Trials of The
Prisoners
The Military Commission, which
organized, as stated in the order creating it, "to try
summarily the mulatto, mixed bloods, and Indians engaged
in Sioux raids and massacres," consisted at first of
Colonel Crooks, Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, Captains
Grant and Bailey, and Lieutenant Olin. The writer
acted as a recorder.
After
twenty-nine cases were disposed of, Major Bradley was
substituted for Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, who was
absent on other duty.
The
prisoners were arraigned upon written charges
specifying the criminating acts. These charges
were signed by Colonel Sibley or his adjutant general,
and were, with but few deceptions, based upon
information furnished by the Rev. S.R. Riggs. He
obtained it by assembling the half breeds; and others
possessed of means of knowledge, in a tent, and
interrogating them concerning suspected parties.
The names of the witnesses were appended to the
charge. He was, in effect, the grand jury of the
court. His long residence in the country, and
extensive acquaintance with the Indians, he knowledge
of the character and habits of most of them, enabling
him to tell almost with certainty what Indians would
be implicated and what ones not, either from their
disposition or their relatives being engaged, and his
familiarity with their language, eminently qualified
him for the position.
Major
Forbes of General Sibley's staff, a trader of long
standing among the Indians, acted as provost marshall,
and Antoine Frenier as interpreter. The charges
were first read to the accused, and, unless he
admitted them, evidence on oath introduced.
Godfrey
was the first person tried. The following was
the charge and specifications, which will serve as a
sample of the others:
"Charge
and Specifications against O-ta-kle, or Godfrey, a
colored man connected with the Sioux tribe of
Indians.
"Charge. MURDER
"Specification 1st. In this, that the said
O-ta-kle, or Godfrey, a colored man, did, at or
near New Ulm, Minnesota, on or about the 19th day of
August, 1862, join in a war party of the Sioux tribe of
Indians against the citizens of the United States, and
did with his own hand murder seven white men, women, and
children (more or less), peaceable citizens of the
United States.
"Specification
2d. In this, that the said O-ta-kle, or
Godfrey, a colored man, did, at various times and
places between the 19th of August 1862, and the 28th
day of September, 1862, join and participate in the
murders and massacre committed by the Sioux Indians on
the Minnesota frontier. By order of
"COL H.
H. SIBLEY, Com. Mil. Expedition.
"S.H.
Fowler, *Lt. Col. State Militia, A.A.A.G.
"Witnesses:
Mary Woodbury, David Faribault, Sen., Mary Swan,
Bernard la Batte."
On being
asked whether he was guilty or not guilty, he made a
statement similar to the one heretofore detailed.
Mary
Woodbury testified that she saw him two or three days
after the outbreak at Little Crow's village with a
breech-clout on, and his legs and face painted for a
war party, and that he started with one for New Ulm;
that he appeared very happy and contented with the
Indians; was whooping around and yelling, and
apparently as fierce as any of them. When they
came back there was a Wahpeton, named Hunka, who told
witness that the negro was the bravest of all; that
he led them into a house and clubbed the
inmates with a hatchet; and that she was standing in
the prisoner's tent door, and heard the Indians ask
him how many he had killed, and he said only seven;
and that she saw him, once when he started off, have a
gun, a knife, and a hatchet.
Mary
Swan and Mattie Williams testified that when the war
party took them captive, though the prisoner was not
armed, he appeared to be as much in favor of the
outrages as any of the Indians, and made no intimation
to the contrary in a conversation the witnesses had
with him.
La Batte
knew nothing about him.
David
Faribault, Sen., a half-breed, testified as to his
boasting of killing seven with a tomahawk, and some
more---children; but these, he said, didn't amount to
any thing, and he wouldn't count them. Witness
saw him at the fort and at New Ulm, fighting and
acting like the Indians; and he never told him
(Faribault) that he was forced into outbreak.
Godfrey,
it will be recollected, stated, before witnesses were
called, that he was at the fort, New Ulm, Birch
Coolie, and Wood Lake, but was compelled to go; and
that he had struck a man with the back of a hatchet in
a house where a number were killed, and that he spoke
of killing in the Indian acceptation of the term, as
before explained, and boasted of the act in order to
keep the good will of the Indians.
He had
such an honest look, and spoke with such a truthful
tone, that the court, though prejudiced against him in
the beginning, were now unanimously inclined to
believe that there were possibilities as to his
sincerity. His language was broken, and he
communicated his ideas with some little
difficulty. This was an advantage in his favor,
for it interested the sympathetic attention of the
listener, and it was a pleasure to listen to his
hesitating speech. His voice was one of the
softest that I ever listened to.
