The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1906-02-02
Basil Gervais, Who Served the
State With Valor.
ST. PAUL'S FIRST WHITE BABE
Fought indians in the Early Days
Without Pay; Now He Is Old
and Cannot Work.

st. Paul, Jan. 30-There now lives in
the little village of New Canada, near
the city of st. Paul, an old man by the
name of Basil Gervais, who was the first
white child to be born on st. Paul SOIL
He was born near what is now known
as Seven Corners, Sept. 4, 1880.
Basil Gervais' father was Benjamin
Gervais, and he came down to what is
now st. Paul from the Red River valley
two years before Basil was born bring
ing his family and household effects
with him in one of the now famous Red
river carts. On the trip one of the children
died and it was a hard, dangerous jour
ney of many days. The country was
infested with Indians and the only white
settlement was the little village of Men.
dota and the military post across the
river, known then, as it is now, as
Fort Smelling, and containing a garrison
of United States regurals.
At the time Basil Gervais was born,
there were no white people living where
st. Paul now stands and on the 10th of
May of the following year-lS4O-
was taken by his father to Prairie du
Chen to be baptised by the late Faith
er RavouX, who was the pastor of a lit
tie log church at that place. The jour
ney was made in birch bark canoe and
it required nearly ten days OF padding
to accomplish it. At night the little
~ no III hon MI
very day the infant was baptised the
Journey up stream was commenced.
Basil Gervais lived on his fathers
farm where st. Paul now stands until
he was eight years old, when he moved
with his father to the little village of
New Canada, then Just come into being.
ne only white man who lived near the
Gervias farm was sold Joe" Rondo af-
ter whom Rondo street has since been
named. Basil Gervias has resided in
New Canada ever since he moved there
as a child, and there his mother and
father both died and are buried. the for
mer some time in the SOS at the age of
eighty-four years, and the latter in 1878
at the age of ninety-one years.
At the time OF the Indian war of 1862,
Basil Gervais joined volunteer cav
airy organization hat was formed in
New Canada and rode to place called
Sunrise, in the northern part of the
state, near Duluth to guard the settlers
there from the Indians. He furnished
his own horse, gun and saddle and serv-
ed without pay. He was on this service
| for about one month.
After his return from Sunrise, Gervais
was selected by General Pope, then in
command of the department of Dakota,
with headquarters at st. Paul, to carry
dispatches to General Sibley, who was
supposed to be in camp at Big Stone
| lake.
In carrying these dispatches to Gen
eral Sibley Basil Gervais made on of
the famous long distance rides of his
| tory Selecting a good horse he set out
early one morning and rode toward the
Indian country. The ride lasted fifteen
days and was one full of hardship and
| danger. The country over which it was
! made was infested with hostile Indians
| and had been made a desert by the red
| men who had burned every farm
from Fort Smelling to the northern bor-
ders of the state. The ride was made
during the chill autumn days, and at
night Gervias slept upon the ground
with his saddle for pillow and only a
thin blanket between him and the cold
earth. The only food he had was the
corn he found standing upon the desert
ed farms This he also fed to his horse.
At the end of the fifteenth day, when
| nearly dead from exposure and starva-
ton. Gervias found General Sibley's
camp and delivered his dispatches.
This ride cost him the use of his left
leg. Later in 1862 when he was drafted
for service in the army and went be-
fore the medical officers for examination
he was given papers of disability. These
papers he gave into the keeping of one
"Bill" Houl, saloon keeper of New
Canada. Houls safe was blown by rob-
bers and the papers destroyed some time
later.
Basil Gervias is now old and unable to
work. He has been left without means
of support and asks that he be given a
pension by the state of Minnesota for
his services in the Indian war and for
carrying the dispatches to Sibley. Dur
ING the last session OF the Minnesota
d1n {oI Gov
the purpose of pensioning the men who
served the state in the Indian uprising
of 1862. 1t is out of this fund that Basil
Gervias asks that he be given a small
pension, enough to maintain him in the
declining years of life.
Dairymen's Meeting at Nicollet.