Chapter 3

INDIAN CAMPAIGN IN MINNESOTA AND DAKOTA--1863-64.

At the end of April, 1863, orders were received to rendezvous at Camp Pope on the upper Minnesota River. Fifteen of the men had to be left behind at the fort, viz.: J. J. Mueller and Reimers, on detached service; and Becker, Fandel, Gantner, John, Kellermann, Knobelsdorff, Koenig, Mann, J. Mueckenhausen, Peterson, Schauer, Scheer, and Wolf, sick. On the 28th of April Companies E and D embarked on the steamboat Favorite, but could go no further by water than to within about three miles of Mankato, thence going on foot, arriving at their destination on the 5th of May.

Camp Pope was not an original settlement, but a spot selected especially as a base of operations against the Indians; for which purpose storehouses had been erected there. It was situated on the river about a mile and a quarter above the crossing of the Red Wood River. On the reassembling of the regiment the company held the same rank (5th) and position (7th) as before, but had as neighbors Company G on the right and Company I on the left.

In the latter part of the month (May) a regimental band was formed, and Seidel, Eberdt, and Jakobi were detailed as members of it. J. J. Mueller and Reimers rejoined on the 5th. Detert was detailed as regimental pioneer on the 15th. The expedition being ready, those sick and unable to travel were left behind at Camp Pope; of Company E, Hellmann and Paul Paulson remained there. The strength of the company present at this time was 68, and aggregate number 85.

The second expedition for the chastisement of the Dakotas left Camp Pope on the 16th of June, 1863. The 19th and 21st of the month were spent in camp. On the 23rd, transportation permitting, the knapsacks of the men were carried in wagons. The valley between Big Stone Lake and Lake Traverse was reached on the 26th, and a camp established about a mile from the latter on the south side of the Minnesota River (there but a rivulet), which camp was situated near but outside of the state boundary. The camp was called McLaren, and three days were spent there. From here a detachment consisting of three companies of infantry, including Company H of the Sixth Regiment, some cavalry, and one piece of artillery, all under command of Lieutenant Colonel Averill, was dispatched to Fort Abercrombie for supplies. Klinghammer, unable to march, was sent along to the fort. It may be here noted, as a matter of interest to hydrographers, that Lake Traverse was not at this time an unbroken sheet of water, as a corporal of Company G crossed it on foot near the middle, seeing the lake in two parts, to the right and left of him.

Resumed the march on June 30th, and forded the Sheyenne River on the 4th of July, camping a little beyond it at a spot three-quarters of a mile northeast of the two mounds called "The Bowshot" and in the neighborhood of where the fight occurred about forty years before between the Pawnees, Shawnees, and Sheyennes, which, as I am informed, resulted in the annihilation of the last-named tribe. At this place,--named Camp Hayes,--70 miles distant from Camp McLaren, the expedition lay six days, awaiting the supply train, which arrived on the 9th. Resumed the march on the 11th, on which day Lieutenant Exel left on furlough. The 12th was spent in camp. The second crossing of the Sheyenne was made on the 17th. On the 18th arrived at two lakes named Jessie[2] and Leda, 90 miles from Camp Hayes. An entrenched camp was established on the banks of the former (the more easterly one of these two lakes) which was about three miles long. The camp was called Atchison, and a day and one-half were spent there in making arrangements for a vigorous pursuit of the Indians. Companies C and G of the Sixth were stationed there as a part of the garrison, and five of the company were left behind there, viz.: Seidel, Eberdt, and Jakobi, as members of the band, and Kraemer and Reuter, who were too sick to travel.

[2] This camp was located on the W. 1/2 of the N.W. 1/4 of section 28, and the E. 1/2 of the N.E. 1/4 of section 29, township 147 north, of range 60 west, on the northeast side of what is now known as Lake Sibley, and about 11 miles in a direct line to the northwest of Cooperstown, Griggs County, North Dakota.--T. H. L.