The
court held his case open for a long time, and while
the other trials were progressing, asked every person
who was brought in about him, but could find no person
who saw him kill any one, although the Indians were
indignant at him for having disclosed evidence against
a number of them, and would be desirous of finding
such testimony.
Finally,
the court found him not guilty of the first
specification, and sentenced him to be hung,
accompanying the sentence, however, by a
recommendation of a commutation of punishment to
imprisonment for ten years. It was afterward
granted by the President.
The
trials were elaborately conducted until the commission
became acquainted with the details of the different
outrages and battles, and then, the only point being
the connection of the prisoner with them, five minutes
would dispose of a case.
If
witnesses testified, or the prisoner admitted, that he
was a participant, sufficient was established.
As many as forty were sometimes tried in a day.
Those convicted of plundering were condemned to
imprisonment; those engaged in individual massacres
and in battles, to death.
If you
think that participation in battles did not justify
such a sentence, please to reflect that any judicial
tribunal in the state would have been compelled to
pass it, and that the retaliatory laws of war, as
recognized by all civilized nations, and also the code
of the Indian, which takes life for life, justified
it. The battles were not ordinary battles.
The attacks upon New Ulm were directed against a
village filled with frightened fugitives from the
surrounding neighborhood, and the place was defended
by civilians, hastily and indifferently armed,
and were accompanied by the wanton burning of a large
portion of the town, and by the slaughter of horses
and cattle, and the destruction of all property which
came within the power of the enemy. A number of
persons from the country, who endeavored, while the
attack was progressing, to make their way into the
town, where alone was possible safety, were shot down
and horribly mutilated. The attacks upon the
forts were also accompanied by similar acts.
The
battle of Birch Coolie commenced with an attack, just
before daylight, upon a small part of soldiers and
civilians who had been engaged in the burial of the
dead at the Red-Wood Agency, by over three hundred
Indians, who started for the purpose of burning the
towns of New Ulm, Mankato, and St. Peter, and
butchering the inhabitants. The war party to the
Big Woods marched a distance of eighty miles on a
general raid through the settlements. The
murdered and mutilated a number of unarmed fugitives,
burned many houses, stole a large quantity of horses
and cattle, killed a portion of Captain Strout's
company at Acton, and partially destroyed the town of
Hutchinson. On all these occasions, as they were
attacked by largely superior numbers, the whites would
have surrendered could "quarter" have been
expected. It was with the utmost resistance and
despair that the defense of Fort Ridgely and New Ulm
was sustained after the burning of all the
outbuildings, and an attempt to set fire to the fort
itself. The timely arrival of re-enforcements
alone saved the part at Birch Coolie from total
massacre. One hundred and four bullet-holes
through a single tent, the slaughter of over ninety
horses, and the loss of half the party in killed and
wounded, indicate the peril of their situation.
The purpose of these Indians, as frequently stated,
was to sweep the country as far as St. Paul with the
tomahawk and with fire, giving the men "no
quarter;" and these battles were but part of the
general design, and rendered the acts of one the acts
of all. The fact that those engaged in such a
mode of warfare acted together in organized bands, and
directed their attempts against a large number of
whites, was not a matter of mitigation, but of
aggravation, arising from increased ability and
opportunity to accomplish their purpose.
Besides,
most of these Indians must also have been engaged in
individual massacres and outrages. Those who
attacked New Ulm on the second day after the outbreak,
and Fort Ridgely on the third day, were undoubtedly
parties who had scattered through the neighborhood in
small marauding bands the day before. The extent
of the outrages, occurring almost simultaneously over
a frontier of two hundred miles in length and reaching
far into the interior, and whereby nearly one thousand
people perished, can not be accounted for without
their participation. The fact that they were Indians,
intensely hating the whites, and possessed of the
inclinations and revengeful impulses of Indians,
and educated to the propriety of the indiscriminate
butchery of their opponents, would raise the moral
certainty that, as soon as the first murders were
committed, all the young men were impelled by the
sight of blood and plunder--- by the contagion of
example, and the hopes entertained of success--- to
become participants in the same class of acts.
In at
least two thirds of the cases the prisoners admitted
that they fired, but in most instances insisted that
it was only two or three shots, and that no one was
killed; about as valid an excuse as one of them
offered who was possessed of an irresistible impulse
to accumulate property, that a horse which he took was
only a very little one, and that a pair of oxen which
he captured was for his wife, who wanted a pair.
