Show THE SIOUX REBELLION the uprising in the year 1862 FLYING AND FIGHTING FOR LIFE the galls at of 2 of whites W hen attacked by the bioux on the karpath warpath war path new york suit on the morning of august 18 1862 as I 1 as carrying a pail of milk from the cow yard to the house on the farm of william miller seventeen miles from new ulm aminti E saw a covered wagon coming across the prairie as fast as two horses could pull it I 1 banded the pail into the hoase calletto called to mr mil ler and bis wife and by the time they were out of doors the wagon had stopped at the ota Is was vehicle belonging to a man named launders living about nine miles away and he and his family were inside we had not yet reached the gate when ha shouted fly for your lives the indians are on the ile would have crivea off with that but one of his horses fell down in the harness from ex camion there was saunders his wife and four children and I 1 never saw people so broken up it wa fully ten minutes before we could gt theia story in a shape to understand it the sioux rebellion which many pioneers bal predicted had broken out at last for the past three months we bad noticed a change in the demeanor of the in deans some of called at the house almost daily they bad become impudent and threatening and many of the older settlers were becoming alarmed some would have given up their farms but e were a few smart alecks who rode about the country saying was daubur J iliac ili aure enough soldiers in the fort in the state to throb all the indians in the whole west these men were as we afterward found out inter ested in the sale of real estate and of course they did not want any sen a reports sent east buffor the civil warthen war then raging would have been no uprising of the indians uncle samhan his hands fall in the south and hundreds of other men had enlisted to fight the confederates saunders had re warning at daylight f rom a se t tier on horseback whose whole family bad been butchered ile was a te anater and his wagon then contained a part af pf a load of stores which he was hauling out to a storekeeper in a new settlement he bad unloaded some of the atuf and fluda in household goods and 0 visions and had driven at sus a pace as to exhaust one of the bones miller and his wife were germane cool and phlegmatic their all was invested right there while they knew that trouble was pa band they did not want to abandon every thing at a mere alarm we had three horses in the stable and saunders ets begged bard fur one to take the placed his exhausted beast he was bound and determined to get ou even if ho had to go on foot and miller consented to let the horse go while he wait being harnessed in saunders asked us to throw out some of the merchandise and lighten the vehicle we took out four kegs of powder about pounds of lead fifty p of shot three double bar meled shotguns shot guns and some groceries and the horse was no sooner in the traces than saunders drove off at a gallop vell what shall we do baked airs miller as we stood look log after the wagon stay and fight replied the bus band I 1 was then a boy of 10 and bad been with the millers aver a year there was not a day but that some of the sioux came along and in ina ny instances y bad eaten of our food miller did not q u P the uprising but did not thi k it was as serious a matter as it turned out to be and aith true dutch grat he proposed to stick we went into breakfast ate as ell as usual and when we were abo wib 1 my I 1 d now we aft ready or the indians As we went out doors we saw three columns in diffie rent directions showing that the mur derous redskins red skins were at work alil ler bad acres of land almost every acre as level as a floor we had just building a milk boute over a spring about feet from the house around the spring was about two acres of bruk ground with rock and we bad bated out sufficient of till s 0 jay u the walls of the inick house gi ler was a awne mason by trade and his work had been well done the houte vas pretty large being inside the walls and the walls were perhaps a foot thick thereof The roof had been plan ked and then and the doorway of heavy plank the place would make a capital fort and while I 1 was carf aug into it such iblings as airs A 1 ier directed the ausband used a crowbar to make loopholes all in the odai hour be drove five or six and then he bored two in the door with a big auger we carried in all the provis 1 ions in the house followed by the cloth frig and the bedding while we worked we kept our eyes open for eight of indians but it was 11 before we saw them coming they were not more than a mile away when we retired to our bar ricadel the door all the livestock had been turned loose and driven away while the fowls were flying on the prairie there was very little left in mhd house and the worst they could do was to burn it when we shut ourselves up I 1 missed two kegs of powder bat to my query its to what had become of them miller made no reply except by a laugh he had been working bl hims elfall the forenoon digging holes and tre achs but I 1 had been too busy to know enst what be was up to there wah thirty two indians in the band which came up and among them there were five fresh scalps E bad plunder of some sort from the settlers catin and two or three appeared much the worse for liquor they bad probably seen us enter the milk house for they rode right up to the cabin without fear we could not see them very plainly and among the g we picked out several who had been supplied with food and ammunition there were yells of rage from those who dismounted and entered the house to find it stripped but presently a council was held in the big after a few minutes an indian appeared around the corner with a rag tied to a stick and when he had waved it a few times be wanted to talk miller ed out to como on and be advanced to with fifty feet of the fort before be stopped and called out all come out indians no hurt Is there biar miller no war no war I 1 bep mep get drunk and ride around but no war indians all like Dutchman if you like us then go away and leave us alenel shouted miller will you come out N then we will burn house and kill all cattler catt lel the indians were too anxious to get at their bloody work to wasta much time in the me abenger was no sooner under shelter than the gang began to howl and whoop and while some opened fire on us from the windows other s made preparations for a bonfires bon firos in about ten minutes the house was on fire and the andina crowded together on the far side it was a log houe hou e and the roof fell in before the sides were hardly able the slight wind blew the and spanks directly over us so that we could not arsee five feet the indians continued to yell and dance for a time but suddenly pud denly there was a terrific explosion and a dozen screams of terror I 1 was looking into the smoke which now and then lifted for an instant ani I 1 ohp burn ID log 0 f th e house scattered to Z conr w ia d s by the explosion miller knew the reds would set the building on fin and be had placed one of the kegs of powder where it would do the most good we counted five war giors kil ledor disabled by the ex and mill z killed two others before the crowd got out of range the house was the best shelter from which to worry us and they bad lost by destroying it