Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1883-12-20
MY sTERIoUs SKELETONS.
various theories Concerning the Ke-
mains Recently discovered IN DICK
CIV County, Dakota.

~
Pioneer Press.
There appeared in the Pioneer
Press recently an account of the find
mo of the dead bodies of twenty-three
men and about as many horses in a
valley in the northwestern portion Of
Dickev County, Dakota The skele-
toms were piled up together and gave
evidence Of having lain there twenty
Years or more. A number of brass
army buttons and spurs found IN the
chastity pile led to the supposition
that the remains were those Of cav
airy detachment that had persisted or
had been massacred. But the people
in that section were unable to solve
the mystery as to the identity of the
dead. from whence they came, and IN
what manner they met death. The
publication of the discovery has eX-
cited a very large amount of interest
in the Northwest and there has been
considerable talk among the old
timers in the attempt to bring to mind
the history of the affair. No one has
been able to give a satisfactory solu-
ton of the mystery.
THEORIES
VIC. Allen, of Groton, Oak, says
the place where the discovery was
made is none other than the White
Hills battle-ground, and the bodies
are those of soldiers and horses killed
in a memorable battle there with the
Indians
J. G. Luce, formerly a member of
Company G, Sixth Iowa Cav, writes
from Groton:
The Sd day of September, 1868,
Gen. Sully's command consisting Of
the Sixth Iowa and the Second Ne
braska cavalry, gave battle to the In
dams. who were defeated after a fierce
encounter The location of the battle
was in the same vicinity described,
and our killed in that engagement
numbered-to the best OF my recol-
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. They were
buried on the field and the only the
DRY that can now be formed IN find
ing their remains on the surfaceis, that
they must have been disintered by
the Indians for what could be found
on their bodies.
A PIONEERS OPINION.
J. Fletcher Williams, Secretary
of the Minnesota Historical Society,
who is familiar with the history of the
Territory and State as far back as
1S49, does not coincide with the views
advanced by either of these cores
pondents. He says Gen. Sully's fight
occurred west of the Missouri River,
at least 100 miles distant from the
place where these skeletons were
Food To So VS. fr,,,tb ~ fbnpa
no record of the killing in history
since the statement of Minnesota
of twenty-three whites by
the Indians in the neighborhood des-
cribed in fact, he doesn't know of
any such event at all NOsuch body
of white men were ever killed or lost,
to his knowledge The army records
might show such disaster before set
Element of this Northwest section, but
he did not think so. The only loss Of
soldiers OF any consequence that he
remembers was in the winter of 1865,
when Lieut. Field and a small squad
of men were lost in snow-storm and
died from exposure, but their bodies
were afterward found and buried
These skeletons could not be of whites
killed by Indians If so they would
be scattered as they fell in a chase or
running fight The finding of so
many men and horses would indicat
that they persisted in a snow
storm-but if such a body Of
men were ever lost there certainly
would be some reference TO the mat
ter in the historical records or papers.
One fact which made it improbable that
this was a detachment Uf troops lost
in a snow-storm, was that military ex-
petitions in that region were never
organized in winter, but always in the
summer. There is he said, one idea
that may prove the correct solution,
but after oil, it is not very plausible.
In the early summer Of 1868 Gen.
Sibley marched through the vicinity
described, en- route to Bismarck, near
which place a battle was fought. The
line of march was through what is
now Dickey County. The history of
the Sioux war describes battle fought
near the base or ridge of the Cotean
Missouri, known as the Battle of the
Big Mound, July q, 1868. An account
is given of the taking Of twenty-one
Indian scalps, and two orthree whites
were killed. These may be the skele-
tons found-the brass buttons and
spurs belonged to the two or three
dead soldiers But Mr.. Williams con
fesses his inability to account for the
piling up of the dead horses with the
bodies of the Indians and soldiers on
hot July day All in all, the mystery
is difficult of solution.
GEN sIBLEY's VIEWS.
Gen. Sibley said the information
contained in the telegram from Ellen
dale was not explicit enough to en-
able one to form an intelligent opinion
and determine just what the discovery
amounted to. He was inclined to be-
liave that the while thing was a hoax.