close contract of whites and Indians broke out and culminated in the dreadful atrocities of the Indian massacres of the summer of 1862. I arrived in Minnesota about the last of September of that year. Colonel (now brigadier-general) Sibley had been sent to the frontier by the Governor of the State with all the troops that could be collected. The Indians in force were devastating the entire border settlements, and had destroyed at least one considerable town. Large numbers of people, estimated by persons of standing in Saint Paul at 50,000, had abandoned their farms and villages and were crowding into the large towns on the Mississippi River. Everywhere I found consternation and dismay. Sibley was successful in beating the Indians, who fought him boldly in large force. An expedition under Sibley was sent against the Indians in 1863, and a co-operating force under Sully sent up the Missouri River in the same summer. Both expeditions met and defeated the Indians. In 1864 Sully again marched against them from the Upper Missouri and defeated them in several severe fights. The results are that the Sioux Indians have been entirely driven from Minnesota; there is no large body of these Indians who are hostile nearer to the settlements of Minnesota than Devil's Lake, in Dakota Territory, who came from devil's Lake, passed the outer line of military posts without being discovered, and were first heard of near Mankato, on the Minnesota River. The fast that this party was headed by one Carpenter, a half-breed, who had enlisted in our army, had served in Tennessee, was there tried for robbery, escaped, and came back to Minnesota, renders it doubtful whether the party were really not men like himself and not Indians. There are in Minnesota eighteen companies of cavalry, four companies of infantry, and one company of artillery. The District of Minnesota, in which these troops are, in commanded by General Sibley, one of the earliest citizens of the States, and a man of character and standing. He has lived twenty-five years or more in that section of country, and is thoroughly familiar with it and with the tribes of Sioux Indians concerned. It would seem, then, that with a force of more than 2,300 men, according to General Sibley's last return, and those mostly cavalry, commanded by an officer who has always lived in the state and knows the country and the Indians well, Minnesota has been furnished by the General Government with every means for protection against Indians. Surely if this large force of cavalry cannot protect the settlements against sixteen Indians on foot who are obliged to traverse a distance of over 300 miles and pass a line of military posts before they can reach any of the frontier settlements, it would be difficult to say how many troops would be necessary. This is all that has occasioned the stampede in Minnesota, and it seems strange that such a raid of a few Indians on foot should have been made undiscovered over such a great distance, and permitted to reach the frontier. Of course, if this party really came all the way from Devil's Lake, it was due to carelessness and want of vigilance of the troops. In addition to the troops mentioned, however, there are a considerable number of half-breed and Indian scouts who are occupied in watching the country beyond the posts. Through these scouts also this small party of Indians on foot must have passed.

The hostile Sioux, driven from Minnesota and the southern portions of Dakota Territory, have made a temporary rendezvous at Devil's Lake, in the northern part of Dakota. This great lake is near the British line, and whenever the Indians are pressed they take refuge in