The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-10-03

treatment of DR.. E. E. Baum, A. A. Sur
geon of the post, live to tell the tale OF her
sufferings.
On Tuesday, the Goth, party consisting
of ten soldiers in government wagons, and
an equal number of citizens mounted on
horses, went to Dayton, twelve miles be-
yond Old Crossing, where they encamped
over night, and returned On the following
day. On the way there, they buried the
bodies of young Scott and Smell, the stage
driver. On arriving at Dayton, they found
the place deserted. Their mission there
was to escort Mr.. Martin Wright and his
family to the Fort. Fortunately Mr.. W.
had received warning of the threatening
danger, and had previously started for
this point by circuitous route, and arrived
here on the same evening that our party
reached his place. He brought with him
one hundred and siXty-two head of sheep,
and number of horses and cattle.
Nothing of moment again occurred until
Saturday morning, 30th, when a party of
about ten citizens, on horse, left for the
Old Crossing, with view of bringing in
sixteen head of cattle and a lot of flour,
dried apples, &c, belonging to Mrs Scott.
They took with them two government
wagons, for transportation purposes. When
they had proceeded about ten miles on
their way, they were fired into by a supe-
rior number of Indians, in ambush, killing
one man-James Bennett-and capturing
six mules and one wagon. Their mode of
selling teams is to shoot down one of the
of the lead mules, thereby stopping the
whole train and giving no chance for re-
fitting. The remainder of our party made
good their escape, not, however, without
first returning fire.
About two O'Clock, p. NJ. of the same
day, we discovered large number of In
dians, many of whom were mounted on
horses coming in upon the prairie ada
cent to the Fort, where q large amount of
live stock, both government and private,
was grazing The long rolf was imme-
diately sounded and every preparation
made for fight The stock being out OF
gunshot from us, the Indians commenced
a general stampede with the entire lot, and
succeeded in getting away. 1t was deemed
inadvisable, with our small force, to go in
pursuit of the rascals. lest an attack from
the opposite direction should be made, and
general massacre of women and children
the result. There were nearly two hun
dred head of cattle and close to one hun
dred horses and mules driven off, Among
them were the twenty head of fine beef
cattle intended for the treaty. Fortunate
ly, quite a number of horses and mules and
a few cattle, were in and about the stables
at the time, and were saved.
On Tuesday, Sept. Cd, scouting party
of eight citizens were again sent to Breck-
inridge, and returned during the afternoon
with forty EIGHT head of cattle-being a
portion of those stolen on Saturday-hav-
ing escaped from the Indians in their hasty
stampede. Occasionally one was found
with bullet hole through some portion Of
his body or limbs-a parting salute the red
skins are in the habit of giving to all crea-
lures who refuse to accompany them.
On Wednesday morning, Sept. Sd, at
daybreak, the alarm was sounded through
out the fort, that ''the Indians were upon
us!" Every man not on the sick list, both
soldiers and citizens, were on hand in enc
time,'' and for two or three hours we had
lively time. Unfortunately Mr.. E. NJ
Wright, of Dayton, received very Sc
rious, though not fatal, wound through the
right shoulder, for which compliment he
made daylight shine through Mr. Indian
with his bayOnet. This occurred in the
large stable, where the Indians were il
large force for the purpose of stealing hor-
ses Edwin D. Steel, soldier, of Mankato
was shot through the right thigh, while en-
gagged at the same place, and died on the
following Sunday. Another soldier, named
Nicholas Hettinger, was wounded in the
breast while helping to defend the opposite
side of the fort. He will recover. As
near as | can Judge, there were between
two and three hundred Indians engaged
against us. They attacked us upon all
sides, evidently with the intention of scat
tering our forces, and leaving the stables
comparatively unguarded. In and about
the stables the contest was much of il
''hand to hand" and so strong and bold
were the redskins that they succeeded in
taking away three or four horses in spite
of the efforts on our side to prevent them.
One or two horses were accidently killed
in the struggle. We had the satisfaction
of burying two of the devils, and crippled
goodly number besides. How much
more damage we done to them, there is
no means of knowing, as they carried of
their killed and wounded, if possible, as
soon as shot-which was the case on the
present occasion. Numerous trophys
(since gathered by our boys in the way OF
broken shotguns, head-dresses, powder
TASKS, &c, are evidence of their having
received more than they bargained for
The contractor had just finished pulling
up two hundred tons Of hay (close to the
stables), one stack of which the rascals
fred at the commencement of the fight,
together with long row of old stables,
situated close to the main one By great
exertions we succeeded in quelling the fire,