Part 2 (1/2)
The Minnesotian and Times, although both Republican papers, never cherished much love for each other. The ravings of the Eatanswill Gazette were mild in comparison to the epithets used by these little papers in describing the shortcomings of their ”vile and reptile contemporary.” After the election in 1859, as soon as it was known that the Republicans had secured a majority in the legislature, the managers of these rival Republican offices inst.i.tuted a very lively campaign for the office of state printer. Both papers had worked hard for the success of the Republican ticket and they had equal claims on the party for recognition. Both offices were badly in need of financial a.s.sistance, and had the Republican party not been successful one of them, and perhaps both, would have been compelled to suspend.
How to divide the patronage satisfactorily to both papers was the problem that confronted the legislature about to a.s.semble. The war of words between Foster and Newson continued with unabated ferocity. The editor of the Minnesotian would refer to the editor of the Times as ”Mr. Timothy Muggins Newson”--his right name being Thomas M.
Newson--and the Times would frequently mention Dr. Foster as the ”red-nosed, goggle-eyed editor of the Minnesotian.” To effect a reconciliation between these two editors required the best diplomatic talent of the party leaders. After frequent consultations between the leading men of the party and the managers of the two offices, it was arranged that the papers should be consolidated and the name of the paper should be the Minnesotian and Times. It can readily be seen that a marriage contracted under these peculiar circ.u.mstances was not likely to produce a prolonged state of connubial felicity. The relations between Foster and Newson were no more cordial under one management than had hitherto existed when the offices were separate.
This unhappy situation continued until about the time the legislature adjourned, when the partners.h.i.+p was dissolved. Dr. Foster a.s.sumed entire control of the Minnesotian and Maj. Newson was manager of the Times. George W. Moore was a.s.sociated with Dr. Foster in the publication of the Minnesotian prior to the consolidation, but when the offices separated it was stipulated that Mr. Moore should have the printing of the Journals of the two houses of the legislature as part payment of his share of the business of the late firm of Newson, Moore, Foster & Co., thus entirely severing his relations with the paper he helped to found. After the arrangement was made it was with the greatest difficulty that it was carried into effect, as Orville Brown of Faribault had entered the field as a candidate for state printer and came within a few votes of taking the printing to that village. The Times continued under the management of Mr. Newson until the first of January, 1861, when he leased the office to W.R. Marshall and Thomas F. Slaughter, who started the St. Paul Daily Press with its material. The Press proved to be too much of a compet.i.tor for the Minnesotian, and in a short time Dr. Foster was compelled to surrender to its enterprising projectors, they having purchased the entire plant. This ended the rivalry between the two Republican dailies. Dr.
Foster and Maj. Newson, some time afterward, received commissions in the volunteer service of the army during the Civil war, and George W.
Moore was appointed collector of the port of St. Paul, a position he held for more than twenty years.
Does any one remember that St. Paul had a paper called the Daily North Star? The historians of St. Paul and Ramsey county do not seem to ever have chronicled the existence of this sprightly little sheet. During the presidential campaign of 1860 we had two kinds of Democrats--the Douglas and the Breckinridge or administration Democrats. There were only two papers in the state that espoused the cause of Mr. Breckinridge--the Chatfield Democrat and the Henderson Independent--and as they had been designated by the president to publish such portion of the acts of congress as it was customary to print at that time, it was quite natural that they carried the administration colors at the head of their columns. They were called ”bread and b.u.t.ter papers.” The supporters of Mr. Breckinridge thought their cause would present a more respectable appearance if they had an organ at the capital of the state. Accordingly the late H.H. Young, the editor of the Henderson Independent, was brought down from that village and the Daily North Star soon made its appearance. It was not necessary at that time to procure the a.s.sociated Press dispatches, a perfecting press and linotype machines before embarking in a daily newspaper enterprise, as a Was.h.i.+ngton hand press and five or six cases of type were all that were necessary. This paper was published regularly until after election, and as the returns indicated that the officeholders would not much longer contribute toward its support it soon collapsed.
St. Paul had another paper that is very seldom mentioned in newspaper history. It was called the St. Paul Weekly Journal, and was edited by Dr. Ma.s.sey, formerly of the Ohio Statesman and private secretary to Gov. Sam Medary. This paper was started in 1862, but on account of its violent opposition to the prosecution of the war did not meet with much favor, and only existed about eight months.
Some time during the year 1858 the Minnesotian office received about half a dozen cases of very bad whisky in payment of a very bad debt.
They could not sell it--they could not even give it to any one.
Occasionally the thirst of an old-time compositor would get the better of him and he would uncork a bottle. The experiment was never repeated. Think of half a dozen cases of whisky remaining unmolested in a printing office for more than two years. During the campaign of 1860 the Wide Awakes and the Little Giants were the uniformed political organizations intended to attract the attention of voters.
One dreary night one of the attaches of the Minnesotian office, and an active member of the Wide Awakes, met the Little Giants near Bridge Square as they were returning to their hall after a long march.
In order to establish a sort of entente cordiale between the two organisations the Little Giants were invited over to the Minnesotian office in hopes they would be able to reduce the supply of this nauseating beverage. It was a golden opportunity. The invitation was readily accepted, and in a short time fifty ardent followers of the advocate of squatter sovereignty were lined up in front of a black Republican office, thirsting for black Republican whisky. Bottle after bottle, was pa.s.sed down the line, and as it gurgled down the throats of these enthusiastic marchers they smacked their lips with as much gusto as did Rip Van Winkle when partaking of the soporific potation that produced his twenty years' sleep. One of the cardinal principles of the Democracy, at that time was to ”love rum and hate n.i.g.g.e.rs.” As the entire stock was disposed of before the club resumed its line of march, the host of the occasion concluded that at least one plank of their platform was rigidly adhered to.