In regard to the third who did not admit that they
fired, their reasons for not doing so were
remarkable, and assumed a different shape every
day. One day all the elderly men, who were in
the vigor of manly strength, said their hair was too
gray to go into battle; and the young men, aged from
eighteen to twenty-five, insisted that they were too
young, and their hearts too weak to face fire.
The next day would develop the fact that great was the
number and terrible the condition of those who were
writhing in agony with the bellyache on the top of a
big hill. A small army avowed that they had
crept under a wonderfully capacious stone (Which
nobody but themselves ever saw) at the battles of the
fort, and did not emerge therefrom during the fights;
and a sufficiency for two small armies stoutly called
on the Great Spirit (Wakan-tonka), and the heavens and
the earth (patting the latter emphatically with the
hand), to witness that they were of a temper so
phlegmatic, a disposition so unsocial, and an appetite
so voracious and greedy, that, during the road of each
of the battles at the fort, New Ulm, Birch Coolie, and
Wood Lake, they were alone, within bullet-shot,
roasting and eating corn and beef all day! A
fiery-looking warrior wished the commission to believe
that he felt so bad at the fort to see the Indians
fire on the whites, that he immediately laid down
there and went to sleep, and did not awake until the
battle was over! Several of the worst
characters, who had been in all the battles, after
they had confessed the whole thing, wound up by saying
that they were members of the Church!
One
young chap, aged about nineteen, said that he used
always to attend divine worship at Little Crow's
village below St. Paul, and that he never did any
thing bad in his life except to run after a chicken at
Mendota a long time ago, and that he didn't catch
it. The evidence disclosed the fact that this
pious youth had been an active participant in some of
the worst massacres on Beaver Creek.
All ages
were represented, from boyish fifteen up to old men
scarcely able to walk or speak, who were "fifty years
old," to use the expression of one, "a long time ago,
and then they stopped counting." Two of these
old gentlemen were once brought in together, who were
direct opposites in physiognomy--the face of one
running all to nose, which terminated sharply, giving
him the pointed expression, while that of the other
was perfectly flat, and about two feet broad, and
fully illustrated (which I always considered a fable)
the fact of persons being in existence who couldn't
open or shut their eyes and mouths at the same
moment. This specimen was apparently asleep the
whole time, with his lower jaw down; and closed eyes
being his normal condition, he had to be punched up
every two minutes, when the president of the
commission was interrogating him, as he wished to look
in his eyes to judge if he was telling the truth.
"Wake
him up! stir him up!" was the continual
injunction to the interpreter. This lively
little proceeding kept the old gentleman's face in
continued action, eyes and mouth alternately opening
and shutting with a jerk. If he was simply
told to open his eyes, the operation was
slow. The lids peeled up like those of some
stupid noxious bird gorged with carrion, and would
shut again before they were fairly open, the mouth
following suit pari passu. Nothing was
proved against him, and the president said, in a loud
voice, "Lead him out." The startled tones
awakened him, but the eyes shut again, and they led
him away wrapped in profound slumber.
Another
equally antiquated specimen, but by no means terrific
in appearance, and not of the smallest account to
himself or any body else---sore eyed, and of lymphatic
temperament---astonished the court by stating that he
was the sole cause of the Sioux difficulty; that he
was living near
New Ulm upon the charity of the whites; that the
whites were, in fact, lavishly kind to him, and to
such an extent that the other Indians were jealous of
him, and became so excited thereby that they brought
on the war.
Two
semi-idiots were tried. Nothing was elicited
concerning one of them except that he was called
"white man," and was picked up when an infant alone on the
prairies. He claimed to be a white, but looked
like a "Red" at that. The other had wit enough
to kill a white child, and, unfortunately for him, the
plea of idiocy was not recognized by the commission.
An
innocent-looking youth was tried was tried on a charge
of robbery. The following examination took
place:
Ques.
"What
goods, if any, did you take from Forbe's store?"
Ans. "Some blankets."
Q.
Any
thing else?"
A.
Yes;
some calico and cloth."
Q.
Any
thing else?"
A.
Yes;
some powder, and some lead, and some paint, and some
beads."
Q
Any
thing else?"
A.
Yes;
some flour, and some pork, and some coffee, and some
rice, and some sugar, and some beans, and some tin
cups, and some raisins, and some twine, and some
fish-hooks, and some needles, and some thread."
Q. "Was you going to set up a
grocery store on your own account?"
A.
