Dakota Datebook: Palmer's Spring in N.D.

It was on April 23 in 1868 that six soldiers escorting mail from Fort Totten were ambushed by Yankton and Blackfeet Indians in present-day Benson County.

The group had just begun their midday meal when the Indians, seeing that the soldiers had left their weapons in the mail-wagon, launched their attack from behind a limestone boulder; killing three soldiers in the initial two volleys. As the survivors scrambled for their weapons the attackers stole the group’s mules; riding off before the soldiers could mount any real resistance. One survivor, Frank Palmer, an Army courier, returned to Fort Totten to relate the fatal news.

The site of the attack, dubbed Palmer’s Spring, is located ten miles southeast of Esmond, N.D., and was acquired by the State Historical Society in 1936. Today the historical site stands unmarked, remaining unchanged from that hot summer day in 1868.

“Dakota Datebook” is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from the North Dakota Humanities Council. See all the Dakota Datebooks at prairiepublic.org, subscribe to the “Dakota Datebook” podcast, or buy the Dakota Datebook book at shopprairiepublic.org.“