Olmsted County Military - The Civil War

 

In 1860 came the great presidential contest, the most important, in some respects, since the formation of the government. The vote of the county was substantially divided between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas, the former having a majority. Scarcely had the rejoicings of the triumphant party over Mr. Lincoln's election ceased ere there came from the south murmurs of discontent and anger. How they enlarged and increased through all that fateful winter, how state after state fell away from its allegiance, how the whole south resounded with the dreadful preparations for war, need not be recited here. All this is a part of the nation's history. In Olmsted county, as elsewhere throughout the north, men looked on in amazement, hoping, even to the last, for peace, deeming it impossible that the lunacy of secession could ever ripen into the open madness of rebellion. Few.made any preparation for the event, yet nearly all were in that angry and excited condition which needs but a word to develop into the most determined action.

On the 15th of April, 1861, the daily papers contained the news of the bombardment and fall of Fort Sumter. The deadly strife had begun. "Grim-visaged war " had cast its gloomy and portentous shadow over the land. The nation was shocked and stunned as if visited by some great convulsion in nature. The Union was in fearful peril and the government threatened with annihilation. To save the Union and protect the government was the leading and all-absorbing thought and sentiment. All peaceful means to quiet the discontent and angry elements which had so long threatened the dissolution of the Union and the overthrow of the government had become exhausted, and the question of the life or death of the nation must be settled by the stern arbitrament of bloody war.

Perhaps no county in the east or west responded more promptly to the call of the president for help to crush the rebellion than did Olmsted county. With a population in 1861 of only about 12,000, she sent into the field 1,250 men, comprised mostly of the youthful and most vigorous and enterprising of the population. Those who survived the death-dealing casualties of war, returned with honor to their homes, with names written among the heroes of their country. Their comrades who fell on the field of battle, or succumbed to the ravages of disease, laid down their lives for their country, and their heroic devotion and self-sacrifice will be long and tenderly cherished in the hearts of their grateful countrymen.

However much we desire to give an entire history of the services of each Olmsted county hero, we find the accomplishment of the work next to impossible, as none of the records to which we have been able to obtain access afford the needed information. We shall endeavor to give the dates of the mustering into service of the companies, in whole or in part, recruited from Olmsted county men, together with the number of the regiments to which they were assigned ; the subsequent movements and services of the regiments ; also brief accounts of the more memorable and striking events of the war in which our Olmsted county ''boys " participated.

Co. B, 2d reg. Minn. Vol. Inf., was mostly raised in Olmsted county, and was mustered into the service of the United States at Fort Snelling June 22, 1861, to serve for three years, or during the war, under the command of the following-named officers: captain, William Markham; first lieutenant, Daniel Heany; second lieutenant, Abram Harkins. On February 15, 1862, Capt.. Markham resigned. He was recommissioned and again resigned, July 19, 1862. Lieut. Heany was promoted to captain, December 4, 1861, and assigned to Co. C, 2d Minn., January 18, 1862. Second lieutenant Harkins was promoted to first lieutenant, December 1, 1861, and to captain July 19, 1862.

The regiment was originally under the command of Col. H. P. Van Cleve, with James George, late of Rochester, now deceased, as lieutenant-colonel. In March, 1862, Col. Van Cleve was promoted to brigadier-general, and Lieut.-Col. George was promoted to colonel of the regiment. Col. George continued in command of fhe regiment until June 28, 1864, when he resigned and returned to his farm at Oronoco, where he resided five years, moving to the city of Rochester in 1870, and where he continued to reside till his death, March 7, 1882.

During the months of July, August and September the regiment was kept on garrison duty in the several forts in the State of Minnesota. October 14, 1861, it was ordered to Washington. Arriving at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it was ordered to Louisville, Kentucky, where it arrived October 22, and proceeded, the same day, to Lebanon Junction, Kentucky.

