New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1921-04-27
SURVIVOR TELLS
ABOUT MASSACRE
M. N. MESTEAD OF FERTILE,
IA, RELATES TERRIBLE
EXPERIENCES.
WAS MEMBER OF A FORLORN
LITTLE BAND OF CHILD
REFUGEES IN '62.

The following article, written by
M. N. Mestead of Fertile, Iowa, a
survivor of the Indian massacre at New
Ulm in 1862, appeared in recent
issue of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and
will, no doubt, be of interest to Review
readers:
The history of the Middle West is
replete with tales of the adventurous
lives OF men who now sleep beneath
the sod of the prairies they loved and
conquered; but the tragic story of
the hapless child-band of regufees
and their night fight through the
wilderness at the time of the Indian
uprising on the Minnesota frontier,
has never been recorded in the pages
OF the past.
M. N. Mestead of Fertile, Iowa, a
survivor of the bloody orgy near New
Ulm in August, 1862, was a member
of that forlorn little band of twelve.
His story OF the child refugees is here
given for the first time Somewhat
condensed by the writer, and revised
with view to sequence, the story
follows substantially as told by Mr..
Mestead:
ITO my fathers homestead on a
Thursday in August, 1862, came nine
neighboring families, expecting an
outbreak by the hostile Sioux With
the exception of one family, they left
at dawn on the following Sunday to
care for their stock Shortly after
they had gone we became aware of
commotion among the cattle in a
nearby lot. An old team of oxen was
in panic-horned heads held high
and distended nostrils shifting omi-
nously in the direction Of the wind.
'As mother stepped to the door to
investigate, an Indian peered eau
tiously from behind stump. Sur
missing that he had been observed,
the savage arose to his feet and came
boldly toward the house. He was
joined by his companions as they
leaped from behind the trees and
quickly surrounded the house.
ga large chest in the dooryard at
tracted them. Shooting away the
lock of the chest, they helped them
selves to small supply of tobacco and
several gallons of liquor.
There were nine loaded rifles in
the house at the time, and father made
ready to protect his family and proper
ty; but mother implored him not to
use the guns, fearing that resistance
would mean death to us all. Mother
and the other woman, together with
the 10 children, were hurried to the
cellar beneath the bacin floor; father
and a l4-year-old boy remained above
to guard the doors.
When admittance was refused
them, three Indians leaped against
the door, tearing the leather hinges
from the jamb and breaking away the
wooden latch. AS they rushed inside,
the boy ran through the opposite door
and escaped to the woods, but father
was seized by the blood-thirsty trio
and dragged outside. He was taekn a
short distance from the house, and
while two OF his captors held him by
the arms the third savage shot him
through the body with a earbine.
AT the report of the firearms, a
two-year-old child began to scream ano
cry. Knowing that the noise woulc
betray the hiding place of her friends
the mother took her child and went t.
the room above. The infant continued
to cry, and the noble woman walked
from the room out into the yard. Sht
was fired upon by the now drukner
marauders and at the seventh shot fel
to her knees. The bloody work wa
finished at the chopping block will
an ak in the hands of the same ASSASSIN
that had taken my fathers life. Whel
the Indians staggered out of sight tn
orphaned baby crawled to it's dea,
mother and cried itself to sleep at he
side.
can hour elapsed before we ven
tured from the cellar. The sleepin
child had just been carried in when
girl Of IL, half crazed with fright, cam
screaming from the woods. Her folk
had been slain, the home was burne
down and the redskins were now 0;
their way back.
"Bewildered by the tragedy tina
had just occurred, unnerved by tn
fearful sight in the dooryard and ut
terly weighed down by the respons
bility now confronting her, mothe
was as helpless as the frightene
brood under her care. While sh
realized that flight was the only hope
how to go about it with 10 litt]
Z ~ q . i & l. < III = ( 81