made and recruiting was commenced very actively, several skeleton companies, partially filled for the Fifth Regiment, being already in the field. Congress, at its extra session, commencing July 4th, 1861 had authorized the issue of "legal tender" notes, which were by this date, in large circulation. The result of this was to greatly enliven business and enhance prices. While government was expending in our state but a small fraction of the enormous sums it was paying out in eastern States for materials of war, the results were unmistakably felt here. One effect was the gradual and almost complete withdrawal of coin, especially small coin from circulation. This occasioned great inconvenience in "making change," and various devices were used to overcome the trouble. Postage stamps came into general use for fractional sums, and soon became a decided nuisance. Then many of the cities and towns, as well as business firms and banks, issued fractional "shin-plasters" as currency. The country was soon flooded with these, and it proved an intolerable nuisance. The issue of the Treasury Department, soon after, of "postage currency," somewhat relieved the dearth of small change. A steady enhancement in the price of goods, labor, the cost of living, etc., commenced, from this date, an inflation which lasted for two or three years.

The material development of the state progressed during this period, notwithstanding the burdens and waste of war, and the fact that over six thousand of our young men were withdrawn from productive industry. An increased area was sown. Immigration was becoming large, especially of Scandinavians. Further efforts were also made to open and extend our area of trade towards the northwest. The reported discovery of rich gold fields in the region now known as Idaho and Montana, led to the formation of a company of citizens to proceed thither overland. On May 14th, the expedition left St. Paul, and arrived safely at the diggings. Congress had, meantime, been appealed to for some protection to this emigration movement, and a small appropriation was made for this purpose, and Captain James L. Fisk appointed to organize and command any party that might wish to go over. other expedition was organized and equipped, leaving on June 16th, and made a successful journey to the gold fields. These expeditions

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did much towards preparing the way for the opening and settlement of the Northwest, and were repeated in 1863 and 1864.

Another important event was the completion of the Minnesota and Pacific Railroad from St. Paul to St. Anthony, which was opened for traffic on June 28-the first line operated in our state. From that date on, railroad building was rapidly carried on, on several of the lines. While these encouraging events were in progress in our state, her brave troops, in Virginia and Mississippi, were contending against great odds. The Fourth and Fifth Regiments and the Second Battery, whose departure for "Dixie" was noted a few lines back, had been pushed rapidly to the front, and, being a part of the "Army of the Mississippi," were soon face to face with the enemy, in the great Corinth campaign. On May 28th the Fifth Regiment had a sharp action with the enemy, in which several were killed, and a number wounded, and won much praise for gallantry. On July 12th, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., the Third Regiment was attacked by a greatly superior force, and after a brave resistance, losing twelve men, its ammunition became exhausted, and it was compelled to surrender. The men were paroled a few weeks later.

Meantime the First Regiment had taken an active part in a campaign of great danger and hardship. It had remained in its winter quarters, near Edward's Ferry, until March, when (attached to Sedgwick's Division) it proceeded to Winchester, from whence they were ordered to join the army of the Potomac near Fortress Monroe. In April they took part in the siege of Yorktown. From thence they participated in McClellan's great Richmond campaign, and the

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seven days fight." At Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks, on May 31st and June 1st; at Peach Orchard, June 29th; Savage's Station, June 29th; Glendale and White Oak Swamp, June 30th; Nelson's Farm, June 30th; Malvern Hills, July 1st, the brave First took an active part, and suffered severe-losses, with great hardship and continual fighting. In all these engagements, it lost ninety men. At the Battle of Fair Oaks, the Second Sharp-Shooters was united with the First Regimet, and continued with them during the rest of the campaign.

The disastrous termination of the operations

the same place. Sixty-two delegates answered the call, and among those present, were W. D. Phillips, J. W. Bass, A. Larpenteur, J. M. Boal, and others from Saint Paul. To the convention a letter was presented from Mr. Catlin, who claimed to be acting governor, giving his opinion that the Wisconsin territorial organization was still in force. The meeting also appointed Mr. Sibley to visit Washington and represent their views; but the Hon. John H. Tweedy having resigned his office of delegate to Congress on September eighteenth, 1848, Mr. Catlin, who had made Stillwater a temporary residence, on the ninth of October issued a proclamation ordering a special election at Stillwater on the thirtieth, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation. At this election Henry H. Sibley was elected as delegate of the citizens of the remaining portion of Wisconsin Territory. His credentials were presented to the House of Representatives, and the committee to whom the matter was referred presented a majority and minority report; but the resolution introduced by the majority passed and Mr. Sibley took his seat as a delegate from Wisconsin Territory on the fifteenth of January, 1849.

