Waupaca Indian Scare

 

THE CRITERION

Page 131, Date Unknown

 

A WAUPACA INDIAN SCARE

A TRUE STORY

 

            It was in the fall of the year when the days were very short and the air had grown to be very cool, that a camping party of boys sat around their last campfire listening to their guide, who had seen the better part of three score years or more, and who had been asked to tell some stories of olden times.  It was around this campfire that I heard the following story.

            “In the fall of 1864, Waupaca, like numerous other places in the North, was almost destitute of able-bodied men, for, at the first call to arms, they had rushed to the front, leaving their homes under the protection of the women and children and a few old men.  Just at this time came the awful news of the Minnesota Indian massacre, which in itself was enough to strike fear in the calmest hearts.  But that was not all.  It was reported that several Indian tribes in the counties surrounding Waupaca were in a state of great unrest and on the verge of warfare.  From then on pandemonium reigned, people barricaded their doors, loaded to the muzzle all of the guns that could be found, brought into their houses every available weapon, such as axes and pitchforks, and placed them where they could be used at a moment’s notice. It was just at this juncture while on my way home from school one day, that I suddenly became horrified at seeing two Indian ponies hitched to a tree just in front of my house.  I could go no further, but keeping out of sight as much as possible, I rapidly made my way back to the house of our nearest neighbor and told them of the awful fate that had probably befell all of those who were left at home.  They immediately made plans for the defense of their home and sent me on to warn other neighbors, but it was almost useless to go farther, for the news had spread so fast, and had gained such great volume as it went from lip to lip, that at dusk every person in the neighborhood had prepared for the worst.  One woman, having six children under her care, could not flee from her home, so grabbing them up she placed them one by one in several fence corners, but they set up such a plaintive crying that it only made their places more conspicuous for a night attack, so she gathered up her children and returned to the home.

            “The last person that I warned took the situation more coolly and instead of fleeing away to the woods or barricading his doors, he went on horseback to the supposed scene of action. But all was quiet when he arrived an don being welcomed into the house he found that the alarm had been a false one and that the horses which were seen in front of the house belonged not to savage Indians but to a couple of harmless book agents.”

                                                                                                                        F.F.H., 1909.