war cry, and came up over the bluff whooping and yelling as only wild Indians can; but when their eyes caught sight of the fort, the trench around it, and armed men prepared to defend it, they stood for a moment dumbfounded. But relying upon their superior numbers, and remembering how the whites had so far everywhere fled before them, they commenced to put their preconcerted plan into execution.

This was to make a vigorous attack from the north, at which all the inhabitants were expected to retreat toward St. Paul, just as they did at Yellow Medicine. To make their victory more complete, about a third of their number were placed in ambush along the border of the grove that skirts the road to Glencoe all the way from the town to the Hutchinson hill. It was thought that while the victorious Indians were pressing the fugitives from behind and driving them like a flock of frightened sheep, those in ambuscade would pour in a deadly fire upon them, soon make clean work of it, and carry off, with little trouble or danger to themselves, an abundant harvest of scalps.

But the people here, as the Indians soon found, had no notion of retreating, and were determined to give them ball for ball. The Hutchinson Guards, without consulting Captain Strout, took the places previously assigned to them, Captain Harrington and his fifteen men on the west of the fort, Lieutenant Hopper and his men on the east, Pierce at the south, and Pendergast at the north. We were thus advancing upon the Indians in four different directions for the purpose of protecting the buildings and saving the cattle and horses, which were being stolen by dozens before our eyes, when Captain Strout, seeing what was going on and fearing for the safety of the fort, assumed command of the Hutchinson company and the entire fort, and issued a peremptory order that all 'should return within the stockade, which most of the men obeyed.

A few refused to recognize Strout's authority, notably Captain Harrington, Lieutenants Pierce and Hopper, Orderly Pendergast, Andrew Hopper, H. McEwen, W. Putnam, G. T. Belden, D. Sivright, William Cook, S. Dearborn, D. Cross, Amos James, H. Harrington, and perhaps one or two others; and these fought through the day each on his own hook, as indeed all did after a short time.

Lieutenant Hopper got near enough to an Indian near the

1

sawmill to make him "bite the dust;" and Cross was equally fortunate east of the fort. He and one lone Indian had a regular duel, firing three shots apiece, until the last shot of Cross killed his antagonist. In each case the other Indians near at hand caught up the body and carried it off the field.

Andrew A. Hopper, H. Harrington, G. T. Belden, and H. McEwen, fring from the chamber of Sumner's Hotel (the Hartman House), repelled the enemy from that direction.

Earlier in the day, S. Dearborn, Andrew Hopper, and W. W. Pendergast, went down nearly to the river, because many of the redskins were on the other bank, dividing their time between stealing horses and firing at the men on the south side. Taking their stations behind some logs that were scattered along the riverside, and behind ginseng frames that Sumner had piled up there, they popped away for half an hour. The effect was not known, as the grass was tall there, and as it was the custom of the Indians to fall whenever a shot was fired in their direction, whether hit or not. At any rate, they retired to a respectful distance, and the three sought other fields of usefulness.

Howard McEwen distinguished himself by going from the fort over to Sumner's barn, when the balls were flying thickest, and bringing back Sivright's double harness. When asked what he did that for, he said that the barn was likely to be burned, that they wanted Sivright's mules to take the women out with after the fight, and that this was the only harness he knew of that could be saved.

About noon when the fort was surrounded by a circle of fire from the smouldering buildings, the Sioux made a desperate effort to advance from the grove on the west to set fire to the buildings that remained between them and the stockade. Sumner then offered a pair of boots to every man who would go to his store, on the west side of Main street, and bring over a back-load of goods. Several of the younger men volunteered, and a dozen loads were safely stored in the fort within as many minutes. No one was hurt, but a bullet hit the pack which C. M. Horton was carrying, and was picked out of one of the boots that composed his load.

There were several "close calls" during the day's fight, but no one in or about the fort actually received any injury. The shooting was mostly at long range. Amos James was wounded

by a spent ball, splintering the stock of the gun which he held in his hand. Bullets perforated the buildings inside the stockade, as well as those that were occupied and defended; but on the part of the garrison it was a bloodless fight.

Some of the Indians who fought here were afterwards taken prisoners by General Sibley, and they acknowledged a loss of four killed and fifteen wounded at Hutchinson on that 4th of September.

RETREAT AND COUNCIL OF THE SIOUX.

About four o'clock in the afternoon the firing began to grow weaker, and it was soon noticed that the enemy were disappearing from the north, east, and south, and were retreating toward the west. Soon afterward a company of about forty soldiers were seen approaching from the direction of Glencoe. These were reinforcements that Ensign had succeeded in obtaining. He went first to Glencoe, but found so few men left there that none could be spared. He heard, however, that a small company of infantry and cavalry was stationed at lake Addie, twelve miles distant to the west. Proceeding at once to that place, he found the soldiers and prevailed on them to march to the relief of Hutchinson, and they were the men who arrived just after the close of the battle.

