John
F. Bishop
| Name: John F. Bishop Company: B Veteran; enlisted as private February 10, 1862; Sergeant March 24, 1862; wounded at Redwood August 18, 1862 |
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Birth
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Mustered In
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Death
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Mustered Out
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John F. Bishop Biography and Civil War Narrative
John F. Bishop was born about
1841 and enlisted in Company B of the 5th Minnesota on February 10,
1862, as a Private. The
first
order of duty for
Company B was to report to Fort Ridgely, near the Minnesota River. They
left Fort Snelling at noon on March 22, 1862, under the command of
First Sergeant Thomas P. Gere. Through the snow they traveled up the
Minnesota Valley, stopping at the Scott County cour house at Shakopee
the evening of the 22nd, and passing throughBelle Plaine, and Le Sueur,
Minnesota on the 23rd. They crossed the Minnesota River on the ice at
Traverse de Sioux after dark and spent the night of the 23rd at the
Nicollet County court house at St. Peter. While en route, Bishop was
promoted to Sergeant on March 24. That evening the company reached La
Fayette, Minnesota -- 18 miles from their destination. They
arrived at Fort Ridgely at noon on March 25th, serving garrison duty
and continuing their military instruction and drills. The company was
especially well-trained in skirmishing and received additional training
in artillery.On Monday, August 18th, word was received at Fort Ridgely that a massacre of whites was taking place at the Lower Sioux Agency. Company B's Captain John S. Marsh, who had joined the Company on April 16, immediately led a rescue party of 46 soldiers, including Sergeant Bishop, and an interpreter to the Lower Sioux Agency. About three miles out of Fort Ridgely, the party was overtaken by wagon teams who followed them, carrying extra ammunition and otherwise empty wagons. Picking up the marching rescue party, the wagons continued on toward their destination, passing fleeing citizens, burning houses, and mutilated corpses. About six miles out of Fort Ridgely, the rescue team continued on by foot.
When the rescue party neared the Redwood ferry crossing on the Minnesota River shortly after noon, they found the ferryman's beheaded and disemboweled body with the ferry on their side of the river. As two of the soldiers carefully went to the riverbank for a drink, they noticed Indians concealed on the opposite side. Captain Marsh nevertheless ordered his soldiers to prepare for crossing. As preparations were being made, Sergeant Bishop also went to the riverbank for a drink and noticed that the water was muddy--evidence that Indians may be crossing upstream to surround them. Within moments the Indian warriors across the river opened fire on the men from Company B. Soon after, the Indians who had crossed the river joined in the attack. The battle continued until about 4:00 pm with many of Bishop's comrades killed. At that time Captain Marsh concluded that their best plan was to cross the river. In his attempt to lead them, Marsh was overcome and swept under the water, drowning in spite of attempts to rescue him.
Although wounded himself, Sergeant Bishop then took command of Company B's rescue party. He immediately decided to stay on the north side of the river. The Indians apparently thought that Bishop and his men had continued to the other side, so they crossed back and prepared for another ambush. But by nightfall, the remnant of the rescue party found better protected ground downstream. Not knowing the status of Fort Ridgely, Bishop sent privates James Dunn and William B. Hutchinson ahead of the remainder of the band to Fort Ridgely so that they might ascertain the situation at the lightly guarded fort or inform the garrison of the disaster at Redwood. Dunn and Hutchinson arrived at the fort about 10:00 pm finding it safe, and about an hour later, the rest of the group led by Bishop arrived. In all, 24 of Marsh's men had died.
After one day of respite, the Sioux re-organized and attacked Fort Ridgely on Wednesday, August 20. About 1:00 pm, Sioux leader Little Crow appeared to the west of the Fort -- out of musket range but near enough to be recognized. John Bishop was sergeant of the guard at the time and invited the lone Indian to come down to the picket line. Instead, with the attention of the soldiers drawn westward, Indians hidden in the wooded ravine to the northeast of the Fort attacked. When repelled by McGrew's howitzer defending the north side of the Fort, the Indians also attacked from another wooded ravine to the southwest, but the combined efforts of Companies B & C along with the Renville Rangers held off the attackers until nightfall. No attack was made on Thursday, August 21, but on Friday, August 22, the battle was started again with a still larger Indian contingency. Throughout Friday's battle, John F. Bishop was in charge of a 12-pound gun positioned near the southeast side of the Fort. The Indians finally withdrew at nightfall, and although the defenders of Fort Ridgely did not know it at the time, the battle was over.
