of the outer
buildings, from which they pushed their further operations. But the
garrison soon rallied, and obstinately held their ground. Finding
themselves so unexpectedly held at bay, the Indians, who were to the
windward, set fire one after another to the buildings they held, thus
literally burning their way into the town. All day long this continued.
Toward evening, the whites found they had been forced back, inch by
inch, by the fire and smoke and the swift leaden messengers of death,
until nearly one half of the town was lost; but they rallied once more,
made a vigorous charge on the foe, and drove them out. At this the
Indians withdrew, forming themselves into three parties, and camped a
short distance off, making the night hideous with fiendish yells and the
horrid music of their war dances. During the night the garrison
retreated into a still smaller and more defensible part of the town,
committing the rest to flames. A brief demonstration was made by the
enemy on the following morning, but finding the whites so well posted,
they finally abandoned the contest and withdrew. The whites, exhausted
and cut up, joyfully welcomed a cessation of hostilities. During the day
they evacuated the town, bringing off what remained of the garrison in
safety. In this battle they lost ten killed, and about fifty wounded,
while the Indians lost about forty. They were seen to haul off four
wagon loads of dead.

The events thus far narrated cover a period of nine days, and, though
forming the principal ones, were by no means the only events of that
brief time. The contagion of murder, arson, and rapine spread over the
whole area of country on which the Indians lived and roved, embracing a
district one hundred miles in width by two hundred in length. Fort
Abercrombie, situated at the upper end of this vast tract, was
surrounded and besieged, as Fort Ridgely at the lower end had been.
Throughout the intermediate region, scattering parties of the savages
appeared in the isolated villages and settlements, spreading death and
desolation. Local conditions exaggerated and heightened the horrors of
the insurrection. The population of Minnesota, and particularly of these
exposed regions, unlike that of the lower Western States, whose
settlers, trained in border warfare, were familiar with savage craft and
cruelty, and inherited the prowess and spirit of daring adventure which
possessed Daniel Boone, was largely made up of foreign emigrant