Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-09-18
Of '63
Was IN CITY

Wednesday, from Seattle where he
now lives, enroute to visit relatives
in Wisconsin. He gave a most inter.
esting interview to a Tribune report.
er, which deserves space. Mr.. Link
is 80 years old and is naturally a
dident man. He said, in part:
81 belonged to Company D in the
30th infantry. The regiment was
made up at Hudson, Wis. We staid
at Camp Randall till the spring of
SO. Then we went to st. Louis and
we're ordered up the river. We guard
ed three transports up the river.
There were two companies, d and +.
We got to where Fort Sully was built
in the autumn OF Cd. 1t was a ter
rlble time building the fort. There
came a snow storm and a blizzard
early in the season, before any quar-
tiers we're done. That same fall Com
pany A came up here to this place,
where Bismarck now is. | can't To-
cate the spot now, for things have
| changed. And ! was not here long.
Company A was not my company.
IL SClll VII uSAN IVA a uCNuAl vi ~
or 80 men, who came on some sort
of business ! do not now remember.
| My memory is a little confused now.
know our detail was sem out with
those who went out to rescue Cap.
tain Fisk and his miners. ! can't
| say whether j that was the original
idea when we were sent up here. |
| didn't know much about the orders.
There were about 100 of us sent to
rescue Captain Fisk. Some We're cav
airy and some Of lis were infantry,
mounted. ! did not take notice eX-
| actly just where Fisk and his miners
| we're located. Some kept diaries, but
| did not. | do not remember any
river or stream in sight Of where
| they we're corraled. 1t was prairie
all around. We were two or three
days getting OUT to them, as l re-
member it. We went as rapidly as
possible. Captain Risk had no sol
! diers that ! know Of. He had 40 or
so gold miners. there may have
been some women and children, but
can't now recall as to that. | know
they were glad to see us ONE On
the journey we were bothered by In
dams. When. We got almost there we
would see Indians in punches of five
or six on ponies, but they didn't come
to bother us, There seemed to be
quite a number of Indians around
Captain Fisk, put they kept away,
and did not come up after we got
there. Capt. Fisk and the gold miners
were protected by the wagons around
them in a circle. | do not remember
any other Notifications around their
camp except the wagons in a circle.
II there We're any earthWorks | ddid
not see them. | did not make any
notes. We came back with the gold
miners to Fort Sully, and we had a
terrible time getting ready for Win
ter on account Of snow and blizzards.
l think it was in September when we
went to rescue the gold miners. We
brought them to Fort Sully. Some
Indian men and women and children
came along with us to Fort Sully l
remember. | suppose they were the
friendly Indians.
The gold miners went on down riv-
er that fall. think they went down
to St. Louis. My company staid
there at Sully till theAfall of IS, and
then we we're ordered to Louisville,
where we put in the time fighting
bushwhackers, as they called them.
| suppose these bushwhackers were
rebels.
In '65 we went to Madison and
were mustered out of the service.
l have been in Seattle now for eight
years. ! am so years old. | didn't
know much about Indians. 1t SEEM
ed to me like they wanted to fight
the white men out of what they con-
sidered their country. They were
determined that the gold.miners
should not 90 through their country
to the gold mines, as ! under
stood it. | heard the gold miners
tell of having to watch pretty sharp,
but did not know that they had any
suffering or anything of that sort.
They seemed to have good enough
courage when we got down there,
and yet they seemed awful glad to
see u.s."
Mr.. Link seems to have rather IN
imperfect memory now, and he is
rather deficient in topography. AS
he understands It, Captain Fisk was
surrounded by the Indians and hem
med in at a point west and perhaps
a little south of Bismarck, and he
thinks the place was not more than
so or 20 miles west of the Missouri
river. He feels sure in his own mini
there We're no Notifications excepting
the wagons, that is, nothing to per
manently mark the spot. He thinks
the detail from his company, togeth-
er with some Of Company A, had
gone down to Fort Sully before the
start for the rescue. and that the res
cue party went directly from Fort