The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1892-09-01
VISITED otDCA& GROUNDS.
Veteran Judge 'FIandrau Visited the
Scenes Of Thirty Years Since.
He Speaks PatheticaI|y on the Chang.
es Made and the Absence Of
the Indians.

iIV OPV0NSI 0SuVSsN0uy w uV V"0US
es Made and the Absence Of
the Indians.
Judge Charles E. Flandrau, the pi
oneer veteran, lawyer, and exponen
of Democratic principles, of St. Paul
was in Redwood Falls during Thurs
day, Friday and Saturday of last week
accompanied by Judge Alfred Hall, ,
brilliant young attorney of his city, a
one time an assistant in the city at
torney's Office.
Judge Flandrau's visit to our city
recalls many an incident touching up.
on the early history of this portion Of
the state. As far back as 1856, when
the Judge, then young attorney, as
Indian agent, journeyed through what
is now Redwood Falls, and the val
leys of the Redwood and Minnesota,
established small grist mill just be-
low the falls where Indian maize was
ground, causing the dusky bucks to
declare that they no longer needed
their teeth. The mill was afterwards
turned into saw mill, and later on
went to ruin. And when the Indian
outbreak of 1862 occurred, bringing
death, rapine and desolation with it.,
Judge Flandrau, at the head of a
company of soldiers, was the first to
march to the relief of the sufferers at
New Ulm. It was for the purpose of
reviewing those historic fields of 30
years since, probably for the last time,
that Judge Flandrau, accompanied by
Judge Hall, left st. Paul Tuesday for
St. Peter. Here a carriage and team
were secured, and a drive taken out to
Traverse de Sioux, where in 1856, at q
hotel kept by Jacob Schmahl, now of
this city, the Judge made his head
quarters, and where Gen. Becker, Hor-
ace Austin, II. M. Rice, and other
notables met and snapped yarns. Lit
tie or none of the old town remained,
and bowling to the stern features of
Old Father Time, the Judge drove on,
reaching New Ulm in the evening.
The appearance of this pioneer in the
town which he so nobly assisted in
protecting in a time of need, was the
cause of a spontaneous outburst, and
that warm hearted German population,
headed by a brass band, gave him a
hearty welcome. He gathered some
facts in New Ulm Wednesday, and on
Thursday morning, his party started
for Fort Ridgely, stopping at Alex.
Hawkins, for IS years postmaster at
that place, and visited the ruins of
that fort in which many early settlers
found protection.
"There isn'ta vestige of the old Fort
Left" said Judge Flandrau, to Ga
zErrE reporter, sorrowfully, Except
one corner of the commissariat, stands
out silent and alone, dumb memoir
al of the bloody battle, and the brave
lives lost in that great struggle for
civilization. We visited the National
cemetery there and saw the beautiful
marble::shaft erected by the govern
ment to commemorate the deeds Of
Capt. John S. Marsh and the twenty.
four brave men that fell with him al
the Redwood crossing, Lower Sioux
Agency, by the Indians in ambush
We also sawthe monument erected ove1
the remains of Mrs. DR.. Miller, who sc
nobly assisted soldiers and distressed
citizens through that terrible crucial
period of the history of our State
Both are excellent memorials OF the
dead, and the fact that they are sc
we'll taken care of shows that while
the shafts have been erected, the gov
eminent has not forgotten its dead.
From Fort Ridgely, the party drove
on to the grounds where the celebrat
ed Battle of Birch Cooley was fought
The Judge met no one that he knew
and it was difficult to find the spot
II just judged for myself where thu
memorable battle was fought
The scenes and incident.
were clear to my mind
and the battle as fresh in my memory
as if yesterday. But where monu
ment should long since have bee,
erected to mark the spot where thi
bloody battle was fought, and wher'
the soil is still soaked with human
blood, there is nothing now but
stubble field-a poor mark of memor,