Stories Related by Eye-Witnesses - William Wichman's Narrative - Mrs. Mary E. Schmidt's Story - Experiences of Charles Lammers - German Settlement Wiped Out - Escape of Mrs. Patrick Hayden - Tale of Kearn Horan - At Birch Cooley - On the Sacred Heart - Brown's Family Captured

Stern historical facts are enlivened by the little personal touches of interest that can be given by people who have actually been witnesses of some of the stirring events that have gone to make up the sum total of the story of human progress. In our own state there are many still living who have seen a wilderness inhabited by Indians and a few scattered settlers grow into one of the most prosperous portions of the Union. There are people living who went through the Indian Outbreak of 1862, who saw their relatives murdered, who took part in the heroic defense of the frontier, and who assisted in bringing the country once more under the sway of civilization after the deadly wave of fire, rapine and death had spent its force. In a previous chapter the story of the Outbreak has been told by historians. In this chapter we have gathered, for the purpose of perpetuating the names of some of Renville county's heroes, the stories told by the people of the county themselves who underwent some of the most thrilling experiences that can fall to the lot of humankind.