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Civil War Soldiers - Sibley
| Sibley, Henry H., brigadier-general,
U.S. Army, was born in Detroit, Mich., Feb. 20, 1811. He was graduated
at Detroit Academy, took a special course in Greek and Latin and read
law, but in 1829 became clerk to the sutler at Sault Ste. Marie. Soon
afterward he took a local agency of John Jacob Astor's fur company,
and, after being in 1832-34 a purchasing agent, he was given an
interest in the company and took charge of its business in the
territory north of Lake Pepin, extending to the British line and west
to the head waters of the tributaries of the Missouri river. In 1834
he reached the mouth of the Minnesota river, on a trip for the
company, and, establishing his headquarters at St. Peters (now
Mendota), built the first stone house within the present limits of
Minnesota. Two years afterward he was appointed by Gov. Chambers of
Iowa, a justice of the peace. In 1848 he was elected a delegate from
Wisconsin territory to Congress, and there secured the passage of a
bill for the creation of Minnesota territory. He was re-elected to
Congress for two terms; in 1857 took part in the constitutional
convention and was elected to the territorial legislature; and on the
admission of Minnesota as a state, in 1858, he was elected its first
governor, as a Democrat. In 1862, at the time of the Sioux Indian
outbreak, he organized and commanded the troops raised for the
protection of the frontier settlers and was commissioned a
brigadier-general. During this campaign he took about 2,000 Indian
prisoners, tried more than 400 of them by court-martial, and on Dec.
26 executed thirty-eight at one time, only President Lincoln's direct
orders preventing the execution of many more. Gen. Sibley was
brevetted major-general, Nov. 29, 1865, was relieved of his command in
Minnesota in Aug., 1866, and was detailed as a member of a commission
to negotiate treaties with the Sioux and other hostiles along the
upper Missouri river. In 1871 he served another term in the
legislature, and afterward lived quietly in St. Paul. He was a regent
of the state university, president of the state normal school board,
and a member of the United States board of Indian commissioners. He
died in St. Paul on Feb. 18, 1891. Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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