reinforcing the army, then vainly endeavoring to suppress the Southern
rebellion. It was probably one of the most gloomy periods in the
history of the Civil war. McClellan had been compelled to make a
precipitous and disastrous retreat from the vicinity of Richmond;
the army of Northern Virginia under Pope had met with several severe
reverses; the armies in the West under Grant, Buell and Curtis had not
been able to make any progress toward the heart of the Confederacy;
rebel marauders under Morgan were spreading desolation and ruin in
Kentucky and Ohio; rebel privateers were daily eluding the vigilant
watch of the navy and escaping to Europe with loads of cotton, which
they readily disposed of and returned with arms and ammunition to aid
in the prosecution of their cause. France was preparing to invade
Mexico with a large army for the purpose of forcing the establishment
of a monarchical form of government upon the people of our sister
republic; the sympathies of all the great powers of Europe, save
Russia, were plainly manifested by outspoken utterances favorable to
the success of the Confederate cause; rumors of foreign intervention
in behalf of the South were daily circulated; the enemies of the
government in the North were especially active in their efforts
to prevent the enlistment of men under the call of the president;
conspiracies for burning Northern cities had been unearthed by
government detectives, and emissaries from the South were endeavoring
to spread disease and pestilence throughout the loyal North. It was
during this critical period in the great struggle for the suppression
of the Rebellion that one of the most fiendish atrocities in the
history of Indian warfare was enacted on the western boundaries of
Minnesota.

* * * * *