A
stupid and inquiring look from the Indian, but no
words.
Ten
years in prison was given him to meditate on his
reply.
Let it
not be supposed, because facetiae were sometimes
indulged in, that the proceedings were lightly
conducted. The trial of several hundred persons
for nearly the same class of acts became very
monotonous. The gravest judge, unless entirely
destitute of the juices of humor, sometimes a while
"Unbends his rugged
front
And deigns a transient
smile."
Many
cases there were where there was occasion enough for
display of solemn sorrow.
The most
repulsive-looking prisoner was Cut-nose, some of whose
acts have been detailed by Samuel Brown. He was
the foremost man in many of the massacres. The
first and second days of the outbreak he devoted his
attention particularly to the Beaver Creek settlement,
and to the fugitives on that side of the river.
I will give a single additional instance of the
atrocity of this wretch and his companions. A
part of settlers were gathered together for flight
when the savages approached; the defenseless, helpless
women and children, huddled together in the wagons,
bending down their heads, and drawing over them still
closer their shawls. Cut-nose, while two others held
the horses, leaped into a wagon that contained eleven,
mostly children, and deliberately, in cold blood,
tomahawked them all---cleft open the head of each,
while the others, stupefied with horror, powerless
with fright, as they heard the heavy dull blows crash
and tear through flesh and bones, awaited their
turn. Taking an infant from its mother's arms,
before her eyes, with a bolt from one of the wagons
they riveted it through its body to the fence and left
it there to die, writhing in agony. After
holding for a while the mother before this agonizing
spectacle, they chopped off her arms and legs, and
left her to bleed to death. Thus they butchered
twenty-five within a quarter of an acre. Kicking
the bodies out of the wagons, they filled them with
plunder from the burning houses, and, sending them
back, pushed on for other adventures.
Many of
those engaged in the Patville murder were tried.
Patville started from Jo. Reynolds's place, just above
Red-Wood, for New Ulm, on the morning of the outbreak,
with three young ladies and two other men, and on the
way they were attacked by the Indians, as detailed by
Godfrey. Patville was killed near the wagon, and
the other men at the edge of the woods, while trying
to escape. One of the girls was wounded, and all
three taken prisoners and brought to Red-Wood.
Here the three were abused by the Indians; one, a girl
of fourteen, by seventeen of the wretches, and the
wounded young lady to such and extent that she died
that night. Jo. Campbell ventured to place her
in a grave, but was told that if he did so, or for any
of the other bodies which were lying exposed, his life
should pay the forfeit. The two other young
ladies were reclaimed at Camp Release, and sent to
their friends, after suffering indignities worse than
death, and which humanity shudders to name.
Others
were tried who belonged to a band of eight that
separated themselves from the main body which attacked
the fort in the second battle, and went toward St.
Peter's burning the church, the Swan Lake House, and
other buildings, and murdering and plundering. They attacked one party, killed
all the men, and them one of them caught hold of a
young girl to take her as his property, when the
mother resisted and endeavored to pull her away.
The Indians then shot the mother dead, and wounded the
girl, who fell upon the ground apparently
lifeless. An Indian said she was not dead, and
told her first captor to raise her clothes, which he
attempted to do. Modesty, strong in death,
revived the girl, and she attempted to prevent it, but
as she did so the other raised his tomahawk and dashed
out her brains---a blessed fate in comparison with
that which was otherwise designed.
An old
man, shriveled to a mummy, one of the criers of the
Indian camp, was also tried, and two little boys
testified against him.
One of
them, a German, and remarkably intelligent for his
years, picked him out from many others at Camp
Release, and had him arrested, and dogged him till he
was placed in jail, and when he was led forth to be
tried, with the eye and fierceness of a hawk, and as
if he feared every instant that he would escape
justice.
These
boys belonged to a large party, who came from above
Beaver Creek to within a few miles of the fort, where
the Indians met them, and said if they would go back
with them to where they came from and give up their
teams, they should not be harmed. When they were
some distance from the fort, they fired into the
party, and killed one man and a number of women, and
took the remainder prisoners. The old wretch was
made to stand up, looking cold and impassable, and as
stolid as a stone, and the boys, likewise standing,
placed opposite. The stood gazing at each other
for a moment, when one of the boys said, "I saw that
Indian shoot a man while he was on his knees at
prayer;" and the other boy said, "I saw him
shoot my mother."
Another
was recognized by Mrs. Hunter as the Indian who had
shot her husband, and then took out his knife and
offered to cut his throat in her presence, but finally
desisted, and carried her away into captivity . . . .
