Bio of MAXFIELD, Kinsey (b.1843), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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Vol III, pg 517-518
KINSEY MAXFIELD
Kinsey Maxfield, who came to Minneapolis as state grain inspector in 1883 and
continued a resident of this city throughout the remaining four decades of his
life, was actively engaged in the grain commission business for a number of
years as senior member of the firm of Maxfield & Herrick and was also one of the
original incorporators of the Chamber of Commerce. He had attained the venerable
age of eighty years when called to his final rest on the 23d of February, 1923,
his birth having occurred in Etna, Ohio, February 10, 1843. When a lad of eleven
he accompanied his parents, George and Sarah (Borden) Maxfield, on their removal
to Mankato, Minnesota, where his father and mother spent the remainder of their
lives and where he attended private school. He was a young man of nineteen years
when on the 10th of August, 1862, he enlisted in the Union army as a member of
Company E, Ninth Minnesota Infantry, with which he served for three years and
four months, participating in eleven battles and twenty-three skirmishes. An
in­teresting letter dated August 28, 1915, giving a detailed account of one of
his most exciting military experiences, was printed by the Daily Review and is
as follows:
"Having recently read a story in one of the Minneapolis dailies headed, 'Indian
Gazes Upon Grandsire's Skull,' which although a good story, contains too much
fiction for good history, I thought I would venture to give the facts as I know
them. Company E, Ninth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, was stationed at
Hutchinson, Minnesota, during part of the summer of 1863, of which I was a
member. Near midnight on the night of July 3, Chauncy Lampson came to our
quarters out of breath and nearly naked with his skin scratched with briers so
that he was blood all over, and asked us to go to a place near their farm to get
the body of his father, who he said had been killed by the Indians. A number of
our company, I think about nine, including myself, started from Hutchinson as
soon as possible in our government wagon with young Lampson as guide and reached
the farm shortly before daylight, but the fog was so thick that we could not see
the lead mules and thought it best to wait until the fog lifted before going
farther. As soon as we could see a reasonable distance, we started again, but
Lampson refused to go any farther, telling us that his father's body was about a
mile farther on near a little lake where they were hunting for deer, which were
very plentiful, so we went forward without him with scouts ahead to prevent
surprise. Upon going over a little hill we came upon a dead Indian in the wagon
road near a bunch of hazel brush and raspberry bushes, and after scouting around
we found tracks of one Indian leading to where a pony had been tied, and we
trailed him for several miles through the heavy grass and sloughs until we lost
the trail on the high ground. We then loaded the body on the wagon and returned
to Hutchinson, where it was recognized by a number of old settlers as being that
of Little Crow, the identification being positive because of his extremely fine
hair for an Indian, and having both wrists broken and out of place and his
breast being badly scarred in a fight with a bear near Hutchinson a number of
years before. Our assistant surgeon, Dr. R. W. Twitchell, who was from Hastings,
I think, was at Hutchinson at the time and wanted the body, so we gave it to
him. He put the body in an Indian canoe with a lot of strong lye and after the
bones were bleached, wired the skeleton together and kept it for a number of
years. I heard some time afterwards that he had sold the skull to someone in New
York city, but I never heard what disposition was made of the balance of the
anatomy. The facts of the fight by the elder Lampson and his son Chauncy with
Little Crow and his son were substantially as follows: Lampson had a farm about
six miles from Hutchinson in the edge of the Big Woods, on which Lampson and his
son were working on July 3, 1863, and about four o'clock in the afternoon they
thought they would kill a deer to take home with them. In going up a small hill
on the wagon road they heard voices, and crawling carefully up to the tip saw
two Indians picking and eating wild raspberries. After talking it over Mr.
Lampson said he would crawl down through the grass to a tree near where the
Indians were and rest his gun against the tree and make a sure shot at the
larger Indian, while Chauncy was to fire at the smaller Indian. So Lampson got
to his position, and aiming steadily at the big Indian's heart, fired and hit
him through the hips. Both Indians dropped immediately and Lampson crawled back
to where Chauncy was and as he was going over the top of the hill the big Indian
fired at him, the bullet cutting the skin on his back. Chauncy at the same time
fired at the Indian, hitting him just below the heart. Lampson then told Chauncy
that he had a mortal wound through the body, and for him to go to Hutchinson as
quick as he could and get the soldiers to bring his body. After Chauncy left,
Lampson crawled into a thick patch of hazel brush near the road, and soon after
Little Crow's son carried his father to a wide place in the road within ten feet
of where Lampson was hiding, and talked with his father until after midnight,
when Little Crow died. The son after putting new moccasins on his father and
straightening him out, took the pony and started north. Little Crow's son was
some time later captured near Devils Lake and brought back to Fort Snelling.
Lampson later told us that he had a large sized Colt's revolver and had aimed
over a dozen times at the young Indian, but before he could pull the trigger the
revolver wiggled so bad that he was afraid to shoot, so he let the young Indian
go. Lampson afterward received three or four hundred dollars bounty from the
state and the thanks of the legislature for killing Little Crow. If the skull of
Little Crow, in the State Historical rooms, is bullet shattered, it is a pure
fake."
After leaving the army Mr; Maxfield located at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where
he was identified with the Millers Association for a few years. As above stated,
it was in 1883 that he came to Minneapolis as state grain inspector, in which
capacity he continued for several years. Subsequently he formed a partnership
with Roy D. Herrick for the conduct of a grain commission business, develop­ing
an extensive and profitable enterprise of this character under the firm name of
Maxfield & Herrick. During the period of the World war his health became
impaired and he therefore retired from business, spending the remainder of his
life in well earned rest.
In 1893 Mr. Maxfield was united in marriage to Miss Alice Loucks, a daughter of
William J. and Anna (York) Loucks and a descendant of the Langfords of
Lanchester, Ireland. Politically Mr. Maxfield was a lifelong democrat but not
bit­terly partisan. He was one of the organizers and prominent members of the
Min­neapolis Chamber of Commerce and maintained pleasant relations with his old
army comrades through his membership in John A. Rawlins Post, G. A. R.
Fraternally he was identified with the Masons, belonging to Hennepin Lodge No.
4, A. F. & A. M., and Darius Commandery, K. T. He attended the services of
Westminster church. In his passing Minneapolis lost one of her honored and
representative citizens and one who will long be missed. His widow, who
continues her residence at No. 507 Newton avenue North, is also well known and
highly esteemed throughout the city.