After several other marches the regiment arrived at Mill Spring, Kentucky, and took an honorable part in the battle fought there January 19, 1862, losing twelve men, killed, and thirty-three wounded. Among the killed of Olmsted county men were Hyrcanus C. Reynolds and John B. Cooper; wounded, Milo Crumb, Andrew Driezke, Justus B. Chambers and John Eztell, and Capt. William Markham, the first two mortally. Of this engagement a participant in the fight says: "At the battle of Mill Spring the 2d regiment gamed the reputation of being one of the best fighting in the army. Gen. Thomas was concentrating his army to attack the rebel general Crittenden, who was encamped on the north side of the Cumberland. The advance of the Union army encamped about nine miles from Crittenden's camp, when he determined to attack Gen. Thomas before his main army arrived. Crittenden succeeded in driving the front of Thomas' army about one mile, when Col. Robert McCook, with the 9th Ohio and 2d Minn., met the enemy. Both regiments advanced through a thick grove to a rail fence. The rebels lay behind the fence and were not discovered by the Union forces until the contending forces were so near that guns were pulled from each others' hands. The battle was warm for a few minutes, when the rebels retreated and did not stop until they reached their camp."

At the battle of Mill Spring our brave "boys" had their first "baptism of fire," a significant prelude to still other scenes of deadly strife and heroic achievements which have won for them a record truly honorable and imperishable. On October 6, 1862, the regiment participated in a fight with the enemy at Springfield, Kentucky, and two days later they had another engagement at Perrys-ville, Kentucky. After various marches and countermarches the regiment went into camp at Triune, Tennessee, March 6, 1863. Here the regiment remained until the 23d day of June, when it started for Hoover's Gap, a strong rebel hold, and joined Gen. Thomas' corps in driving the rebels back to Tullahoma, which place was captured by the Union forces July 1. Moving thence, August 30, the army crossed the Tennessee river on rafts, for the purpose of flanking Chattanooga and compelling the rebels to evacuate that place. Within less than two months from that time the 2d Minn, was destined to take an active part in the memorable and bloody battle at Chickamauga, Tennessee, September 19 and 20,1863. The regiment, now under the command of Col. George, fought bravely, while it lost heavily. Of the Olmsted county troops, Curtis L. Cutting, Samuel D. Calvert, Ambrose H. Palmer, Samuel Taylor and Flavius J. Crabb were killed. Wounded : John L. Kinney, A. V. Doty, Greenville Farrier and Capt. Harkins, the first three mortally. Capt. Harkins had his left arm shattered by a minie-ball striking the arm near the shoulder and penetrating downward, as the captain was in a stooping posture when struck. He was captured directly after being wounded, and on the third day afterward the crushed arm was amputated and the wound dressed. Capt. Harkins resigned June 20, 1864. George A. Baker was taken prisoner at Chickamauga and sent to Andersonville prison. He was discharged in 1864. In November, 1863, the regiment was in another engagement at Mission Ridge, in which Benjamin F. Talbot was killed. Ashley W. Wood was captured at Chickamauga and died while a prisoner. The regiment, during the summer of 1864, was engaged in several battles and skirmishes at Resaca, Jonesboro, Atlanta and Kenesaw Mountain. It afterward went with Gen. Sherman in his grand march to the sea; thence through the Carolinas and Virginia to Washington, arriving there in the spring of 1865. The regiment was discharged at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, in the July following. The 2d Minn, was the pride of its brave and noble commander, Col. George. Years after the close of the war, the colonel, being at a reunion of the soldiers, was called on to speak of that regiment. He said: "The 2d had never misunderstood an order, had never charged the rebels without driving them, was never charged by the rebels but the rebels were repulsed, had never retreated under the lire of the enemy."

 

In August, 1862, O. P. Stearns and M. J. Daniels opened a recruiting office in the city of Rochester, and in a few days they succeeded in enlisting 101 men, all of Olmsted county. Of these was formed Co. F, which was assigned to the 9th reg. Inf. Minn. Vols. The company was mustered into the service of the United States at Fort Snelling, September 24, 1862, with the following officers: captain, A. M. Enoch; first lieutenant, O. P. Stearns; second lieutenant, Milton J. Daniels. The regiment was under the command of Col. A. Wilkins.

