New Ulm... A German town with a lot of history!

After arriving in New Ulm and getting a bit of much needed sleep, we were up and ready to explore a few places before hitting the road again.  Our first stop was the historic "Defender's Monument" that was erected by the state of Minnesota in 1891.  The monument honors the  men who defended New Ulm during the Dakota war.  If you don't know much about the Dakota war, you should read up on it. It is a very tragic time for both the white settlers and the Dakota Indians. There were plenty of good people on both sides that were caught up in this horrible war of revenge against the government for their treatment of the Indians.  Not all Dakota Indians were involved in the war or considered bad. Before the war, quite a few settlers welcomed the Indians into their homes and gave them food when they were visited.  During the war, there were kind Indians who helped to lead the settlers to safety and away from those that were doing all the murdering .  The information I had through my Grandfather was that my Great-Great-Grandfather had come back from the Civil War to help defend the women and children during the uprising.  While in New Ulm, I was going to try to see if I could find any information that could confirm that story but I was unable to during the short time I had at the museum.

A great website I found regarding the Dakota wars is
 http://exploringoffthebeatenpath.com/Battlefields/DakotaWar/index.html


                                                              Defender's Monument

One does not need words to understand the story being told visually through the artwork on this monument.  I can imagine the Bohemian-American artist Anton Gag closing his eyes and listening to the vivid memories of those who survived this war while picking up chunks of clay and pushing it, carving it, and smearing it into a graphic depiction of what was being told to him.  In 1873, Anton arrived in America after the New Ulm battle, but one can not deny that the memory was still fresh in the townspeople's minds. How horrifically easy it would be to remember not only the scenes that they witnessed, but also the smell of the hot, dry, choking smoke as it engulfed the town and rose up into the sky. A fire more intense than the biggest bonfire  and smoke so thick that this artist's eyes would water at just hearing the story...Smearing more clay and carving out a riffle, he could hear the sounds of the guns' loud explosions after men yell to alert each other as to where they should fire next.  I imagine the artist could hear the fire's crackling blaze mixed with the sounds of Dakota Indians' war cries and desperate townspeople's voices calling out for help after being trapped or injured.  It would not be difficult to visualize people desperate to find safety and trying hard to stay calm as they cover their children in attempts to quiet, hide and protect them from being killed. It is obvious that there was a great amount of emotion in creating this graphic monument. I think it does a great job of showing the horror and utter chaos of this war, not only from the townspeople's point of view, but I also can see the anger and determination of the Dakota Indians as they try desperately to drive the white people away from the land they once lived freely and with pride on. 

CITIZENS KILLED AUGUST 19TH 1862 RETURNING FROM A RECONNOISSANCE

ALMOND D. LOOMIS DEWITT LEMON

URI LOOMIS OLE OLSON

WILLIAM TUTTLE NELS. OLSON

WILLIAM CARROLL TORY OLSON

GEORGE LAMB JAN. TOMSON

THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY THE STATE OF MINNESOTA TO COMMEMORATE THE BATTLES AND INCIDENTS OF THE SIOUX INDIAN WAR OF 1862, WHICH PARTICULARLY RELATE TO THE TOWN OF NEW ULM. 1890.

HONORED BY THE MEMORY OF THE CITIZENS OF BLUE EARTH, NICOLLET, LE SUEUR AND ADJACENT COUNTIES WHO SO GALLANTLY CAME TO THE RESCUE OF THEIR NEIGHBORS OF BROWN COUNTY AND BY THEIR PROMPT ACTION AND BRAVERY AIDED THE INHABITANTS IN DEFEATING THE ENEMY IN THE TWO BATTLES OF NEW ULM, WHEREBY THE DEPREDATIONS OF THE SAVAGES WERE CONFINED TO THE BORDER, WHICH WOULD OTHERWISE HAVE EXTENDED INTO THE HEART OF THE STATE.

THE SIOUX INDIANS LOCATED AT THIS RED WOOD AND YELLOW MEDICINE AGENCIES ON THE UPPER WATERS OF THE MINNESOTA RIVER BROKE INTO OPEN REBELLION ON THE 18TH DAY OF AUGUST 1862. THEY MASSACRED NEARLY ALL THE WHITES IN AND ABOUT THE AGENCIES UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE CHIEF LITTLE CROW. THEY PROCEEDED DOWN THE RIVER TOWARD NEW ULM AND ON THE 19TH OF AUGUST ENTERED THE SETTLEMENT OF MILFORD, ABOUT SEVEN MILES WEST OF NEW ULM AND KILLED MANY OF THE INHABITANTS . ON THE AFTERNOON OF THE 19TH OF AUGUST A FORCE OF ABOUT ONE HUNDRED WARRIORS ATTACKED THE TOWN OF NEW ULM, KILLING SEVERAL OF THE CITIZENS AND BURNING A NUMBER OF BUILDINGS BUT DID NOT CARRY THE BARRICADES WHICH HAD BEEN HASTILY THROWN UP;

