William E. Seelye's memories of service at Fort Ripley in the early 1860s were printed in The Brainerd Dispatch in November 1918:
I enlisted in Co. A. Eighth Minnesota from Anoka, Aug. 14, 1862. About Oct. 1 we were sent to Fort Ripley, marching about 20 miles a day. After we had been at the Fort where we built additional block houses for defense if necessary, our company was sent to the Chippewa agency on the Crow Wing river above Old Crow Wing.
There was a large church, a warehouse on the river where small flat bottomed steamers came up from Sauk Rapids and six saloons, probably about 200 people.
At the agency there were about 60 whites besides our company.
During the winter there were about 500 Chippewas camped on the west side of the Crow Wing in the hardwood flats opposite our barracks. Early in the fall the Sioux outbreak occurred and Hole-in-the-Day, chief of the Chippewas, (wanted) to join the Sioux and they held several pow wows but the older Indians prevailed.
One of the young Indians made a speech in which he went over the wrongs of the Indians and their great numbers scattered all over the north of America and they were like the grains of sand in a handful of fine sand on the beach of a lake.
After he was through an old Indian spoke and said he had been to Washington and the whites had big guns which would destroy the Indians and their numbers were like the grains of sand on the whole shore of the lake.
Hole-in-the-Day was a fine looking man, dressing in broadcloth, very proud and haughty and a great revolver shot. One day when the soldiers were shooting at a silver quarter on the side of a block house with rifles for a pool made by each soldier contributing a quarter. Hole in the Day came among and asked if he could shoot. The soldiers said yes, but he would need a rifle. He pulled out his long six-shooter revolver, fired once, hit the quarter, gathered in the pool and walked off. He was afterward shot from ambush in the back by two Indians.
"Soon after we came we received orders to go to Crow Wing, close the saloons and destroy the liquor. I was among those who were sent. We commenced on the saloon up river and we took them in rotation.
One Bill Wade owned the last and was crazy with drink. He went in ahead of us and when Capt. Cady and his 25 men were all inside, Wade opened the stove door, grabbed a fire brand in his naked hand, straightened up to run behind the bar when his partner named Jenkins rushed in and knocked him down.
But Wade threw the brand and the sparks flew over the end of the building. Behind the bar he had a 25-pound keg of powder with the head open and intended to blow up the building and everything in it. It showed what whiskey can do. The soldiers beat and kicked him to almost a pulp, but he did not die. But for Jenkins, I would not be telling this story.
