Tour, talk retrace U.S.-Dakota conflict

Cemetery tour at

2 p.m. today to help mark 140th

anniversary of conflict

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- American and Dakota Indian history buffs got a taste of the U.S.-Dakota War Saturday with a guided walking tour of downtown New Ulm and a talk with a Dakota historian.

Susan Ullery of New Ulm led about 50 people on an hour-long tour conducted from the point of view of Katie Gropper, a 10-year-old-girl living in New Ulm in 1862 when it was attacked 140 years ago today.

John LaBatte of New Hope, a direct descendant of at least nine people involved in all sides of the conflict, brought a unique perspective to the study of the time period.

Ullery began her talk in the museum, describing how the area was settled by German immigrants. Indians signed treaties that put them on reservations northwest of New Ulm and forced them to assimilate the culture of the settlers.

"It was a huge lifestyle change that should have taken one or two generations instead of 20 years," Ullery said. "Indians lost much of their culture."

Ullery told of Katie Gropper who attended school at Turner Hall with her sister when the attack began. The girls ran home on a very hot, dry day.

"The crops weren't growing, Indians weren't getting their annuities like the treaties promised and they were starving on their reservations," Ullery said. "Government agents wouldn't give them food or money. Agent Andrew Myrick told them to 'eat grass or their own dung.' Most Indians didn't want to go to war and never did."

"Farmer" Indians that assimilated the white culture by cutting their hair, learning English and trying to grow crops were drafted into the Civil War to fight for the Union Army.

The tour moved on to what is now the Citizen's Bank parking lot. Wind whistled through a parking lot sign, creating an eery sound that one woman said reminded her of ghosts.

Ullery said the building that now houses Antiques Plus at 117 N. Broadway, was one of the buildings in town that remained standing since 1862.Another is the Kiesling House, 220 N. Minnesota.

Holes were drilled in the brick building on North Broadway, allowing guns to be fired during the Battle of New Ulm.

The tour moved to the Jacob Nix Platz marker. Platz led the defense of the first attack on New Ulm that lasted about an hour, Ullery said.

New Ulm residents grabbed some blankets and a pail or two and ran inside the barricaded area between Center and Third North. The barricade consisted of dirt, overturned wagons, grain sacks and hay bales, Ullery said.

There were about 150 buildings standing in New Ulm before the first attack. When it was over, there were about 60 standing. Some of the buildings were filled with straw so they would burn faster in case the Indians got close.

The defenders wanted to burn the buildings so Indians couldn't use them in the second battle of New Ulm, which was a more prolonged attack. The Indians wanted to burn them to create smoke screens.

Feather beds were placed against windows in an attempt to keep arrows and bullets out. Defenders huddled inside the buildings, with little or nothing to eat, wearing the same clothes they put on days before.

Katie Gropper's 13-year-old friend -- Emily Pauly -- was killed by a stray bullet while crossing Minnesota Street.

Defenders tried to cross the Minnesota River and surround the Indians from behind but were unable to do so.

The Groppers left by wagon when New Ulm was evacuated after the second battle as bands of Indians remained in the area. The family was split up for a time before it was reunited in St. Peter. They later fled to St. Paul but returned to New Ulm several years later.

Indians destroyed one of three distilleries in New Ulm. They left the Schell's and Hauenstein breweries along because they were particularly friendly to the Indians, Ullery said.

Some 303 Indians were originally charged with war atrocity crimes and were to be hanged in Mankato. After meeting with Bishop Henry Whipple, President Abraham Lincoln commuted most of the sentences and 38 Indians were hanged.

Indians were sent to prison camps at Davenport, Iowa and Fort Snelling. Others were hunted when the U.S. Government put a bounty out for their scalps.

LaBatte said starvation was the prime cause of the U.S.-Dakota conflict. Cultural differences played a part. In Dakota culture, food is shared with anybody that needs it, which was not always popular with settlers, LaBatte said.

Indian elders became upset when they learned that some of their men were assimilating the culture of the settlers.

Indians were also upset about being denied treaty rights and selling their land for 10 cents per acre while the the U.S. Government sold it for $1.25 per acre.

Starving to death after eating all their horses and dogs, Indians left the reservation in search of food, which led to the start of the conflict when settlers were murdered at Acton, near Litchfield.

LaBatte credited missionaries with preserving some of the Indian language when they discovered it was easier to teach the young their language before they learned English.

Missionaries built the first Indian corn mill, repaired their implements, helped them grow crops and shared what little food they had with the Indians.

They later became angry at the missionaries because they thought they angered their gods and believed the missionaries were pocketing the Indian treaty annuities.

Brown County Historical Society Research Librarian Darla Gebhard will conduct a tour of the New Ulm City Cemetery at 2 p.m. Sunday. The tour will start from the caretakers building at the north end of Cemetery Avenue.

Participants will learn about interesting symbolism used on gravestones and will learn stories about historical figures in Brown County's past.

Historical marker re-dedications will take place at 4 p.m. at the Roebbecke Mill site, State and Center Streets (across from the Brown County Courthouse). The Second Battle of New Ulm marker will be next at 27 North Broadway (the former museum location, now housing the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame).

The last site visited will be the Upper Minnesota River Transportation marker, Front and Center (north of Riverside Arts Center).