 WHILE THE BATTLE WAS IN PROGRESS, THE ADVANCE OF CAPTAIN CHARLES E. FLANDRAUS COMPANY FROM NICOLLET COUNTY, ABOUT FIFTEEN STRONG, UNDER THE COMMAND OF L.M. BOARDMAN, ENTERED THE TOWN AND THE SAVAGES WITHDREW.  THE DEFENSE UP TO THIS TIME WAS IN CHARGE OF CAPTAIN JACOB NIX AT 9 P.M. OF THE 19TH OF AUGUST, A LARGE FORCE, CONSISTING OF CAPTAIN FLANDRAUS COMPANY FROM NICOLLET COUNTY. TOGETHER WITH A COMPANY FROM LE SUEUR COUNTY ARRIVED AND TOOK POSSESSION OF THE TOWN. REINFORCEMENTS TO THE NUMBER OF SEVERAL HUNDRED SUBSEQUENTLY ARRIVED, ON THE 20TH CAPTAIN FLANDRAU WAS CHOSEN COMMANDER IN CHIEF AND THE DEFENSES WERE STRENGTHENED.

ON THE 23RD, THE INDIANS, SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY STRONG, AGAIN ATTACKED NEW ULM AT HALF PAST NINE IN THE MORNING AND BESIEGED IT UNTIL NOON OF THE 24TH. THE ASSAULT WAS VIGOROUSLY EXECUTED AND DESPERATELY RESISTED. ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY BUILDINGS WERE DESTROYED IN THE CONTEST LEAVING OF THE TOWN SUCH PART ONLY AS LAY WITHIN THE BARRICADES. OF THE DEFENDERS THIRTY-FOUR WERE KILLED AND ABOUT SIXTY WOUNDED, REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVED AT NOON OF THE 24TH UNDER CAPTAIN COX OF ST. PETER. ON THE 25TH THE TOWN WAS EVACUATED AND THE INHABITANTS ALL SAFELY CONVEYED TO MANKATO.

ROSTER OF THOSE KILLED IN THE BATTLES OF NEW ULM CAPT. JOHN BELMS CO. OF NEW ULM 11TH REGT STATE MILITIA. G.W. OTTO BARTH, WILLIAM ENGLAND, MATTHIAS MEYER, LEOPOLD SENZKE, JACOB CASTOR, JULIUS KIRSCHSTEIN, AUGUST ROEPKE. LE SUEUR TIGERS NO. 1, CAPT. WILLIAM DELLAUGHTER 1ST LIEUT. A.M. EDWARDS, WILLIAM LUSKY LE SUEUR TIGERS NO. 2, CAPT. E.C. SAUNDERS. 5TH SERGT. WILLIAM MALONEY, MATHEW AHERIN, WASHINGTON KULP. CAPT. WILLIAM BIERBAUERS MANKATO CO. NEWEL E. HOUGHTON, WILLIAM NICHOLSON. CAPT. CHARLES E. FLANDRAUS CO. ST. PETER FRONTIER GUARDS 1ST LIEUT. WM. B. DODD, MAX HAACK, JERRY QUANE, JOHN SUMMERS, RUFUS HUGGINS, LUKE SMITH.

CAPT. LOUIS BUGGERT’S  Co.

CAPT. LOUIS BUGGERT.

NEW ULM Co.

FERDINAND KRAUSE,

AUGUST RIEMANN.

MILFORD CO

JACOB HAEBERLE After visiting the monument, we headed to the gorgeous gingerbread looking Historical Museum! This building used to be a post office in the early 1900's. Now it is filled with wonderful displays of history for Brown County and the city of New Ulm.  This painting is supposed to be New Ulm in 1960 by artist Carl Pfaender -1962 More paintings of the Dakota war Buffalo...  Jacob and Ryan loved the canon and old gun displays  Jacob pointed out that this canon was quite a bit smaller than the ones he saw when he visited Gettysburg. Here are some Dakota Indian Children's clothes and toys             Ryan is constantly drawn to old electronics..He is fascinated by how far technology has come in such a short amount of time! He especially loves computers!!! His eyes lit up when he saw this old Radio Shack one!  I told the kids about  the first time I saw a person  walking down a sidewalk while talking on one of the first cell phones and how I thought it was crazy. It just looked weird for the guy to  be walking around out in public talking on the phone!  My oh my... how times truly have changed!

In 1874, Minnesota had a huge grasshopper plague. The boys and I were very glad that this was not a summer like that!  We did not want to run into tons of grasshoppers!  We loved the cartoon that was on display at the museum. A bit of humor over something that was horrible for the farmers!

 I have lived through summers where there were tons of grasshoppers all over the streets and yards when I lived in Montana as a child. I thought it was so gross riding my bike around the block and accidentally crushing them with my tires! I remember this one time while riding my bike with my older sister,  I saw one hop up and land on her lips as she rode beside me!  She couldn't scream because she was afraid it would hop into her mouth.  She hummed in a panic as loud as she could and I almost crashed my bike due to laughing so hard! Oh my! The memories!!

I thought that the amount we had back then was gross... having a huge plague of them like what swarmed down on the Midwest in 1874 would have been incredibly awful!!!!

After our wonderful museum visit, we were off again and hitting the road... headed for St. Paul and Minneapolis!

We were ready for more adventures!