the Indian attack been successful. Provisions and ammunition becoming
scarce, the judge decided to evacuate the town and march across the
country to Mankato. They made up a train of about 150 wagons, loaded
them with women and children and the men who had been wounded in the
fight, and arrived safely in Mankato without being molested. Nearly
two hundred houses were burned before the town was evacuated, leaving
nothing standing but a few houses inside the hastily constructed
barricade. The long procession of families leaving their desolated
homes, many of them never to return, formed one of the saddest scenes
in the history of the outbreak, and will ever be remembered by the
gallant force under the command of Judge Flandrau, who led them to a
place of safety.

* * * * *

As soon as Gen. Sibley arrived at Fort Ridgely a detail of Company A
of the Sixth regiment, under command of Capt. H.P. Grant of St. Paul,
and seventy members of the Cullen Guards, under the command of Capt.
Jo Anderson, also of St. Paul, and several citizen volunteers,
all under the command of Maj. Joseph R. Brown, was sent out with
instructions to bury the dead and rescue the wounded, if any could
be found, from their perilous surroundings. They were St. Paul
organizations and most all of their members were St. Paul boys. They
never had had an opportunity to drill and most of them were not
familiar with the use of firearms. After marching for two days, during
which time they interred a large number of victims of the savage
Sioux, they went into camp at Birch Coulie, about fifteen miles from
Fort Ridgely. The encampment was on the prairie near a fringe of
timber and the coulie on one side and an elevation of about ten feet
on the other. It was a beautiful but very unfortunate location for the