t not fatally. The Third and the Renville Rangers under Capt. James
Gorman bore the brunt of the fight, which lasted about an hour and a
half, and sustained the most of the losses. Colonel Sibley, in his
official report of the encounter, gives great credit to his staff and
all of his command. An-pay-tu-tok-a-cha, or John Otherday, was with the
whites, and took a conspicuous part in the fray.

Thus ended the battle of Wood Lake. It was an important factor in the
war, as it was about the first time the Indians engaged large forces of
well organized troops in the open country, and their utter discomfiture
put them on the run. It will be noticed that I have not in any of my
narratives of battles, used the stereotyped expression, "Our losses were
so many, but the losses of the enemy were much greater, but as they
always carry off their dead and wounded, it is impossible to give exact
figures." The reason I have not made use of this common expression is,
because I don't believe it. The philosophy of Indian warfare is, to kill
your enemy and not get killed yourself, and they can take cover more
skillfully than any other people. In all our Indian wars, from the
Atlantic westward, with regulars or militia, I believe it would not be
an exaggeration to say that the whites have lost ten to one in killed
and wounded. But the battle of Wood Lake was quite an open fight, and so
rapidly conducted and concluded that we have a very accurate account of
the loss of the enemy. He had no time or opportunity to withdraw his
dead. Fifteen dead were found upon the field, and one wounded prisoner
was taken. No doubt many others were wounded who were able to escape.
After this fight Colonel Sibley retired to the vicinity of an Indian
camp, located nearly opposite the mouth of the Chippewa river, where it
empties into the Minnesota, and there encamped. This point was
afterwards called "Camp Release," from the fact that the white prisoners
held by the enemy were here delivered to Colonel Sibley's command. We
will leave Colonel Sibley and his troops at Camp Release, and narrate
the important events that occurred on the Red River of the North, at and
about

FORT ABERCROMBIE.

The United States government, about the year 1858, erected a military
post on the west side of the Red River of the North, at a place then
known as Graham's Point, between what are now known as the cities of
Breckenridge and Fargo. Like most of the frontier posts of th