On the 20th, all the arrangements having been completed, the expedition began a more rapid advance in pursuit of the enemy, and on the 24th of July, 89 miles from Camp Atchison was fought the battle of "Big Hills" or "Big Mound." As soon as it was known that the Indians were in force, the train was corralled on the margin of a small lake, Big Mound being directly to the eastward and distant about one and one-quarter miles. The Sixth Regiment with one company of Mounted Rangers and a section of artillery occupied the east front, and threw up a line of earthworks for protection. As soon as the attack began, Colonel Crooks at once deployed Companies E, I, and K of the Sixth and A of the Ninth, under Major McLaren, as skirmishers, and they pursued the Indians two and one-half miles. Three companies of the Sixth were also deployed on the left flank, and the Indians were repulsed at that point. Major McLaren with companies A, B, D, I, and K advanced four miles at a double-quick, having been ordered to support the troops already at the front, but on their arrival they were ordered to return to camp.

On the 25th the expedition moved only about five miles to a better camping place and remained there on account of the jaded horses. On the 26th, with the Sixth Regiment in advance, the march was resumed. On arriving at Dead Buffalo Lake, some 15 miles from the last camp, the Indians again appeared in force and commenced an attack. Colonel Crooks immediately deployed a part of the Sixth, including Company E, as skirmishers, under Lieutenant Colonel Averill, and they advanced steadily, driving the enemy as they went; the remainder of the regiment under Major McLaren being held in reserve. After an advance of about one and one-half miles Major McLaren with five companies of the Sixth was ordered to return to the camp at the lake, three companies remaining at the front. Desultory firing was kept up until about 3 p.m., when the Indians made a final assault, which was repulsed in fine style by the troops under command of Major McLaren. The Indians, having been defeated at every point, now withdrew from the field.

On the morning of the 27th the advance was again resumed, and in the afternoon a camp was formed on Stony Lake. On the 28th, as the troops were forming in column, the Indians again appeared and made their last charge. About one mile beyond the lake the Sixth Regiment was deployed to skirmish on the right of the train, and they repelled the attack of the Indians who threatened it. The firing continued for a time, the Indians finally making a rapid retreat in the face of the advancing expedition. The pursuit was continued until Apple River was reached, where a camp was formed for the night.

On the 29th the army crossed Apple River, continuing the pursuit, and in the afternoon the Missouri River was reached, the regiment, under the immediate command of Colonel Crooks, skirmishing nearly two miles through the woods to it. The Indians having crossed to the west bank and hoisted white flags, the battery which had been advanced, and was in good position for shelling, was moved away, as the policy seemed to be to kill Indians only when they made an attack. Many of the skirmishers ventured to the river bank and began filling their canteens, when suddenly the enemy fired at them from the other side and the men were forced back, but not without sending a volley in return. A camp was formed on the banks of the Missouri River near the mouth of Apple River. The point on the river struck was in about 46 deg. 40' north latitude, 600 miles from Fort Snelling by the route followed, 6 miles above the mouth of Apple River, and 85 miles from the Big Mound.

On the 30th Colonel Crooks with Companies A, I, and K and details of men from other regiments, proceeded to the Indian crossing, and destroyed all the wagons and such other property as would be of service to the Indians, and then returned to camp.

The return march began on the 2nd of August. The 5th and 9th of the month were spent in camp. Passed to the southward of the outward journey, shortening the route some thirty miles, and arrived at Camp Atchison on the 10th. Rested on the 11th. Reached Sheyenne River on the 13th, and camped three miles beyond it.

At this last place the nightly entrenching, commenced on departure from Camp Pope, was abandoned, the impulse of discontinuance coming from Company E. It had been the custom, both in the campaign of 1862 and this, to throw up every evening light exterior mounds and ditches for defense, a work necessarily irksome and unpopular with men fatigued with hard marching, and in the presence of an enemy (and some times not) they neither respected nor feared. The traces of these works, slight as they were, will be visible for years, and if properly noted by the surveyors of the public lands as the surveys extend westward, and by future Pacific Railroad parties, will furnish means for exactly determining the routes of the two expeditions; certainly as regards that of 1863, which lay through trackless wastes, over which not even an odometer passed with this expedition. It is to be regretted that the commanding officer of the expedition, lavish as were the expenses attending it, thought fit to negative a proposition made to form a quasi-topographical force for its use. Such a proposition would have involved no other expense than that of a few simple instruments for the use of the surveyor and his assistants (enlisted men) who might be detailed, and their labors would have furnished valuable material for the maps which were afterwards ordered to be constructed, besides contributing to the interests of geographical science in general.

