On this Date in Minnesota history: July 5

July 5, 1906 – Robert Henry Monteith, aged seventeen, seemed glad to be lodged in the Washington County jail in Stillwater. He is accused of committing an assault in Pine County upon 13-year-old Miss Frances Nemic. He admitted the offense before John Atkinson, a justice of the peace, when arraigned on the charge in Pokegama Township, Pine County. The complaint was made by James Nemic and threats of lynching followed the arrest.

After Monteith admitted the offense, there were mutterings among the people and the cry went out to lynch him. Sheriff Hawley put the man in a buggy and with a swift team drove across the country to Pine City, eluding pursuit. Later he brought the prisoner to Stillwater and locked him up for safekeeping until the meeting of the Pine County grand jury.

The Bemidji Daily Pioneer; “Mob Threatens to Lynch Youth Accused of Criminal Assault”; July 05, 1906; p. 4.

Pine County Courthouse

http://courthousehistory.com/gallery/states/minnesota/counties/pine

On this Date in Minnesota history: July 4

July 4, 1906 - July 4th Casualties in Minneapolis:

The Minneapolis Journal; “Casualties in Minneapolis”: July 04, 1906; p. 1.

On this Date in Minnesota history: July 3

July 3, 1863 – “Marshall Sherman's name goes down in the annals 1st Minnesota of [Company C] history as the man who captured the battle flag of the 28th Virginia Infantry at the battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, during what became known as Pickett's Charge. For his gallantry during the battle [Sherman] was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor” on December 1, 1864. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery, St. Paul, Minn."

http://firstminnesota.net/1st.php?ID=0337

Marshall Sherman
http://firstminnesota.net/1st.php?ID=0337

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Sherman&GSfn=Marshall&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=25&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=7915535&df=all&

The battle flag of the 28th Virginia Infantry captured by Marshall Sherman
currently held by the Minnesota History Center

Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain Feb. 28, 2014,
as long as acknowledgement included.

On this Date in Minnesota history: July 2

July 2, 1679 – French soldier and explorer Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Luth (Duluth) “left Montreal in 1678 for Lake Superior. He was the first European to explore that region since Radisson and Groseillers' expedition over twenty years before. Greysolon's purpose was to negotiate a truce between the competing American Indian groups in the area.

Du Luth arrived at Fond du Lac at the far western tip of Lake Superior in spring, 1679. The peace meetings he held with the Dakota and Anishinabe (Ojibwe) were successful. After they ended, he followed a group of Dakota to their primary settlement, Izatys (Isanti) at Mille Lacs Lake.”¹

On July 2, 1679, “Greysolon claimed all Dakota lands in the name of Louis XIV, and raised the French standard at Izatys. This was a symbolic expression of French power and control. From there, Greysolon traveled south, lured by tales of a great salt water sea (most likely the Great Salt Lake in Utah) to the far west. He hoped to find a northwest passage to the Pacific Ocean.”¹

^{http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM2DKP_Izatys}

Marker on U.S. Highway 169 at Vineland on the south shore of Mille Lacs Lake in Mille Lacs Kathio State Park Minnesota² reads:

In this vicinity stood the great Sioux village of “Izatys” where Duluth planted the French arms on July 2, 1679. The settlement was visited by Father Hennepin in 1680. About 1750 the Chippewa, moving westward from Lake Superior, captured the village, and by this decisive battle drove the Sioux permanently into southern Minnesota.

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM2DKP_Izatys

¹http://www.mnopedia.org/person/greysolon-daniel-sieur-du-lhut-c1639-1710

²http://www.historyquest.com/state/mn/rad2A365_minnesota_historic_site.html

On this Date in Minnesota history: July 1

July 1, 1892 - The Sontag Brothers, John Sontag and George Contant, and their partner in crime, Chris Evans, tried to rob a train between St. Peter and Kasota along the Minnesota River. The bandits acquired nothing of value during this holdup, but their activities came under the review of Pinkerton detectives and both were apprehended in June 1893.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasota,_Minnesota

News of the St Peter/Kasota hold up from the St Paul Pioneer Press July 2, 1892,
 the day after the attempted robbery.

http://www.mnriv.com/sontag.html

On this date in Minnesota History: June 30

June 30, 1871 – Aitkin County was organized on this date. Its name “was at first erroneously spelled Aiken,” but pronounced the same. It “was changed to its present spelling in 1872 by an act of the legislature.”

Upham, Warren; Minnesota Geographic Names, Their Origin and Historic Significance; Minnesota Historical Society (St. Paul, Minn., 1969); p. 14.

On this date in Minnesota History: June 29

June 29, 2007 – Six-year-old Abigail Taylor lost 6.5 meters (21 feet) of her small intestine in an accident in the wading pool at the Minneapolis Golf Club in St. Louis Park, Minn., leaving her with short bowel syndrome. Abigail “accidentally fell on the open drain of the pool and her buttocks were sucked into the aperture. The suction dislodged a large section of her small intestine which was forcefully drawn out through the anus, a phenomenon known as transanal evisceration.  Her injury and eventual death led to new federal legislation in the United States to improve the safety of swimming pools.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Abigail_Taylor

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=25429273

Abigail Taylor
http://madasahatter213.wordpress.com/