the strength of ou r fort con id be seen at a gi ance the indians were wise elou h not 0 antei ampt a rush and whole party were also impatient to push on to other s six or eight more arrived soon after the explosion and presently we saw them making ready to move off A general volley was fired at us the war whoop was sounded and the brief siege was raised it was balf an hour before we ventured out and dot an indian was insight we could however see tall columns of black smoke whichever way we looked and it was plain the whole section was in the hands of the Indians we could not athirst make out why they bad left us but miller booti concluded that they knew what they were about ve bad no means of escape left to us the savages were on every side and if we attempted to leave the neighborhood we should fall into the hands of some of them it was duft safe to leave us there while they ush edon to butcher the de fencers ones an hour after dinner we were joined b three young mea who had been lilyin lily ig dodging and traveling since the evening before and who bad come a distance of twenty they were bue belor home ste aders and all bad rifles revolvers and penty of it was a welcome addition to our party for we now felt that we would have to stand a siege mrs miller brought out the pots and kettles and cooked dinner on a fire in the open air and after it was eaten she began to prepare food for the siege pork was boiled flour stirred into cakes coffee made and put into jugs and before had food enough to last a dozen men a week Meau hile the rest of us had not been idle some la posts were sunk into the earth ze fore the door baving space enough for only one person to pope at up at 4 time 64 way four more loopholes were made in the walls and then the of the roof was Joop y means of the auger in at li st twenty places I 1 now saw what miller bad been up to the day be fore ile had put in no less than three powder mines in the vi acidity running a blow match to each one the only cover the in diab could have in the neighbor hood was in the rear of the fort where we had mined the rock we bad left a big hole which wag a natural rifle pit and our loopholes did not command it they would be sure to occupy ibis and the men prepared a torpedo holding fifteen pounds of powder and hid it under the rocks and dirt on the brink of the pit A trench was then dug to and under the wall nf the milk house and by means of boards a train of p 0 ader liia laid the ear h had been filled in again lie on e bould bate told it b we were its ready as we could be at six but the sun was just going down when we saw the indians approaching by that time more than settlers had been butchered or driven from their homes and the war which was to over an extent of miles long and 60 broad and alarm bait 0 ed in all its fierceness the band which now approached numbered ani sixteen warriors and as soon t abey saw our strength they fired a few shots at long and paa ed on to the cast at dark we an fn the fort str ranged the goods and provisions to give us all the cootu possible nod by and by turned in to sleep while one inan was left on watch this mas miller lie was to watch until midnight and then cal I 1 one of ilie young men but at I 1 I 1 he quietly aroused the garrison and the news that a lar e dumb L r of indians had arrived give wr e oc arcely awake before made aware that our fort w as being closest inspected by spies abea vre ad pulled the plugs from the loophole a we saw and heard them moving about in large numbers by and by we beard a number of them on the roof they were probably invests in vesti gating to see how to burn us out at a signal from miller we tuck up our guns carefully poked the muzzles through the loopholes in the planks and at another signal all fired we killed or wounded two indians by the volley and the others hastily departed half an hour later two or three of the reds crept up to the barricade in front of our door with arms full of light wood and started a fire the posts were only half and till that afternoon I 1 had kept them wet with water they charred a little un der the flames but the fire would not take hold from the number of indians we could see and to judge by the yells of those out if sight our enemies numbered fit ty after trying us with fire they dr ew off to wait for daylight day fight and the epst of them probably went to dileep aheu daylight came our anemi ea were re by a band of twelve and these newcomers brought with them two settlers teams and wagons and three prison ers two of the prisoners a man and a woman were killed soon after coming in I 1 knew the man ile lived about eight miles away and had frequently called at our house the third prisoner was a settler none of us knew hour after daylight the indians sent him forward with a waite flag to demand our surrender he came up within thirty feet of our barri cade and then baited and told us what be had been commanded to do A dozen er more indians had their rifles on him ready to shoot in case he attempted to play them false he was a big powerful fel low and I 1 never saw such fand anxiety in a human countenance in a voice load enough for the in dearis to avar be demanded our bur render but in whispers he warned us not to as every one of us w ld b is butchered miller cepl i ed to him filin a loophole telling hin to go back to the indians bud ask their best terms when he returned be was to come as close as possible and at a signal he was to spring for ward and the door would be P U fur him he was a pretty fel low in spite cfall his sufferings he returned to the con bulted for a few minutes and bon he came back to us be approached within twenty five feet before they shouted to him to halt then he told us that we would be permitted to take one of the teams and cleaye the country that the indians all loved us that all they wanted was their land we had our guns ready to cover him and I 1 saw him draw a long breath just before the signal came As a whistle one odthe men pulled open the door and at the same instant the stranger made a spring for shelter it was a veritable spring for life the indiana fired at him but too late and be pitched in among wi without a scratch then began a siege which lasted nine days and in which over forty indians opre killed or wounded they gathered in the quarry as expected and miller exploded the torpedo and killed four and badly wounded a dozen they tried every possible way to burn us out and on tb E 0 occasions while they were congre gated together miller an other of his killed several of them five or six di Terent times they displayed a flag of truce and sought to coax or threaten us into surrender but miller was wite beough to refuse to trust them rom first to last they fired about bullets at our fort over a bun i of which lodged in th adoor but none of us was woun led the besieging party lea than thirty anve and one dai the number was over on the day troops came and drave the fiends ox and it was only then we learned of the wile arvad de not a house nor barn had been left standing for ailep and miles in any direction cropf had beebi destroyed stock shot down and settlers butchered or driven off all over a the state we had been the only pries of the bowra to make a fight and by our standing a siege we depta large foree of the savages froin go fog against the settlers I 1 |