The Sioux war, an event ever memorable in the annals of Minnesota, broke out in August of this year. From 1,200 to 1,500 white people were killed, many of them in the most cruel and bloodthirsty manner known to even savage brutality, and a large amount of property, consisting of dwellings, grain, hay, farming utensils, etc., destroyed. Lieut. Daniels was assigned by Gen. Pope to the command of a force of mounted infantry, made up from the 3d reg. Minn. Vols., to assist in the pursuit and capture of the murderous Sioux, the expedition being under the command of Gen. Sibley. When near Camp Release, the force under Gen. Sibley succeeded in capturing five hundred of the savage warriors and conveying them prisoners to Mankato. In December following, thirty-eight of the most guilty ones were hung ; the balance were released and taken to a reservation beyond the limits of the state.

Late in the fall the regiment went into winter quarters at Fort Ridgely and were employed in building fortifications on the frontier. The same winter Capt. Enoch was accidentally shot through the breast with a pistol and resigned his command May 20, 1864. In April, 1864, Lieut. Stearns. was promoted to colonel of a colored regiment, and Lieut. Daniels was promoted to captain of Co. F, A. M. Hall 1st lieut. and A. J. McMillen 2d lieut.

In October 1863, the regiment was ordered to report at St. Louis. In February it was sent on an expedition to Kansas City in pursuit of Quantrel's gang of murderers and outlaws, and in May following it had orders to report at Memphis, Tennessee. About the first of June, 1864, the regiment, now forming a part of A. J. Smith's corps, was sent from Memphis after the rebel Forest, with instructions to push on till he was found and beaten. The entire force consisted of nine thousand infantry and artillery with three thousand cavalry, the latter led by Gen. Grierson, all under the command of Gen. Sturgis. The Union army met but little opposition till near Guntown, on the Mobile railroad, where Grierson's troopers met Forest's cavalry and pushed it back vigorously on his infantry, which was strongly posted on a hill at the foot of which was a creek which could with difficulty be forded by infantry. Word was sent back to the infantry, now some five or six miles behind, and in an intensely hot day they were pushed forward at double quick to the scene of action. A letter written to the "Rochester Post" by Capt. Daniels, a few days after the disastrous affair, graphically says: "When we went into the fight, it was by regiments, as they arrived on the ground; so they whipped us by regiments or in detail. We were obliged to 'go in' on the double quick, and, as the day was very hot, many of our men fell in the road, sunstruck. The 9th entered the fight in good shape and drove the enemy in fine style, but we were soon called off to support a battery company. Co. F did bravely, and every man of them deserves great credit."

As if to add to the inexcusably bad management of the affair, the train of more than two hundred wagons came rushing up with the infantry, filling the road and impeding the movement of the troops, who were now being parked within sight and range of the enemy's lines. The result was, the Union army was speedily and thoroughly routed, their train utterly lost and no supplies, no place of refuge, no reinforcements nearer than Memphis, fully one hundred miles distant. All order or organization was abandoned and the situation was: "Every man take care of hinlself the best he could." Large tracts of forests and groves, lonely and cheerless as they would have been under other circumstances, afforded shelter and hiding-places from the enemy and facilitated, in a good degree, the escape of many of the routed troops.

Twenty-three Olmsted county men were captured on the day of the battle or picked up afterward by the rebel forces, of which the woods seemed to be full.

The names of the captured ones, together with events in their prison experience, is here given. Francis J. Heller, of Rochester, captured at Guntown and taken to the rebel prison at Florence. While in prison he stepped one side to hang out his blanket and was shot dead. Henry Niles, of Salem, captured and taken to that slaughter-pen and consummation of southern barbarity and fiendishness, Andersonville prison. He was transferred from there to Millen, Georgia, from whence he escaped. He was again captured and sent with Heller to Florence. He was afterward released from prison and rejoined his regiment.

