garrison by assault, yet the siege was kept up for several days. In
addition to about 300 refugees who had gathered there for support
and protection, the $72,000 of annuity money, which had been so long
expected, arrived there the day before the outbreak. After bravely
defending the fort for more than a week, the little garrison was
relieved by the arrival of about 200 mounted volunteers under command
of Col. McPhail, being the advance of Gen. Sibley's command. During
the siege many of the men became short of musketry ammunition, and
spherical case shot were opened in the barracks and women worked with
busy hands making cartridges, while men cut nail rods in short pieces
and used them as bullets, their dismal whistling producing terror
among the redskins.

Almost simultaneously with the attack on Fort Ridgely the Indians in
large numbers appeared in the vicinity of New Ulm, with the evident
intention of burning and pillaging the village. Judge Charles E.
Flandrau of this city, who was then residing at St. Peter, organized a
company of volunteers and marched across the country to the relief of
that place. The judge received several acquisitions to his force while
en route, and when he arrived at New Ulm found himself in command of
about 300 men, poorly armed and wholly without military experience.
They arrived at New Ulm just in time to assist the inhabitants in
driving the Indians from the upper part of the village, several
citizens having been killed and a number of houses burned. Two or
three days afterward the Indians appeared in large force, surrounded
the town and commenced burning the buildings on its outskirts. After
a desperate encounter, in which the force under command of Judge
Flandrau lost ten killed and about forty wounded, the Indians retired.
There were in the village at the time of the attack about 1,200 or
1,500 noncombatants, and every one of them would have been killed had