St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-23
Hanging of the Thirty-Eight Indians at Mankato

were to be found. and powder and lead. All
the blacksmith shops were put to work
moulding bullets; all the teams that could
be found were impressed, and q supply of
provisions of all kinds was procured. so
that by - o'clock of the 18th every man
had gun of some kind i'm his hand. a flask
or bottle of powder. a box of caps, and
pocket full of bullets that. ] will not saw.
fitted his gun. but would go into il, About
sixteen men were mounted and ready 10
start on a scout in the direction of the fort
and New Ulm under command of Sheriff
Bordman, ii not being decided to which
point we would proceed. Quite a number
of lie Sueur county men had by this time
joined us. BY l o'clock in the afternoon
we started. and it was decided that New
Jim. thirty-two miles away, needed our
aid more than the fort and our mounted
scouts were ordered to take that direction,
and keep us informed of anything that they
should discover. We travelled all the after
noon in drenching rain, and arrived at
the Red Stone ferry nearly chilled TO the
bone at about . in the evening. Our scouts
had crossed the river and we could not find
them. The ferry was a mile and half be-
low the town, and
THE TOWN WAS ON FIRE.
Illuminating the night with a lurid and
very threatening glare. We deployed
our men up and down the river on the
Nicollet county side. and finding no
Indians we put about half our men in the
boat 10 cross. the rest standing ready to fire
into any point from which fire should be
opened upon them, they watching carefully
TO return the same fire. Fortunately no In
dians developed, and we crossed the com
mand. teams and all, and cautiously skir-
miShed towards the burning town. the
teams taking the beaten road and the men
several hundred yards ON each side OF il.
The fire was in the upper part of the town
and Egyptian darkness reigned in the part
through which We had TO go. We passed
house after house. but saw no living soul.
The darkness augmented the excitement.
but the word was ''silence, and be ready. s"
So on we went, not knowing whether the
Indians or the citizens would receive us.
After having passed nearly all the lower
town and reached the central portion we
were, to our great relief, challenged I'm a
cross between English and German. Know
ing now that the town was in the possess
sion of the whites we charged in and found
condition of things that l shall never for
get.
About one hundred Indians had detached
themselves from the attack on the fort and
by way of diversion had made a raid on
New Ulm. reaching there at or
in the evening. They i'm
mediately opened fire from the
elevated platform that surrounds the place
and covers the streets. As is usual in their
warfare, they commenced firing the build
ingS. The citizens were utterly unprepared
and great confusion ensued. Several peo-
pie were shot in the streets. and had not
nnN-oeana
as it did, il is more than probable the town
OF New Ulm would have been DESTROYED.
The Indians. seeing a reinforcement arrive.
drew OF. We then set 10 work 10 eXtin-
guish the fires and calm the people.
Wednesday morning all was quiet. Bar
ricades were erected around several of the
principal blocks of the city, composed prin-
cipally of wagons and all sorts of portable
property. Thursday arrived.
AND YET No INDIANS.
No one was Yet i'm command of all the
forces. We had so little red tape or the
''pomp and circumstance of war; about us
that am now at a loss 10 recall with any
degree OF accuracy the various squads that
composed our force.
i well remember the lie Sueur men COM
manded by Capt. +. c. Saunders. who did
gallant service, and whose commander
NhNiA oiiob AAlS btAa idtlNCu HE Ills
rifle and accOutrements and told me in
effect to put them where they would do the
most good, but who soon after. finding he
was not seriously hurt. returned 10 duty. /
think there were two companies from lie
Sueur called First and Second Tigers. Can't.
Tonsley had No. and Capt. Saunders No.
>. but as Tousley did not take part in the fight
William Dellaughter was chosen captain in
! his place and made gallant commander. L
also remember squad from Manllato COM
manded by Capt. Bierbauer, an old soldier.
who l can see at this moment. when all
was confusion and CONSERVATION, standing
like rock, loading and firing, when none
supported him. This company was quite
large. having seventy-four privates and
twelve officers, the first lieutenant being
John F. Meagher, and our old friend Jim
Shoemaker one of the sergeants. The citi-
zens of New Ulm were also organized into
several companies and took part in all the
fight. There was also my own company
from St Peter. but whether there were any