Edwin H. Adams, of Salem, taken to Andersonville; transferred to Florence, where he died in February, 1865.

John Burns, of Rochester, taken to Cahawba, Alabama, prison. Afterward released and discharged with his regiment.

Syvert Ellefson, Rock Dell, captured and sent to Cahawba, where he died of wounds received in the battle at Guntown.

Elisha and Orlando Geer, Pleasant Grove, both captured and sent to Andersonville. Elisha was transferred to Florence, where he died in December, 1864. Orlando died at Andersonville, July 12, 1864.

Henry H. Howard, Elmira, captured and taken to Cahawba. Released and discharged with the regiment.

Andrew C. McCoy, Salem, captured and sent to Andersonville. Afterward discharged with the regiment.

Alpheus Merritt, Kalmar, captured and taken to Andersonville.  Transferred to Florence. He escaped by climbing over the stockade, but was recaptured and sent to the rebel prison at Salisbury', North Carolina, where he died January 17, 1865.

Daniel McArthur, Farmington, captured and taken to Andersonville ; afterward transferred to Charleston, South Carolina. He escaped by jumping from the cars while on the route, and was finally discharged with the regiment.

Eli Ruch, Stewartville, captured and sent to Andersonville. Subsequently transferred to Millen. No further record of him.

Richard R. Radcliff, Stewartville, captured and sent to Andersonville. Transferred thence to Charleston, thence to Florence, where he died, December, 1864.

George Saville, Farmington, captured and sent to Andersonville, thence to Florence. An event occurred in Saville's prison experience which may be here narrated, as illustrative of the cruelties and indignities endured by Union soldiers at the hands of rebels and traitors. Mr. Saville borrowed an ax of a negro to cut some wood outside the stockade. When he came inside he brought the ax, but it was not immediately restored to its proper place. The negro, having to account for the ax, told the authorities that he had loaned it to a Yankee. A rebel officer took the negro and went into the prison to find the man who had borrowed the ax. Saville was pointed out, when he and the negro were led out and Saville was sentenced to receive thirty lashes on the bare back, to be laid on by the "nigger." The negro performed the cruel task, when he, in return, was to be whipped the same number of blows by Saville. To this poor Saville demurred stoutly, and instinctively shrank from the execution of so infamous and barbarous an act. He was told, however, that if he refused to obey, the negro would oe compelled to whip him the same number of lashes as before, when Saville, fearing for his life, inflicted on the poor negro the punishment ordered. Saville lived to get out of prison and was discharged with his regiment.

William Williams, Rochester township, captured and sent to Andersonville. From there he was sent to Florence; ordered to be transferred to Salisbury, and when about twenty-five miles from Florence, Williams jumped the train. This was February 16, 1865, and making his way cautiously through the enemy's country, he succeeded in reaching Fort Johnson, within the Union lines, about a week afterward. He was discharged with his regiment.

Oliver C. Whipple, Haverhill, captured and sent to Andersonville, where he died September 16, 1864.

Albert Holt, Salem, taken to Andersonville, where he soon died.

Jacob Dieter, Farmington, captured and sent to Andersonville. As near as we can learn, Dieter, with other prisoners, was subsequently transferred to Charleston, and on the route he jumped the train and escaped. But it is supposed that he was recaptured and taken to Salisbury, where he died in November, 1864.

John Cassidy, Marion, taken to Andersonville, where he died October 12, 1864.

Lieut. A. M. Hall, Farmington, captured and sent to Andersonville. Subsequently transferred thence to Macon, Georgia, thence to Columbia, South Carolina. He managed to escape, but was recaptured and taken back to prison. Lieut. Hall was finally discharged with his regiment.

George H. Knapp, Stewartville, captured and taken to Andersonville. He soon died in prison.

William F. Lyon, Stewartville, captured and sent to Andersonville. Finally discharged with his regiment.

