The Cook County herald., 1902-10-25

Upon and about the battlefield of
Birch Coulie the society has placed
several monuments or markers, which
serve to identify important points OF
the battle ground The site of. this
hallowed ground is about two and one
half miles east and north of the pres
ent village of Morton, in Renville
county, on the west side of the great
ravine called Birch Coulie.
The incidents leading to the battle
Of Birch Coulie may be very briefly re-
lated. Gen. Sibley occupied Fort
Ridgely with his relief force on the
9th of August, nine days after the be-
ginning of the outbreak. On the 31st
he dispatched force of about Is men
to the lower agency with instructions
to ascertain, if possible, the position
and condition of the Indians, and to
bury the bodies of the victims of the
massacre which might be found en-
route. This force, which was under
the command of Maj. Joseph r.
Brown, was composed of Company A,
Sixth Minnesota infantry, under Capt.
H. P. Grant; seventy mounted men OF
the Cullen guard under Capt. Joseph
Anderson; some volunteers, soldiers,
and citizens; detail of other soldiers
from the Sixth regiment and the mill
tia force, and seventeen teamsters
with teams. The next evening sew
eral of the citizens returned to the
fort.
The command reached the lower
agency on the 1st of September. Capt.
Grant, with his company and the
wagons, proceeded up the valley on
| ho CT nf lo Minnesota
mouth of Beaver creek, thence up the
creek about three miles, and then
marched east about six miles to near
the head of Birch Coulie. This por-
tion of the command buried the bodies
Of Capt. Marsh's men killed at Red
wood Ferry and those of perhaps
forty citizens at various points on the
route. On Beaver Creek ''some thirty
bodies were buried. On the way,
too, in the Minnesota bottom, a Ger
man woman, named Mrs. Justina Krie-
ger, who had been badly wounded by
the Indians, and was hiding in a
marsh, was rescued and carried along.
Maj Brown and Capt. Anderson,
with the Cullen Guards" crossed the
river at the Redwood Ferry, went to
the agency, buried the bodies of the
slain there, and went up the river, or
westward, to the location of Little
Crows village, which the Indians had
abandoned few days previously.
Nothing was seen which indicated
that hostile Indian had been in that
vicinity for four days, although care
| full examination was made. RecrOss-
ing the Minnesota at ford opposite
Little Crows village, the party as
cended the bluff on the north side
and reaching the prairie road east
ward to the Birch Coulie, where Capt
Grants company had already en-
camped.
The camp selected by Capt. Grant
was on an excellent site. 1t was upon
level ground, convenient to wood anc
water, and less than half a mile from
road running between Fort Ridgely
and Fort Abercrombie, on the Rec
River of the North. A growth of fair
ly good timber fringed the Coulie or
either side, and in the channel was
plenty of good running water. To the
west, north and east stretched leve
prairies miles in extent.
The encampment was, virtually, {
corral in it's form and general char
acter. Capt. Grant detailed thirt,
men, with lieutenant and two non
commissioned officers, for caml
guard and established ten picket post!
or rather ten guard posts-at equa
distances around the camp. Thu
guard was divided, as usual, into three
"reliefs.'' Although in what nigh
properly be termed the enemy's coun
try, no danger of an attack was appre
hended. and therefore no picket posts