The
female sex was represented in the person of one squaw,
who, it was charged, had killed two children.
The only evidence to be obtained against her was a
camp rumor to that effect among the Indians, so she
was discharged. Her arrest had one good effect,
as she admitted she had taken some silver spoons
across the river, and ninety dollars in golf, which
she had turned over to an Indian, who, being
questioned concerning it, admitted the fact, and
delivered the money over to the general.
But the
greatest institution of the commission, and the
observed of all observers, was the negro
Godfrey. He was the means of bringing to justice
a large number of of the savages, in every instance by
two his testimony being substantiated by the
subsequent admissions of the Indians themselves.
His observation and memory were remarkable. Not
the least thing had escaped his eye or ear. Such
an Indian had a double barreled gun, another a
single barreled, another a long one, another a short
one, another a lance, and another one nothing at
all. One denied that he was at the fort.
Godfrey saw him there preparing his sons for battle,
and recollected that he painted the face of one red,
and drew a streak of green over his eyes.
Another denied that he had made a certain statement to
Godfrey which he testified to. "What!" said
Godfrey, "don't you recollect you said it when you had
your hand upon my wagon and your foot resting on the
wheel." To a boy whom he charged with admitting
that he had killed a child by striking it with his war
spear over the head, and who denied it, he said,
"Don't you remember showing me the spear was broken,
and saying that you had broken it in striking the
child?" To another, who said he had a lame arm
at New Ulm, and couldn't fire a gun, and had such a
bad gun that he could not have fired if he desired, he
replied, "You say you could not fire, and had a bad
gun. Why don't you tell the court the
truth? I saw you go and take the gun of an
Indian who was killed, and fire two shots; and then
you made me reload it, and then you fired again."
I might
enumerate numberless instances of this kind, in which
his assumed recollection would cause his truthfulness
to be doubted, if he had not been fully
substantiated. It was a study to watch him, as
he sat in court, scanning the face of every culprit
who came in with they eye of a cat about to
spring. His sense of the ridiculous, and evident
appreciation of the gravity which should accompany the
statement of an important truth, was strongly
demonstrated. When a prisoner would state, in
answer to the question of "Guilty or not guilty," that
he was innocent, and Godfrey knew that he was guilty,
he would drop his head upon his breast, and convulse
with a fit of musical laughter; and when the court
said, "Godfrey, talk to him," he would
straighten up, his countenance would become calm, and
in a deliberate tone, would soon force the Indian, by
a series of questions in his own language, into an
admission of the truth. He seemed a "providence"
specially designed as an instrument of justice.
The
number of prisoners tried was over four hundred.
Of these three hundred and three were sentenced to
death, eighteen to imprisonment. Most of those
acquitted were Upper Indians. There was a
testimony that all these left their homes and went
upon war parties, but the particular acts could not be
shown, and therefore not convicted. Some people
have thought that the haste with which the accused
were tried must have prevented any accuracy as to the
ascertainment of their complicity. I have
already shown that the point to be investigated being
a very simple one, viz., presence and participation in
battles and massacres which had before been proven,
and many of the prisoners confessing the fact, each
case need only occupy a few moments. It was
completed when you asked him if he was in the battles
of New Ulm and the fort, or either, and fired at the
whites, and he said "yes." The officers
composing the court were well known to the community
as respectable and humane gentlemen. They
resided a long distance from the scene of the
massacres, and had no property destroyed or relatives
slain. They were all men of more than average
intelligence, and one of them (Major Bradley) was not
only a gallant soldier, but had long been rated among
the first lawyers of the state. Before entering
upon the trials they were solemnly sworn to a fair and
impartial discharge of their duties. It would
scarcely be supposed that such men as these, after
such an oath, would take away human life without the
accused were guilty.
The fact
that in many instances the punishment of imprisonment
was graduated from one to ten years, and that in
nearly one quarter of the cases the accused were
acquitted, argues any thing but inattention to
testimony and blind condemnation.
Mr.
Riggs, their missionary, who furnished the grounds for
the charges, had free intercourse with them, and as he
was well known to all of them personally or by
reputation for his friendship and sympathy, those who
were innocent would be likely, of their own
accord, to tell him of the fact, and those who were
members of his church, or those whose characters were
good, specially interrogated by him as to their guilt;
and a gentlemen of such kind impulses, and who took
such a deep interest in the welfare, would not have
hesitated to have had the defensive or excusatory fact
brought to the attention of the court, and he did
not. One instance was that of Robert Hopkins, a
civilized Indian, and a member of the Church. He
helped to save the life of Dr. Williamson and party,
and when he was tried Mr. Riggs had this adduced in
his favor.
