“In warmest sympathy, I am, Madam, “JAS. L. FISK, “Capt. and A. Q. M. U. S. A.” • • • • • With high regard, I have the honor to be, Yours, very truly, JAS. L. FISK, Capt. and A. Q. M. Commanding Expedition. ADJUTANT GENERAL’S OFFICE, } WASHINGTON, March 17, 1870. } OFFICIAL EXTRACT. } WM. BEECH, Assistant Adjutant General. STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT G. A. HESSELBERGER. WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb’y 16, 1870. To the Hon. JAMES HARLAN, Chairman Com. Ind. Affairs, U. S. Senate. SIR: I have the honor to make the following statement in relation to the captivity and release of Mrs. Fanny Kelly. In the summer of 1864, an expedition under the command of General Alfred Sully, U. S. A., started against the hostile Sioux in Dakota Territory, of which expedition I was a member, being then an officer, First Lieutenant, in the Sixth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry. Whilst on the expedition, we ascertained that Mrs. Fanny Kelly was a prisoner of the Indians that we were then engaged against. After the command returned to Fort Rice, in Dakota Territory, news was received from Captain Fisk, an officer of the Engineer Department, U. S. A., that he was surrounded, and his train corralled by the same Indians that we had been fighting. I, with others, saw Fisk, and was personally told by him that he had received notes and letters of warning from Mrs. Kelly, telling him that he must not break his train, that the Indians intended to fall upon the two portions, if he did, and to massacre his guard and the emigrants and children with him. In the fall, after the expedition had been abandoned, the troops were scattered at different posts along the Missouri River, I, with my company, being left at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory. About the latter part of November, an Indian came inside the post. I, being officer of the day, asked him what he wanted. He said he came a long way, and wanted to know if I was the “big chief,” if so, he had a paper for me to see. He gave it to me. It was a sheet torn out of a business book, and numbered 76 in the corner. The substance of the letter was as follows: