos Cherry wrote in his diary.60

CH APTER 11

Afterm ath “ T H I S W H O L E T H I N G IS ONE CONFOUNDED HUMBUG”

W ith another expedition at an end, Sully, in his offi­ cial report, professed his confidence in the success o f the opera­ tion. “ I th in k they never w ill again organize for resistance against a large body o f troops,” he wrote, adding, “ I do not therefore think it w ill be necessary to have another expedition." Captain Leonard Aldrich, 8th Minnesota Infantry, did not support Sully’s optimistic analysis o f the 1864 expedition. W riting to his brother Joseph, A l­ drich complained, “ This whole thing is one confounded humbug. 1000 such expeditions would have no tendency to subdue those hostile Indians, we have only made them mad, like sticking a long stick into a hornets nest.” 1 The results o f the campaign were not as positive as Sully sup­ posed. In waging his war against the Sioux, Pope had pushed the fro n tie r farther westward toward the Missouri River, protected by Forts Wadsworth, Sully, Rice, Berthold, and Union. Yet Sully had failed to establish posts at Devil’s Lake or along the Yellow­ stone River. The Santees and Yanktonais desired peace, but the Lakotas remained unbowed in their determination to protect 247

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their lands. The punitive expeditions had only increased the ten­ sions between them and the army, a fact that contributed— along with Sand Creek—to the massive war being fought out on the Northern Plains. That conflict occupied the Lakotas, preventing them from actively opposing any fu rth e r operations planned by Pope.2 Sully’s actions at K illdeer M ountain also drew criticism . Back East, newspapers and pro-Indian groups reported incidents o f brutality and abuse. His use o f a rtille ry on women and children troubled civilians. Indian agents added th e ir voices to those who found the army’s campaigns against the Sioux obsessive. Wiscon­ sin Senator James R. Doolittle, a supporter o f Am erican Indian rights, headed a congressional committee to investigate the treat­ ment o f the Western American Indian tribes by civil and m ilita ry authorities.3 Called to testify before the committee, Sully stated his views on conditions in the West and the future o f Am erican Indians. He discussed the problems o f venereal disease, alcoholism, and smallpox among the tribes, placing the blame on the close con­ tact the tribes had with whites from whom came “a ll the vices and few o f the virtues o f the whites.” The general was a strong advo­ cate o f assimilation, including forcing American Indian children to attend school, breaking up the tribes to create individualism , and “when they are fit,” allowing American Indians to become citizens o f the United States.4 W ith any criticism o f his campaign behind him , Sully pre­ pared to lead yet another expedition against the Sioux. By 1865 Pope’s war with the Sioux had merged into the overall m ilita ry conflict with the northern alliance o f the Dakotas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos. As part o f the army’s operations on the N orthern Plains, Sully was to once more advance into the Dakota T e rrito ry in search o f hostile Sioux, even though fin d in g any was highly unlikely. The Lakotas were fighting to the west, the Yanktonais

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wanted peace, and the Santees were, for the most part, a shat­ tered and conquered people. In 1865 there were a few raids into Minnesota by those small bands o f Santees s till w illin g to resist. Near Garden City, a farm family was kille d and the cavalry patrol that pursued the raiders ambushed, resulting in the loss o f one trooper. In May another raiding party led by John Campbell, a mixed-blood deserter from the army, struck close to Mankato, killin g the five members of the A. J. Jew itt family. The war party was hunted down by local Sissetons scouting for the army. During the fighting, one scout, Two Stars, spotted his nephew, a member o f the raiders. Two Stars aimed his rifle at his nephew and killed him with a single shot.5 W ith the exception o f such m inor raids, the Santees and Yanktonais overwhelm ingly looked for peace. Conditions were worsen­ ing on the Crow Creek Reservation. In mid-July 1864 grasshop­ pers swarmed the area and destroyed what crops the Sioux had been able to plant in the d ifficu lt soil. Over time, large numbers o f Dakotas succumbed to diarrhea, dysentery, whooping cough, exposure, and m alnutrition. By fall o f that year an estimated 25 percent o f all Santees on the reservation would die.6 D uring the summer o f 1864, those Santees who remained o ff the reservation gathered at Coteau des Prairies, a region west o f Lake Traverse and Big Stone Lake. In July twenty-four chiefs an­ nounced th e ir desire to surrender to Joseph Brown, their former Indian gent.7 As Pope prepared for a third year of campaigning, the main issue was whether Sully would find any Sioux to fight. In itia lly , Pope wanted to launch a multipronged offensive against the Lakotas and their allies into the Black H ills and Powder River country, where the main warfare with the Sioux was occurring. However, lack of cooperation from other depart­ ments, the waning morale o f the volunteer soldiers as the Civil War ended, and unceasing pressure from Minnesota politicians and civilians fo r protection led Pope to scale down his plans.

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Sully and a small force o f fewer than nine hundred mounted troops from Iowa, Dakota, and Minnesota once more journeyed through the same region as that covered on the previous expedi­ tions. Commencing in early June, the expedition encountered few Sioux, fought no engagements, and accomplished little more than “showing the flag” before ending the campaign in early August.8 Although Pope still believed the Sioux were a threat, forces beyond his control were pushing for a peaceful settlement to the conflict. Dakota Territory governor Newton Edmunds, who was also ex officio superintendent o f Indian affairs fo r the territory, was behind the peace movement. Edmunds was opposed by the m ilitary and teamsters who were making a large p ro fit from sup­ plying the troops and the citizens o f Sioux City, Iowa, and Yank­ ton, Dakota Territory, whose cities served as m ilita ry depots. The governor did have the support o f President Lincoln and mem­ bers of Congress. In the fall o f 1865 Edmunds was appointed chair of the Northwest Indian Commission, and later that year at Fort Sully, before a gathering o f 10,000 Sioux, the commission, including Henry Sibley, made nine separate treaties with the various Lakota and Yanktonais bands. But it was not u n til Febru­ ary 1867, at Fort Wadsworth, that the Santees fin a lly achieved peace. The treaty ended the Dakota War o f 1862, granting the Santees two reservations, one between Lake Traverse and Fort Wadsworth and the other at Devil’s Lake. Earlier, the Crow Creek Reservation had been terminated and the 900 Dakotas moved to a better location near the mouth o f the Niobrara River in Ne­ braska. Here they were joined by the 247 Sioux freed from th e ir Davenport, Iowa, prison.9 Not all the Santees moved to the new reservations or settled in Canada: a small faction still resided in Minnesota. Some Sioux never left, others quietly returned, and a handful were Sioux who had never signed the 1853 treaties or lived on the reserva­ tion. They were joined by the 137 Sioux who had served as scouts for the army and their families. Having served against

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their kinsm en, the scouts could not jo in the other Sioux on their new reservations, so each was granted eighty acres of land in Minnesota. By 1866 374 Santees were living in the state. In 1884, the government created a reservation for them that gave them a permanent residence in Minnesota.10 A fter the war, Pope and Sully soon departed the area. For Pope the war proved a boon to his career. He had pushed a m ili­ tary solution to the conflict, and the results paid o ff for him. He could claim that his campaigns had been an operational success, pushing back the frontier, protecting the routes to the gold fields, and ending the Dakota War o f 1862. In January 1865 he was given command o f the Department of Missouri, and three months later he was prom oted to the brevet rank o f major general. He re­ mained in the arm y for another twenty-one years, retiring in 1886 and considered an overall successful officer.11 The m ilita ry career o f Sully, on the other hand, lagged. He lost his brevet rank as general and returned to his regular rank o f major. Serving in the West, he clashed with George Armstrong Custer—who, Sully felt, was arrogant and undisciplined—and was often transferred to various posts, eventually being promoted to lieutenant colonel. Over time Sully grew bitter, believing his accomplishments had been ignored, and suffering from declin­ ing health, he died in 1879. As for Sibley, in 1866 he mustered out o f the army, and following his m ilitary career, he served on the commission that ended the war on the Northern Plains, held a number o f business positions, and represented Minnesota in Congress.12 For the officers and men who served on the expeditions, the end o f the C ivil War saw them mustered out o f service and retu rn in g to their civilian lives and families. Few forgot their ex­ periences out West, and over time a fa ir number o f them wrote memoirs, books, and articles about their adventures based on their experiences. Some wrote with great description and length, while others were more b rief and factual in their accounts. Lewis

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Paxton was one o f the latter, a man o f few words. Although brief, the July 22, 1865, entry in his diary dealing w ith a rrivin g home after years o f war would have found approval by his comrades. “ I arrived in Lake City at 9:00. I went home w ith W ill Townshend. Had a very pleasant time in the evening.” 13 The soldiers had come home. Over time, historians and other writers commenting on the expeditions have concluded that they were a m ilita rily success for the U.S. Army. The questions o f the necessity fo r the campaigns, the reasons why they were fought, and lessons learned are not quite so readily apparent. Following Sibley’s creation o f Camp Release there were still Dakotas, like L ittle Crow and Inkpaduta, who were w illing to continue the struggle. However, most o f the Santees wanted peace, and the expeditions m ainly attacked those Sioux who either sought an end to hostilities or who had not yet participated in the conflict. The 1863 expedition clearly incited several bands o f the Lakotas to take a warlike stance and oppose the following year’s expedition. Pope’s insistence that there be a m ilitary response and Sibley’s failure to achieve a peaceful sur­ render of the nonhostile Dakotas at Big Mound led to a series o f battles that could have been avoided. The high civilian losses when the Dakotas rose in Minnesota also contributed to the demand for expeditions. From the diaries and letters o f the soldiers, it was plain that they saw all Sioux as guilty and wanted revenge and that there was little attem pt to understand that a sizable portion o f the Dakotas and nearly a ll o f the Yanktonais had taken no part in the war: the Sioux had to be punished for what they had done. By 1864 Pope and other top leaders had found new reasons to continue the campaigns, but revenge still remained the main factor for the common soldier. Unfortunately, the revenge sought by the soldiers more often than not fell on those least responsible for the uprising. Finally, the lessons learned from the expeditions were more immediate rather than long term. The campaigns were fought

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along the lines o f other m ilita ry operations in the Civil War. Of­ fensives were launched against the enemy with a combined arms force o f infantry, artillery, and cavalry, and the better armed in­ fantry supported by a rtille ry made success on the battlefield against the Sioux a near certainty. W ith the conclusion o f the C ivil War, however, any m ilitary lessons learned by the volunteer army d u rin g the expeditions were quickly forgotten as the ap­ proach to fig h tin g American Indians changed. During the In ­ dian Wars in the West, cavalry became the ultimate force used in fighting. Although infantry and a rtillery were used in campaigns at times, the old combined-arms approach o f the Civil War fell into disuse. The diverse and independent nature of the various villages and bands o f the Lakotas made any long-term lessons learned by those who fought the army during the expeditions highly un­ likely. Sitting B ull came away with a new understanding o f how whites made war, and the firepower o f the army perhaps caused the Sioux to realize that they must become better armed in fu­ ture wars. More obvious is how quickly the Sioux learned to adapt d u ring the 1863 and 1864 campaigns. Faced with the longrange and more effective firepower o f the infantry and the ar­ my’s use o f cannons, the Sioux found ways to avoid the striking power o f the a rtille ry and minimize the long-range impact of the rifles. It would also be a mistake to assume that the Sioux did not gain a certain level o f success in the conflict. During the battle o f Big Mound and the subsequent retreat to the Missouri River, Sioux w arriors did a b rillia n t job of delaying the advance of Sib­ ley’s army and drawing attention to themselves and away from the noncombatants in the villages. The material loss was great, but the actions o f the warriors kept human losses much lower than they could have been. The use o f terrain and lack of water during the march through the Badlands displayed a high learning curve for the Sioux on neutralizing the advantages of the army