John L. Craig, Stewartville, captured and sent to Cahawba prison. Finally discharged with the regiment.

George Atkinson, Oronoco, captured and taken to Andersonville and died there.

We find the name of Samuel Chilsen, High Forest, among the captured at Guntown, but there is no further record of him excepting that he was finally discharged with his regiment. These men all belonged to Co. F, 9th reg., excepting George H. Knapp and William F. Lyon, who were members of Co. C, same regiment.

The following brief account of the experience of three of the Olmsted county men is worthy a place in this connection. By traveling in small parties or singly, the fleeing soldiers stood a less chance of being captured than in massed companies. Acting upon this fact, George C. Sherman, James Reynolds and F. Wilber Warner associated together and in company resolved to make their escape. With rations, consisting of five hard tack only, the boys threw away their guns and set out for Memphis. They traveled mostly nights, hiding in the forests and groves in the daytime. For food they supplemented their hard tack with the inside bark of beech and birch trees and a hatful of green apples. Losing or throwing away their shoes, they cut off the legs of their pants and the sleeves of their blouses to make covering for their feet. At the end of six days, with blistered feet, limbs scratched and torn, worn and exhausted with traveling and well-nigh famished for want of food, the three brave men reached Memphis and the Union lines.

The regiment finally reached Memphis and was soon reorganized and assigned to the corps under Gen. A. J. Smith. Another expedition against Forest was undertaken. The two armies met at Tupelo, Mississippi, where an engagement ensued, in which Forest was defeated with great loss. Here Col. Wilkin was killed. In the ensuing fall the regiment was in a fight at Oxford, Mississippi. The rebels were under the command of Chambers, since member of congress. The Union army was victorious. The regiment was in the battles at Nashville, Tennessee, December 15 and 10, 1864 ; also at the taking of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, April, 1865. Discharged at Fort Snelling, August 24, 1865.

In March, 1S65, Capt. Daniels was commissioned captain and C. S. by President Lincoln, and assigned to duty on Gen. Canby's staff at New Orleans; afterward commissioned by President Johnson brevet-major.

In the spring of 1863 Lieut. Stearns was detailed for duty on Col. Miller's staff at St. Paul. The next fall he went with the regiment to Jefferson City, Missouri, where he remained until the spring of 1864, most of the time acting as judge-advocate of a military commission. In April he received his commission as colonel of the 39th regiment, United States colored infantry, which had been raised in Baltimore, Maryland. The colonel soon after joined his regiment on the old battle-field of Bull Run. The regiment was in the battle of the Wilderness, on which occasion Col. Stearns says, "I really smelt my first powder." The next heavy fighting done by the regiment was at the siege of Petersburg, in the summer of 1864. Of an engagement at that place, Col. Stearns says: "We suffered terribly. Some of the colored regiments were nearly annihilated. More than one-half of my officers were wounded, and I lost 185 men, killed, wounded and missing." The regiment subsequently participated in several minor engagements between Fort Fisher and Wilmington. The regiment remained in North Carolina doing post duty till December 13, 1865, when it was mustered out and Col. Stearns returned to his home at Rochester. Just before he left the regiment his men presented him with a magnificent sword, sash and belt, which he says "I shall hand down as a priceless heirloom."

 

