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
Birth Date: March 31, 1842 Place: New York (possibly Fredonia, Chautauqua County)	Mustered In Date: February 10, 1862 Rank: Private Age: 20
Death Date: May 21, 1917 Burial: East Lawn Cemetery, Sheldon, O'Brien County, Iowa	Mustered Out Date: September 6, 1865 Rank: First Lieutenant Age: 23

John F. Bishop Biography and Civil War Narrative

John F. Bishop was born March 31, 1842, in New York, possibly in Fredonia, Chautauqua County, near Lake Erie. He was born the 6th child and 4th son of John F. Bishop, a traveling Baptist Minister, and Allena Brown. The younger John received his education in New York, but when his father died in 1859, John left New York for Minnesota. The 1860 U.S. Census shows 18-year-old John living with his oldest brother, 28-year-old J. (Judson) W. Bishop, and his 20-year-old sister Lena (Allena) B. in Chatfield, Fillmore County, Minnesota. John and Judson worked as printers, while Lena was a teacher.

On June 26, 1861, John's brother Judson was mustered in as Captain of Company A in the Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Less than a year later John F. Bishop enlisted as a Private in Company B of the 5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment on February 10, 1862. 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.

On November 9, Company B escorted captured Indians to Fort Snelling, and on December 12, they joined up with the rest of the 5th Minnesota near Oxford, Mississippi, to serve in the Civil War. On September 2, 1863, Bishop was promoted to First Lieutenant of Company B, and on February 12, 1864, he re-enlisted as a veteran of the 5th Minnesota. In all, Bishop was in thirty-three separate engagements and sieges during his service in the war. He was mustered out with the 5th Minnesota Regiment on September 6, 1865.

On December 27, 1865, in New York, John F. Bishop married Ann Augusta Pinney (born February 23, 1844, in New York). John and Ann moved to Minnesota where John engaged in railroad work. The 1870 census lists John and Ann living in Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minnesota. John's occupation is described as Civil Engineer. Two children live with them: 4-year-old Francis and 1-year-old Leroy. He had been working on the railroad between Belle Plain, Scott County, Minnesota, and Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa. An 1875 map of Le Mars and Sioux City, Iowa, label this railroad the "Illinois Central R.R." and also the "Sioux City & St. Paul R.R." It is now part of the Union Pacific rail road system. In 1870 Bishop was made superintendent of construction of a 150-mile road between St. James, Watonwan County, Minnesota, and Sioux City. Presently state highway 60, the road goes through Windom and Worthington, Minnesota, as well as Sibley, Orange City, and Le Mars, Iowa.

The remainder of John F. Bishop's career in road and rail building is described in Volume 2 of Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties, Iowa, published in 1914 by B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.:

In 1874 he was chief clerk of supplies of the shops in Sioux City and in 1880 was made superintendent of a narrow gauge railroad from Sioux City, Iowa, to Ponca. Iowa. Two years later he was made roadmaster of the road between Sioux City and Omaha, Nebraska, and held that place until 1883. He was then appointed superintendent of construction of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway from Perry to Council Bluffs. In the following year he came to O'Brien county, Iowa, and rented nine hundred acres of unimproved land and which he and his brother, Judson, began to farm. In 1902 he retired from active farm life and moved to Sheldon, where he bought a home and has since lived.

The 1880 U.S. Census shows 38-year-old John F. Bishop, his 36-year-old wife Ann Augusta, and his eight children living in Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa. Children in the Bishop household were:

Francis B., age 13, born in Minnesota about 1867
Leroy K., age 11, born in Minnesota about 1869
Albert S., age 7, born in Minnesota about 1873
Arthur P., age 6, born in Minnesota about 1874
Ella A., age 4, born in Iowa about 1876
Walter, age 3, born in Iowa about 1877
Florence, age 1, born in Iowa in November 1878
and a 1-month-old son, not yet named, born in Iowa in May 1880

John and Ann named their son born in 1880 George H., and another daughter, Mabelle A., was born in June 1883. Moving in 1884 to Sheldon, O'Brien County, Iowa, John Bishop turned to farming. At the turn of the century, the 1900 U.S. Census lists John as a 58-year-old Farmer living in the Independent District of Sheldon, O'Brien County, Iowa. With him are his wife Ann Augusta (age 56), two daughters: Florence (age 21) and Mabelle (age 16), and his 20-year-old son George (farm laborer).

Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties, Iowa (Volume 2) lists John and Ann's nine children in 1914:

Mrs. Frankie Belle Clagg, deceased; Leroy, deceased: Dr. Albert H., a practicing physician at West Bend, Iowa; Mrs. Ella Reynolds, a widow of Sheldon: Walter J., of LeMars, Iowa; George H., a hotel manager at Newell, Iowa; Mrs. Florence Clagg, of Fort Dodge, Iowa; Mable, who is taking a shorthand course at Fort Dodge, and Arthur, of St. Paul. Minnesota.

The book also goes on to describe John F. Bishop's political, religious, and civic involvement:

In politics, Mr. Bishop is an independent voter, with progressive inclinations. He is a member of that class of citizens who cast their vote for the best men, regardless of their political affiliations. He and his family are regular attendants of the Congregational church. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Loyal Legion. He has always taken an active interest in public affairs, and since moving to Sheldon has been a member of the city council. The life of Mr. Bishop has been filled with many interesting incidents. Wherever he has been placed he has always tried to do his full duty: whether upon the battlefield or in the superintendence of construction of railway, he has been found equally efficient and faithful to the tasks imposed upon him. As a public official and as a private citizen he has measured up to the full duty of a true American citizen, and for this reason is highly regarded by everyone who knows him.

John F. Bishop died May 21, 1917. He was buried in East Lawn Cemetery, Sheldon, O'Brien County, Iowa. In 1920, John's widow, Augusta Bishop, was living at 912 Hubbard, LeMars Township, Plymouth County, Iowa, with her 42-year-old son, Walter J., along with his wife, Mabel, and children John (age 3) and Janet (age 1), and her 36-year-old daughter, Mabel. Walter worked as a Manager, and Mabel as a Clerk at a "Hide House." Ann Augusta Bishop died November 18, 1928 and was also buried in East Lawn Cemetery.