The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-04-17
THE WEEKLY PIONEER AND DEMOCRAT
.YAAOOMAQ QNA HHIEOLa YLAIHW MHT

and yelling outside, l, with four or five
others, rushed to the door to see what was
going on, when we. received a yolley Of
ball and buckshot from about twenty five
or thirty Indians, which resulted in the
death of four persons. I received ball
through my right arm, another struck me
in the right breast, and still another IN
the abdomen. One man was not injured,
with whom rushed up stairs; | did not
fall, and when I reached the foot of the
stairs turned and beheld the store filling
with indians. One had followed me near
ly to the stairs, when he took deliberate
aim at my body, but providentially both
barrels of his gun missed fire, and | sue
ceeded in getting above without further
injury. Not expecting to live great
while threw myself on bed, and while
lying there could hear them open cases Of
goods and carrying them out and threat
ening to burn the building. I did not re-
lish the idea of being burnt to death very
wen, SO ! arose very quietly, and taking
bed cord, made fast one end to the bed
post and carried the other to window,
which raised l intended, IN case they
fred the building, to let myself down from
the window and take the chances of being
shot again rather than to remain where I
was and burn. The man who went up
stairs with me seeing good opportunity
to escape rushed down through the crowd
and ran for life; he was fired upon, and
two charges of duckshot struck him, but
he succeeded in making his escape. I had
been up stairs probably an hour when
heard the voice of an Indian inquiring for
me. recognized his voice and felt that !
was safe. Upon being told that was up
stairs he rushed up, followed by ten or a
dozen others, and approaching my bed
asked me if I was mortally wounded. l
told him that I did not know, but that I
was badly hurt. Some of the others came
up and took me by the hand, and appear
ed to be sorry that I had been hurt. They
then asked me where the guns were. l
pointed to them, when my comrade assist
ed me in getting down stairs.
The name of this Indian is Wa-kin-yan-
ta-wa, or in English, ellis thunder" He
was, up to the time of the outbreak, the
head soldier of Little Grow, and some four
or five years ago went to Washington with
that chief to see their Great Father. he
is fine looking Indian, and has alwas
been noted for his bravery in fighting the
Chippewas. When we reached the foot of
the stairs some of the Indians cried out,
"kill him, "spare no Americans, ""show
mercy to none" My friend, who was I'M
armed, seized a Ratchet that was lying
near by and declared that he would cut
down the first one that should attempt to
do me any further harm. Said he, eff
you had killed him before I saw him it
would have been all right; but we have
been friends and comrades for ten years,
and now that I have seen him, l will pro-
tect him or die with him." They then
made way for US and we passed out; he
then procured wagon and gave me over
to couple of squaws to take me to his
lodge. On the way we were stopped two
or three times by armed Indians on horse
back, who inquired of the squaws "what
that meant?" Upon being answered that
" this is Wa-kin-yan-ta-wa's friend and he
has saved his life," they suffered us to pass
on. His lodge was about four miles above
the agency, at Little Crows village. My
friend soon came home, and washed me
and dressed my wound with roots.
Some few white men succeeded in max
ing their way to the fort. There were no
other white men taken prisoners. The
half breeds were saved and considered as
prisoners, and in many instances were
compelled to 90 with the Indians on the
war parties. There were five or six Can
adams who had lived with the Indians for
twenty -fve or thirty years, who had mar
ried Indian women, and have children
grown up, who were also compelled to
follow them, but were hardly considered
as prisoners, as they were allowed to re-
tain their teams and other property. One
of these men made his escape but returned
to his family few days after
Upon the alarm being given at the fort,
Captain Marsh, with between forty and
fifty men, came up to quell the disturbance
They were met at the ferry by the Indians,
who defeated them, killing more than
half their number, including their COM
mander. The Indians lost but one killed
and five or six wounded. On the 10Th the
Indians all moved up to Little Crows vii
lage Chat is all who had their villages be-
low that place. and formed one encamp-
ment We had remained here probably
four or five days, during which time the
settlements in the vicinity of the Agency
were all visited by the savages, who killed
all the men, except few who managed
to escape by flight. Some women and
children were also killed, and great many
were brought in as prisoners. They were
nearly all compelled to dress in Indian
costume. We then broke up camp and
started for Yellow Medicine, which was
about twenty five miles above; we were
nearly two days making the journey. The
train of Indian teams loaded with plumber,
&C., must have been about five miles in
length. A fine large flag of the Hudson
Bay Company was flying out to the breeze
from one of the wagons in front, and a
few American flags, which had been cap
tured, were raised at different points of
the procession.
It did not occur to me to inquire how
they came by that emblem of British au-
thority, but l supposed it to have been
presented to some chief or soldier many
years ago, and it had been preserved UNI
til the present time. In the early part of
the present century British flags, medals,
&c., were freely distributed among all the
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