Lieut. William Brown has kindly furnished the following account of Co. H, 6th reg., Inf. Minn. Vols. The company was principally recruited in Olmsted county, by C. H. Lindsley, William K. Tattersall and Samuel Geisinger for the 6th regiment, in the summer of 1862. August 15 the company rendezvoused at Fort Snelling, where it was enrolled and organized, with William K. Tattersall, captain; Samuel Geisinger, first lieutenant, and William Brown, second lieutenant. The Sioux Indian war broke out about this time, and all the troops arriving at Fort Snelling were immediately ordered to the frontier to protect the settlers. Co. H was at once put under marching orders for Fort Ripley to look after the Chippewas. The company remained there until November, when it was ordered to report at Fort Snelling, and on the 20th of that month, 1862, it was regularly mustered into the service of the United States. The company remained at Fort Snelling until the middle of February, 1863, from whence it was ordered to Kingston, Meeker county, Minnesota, remaining until the first of May. It was then ordered to report at Camp Pope, preparatory to the setting out of the expedition, under Gen. Sibley, against the Sioux. In August, the company returned from that march and again went into quarters at Fort Snelling. In the latter part of November Co. H was sent on detached service with two other companies to Fort Thompson, on the Missouri river, to guard supply trains sent by government to the Chippewa Indians who had been removed from their reservation in Blue Earth county. This was a hard and perilous march, particularly at that season of the year, the route being over a wild and unsettled country a distance of several hundred miles. It was impossible for the Indian agent to hire citizens to go as teamsters, and he gladly paid the soldiers for doing the double duty of driving team and guarding his train. The company sat out on their return march in the latter part of December, going by way of Sioux City, Iowa, it being deemed too hazardous to undertake again to cross the then unbroken wilderness of Dakota. The command reached the boundary of Minnesota at Fairmont on the first day of January, 1864, a day exceptionally memorable on account of the intensely cold weather then prevailing. The soldiers were quartered in tents while the mercury in the thermometer sank to 40° below zero. Arriving at Fort Snelling early in January, the company went into winter quarters, remaining until the next spring, when it was with the regiment ordered to Helena, Arkansas. While at Helena the company lost severely by sickness. In the following winter the regiment was sent to St. Louis and performed provost duty. February, 1865, the regiment was sent to New Orleans, where it remained on provost duty until the next April, when it was ordered to Fort Blakely, near Mobile, where it participated in reducing Fort Blakely and Spanish Fort. In August, 1865, the regiment was mustered out of service at Fort Snelling. It should be added here that Lieut. Geisinger resigned in the summer of 1864, and William Brown was promoted to first lieutenant and William M. Evans was promoted from first sergeant to second lieutenant.

Among the members of Co. H, who died from sickness, were the following: Samuel T. Gibson, at Fort Snelling, December 30, 1862; Morgan L. Bulen died at St. Louis, November 20, 1864; Americus Boright, at Helena, Arkansas, July 27, 1864; Daniel H. Crego, at Helena, August 12, 1864; John Chappens died at Memphis, September 13, 1864; Daniel McArthur died at Helena, August 23, 1864; David L. Humes died at Helena, August 13, 1864; George H. Woodbury died at Helena, July 27, 1864 ; Eliphalet Speed died at St. Louis, December 2, 1864.

Co. K, of the 3d reg. Inf. Minn. Vol., was composed principally of Olmsted county men, and was mustered into the service of the United States November 14, 1861, with M. W. Clay, captain; James L. Hodges, first lieutenant, and Cyrenus H. Blakely, second lieutenant. Capt. Clay left the service December 1, 1862, and Lieut. Hodges was promoted to the captaincy. Lieut. Blakely was promoted to adjutant January 9, 1862, and afterward to captain of subsistence. Eben North was promoted to second lieutenant October 2, 1864, and to first lieutenant of Co. G April 10, 1865.

