The Battle of Birch Coulee occurred on September 2–3, 1862, and resulted in the heaviest casualties suffered by U.S. forces during the Dakota War of 1862. The battle occurred after a group of Dakota warriors followed a U.S. burial expedition, including volunteer infantry, mounted guards and civilians, to an exposed plain where they were setting up camp. That night, 200 Dakota soldiers surrounded the camp and ambushed the Birch Coulee campsite in the early morning, commencing a siege that lasted for over 30 hours, until the arrival of reinforcements and artillery led by Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley.
Background
After the Battle of Fort Ridgely and the Battle of New Ulm, Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley was planning to retaliate against Little Crow and the belligerent Dakota and obtain the release of the settlers they were holding captive. While Sibley was training his inexperienced soldiers and struggling to procure arms, family and friends of settlers who had been killed reminded him that their bodies remained unburied. On August 29, Sibley sent two scouts north who reported back that the Dakota were camped well north of the Yellow Medicine River, near the missions. Sibley concluded that it was safe to send an expedition to bury the dead at the Lower Sioux Agency and near Beaver Creek and Birch Coulee, and ascertain what had happened to Colonel John S. Marsh and his soldiers on August 18. He sent a burial party of 153 men from Fort Ridgely on August 31, 1862.
On the evening of August 31, warriors in Little Crow's camp were divided about what course to follow. Mdewakanton scouts had reported sighting more troops arriving at Fort Ridgely. After a heated debate, the decision was made to split into two groups. Over 100 men followed Taoyateduta Little Crow and Walker Among Sacred Stones (Tukanmani) into the "Big Woods" west of Hutchinson, where they planned to hit Cedar Mills for flour and disrupt Sibley's supply trains heading to Fort Ridgely. Meanwhile, Gray Bird (Zitkahtahhota), Mankato, Big Eagle (Wamditanka) and others would lead more than 200 soldiers, plus many women and wagons, south along the river with the objective of collecting plunder left behind in Little Crow's village and in New Ulm, which had been abandoned.
The burial detail
On August 31, Sibley sent two militia units along with 17 teamsters from Fort Ridgely who would bury the dead: Company A of the 6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment commanded by Captain Hiram P. Grant, and Company A of the Cullen Frontier Guards, including 70 mounted men under Captain Joseph Anderson. They were accompanied by approximately 20 civilians who had asked to join the burial party, including former Indian agent Major Joseph R. Brown, who would be able to lend his expertise in the Dakota "character and country." Brown himself was looking for his wife and children, unaware that they were alive and safe in the "friendly" Dakota camp with Gabriel Renville (Ti'wakan) after being rescued by Akipa on August 23.
Symptomatic of the challenges in coordinating the volunteer militia, the question of whether Grant or Brown was actually in command of the expedition became a topic of major controversy in the disastrous aftermath of the battle, continuing among historians today. (See "Aftermath" below.) Written accounts by Grant and a member of the burial party, Robert K. Boyd, make it clear that Captain Grant believed he was in command and that Major Brown was merely in an advisory capacity. Captain Anderson, on the other hand, was told from the start that the commander of the expedition was Major Joseph R. Brown, and later insisted he never took a single order from Grant.
The burial expedition
On the first day, the combined forces left Fort Ridgely in the direction of the Lower Sioux Agency. After about four miles, they stopped at a farmhouse in the vicinity of Redwood Ferry where a doctor and others had been killed. Finding dozens of bodies on both sides of the road, they buried an estimated 28 victims.
On the second day, after burying more bodies near the log house, the company split up. Grant's group went north into the Beaver Creek region and buried 30 more bodies, many of which were severely decomposed. They also found a wounded survivor, Justina Kreiger, who had been shot in the back.
Brown and Anderson's group headed for the Lower Sioux Agency. On the way, they found and buried many bodies along the side of the road, including Captain John S. Marsh's men and some civilians. After crossing the river by horse and ferry and receiving the "all clear" from several skirmishers who had gone ahead, the group advanced up the hill and entered the ruins of the agency, where they stopped to bury more bodies. Brown and Anderson then left ahead of the group to reconnoiter Little Crow's abandoned village, where Brown stopped Anderson from burning down Little Crow's house. By the end of the day, the group had buried at least 17 bodies; several civilians returned to the fort after burying their relatives.
Campsite at Birch Coulee
After dark on the evening of September 1, Captain Grant set up camp "on the prairie near a narrow valley known as Birch Coulee." Major Brown and Captain Anderson and their men joined the camp soon afterwards. The two detachments had buried more than 75 bodies without encountering any Dakota. According to Boyd, "No Indians had been seen although our officers had made diligent search for them across the prairie with their field glasses. Major Brown did not think there were any Indians in that vicinity, and at this camp assured the men that they were just as safe as if they were in their own homes."
Little thought was given to the location of the campsite, which was on an exposed plain near the coulee, which was covered heavily with trees and tall grass. Also, since most of the burial detail felt themselves safe, they failed to take precautions against attack such as digging entrenchments and posting sentries far enough from camp to give ample warning.
