colonel was hit three times, two bullets passing through his clothes, grazing the skin, without serious injury, and one cutting a painful but not dangerous wound across his stomach. The result of the fight was six killed and nine wounded on the part of the troops. One of the Indian police was also killed, and seven citizens wounded, some seriously. No estimate has ever been satisfactorily obtained of the loss of the enemy. The most reliable account of the number of his forces engaged is from nineteen to thirty, and if I should venture an estimate of his losses, based upon my experience of his ability to select a vantage ground, and take care of himself, I would put it at practically nothing. The killed and wounded were brought to Fort Snelling, the killed buried with military honors, and the wounded properly cared for. This event adds one more to the long list of fatal errors committed by our military forces in dealing with the Indians of the Northwest. They should never be attacked without a force sufficient to demonstrate the superiority of the whites in all cases and under all circumstances. Many a valuable life has been thus unnecessarily lost. Major Wilkinson, who lost his life in this encounter, was a man who had earned an enviable record in the army, and was much beloved by his many friends and acquaintances in Minnesota. The principal Indian engaged in this fight has been called, in every newspaper and other reports of it, Bug-a-ma-ge-shig; but I have succeeded in obtaining his real name from the highest authority. The name, Pug-on-a-ke-shig, is the Chippewa for "Hole-in-the-day." Shortly after the return of the troops to Fort Snelling the settlers about Cass and Leech lakes became uneasy, and deluged the governor with telegrams for protection. The national guard or state troops had nearly all been mustered into the United States service for duty in the war with Spain, but the Fourteenth Regiment was in St. Paul, awaiting muster out, and the governor telegraphed to the war department at Washington to send enough of them to the front to quiet the fears of the settlers. This was declined, and the governor at once ordered out two batteries of artillery, all the state troops that were available, and sent them to the scene of the troubles, and then sent his celebrated telegram to the war department, which may be called the "Minnesota Declaration of Independence." It ran as follows: "Oct. 8, 1898. "_H. C. Corbin, Adjutant General, Washington, D. C.:_