Battle of Acton

After being repulsed at Fort Ridgely and New Ulm, Dakota leaders Little Crow, Mankato, and Big Eagle planned their next course of action. Little Crow wished to strike north into the Big Woods. He believed the local settlements to be lightly defended and that supplies such as grain and livestock were plentiful.[1] Success in the Big Woods may have also allowed Little Crow to fall on the northern flank of Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley at Fort Ridgely. Mankato and Big Eagle, however, chose to continue their campaign along the Minnesota River.[1]

Realizing the vulnerability of the settlers of central Minnesota, the U.S. Volunteer Army preemptively dispatched mustering units from Fort Snelling to reinforce and protect the frontier. Among these was Captain Richard Strout's detachment of the Tenth Minnesota Infantry Regiment. On this journey, Strout's company comprised of 64 men, most of whom originally enlisted for the Civil War or were civilian volunteers seeking to protect their communities.[2] Strout's command marched on orders to patrol the areas around Hutchinson, Acton and Forest City, dated August 24.[3] On September 2 they camped 2½ miles northwest of the home of Robinson Jones,[4] where the murder of Jones and several others by four young Dakota men on August 17, in what was later termed the Acton Incident, had shed the first blood of the conflict.[3]

Over the night of September 2–3 messengers from Forest City warned Strout that hostile Dakota were camped nearby with 100–300 warriors.[2][5] A party of ten Dakota observed the exchange from a nearby house and hurried back to alert Little Crow that the Minnesotans had been warned.[2] With the element of surprise lost, the Chief waited until morning to attack. Strout prepared his company to march at dawn, and stepped off heading southeast along the Pembina-Henderson trail, with 25 miles between his command and the fortified town of Hutchinson.[4]

Chief Little Crow

Captain Richard Strout

As Strout's command came near Long Lake, they observed the glistening of gun barrels in the distance. Strout initially believed this to be a relief column;[2] this was not the case. The scouts ahead of the column on Kelley's Bluff soon heard gunfire and war cries as enemy warriors burst forward. 20 men of the detachment charged with bayonets up the bluff;[6] giving time for the rest of the men to come up and fight from higher ground. Once all of Strout's command was in position, the only thing left to do was to decide on whether to fall back on Hutchinson or fight entrenched on the Bluff. Some scouts including Albert H. DeLong, a well-known local frontiersman,[6] already left the field in an effort to bring reinforcements from Hutchinson.

Strout decided that remaining on Kelley's Bluff would fatally isolate his company. The dead were left behind and the wounded were loaded on wagons.[6] The Tenth continued their retreat unmolested until they reached Cedar Mills. Strout's column was then attacked in the front, rear, and flanks by Dakota fighting both on foot and horseback. Food and supplies loaded in the wagons were dumped in exchange for speed. Despite their lack of training and experience, the Minnesotans fought well and poured several volleys into the enemy. The Santee-Sioux then circled around once more to the rear of the column and sewed panic among many of Strout's men. He managed to rally them, and finally broke through the line entirely. However, the detachment continued to be attacked in a six-hour running match along the final eight miles to Hutchinson.[2] Relief finally arrived when DeLong returned with a group of militia from there.[6]

As his column arrived in Hutchinson, Strout immediately assumed command of the settlement's defenses.[5] The Captain would count 3 killed and 15 wounded outright, but some estimates put the number of wounded as high as 18 or 23.[5][2] At least two-three of the wounded men would die of wounds after the battle in the Hutchinson Hotel being used as a hospital.[6][2] Dakota casualties are unknown. The next day, Little Crow attacked the settlements of Hutchinson and Forest City, burning and looting numerous outlying buildings but failing to breach either town's defenses, forcing the Chief to withdraw southwest to friendlier ground. Captain Strout's company of the Tenth Minnesota would later become Company B of the Ninth Minnesota Infantry Regiment.[2]