Reverse of Medal
Reverse of Medal

          This medal was not due to an official Act of the Minnesota Legislature but was presented some years later to every member of the fort by private subcription of the people of Minnesota

          I had two of the three medals. I was trying to have silver duplicates made for other members of the family when an incident at the jeweler resulted in loss of one of them.

          In July of 1977 we were in Minnesota for the funeral of my sister, Helen Evelyn Dills Holsen. We had flown there by lightplane, a Cessna 170B. I took advantage of the opportunity and contacted the editorial office of the paper in New Ulm, about twenty miles from Fort Ridgeley State Park. They were interested in the story, we flew to New Ulm and a reporter drove us to the park. It was a bit eery to see the bronze plaque on an obelisk with the names Charles Dills, Charles Henry Dills and Daniel Dills. My son Daniel Forrest Dills was there along with my nephew David John Holsen.

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