Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-07-30
THE aINNRsOTA MASSACRE.
he Brutalities of the Savage Sioux In
1862 "a Few Details Of the
HOrrifying Butcheries.
A Chapter Of Sickening Horrors by the
Gentlemen OF the Forest, Whom
Wendell Phillips Pets.
st. Louis Globe-Democrat.I

st. Louis Globe-Democrat.l
Isaac V. D. Hesrd, who was a men,
Der of ColonelSibley's expedition against
the Sioux or Dakota Indians, in 1862,
has left US q somewhat detailed &C cunt
of the horrible massGcres and shocking
outrages which took place in the Mime
sota valley in that and the succeeding
wear. This war and the massacre were
inaugurated in August, 1852, by four In
dams belonging to the upper Minnesota
tribes Of the Dakota nation, and were
caused mainly by the real and tancled
i0justices Of which the red men were
made, or thought Themselves to nave
been made the victims, as we'll as by the
enormous eXtortions OF the traders at Cne
agencies. The four Indians, to whom the
beginning of the blOodshed is credited
nv Heard, belonged to Shakopee's VIII
lsge, at the mouth Of Rice creek. They
were on their way to Acton when they
attacked and killed two men named Bs-
ker and Webster, Mr.. Jones and wife,
and a Miss Wilson. Having accom-
plished these murders, they fastened TO
Shskopee's village, and told the rest OF
the tribe what they had done. A gen
eraI massacre Of the whites was immedl-
steIy resolved upon, and messengers
were sent to the bands of Wabsshaw,
Waconta and Red-Legs. The Shs 2opee
band Their proceeded to the agency under
Little Crow, their chief; the village was
entered in small parties, and the houses
and stores surrounded. The discharge
OF a gun was 40 be the signal for stimuli
taneous attack. This given, the hldeous
PAINTED savages, with mad shouts and
wild shTieks, began the slaughter ana
plumber. Age, sex, former 1flenqshlps
or kindnesses availed nothing. Every
building but two at the agency was
burned. The massacre extended down
the river on both sides, below the fort,
to within six miles OF New Ulm, and up
the river TO Yellow Medicine. Large
numbers persisted at Beaver and Sacred
Heart creeks. Parties OF men, women
and children were intercepted in their
flight aud merciIes sly slaughtered and
muiilated. Near New Ulm, q
father and his two sons were
stacking wheat, when twelve In
dams approached unseen and killed
the three. Then they entered the farm
er's house and killed two OF his young
children in the presence Of their mother,
who was ill with consumption, and
| dragged the mother and q daughter, aged
| thirteen year,, miles away to their camp.
| There, in the presence OF her dying
mother, they stripped off the young
girls clothes, fas ened her upon her
| back to the ground, and one by one the
savage brutes violated her person, until
| death came TO her relief One Indian
went into house where a woman was
maxine bread Her small child was in
the cradle. He split the mothers head
open with his tomahawk, and placed
| the babe in the hot oven until it was ai-
| most dead, when he beat its brains out
| against the wall. Children were nailed
| living to tables and doors, and knives
| and tomeheWks thrown at them
| until they were dead. Cut-NOse,
| one of the chiefs, When brought
to trial, Acknowledged several OF
| his atrocities, among which was the fCl'
| lowing: A party of settlers were gath
cred together for flight, the helpless and
| defenceless women aud children being
| huddled together in wagons. The men
| having been killed, Cut-NOse, while two
other Indians held the horses, leaped
| into one of the wagons, and IL cold
blood tomahawked them all-cleft open
the head of each, while tbs others, stu
| pefied with horror and pOWeTiess with
fright, as they heard the heavy, dull
blows crash through flesh and bones,
awaited their turn. Taking an infant
from its mothers arms, before her eyes,
with a bolt from one Of the wagons, the
| Indians rivited it through its writhing
| little body to the fence, and left it to die
there in agony. The mother was kept
| alive and made to witness this agoniz
| ing spectacle, aiter which they chopped
| off her arms and legs and left her to
bleed to death. Thus Cut-NOse and his
band ruthlessly butchered twenty-five
| persons within a quarter Of an acre, and
and then kicking the bodies out
of the wagons, they filed them
| with plumber from the burning
| houses and pushed on for more adven-
| lures, An old Icdian, shriveled almost
to. o mummy, when placed on trial, was
confronted by two little boys, his &C.
cusers. Looking at him a moment, one
of them said, 81 saw that Indian shoot
man while he was on his knees at
prayer" and the other boy said, ~ saw
him shoot my mother" The womb OF
a pregnant mother was ripped open, the
palpitating infant torn forth, cut into
bits, and thrown into the face Of the dy.
ing woman.
The outrages for the first few days
were confined to the vicinity OF New
UIm aud Fort Ridgely, but soOa the
depredations extended throughout the
whole western frontier Of Minnesota,
and into Iowa and Dakota. Over seven
hundred persons persisted in about q
week, and more than two hundred were
made captives, and in every case the
women were brutally treated. One lady
captive was enciente, and suff .ring from
severe wound. The dread alterna'
tive, however, was given her Of submit
ting to their fiendish embraces, or s9e-
ing her only surviving child murdered
This brutality produced premature Ia
Dor, bat even this did not shield her.
Another submitted to the same heart
less indignities to save an infant child
it availiDg nothing, however, as the H.
FAINT was wrested from her arms aud It's
| brains dashed out against the wagon she
was driving. One little girl, only ten
wears old, who had received several
wounds at the hands OF the savages, was
held PROSTATE on the ground by four OF
her captors, and violated by more than
twenty o. the tribs at time; and TIL
was kept up from day to day until she
was nearly lifeless. Another little girl
aged nine, was treated still more bru'
tally, the savages, in consequence OF hel
tender years, having found it necessary
to mutilate her person to grstify theil
Iustful passion. Imagination cannot
depict the enormities perpetrated upon
these poor women. Shooting arrows
into defenseless women and children
constituted a favOrite amusement Of the
younger warriors. IL the Norwegian
grove, back of Henderson, one Of theil
grossest and most WantOn Outrages was
committed. Stripping captive naked,
they fastened her arms and legs to the
ground by lying them to stakes. A
dozen or more of the savsges then raw
ished her, and when she was fainting