Part 25 (1/2)

I have seen a dog train in St Paul, loaded with furs from the Hudson Bay Fur Company

WENONAH CHAPTER

Winona

JEANETTE THOMPSON MAXWELL

(Mrs Guy Maxwell)

Mr H L Buck--1854

In the spring of '54 Cornelius F Buck and his young wife, located a claihway just before it enters the village of Homer in Winona County Ho place than Winona The few incidents I give are those I heard fro my childhood The country had been opened for settlement a year or two before, but few settlers had arrived at this ti that went to make a frontier was present, even to native Indians They were peaceable enough but inclined to be curious and so shortly after the cabin had been built,of any kind, the door was opened and in stalked a great Indian brave My father had already gone out and nation at having her privacy thus disturbed exceeded her fright and she proceeded to scold that Indian and tell hi” hi in a sheepish sort of way, butpretty fierce, for ahborhood she becasorove a athering sap for sugar During the night their kettles were stolen and suspecting some Indians ere encamped on the Wisconsin side of the river, they aruns, revolvers and bowie knives and taking a canoe, crossed the river, entered the Indian camp and demanded to see the chief

He was told that some of his cowardly ”braves” had stolen the paleface's kettles The chief denied the theft My father, allowing all his weapons to be plainly seen, again demanded the return of his kettles, and said if they were not returned by the nexthe would make war on the chief's whole tribe and annihilate the the kettles were returned

My mother, who had spent her childhood and youth in the prairie country, had never seen any hills worthShe told me that when she landed from the steamboat on which she had traveled fro bluffs that lined the banks of the river and the boat disappeared in the distance, she had an overpowering feeling that she had been imprisoned far from the world, that she was shut out froet out of these ” stayed with her The river was the only highway over which cas In the winter the river still was the hs instead of boats It was a rare treat for her to go as far as La Crosse In the winter this trip was often accoth of the ice I recall one trip she andto La Crosse one day upon the ice in the ht in the latter place and return in thethey hitched up the horse and drove to the river bank, but the ice had entirely disappeared during the night and the steaood

In '62 when the Indian outbreak occurred in the west, while Winona was far reer zone, anized a coersback the Indian forces

Theytheht they continued ard until they reached Lake Shetek where they were stationed for several months Theyconfidence in the returning settlers

Mrs Harriet Gleason--1854

I enty-seven years old when I ca at a townsite on the Mississippi River then known as Manton, but non as La Crescent My brother, Sa and had taken a claim near that place and at his request I came and took a claim there also and kept house for him

The country at that time was one almost unbroken wilderness There were no roads of any kind, only ”blazed trails” through the timber from one place to another

There ild anih there were so a ”Good Indian” caave hi and thankedhe came back and I lost confidence in the ”Good Indian” pretty quick He had been drinking and wanted ive him more whiskey I told him that I had none, but that did not satisfy hiht, ”What ave him the camphor bottle which he threay; also water, hich he did the sa his tohtened but tried not to let hiave hio with hiwam

I opened the door and told him to ”Get out quick,” which he did with a whoop and a run From that time on the Indians did not trouble us

Mrs Bradley--1854

When our family, the Grants, came to Winona, there were more Indians here than whites and to one who had never seen the Red Skins, a vivid iotten was left There were very few houses and the inhabitants were limited to a dozen families

Mr Oliver K Jones--1857

In the suhth Minnesota Infantry Before the six regianized the Sioux Indian anized it was rushed off somewhere on the frontier to protect the white settlers and drive back the Indians My coiment were sent on a forced march to Fort Abercrombie, two hundred and fifty miles northwest of St Paul on the Red River, twelve arrison was besieged by Indians All the white people in that vicinity who had not been killed or captured had fled there for protection There was but one company of soldiers there at this time under command of Captain Vanderhorck, who had his located on the open prairie on the Dakota side of the river Earthen breast-works had been hastily thrown up for the better protection of the people within It required constant vigilance on the part of all the soldiers to hold the garrison for the three or four weeks before our arrival The only water supply they had was the river, some rods outside of the fort embankment Their supply of rations had become nearly exhausted, so that on our arrival about the ry and badly scared lot of people There were some unburied dead, some badly wounded and some sick One woe a few days before and left for dead, had regained consciousness and crawled on her hands and knees the entire twelve miles to the fort where she was taken care of and finally recovered Twothe hich grew on the Minnesota side of the river and fired upon so their horses One teah wounded, recovered after several weeks treatment at the fort hospital These teamsters were citizen farmers who had been pressed into service to help haul the supplies of grain and provisions to the starving people and animals at the fort

On our way to the fort, Sauk Center was the last place at which we found any settlers Many fro country had asseuard it was established there and one also at Alexandria, some miles beyond

We did not see any Indians until the day before our arrival when a feere seen by our scouts A mile or so from the fort, before we came to the river, we found in the woods the mutilated remains of two soldiers who had been killed the day before by soht soldiers ere returning to the fort after taking ato officially notify the officers in charge there, of the conditions at Abercroers had been sent but it was not knohether or not they had gotten through, coarrison and the settle met our expedition, returned with us to the fort