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while inflicting losses and lowering the morale o f the soldiers. And finally, numerous accounts o f warriors gaining in d ivid u a l honor and achievements are mentioned in the diaries and letters o f the soldiers. Whether viewed as an extension o f the C ivil W ar o r p a rt o f the Western Indian Wars, the Punitive Expeditions o f 1863 and 1864 impacted both the fighting o f the C ivil W ar and the Western frontier. For the Sioux nation, the Dakota W ar o f 1862 and the following campaigns proved a disaster fo r the Santees and Yanktonais. To the soldiers, outside o f a chance fo r supposed revenge against those who had murdered white civilians, they were seen as a wasteful diversion from the real reason they had enlisted, to fight against the Confederacy and save the Union. Conflicts w ith the Sioux would continue for the next decade o r so, but they would be fought by the regular army. The volunteer soldiers re­ turned to their civilian lives and reflected on th e ir experiences in the West.

Notes

1. T H E C O M IN G OF WAR 1. Roy W. Meyer, History o f the Santee Sioux: United States Indian Policy on T ria l (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967), 25-26. 2. Julian Rice, Before the Great Spirit: The Many Faces o f Sioux Spiritu­ ality (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998), 7; Waziyatawin. What Does Justice Look Like?: The Struggle fo r Liberation in Dakota Homeland (St. Paul: Living Justice Press, 2008), 20. 3. Jessica Dawn Palmer, The Dakota Peoples: A History o f the Dakota, Lakota and Nakota through 1863 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Com­ pany, 2008), 41; Raymond J. DeMallie, “Sioux Until 1850," in Handbook o f the North American Indian, ed. William C. Sturtevant (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2001), vol. 13, pt. 2,735,750; Paul H. Carl­ son, The Plains Indians (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1998), 5; Amos E. Oneroad and Alanson B. Skinner, Being Dakota: Tales and Traditions o f the Sisseton and Wahpeton, ed. Laura L. Anderson (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 2003), 5. 4. Rice, Before the Great Spirit, 43-44; DeMallie, “Sioux Until 1850,” 718, 751, 752, 754; Patricia C. Albers, “Santee," in Sturtevant, Handbook o f the North American Indian, vol. 13., pt. 2, 761; Raymond J. DeMallie, “Yankton and Yanktonai,” in ibid., 777. 255

256

NO TES T O PAGES 5-10

5. Carlson, Plains Indians , 34; Richard White, “The Winning of the West: The Expansion of the Western Sioux in the Eighteenth Century,” in M ajor Problems in American Indian History, ed. Albert Hurtado and Peter Iverson (Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath and Company, 1994), 246; DeMallie, “Sioux Until 1850," 722, 727. 6. White, “Winning of the West,” 244-45; Royal B. Hassrick, The Sioux: Life and Customs o f a W arrior Society (Norman: University of Okla­ homa Press, 1964), 65; Palmer, The Dakota People, 147. 7. White, “Winning of the West,” 246-47. 8. Robert W. Caller, Jr., “Sustaining the Sioux Confederation: Yanktonai Initiatives and Influence on the North Plains, 1680-1880,” Western Historical Quarterly 34, no. 4 (Winter 2008): 473, 476; Herbert Schell, History o f South Dakota (Pierre: South Dakota State Historical Society Press, 2004), 21; Guy Gibbon, The Sioux: The Dakota and Lakota Nations (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2003), 84. 9. Mark Diedrich, The Odyssey o f Chief Standing Buffalo (Minneapo­ lis: Coyote Books, 1988), 13; Galler, “ Sustaining the Sioux Confedera­ tion," 469. 10. White, “Winning of the West,” 248. 11. Robert Athearn, Forts o f the Upper M issouri (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1967), 31. 12. For a more detailed account of the First Sioux War, please see R. Eli Paul, Blue Water Creek and the First Sioux War, 1854-1856 (Nor­ man: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004); and Paul N. Beck, The First Sioux War: The Grattan Fight and Blue Water Creek, 1854-1856 (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2004). 13. Robert Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue (Lincoln: University of Ne­ braska Press, 1967), 270-71; George Hyde, Red Cloud’s Folk (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976), 82. 14. Max Swanholm, Alexander Ramsey and the Politics o f S urvival (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1977), 7. 15. Edmond Jefferson Danziger, Jr., Indians and Bureaucrats (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1974), 98-99; Hank H. Cox, Lincoln and the Sioux Uprising o f 1862 (Nashville: Cumberland House Publishing, 2005), 18, 46; Swanholm, Alexander Ramsey, 10-11; Carlson, The Plains Indians, 149. 16. Don Diessner, There Are No Indians Left but Me!: S itting B u ll’s Story (El Segundo, Calif.: Upton and Sons Publishers, 1993), 169; Swanholm, Alexander Ramsey, 18,46.

