Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1864-04-07

Wood, to exchange their furs for we
$ CONS. They were unsuccessful in e.
| fecting trade, and separated. Four g
them, going farther, obtained whisky
and becoming intoxicated, their hatre
to the whites, aggravated by their dis
appointment, broke out in drunken flu
ry, and they shot down three mer
whom they met on the road. and scalp
ing them before they were dead, fast
ened the CORY scalps to their girdles
and regaining the other six, returned
to their camp at Red Wood. Here Q
council Of the Indians was convened
and the question debated whether the
murderers should be given up, or the
tribes of the Sioux should unite in al
effort to drive the white men from their
borders. Unable to agree, they ad'
journed TO the house of Little Crow,
a Chief of considerable ability, who
had adopted civilized customs, and
had visited Washington. The Chief
was crafty, cunning, false and treach-
erous, but ambitious. He knew bet.
ter than the other Indians the power
and resources of the whites, and the
destruction they would draw upon
themselves by the course which the
majority proposed, and he endeavor.
ed to dssuadc them from general
massacre. Finding, however, that
the young men were determined to
commence, he avowed his willingness
TO be their leader. A war dance was
held that night, and the CORY scalps
taken during the day previous, infam-
ed the rage of the Indians to demoni-
acal fury. At midnight the Indian
warriors separated, to paint and equip
themselves, and at early dawn, they
took their way in single file toward the
Lower Indian Agency, short dis
lance above Fort Ridgely, on the Min
nesota river. They ranged them
selves along the warehouses and
dwellings,, the preconcerted signal, ac-
cording to the direction of Little Grow,
being the discharge of gun, in a
store by the flagstaff. The inmates
of the store were astir, and seeing
some Indiana approaching, one OF
them supposing they desired to trade
unbolted the door, and was shot dead
upon the spot. The signal once Civ.
en-, the savage war-whoops of more
than thousand Indians rent the air
and the carnival Of death began
Within an hour, nearly every white
person, man, woman and child, in tht
Agency was butchercd, and many oi
them horribly mutilated and tortured
No resistance had been made, for tn
< settlers were utterly unprepared; bu
the iendish fury Of the savages seen
ed to increase with The blood the
shed, and the innocence of infancy
the tenderness, purity and beauty {
maidenhood, the charity and gentle
ness of woman, who had often bestow
= ed kindnesses upon them, or the fee
bleness of age, only served to whe
their rage and lust |; death was tn
most merciful fate inflicted by them
many were reserved for tortures, in
dignities and brutalities infnitel,
worse than death. The few who es
capped, spread the alarm, and from tn
/. settlements along tho Upper Minneso
I ia the terrified inhabitants fed, PAM
, stricken, towards St. Peters, Mankat
; and other towns on the lower Mime
sofa many of them falling into tn
. hands Of the Indians and perishini
miserably. The news reached For
i Ridgely. and Captain Marsh, wit
r about sixty men, was sent with a
@ speed to the Agency, to quell the di.
turbance. On their way, though the
saw mangled bodies and smoking ri
. ms, they did not encounter singl
), Indian. They approached the ferr.
and found it unoccupied, and no In
, dams in sight. Leaving about TWEEN
} ty men to hold the crossing, Captain
Marsh, with the remaining forty
E sprang upon a raft, and commenced
crossing they had reached about th'
middle of the stream, when a volley
of bullets poured in upon them from
all sides, and not man on the raft
escaped. The twenty on the bank re
,, treated, firing behind them as they
/, went, but more than half their mum
Der were killed before reaching tn,
, fort. Flushed with success, and mad
, dened with intoxicating drink, the In
dams now determined to attack For
!, Ridgely, some twelve or fifteen miles
below, on the north or left bank of thu
Minnesota river. The loss of tn,
greater part of Captain Marsh's com
. pany, had reduced the garrison to thir
ty soldiers and eleven half breeds
who possessed arms, and the only al
tillery at the fort was one twenty-fiv
and six pound howitzer. The fugitive
/, who had already collected there, wer
+, over five hundred in number, and col
sisted of unarmed men-many of thcI
wounded-and women and children
; There was also considerable amour
Of money, which had arrived just a
ter Captain Marsh left, for the pay
ment of the annuity due the Indians
About noon Of the 18th of August, tn
alarm was given, that Little Gro,
!, and his party were near the fort, an
about to attack it. Lieut.. Shelley
then in command of the fort, acte,
with admirable GOODNESS and tact
The riflemen took their positions a
oop-holes, and ammunition, and what
!, ever else they needed, was handed +
them by unarmed persons in the fort
: The howltzers were drawn out, an,
their condition carefully attended 10
and under the management of sergean
Jones, they proved of great service
The Indians have dread Of "bis
guns and no skill in conducting
siege, and as the shells burst and can
lister ratified among them, they fel
back to more sheltered positions, ane
,, fired from behind trees aud bushe,
! aud from holes in the ground. Thei
shots told on the garrison, q numbe
e OF the soldiers who were serving til,
2 guns being wounded. and but for tn,
occurrence Of q violent thunder storm
just at this time, they might have bee,
n overpowered. The storm was SO sc
y we're that the Indians were compelle.