Mr. H. M. Rice, and other gentlemen, visited Washington during the winter, and, uniting with Mr. Sibley, used all their energies to obtain the organization of a new territory.

Mr. Sibley, in an interesting communication to the Minnesota Historical Society, writes: "When my credentials as Delegate, were presented by Hon. James Wilson, of New Hampshire, to the

House of Representatives, there was some curiosity manifested among the members, to see what kind of a person had been elected to represent the distant and wild territory claiming representation in Congress. I was told by a New England member with whom I became subsequently quite intimate, that there was some disappointment when I made my appearance, for it was expected that the delegate from this remote region would make his debut, if not in full Indian costume, at least, with some peculiarities of dress and manners, characteristic of the rude and semi-civilized people who had sent him to the Capitol."

The territory of Minnesota was named after the largest tributary of the Mississippi within its limits. The Sioux call the Missouri Minneshoshay, muddy water, but the stream after which this region is named, Minne-sota. Some say that Sota means clear; others, turbid; Schoolcraft, bluish green.

Nicollet wrote. "The adjective Sotah is of difficult translation. The Canadians translated it by a pretty equivalent word, brouille, perhaps more properly rendered into English by blear. I have entered upon this explanation be cause the word really means neither clear nor turbid, as some authors have asserted, its true meaning being found in the Sioux expression Ishtah-sotah, blear-eyed." From the fact that the word signifies neither blue nor white, but the peculiar appearance of the sky at certain times, by some, Minnesota has been defined to mean the sky tinted water, which is certainly poetic, and the late Rev. Gideon H. Pond thought quite correct.

Appearance of the Country, A. D. 1849 Arrival of first Editor - Governor Ramsey arrives - Guest of H. H. Sibley - Proclamation issued - Governor Ramsey and H. M. Rice move to Saint Paul-Fourth of July CelebrationFirst election-Early newspapers-First Courts-First Legislature-Pioneer News Carrier's Address-Wedding at Fort Snelling-Territorial Seal-Scalp Dance at Stillwater-First Steamboat at Falls of Saint Anthony-Presbyterian Chapel burned-Indian council at Fort Snelling-First Steamboat above Saint Anthony-First boat at the Blue Earth River-Congressional election-Visit of Fredrika Bremer-Indian newspaper-Other newspapers-Second Legislature -University of Minnesota-Teamster killed by Indians-Sioux Treaties-Third Legislature-Land slide at Stillwater-Death of first Editor-Fourth Legislature Baldwin School, now Macalester College-Indian fight in Saint Paul.

On the third of March, 1849, the bill was passed by Congress for organizing the territory of Minnesota, whose boundary on the west, extended to the Missouri River. At this time, the region was little more than a wilderness. The west bank of the Mississippi, from the Iowa line to Lake Itasca, was unceded by the Indians.

At Wapashaw, was a trading post in charge of Alexis Bailly, and here also resided the ancient voyageur, of fourscore years, A. Rocque.

At the foot of Lake Pepin was a store house kept by Mr. F. S. Richards. On the west shore of the lake lived the eccentric Wells, whose wife was a bois brule, a daughter of the deceased trader, Duncan Graham.

The two unfinished buildings of stone, on the beautiful bank opposite the renowned Maiden's Rock, and the surrounding skin lodges of his wife's relatives and friends, presented a rude but picturesque scene. Above the lake was a cluster of bark wigwams, the Dahkotah village of Raymneecha, now Red Wing, at which was a Presbyterian mission house.

The next settlement was Kaposia, also an Indian village, and the residence of a Presbyterian missionary, the Rev. T. S. Williamson, M. D. On the east side of the Mississippi, the first settlement, at the mouth of the St. Croix, was Point Douglas, then as now, a small hamlet.

half-breed voyageurs Here and there a frame tenement was erected, and, under the auspices of the Hon. H. M. Rice, who had obtained an interest in the town, some warehouses were constructed, and the foundations of the American House, a frame hotel, which stood at Third and Exchange street, were laid. In 1849, the population had increased to two hundred and fifty or three hundred inhabitants, for rumors had gone abroad that it might be mentioned in the act, creating the territory, as the capital of Minnesota. More than a month after the adjournment of Congress, just at eve, on the ninth of April, amid terrific peals of thunder and torrents of rain, the weekly steam packet, the first to force its way through the icy barrier of Lake Pepin, rounded the rocky point whistling loud and long, as if the bearer of glad tidings. Before she was safely moored to the landing, the shouts of the excited villagers were heard announcing that there was a territory of Minnesota, and that Saint Paul was the seat of government.

