Merritt H. Day
During the lead-up to what is now known as the Wounded Knee Massacre, "Col. Day" was issued hundreds of rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition by the state governor, which he distributed to the 60 to 200 men of the Spring Creek Volunteers.
¶ Mr. Day settled in the Dakota Territory just after the close of the Civil War, in which he had served with distinction, being discharged as a captain of a Wisconsin regiment.
He patrolled the surrounding country, erected temporary forts for the protection of stockmen and sent messengers to confer with the hostile Sioux.
It is with a mingled feeling of pride and pleasure that we accept for our County the name of so honorable a pioneer.During the American Civil War, Merritt H. Day served with the 11th Regiment of the Wisconsin Infantry from 1861 to 1865, rising to the rank of corporal.
[13] (According to one report on Church's relationship with Grover Cleveland, "Day was a southern Dakotan from Bon Homme County who also engaged in Black Hills mining.
He had been under consideration for the gubernatorial appointment in 1887 but withdrew his name, supposedly with the tacit understanding of Cleveland and Church that he would become territorial auditor.
[3] Mellette appointed Day "aide-de-camp" responsible for the "[Black] Hills campaign" and asked him to coordinate with the mayor of Rapid City.
[3] By January 1891, following Wounded Knee, the militia under Day had expanded to some 200 men who "patrolled Cheyenne River as a screen for the Black Hills settlements.
Senator Francis H. Case of South Dakota sought military pensions Spring Creek Company of volunteers led by Day.
It seems the War Department's position was that the company were not formally mustered, had never drawn pay, and Day was never commissioned as a colonel.
General Frank T. Hines of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs stated at the time of the hearing that he accepted the company had existed and cooperated with the army but that current legislation meant he could not pay pensions to the men as they drew no pay from the federal government or state, though he felt they were morally entitled to a pension.
In 1891, Mr. Day brought suit against a "notorious confidence swindler" Ellen E. Peck, who had fraudulently cheated him of property in Brooklyn, New York[18] valued at $250,000.
newspapers: "Early residents of South Dakota will learn with regret of the death of Col. M. H. Day, at Rapid City, S. D., May 4, of appendicitis.
Mellette's staff at the time of the Wounded Knee Indian uprising and had command of the state troops in that affair.
[10] In 1860 at age 16 he was living with his parents John Day, a gunsmith, and his wife Maria (Drutcher), in Baraboo, Sauk County, Wisconsin.
[30] Following the Civil War, he relocated to Humboldt County, Iowa, where he married Elizabeth Mary Southwick, a native of Massachusetts, in 1867.
[31] (Lee later participated in a different South Dakota militia called Grisby's Cowboys, which volunteered for the Spanish-American War.
[35] One record says Merritt H. Day died May 4, 1900, of appendicitis[10] and a widow or other survivor applied for an American Civil War pension in 1903.
