refreshed privates of the Fourth U.S. Infantry,
coming forth from the public-houses of that
town, took the road to the Fort without delay.

A reason for the summons ran through the
town—The Indians are Coming! They
have destroyed all settlements within the
next hundred miles! They are up in arms
all around! Thousands more of the northern
tribes are rapidly approaching from the Red
River! In a few days they will be at our gates!

Half-an-hour afterwards, the alarm-bell
rang; the general was beaten by at least
a dozen drummers; signal-horns and trumpets
aroused every street. The whole town
was raised in a few minutes; for, in America,
everybody is a soldier. Eight thousand
soldiers, arms in hand, were mustered at eleven
o'clock, in the market-place of Saint Paul.

There were the German gymnastic
companies called the Turners, clad in coarse
linen, with an uniform of red neckerchiefs
and scarfs, the emblems of their hatred of
tyranny. They formed three battalions of a
thousand men each, and a fine body they
were. Next to them, drawn up in files,
stood the other volunteer companies—the
Minnesota Riflemen, the Saint Paul Fusileers,
the Greys, the Blues, and several dozens
more, all variously dressed, but all well armed.
Then, two squadrons of light dragoons marched
up; and at last a battery of citizen artillery
galloped into the square. This looked like
earnest: as I am a soldier myself, my
heart was gladdened at the sight. I could
have envied the young fellow who commanded
those three German battalions. "Silence
in the ranks!" he cried, when the colours
were brought in. "Present arms!" The
muskets clattered, and the band fell in with
a tune strictly prohibited in the grand-duchy
of Baden, when the red colours were fluttered
in the morning air.

I knew that the Indians could not arrive
before the day after the next, even in case
they made every possible effort, which of
course I hoped they would. Did these eight
thousand citizen soldiers mean to stay in the
market-place until that time? If we had
been in Saxony, I should have thought that,
very probable. Many and many a time, when
I was there in eighteen hundred and forty-
eight, have we been under arms for twenty-
four hours together, because a tumult was
expected to take place in some small village
fifteen miles away. But I could hardly think
the same tactics likely to prevail in the
United States.

At last I heard what was proposed. The
chiefs of all the different volunteer corps had
resolved to declare to the commandant of
Fort Snelling their readiness to place
themselves under his command, requesting him to
determine at once whither and when he
wanted them to march. This resolution was
communicated to the troops, and received with
hearty acclamations. The arms were piled;
the cavalry dismounted; the warriors allowed
themselves to become human again; and the
public-houses next the market-place allayed
unbounded thirst for something more than
glory. Two hours afterwards the deputation
returned from Fort Snelling with the answer
of the military commandant. The drums
rattled again; the signal-trumpets sounded;
the foot soldiery went to arms; the dragoons
mounted; the artillerymen hastened to their
guns.

The commandant sent his best compliments
to the assembled militia of Saint Paul,
together with fullest acknowledgment of the war-
like and loyal sentiments displayed by the
same; but, as to the actual assistance offered
to him, he said that there was no need for
it whatever; the two companies of the
garrison despatched by him already to the
seat of action were enough to put a stop to
the disturbances. Without, therefore, wishing
to interfere in any way with the private
inclinations of the citizen soldiers, he thought
it his duty to suggest that they might as well
go back to their usual occupations.

This was a heavy disappointment for eight
thousand heroes. The flame of war began to
blaze up suddenly even in the hearts of those
who had hitherto been very peaceable. There
were some, eager to go to war by all means,
and to fight for their own dear homes, for
wives and children, in spite of the commandant
with his mercenaries and his idlers. Others
laughed, and went home to their dinners. The
German Turners marched off, with their band
playing a national hymn. The market-place
became gradually almost empty, but there
remained one squadron of light dragoons,
whose captain—a watchmaker—had
explained to the men how important and
decisive was the co-operation of cavalry in
any enterprise of war, and how it was, therefore
their duty not to forsake those two
military companies sent from the fort. He
should like to know how they would ever be
able to make prisoners if they had no horse
ready for pursuit? It was only a matter of
a few days, and then he and his brothers in
arms would go back to their shops; but no
good citizen could grudge a few days to the
welfare of the country when that was at
stake, and the territory of Minnesota was
sure not to forget those who had sacrificed
themselves for the assertion of its honour!

Before the martial harangue of the watchmaker
began, the squadron numbered eighty
horses; during the same, its number
diminished rapidly; and when the troop, after
having crossed the river, rode up in a line on
the opposite shore, only forty-two choice men
of his army passed in review before the
gallant captain. They reached Shakopee, on the
Minnesota river, at a late hour of the night,
and continued their march next morning
in a south-westerly direction towards the
theatre of war.

Jordan is a small place, at a distance of
about two hundred miles south-west from