Here, waiting supplies and drilling and disciplining the men, day after day passed away until ten days' rations had arrived, when Col. Sibley marched in search of the savages, and in a brief but hard fought battle, on the 23d of September, 1862, the Indians were fully defeated, broke and fled. It was called the battle of Wood Lake, commenced by the Indians and lasting two hours. Immediately after the action the Indians sent a flag of truce, asking permission to remove their dead and wounded. This was refused, and a message was sent to Little Crow, the leader of the hostile Indians, informing him that "if any of the white prisoners held by him received any injury at the hands of the savages, no mercy would be shown to the latter, but they would be pursued and destroyed without regard to age or sex.

In the action at Wood Lake, Maj. Welch, of the 3d Minnesota volunteers, was severely wounded, and Capt. Wilson also, of the 6th regiment, and nearly forty noncommissioned officers and privates were killed or wounded.

Col. Sibley had reason to be proud of the brave band of men under his command, and especially of Lieut. Col. Marshall and Maj. Bradley, of the 7th regiment, who distinguished themselves, the former leading a charge of seven companies, which dislodged a portion of the enemy from a ravine where they had taken shelter. Lieut. Col. Averill and Maj. McLaren, of the 6th regiment, also performed signal service, as did all the officers and men of both these regiments, and also the portion of the 3d, which formed a part of the detachment and made for itself so bright a record.

But one great object of the campaign was not yet accomplished and required great skill; this was the recovery of the white captives. Fears were entertained lest the savages in their rage over their great defeat might revengefully take the lives of the captives. Therefore Col. Sibley waited until the second day after the battle before marching toward the great Indian camp. But on the 25th of September, with drums beating and colors flying, the column filed past the Indian encampment, and formed their camp within a few hundred yards. With his staff and field officers, Col. Sibley then proceeded to the lodges of the Indians, and directed that all the captives should be delivered up to him,

which was readily done. "A sight was then presented which filled all eyes with tears. Young and beautiful women, who had for weeks endured the extremity of outrage from their brutal captors, followed by a crowd of children of all ages, came forth from the lodges, hardly realizing that the day of their deliverance had arrived. Convulsive sobbings were heard on every side, and the poor creatures clung to the men who had come to their relief, as if they feared some savage would drag them away. They were all escorted tenderly to the tents prepared for their reception and made as comfortable as the circumstances would admit. The number of pure whites thus released amounted to about one hundred and fifty, including one man only, Mr. Spencer. The latter expressed his gratitude to Col. Sibley, that he had not made a forced march upon the camp after the battle, stating that if such a course had been pursued, it was the determination of the hostile Indians to cut the throats of the captives and then disperse in the prairies. There were delivered also nearly two hundred and fifty half-breeds, who had been held as prisoners."

Two of the principal objects of the campaign, the defeat of the savages and the release of the captives, having now been consummated, there remained but to punish the guilty. Many of these, with Little Crow, had made their escape, and could not be overtaken, but some of the small camps of the refugees were surrounded and their inmates brought back. The locality where these events transpired was appropriately called Camp Release, and the name should be perpetuated.

"At a proper time, the Indian camp was surrounded by a cordon of troops and four hundred of the warriors were arrested, chained together in pairs and placed in an enclosure of logs made by the troops, under strong guard. Others who were known to be innocent were not interfered with. Col. Sibley constituted a military commission, with Col. Crooks, commanding 6th regiment, as president, for the trial of the prisoners. A fair and impartial hearing was accorded to each and the result was, the finding of three hundred and three guilty of participation in the murder of the whites, and the sentence of death, by hanging, was passed upon them. Others were convicted of robbery and pillage and

condemned to various terms of imprisonment, and a few were acquitted. The witnesses were composed of the released captives, including mixed bloods, and of Christian Indians who had refused to join Little Crow in the war. A full record was kept

of each case that was tried."

"The preparations for the execution of the guilty Indians were brought to a summary close, by an order from President Lincoln prohiblting the hanging of any of the convicted men without his previous sanction." This interference of the president produced an indignant clamor in the state, and through the representatives in Washington was energetically protested against. Finally on the 26th day of December, 1862, thirty-eight of the criminals specified by the president were executed on the same scaffold, at Mankato, under the direction of Col. Miller, commandant at that post. "The remainder of the condemned were sent to Davenport, Iowa, early in the spring, where they were kept in confinement for more than a year, a large number dying of disease in the meantime.

"Those that remained were eventually dispatched to a reservation on the upper Missouri, where the large number of prisoners taken by Col. Sibley, principally women and children, had already been placed. The president testified his approbation of the conduct of Col. Sibley, by conferring upon him, unasked, the commission of brigadier general of volunteers, and the appointment was subsequently confirmed by the senate.”

Thus the Indian campaign of 1862 terminated; having done its work faithfully and successfully, although of necessity it entered upon that work without due preparation and equipment. And it is a matter of great credit to Col. Sibley and to the officers and men under his command, that with so much careful skill and yet with such manly promptness, these boasting and reckless savages were subdued and their black and bloody programme thwarted. For it is easy to see that it was no common hour with the youthful state of Minnesota, and that this Indian outbreak had an intimate relation to the stirring scenes which were crowding themselves in multitude upon the nation at that moment of rebellion, treason and war. For, it was then suspected, and has since been confirmed, that if this campaign of