Instead, the men placed their 20 wagons in a horseshoe shape and tied them together with ropes, enclosing about one-half acre of land. The horses were left to graze in the open part of the corral on the east side, about 200 yards west of the coulee. Tents were pitched inside the corral, guards were posted just outside the wagons, and the men in the company went to sleep. One of Anderson's men, mixed-blood soldier Joseph Coursolle (Hinhankaga), later recounted, "We were dog tired, but in spite of 'Major' Brown's assurance, many of us, mostly those with Sioux blood, dug shallow holes to lie in. These little holes saved the lives of many!"
Meanwhile, the Dakota party including Gray Bird, Mankato, Big Eagle and Red Legs and more than 200 men had reached the Lower Sioux Agency in the afternoon. Upon reaching Little Crow's village, the men in advance had seen a column of mounted men and wagons to the north, moving east; they also saw signs that "white men" had been there a few hours prior, and sent four or five scouts to follow them, "creeping across the prairie like so many ants." After sundown, they received word that Brown's men had set up camp at the head of Birch Coulee. Big Eagle later recalled: "At the time, we did not know there were two companies there. We thought the company of mounted men was all, and that there were not more than 75 men."
The leaders of the group agreed that the Birch Coulee campsite was an easy target and planned an attack in the early morning.
Battle
The ambush
During the night, Gray Bird, along with chiefs Red Legs, Big Eagle, and Mankato crossed the Minnesota River and surrounded the camp.
Big Eagle recounted: "We felt sure we could capture it, and that 200 men would be enough for the undertaking... I had about thirty men. Nearly all the Indians had double-barreled shotguns, and we loaded them with buckshot and large bullets called 'trader's balls.' After dark we started, crossed the river and valley, went up the bluffs and on the prairie, and soon we saw the white tents and the wagons of the camp. We had no difficulty in surrounding the camp. The pickets were only a little way from it. I led my men up from the west through the grass and took up a position 200 yards from the camp, behind a small knoll or elevation. Red Legs took his men into the coulie east of the camp. Mankato ('Blue Earth') had some of his men in the coulie and some on the prairie. Gray Bird and his men were mostly on the prairie."
At 4:30 in the morning on September 2, one of the guards at the Birch Coulee campsite saw two figures crawling through the grass and fired. The Dakota commenced their ambush immediately, killing at least a dozen men, wounding thirty, and killing most of their horses within the first few minutes.
Many of Grant's soldiers were wounded or killed as they sprung awake and left their tents in shock and confusion, looking for cover. The soldiers had, however, gone to sleep with their muskets loaded, and many were able to return fire, crouching behind the fallen horses they used as barricades, and driving back the Dakota warriors who approached the wagons.
While most horses were hit by the first volley, a few broke loose and galloped wildly in terror. Soon, only one horse was left alive in the campsite. Coursolle recalled, "The unscathed horse seemed to have a charmed life and we clung to a faint hope that somebody might mount him and dash through the besieging braves to summon relief from Fort Ridgely. But the Indians concentrated their fire and finally the poor beast crumpled and fell." According to Big Eagle, one horse was captured by Buffalo Ghost.
At least two men in the campsite completely panicked, ran out and were shot down by the Dakota, including Peter Boyer, one of Anderson's "mixed-blood" mounted guards whom he later accused of deserting, and Jonathan Henderson, a settler who had buried his wife and children the day before.
To the alarm of Dr. Jared W. Daniels, Captain Grant himself was heard shouting, "We all shall be scalped!" The infantry in particular was young and inexperienced. Robert K. Boyd, who was seventeen years old himself at the time, wrote, "It should be considered that our men were new recruits, nearly all ignorant as to the use of arms and carrying army rifles which were strange to them; not one of the guns ever having been fired at a target. Not over three shots had been fired by any one of our infantry force, and even these shots were not aimed at any definite object or target."
Captain Anderson, on the other hand, was described by another soldier as "cool and unconcerned as an iceberg" as he took charge of the defense. Major Brown had taken a ball in the side of his neck and was treated by Dr. Daniels, the former government physician at the Upper Sioux Agency, who also tended to the other wounded.
The siege
The heaviest part of the fight at Birch Coulee lasted about an hour, but the siege would continue well into the next day.
As the sun rose, many of the men – including "mixed-blood" traders Alexander Faribault and Jack Frazer, and soldiers including Private A.P. Connolly – used bayonets, knives, tin plates and the four shovels they had to dig rifle pits and settle in for a long siege.
As the siege dragged on, both sides resorted to conserving ammunition and fired only occasionally over the course of the day. Brown's men had to ration what little water and food they had as they suffered in the hot sun. Captain Anderson later reported, "The men fought throughout the whole engagement without water and provisions except 1/4 of a hard cracker to each man and about 1 ounce of raw cabbage to a man, and joked each other freely in regard to their 'heavy' diet."
In contrast, the Dakota warriors were situated comfortably. As Big Eagle explained, "We had an easy time of it. We could crawl through the grass and into the coulie and get water when we wanted it, and after a few hours our women crossed the river and came up near the bluff and cooked for us, and we could go back and eat and then return to the fight. We did not lose many men. Indeed, I only saw two dead Indians, and I never heard that any more were killed."