The Time Capsule: More details on honored Civil War vet

 The story, as carried by both local radio and newspapers in early May, was brief and perhaps not entirely accurate.  We were told that Ben Franklin, the only quadriplegic veteran of the Civil War, received a new stone.  Buried in Essex because his wife was from Coburg, a Minnesota historian made arrangements to have the old marker, which was in bad shape, replaced.  

Webster defines the word “paraplegic” as “paralysis of both arms and legs.”  Such was not the case with this Ben Franklin.  And, while he technically served during the Civil War, his injuries resulted while fighting Sioux Indians on the western frontier—and the Sioux weren’t anywhere close at the time.  

A photograph of Franklin confirms that he was a multiple amputee, but definitely not paralyzed.  Although badly disabled, he seems to have been fairly mobile.

The story is of interest, in part, as it shows Abe Lincoln as being less than the compassionate man we think of, and also because Franklin was engaged in a war that had connections to northwest Iowa  

We’re all aware of the Spirit Lake Massacre of 1857.  Sioux, probably for good reason, jumped the reservation.  They committed atrocities, including the murder of 30-some men, women and children.  The Iowa militia was called out, but the Indians went into Minnesota and were not pursued.  Problems with Sioux tribes continued, leading to what was called the “Dakota Wars.”   

Franklin was born in Ohio in 1837.  He was in Minnesota when the Civil War broke out, and enlisted in the 1st Minnesota Cavalry Regiment.  Repeated treaty violations committed by agents of the U.S. government led to hunger and general discontent on the part of Sioux, some known as Dakotas, and in the summer of 1862 things got out of hand.  A few of them killed a number of white settlers—including women and children.  Franklin was among the soldiers sent in pursuit.  Over the next few months several battles were fought, the Dakota had no chance, and eventually over 1,000 were taken into custody.  

President Lincoln ordered the execution of thirty-eight Sioux, and they were hanged in a mass execution the day after Christmas, 1862.  A good many soldiers witnessed the hangings, and Franklin may have been one of them.  Minnesota reservations were abolished shortly thereafter, and the Dakota pushed farther west.   

The encroachment of whites onto land ceded to Indians continued and Franklin’s cavalry unit remained active, patrolling western Minnesota and often into the Dakota Territory.  

In December of 1865 Franklin, apparently on an excursion that took him away from his company, was caught in a blizzard.  He made it back, but his extremities were severely frostbitten.  His legs were amputated below the knees, his arms just below the elbows.

A photograph taken later shows a handsome young man of perhaps thirty, well-dressed, with a neatly trimmed beard.  He is supporting himself on crutches, stumps attached to legs firmly planted on the ground.  He apparently was in good physical shape and got around on his own.   

He’s believed to been visiting relatives in Red Oak when he met Maria Clark of Coburg, who became his second wife.  Shortly thereafter they moved to South Dakota, where he was living at the time of his death in 1897.       

Roy Marshall is a local historian and columnist for the Red Oak Express. He can be contacted at news@redoakexpress.com.