Today in History:

616 Series I Volume XLVIII-II Serial 102 - Powder River Expedition Part II

Page 616 LOUISIANA AND THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. Chapter LX.


HDQRS. DIST. OF MINNESOTA, DEPT. OF THE NORTHWEST,
Saint Paul, Minn., May 26, 1865.

Major C. S. CHARLOT,

Asst. Adjt. General Hdqrs. Dept. of the Northwest, Milwaukee, Wis.:

MAJOR: I have the honor to telegraph Major-General Curtis this morning that my Indian scouts had intercepted and killed the murderers of the Jewett family. There were but five savages of the party, originally headed by the man Campbell, who was hung by the mob at Mankato, four of whom were dispatched, and the remaining one only escaped by plunging into a lake after losing his horse and all his effects. One of them before being disposed of was captured, and made a confession of the whole proceeding. He plead for mercy on the ground that he was a good Indian and a member of the church, but the scouts took the ground that if so he was in a proper frame of mind to go been recovered. Among other articles some sliver spoons are said to have been found. Any articles of value will of course, with the stolen horses, be returned to their proper owners. This successful affair was managed entirely by a few of the Sissetons who have lately surrendered, there being no mixed-blood scouts with them, and affords good evidence of the efficiency and fidelity of these people. The enmity between them and the hostile Sioux is bitter and unrelenting. I shall make free use of this element in repressing and punishing raiding parties. Major Rose, commanding Fort Wadsworth, states he regards the 100 men of this class now employed as scouts as more valuable for the particular service in which they are engaged than would be a regiment of cavalry. They are intimately acquainted with the country and with the passes to the settlements, and can track the smallest war party, whose trail would be invisible to white men. They are, withal, strictly obedient to orders.

I am, major, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. H. SIBLEY,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

N. B. - Three of the raiders have heretofore been killed by the scouts, making seven in all within a month.

H. H. SIBLEY,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.


HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE NORTHWEST,
Milwaukee, Wis., May 26, 1865.

Brigadier General H. H. SIBLEY,

Saint Paul, Minn.:

GENERAL: I am in receipt of several letters and reports from your posts concerning Indian troubles, and have given them all due consideration. The affairs of the murder of the Jewett family and your movement of troops to apprehend the savages and your success in disposing of the leader, Carpenter [Campbell?], and the four Indians near Wadsworth on their attempted escape, have all been duly forwarded in official dispatches. I note the return of the expedition from the Upper Saint Peter's as being from Wood Lake, which is not where I supposed the expedition was to go, but I presume they made that as a divergement with your approval. I have stopped the muster out of October cavalry, changed the direction of General Sully's movement to operate in the


Page 616 LOUISIANA AND THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. Chapter LX.