Alfred Bruce Brackett (May 22,1826 - September 22, 1892) was a forty-niner gold prospector during the California gold rush, a business owner, an American Civil War and Sioux Wars veteran, and the deputy sheriff of Hennepin County, Minnesota. During the ensuing campaigns against the Dakota, Brackett eventually rose to the rank of major and commanded Brackett's Minnesota Cavalry Battalion.
Alfred Bruce Brackett | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 22, 1826 Newmarket, New Hampshire, US |
| Died | September 22, 1892 Roseville, Minnesota, US |
| Buried | Roselawn Cemetery, Roseville, Minnesota |
| Allegiance | Union Army |
| Years of service | 1861 - 1866 |
| Rank | Major |
| Unit | |
| Commands | Brackett's Minnesota Cavalry Battalion |
| Battles / wars | |
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Children | 3 |
| Other work | Deputy Sheriff of Hennepin County |
Alfred Bruce Brackett was born on May 2, 1826, in Newmarket, New Hampshire, to Nathaniel Brackett (1779-1857) and Elizabeth Brackett (1781-1856). Not much is known about Brackett's early life other than the fact that he left home in 1841 at the age of 15 to work in Boston as a grocer. [1] In 1848 Brackett traveled to California as part of the California gold rush, returned to Boston in 1852 and traveled to Minnesota. [1] Brackett was a business partner with Chauncey Wright Griggs for several years before serving in the field of law enforcement. [1]
From 1858-1859 Brackett was the deputy sheriff for Hennepin County, Minnesota, and served under Hennepin County Sheriff George Bertram. Brackett was one of the deputies involved in what later became known as the "Wright County War" after the mysterious death of Henry A. Wallace by Wallace's farm hand on September 21, 1858. [2]
Wallace had last been seen with Oscar F. Jackson, who was the primary suspect of the case. [2] Jackson had agreed to help Wallace harvest hay on his property in exchange for a portion of the output, as he was a poor sharecropper. [2] After Wallace's disappearance Jackson quickly became suspiciously rich, which warranted fellow citizens to report Wallace as missing. Jackson declined to assist the local citizens and law officials in a search party, which made others more suspicious. [2] A grand jury soon indicted Jackson under Judge Edward Oscar Hamlin (1828-95) at Monticello, Minnesota, though the case that was brought up against him was rather impotent.
Deputy Sheriff Brackett located Jackson in the Apollo Saloon in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the following day, cuffing him and embarking to St. Anthony, Minnesota, via stagecoach. Jackson pleaded for his attorney, but Brackett refused. Jackson urged that Sheriff Bertram's warrant was based on a false charge in a ploy to get him back to Rockford, Minnesota, where he would be killed. [2]
Brackett allowed Jackson to consult with his lawyer while at St. Anthony, and Jackson's lawyer responded with a writ of habeas corpus and demanded for Jackson's release. This occurred two separate times. [2] By this time the story of Wallace's death had spread like a wildfire within the local community and caused a lynch mob to be formed which was adamant that Jackson be extrajudicially killed for the death of Wallace. The mob surrounded George Holdship's house, the father-in-law of Jackson, and burned it. Sheriff Bertram intercepted the mob and stopped the killing of Jackson before the mob overpowered Bertram and rode off with Jackson. [2] After mocking and abusing Jackson, he was hung and let down repeatedly in order to extract a confession for the killing of Wallace. On the third hoist up, Jackson's neck broke at 2:00pm on April 25, 1859. [2]
Governor of Minnesota Henry Hastings Sibley, wishing to keep the peace, offered a $500 reward for the arrest and conviction of anybody involved with the lynching. However, no citizens came forward to make a claim until July 25, 1859, when, at a gathering in Minnehaha Falls, a member of the lynch mob was spotted and identified by a witness to Jackson's lynching. [2] During the ensuing court case to incriminate the lynch mob members, many of the witnesses had mysteriously disappeared. Noticing the missing witnesses, Minnesota Attorney General Charles Henry Berry declared Wright County to be "in a state of insurrection". Sibley sent the militia to put a stop to the vigilante behavior and force the county officials to do their jobs. The militia was made up of three units; the Pioneer Guards, the St. Paul City Guards, and the Stillwater Guards, along with aid from 35 special policemen, Brackett being among them. [2] It was not until Sibley personally took charge of the situation to root out the vigilantes that three suspected lynchers were apprehended; Amer Moore, Cpl. Hiram S. Angell (1834-62), and John Edwin Jenks (1837-1916). Satisfied, the governor sent the state militia home. [2]
At the outbreak of the American Civil War Brackett organized a cavalry company of volunteers in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area on October 28, 1861. [3] Brackett's company of cavalry was integrated into the "Curtis Horse", later named the 5th Iowa Cavalry Regiment under Colonel William Warren Lowe. [3] [4] The Curtis Horse was made up of volunteers from Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Missouri.
The Curtis Horse was eventually redesignated as the 5th Iowa Cavalry Regiment and fought in several key engagements during the Shiloh Campaign, most notably at the Battle of Fort Donelson and the Siege of Corinth. [5] During the Battle of Lockridge Mill in Weakley County, Tennessee, three companies, E, F, and G of the 5th Iowa, including Brackett himself, were captured. During the skirmish Major Carl Schaeffer Boernstein was mortally wounded, Captain William Alexander Haw of Company F was mortally wounded, and Captain Henning Von Minden of Company G was also wounded. [6] [7] [8] The unit was later deployed with the Army of the Cumberland during the Tullahoma Campaign before it was transferred to Alabama. [9]
Companies G, I, and K were eventually detached from the 5th Iowa Cavalry on February 25, 1864, and redesignated as Brackett's Minnesota Cavalry Battalion, with Brackett appointed as the battalion's commander with the rank of Major. [10] [11] [12] Brackett's Battalion would serve in the Department of the Northwest in Alfred Sully's first and second expeditions against the Dakota people from 1864-1866. [13] The battalion fought at the Battle of Killdeer Mountain and the Battle of the Badlands. [14] In May and June 1866 when the men were finally mustered out the soldiers of Brackett's Battalion had served a total of four years and nine months.
Following his military service Brackett continued to live in Minnesota for the remainder of his life. Letters, reports, orders, and commissions related to Brackett and his military service are held at the Minnesota Historical Society. [15] Brackett had two wives: Mary Elizabeth Ferguson (1839-1871) who he married in 1865, and Mary's sister Martha "Mattie" L. Ferguson (1842-1920) who he married in 1875. [16] Brackett died on September 22, 1892, at the age of 66 from diabetes.