, 1888-11-13
ON THE WARPATII.

Miller, seventeen miles from New Ulm,
Mimi, ! saw a covered wagon coming
icross the prairie as fast MS two horses
could pull it. l handed the pail inlo the
house, called to Miller and his wife and
by the time we were out doors the wagon
had stopped at the gate. 1t was a ehiclc
belonging to a man named Saunders, liv-
ing about nine miles away, and he and
his family were inside. We had not yet
reached the gate when he shouted:
Fly for your lives, the Indians are on
the warpathr'
He would nave driven off with that, but
one of his horses fell down in the harness
from exhaustion. There was Saunders,
his wife, and four children, and l never
saw people so broken up. 1t was fully
ten minutes before we could get their
story in a shape to understand it. The
Sioux rebellion, which many pioneers had
predicted, had broken out at last. For
the past three months we had noticed a
change in the demeanor of the indian
some OF whom called at the house almost
daily. They had become impudent and
threatening, II many of the older set
tiers were becoming alarmed. Some
would have given up their farms, but
there were u few smart Alecks who rode
about the country saying there was no
danger, and that there were enough sol
NltIN III lIlt ~ - IL III Sltlc 70 THRUSH all
the Indians in the whole west. These
men were, as we afterward found out, in
terested in the sale of real estate, and of
course they did not want any sensational
reports sent east. But for the civil war
then raging there would nave been no up
rising of the Indians. Uncle Sam had his
hands fun in the south, and hundreds of
our young men had enlisted to fight the
CoulederatCs.
Saunders had received warning at day
light from n settler on horseback, whose
Whole family had been butchercd. He
was n tcamster, and his wagon then con-
tanned IA part of a load of stores which he
was hauling out to n storekeeper in a new
settlement. He had unloaded some of
the stuff and flung in household goods
and provisions, and had driven at such n
pace rs to exhaust one of his horses.
Miller and his wife were Germans, cool
and phlegmatic. Their all was invested
right there. While they knew that
trouble was at hand, they did not want to
abandon everything at n mere alarm. We
had three horses in the stable, and Saun-
ders begged hard for one to take the place
OF his exhausted beast. He was bound
and determined to get on, even if he had
to go On foot, and Miller consented to let
the horse go. While he was being har-
messed in Saunders asked us to throw out
some Of the merchandise and tighten the
vehicle. We took out four kegs of
powder, about 100 pounds of lead, fifty
pounds of shot, three double barreled
shotguns, and some groceries, and the
horse was no sooner in the traces than
Saunders drove off at a gallop.
well, what shall we doY'' asked Mrs.
Miller, as we stood looking afteR-.4.-
wagon.
stay and fight" replied the husband.
| was then a boy of 10, and had been
with the Millers over a year. There wal
never n day but that some of the Sioux
came along, and in many instances they
had eaten of our food. Miller did not
question the uprising, but he did not thinI:
1T as serious n matter as it turned out 10
be, n with true Dutch grit no proposed
to stick. We went into breakfast, ate as
heartily rs usual, and when we were
through my employer said:
Nov we will get ready for the In.
diaus."
AS we went out of doors we saw three
columns of smoke in different directions
showing that the murderous redskins
were at work. Miller had 100 acres OF
land, almost every acre as level as n floor
We had just finished building n mill
house over n spring, about 300 feet from
the house. Around the spring was about
two acres of broken ground, underlaid
with rock, and we had blasted out sufi.
ctent of this to lay up the walls of the
milk house. Miller was a stone mason by
trade, aud his work had been well done.
The house was pretty large, being eighteen
by twenty-four inside the walls, and the
walls were perhaps a foot thick. The
roof had been planked and then sodded
ana the door was of heavy plank. The
place would make a capital fort, and while
| was carrying into it such things as Mrs.
Miller directed. the husband used n crow.
bar to make ~loopholes in the walls. In
the course OF an hour he drove five or six,
and then he bored two in the door with d
bE anger.
We carried in ali the provisions in the
house, followed by the clothing and the
bedding. While we worked we kept our
eyes open for sight of Indians, IL il was
IL O'Clock before we saw them coming,
They were not more than n r "a
when we retired TO our fort Gu. nj
caded the door. All the live ..o,A md
been turned loose and driven away. while
the fowls We're flying about on the prairie
There was very little left in the house
II the worst they could do was to burr
II. When we shut ourselves up | missed
" Of the kegs of powder, but to my
query as to what had become of then
Miller made no reply, except by a laugh,
He had been working by himself all The
forenoon, digging holes and running
trenches, but had been too busy to no.
tice just what he was up TO.
There were thirty-two mountel indians
in the band which came up, and among
them they had five fresh scalps. Every
one had plumber of some sort from The
settlers cabins, I'M two or three ap
peared much the worse for liquor. They
had probably seen lis enter the milk house,
for they rode right up to the cabin with.
out fear. We could see them plainly, and
among the gang we picked IL several
who had often been supplied with food
Rud ammunition. There were yells Of