The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-11-20
COL. SHEs4N'S M0DESTY
New Story II Of The Defense of
fG Ridqley.

e Ridg!ey.
The Loungerihile perusing that ex-
cellent newspaI the Granite Falls Tri-
bune of last we ran across the follow
ing which is toood to be lost. Read it
carefully:
1t was our lsure to talk with a
gentleman lastriday evening at the
Windsor; who ha record that perhaps
no other man Minnesota has as an
Indian fighter afrontiersman. 1t was
Col. T. j. Sheehideputy United States
marshall for Misota, of st. Paul. He
is modest in relag his experiences dur
ing the bloody TX massacre from 81
to SO and subseqt service in a Mime
sofa regiment Inc south to the close
of the war. Heted under the orders
when he held FoRidgley with rs men
for ten days ag,t band of several
hundred Indians aid far better than the
little squad was t saved the day and
the lives of sevehundred women and
children that fO protection in the
fort. When rein ements came to his
succor there was e left to eat and the
ammunition was arly exhausted but
the day was wond he modestly tells
| of the bullets he ies as the result of
! that encounter Vi number five, all
! firmly imbedded his flesh. When the
, disturbing head q company up this
valley to Big StoIke where he treated
with the Indianslo were then disor-
ganized and throt his efforts, we take
it, peace soon fohd the most desper-
ate slaughter of ian life recorded in
F., history if we exc he civil war. Here
he camped with faithful men for a
day and an officeaer him cut the Col
oneFs initials intDck near the hotel
where he stayed lweek and about the
| first thing he dip arriving here was
| to look for the so engraved. He
readily found it The particular point
where the initia ltre cut had been re-
.moyed for some IONS and the letters
were not visiblelt he saw other land
marks that gavtn the exact location
where he searchOne thing the colonel
regrets to this Is that he did not
distribute abou 10000 in gold that
was turned owe him by the relief
party, to the sing people who had
lost all in theisht from homes that
We're devastate the Indians. This
money was red to the department
and turned owe the authorities soon
latter, when, thlonel thinks it should
have been conlnd of war and used
to relieve the,itution and suffering
so manifest at time 1t would have
enabled them, measure, to start life
and rebuild hdn this desolate region.
The story of attack and defense OF
the fort woutupy more space than
!. we could deTo it, but we have in
book form wbnstitutes a history of
that affair, slgh it is imperfect and
far from ritual happenings. AL
though 66 void Col. Sheehan Is
warrior still,E to defend his country
should occasIemand and always in
{ terested in tlnts of those days when
T we were thred by both internal and
external foes
, Now. we hit we knew something
about the o, defense made by the
D troops undertenant Sheehan at Fort
Rideley. bufhr reading the above
: thought it b1tpost up on the matter.
. So we hunt J. II. Mead, the only
p survivor of .tsJrenuous and bloody
o defense which, and handed him the
4 paper with ast to read. He read it
carefully ahded 1T back with a
smile.
n "Well,, 8 m, chat sounds just
like the smetolonel Sheehan. 1t is