Battle of Birch Coulee
Encyclopedia
Dakota War of 1862
The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, was an armed conflict between the United States and several bands of the eastern Sioux. It began on August 17, 1862, along the Minnesota River in southwest Minnesota...
. After the Battle of Fort Ridgely
Battle of Fort Ridgely
Fort Ridgely was built in 1851 in the territory of southern Minnesota. It wasn't much of a fort, but it was the only military post between the Sioux Reservations and the settlers. On August 18, 1862, the Lower Sioux Agency in Renville County, Minnesota, was attacked by Indians...
and the Battle of New Ulm, Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley
Henry Hastings Sibley
Henry Hastings Sibley was the first Governor of the U.S. state of Minnesota.-Early life and education:...
was planning to punish the Sioux and to obtain the release of the settlers they were holding captive. While Sibley was training soldiers and attempting to organize supplies, he was reminded that the bodies of many settlers killed by the Indians still remained unburied on the battlefields. Sibley sent out a burial party of about 170 men from Fort Ridgely
Fort Ridgely
Fort Ridgely was a United States Army outpost near the Dakota reservation in southwestern Minnesota . Built between 1853–1855, it played an important role in the Dakota War of 1862...
on August 31, 1862. The men were commanded by Major Joseph R. Brown, according to Sibley's notes.
The party left Fort Ridgely and continued to Redwood Ferry, stopping to bury about sixteen settlers' bodies along the way. The next morning, Brown and a group of cavalry crossed to the south side of the river, while Grant and his infantry stayed on the north side. At the end of the day, Brown's and Grant's soldiers met up again at a campsite near Birch Coulee. The two detachments had buried 54 bodies, and since neither group had seen any Indians, they figured they were safe. Meanwhile, Chief Little Crow
Taoyateduta
Little Crow was a chief of the Mdewakanton Dakota Sioux. His given name translates as "His Red Nation," but he was known as Little Crow because of his father's name, Čhetáŋ Wakhúwa Máni, which was mistranslated.Little Crow is notable in for his role in the...
was leading a force of 110 northeastward from New Ulm
New Ulm, Minnesota
New Ulm is a city in Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,522 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Brown County....
, while his chief warrior, Gray Bird, was heading down the south side of the Minnesota River
Minnesota River
The Minnesota River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of nearly , in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa....
with a force of 350 Indians. Gray Bird's party and Brown's troops missed encountering each other during the day, but some Indian scouts discovered that Brown's troops were moving toward the campsite at Birch Coulee. The Sioux planned to ambush Brown's troops in the morning, thinking that only the cavalry was present and that they could be easily destroyed.
The Birch Coulee campsite was not easily defensible, since the Indians could approach from all sides and still remain under cover. During the night, Gray Bird, along with chiefs Red Legs, Big Eagle
Big Eagle
Big Eagle was the leader of a band of Mdewakanton Dakota Sioux in Minnesota. In 1862 he and his band joined Taoyateduta and took part in a Sioux uprising. He eventually surrendered.-Early life:...
, and Mankato crossed the Minnesota River and surrounded the camp. In the morning, the Indians commenced their ambush, wounding at least thirty United States soldiers and killing most of the cavalry's horses within the first few minutes. The heaviest part of the fight lasted about an hour, but the siege continued for many hours past then. Colonel Sibley could hear the sounds of the battle from Fort Ridgely, about sixteen miles away, so he sent out a relief party of 240 men. Colonel McPhail, heading up the relief party, thought he was almost completely surrounded by the Sioux and sent back for more reinforcements. Sibley returned with more reinforcements and an artillery brigade. The shelling forced the Sioux to disperse, and Sibley entered Brown's camp around 11 am on September 3. He encountered a "sickening sight", with thirteen men and ninety horses dead, forty-seven men severely wounded, and others less severely hurt. The survivors were exhausted from a thirty-one hour siege without water or food.
The battle of Birch Coulee was the most deadly for the United States forces in the Dakota War of 1862. Colonel Sibley decided against taking responsibility for the disaster. In his military reports and in press dispatches he started to refer to the encounter as the 'attack on J.R. Brown's party.' The monument at Birch Coulee Battlefield states that Captain Hiram P. Grant was in command, but historians generally acknowledge that Brown was in command. The battle may have distracted the Sioux from continuing down the Minnesota River toward more settlements, but the Americans forces learned that it was foolish to travel in hostile Indian territory with too few untrained troops.
Captain Joseph Anderson Company of Mounted Men "The Cullen Guard" went to the relief of New Ulm and was at the Battle of Birch Coulee.
Casualties:
- Killed: 2nd Sergeant Robert Baxter; Privates Jacob Freeman;
- Died of Wounds: Private Richard Gibbons;
- Wounds: Farrier Thomas Barton {dangerously wounded}; Privates A.H. Bunker {wounded through both arms}; Peter Burkman {wounded in both thighs and ruptured}; James Buckingham {wounded through the left shoulder}; Geo Dashney {wounded in the right thigh}; John Martin.
The Birch Coulee battlefield
Birch Coulee Battlefield
Birch Coulee was the site of the Battle of Birch Coulee. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.-External links:* *...
is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.