eutenant. Before noon two men, Henry A. Swift, afterwards governor of
the state, and William C. Hayden, were dispatched to the front in a
buggy to scout, and locate the enemy if he was near, and about noon
sixteen mounted men under L. M. Boardman, sheriff of the county, were
started on a similar errand. Both these squads kept moving until they
reached New Ulm, at about 5 p. m.

Great activity was displayed in equipping the main body of the company
for service. All the guns of the place were seized, and put into the
hands of the men. There not being any large game in this part of the
country, rifles were scarce, but shot-guns were abundant. All the
blacksmith shops and gun shops were set at work moulding bullets, and we
soon had a gun in every man's hand, and he was supplied with a powder
horn or a whiskey flask full of powder, a box of caps and a pocket-full
of bullets. We impressed all the wagons we needed for transportation,
and all the blankets and provisions that were necessary for subsistence
and comfort. While these preparations were going on a large squad from
Le Sueur, ten miles further down the river, under the command of Captain
Tousley, sheriff of Le Sueur county, joined us. Early in the day a squad
from Swan lake, under an old settler named Samuel Coffin, had gone to
New Ulm to see what was the matter.

Our advance guard reached New Ulm just in time to participate in its
defense against an attack of about one hundred Indians who had been
murdering the settlers on the west side of the river, between the town
and Fort Ridgely. The inhabitants of New Ulm were almost exclusively
German, there being only a few English-speaking citizens among them, and
they were not familiar with the character of the Indians, but the
instinct of self-preservation had impelled them to fortify the town with
barricades to keep the enemy out. The town was built in the usual way of
western towns, the principal settlement being along the main street, and
the largest and best houses occupying a space of about three blocks.
Some of these houses were of brick and stone, so with a strong barricade
around them, the town was quite defensible. Several of the people were
killed in this first attack, but the Indians, knowing of the coming
reinforcements, withdrew, after firing five or six buildings.

The main body of my company, together with the squad from Le Sueur,
reached the ferry about two miles below the settled part of New Ulm,
about 8