NOTES T O PAGES 11-17

257

17. Howard R. Lamar, Dakota Territory, 1861-1889: A Study o f Frontier Politics (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1956), 37-38; John R. Milton, South Dakota: A History (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1977), 70. 18. Galler, “Sustaining the Sioux Confederation,” 481,478-89; Palmer, Dakota Peoples, 43, 46-47; Meyer, History o f the Santee Sioux, 105; Schell, History o f South Dakota, 66-68. 19. Joseph Frazier Wall, Iowa: A Bicentennial History (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1976), 23, 25, 34, 38-39, 49. 20. For a more in-depth look at the massacre, see L. P. Lee, History of the S pirit Lake Massacre (Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1918); and Paul N. Beck, Inkpaduta: Dakota Leader (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008). 21. Schell, History o f South Dakota, 80,85; Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue, 271. 22. Milton, South Dakota, 67, 71; David P. Robrock, “The Seventh Iowa Cavalry and the Plains Wars,” Montana 39, no. 2 (Spring 1989): 4; Schell, History o f South Dakota, 66. 23. Board of Commissioners, Minnesota in the C ivil and Indian Wars, 1861-1865, vol. 1 (St. Paul: Pioneer Press Company, 1890), 2. 24. Judson W. Bishop, The Story o f a Regiment: Being a Narrative of the Service o f the Second Regiment Minnesota Veteran Volunteer Infantry in the C ivil War o f 1861-1865, ed. Newell L. Chester (St. Cloud, Minn.: North

Star Press of St. Cloud, 2000), 64. 25. Board of Commissioners, Minnesota in the C ivil and Indian Wars, vol. 1, 78, 147, 198, 243. 26. Ibid., 300. 27. Ibid. 28. Earl J. Hess, Liberty, Virtue, and Progress: Northerners and Their War fo r the Union (New York: New York University Press, 1988), 4-5, 18-19, 39, 131-32; Reid Mitchell, The Vacant Chair: The Northern Soldier Leaves Home (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 11-13; James M. McPher­ son, For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the C ivil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 5, 18-20, 25-26, 83-84, 98-99, 131-34; Chandra Manning, “A ‘Vexed Question’: White Union Soldiers on Slav­ ery and Race,” in The View from the Ground: Experiences of C ivil War Soldiers, ed. Aaron Sheehan-Dean (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2007), 34, 39. 29. Charles Horton Papers, Minnesota Historical Society (hereinafter cited as MHS); Pehr Carlson to Wife, September 22, 1862, September

258

N O TES T O PAGES 18-22

23, 1862, Pehr Carlson and Family Papers, MHS; George to Mariette Clapp, August 14, 1862, George C. Clapp and Family Papers, MHS; Board of Commissioners, Minnesota in the C iv il and Indian Wars, vol. 1, 347; Robert S. Offenberg and Robert Rue Parsonage, eds. The War Let­ ters of Duren F. Kelley (New York: Pageant Press, 1967), 14, 40. 30. Jacob Hamlin to Parents, April 6, 1862, Jacob Hamlin Papers, MHS. 31. Ruth-Ann M. Harris, “Civil War Soldier, Christopher Byrne, Writes Home” (paper delivered at the American Conference for Irish Studies, Minneapolis, June 2003); Thomas C. Hodgson, Personal Recollec­ tions of the Sioux War with the Eighth Minnesota, Company F, transcribed by Robert Olson (Roseville, Minn.: Park Genealogical Books, 1999), 1-2. 32. Mitchell, The Vacant Chair, 29-30; John to Marie Jones, July 10, 1863, John Jones Papers, MHS; Henry to Delia McConnell, October 5, 1862, Henry McConnell Papers, MHS. 33. George P. Belden, The While Chief: or. Twelve Years among the W ild Indians of the Plains (New York: C. F. Vent, 1870), 306-307. 34. Siegmund to Rosanah Rothammer, May 5, 1863, Siegmund Rothammer Papers, South Dakota Historical Society (hereinafter cited as SDHS). 35. Newcombe Kinney, “ Reminiscences of the Sioux Indian and Civil Wars,” 2, MHS; Amos E. Glanville, I Saw the Ravages o f an Indian War: A Diary by Amos E. Glanville Sr., Company F, 10th Minnesota Volun­ teers (privately printed by John K. Glanville, 1988), 1; Frank Griswold to

Parents, August 25, 1862, Frank Griswold Papers, MHS; Thomas Jef­ ferson Hunt, “Observations ofT. J. Hunt in the Sioux Indian and Civil Wars of 1862-1865,” 1-2, MHS; Charles Watson to Unknown, Novem­ ber 4, 1862, Charles Watson Papers, MHS. 36. Robrock, “The Seventh Iowa Cavalry,” 2, 4; Benjamin Stambaugh, ed., “ Iowa Troops in the Sully Campaigns," The Iowa Journal o f History and Politics 20, no. 3 (July 1922): 364, 374-75, 380-81, 389. 37. Stambaugh, “ Iowa Troops,” 407, 408. 38. Cox, Lincoln and the Sioux Uprising of 1862, 48; Gary Clayton An­ derson and Alan R. Woolworth, Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts o f the Minnesota Indian War o f 1862 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Soci­ ety Press, 1988), 23; Diessner, There Are No Indians Left but Me!, 159. 39. Jerry Keenan, The Great Sioux Uprising (Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2003), 3; Anderson, Through Dakota Eyes, 24, 31-32; Oneroad and Skinner, Being Dakota, 7-8.

