Historic Downtown New Ulm

Following the outbreak of hostilities between the Dakota and white settlers on August 18, 1862, hundreds of people fled from nearby farms to New Ulm for safety. Quickly, Brown County Sherriff Charles Roos and Jacob Nix, a citizen with German military experience, organized the men into a militia. Barricades were erected around three blocks on Minnesota Street between Center to Third North Streets. It ran down the alley in front of you, roughly fifty feet behind Friedrich Kiesling's house. Consisting of "wagons, boxes, anything we could get hold of," this barricade was manned by local citizens during the first battle of New Ulm on August 19. After reinforcements arrived from St. Peter and other towns to the east, the defense line was improved in anticipation of another attack by the Dakota. A second battle took place on August 23. Earthworks remained in place at least until 1866 when Gen. William Sherman visited the town and inspected the fortifications.

??New Ulm artist Anton Gag painted this depiction of the battle on a flour barrelhead in 1902.

??Gag Painting: Brown County Historical Society

??"Barricades were raised in all directions; barn doors, carts, stones, everything was employed to block up the entrances to the town, and everybody helped in the good work — old people, women, and children."
??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? Rudolph Leonhart

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Show me all markers in:  New Ulm, MN  |  Brown County  |  56073  |  Minnesota  |  United States of America

Kiesling House
Grand Hotel
Buenger Store
Pioneer Founders of New Ulm
German-Bohemian Immigrants Monument
Crone Store
U.S. - Dakota War Memorial
Dacotah House
Erd Building
Jacob Nix Platz

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