The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-10-13

coming ndu UceH NleWeu ny oiHloHiIi-
dutah and the Red Top band with ex
IRENE jealousy, as no treaty had been
made with them for the purchase of
what they now considered as their
hunting grounds, and their appropria-
ton by the whites. without as much as
asking their leave, they considered
great outrage.
Under these circumstances it is no
wonder that such lawless and turbulent
savages as comprised this outlaw band
should cause the settlers some annoy
ances Thefts, killing of cattle and va
rious other outrages were frequently
perpetrated on isolated persons and
families, In March, lS4S, govern
ment surveyor named Marsh, while at
tempting to run a correction line near
the present site of Fort Dodge, was
stopped by Sintomnidutah his wagon
and instruments destroyed, his horses
confiscated and he and his party chased
across the Des Moines.
In 1919, the settlers in Webster coun-
ty and vicinity were so harrassed by
their depredations, that they petitioned
congress for protection with such urg
ency, that on May 3lst, 1850, their re-
quest was granted by the establishment
of Fort Dodge, and on Aug. 9th, 1850,
| Captain Samuel Woods, with siXty-siX
men of Company E, Sixth Regiment In
fantry arrived from Fort Smelling upon
the site of the proposed new fort.
The presence of the troops had a salu
tary effect and the Red Top band with
drew further up the Des Moines.
But the settlers pressing ever west
ward, soon followed the Indians into
their more distant retreat, and the dep
relations were again renewed.
In 1851, one Greene with three COM
panions ventured up Boone river to hunt
and trap. When well supplied with furs
and the meat of elk and deer, they
were surprised by Indians, robbed of ev-
erything including two or three fine
horses, and with threats of death, if
they ever returned, they were permitted
to escape.
Captain Galcott and party, when en-
gagged in surveying the boundary line
between Minnesota and Iowa, were the
next to incur their hostility. The corps
consisted of about eighty men, work.
ing in two divisions of about forty
each, some eight or ten miles apart,
and all fairly well armed. When in the
neighborhood of Changers Point the ID
vance party shot buffalo and were soon
surrounded by large band of Indians
who demanded pay for the animal. But
the timely arrival of the rear division
over-awed the red warriors and caused
a sudden change in their warlike de-
meanor.
In the summer of 1851, five or six
families located on the Boyer riv-
err sixty miles southwest of Fort Dodge.
In the fall of that year, while most of
the men were at log raising at the
south end of the settlement band of
Indians swooped down on the north end
and carried away young man and his
wife as prisoners, and much plumber. A
detachment of soldiers went in pursuit
and captured Inkpadutah, Umpashotah
and Chaskana and held them as hos
tages until the white captives and booty
were returned, which was not long In
1852, the Red Top band were out on
the plains all summer, but when they
returned in the fall they had with
them number of mules, and all kinds
of mechanical tools, such as hatchets,
saws, augers, planes, chisels, ETC., which
they had undoubtedly stolen from some
emigrant train. In the fall of 1858. Ink
padutah, brother of Sintomnidutah.
robbed and carried off as captives two
men named Chambers and Madden. who
had ventured up the Cedar river to hunt
but by ruse they managed to escape
from their severe captors.
These incidents chosen from MANY
similar outrages, show how bitter was
the feeling on the part of Sintomnidu-
tab and his band against the encroach-
ments of white settlers, and with what
daring and insolence they expressed this
feeling in the very presence of the gov
eminent and its troops, and not once
were they punished.
From their standpoint, these Indians
had real grievance. Being outlaws.
they had not been invited to. nor taken
any part, in the Traverse Des Sioux
treaty; and their Wahpekuta brethren,
by whom they had been ostracised. for
babe them any share in its fruits.
though single members of the band had
at one or two annuity payments secur-
ed a few crumbs. The Red Top band
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