Where so
many were engaged in the raids, the fact of any one
staying at home would be a circumstance much more
marked than that of going---a circumstance quickly
noticed, and calculated to impress the memory, and
therefore easily proven.
It is
the height of improbability to believe that any Indian
would be accused, especially by Mr. Riggs, and the
subject of his guilt or innocence canvassed among the
half-breed witnesses who had been present through the
whole affair, and be conducted by Provost Marshal
Forbes, who understood the Indian language and was
well acquainted with them, a distance of a quarter of
a mile from the prison to the court, without the fact
of innocence, if it existed, being noticed and called
to the attention of the court, and in no instance was
there a suggestion made of any defensive testimony but
what the court had it produced, and gave to it due
weight and consideration.
No
one was sentenced to death for the mere robbery
of good, and not to exceed half a dozen for mere
presence in a battle, although the prisoner had gone
many miles to it, or on a general raid against the
settlements. It was required that it should be
proven by the testimony of witnesses, unless the
prisoner admitted the fact, that he had fired in the
battles, or brought ammunition, or acted as commissary
in supplying provisions to the combatants, or
committed some separate murder.
Where
defensive testimony was offered, the defendant's case
generally appeared worse against him. The reader
will recollect the instances where the half-breed
Milard sent for Baptiste Campbell, and the deserter
from the Renville Rangers for his Indian uncles.
Robert Hopkins's case, too, was unfortunate. He
had helped Dr. Williamson to escape, but he fired in
battles; and David Faribault swore that while he was
between New Ulm and Red-Wood he heard a gun fired near
a house a short distance off, and shortly afterward
Hopkins and another Indian approached, and one of them
(I think Hopkins) said that he (Hopkins) had first
shot a white man at that house, and that there was
another white man ran up stairs, and that Hopkins
wanted the other Indian to follow, but he dared not;
that Hopkins then proposed that they should set fire
to the house, but the Indian refused to do so, as he
said the white man might have a gun, and shoot one of
them from the window.
Some
have criticised the action of the court because of the
great number of the condemned. Great also was
the number of crimes of which they were accused . . .
.
Execution
(from
the St. Paul Pioneer Press account of the
execution)
"On
Wednesday [Dec. 24, 1862] each Indian set apart for
execution was permitted to send for two or three of his
relatives or friends confined in the same prison for the
purpose of bidding them a final adieu, and to carry such
messages to absent relatives as each person might be
disposed to send. Major Brown was present during
the interviews, and describes them as very sad and
affecting. Each Indian had some word to send to
his parents or family. When speaking of their
wives and children almost every one was affected to
tears.
"Good
counsel was sent to the children. They were in
many cases exhorted to an adoption of Christianity and
the life of good feeling toward the whites. Most
of them spoke confidently of their hopes of salvation.
. . .
"There
is a ruling passion with many Indians, and Tazoo could
not refrain from its enjoyment even in this sad hour
Ta-ti-mi-ma was sending word to his relatives not to
mourn for his loss. He said he was old, and
could not hope to live long under any circumstances,
and his execution would not shorten his days a great
deal, and dying as he did, innocent of any white man's
blood, he hoped would give him a better chance to be
saved; therefore he hoped his friends would consider
his death but as a removal from this to a better
world. 'I have every hope,' said he, 'of going
direct to the abode of the Great Spirit, where I shall
always be happy.' This last remark reached the
ears of Tazoo, who was also speaking to his friends,
and he elaborated upon it in this wise: 'Yes, tell our
friends that we are being removed from this world over
the same path they must shortly travel. We go
first, but many of our friends may follow us in a very
short time. I expect to go direct to the abode
of the Great Spirit, and to be happy when I get there;
but we are told that the road is long and the distance
great; therefore, as I am slow in all my movements, it
will probably take a long time to reach the end
of the journey, and I should not be surprised if
some of the young, active men we will leave behind us
will pass me on the road before I reach the place of
my destination.
"In
shaking hands with Red Iron and Akipa, Tazoo
said: 'Friends, last summer you were opposed to
us. You were living in continual apprehension of
an attack from those who were determined to
exterminate the whites. Yourselves and families
were subjected to many taunts, insults, and
threats. Still you stood firm in our friendship
for the whites and continually counseled the Indians
to abandon their raid against the whites. Your
course was condemned at the time, but now you see your
wisdom. You were right when you said the whites
could not be exterminated, and the attempt indicated
folly; you and your families were prisoners, and the
lives of all in danger. Today you are here at
liberty, assisting in feeding an guarding us, and
thirty-nine men will die in two days because they did
not follow your example and advice.'
