Jared Waldo Daniels

Another of my great great grandpas, 
Jared Waldo Daniels, circa 1855

The following is an excerpt from
Encyclopedia
Biography Of Minnesota
History of Minnesota
By Judge Charles E. Flandrau

The Century Publishing and Engraving Company
1900

Jared Waldo Daniels

Jared Waldo Daniels, M. D., was born at Stratford, Coos County, New Hampshire, June 15, 1827, the son of Joseph and Roxana (Hatch) Daniels. His paternal grandfather came from Mendon, Massachusetts, and settled in Stratford, New Hampshire, where he followed farming.  He also owned and operated lumber and flour mills.  He was a man of prominence in local affairs and served as a private soldier in the war for American Independence.  Joseph Daniels, the father of our subject, was also a farmer.  He had two sons and one daughter.  One of the sons, Dr. A. W. Daniels, has been for many years a prominent physician in St. Peter, Minnesota; the other son is the subject of this sketch.  Jared W. Daniels was “bound out” to a farmer when he was four years old. His mother lived to the good old age of eighty-four years, and died at St. Peter, Minnesota.  When Jared was eleven years of age he left the farm and learned the trade of cabinet making.  He attended the common school and spent six years in an academy, working his trade to pay his way.  After leaving the academy, he went to Boston and studied medicine with his uncle, Dr. B. F. Hatch.  He then attended medical lectures and afterwards graduated at the Bellevue Medical College, in New York City.  In March 1855, he came to Minnesota, and while visiting his brother, who was a physician at the lower Sioux agency, was appointed to the upper Sioux agency at Yellow Medicine Minnesota.  He was the first physician to the Sioux Indians at that agency, and to the United States troops who were afterwards stationed there, and he remained at this agency about seven years.  In 1862 he was appointed assistant surgeon in the sixth Minnesota Infantry, and was with that regiment under General Sibley in the campaign of that year.  He was the only physician in the command of Col. Joseph R. Brown at the battle of Birch Coulie, where over one-third of the command was killed or wounded before reinforcements came to their relief.  He was also in the battle of Woods Lake. Hon. Charles W. Johnson, who was present at the battle of Birch Coulie, made the following statement, which appears in the official record of that engagement:

   “Assistant Surgeon, Jared W. Daniels, had accompanied Company A to Birch Coulie, and no man on any battle-field displayed more heroism.  On the morning of that fatal 2^nd of September he is remembered as going about bareheaded, examining and binding up the wounds of the men.  He was in great personal danger, but seemingly unheedful of it all, he never flinched for a moment, and for thirty-six hours he never ate a morsel of food nor closed his eyes for sleep, so great was the demand upon him.”  
   In 1863 Dr. Daniels crossed the plains with General Sibley to the Missouri, and participated in the battles of Big Mounds, Buffalo Lake and Stony Lake.  On his return he was promoted to surgeon in the Second Minnesota Cavalry, and again crossed the plains in 1864, joining General Sully on the Missouri River, and was with him on the march to the Yellowstone.  He was present at the battles of Kill Deer Mountain and Bad Lands.  On his return he was stationed at Fort Snelling until he was mustered out in the fall of 1865.  Soon after, he located at Fairbault for the practice of his profession.  In 1868 Bishop Whipple had money placed in his hands by an act of Congress for the benefit of the Indians at Fort Wadsworth.  Doctor Daniels being well acquainted with these Indians was selected by Bishop Whipple to go to Fort Wadsworth and take charge of the distribution, and to look after the relief of the Indians.  At that time the Indians were scattered and very poor- having very little clothing except breechclouts and leggings- and they had to be gathered together at the agency and cared for. 

