New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1903-09-02
SOLDIERS BODY ExHUMED
Remains of Capt Armstrong Dis.
inferred at Mankato.
He Was Killed in Linden During
the Indian Massacre.

Grave Locatedin Abandoned Gene
terry After Long Search.
| The body of Captain ohm Armstrong,
who was killed by fifty. ambushed In
dams near his home at Linden on the
morning of Sunday, Sept. q, 1862, was
shipped last Wednesday for interment
in the Armstrong burying ground at
Canton, MINI.
The body had lain during the past
. forty years inferred in the old Masonic
burying ground on North Sixth street
| in Dukes addition. w. F. Armstrong
of Canton, Mimi, brother to the de-
ceased, came to the city a few days
before to get the body removed.
About a year ago, James, another
brother, also of Canton, came here
and made vain search for the cap
tains grave. An account of the search
was published in the daily papers. A
grave digger named Albert who had
assisted in interring the captains
body, saw the account in the papers
and told Thomas Hughes where the
grave was Mr.. Hughes wrote to the
brothers and gave them the desired in
form alton.
The remains were disinterred under
the management of Thomas Davidson,
undertaken for Klein & Co. The black
walnut coffin in which the captain was
buried forty years ago was completely
rotted away; yet one could distinguish
just where it lay by the discoloration
of the ground.
Only the skeleton of the long dead
man remained. On the back of the
skull one could see the mark where the
Indians tomahawk struck the. occiput-
al bone.
The iron head of an Indian arrow
that had pierced the abdomen was
found. ..-a5
On the morning when Captain John
! Armstrong was killed in his orchard
at Linden, he was gathering plums.
Fifty ambushed savages suddenly
leaped from their hiding places and
let their arrows fly at him. They Sc
-. cured his rifle but had not time to get
his revolver or his scalp. Recruits
from the company that the captain was
organizing rushed to the spot and
frightened the savages away. -.sr
Thomas Armstrong, another Of the
captains brothers, secured the pistol,
and vowed revenge on the savages.
Many redskin fell by that same Wea-
pom in the hands of the indignant
brother during the subsequent war.
| The captains widowed wife fed for
safety towards the stronger settlements.
At Kasota she gave birth to a son,
whom she raised at Sullivan, Missouri,
where both still live. They are pros
porous and in excellent circumstances.
The wife caused her husband a short
time after his death to be reburied at
Mankato in the old Rural Grove ceme-
terry, in which she bought lot in block
2, from Mankato lodge No. II, of the
A. F. and A. M. This deed is still
extant.
The abandoned cemetery now lies in
the midst of the Schlingerman pasture.
-Mankato Daily Review.
Clerk of Court John Larson, who
resided in Linden township for many
years, has distinct recollection of
the occurrences narrated above. Said
he: II knew and remember Capt. Arm
strong very we'll. He was prominent
among the early pioneers, residing
near the present Anton Ouren place,
and was the only one person killed in
Linden during the hostilities. Shortly
before the captain was murdered the
i government had issued muskets to the
4 farmers and upon the day hewas killed
party of his neighbors had congre-
j gated on the southern shore of Linden
/ Lake to accustom themselves to the
j use of the guns. Capt. Armstrong was
/ at his home on the northern shore of
4 the lake and it has always been thought
that his slayers heard the shots being
fred by hefarmers and frightened
away before they could scalp or mutt
;; late the corpse"
: REPORTED PUSS AS OVER