Every successive steamboat arrival poured out on the landing men big with hope, and anxious to do something to mould the future of the new state.

Nine days after the news of the existence of the territory of Minnesota was received, there arrived James M. Goodhue with press, type, and printing apparatus. A graduate of Amherst college, and a lawyer by profession, he wielded a sharp pen, and wrote editorials, which, more than anything else, perhaps, induced immigration. Though a man of some faults, one of the counties properly bears his name. On the twenty-eighth of April, he issued from his press the first number of the Pioneer.

On the twenty-seventh of May, Alexander Ramsey, the Governor, and family, arrived at Saint Paul, but owing to the crowded state of pub

which was now renewed. They then proposed shooting at a mark with Baker and Jones, which was done. After discharging their guns, the Indians at once reloaded, and commenced firing on the whites. Jones and his wife, and Baker and Webster were killed, and Miss Wilson, Mrs. Baker and child, and Mrs. Webster, were unhurt. The four Indian murderers then stole horses in the neighborhood, and rode rapidly, during the night, to the Indian village near the agency, where they told what they had done, and urged that, as blood had been spilt, and they would suffer the penalty, they must all unite and exterminate the whites. The other Indians then armed themselves, and at sunrise, Aug. 18, the work of the death commenced, at the Lower Sioux Agency, near Red Wood. It is strongly asserted by other writers, who give good reasons for the belief, that the Indians collected at the Agency had all ready demanded on the massacre, and commenced it on the 18th, without knowing of the events at Acton.

The first victim to this hellish plot was James W. Lynde, a clerk in the trading house of Nathan Myrick. He was a man of fine attainments, and had written a work on the History and Religion of the Dakotas, which was just ready for publication. Three other persons were killed at the same store. At Forbes' trading house, near by, George H. Spencer, the clerk, was badly wounded, when his life was saved by the interposition of a friendly Indian, named Chaska, who protected him until he recovered. Other white persons in and near the houses at the agency, were either killed or wounded, within a few minutes. At this point the Indians ceased their carnage, in order to plunder the stores and government warehouses, and this delay enabled Rev. S. D. Hinman and some other whites, to escape to Fort Ridgely, spreading the alarm as they went.

After a brief time spent by the savages in robbing the stores, they continued their work of carnage in every direction. They were soon joined by the warriors of the other bands, and, to the number of two or three hundred, spread through the settlements for several miles up and down the river, murdering all the whites whom they could find, excepting a few young womem, whom they took captive, and in many instances burning the houses of the settlers.

Meantime, the whites at the upper, or Yellow Medicine Agency, some thirty miles distant, were in ignorance of these dreadful scenes, and of the danger which threatened them. It was not until nearly night when John Other-Day, a Christian Indian, brought them the dreadful news, and warned them to save their lives. The whites, sixty-two in number, at once took refuge in a warehouse; but flight seemed the only safe course, and before daylight the next morning, they were on their way across the prairies towards Henderson, the men on foot, and the women and children, with S. B. Garvie, who had escaped from his warehouse, after being badly wounded, in wagons. The noble Other-Day piloted them truly and skillfully. This party, after great hardships, arrived safely at the settlements on the Minnesota river, and thence to St. Paul, though Mr. Garvie died on the way. The two missionaries, Messrs. Williamson and Riggs, also escaped, with their families, after suffering much hardship.