   In 1869, Doctor Daniels was appointed by the President as Indian agent at Sisseton.  Under his charge they were required to work for themselves, or at the agency, for everything they received from the government, so that when he left them, in 1871, they all had land under cultivation, were dressed like white people, and many of them living in houses of their own building; schools were established and they were in the way of becoming self-supporting. Doctor Daniels provided a code of laws, and established the first police force composed of Indians, in the history of the government, to patrol the reservation and the frontier, and to suppress the importation and the sale of whiskey.  He remained in charge of the Sisseton agency until December 1871.  He was then transferred by General Grant to the Red Cloud agency, in Wyoming, to pacify the Sioux and other hostile tribes.  Here he found about 5,000 Indians, consisting of Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe, the greater portion of them being in a turbulent state and hostile to the government.  Under the influence of the Doctor’s generous treatment, the number increased, by others coming in from the north and south, until there was something over 8,000 Indians at the agency.  There were no white people at the agency except those in Dr. Daniel’s employ.  He remained at the Red Cloud agency until the fall of 1873, when he was appointed inspector of agencies, in which capacity he traveled all over the western country, visiting the different Indian agencies in Montana, Idaho, Washington, New Mexico and Arizona.  In July 1875, he was sent alone to make a treaty with the Sioux, after the Indian Department with a delegation of Indians in Washington had failed, by which they were to give up their hunting rights south of the Platte River, when it was the only place where the buffalo could be found.  He not only made the treaty but dictated to the Indians what they should receive, giving them wagons, harnesses, and cattle instead of the guns and ammunition, which they most urgently demanded.  In September of the same year, he was appointed as a commissioner to treat with the Indians for the cession of the Black Hills.  In 1876 he was appointed on another commission to treat with the same Indians, and effected the treaty by which the Black Hills was ceded to the United States. In 1886 he was again appointed on a commission to make a treaty with the Indians in North Dakota, and with all the tribes in Montana, northern Idaho and eastern Washington, and they effected treaties with all these tribes. In 1887 he left the government service and returned to Fairbault, where he has since resided, having retired from the active practice of his profession. Doctor Daniels had formed an acquaintance with nearly all the Indian tribes in the Northwest, and could speak the Sioux language. He had known them intimately in peace and in war, in plenty and in poverty, in time of sorrow and in time of joy.  He had sympathized with their troubles, healed their sick and taken part in their festivities, until he was loved as one of their own people, owing to his just treatment of them under all circumstances.  This was the secret of his success with them.  He could go in safety where no other white man dared, and though he had many narrow escapes, he received no injury, and he never carried arms to protect himself.  His influence was greater among the Indians than that of any other white man, and his life was safe when that of another would be in jeopardy. 

   Within a few months after taking charge of the Red Cloud agency, Dr, Daniels was ordered by the Indian Department to take a delegation of Indians to Washington.  In complying he selected Red Cloud- the great war chief who had fought the United States troops for three years without being conquered- and twenty-eight of his leading braves.  He took them to the Capitol, New York and Philadelphia, that they might more fully appreciate the power of the government.  When the Milwaukee railroad desired to extend its line through South Dakota the Indians would not permit the surveyors to cross their reservation. Dr. Daniels was employed to get their consent, which they readily granted when he explained to them the benefits to be derived from it. 

From the “PIONEER PRESS” we quote the following:

“Dr. J. W. Daniels, recently in charge of the Indian agency at Lake Traverse, paid a visit to his wards in that region prior to his departure for the Fort Laramie agency, to which he had been appointed.  The second night after his departure for St. Paul, he was overtaken by one of the scouts or messengers, who handed him the following curious certificate of good character, which is an exact copy of the original drawn up in the handwriting of Gabrel Renville: “Dr. J. W. Daniels has been our agent for three winters, and in all his business with us he has always been honest and upright.  We are very much attached to him, and regret very much that he is going to leave us.  We seldom praise a white man; we always have some fault to find with him; but we know that this man is an honest and very good man, and we want the wise men at Washington to know this, and that when we say this, we speak nothing but the truth.  We, the chiefs and head men of the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of Sioux Indians write this.” 

Signed,

Gabrel Renville                                Wieaurpinoufra

Yaeaudupatotanka                            Hokxedanwaxte

Ecauapieka                                       Cantelyapa

Wakanto                                           Akicitanapie

Waxieanmaza

In politics Dr. Daniels has always been a Republican.  He belongs to the G. A. R. and the Loyal Legion, and is a member of the Episcopal Church.  He was married June 23, 1856, to Miss Hortense Eugenie Beardsley, of Oconomowoe, Wisconsin.  They had four children, of whom two are living: Hortense Virginie (Mrs. H. B. Hill, of Fairbault) and Asa Wilder Daniels, living at Placerville, California.  Mrs. Daniels died in 1869, in St Peter.  Dr. Daniels was again married, October 11, 1882, to Mrs. Ella Winslow, of Fairbault.