prisoners and other matters, he
adds:]

"N. B.--I am encamped near a camp of 150 lodges of friendly
Indians and half-breeds, but have had to purge it of suspected
characters. I have apprehended sixteen supposed to have been
connected with the late outrages, and have appointed a military
commission of five officers to try them. If found guilty they
will be forthwith executed, although it will perhaps be a
stretch of my authority. If so, necessity must be my
justification.

"Yours,
"H. H. SIBLEY."

On the 28th of September an order was issued convening this court
martial. It was composed of William Crooks, colonel of the Sixth
Regiment, president; William R. Marshall, lieutenant colonel of the
Seventh Regiment; Captains Grant and Baily of the Sixth, and Lieutenant
Olin of the Third. Others were subsequently added as necessity required.
All these men were of mature years, prominent in their social and
general standing as citizens, and as well equipped as any persons could
be to engage in such work. What I regard as the most important feature
in the composition of this most extraordinary court is the fact that the
Hon. Isaac V. D. Heard, an experienced lawyer of St. Paul, who had been
for many years the prosecuting attorney of Ramsey county, and who was
thoroughly versed in criminal law, was on the staff of Colonel Sibley,
and was by him appointed recorder of the court. Mr. Heard, in the
performance of his duty, was above prejudice or passion, and could treat
a case of this nature as if it was a mere misdemeanor. Lieutenant Olin
was judge advocate of this court, but as the trials progressed the
evidence was all put in and the records kept by Mr. Heard. Some changes
were made in the personnel of the court from time to time as the
officers were needed elsewhere, but none of the changes lessened the
dignity or character of the tribunal. I make these comments because the
trials took place at a period of intense excitement, and persons
unacquainted with the facts may be led to believe that the court was
"organized to convict," and was unfair in its decisions.

The court sat some time at Camp Release, then at the Lower Agency, and
Mankato, where it investigated the question whether the Winnebagoes had
participated in the outbreak; but none of that tribe were implicated,
which proves that the court acted judicially, and not upon unreliable
evidence, as the country