The 16th and 18th of August were spent in camp. Reached Fort Abercrombie on the 21st and camped on the west side of it; distance from Camp Atchison about 115 miles. Remained at the fort three days. Here Klinghammer rejoined. Resumed march on the 25th. Spent the 30th in camp. Arrived at Sauk Centre on the 2nd of September, and remained there all the next day. Here Rehse was left behind, sick. At this place the expeditionary forces were divided, the Sixth Regiment being ordered to Fort Snelling. We left Sauk Centre on the 5th; and spent the next day in camp. The route was by the way of St. Joseph, St. Cloud, and Anoka, and the neighborhood of the fort was reached on the 12th; the return route from Apple River being about 510 miles.

John and Scher rejoined on arrival at the fort, and Seidel, Eberdt, and Jakobi were relieved, the band being temporarily suspended. Corporal Eheim was sent to the hospital on the 18th.

Companies A, C, E, F, G, and H, being ordered to Fort Ridgley, left together on September 19th, going by the way of Bloomington, Shakopee, Jordan, Belle Plaine, and Le Sueur. At the latter place Gantner rejoined on the 22nd. Passed through Traverse, and came to Fort Ridgley on the 25th. Detert was now relieved. Here the destinations of the companies ordered to guard the southwestern frontier of the state were announced. Of Company E the main body (or two-thirds) was to proceed to the station at Lake Hanska in Brown county (35 miles off) and the remainder to the post of Cottonwood (12 miles), to relieve the troops there in garrison. Accordingly on the 28th the movement took place, the smaller force reaching its assigned position the same day, the main body taking two days for its journey. While at Lake Hanska, Sergeant Bell left for St. Paul, where, on the 9th of November, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the company.

Company E, having been designated (in lieu of Company F) as part of the escort to the train fitting out to convey provisions to the Indian bands removed from Minnesota to Crow Creek Agency or Fort Thompson on the Missouri River, was ordered to rendezvous at New Ulm, which was done on the 29th of October by both the detachments. The smaller one had left Big Cottonwood on the 25th under orders to garrison Buffalo Creek station (25 miles northeast of the fort), but immediately on reaching that place received the counter order. By the promotion of Sergeant Bell to the second lieutenancy, Sergeant Huhn became first or orderly sergeant, according to company order of the 1st of November.

Left New Ulm on the 3rd of the month, and reached Mankato, 28 miles distant, the assembling point of the train and escort, the next day. Eberdt and Jakobi left on the 4th to report at Fort Ridgley, and Lieutenant Holl for St. Paul. Seidel and Sproesser left, on the 6th, for Fort Ridgley, Corporal Steifel was sent there sick, and Radke was sent to the hospital at Mankato on the same day.

The expedition, with Captain J. C. Whitney in command, started on the 7th. The escort consisted of Companies D, E, and H, of the Sixth Regiment. The 9th, 10th, and 11th were spent in camp, also the 14th at Leavenworth, where the nuts were taken off the wagons (said to have been done by the men of Company D who felt themselves aggrieved). Sergeant Siebert, sick, left for St. Peter on the 15th, and Bast on furlough; from which, falling sick, he did not return at the appointed time. Reached Des Moines River, near the outlet of Lake Shetek, on the 18th, and there remained in camp all the next day. Here Lieutenant Holl rejoined and commenced to act as first lieutenant, having been commissioned as such November 7th; the present strength of the company was now 59, and aggregate 79. G. Paulson accompanied the expedition, but is not reckoned in this number, as he was on detached service at the headquarters of the expedition. The route of the train was a few miles to the northward of the Red Pipe Stone Quarry, and the Big Sioux River was reached and crossed--53 miles from Lake Shetek--on the 23rd. Crossed the James River, 90 miles from the Big Sioux, on the 28th. Arrived at Fort Thompson, 75 miles further, on the 2nd of December, and remained there three days. This fort is a stockaded inclosure about 500 feet square, built to include and protect the Agency and barracks; it is 95 miles, by river road, above Fort Randall, two miles from the Missouri, and about a mile from Crow Creek. On the 5th left the fort for return. Remained in camp on the 14th, twelve miles below Yankton; Corporal Leitner was promoted fifth sergeant, and privates Juergens, Gaheen, and Hoscheid appointed to fill the vacant offices of sixth, seventh, and eighth corporal. The 17th was also spent in camp on account of a terrible snowstorm. Reached the neighborhood of Sioux City, Iowa, on the 18th, camping two and one-half miles northwest of it. On the 21st the troops again moved; traveling by the way of Melbourne, Cherokee, Peterson's, Spirit Lake, and Estherville, Iowa, they came to Fairmont, Minnesota, on the 30th. Remained in camp the next two days. Passed through Winnebago City and arrived at Mankato on the 3rd of January, 1864, when Company D left for the north.

