New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1894-05-09
BIRCH COULIE MONUMENT,
A Dispute over tie Site Selected by the
Commission.
The Globe and Pr~ss Present Editorial
+ Objections.

| IL response 10 memorial Dy the sur
vivors Of the bloody battle of Birch Cou-
lie and by the state historical society the
legislature, at its last session, appropri:
ated $4,000 for the purchase of five acres
on the site of the battlefield and for the
erection of monument ia memory of the
brave men who fell there. This was the
most desperate, and was the decisive
battle fought by the volunteers who were
hastily mustered for: the relief of Fort
Ridgely and the western settlements
which had been desolated by the great
Sioux uprising and massacre in August,
1862. A detachment of 40 volunteers
who had been sent forward into Renville
county in Sc rtember was attacked by an
overwhelming force of Indians while en-
camped at Birch Coulie. Fighting be-
hind the feeble barriers of their corral of
wagons, horses, etc, twenty-four of their
number were killed and about sixty
wounded, and they would have 5een an
initiated if the main body of troops
under Gen. S'bley had not come to their
relief. 1t is evident that in designating
the battlefield as the place where the
monument was to be erected the legisla-
ture had in mind the corral where the
men made this desperate defense and
soaked the ground with their blood, and
where many of the slain were buried.
With this view the commission endeay-
| ored 10 purchase five acres of the site,
but the farmer who owned it demanded
an exorbitant price for it, and thew con-
cluded to select another site mile and
half from the corral, but technically
within the battlefield, since some fight
ing was done there. This site has every
possible advantage over that of the cor
ral, except the important one that it was
not the one intended for the monume Mt
by the Legislature or by those who asked
for it. 1t is on high bluff or hill over
looking the fourishing village of Morton,
whose citizens offered i: free, and under
TOOK at an expense of $1,000, to prepare
1t for the monument and to take care
OF both forever after. 1t is so conspicu-
Gus that the monument will be seen by
every traveller on the railroad which pas
ses through Morton, while on the site of
the corral it would never be seen except
by pilgrims going there for that purpose.
These were the considerations which
prevailed with seven out of nine men,
bers OF the commission. They would
probably prevail with most people. Yet
the Pioneer Press is inclined to think
that those who held out for the corral
location more correctly represented the
intention of the legislature and the senti-
ment which dictated the demand for it
by the survivors of the battle. The
monument in the place selected will have
only remote and suggestive relation to
the event it is indended to commemorate
that of sign post, for instance. II
will not mark the spot of real historic
interest to posterity, and will lose, there.
fore, a large part of its historic value
1t would he awkward, but necessary, tc
correct the error of location by an in.
scr'p'ion explaining that the scene of
the tragedy it was designed to commem
crate was mile and half away. With
this compromise, perhaps, both parties
to the controversy would be satisfied
Pioneer Press.
The Globe commenting on the same
topic uses the following strong language
| A town named "Morton" which had
no existence at the time of the battle,
has sprung into existence since, and is
located in the Minnesota bottoms, about
three or tour miles from the battlefield
Some of the commissioners reside there
and others near by. Another meeting of
the commissioners was held few days
since, and imagine the surprise of the
survivors of the battle who were on the
commission when they learned that the
majority Of the committee had decided
to locate the monument on bluff over
looking the town of Morton, some two
miles from the battlefield, and that this
unwarrantable, illegal and unpatriotic
conclusion had been arrived at. for the
reason that some one had agreed to do
nate site for the moument out Of land
3 probably not worth cent an acre. Such
q picayune, peanut reason for direct
violation Of law makes it apparent that
some other reason is at the bottom 81
the matter.
The law is clear that the commisa;o IN q