NOTES T O PACES 23 -2 9

259

40. Anderson, Through Dakota Eyes, 26: Carlson, The Plains Indians, 149. 41. Cox, Lincoln and the Sioux Uprising, 21, 22. 42. Keenan, The Great Sioux Uprising, 26-28.

2. T H E D A K O T A WAR OF 1862 1. U.S. War Department, War of the Rebellion: A Compilation o f the O fficial Records o f the Union and Confederate Armies, ser. 1, vol. 13, pt. 1 (Washington, D.C., 1880), 590. 2. Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., C ivil War in the American West (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991), 95; Peter Cozzens, GeneralJohn Pope: A Life fo r the Nation (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000), 200-201; David A. Nichols, Lincoln and the Indians: C ivil War Policy and Politics (Colum­ bia: University o f Missouri Press, 1978), 81; Richard Ellis, General Pope and U.S. India n Policy (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1970), 6. 3. Swanholm, Alexander Ramsey and the Politics of Survival, 12, 14; Diessner, There Are No Indians Left but Me!, 147, 153; Isaac V. D. Heard, History o f the Sioux War (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1865), 335; Landon Sully, No Tears fo r the General, Life o f Alfred Sully (Palo Alto, Calif.: American West Publishing Company, 1974), 166-67; William Watts Folwell, A History o f Minnesota (St. Paul: Minnesota His­ torical Society Press, 1956), vol. 2, 53, 68. 4. Rhoda R. Gilman, Henry Hastings Sibley: Divided Heart (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004), 163-64; Diessner, There Are No Indians Left but Me!, 163, 168. 5. Alfred J. H ill, “History of Company E, of the Sixth Minnesota Regiment of Volunteer Infantry,” published by Prof. T. H. Lewis (St. Paul: Pioneer Press Co., 1899), 1, 10; Board of Commissioners, Minnesota in the C iv il and Indian Wars, vol. 1, 302. 6. Charles Horton Papers, MHS; John Pattee, “Reminiscences of John Pattee,” South Dakota Historical Collections 5 (Pierre: State Publish­ ing Company, 1910): 519; ibid., 273, 275-76, 283. 7. Board of Commissioners, Minnesota in the C ivil and Indian Wars, vol. 1, 304; Diary, October 2, 1862, October 22, 1862, March 22, 1863, Charles Watson Papers, MHS. 8. Offenberg and Parsonage, War Letters of Duren F. Kelley, 19, 22, 29.

260

NO TES T O PAGES 30-35

9. Leonard to Dr. Joseph Aldrich, 1862, Leonard Aldrich Papers, MHS; September 16, 1862, September 19, 1862, George Doud Diaries, MHS; William to Wife, December 12, 1862, William and Herbert Paist Papers, MHS; George to Abby Adams, October 22, 1862, George Ad­ ams Papers, MHS. 10. Cozzen, General John Pope, 200-201; Nichols, Lincoln and the In d i­ ans, 98; Gerald S. Hening, “A Neglected Cause of the Sioux Uprising,” Minnesota History 45, issue 3 (1976): 109. 11. Cox, Lincoln and the Sioux Uprising o f 1862, 108; Willoughby M. Babcock, “ Minnesota’s Frontier: A Neglected Sector of the Civil War,” Minnesota History 38, issue 6 (1963): 274; Ellis, General Pope and United States Indian Policy, 6; Mankato Semi-Weekly Record, January, 24, 1863; Schell, History o f South Dakota, 79. 12. Josephy, C ivil War in the American West, 132; U.S. War Depart­ ment, War of the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 13, 618, 642. 13. Offenberg and Parsonage, War Letters o f Duren F. Kelley, 21, 29. 14. Cozzens, General John Pope, 208; Pope to Major General Henry Halleck, September 16, 1862, U.S. War Department, War o f the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 13, 642; Marshall McKusick, Iowa Northern Border Brigade (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1975), 137. 15. Pope to Colonel Henry Sibley, September 17, 1862, U.S. War De­ partment, War of the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 13, 649; Richard Ellis, “The Hu­ manitarian Generals,” Western Historical Quarterly 3, no. 2 (April 1972): 178. 16. Brigadier General John Schoefiled to Halleck, September 18, 1862, U.S. War Department, War o f the Rebellion, ser. 1. vol. 13, 649-50; Halleck to Pope, September 23, 1862, ibid., 663; Secretary of War Ed­ win Stanton to Pope, September 23, 1862, ibid., 662-63. 17. Meyer, History o f the Santee Sioux, 118; The Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands of Sioux Indians v. The United States, original petition no. 22524, Court of Claims (Washington, D.C.: McGill and Wallace Law Printers, 1876-1906), 78; Stephen Riggs, ed., “The Narrative of Paul Mazakootermane,” Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society 3 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1870-1880): 84. 18. Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands of Sioux Indians v. The United States, 79-80; Gary Clayton Anderson, Kinsmen o f Another K ind: DakotaWhite Relations in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1650-1862 (St. Paul: Min­ nesota Historical Society Press, 1997), 270-71. 19. Anderson, Kinsmen o f Another Kind, 270; Oneroad and Skinner, Being Dakota, 9.

