Manuscripts Collection
Thomas, the son of Samuel and Sarah Scantlebury, was born in Albany, New York around 1835. The family later lived in Rochester (1847) and New York City. The family moved to Minnesota and were among the founders of New Auburn (Sibley County), Minnesota. Samuel built the first sawmill in the village and Thomas was appointed (1857) its postmaster.
Thomas was mustered into Company H, Seventh Minnesota Infantry in August 1862. He served in the U.S.-Dakota War in Minnesota and later became a lieutenant in the 65th Regiment of U.S. Colored Infantry. He served in Louisiana and died of dysentery on a hospital boat on the Mississippi on August 1, 1864.
Scantlebury's reminiscences of his service in Minnesota and Dakota Territory (1862-1863) during the U.S.-Dakota War comprise the core of the manuscript collection. The collection also includes a three-volume set of his diaries (1853-1857), which record daily life in New York City, upstate New York, Chicago, and Minnesota Territory. These materials are supplemented by two folders of correspondence and miscellaneous family documents (1856-1951), and a folder of biographical and background information.
These records are divided into the following three sections:
A published version of Scantlebury's reminiscences are in the Minnesota Historical Society book collection.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics,
persons or places should
Accession number: 1887A; 2019A; 2225; 13,300
Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, February 1998
Catalog ID number: 09-00320268
Information relating to the Scantlebury family copied from published sources and census records, as well as copies of documents summarizing Scantlebury's service in the U.S.-Dakota War.
Receipts (1855) for payment of New York State land warrants; insurance binder covering shipment of family's goods from New York to Minnesota; steamboat bills of lading (1856); and land deed and tax documents pertaining to family holdings in New Auburn.
Letters and documents pertaining to Scantlebury's military service, and later letters (1917, 1951) giving information on the family's experiences after leaving Minnesota following the U.S.-Dakota War.
The reminiscences (holograph, 34 pp.) are preceded by a summary (3 pp.) of Scantlebury's life, and by a holograph extract from the reminiscences, which also include some information on his death. The original reminiscences (August 14, 1862-January 16, 1863) begin with Scantlebury's description of his trip to Henderson to enlist and his return home. There is also information on the troops returning from Fort Ridgely and news of the first Indian attacks. Traveling back to his home in New Auburn, Thomas found that his family and others had fled, and he in turn helped refugees from the area to get to Minneapolis or St. Paul. In late August he returned to New Auburn to harvest crops, and on August 31 was called to Fort Snelling to receive clothing and equipment for the coming campaigns. The troops left Fort Snelling and arrived at Fort Ridgely on September 6. There are descriptions of towns, weather, food, meeting with friends, and scenes of Indian depredations; descriptions of the attacks on Hutchinson and Birch Coulee; mention of the preaching of Stephen R. Riggs (September 7, 14, and 28) and the march to participate in the battle of Wood Lake (September 23), including sighting the Indians; and descriptions of the long-winded battle that followed including the numbers of killed and wounded.
The rest of the entries (September 25, 1862-January 16, 1863) contain information on the movement of troops in the area, including descriptions of Indian villages; meetings with refugees; pursuit of the Indians; prisoners taken; and his arrival in New Auburn on November 17. Other items of interest in the document include: a description of a daguerrotypist's visit to photograph the troops (October 17, p. 31); Thomas' planetary observations (October 18, pp. 31-32); description of the prairies (October 18, pp. 32-33); and the encampment of the troops in Mankato to witness the execution of the thirty-two Dakota Indians, although Thomas did not actually witness the event (December 23-26, p. 34).
The diary, kept while Thomas was living in New York City, consists of brief daily entries with information on the weather; family and social activities; Thomas' employment at a brass foundry; religious comments; and temperance, antislavery, and women's rights meetings.
The Scantleburys, a Quaker family, attended many lectures by prominent individuals including Henry Ward Beecher, Theodore Parker, Horace Greeley, Wendell Phillips, Lucretia Mott, and Lucy Stone; made frequent visits to the phrenology office of Lorenzo Parker, and to the Crystal Palace, scene of a world's fair; and supported Five Points House of Industry which seems to have been an orphanage. There are almost daily references to the House throughout 1854. In April 1854 the family moved to the Williamsburg section of New York and there are descriptions of the house and its garden.