THE GREAT SIOUX OUTBREAK IN 1862.
NARRATION OF SOME OF THE EXCITING EVENTS THAT OCCURRED DURING THE GREAT SIOUX OUTBREAK IN 1862--FORT RIDGELY, NEW ULM AND BIRCH COULIE--OTHER DAY AND WABASHA--GREAT EXCITEMENT IN ST. PAUL.
In July and August, 1862, President Lincoln issued proclamations calling for the enlistment of 600,000 volunteers for the purpose of reinforcing the army, then vainly endeavoring to suppress the Southern rebellion. It was probably one of the most gloomy periods in the history of the Civil war. McClellan had been compelled to make a precipitous and disastrous retreat from the vicinity of Richmond; the army of Northern Virginia under Pope had met with several severe reverses; the armies in the West under Grant, Buell and Curtis had not been able to make any progress toward the heart of the Confederacy; rebel marauders under Morgan were spreading desolation and ruin in Kentucky and Ohio; rebel privateers were daily eluding the vigilant watch of the navy and escaping to Europe with loads of cotton, which they readily disposed of and returned with arms and ammunition to aid in the prosecution of their cause. France was preparing to invade Mexico with a large army for the purpose of forcing the establishment of a monarchical form of government upon the people of our sister republic; the sympathies of all the great powers of Europe, save Russia, were plainly manifested by outspoken utterances favorable to the success of the Confederate cause; rumors of foreign intervention in behalf of the South were daily circulated; the enemies of the government in the North were especially active in their efforts to prevent the enlistment of men under the call of the president; conspiracies for burning Northern cities had been unearthed by government detectives, and emissaries from the South were endeavoring to spread disease and pestilence throughout the loyal North. It was during this critical period in the great struggle for the suppression of the Rebellion that one of the most fiendish atrocities in the history of Indian warfare was enacted on the western boundaries of Minnesota.
It can readily be seen that the government was illy prepared to cope with an outbreak of such magnitude as this soon proved to be. By the terms of the treaty of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota in 1851 the Sioux sold all their lands in Minnesota, except a strip ten miles wide on each side of the Minnesota river from near Fort Ridgely to Big Stone lake. In 1858 ten miles of the strip lying north of the river was sold, mainly through the influence of Little Crow. The selling of this strip caused great dissatisfaction among the Indians and Little Crow was severely denounced for the part he took in the transaction.
The sale rendered it necessary for all the Indians to locate on the south side of the Minnesota, where game was scarce and trapping poor.
There was nothing for them to live upon unless they adopted the habits of civilization and worked like white men. This was very distasteful to many of them, as they wanted to live the same as they did before the treaty--go where they pleased, when they pleased, and hunt game and sell fur to traders. The government built houses for those who desired to occupy them, furnished tools, seed, etc., and taught them how to farm. At two of the agencies during the summer of the outbreak they had several hundred acres of land under cultivation. The disinclination of many of the Indians to work gradually produced dissension among themselves and they formed into two parties--the white man's party, those that believed in cultivating the soil; and the Indian party, a sort of young-man-afraid-of-work a.s.sociation, who believed it beneath the dignity of the n.o.ble Dakotan to perform manual labor. The white man's, or farmer's party, was favored by the government, some of them having fine houses built for them. The other Indians did not like this, and became envious of them because they discontinued the customs of the tribe. There was even said to have been a secret organization among the tepee Indians whose object it was to declare war upon the whites. The Indians also claimed that they were not fairly dealt with by the traders; that they had to rely entirely upon their word for their indebtedness to them; that they were ignorant of any method of keeping accounts, and that when the paymaster came the traders generally took all that was coming, and often leaving many of them in debt. They protested against permitting the traders to sit at the pay table of the government paymaster and deduct from their small annuities the amount due them. They had at least one white man's idea--they wanted to pay their debts when they got ready.
For several weeks previous to the outbreak the Indians came to the agencies to get their money. Day after day and week after week pa.s.sed and there was no sign of paymasters. The year 1862 was the the second year of the great Rebellion, and as the government officers had been taxed to their utmost to provide funds for the prosecution of the war, it looked as though they had neglected their wards in Minnesota. Many of the Indians who had gathered about the agencies were out of money and their families were suffering. The Indians were told that on account of the great war in which the government was engaged the payment would never be made. Their annuities were payable in gold and they were told that the great father had no gold to pay them with.
Maj. Galbraith, the agent of the Sioux, had organized a company to go South, composed mostly of half-breeds, and this led the Indians to believe that now would be the time to go to war with the whites and get their land back. It was believed that the men who had enlisted last had all left the state and that before, help could be sent they could clear the country of the whites, and that the Winnebagos and Chippewas would come to their a.s.sistance. It is known that the Sioux had been in communication with Hole-in-the-Day, the Chippewa chief, but the outbreak was probably precipitated before they came to an understanding. It was even said at the time that the Confederate government had emissaries among them, but the Indians deny this report and no evidence has ever been collected proving its truthfulness.
Under the call of the president for 600,000 men Minnesota was called upon to furnish five regiments--the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth--and the requisition had been partially filled and the men mustered in when the news reached St. Paul that open hostilities had commenced at the upper agency, and an indiscriminate ma.s.sacre of the whites was taking place.
The people of Minnesota had been congratulating themselves that they were far removed from the horrors of the Civil war, and their indignation knew no bounds when compelled to realize that these treacherous redskins, who had been nursed and petted by officers of the government, and by missionaries and traders for years, had, without a moment's warning, commenced an indiscriminate slaughter of men, women and children. It was a singular fact that farmer Indians, whom the government officers and missionaries had tried so hard to civilize, were guilty of the most terrible butcheries after hostilities had actually commenced.