New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1908-08-19

T1. S
tent, and the knowledge that thousands
OF men were being sent to the battle
fields OF the South appealed to the
savages as an opportunity to recover
the lands from which they were being
driven. About this time, also, fool
ISL whites spread the rumor that the
government was on the verge of de-
structlen, and the indians saw con6r-
nation OF it when Agent Galbraith
organized company of halfbreeds for
Southern service, they reasoning that
the fe deral forces were hard pressed if
it were necessary to call on chem for
assistance. These things, and the
belief OF the Indian in his physical
superiority oyer the white, seemed to
promise success for general upris-
ing, and the more impetuous were ripe
for revolt
When the annuity Indians assembled
they were accompanied by large bands
OF Yanktonais, Cut-heads and Winnie
bagos, and toward the end of June,
1862, it was deemed prudent to send
Lieut.. T. J. Sheehan and fifty men of
Company G, Fifth Minnesota, from
Fort Ripley, they reporting to Capt.
M arsh on June %. Two days later
they we're sent to the Upper Sioux
agency OF the Yellow Medicine river.
where they remained for more than a
month.
Early in August the situation be-
came acute, and on the 9TH the starving
Indians broke down the doors of
warehouse at the agency and tried to
take the provisions it contained. They
were driven off by Lieut.. Sheehan and
his men, but they succeeded in obtain
ing a promise from Agent Galbraith
todistribute the provisions. This issue
was made on the 9Th and 9th, and on
receiving it the Indians agreed to re-
turn to their homes and await the ar
rival of the annuity money. They
dispersed on the 10th and a day later
Lieut.. Sheehan marched his command
back to Fort Ridgely. Up to this time
the Indians at the Lower Sioux agen-
cy had taken no part in the threaten
ing demonstrations, and as all signs
Of trouble seemed to have vanished,
Lieut.. Sheehan and his detachment of
fifty were ordered to return to Fort
Ripley. They left Fort Ridgely on
the morning of Aug. II, and the same
day Lieut.. Culver, the second in COM
mand, took six men and company of
recruits and started for Fort Smelling.
This left Fort Ridgely with garri-
son consisting of Capt. Marsh, Lieut.
Gere and seventy-six men.
At ten O'Clock on the morning of
Monday, the 18th, J. G. Dickinson
rode into the fort and announced that
the Sioux had gone on the warpath
and that a wholesale massacre was in
progress at the Lower Agency, a
rumor which was soon confirmed by
the arrival of a party of refugees and
wounded man. Capt. Marsh sent a
mounted messenger to recall Lieut..
SheehaD, and then started for the
agency with forty -six men. They were
ambushed within sight Of the agency
buildings, half of the men were killed,
and Capt. Marsh was drowned in at
tempting to ford the river. OF the
twenty-three survivors who reached
the fort, five were wounded.
When Capt. Marsh led his Inflated
command away he left Lieut.. Gere and
twenty-nine men at the fort.
The young officer spent an anxious
day. About noon the long expected
annuity money, 81, 900 in gold, was
brought into the post, but Lieut.. Gere
did not receive tidings of the tragedy
which had befallen his captain until
near nightfall. Then he dispatched q
courier to Fort Smelling for reinforce
ments and began preparations to
repel an attack.
Soon after nine o'clock the next
morning the Indians assembled on the
open prairie two miles from the post,
and while they were holding the coun-
Gil Lieut.. Sheehan and his command
reached the post. He had been ever
taken by the courier forty two miles
from Fort Ridgely, and, in single
night, his men retraced a march that