In the entry dated August 2, 1854, Thomas states that he will not keep a journal for one year, but will only summarize events. Following that is an entry dated August 2, 1855, written in Chicago. Then the diary thereafter contains entries dated October 11 and November 2, 1854, followed by entries for February 14, March 9, August 10, and November 14, 1855. They contain family information, and the last entry (February 14, 1856) describes the dedication of the Five Points House of Industry.
This diary was kept while Thomas was living in Chicago. The first two pages describe his activities since August 2, 1854: the brass foundry in New York where he was employed had failed and he left for Chicago, arriving there on November 22, 1854.
Following the entry dated May 13, 1855, is a 22-page manuscript covering the November 15-22, 1854 period: "My notes on my journey from my beloved home and friends at Willow Cottage, to the Garden City of the West, where I have struggled to obtain that which I could not in New York, a Livelihood, Thomas Scantlebury, Kent Avenue, North Brooklyn." The notes describe his feelings on leaving home and the trip on the Hudson River to Albany (his birthplace); by train to the Erie Canal; traveling through Auburn, Rochester, Middleport, Niagara Falls in New York and Hamilton and London, Ontario; then to Detroit, arriving in Chicago on November 22, 1854. He describes the scenery on the trip, including Niagara Falls; visits with friends and relatives; and life while traveling. An entry dated November 20 states that Thomas lived in Rochester when seven years old.
Starting with January 1, 1855, the diary recounts his life in Chicago, where he worked as a carpenter. As in the earlier diary, the entries are brief, concentrating mainly on the weather, his health, and contacts with family and friends. There are occasional mentions of current events including a mention of Horace Mann (January 12), Horace Greeley'sappearance in Chicago (March 27), a discussion with friends on women's rights (April 1), violence in Chicago over enforcement of temperance laws (April 21), the showing of a panorama on Australian gold mining (June 11), a balloon ascent in Chicago (July 4), a visit to a church and a four-page discussion of his religious ideas (July 8), description of a three hundred-voice children's concert (August 7), birth of brother Edward's son Alfred (August 16), his father's birthday (September 1), and the Hutchinson family's concert (September 27).
The entries for October 11-November 2 describe his trip with his brother Edward to Minnesota to study land prospects. The two men left Chicago on October 24 and traveled by train to Galena and Dunleith, and then by steamer, arriving in Winona on October 25. While in Minnesota they visited the areas around Rochester, Red Wing, Orinoco, and Mazeppa. There are descriptions of the river bluffs, prairies, and other topographical features; prairie fires; land speculation and opportunities for settlement. They returned to Chicago on November 2.
Entries dated April 7-22 describe the move from Chicago to High Island (Sibley County), Minnesota by Thomas, Edward and other members of the family. The trip was by train from Chicago; then by the Mississippi River to Winona, Read's Landing, Red Wing, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and St. Anthony; and overland to Shakopee, Glencoe, Henderson and High Island.
The diary, as in volumes 1 and 2, contains only brief daily entries giving information on the weather; descriptions of towns and cities; the purchase and construction of the family's saw and grist mills (July 1856); production statistics on output; mention of other settlers in the area; construction of the family homes; arrival of their father (January 1); planting of crops; well digging; plowing; trips to Henderson, Glencoe, and St. Paul for supplies and mail; and the New Auburn post office (1857). Entries of particular interest include a description of sawmills and suspension bridge at St. Anthony (April 14), setting up a claim at High Island (April 22), the appearance of the Hutchinson family and the songs they sang (June 11), a sample of Thomas' postal stamp, "High Island, M. T." (September 3), the township elections of Thomas as secretary and road supervisor and Edward as clerk, a petition for a mail route (October 14), a petition to put New Auburn in McLeod County (November 24), a petition for a post office (December 7), Thomas' appointment as postmaster of High Island (February 20, 21, 1857), making stamps for the post office (March 11, 15, 1857), visits by Indians for food (March 15, 16, 1857), organization of a claim association (March 29, 1857), Thomas's writing of the association's constitution (April 2, 3, 1857), a description of the plat of New Auburn prepared by Thomas (April 10-16, 1857), naming the townsite New Auburn (April 16, 1857), and brief mention of the Inkpaduta raids in Jackson County in March (April 17, 1857). Other samples of postmarks found in the diary are "New Auburn," found on the first sheet of the diary; "High Island, MT" (September 3, 1856); "Dubuque, DPO, Iowa" and "High Island, MT" (March 13, 29, 1857); "New Auburn, MT" (July 13, 1857); and Thomas Scantlebury, Notary Public.