Timeline: Dakota Conflict, Sioux Uprising September 5

Colonel Sibley's personal note to his wife, Sarah Jane, after the Battle of Birch Coulee for this day in history.

     FORT RIDGELY, September 5, 1862 - I am well this morning but sorely fatigued after the forced march  to the rescue of the companies hemmed in by the savages at Birch Coulee, particulars of which I wrote you yesterday. I have placed my commission at the disposal of Governor Ramsey in view of the complaints about delay, etc. etc., and so, perhaps he may relieve me, and permit me to go home, which I am quite anxious to do. The responsibilities of my position are so great that I am deprived of necessary rest. I can hardly sleep at all. The Indians are in force. They retreated in haste when I reached the beleaguered camp at the coulee, but did not go far, as they knew I had no cavalry and could not overtake them with my infantry. We shall have a battle shortly, when I receive the cartridges and rations indispensable for an advance movement. It is hard, indeed, while we are fighting, and doing our best, to have a set of "ninnies and paltroons" abusing us at home.
(From Ancestry, Life, and Times of H.H. Sibley as contained in Blood on the Prairie - A Novel of the Sioux Uprising)

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