congress, Hon. Henry M. Rice. Having agreed upon a
Mr. Anton Kouse as postmaster, I at once wrote to Mr. Rice to give the
new settlement a postoffice. It was not long before I received an
answer, which contained the postmaster's commission, his bond for
execution, a key for the mail bags, and all the requisites for a going
postoffice.

The New Ulm people were a very social lot, and my visits to the town
always included a good deal of fun, so I concluded to make a special
event of the establishment of the new postoffice, and, as the weather
was fine, I invited half a dozen friends to accompany me in a drive to
New Ulm, to participate in the opening ceremonies.

One of the earliest settlers in the town was Francis Baasen, who became
Minnesota's first secretary of state, and was a gallant officer in the
First Minnesota Regiment, so celebrated in the War of the Rebellion, and
has recently been appointed by Governor Lind as assistant adjutant
general of the state. He had a claim about two miles below the town,
just where the ferry crossed the Minnesota river, at Red Stone, and had
erected a log shanty there, in which he lived. Of course, we always
called on Baasen on our way up, and also on our way back, when we
visited New Ulm. Baasen was a charming gentleman, and while his shack
was destitute of any of the luxuries or elegancies of life, there was a
door, or hatchway, in the middle of the floor, which led to a kind of
cellar, the contents of which supplied all the deficiencies of the
house, and, flavored with the generous hospitality of the proprietor,
made everybody happy.

On this occasion we stopped to take Baasen into the party, and while
discussing the great event which brought us up, I decided to add some
new features to the inauguration of the new postmaster. Baasen had been
appointed a notary public, and was provided with large business-like
envelopes and formidable red seals, so I wrote a letter to Mr. Kouse in
about the following language:

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.,

"July 20, 1855.

"_Hon. Anton Kouse, Postmaster at New Ulm, Territory of
Minnesota_,

"SIR: We have been informed that a flourishing settlement has
been founded on the waters of the upper Minnesota river, in
Minnesota Territory, which has been named New Ulm, and that the
inhabitants are sufficiently numerous and intelligent to need a
postoffice. It has also been represented to us that you are