On Monday morning, August 18th, about three hours after the first outbreak at Red Wood agency, a messenger from that place arrived at Fort Ridgely, twelve miles distant, with the startling news. Captain Marsh, Company B, Fifth Regiment, then in command, at once dispatched a courier to Lieutenant Sheehan, Company C, Fifth Regiment, who, with his detachment, had left the post the morning previous on his return to Fort Ripley, and also to Major Galbraith, who had left at the same time for St. Peter, with about fifty recruits, called the "Renville Rangers," en-route for Fort Snelling, urging them to return at once. Captain Marsh at once left for the scene of carnage, with forty-four men on foot. After a forced march, he arrived about 2 o'clock P. M. at the ferry opposite the Agency, near which place they found nine dead bodies. They were met here by Rev. Mr. Hinman, on his way to the fort, who cautioned Capt. Marsh against an ambuscade, and warned him to return, as the Indians greatly outnumbered his force. Captain Marsh, who was a very brave but very rash man, would not listen to the advice, declaring that he could "whip all the Indians," or something to that effect. Arriving at the ferry, his men were drawn up on the bank, in plain sight, when three or four hundred Indians concealed in the thickets

near by, poured a volley into them. Nearly half of his men fell dead or mortally wounded at the first fire, some of them pierced with twenty bullets, while several others were wounded, but managed ultimately to escape; some of them not reaching the fort for three days. The survivors of this sudden attack (Captain Marsh being himself uninjured) fell back from the ferry towards the fort, keeping up a running fight amidst the thick timber on the river bottom, but against terrible odds.

Rushing up to the fallen soldiers, the savages tomahawked those still living, and tore the scalps from most of them, inflicting also nameless brutalities on their corpses. All the fine Springfield muskets carried by the dead, and their ammunition, fell into the hands of the redskins, and were subsequently used by them, with deadly effect, at the sieges of Fort Ridgely and New Ulm, and the battle of Birch Coolie. The remains of the fallen heroes were ultimately interred at Fort Ridgely, and the legislature, some years subsequently, caused a fine monument to be erected there in honor of their bravery.

For some time a hot battle raged in the forest, Capt. Marsh and his men retreating towards the fort, contesting the ground, inch by inch. Finding that his men were falling fast, and that the enemy was gathering in force ahead of him, so as to cut him off, he determined to cross the river, so as to gain the open prairie on that side, and reach the fort, if possible. He had now but thirteen men left. At their head he attempted to wade the river, but was drowned while so doing. His men got over in safety, and made their way to the fort about dark. Out of the forty-four who had left it that morning, twenty-four were dead. Thus ended the Battle of Redwood Ferry, the first engagement of the war. The Indians, it is thought, lost only one or two warriors.

Flushed with this easy victory in their first encounter with our troops, the Indians now considered that the way was clear for their bloody war of extermination. They scattered in every direction, carrying death and torture to the homes of all the settlers within reach. For several days the work of carnage was awful. No pen can describe the horrors of that bloody week. sudden and unexpected was the outbreak, and so insidious and skulking the mode of warfare of

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the savages, that the inhabitants were overtaken at their various pursuits and butchered in cold blood, without any chance of flight or resistance. Most of them were European immigrants who had recently settled on the frontier, and were quite unacquainted with savage warfare and treachery. But few of them possessed effective fire-arms, or weapons of any kind, indeed, and even if they had these, so sudden and stealthy was the onset, that resistance would have been unavailing. The savages generally went about on these raids in squads of eight or ten, well armed. In many instances the treacherous devils would advance boldly and with friendly demeanor into houses with whose owners they were acquainted, as if to ask for food, (as was their custom, for the settlers had always freely supplied them); when all at once they would shoot down or tomahawk the unsuspecting inmates, perhaps the very persons who had many times fed them when hungry. In a few instances children, and sometimes adults, fled unobserved while this work of death was going on, and escaped a like fate by skulking in the grass or bushes, from whence they were often compelled to witness the cruel tortures practiced on the other members of their family, or flee for life with the death shrieks of the suffering victims ringing in their ears. Some of those who escaped thus, were rescued many days subsequently, after enduring incredible hardships, skulking by day around deserted houses, endeavoring to find food, and wandering by night through the trackless waste, towards the settlements. Delicate women, carrying or leading infant children, thus traveled scores of miles to some place of safety, sometimes wounded and sick and almost naked. Many perished from hunger, exposure or wounds. Others lived, to suffer for years from their injuries. There were literally hundreds of such incidents as the above, and a full narrative of these adventures and escapes would fill volumes. No record can ever be made of them, and the fate of many will never be known until the last day.

The cruel barbarities practiced by the savages on their victims, was another sickening feature of the massacre, and its bare recital makes one shudder. All the fiendish cruelties that their savage nature and pent up hatred of the pale faces could suggest, they wreaked on their vic