NOTES T O PAGES 3 6 -4 4

261

20. Anderson and Woohvorth, Through Dakota Eyes. 23. 21. Offenberg and Parsonage, War Letters of Duran F. Kelley, 23; An* drea R. Forough, ed., Co I f You Think It Your Duty: A Minnesota Couples C ivil War Letters (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2008). 122. 22. Gabriel Renville, “A Sioux Narrative of the Outbreak in 1862, and o f Sibley’s Expedition in 1863,” http://www.archive.org/stream /siouxnarrativeofoorenvrich/siouxnar. 23. Ibid.; Meyer, History o f the Santee Sioux, 121-22. 24. Keenan. Great Sioux Uprising, 72-74; Anderson, Kinsmen of dnother K ind, 273-74. 25. Riggs, “ Narrative of Paul Mazakootermane." 87; Renville. “A Sioux Narrative.” 26. Meyer, History o f the Santee Sioux, 123; U.S. War Department, lia r o f the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 13, 666-67; Renville, “A Sioux Narrative"; Riggs, “ Narrative of Paul Mazkootermane," 87. 27. Charles Eastman, Indian Boyhood (Boston: Little, Brown and Company. 1926), 4, 13-14. 28. Forough, Go I f You Think It Your Duty, 123; Meyer, History o f the Santee Sioux, 127, 129. 29. Diary, December 26, 1862, Charles Watson Papers, MHS; Jacob Hamlin to Parents, November 12, 1862, Jacob Hamlin Papers, MHS. 30. Diessner, There Are No Indians Left But Me!, 187-88. 31. James H. Howard, The Canadian Sioux (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984), 25; Anderson, Kinsmen of Another Kind, 278. 32. Celia M. Campbell, “Reminiscences,” Celia Campbell Stay Papers, MHS; Robert Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967), 269; Gary Clayton Anderson, Little Crow: Spokesman fo r the Sioux (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1986), 162. 33. Mark Diedrich, The Odyssey o f Chief Standing Buffalo (Minneapo­ lis: Coyote Books, 1988), 7, 16, 26,31,41-42; Anderson and Woolworth, Through Dakota Eyes, 293. 34. Diedrich, Odyssey o f Chief Standing Buffalo, 41, 42-43; Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands of Sioux v. The United States, 96,108; Anderson, Little Crow, 168. 35. Dierich, Odyssey o f Chief Standing Buffalo, 41; Hassrick, The Sioux, 77. 36. Sibley to Standing Buffalo, Waawatan et al., October 3, 1862, U.S. War Department, War of the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 13, 708. 37. Pope to Sibley, September, 28,1982, ibid., 686; Josephy, Civil War in the American West, 138.

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NO TES T O PACES 44-51

38. Sibley to Pope, September 30, 1862, U.S. War Department, War of the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 13, 694; Sibley to Pope, October 3, 1862, ibid., 707-708; Sibley to Pope, October 5, 1862, ibid., 711. 39. Pope to Halleck, October 7,1862, ibid., 716; Pope to Halleck, Octo­ ber 9,1862, ibid., 722; Halleck to Pope, October 21, 1862, ibid., 755; Bab­ cock, “Minnesota’s Frontier: A Neglected Sector of the Civil War,” 279. 40. St. Paul Press, October, 21, 1862; St. Paul Pioneer, October 23, 1862; Cozzens, General John Pope, 204-205. 41. Cozzens, General John Pope, 205; Ellis, General Pope and U.S. Indian Policy, 18; McKusick, Iowa Northern Border Brigade, 131, 135-36. 42. Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue, 271; Mildred Throne, ed., “Iowa Troops in Dakota Territory, 1861-1864, Based on the Diaries and Letters of Henry J. Wieneke,” Iowa Journal o f History 57, no. 2 (April 1959): 126-27; Diessner, There Are No Indians left but Me!, 35; W. A. Burleigh, Yankton Indian Agent, to William Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Decem­ ber 18, 1862, Letters Received and Sent, Office of Indian Affairs, Upper Missouri, Dakota Superintendency, RG 62, M-234, Roll 250; Ellis, General Pope and U.S. Indian Policy, 17. 43. Anderson, Little Crow, 169; Lamar, Dakota Territory, 89; Governor William Jayne to Commissioner of Indian Affairs William Dole, Octo­ ber 8, 1862, “ Report of the Secretary of Interior,” House Document 1, 37th Congress, 3rd Session, no. 35, 319-22; Burleigh to Dole, December 18, 1862, Letters Received and Sent, Upper Missouri, Dakota Superin­ tendency, RG 62, M-234, Roll 250. 44. Anderson, Kinsmen o f Another Kind, 278; Diedrich, Odyssey o f Chief Standing Buffalo, 48-49; Peter Douglas Elias, The Dakota o f the Canadian Northwest (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1988), 17-21.

3. PREPARING FOR T H E F IR S T E X P E D IT IO N S 1. Cozzens, GeneralJohn Pope, 228; A. P. Connolly, A T h rillin g Narrative o f the Minnesota Massacre and the Sioux War o f 1862-1863 (Chicago: A. P. Connolly, 1896), 211; Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue, 270; Josephy, C ivil War in the American West, 139; Gibbon, The Sioux, 111; St. Paul Pioneer and Demo­ crat Weekly, May 1, 1863; G. D. H ill to J. M. Edmund, June 11, 1863, Let­ ters Received and Sent, Dakota Superintendency, RG 62, M-234, Roll 250. 2. “Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands of Sioux v. The United States,” 184; Diedrich, Odyssey o f Chief Standing Buffalo, 49; Meyer, History o f