"Several
of the prisoners were completely overcome during the
leave-taking, and were compelled to abandon
conversation. Others again (and Tazoo was one)
affected to disregard the dangers of their position,
and laughed and joked apparently as unconcerned as if
they were sitting around a camp-fire in perfect
freedom.
"On
Thursday, the women who were employed as cooks for the
prisoners, all of whom had relations among the
condemned, were admitted to the prison. This
interview was less sad, but still interesting.
Locks of hair, blankets, coats, and almost every other
article in possession of the prisoners, were given in
trust for some relative or friend who had been
forgotten or overlooked during the interview of the
previous day. The idea of allowing women to
witness their weakness is repugnant to an Indian, and
will account for this. The messages were
principally advice to their friends to bear themselves
with fortitude and refrain from great mourning.
The confidence of many in their salvation was again
reiterated.
"Late on
Thursday night, in company with Lieutenant Colonel
Marshall, the reporter visited the building occupied
by the doomed Indians. They were quartered on
the ground floor of the three-story stone building
erected by the late General Leech.
"They
were all fastened to the floor by chains, two by
two. Some were sitting up, smoking and
conversing, while others were reclining, covered with
blankets and apparently asleep. The three
half-breeds and one or two others, only, were dressed
in citizens' clothes. The rest all wore the
breech-clout, leggins, and blankets, and not a few
were adorned with paint. The majority of them
were young men, though several were quite old and gray
-headed, ranging perhaps toward seventy. One was
quite a youth, not over sixteen. They all
appeared cheerful and contented, and scarcely to
reflect on the certain doom which awaited them.
To the gazers, the recollection of how short a time
since they had been engaged in the diabolical work of
murdering indiscriminately both old and young sparing
neither sex nor condition, sent a thrill of horror
through the veins. Now they were perfectly
harmless, and looked as innocent as children.
They smiled at your entrance, and held out their hands
to be shaken, which yet appeared to be gory with the
blood of babes. Oh treachery, thy name is
Dakota.
"Father
Ravoux spent the whole night among the doomed ones,
talking with them concerning their fate, and
endeavoring to impress upon them a serious view of the
subject. He met with some success, and during
the night several were baptized, and received the
communion of the Church.
"At
daylight the reporter was there again. That good
man, Father Ravoux, was still with them; also Rev. Dr.
Williamson; and whenever wither of these worthy men
addressed them, they were listened to with marked
attention. The doomed ones wished it to be known
among their friends, and particularly their wives and
children, how cheerful and happy they all had died,
exhibiting no fear of this dread event. To the
skeptical it appeared not as an evidence of Christian
faith, but as a steadfast adherence to their heathen
superstitions.
"They
shook hands with the officers who came in among them,
bidding them good-by as if they were going on a long
and pleasant journey. They had added some fresh
streaks of vermilion and ultramarine to their
countenances, as their fancy suggested, evidently
intending to fix themselves off as gay as possible for
the coming exhibition. They commenced singing
their death-song, Tazoo leading, and nearly all
joining. It was wonderfully exciting.
"At half
past seven all persons were excluded from the room
except those necessary to help prepare the prisoners
for their doom. Under the superintendence of
Major Brown and Captain Redfield, their irons were
knocked off, and one by one were tied by cords, their
elbows being pinioned behind and the wrists in front,
but about six inches apart. This operation
occupied till about nine-o'clock. In the mean
time the scene was much enlivened by their songs and
conversation, keeping up the most cheerful
appearance. As they were being pinioned, they
went round the room shaking hands with the soldiers
and reporters, bidding them 'good-by,' etc.
White Dog requested not to be tied, and said that he
could keep his hands down; but of course his request
could not be complied with. . . .
After all were properly fastened, they stood up in a
row around the room, and another exciting death-song
was sung. They then sat down very quietly and
commenced smoking again. Father Ravoux came in,
and after addressing them a few moments, knelt in
prayer, reading from a Prayer-book in the Dakota
language, which a portion of the condemned repeated
after him. During this ceremony nearly all paid
the most strict attention, and several were affected
even to tears. . . . The caps were then put upon
their heads. These were made of white muslin
taken from the Indians when their camps were captured,
and which had formed part of the spoils they had taken
from the murdered traders. They were made long,
and looked like a meal sack, but, being rolled up,
only came down to the forehead, and allowed their
painted faces yet to be seen.