This journey of about 750 miles--315 outward from, and 435 return to, Mankato--was accomplished in fifty-four days; and because of the rigor of the Northwestern winter, and much of it through a pathless country,--the command sleeping in tents on the snow-covered ground,--the men called it the "Moscow journey." The mercury at times stood 30 deg. below zero, and never was above the freezing point.

Companies E and H returned by way of New Ulm to Fort Ridgley, 45 miles, on the 7th and 8th of January, having marched since leaving the former place in November about 825 miles. The only company of the Sixth Regiment at the fort at this time was A. Company E was assigned quarters in the stone barracks, on north side. The duties were not heavy and the time passed comfortably enough for soldiers. Musicians Seidel, Eberdt, Jakobi, and Sproesser now rejoined, but not for duty, being detailed in the band; also Sergeant Steifel and George Paulson. Sergeant Siebert rejoined on the 20th. Sergeant Huhn was detached as acting post hospital steward on the 27th, being afterwards discharged--on the 20th of February--to enlist in the same capacity in the regular army. Henry Steck, enlisted as private in the regiment on the 3rd of February and assigned to the company, joined for duty March 20th,--native country of recruit, Wurtemberg. Bast rejoined on the 10th, and Radke about the 15th. Captain Schoenemann left for St. Paul April 4th, and Lieutenant Holl assumed command of the company. On the 19th Sergeant Siebert was promoted to first sergeant and Corporal Stiefel to fifth sergeant, and privates Radke and Gabbert appointed seventh and eighth corporals, respectively; but the latter scarcely ever acted as such and was reduced to the ranks, at his own request, on the 13th of the following month. George Paulson was detailed in the regimental band on the 7th of May.

At the beginning of May a detail of about a dozen men of the company, under Sergeant Huth and Corporal Radke, were sent from Fort Ridgley to Milford--12 miles--to relieve the cavalry at that post. On the 15th Corporal Smith replaced Corporal Radke there. This detachment returned at the end of the month. While there the woods of the Big Cottonwood and in the neighborhood of Milford were thoroughly scouted, both by parties from Company E and from Company G (posted at Fort Wilkin and Madelia), but by the former traces only of the Indians were found.

The Sixth Regiment being ordered to rendezvous at Fort Snelling, to prepare for their departure to the South, in accordance with the order of the War Department of the 26th of May requiring it to report at Helena, Arkansas, Companies A, E, and H left Fort Ridgley on the 2nd of June. The only member of the company left behind there was F. Henricks, sick in hospital. Traveled by the way of Henderson, Belle Plaine, and Shakopee, and arrived at Fort Snelling on the 7th, and went into camp about a mile above the fort--Camp Crooks.

Between the 8th and 12th the following recruits joined the company for duty as privates, viz.: Edward Bryan, a native of Ireland, enlisted November 7th, 1863; Henry Wetterau, native of Wisconsin, enlisted February 4th, 1864; Peter Holtzmer, native of Luxemburg, enlisted February 5th; Joseph Rachel, enlisted February 11th; Michael Knopf, native of New York, enlisted February 24th; Charles Foglesang, native of Baden, and William Hildebrandt, native of Hanover, enlisted February 26th; Mathias Frank, native of Luxemburg, enlisted February 27th; Stephen Iwan, and Francz Troska, natives of Prussian Poland, enlisted February 29th; John Lieber, native of Nassau, enlisted June 10th,--and all were enlisted for three years. Of these Bryan had been enlisted for the company at St. Paul, but having been at once placed on detached service did not join his command till this time (the 8th); with him, from the same duty--herding mules at Glencoe--returned Rehse. Corporal Gaheen was detailed in the regimental color guard on the 12th; and on the 14th Captain Schoenemann resumed command, and Burch rejoined.

The sum of the distance traveled by the company from its organization to this time was over 2,700 miles.