On the 1st of November, 1861, the regiment left Fort Snelling for Louisville, Kentucky, where the men were employed in guarding the Louisville and Nashville railroad. While the regiment was at that post the measles broke out in the camp and became epidemic. The disease proved fatal to a number of the men, mostly from exposure and relapse after they were supposed to be out of danger. George W. Russell, James L. Bundy and Samuel Northrop died with the disease in March, 1862. The same month the regiment was ordered to Nashville, Tennessee, where they did provost duty until the May following, when they were sent to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and were associated with the 9th Mich. Inf., a Kentucky battery and a small cavalry force, to do duty as scouts and advance pickets, all under the command of Gen. Crittenden. On the morning of July 13, 1862, Gen. Forest surprised the 9th Mich, and the cavalry company in their beds and made them prisoners. On the first alarm the long roll of the 3d was beaten, and the regiment, speedily forming into line of battle, set out to march to the relief of the town. But they had barely reached the Nashville pike leading into Murfreesboro when they were met by a portion of Forest's forces, who occupied the strip of woods lying between the river and the town. Here a skirmishing began and was kept up until about three o'clock in the afternoon. The enemy made one determined charge on the regiment, but they were repulsed with considerable loss. In the meantime a portion of Forest's men, with Forest at their head, had, after two or three unsuccessful attacks, succeeded in capturing the Union camp, in the rear and left, under the charge of forty men. About three o'clock in the afternoon an officer approached the line of the 3d regiment under a flag of truce, and demanding a surrender, induced Col. Lester, in command of the regiment, and his adjutant, to accompany the flag into Murfreesboro. After some consultation witli Gen. Crittenden and Col. Mayfield, who were already prisoners of war, and who advised Col. Lester to surrender, the latter returned to his regiment and called a council of the commanders of companies. After submitting the facts he had learned and the advice given him by Crittenden and Mayfield, Col. Lester called for a vote on the proposition to surrender or not. Two ballots were taken, and on the second ballot all voted to surrender, excepting three captains, and the regiment was thus surrendered as prisoners of war, July 13, 1862. While giving an account of this unpleasant affair, it is but simple justice to our Olmsted county troops to state that the 3d regiment had a force of only 700 effective men and one battery, while Forest's force amounted to about 2,800 men, all cavalry. Co. K had one man wounded in the arm, Charles Turnley, but none killed. The officers were all taken south, while the privates were conveyed to McMinnville, in eastern Tennessee, and paroled according to the terms of the surrender, and an officer sent back with them as far as Murfreesboro. Capt. Mills and Lieut. Hodges escaped on the route and both got back safely within the Union lines, but they had several narrow escapes from the inhabitants. The men, minus their officers, returned to Nashville, from whence they were sent to Benton barracks, Missouri, to await exchange. While at that place the Sioux outbreak in this state occurred and the regiment was ordered to Fort Snelling August 25, 1862. The regiment arrived there about September 1, when a detachment of 250 men were sent the next day to the relief of Forest City, Meeker county, supposed to be besieged, if not already wiped out, by the Indians. On their route to Forest City the detachment found the country generally deserted, the inhabitants being gathered inside of stockades for protection against the Indians. They arrived at Forest City the third day and found the people gathered in a stockade, but there were no Indians to be seen, and none had been seen for some time. The next day the detachment returned to Cedar Mills, where they received a message from the governor to report immediately to Gen. Sibley at Fort Ridgely. On the route from Cedar Mills to Forest City the detachment found and buried the dead bodies of five white men, all scalped and mutilated and in a state of partial decomposition. They belonged to a small detachment sent out from St. Paul and Minneapolis, and were here attacked by a party of Sioux in ambush. Between Cedar Mills and Fort Eidgely they found and buried the dead body of a boy who had evidently been recently murdered by the Indians. Arrived at Fort Ridgely, the detachment, still under the command of Maj. Welch, was organized with the 6th and 7th Minn. regs. and a company of scouts, composed of half-breeds, the "Renville Rangers," and about the middle of September, 1862, the expedition started up the valley of the Minnesota river in pursuit of Little Crow, the Sioux chief; the detachment of the 3d, being the only troops that had seen service, led the advance the entire route. On September 22 the expedition arrived at Wood Lake, about two miles from the Yellow Medicine river, and the next day had an engagement with the Indians, led by Little Crow. Eighteen Indians were killed and several wounded. Five of our men were killed and a number wounded. None of Co. K were killed or wounded seriously. The cap-box, worn in front, probably saved the life of Thomas Hunter, first sergeant of the company, as a bullet struck this cap-box with sufficient force to flatten every cap in it. Glancing from the cap-box the bullet struck his left hand, making a slight wound. After the defeat of Little Crow at Wood Lake, he, with some of his followers, fled to Dakota, and Gen. Sibley began negotiations, with the hostile Indians who remained, for the release of a large number of women and children who were prisoners in their hands, at their camp on the Minnesota river at the mouth ot the Chippewa.