NOTES T O PAGES 51-56

263

the Santee Sioux, 133; St. Paul Pioneer and Democrat Weekly, May 29,

1863. 3. Henry Reed to William Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, January 14, 1863, Letters Received and Sent, Dakota Superintendency, RG 62, M-234, Roll 885. 4. Anderson, L ittle Crow, 172; Mark Diedrich, Famous Chiefs of the Eastern Sioux (Minneapolis: Coyote Books, 1987), 74 5. Elias, Dakota o f the Canadian Northwest, 21; Anderson, Little Crow, 173; William Seward to j. P. Usher, Secretary of the Interior, January 12, 1863, Letters Received and Sent, Dakota Superintendency, RG 62, M-234, Roll 250. 6. Diedrich, Odyssey o f Chief Standing Buffalo, 49-50; Anderson, Little Crow, 173. 7. Meyer, History o f the Santee Sioux, 136-37, 140; Josephy, C ivil War in the American West, 138. 8. Pope to J. C. Kelton, Assistant Adjunct General, U.S. War De­ partment, War o f the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 22, pt. 2, 305; Pope to Sibley, ibid., 115. 9. Pope to Sibley, ibid., 115; Geraldine Bean, “General Alfred Sully and the Northwest Indian Expedition,” North Dakota History 33, no. 3 (Summer 1966): 245. 10. Roster and Record o f Iowa Soldiers in the War o f the Rebellion, vol. 4 (Des Moines: Emory English State Printer, 1910), 1115, 1117; Pattee, “ Reminiscences of John Pattee,” 291-92; J. H. Drips, Three Years among the Indians in Dakota (New York: Sol Lewis, 1974), 2. 11. Lurton Dunham Ingersoll, Iowa and the Rebellion (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott and Company, 1866), 690-91; Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, vol. 4, 1253; Stambaugh, “Iowa Troops," 364; Marshall McKusick. The Iowa Northern Border Brigade (Iowa City: University of Iowa, 1975), 5; David P. Robrock, “The Seventh Iowa Cavalry and the Plains Wars,” Montana 39: no. 2 (Spring 1989): 8. 12. Board of Commissioners, Minnesota in the C ivil War and Indian Wars, vol. 1, 519-20. 13. Mitchell, Vacant Chair, 26, 29. 14. George to Mariette, March 27, 1863, George C. Clapp and Family Papers, MHS; George to Abby, October 22, 1863, George Adams Pa­ pers, MHS; Henry to Maria, May 10, 1863, Henry J. Synder Papers, MHS; Philip to Wife, September 26, 1862, Philip Osborn Papers, Iowa State Historical Society (hereinafter cited as ISHS).

264

N O TE S T O PAGES 56-61

15. Henry to Delia, October 5, 1862, Henry McConnell Papers, MHS; George to Abby, October 22, 1863, George Adams Papers, MHS; May 5, 1863, Henry Hagadorn Diary, January 11-August 31, 1863, MHS. 16. May 15, 1863, Henry Hagadorn Diary, MHS; Philip to Wife, September 19, 1862, Philip Osborn Papers, ISHS. 17. John to Annie, February, 18, 1863, John B. Leo Letters, MHS; Thomas to Mary, September 16, 1862, Thomas Cheetham Letters, MHS. 18. James Marten. C ivil War America: Voicesfrom the Home Front (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2003), 125-26, 129. 19. Philip to Wife, October 30, 1862, Philip Osborn Papers, ISHS; George to Abby, April 24,1862, George Adams Papers, MHS; William to Son, May 8, 1863, William and Herbert Paist Papers, MHS; Thomas to Mary, December 26, 1862, Thomas Cheetham Letters, MHS. 20. Offenberg and Parsonage, War Letters o f Duren F. Kelley, 25,33,34. 21. John Smith and James R. Hart, Tales o f the Tenth Regiment, M in ­ nesota Volunteers, 1862-1863 (Henderson, Minn.: Sibley County Histori­ cal Society, 1996), 9, 12. 22. Hamlin to Friends, February 15, 1863, Jacob Hamlin Papers, MHS. 23. Gibbon, The Sioux, 100; Ella Deloria, Speaking o f Indians (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998), 24-26. 24. Gibbon, The Sioux, 101; Hassick, The Sioux, 109-10. 25. Inez Hilgered, “The Narrative of Oscar One Bull,” M id-Am erica: An Historical Review 28, no. 3 (July 1946): 156-57; Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun and Josephine Waggoner, With My Own Eyes: A Lakota Woman Tells Her People’s History, ed. Emily Levine (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998), 9; Palmer, Dakota Peoples, 177, 181; Samuel W. Pond, The Dakota or Sioux in Minnesota as They Were in 1863 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1986), 140. 26. Hilgered, “ Narrative of Oscar One Bull,” 156; Hassrick, The Sioux, 113-15; Pond, Dakota or Sioux in Minnesota, 142; W illard E. Rosenfelt, The Last Buffalo: Cultural Views o f the Plains Indians: The Sioux or Da­ kota Nation (Minneapolis: T. S. Denison and Company, 1973), 44; Luther Standing Bear, Land o f the Spotted Eagle (Boston: Houghton M ifflin Company, 1933), 10. 27. Pope to J. C. Kelton, Assistant Adjunct-General, U.S. War De­ partment, War o f the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 22, pt. 2, 304; Geraldine Bean, “General Alfred Sully and the Northwest Indian Expedition,” North Dakota History 33, issue 3 (Summer 1966): 249.