It is very probable that the Indians observed them long before they were seen from the garrison, and that they withdrew for that reason. They had already sent back a dozen teams, more or less, loaded with household goods and other valuables plundered from the houses which they burned in the morning.

Many persons who had come into the fort left their wagons and harnesses at home, and their horses and cattle on the prairie. The Indians gathered all the oxen and horses they could lay their hands to, and hitched them to the wagons which they found, so that there was no lack of teams to transport their plunder. They shot other horses and cattle that came within range, to the number of about a hundred.

On reaching Otter lake, they stopped and held a council of war. Some were in favor of resting there a few hours, and then, under cover of the night, to come back and take the people by surprise. They argued that our men, thinking they had fled and that our victory was complete, would set no pickets, that the fort

might be fired in a dozen places before the alarm would be sounded, and that amid the darkness and confusion they could make short work of massacring the entire garrison.

But wiser councils prevailed. The older men said that, as they failed to surprise us on the night before, so they would fail again; that the preparations we had made to receive them, the painstaking and skill manifested in the fortifications, and the good judgment shown in their location, where they could not come up from any direction without exposing themselves to almost certain death, all went to prove that the Hutchinson men were wary and cautious, and not to be easily caught napping. They thought the best way for them was to leave with the plunder they had obtained, and to try their luck somewhere else at surprises. So the proposed night attack was given up.

This matter of the consultation at Otter lake was learned from the Indian prisoners at Beaver Falls. In point of fact, there would have been no chance for a successful night attack. A double guard was kept up around the fort all night long; and, with the additional forty men and the extra ammunition they brought with them, the fort could have been held, and would have been held, against a thousand such assailants.

MURDER OF GERMAN SETTLERS WEST OF HUTCHINSON.

Two Germans, by the name of Bilke and Spaude, were at this time living on the farm where old Mr. Sitz now resides, a few miles up the river, in the town of Lynn. They refused to come into the fort, because, they said, they had always treated the Indians well, and the Indians were never forgetful of kindness shown them. They did not anticipate any injuries, and could not be made to see their danger.

But when, on the morning of the fight at Hutchinson, a few Indians came to their house while the families were at breakfast, and in a threatening manner demanded a meal, they began to think they would be safer in the fort. While their guests were causing their bread and meat and potatoes to disappear with marvelous rapidity, they hastened to yoke the oxen and hitch them to the wagon. This done, both families got aboard and started across the river on the way to the town. They had gone but a few rods, however, when the Indians came out of the house

and fired, wounding Spaude in the leg. He whipped up his team and set them to running at the top of their speed, the Indians yelling and pursuing. In this way they dashed down the bank into the river, and there Spaude was shot again, and fell into the middle of the stream, where the body was found the next day.

Bilke and the women and children now leaped from the wagon, and took refuge in the tall grass on the north side of the river, at this place six or seven feet high. While the Indians who were following them stopped to scalp Spaude, the others managed to conceal themselves from view and were not discovered. It has always been a matter of wonder that they succeeded in escaping as they did; but doubtless the Indians thought that they had guns with them, and that if any one should happen to stumble upon their hiding place it would be at the expense of his life. They could see the grass quiver where the Indians went along, but so far they were safe. Mrs. Spaude prevented her two-yearold baby from betraying with its cries their place of concealment by pressing her hand upon its mouth.

As soon as they found the coast in a measure clear, the two families separated. Mrs. Spaude recrossed the river with the baby and a five-year-old child, and, crouching and picking their way along in the tallest grass, they made their toilsome way around the south end of Otter lake, and along the edge of the woods, till they reached the corner of Mr. Hutchinson's field, in sight of the fort, a little after noon, when they were seen and killed by the attacking Indians. When picked up at evening, their faces were entirely shot away, the muzzles of the guns having been held but a few inches away when they were fired.

Mrs. Bilke, with three children, remained longer concealed in the grass, and at last made her way to a vacant log-house near the river on the north side, where they staid over night, and where they were found the next day and brought to the town. Mr. Bilke, clad only in a checked hickory shirt, after meeting innumerable troubles and dangers, finally reached the town just after the Indians left. He had divested himself of one piece of clothing after another, so as to run faster; had been all day surrounded by his enemies; had dodged this way and that, to avoid them; and unscathed had now got where he could take a long breath and feel safe.