7/14/2010:
Nearly 150 years ago, during the brutally hot summer of 1863, the army of General Henry H. Sibley struggled north through Dakota Territory. Their destination: Devils Lake, the reported campsite of Chief Little Crow's band of Mdewakanton Santee Dakota held responsible for a series of violent raids against Minnesotan settlements a year earlier. Sibley and his men set out from Camp Pope, Minnesota in early spring, crossing into Dakota Territory on June 24. By this date in 1863, the Army group had made its way to what is now Valley City, North Dakota.
Army life on the nineteenth century Western frontier was anything but easy. In an often futile attempt to escape the daily heat, US forces generally sounded reveille at 2 A.M. and broke camp at 4 o'clock each morning. But on some days, they need not have bothered. While the summer of '63 has long been remembered for its cruel heat, that particular 14th of July was so cold the men were forced to put on whatever protective covering they could find.
Finally, as the morning wore on, the sun worked its way over the golden prairie, and the men began to warm. Yet, even in the pleasant weather, the gentle, yet incessant upward slope made the day's march fatiguing none-the-less. Finally, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon the Army stopped for the day, naming their evening's campsite for the Regimental Surgeon of the 10th Minnesota Infantry, Dr. Samuel B. Sheardown. The army had "only" traveled 18 miles on the rugged prairie, but the men were thoroughly spent. Yet the hard day's march was worth the trouble. Upon reaching their new camping spot, the soldiers were treated to a beautiful view of the Sheyenne River valley spread out below the bluffs upon which Camp Sheardown was positioned. Capturing the men's mood as they overlooked the awe-inspiring scenery are the notes from Henry J. Hagadorn, private in Company H of the Seventh Minnesota.
"...as I sit on the bluff ½ miles from the Camp and look on the scene before me, my mind wanders back to the East and my Native State but of all the beauties there I have seen none that will compare with this spot so wild and uninhabited."
Today nothing remains of Camp Sheardown, yet the spot that so captured the imagination of Private Hagadorn is still remembered. Acquired by the State Historical Society in 1925, the camp is marked with a metal plaque fixed to a large prairie stone overlooking the still beautiful Sheyenne River valley.
Dakota Datebook written by Lane Sunwall
Sources
Daniels, Arthur M. A Journal of Sibley's Indian Expedition During the Summer of 1863 and Record of Troops Employed. Minneapolis: J.D. Thueson, 1980.
Pritchett, John Perry. "Notes and Documents on the March with Sibley in 1863: The Diary of Private Henry J. Hagadorn." North Dakota Historical Quarterly 5, no. 1 (1930): 103-129.
Snortland, J. Signe, ed. A Traveler's Companion to North Dakota State Historic Sites. Bismarck, ND: State Historical Society of North Dakota, 1996.
"State Historical Society of North Dakota Strategic Long Range Plan", State Historical Society of North Dakota http://www.nd.gov/hist/LRPlan.htm (accessed January 19, 2009).