NOTES T O PAGES 6 2 -6 8

265

28. Pattee, “ Reminiscences,” 289; William Eagan, “General Sully and That Other Seventh Cavalry,” True West 37, issue 9 (September 1990): 30; Clair Jacobson, “The Battle of Whitestone Hill,” North Dakota His­ tory 44, issue 3 (Summer 1972): 6; Cozzens, GeneralJohn Pope, 229; Sully, No Tears fo r the General, 166. 29. Sully, ibid., 166; Bean, “General Alfred Sully,” 243; Pope to Halleck. May 18, 1863, Halleck to Pope, May 19,1863, Pope to Halleck, May 19, 1863, U.S. War Department, War o f the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 22, pt. 2, 287-88. 30. Diessner, There Are No Indians left but Me!,” 195; Pope to Sibley, February 20, 1863, U.S. War Department, War of the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 22, pt. 2, 115. 31. Ellis, General Pope and U.S. Indian Policy, 19. 32. Halleck to Pope, April 28, 1863, U.S. War Department, War of the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 22, pt. 2, 260; Harry Reed to CIA William Dole, January 14, 1863, Letters Received and Sent, Upper Missouri, Dakota Superintendency, RG 62, M-234, Roll 885; J. M. Edmunds to William P. Delo, June 1863, Letters Received and Sent, Dakota Superintendency, RG 62, M-234, Roll 250; Lamar, Dakota Territory, 1861-1889,101-102. 33. Ellis, General Pope and U.S. Indian Policy, 24-25. 34. Cozzens, General John Pope, 233; Nichols, Lincoln and the Indians, 66; Richard Ellis, “ Political Pressures and Army Politics on the North­ ern Plains, 1862-1865,” Minnesota History 42 (Summer 1970): 45. 35. Nathaniel West, Ancestry, Life and Times o f Hon. Henry Hastings Sibley (St. Paul: Pioneer Press, 1889), 305; St. Cloud Democrat, May 28, 1863. 36. Secretary of War Annual Report, 1865, HED no. 83, 38th Con­ gress, 2nd session, 1230. 37. Ellis, “ Political Pressures and Army Politics,” 46; Pope to Halleck, July 27, 1863, Pope to J. C. Kelton, U.S. War Department, War of the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 22, pt. 2, 304, 403-404. 38. Josephy, C iv il War in the American West, 235. 39. James McPherson, For Cause and Comrades, 148; Reid Mitchell, C iv il War Soldiers (New York: Viking Press, 1988), 24-25; Gerald F. Linderman, Embattled Courage: The Experience o f Combat in the American C ivil War (New York: Free Press, 1987), 65-67. 40. Ole Paulson, “General Sibley’s Expedition,” 7, MHS; May 10, 1863, Henry Hagadorn Diary, MHS; Ben Brunson, “Reminiscences," 10-11, MHS; A. P. Connolly, A T hrilling Narrative, 12.

266

NO TES T O PAGES 69-76

41. Eli to Philena, June 3, 1863, Eli Pickett Correspondence, MHS; A. P. Connolly, A T h rillin g Narrative, 199; Offenberg and Parsonage, War Letters o f Duren F. Kelley, 59. 42. Offenberg and Parsonage, War Letters o f Duren F. Kelley, 54; Wil­ liam to Henrietta, October 3, 1863, William and Herbert Paist Papers, MHS. 43. Henry to Delia, April 7, 1863, May 15, 1863, May 21, 1863, May 27, 1863, Henry McConnell Papers, MHS. 44. M errill to Father, June 13, 1863, G. M errill Dwelle Papers, MHS; Charles to Wife, November 4, 1862, Charles Watson Papers, MHS. 45. Offenberg and Parsonage, War Letters o f Duren F. Kelley, 50-51; George to Mariette, March 27, 1863, April 24, 1863, George C. Clapp and Family Papers, MHS; Hart, Smith, Tales o f the Tenth Regiment, 8. 46. Henry Hagadorn, Diary, May 1, 1863, MHS; Thomas to Parents, April 28, 1863, Thomas to Mother, May 23, 1863, Thomas Montgomery Letters, MHS. 47. Eli to Philena, June 3, 1863, Eli Pickett Correspondence, MHS; Hodgson, Personal Recollections of the Sioux War, 10; Henry to Marie, May 10, 1863, Henry J. Synder Papers, MHS; John to Annie, June 3, 1863, John B. Leo Letters, MHS. 48. John Nelson Papers, MHS. 49. St. Paul Pioneer and Democrat Weekly, A pril 24, 1863; Glanville, I Saw the Ravages o f an Indian War, 87.

50. Edmund J. Danziger, Jr., “The Crow Creek Experiment: An Af­ termath of the Sioux War of 1862,” North Dakota History 37 (Spring 1970): 106-109, 114; Danziger, huiians and Bureaucrats, 95, 122. 51. Josephy, The C ivil War in the American West, 139-40; Pope to Halleck. May 19, 1863, Sibley to Pope, May 19, 1863, Halleck to Pope, May 30, 1863, U.S. War Department, War o f the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 22, pt. 2, 289, 306. 52. Henry Hagadorn Diary, May 9, 1863. 53. Ibid, May 10, 1863, May 11, 1863. 54. Ibid, May 13, 1863, May 14, 1863. 55. Ibid, May 30, 1863; George to Mariette, May 27, 1863, George C. Clapp and Family Papers, MHS. 56. Henry Hagadorn Diary, May 5, 1863; Thomas to Wife, May 23, 1863, Thomas James Cheetham Letters, MHS. 57. Charles to Father, June 7,1863, Charles Watson Papers, MHS; Sib­ ley to Captain E. A. Folsom, September 29, 1862, Letters Received, Fort

NOTES T O PAGES 7 6 -8 2

267

Ridgely. National Archives Record Group. 393; Henry Hagadorn Diary, June 2, 1863, MHS. 58. Connolly, A T h rillin g Narrative, 200; Glanville, I Saw the Rai