t vicinity who had not been killed
or captured had fled there for protection. There was but one company of
soldiers there at this time under command of Captain Vanderhorck, who
had himself been wounded. This fort was nothing but a few buildings
located on the open prairie on the Dakota side of the river. Earthen
breast-works had been hastily thrown up for the better protection of the
people within. It required constant vigilance on the part of all the
soldiers to hold the garrison for the three or four weeks before our
arrival. The only water supply they had was the river, some rods outside
of the fort embankment. Their supply of rations had become nearly
exhausted, so that on our arrival about the middle of September, we
found a very hungry and badly scared lot of people. There were some
unburied dead, some badly wounded and some sick. One woman who had been
wounded by the Indians at Breckenridge a few days before and left for
dead, had regained consciousness and crawled on her hands and knees the
entire twelve miles to the fort where she was taken care of and finally
recovered. Two mornings some Indians concealed themselves among the
willows which grew on the Minnesota side of the river and fired upon
some teamsters who were watering their horses. One teamster died the
next day; the other, although wounded, recovered after several weeks
treatment at the fort hospital. These teamsters were citizen farmers who
had been pressed into service to help haul the supplies of grain and
provisions to the starving people and animals at the fort.

On our way to the fort, Sauk Center was the last place at which we found
any settlers. Many from the surrounding country had assembled here for
safety. A station with soldiers to guard it was established there and
one also at Alexandria, some miles beyond.

We did not see any Indians until the day before our arrival when a few
were seen by our scouts. A mile or so from the fort, before we came to
the river, we found in the woods the mutilated remains of two soldiers
who had been killed the day before by some Indians who attacked the
escort of eight soldiers who were returning to the fort after taking a
messenger through the woods on his way to Fort Snelling to officially
notify the officers in charge there, of the conditions at Abercrombie.
Other messengers had been sent but it was not known whether or not they
had gotten through, communication having been entirely cut off between
that