1857: Expedition to Minnesota following Sioux unrest, the return to Fort Leavenworth

I.  Lt. Griffin is mentioned in the press as Second Artillery companies are dispatched from New York to Fort Snelling in Minesota in response to unrest among the Sioux.   The units were then sent to Fort Leavenworth (via St. Louis).  

A. “Advices to the 25th instant have been received at the War Department from Fort Snelling, by telegraph, from which we learn that the Sioux Indians have acceded to all that has been required of them and are now quiet.  Company H, second artillery, Captain W.F. Barry, left Fort Hamilton, New York harbor, on the 27th, for Fort Snelling. First Lieutenant Charles Griffin and Second Lieutenant William Butler, are the officers with the company.”

 Philadelphia Inquirer, July 31, 1857

B.  Companies E & H, second artillery, numbering 135 men, arrived in St. Louis on 12 inst from Fort Snelling, Minnesota Territory, en route to Fort Leavenworth.  Captain Arnold Elzey and WF Barry, and Lieuts Charles Griffin and GD Baily accompany the forces.                                                           (Philadelphia) Press, Sept. 18, 1857

II.  Newspaper publisher and Dakota territory pioneer George W. Kinsbury recalled enountering Griffin in St. Louis in the company of Nathaniel Lyon.  This meeting most likely took place in the summer of 1857.  Kingsbury described Griffin and Lyon as "strong anti-slavery men." 

p. 62  At Fort Pierre I first met Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, Second Infantry, afterwards General Lyon. whom I have ever regarded as the best and bravest soldier and one of the brightest men intellectually that I have ever known. He died too early in the great war for the good of his country and for his own reputation. If he had lived he would have won fame second to none—in my opinion far above all men who figured in the great conflict. I saw Lyon once after this visit to Fort Pierre. It was in St. Louis. He and Lieut. Charles Griffin. of the artillery (afterwards General Griffin), were together. They invited me to take a walk with them on Fourth Street. We walked from the Planter’s House down to the court— house. An auction of slaves was in progress at the time. A gentleman of well known name had failed in business. and his slaves had to go to the auction block. Among them was an old woman, the mother of the family sold. about sixty years of age. She was bid off for $50. This was the first and last sale of human beings I had ever witnessed. I had read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin," Wendell Phillips’ speeches, and William Lloyd Garrison's [63] harangues, but had never fully realized the true character of the institution of slavery till I Witnessed the public sale of this family. Lyon and Griffin, I found, were both interested in the question, both strong anti-slavery men, and both really believed that a great conflict was soon to come, and were both fully convinced that the disunionists would be defeated in the end. Both of these brave men lived to see their conviction verified as to the conflict, but Lyon was too daring to live to the end of it. He died at Wilson’s Creek, leading a regiment, when he was the commander of an army.   

Source: Kingsbury, George W. (George Washington), 1837-1925, and George Martin Smith. History of Dakota Territory. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1915.   https://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951001963476e

Griffin remains posted at Fort Leavenworth until leave of absense in 1859.