St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-23
driving in our lines temporarily. We
soon rallied, however. and steadily
Held the Enemy OFF.

The Indians soon surrounded the
whole town and commenced firing the
buildings on the windward side. l wish
1 could describe the fight up to about 3
o'clock p. m., but my allotted space for
bids. 1t was lively and interesting
one. l cannot, however, omit the crit
ical event OF the day. At2 p. m. great
cOnflagratiOn was raging on both sides
of the main street in the lower part of
the town, and destruction seemed inev-
liable. A squad of about fifty men
was collected, charge made down the
burning street, and the Indians driven
out beyond the houses. We then
burned everything behind US, and the
day was won. The desperate character
of the fighting is we'll told when L say
we lost sixty men in about all hour and a
half, ten killed and fifty wounded, and
these out of much depleted force. Lieut..
William Huey having gone with about
seventy-fve men to guard the approach
by the ferry, and crossing to the other
side of the river was cut off, and forced
to retreat toward st. Peter. 1t was SIM
ply mistake in judgment to put the
river between himself and the main
force, but in his retreat he met Capt. E.
st. Julien Cox with reinfOrcements,
Joined them and returned the next day..
He was a brave and willing officer.
The company from South Bend, having
heard that the Winnebagoes had joined
in the outbreak, returned to their homes
before the attack Saturday to protect
their families, and on the morning OF
the attack wagonlOad left us and went
down the river. 1 doubt il we could
have mustered over 200 guns at any time
during the fight. About 100 houses were
burned by the enemy and ourselves dur
ing the encounter, leaving nothing of
the town but the small portion en-
braced within the Darricades. The fight
continued all Saturday night, and with
dusultory firing up to Sunday forenoon.
The Indians then drew of to the north
ward, in the direction of the fort, and
disappeared. About noon Sunday Capt.
E. St. Julien Cox arrived with about
fifty men, sent by Col. IL. II. Sibley
from st. Peter, to reinforce New Ulm.
Lieut.. Huey. with part of his detach-
ment which had been cut off Saturday,
was with them. That they were well
come guests can we'll be imagined.
New UIm Evacuated.
There were in the town at the time
OF the attack on the 23d, as near as can
be learned, about 1900 to 1000 non
combatants, consisting of women, chill
dr1n, refugees and unarmed citizens,
every individual of whom would have
been masSacred to certainty had our
little force been overcome. Such stake
was well worth fighting for. We were
fortunate in having a fine corps of
physicians, who established hospitals
and assiduously attended to the sick
and wounded. There were DR.. Daniels,
of st. Peter; Mcmahon, of MankatO
Ayers and Mayo, of LIE Sueur, besides
DR.. Weschke, of New Ulm.
On Monday, the 25th, provisions and
ammunition becoming scarce and pesti-
lence being feared from stencil and ex-
poSure, we decided to eyacuate the town
and try to reach Mankato. This des-
tiDation was chosen to avoid crossing
the Minnesota river, which we deemed
impracticable, the only obstacle between
us and Mankato being the Big Cotton
wood river. and that was fOrdable. We
made up train of 153 wagons. loaded
them with women, children and about
eighty wounded men, and started. A
more heart-rending procession was
never witnessed in America. The dis
position of the guard was cOnfided to
Capt. Cox. The march was successful; !;
no Indians were encountered. We
reached Crisp's farm toward evening,
which was about half way between New
Ulm and Mankato. pushed the main
column on, fearing danger from varied
sources, but camped at this point with
about one hundred and fifty men, In
tending to return to New Ulm. or hold
this point as a defensive measure for
the exposed settlements. On the morn
ing of the Goth we broke camp, and l
endeavored to make the command re-
turn to New Ulm, or remain where they
were; my object, of course, being to
keep a force between the Indians and
the settlements. The men had not
heard a word from their families for
more than week, and declined to re-