Anton Rost and the Dakota War of 1862

As I promised, here are the bare bones of the story of my ancestor during the Dakota War of 1862. His name was Anton Rost, and he and his family were living in Henderson, Sibley County. Anton was a butcher, and his wife Rosina ran the local hotel. The story was published in Rosina's obituary in 1913 [St. Peter Free Press, 11 Oct 1913] (but not in his!), after the family had moved to St. Peter, Nicollet County.

"In attempting to drive across the ice of the Red River it gave way and precipitated him and team into the icy water. Mr. Rost was unable to swim but managed to unhook the horses. The team, however, got away from him and left him struggling alone in the water. He succeeded to keep afloat until he reached a clump of willows in mid-stream and after being in the water for several hours attracted the attention of an Indian who rescued him. This Indian never afterwards failed to recall the attention of Mr. Rost to the fact that he had saved his life. Just before the Indian outbreak his recuer came to him and told him of the plans of the Indians, and requested Mr. Rost to take him and his family with him until the uprising had been put down. This Indian and family stayed with Mr. Rost at Henderson until hostilities were at an end."

I had a lot of questions. Is the story true? How did they take in the Indians? Who were they? Since Anton's mishap happened on the Red River in NW Minnesota, it's most likely the Indian family were Upper Sioux. When had Anton gone through the ice and specifically where? Basically, I wanted to know what was fact in the story, and what was oral tradition?

The first step was sorting out what information could be found in other records. Census records assured me that the family was in Henderson, and various other sources told me he was a butcher and she ran the hotel. Since he was reportedly delivering beef to the Indians, I looked for a contract with the U.S. Government. I found payment records for deliveries for the Upper Sioux, on order of John Grininger, as well as deliveries to the Lower Sioux. Nothing about going through the ice, nor a rescue by an Indian, however. On the other hand, it did mean that he could have developed relationships with individual Dakota, and could have known his rescuer. There are many stories of such relationships, including other warnings of the outbreak by Indians to settlers.

I looked at the newspapers for Henderson for the last part of 1862, and found no pertinent reference. Though the family had arrived in the U.S. in 1855, they lived first in Washington county, before heading for Henderson. His first land purchase in Henderson was in January 1858 [land records, Sibley county], but they could have been there earlier.

Was the hotel operational during the Dakota War? The answer to that is unequivocally "Yes!" Anton received payments for board and room provided to the military forces that stayed there [Claims from the Dakota Conflict, in 4 volumes], but he and/or Rosina are not mentioned in the 5th volume to be published in March on Emergency Aid for the Refugees. They didn't move to St. Peter until 1865.

So soldiers were staying at the hotel as they passed through town. That could be scary for an Indian, even if a non-combatant with a family. Could it be a mixed-blood family, who was fleeing from the necessity to join Little Crow? How would Anton protect them? The story suggests they remained in the Minnesota River valley. Where did they go afterwards? Even after my attempts to find evidence to prove the details of the family story, my questions haven't gone away.

Is this family story factual or true? While I couldn't identify collaborative evidence for all of the facts in the story, I didn't find any that suggests that it didn't happen either. And there is definitely enough other supporting evidence for a few of the facts to make me a believer of the truth in it.

Incidentally, any light you can shed on this story would be welcome! I'd still like to know who that Indian was and what happened to him and his family.


Your stories wanted
Has your ancestors' stories about the Dakota Conflict been passed along in your family? Share it with others, and pass it along here. You just may find a cousin who holds the key.