"There are in St. Paul at the present time, 23 widows, whose husbands were killed by the Indians. They have in the aggregate 57 children, mostly small and many of them infants. There are also four children who lost both parents. . . . There are so many to be provided for, here and elsewhere, that it is impossible to prevent suffering."
St. Paul Daily Union, December 22, 1862
The war left an indelible mark on the region’s settlers and their descendants.
Children were left orphaned, with no social-service agencies in place to see to their needs. Widows struggled to maintain homes and farmsteads. The communities of Mankato and St. Peter became ad hoc refugee camps. As people crowded into hastily assembled lodgings, diseases spread like wildfire.
The community of
New Ulm was particularly devastated by the war. On August 25, after two battles had left most of the town in ashes, about 2,000 residents of New Ulm and outlying areas were evacuated to Mankato, St. Peter, and St. Paul.