"They
received these evidences of their near approach to
death with evident dislike. When it had been
adjusted on one or two, they looked around on the
others who had not yet received it with an appearance
of shame. Chains and cords had not moved
them---their wear was not considered
dishonorable---but this covering of the head with a
white cap was humiliating. There was no more
singing, and but little conversation and smoking
now. All sat around the room, most of them in a
crouched position, awaiting their doom in silence, or
listening to the remarks of Father Ravoux, who still
addressed them. Once in a while they brought
their small looking-glasses before their faces to see
that their countenances yet preserved the proper
modicum of paint. The three half-breeds were the
most affected, and their dejection of countenance was
truly pitiful to behold.
"At
precisely ten o'clock the condemned were marshaled in
a procession and, headed by Captain Redfield, marched
out into the street, and directly across through files
of soldiers to the scaffold, which had been erected in
front, and were delivered to the officer of the day,
Captain Burt. They went eagerly and cheerfully,
even crowding and jostling each other to be ahead,
just like a lot of hungry boarders rushing to dinner
in a hotel. The soldiers who were on guard in
their quarters stacked arms and followed them, and
they in turn, were followed by the clergy, reporters,
etc.
"As they
commenced the ascent of the scaffold the death song
was again startled, and when they had all got up, the
noise they made was truly hideous. It seemed as
if Pandemonium had broken loose. It had a
wonderful effect in keeping up their courage.
One young fellow, who had been given a cigar by one of
the reporters just before marching from their
quarters, was smoking it on the stand, puffing away
very coolly during the intervals of the hideous
'Hi-yi-yi,' 'Hi-yi-yi,' and even after the cap
was drawn over his face he managed to get it up over
his mouth and smoke. Another was smoking his
pipe. The noose having been promptly adjusted
over the necks of each by Captain Libby, all was ready
for the fatal signal.
"The
solemnity of the scene was here disturbed by an
incident which, if it were not intensely disgusting,
might be cited as a remarkable evidence of the
contempt of death which is the traditional
characteristic of the Indian. One of the
Indians, in the rhapsody of his death-song, conceived
an insult to the spectators which it required an
Indian to conceive, and a dirty dog of an Indian to
execute.
"The
refrain of his song was to the effect that if a body
was found near New Ulm with his head cut off, and
placed in a certain indelicate part of the body, he
did it. 'It is I,' he sung, 'it is I;' and
suited the action to the word by an indecent exposure
of his person, in hideous mockery of the triumph of
that justice whose sword was already falling on his
head.
"The
scene at this juncture was one of awful
interest. A painful and breathless suspense held
the vast crowd, which had assembled from all quarters
to witness the execution.
"Three
slow, measured, and distinct beats on the drum by
Major Brown, who had been announced as signal officer,
and the rope was cut by Mr. Duly (the same who killed
Lean Bear, and whose family were attacked)---the
scaffold fell, and thirty-seven lifeless bodies were
left dangling between heaven and earth. One of
the ropes was broken, and the body of Rattling Runner
fell to the ground. The neck had probably been
broken, as but little signs of life were observed; but
he was immediately hung up again. While the
signal-beat was being given, numbers were seen to
clasp the hands of their neighbors, which in several
instances continued to be clasped till the bodies were
cut down.
"As the
platform fell, there was one, not loud, but prolonged
cheer from the soldiery and citizens who were
spectators, and then all were quiet and earnest
witnesses of the scene. For so many, there was
but little suffering; the necks of all, or nearly all,
were evidently dislocated by the fall, and the after
struggling was slight. The scaffold fell at a
quarter past ten o'clock, and in twenty minutes the
bodies had all been examined by Surgeons Le
Boutillier, Sheardown, Finch, Clark, and others, and
life pronounced extinct.
"The
bodies were then cut down, placed in four army wagons,
and, attended by Company K as a burial-party, and
under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Marshall, were
taken to the grave prepared for them among the willows
on the sand-bar nearly in front of the town.
They were all deposited in one grave, thirty feet in
length by twelve in width, and four feet deep, being
laid on the bottom in two rows with their feet
together, and their heads to the outside. They
were simply covered with their blankets, and the earth
thrown over them. The other condemned Indians
were kept close in the quarters, where they were
chained, and not permitted to witness the executions.
. . ."
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