A United States Army company responding to the Dakota attack at the Lower Sioux Agency from Fort Ridgeley was ambushed and defeated at Redwood Ferry.

Captain John S. Marsh heard news of the killings from J.C. Dickinson, the agency boarding house manager, who had escaped with his family by ferry and had arrived at Fort Ridgely in a wagon.

[1] The news that Dakota warriors were attacking settlers and agency staff was soon confirmed by the arrival of more refugees bringing a wounded man.

[2] Meanwhile, 19-year-old Lieutenant Thomas P. Gere was left to hold the fort with only 22 soldiers available for active duty, as the rest were sick or on hospital detail.

He was supported by Post Sutler Ben H. Randall, Ordnance Sergeant John Jones, and the surgeon, Dr. Alfred Müller, who helped Gere deal with the sudden influx of refugees at Fort Ridgely.

[2] In Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, General Lucius Frederick Hubbard wrote: "Still in the hope that all this was the work of some desperate band of outlaws among the Sioux, and strangely confident that it was in his power to quell the disturbance, Capt.

[2] Near the landing, which was on the east bank of the Minnesota River, the grass was thick with heavy growth of hazel and willow brush on either side of the road.

[8] Some sources later accused White Dog of deliberately prolonging his exchange with Marsh to allow the other Dakota to ford the river upstream, take cover in the thicket, and take control of the ferry house.

[6][9] White Dog then appeared to give the signal for the Dakota warriors to shoot, killing Quinn and twelve soldiers, and wounding many more.

[8] Finally, as the timber and underbrush thinned, Marsh decided to cross the stream to avoid further fire, and attempt to find their way back to the fort on the south bank.

[1][12] Nineteen-year-old Sergeant John F. Bishop then led fifteen survivors, including five wounded men, back to Fort Ridgely.

[13] The defeat of Marsh and B Company, combined with Sheehan's departure, had left Fort Ridgely exceedingly lightly defended, with only 30-odd soldiers to guard the 300 or more civilian refugees sheltering there.

Oscar Wall ascribes this miscalculation to dissension among the Dakota and their mistaken belief that the fort held more than 100 trained soldiers, not the 30 that remained after the departures of Sheehan and the Renville Rangers and Marsh's defeat.