The detachment remained on duty in putting down the Indian outbreak until about November 1, when they arrived at Fort Snelling. In January, 1863, the 3d regiment was exchanged, after which they were again ordered south. The regiment was in active service principally at points in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, and while lying at Pine Bluff in the summer of 1864, Co. K lost ten men from sickness. In October the regiment was ordered to Duvall Bluff, where it remained during the winter of 1864r-5, principally occupied in building forts, under the supervision of Thomas Hunter, now first lieutenant of Co. F. On April 1,1864, a detachment of the 3d, under Gen. C. C. Andrews, had a fight with a superior force of rebels at Fitzhugli's Woods, Arkansas. The fight lasted several hours, the rebels finally withdrawing. Several of the Union troops were killed and wounded, but none belonging to Co. K. Early in the war the 3d Minn, passed under a cloud, but the subsequent heroic achievements of these men acquired in many brave and daring struggles with savage foes and rebel white men, very effectually lifted the cloud and the 3d made a record honorable and meritorious among the noble defenders of our common country. 'The regiment was mustered out of service September, 1865.

Among the Olmsted county troops belonging to the 3d regiment who died in the service were the following: Grover B. Lansing died at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, October 6, 1864; Amos Lesher, at Nashville, Tennessee, April 24, 1862; John Bump, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, July 10, 1862; Alpheus W. Bulen, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, October 16,1864; William J. Corpe, Louisville, Kentucky, March 25, 1862; Joshua C. Hartshorn died at St. Louis, October 10,1862; Samuel Northrop died at Louisville, Kentucky, March, 1862; George M. Russell died at Shepherdville, Kentucky, March, 1862; Martin Webster died at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, September 27, 1864; Ira Andrus, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, July 19, 1864; John J. Campbell died at the same place, October 2,1864; Samuel Crumb, at same place, August 11, 1864; Robert Fulton, same place, October 19, 1864; Frederick Gilbert died at DuvalFs Bluff, Arkansas, July 18, 1865; Christian Mark died at Little Rock, Arkansas, May 18,1864; Benjamin K. Moren died at Duvall's Bluff, Arkansas, May 19, 1865; Charles W. Moon died at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, August 9, 1864; William F. Scott at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, August 5, 1864; Roswell Stanton died at Memphis, December 26,1864; John Snyder died at same place January 12, 1865; Henry Ward died at same place January 8, 1865; Charles H. Weston, drowned in the Mississippi river, August 22, 1865; Edward R. Williams died on hospital steamboat October 17, 1864.

Companies F, G, H and I, 1st batt. Minn. Vol. Inf., were recruited at Rochester and comprised a goodly number of Olmsted county men. The companies were mustered into service in the spring of 1865 for three years or during the war. The officers of Co. F were—Lafayette Hadley, captain; Thomas H. Kelly, first lieutenant; Clark Andrews, second lieutenant; Co. G—James N. Dodge, captain; Orlando J. Gardner, first lieutenant; Joseph Halleck, second lieutenant; Co. I—John N. Wallingford, captain ; Jacob Z. Barncard, first lieutenant; William B. Cornman, second lieutenant.
The battalion left Fort Snelling about April 1, 1865, and in due time arrived at Washington. From Washington the battalion was sent to Burksville, Virginia, whence it soon returned to Washington and went into camp some six or seven miles from the capital. In June it was ordered to Louisville, Kentucky. Mustered out at Jef-fersonville, Indiana, July 14, 1865; discharged at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, July 25, 1865.

The war was practically ended before the battalion left Fort Snelling, hence it had no actual service. O. F. Chambers, of Rochester, and Simon Hadley, Farmington, the first of Co. H, the latter of Co. F, died at Louisville in June.

[Source: The History of Winona and Olmsted Counties, 1883]

 

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