Col. Melvin Grigsby Biography


	This biography appears on pages 314-318 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				COLONEL MELVIN GRIGSBY. 

	Colonel Melvin Grigsby, of Sioux Falls, is recognized as one of 
the foremost citizens of the state of South Dakota. For a number of 
years he served ably in the important and responsible office of 
attorney general of the state and during the Spanish-American war he 
was colonel of the Third United States Volunteer Cavalry, which he 
organized and which was known as Grigsby's Cowboys. Moreover, it was 
due to his efforts that the formation of a regiment of United States 
volunteer cavalry was made possible. The initiative which, he displayed 
at that time is characteristic of the man and of the west, where he has 
resided throughout his entire life. 

	Colonel Grigsby was born in Potosi, Grant county, Wisconsin, June 
8, 1845, a son of William E. and Rhoda Grigsby. The father was employed 
in the lead mines near Potosi but when his son Melvin was four years 
old he removed to a farm two miles from the village and there the 
Colonel grew to manhood. His summers were devoted to assisting his 
father with the farm work and during the winters he attended school, 
which was held in an old log house. At the outbreak of the Civil war, 
although he was but a youth of sixteen, he desired to go to the front 
but his father thought him too young and sent him to school in 
Lancaster, Wisconsin. In the fall of that year Colonel C. C. Washburne 
went to Lancaster to recruit men for the Second Wisconsin Cavalry. This 
made young Grigsby more anxious then ever to join the army and he at 
length obtained his father's consent to enlist in Company C, Second 
Wisconsin Cavalry, which was recruited at Patch Grove, Grant county, by 
Captain R. R. Woods. The other officers were: Myron W. Woods, first 
lieutenant; and D. C. Riley, second lieutenant, the former of whom 
subsequently became major and the latter captain. Colonel Grigsby was 
at the front for more than three years and experienced all of the 
hardships of the war. He was captured and was imprisoned at Canton, 
Mississippi; at Cahaba, Alabama; Andersonville, Georgia, where he 
remained six months; and at Florence, South Carolina, from which place 
he escaped on the 10th of January, 1865, reaching Sherman's army on the 
1st of February. He escaped once and was recaptured, but finally 
succeeded in getting away. The story of his escapes, together with his 
experiences in rebel prisons, has been told by himself in a book 
entitled "The Smoked Yank." 

	After the conclusion of the war Colonel Grigsby entered the 
University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he remained for one year, and 
later became a student in the State Normal School at Platteville, from 
which he was graduated in 1869. He was for a year principal of the 
schools of Horicon, Wisconsin, and for a similar period held the office 
of principal of the Darlington, Wisconsin, schools and later was 
principal of the graded schools of Delavan, Wisconsin. In the meantime 
he had taken up the study of law and he completed his preparation for 
the bar in the office of Pitt Dewey, of Lancaster. In 1872 he was 
admitted to the bar and not long afterward started on horseback to find 
a promising location for a young attorney in the northwest. In June of 
that year he arrived in Sioux Falls and, being pleased with the 
prospects, decided to locate there. He formed a partnership with R. F. 
Pettigrew for the practice of law and the conduct of a real-estate 
business and this association was continued with mutual pleasure and 
profit until 1876. In 1877, with George M. Smith, Colonel Grigsby 
established the Dakota Pantagraph at Sioux Falls, which, however, he 
sold in a few months. He and Mr. Smith also started the Bank of Egan at 
Egan, of which Colonel Grigsby was the first president, and the Union 
Bank at Elk Point, of which he also served as the first president.  

	The fitness of Colonel Grigsby for public office was early 
recognized by his fellow citizens and in 1883 at the first city 
election of Sioux Falls he was elected alderman from the third ward, 
which office he held for two terms. For one year he was clerk of the 
courts of Minnehaha county and in 1886 at the territorial congressional 
convention at Watertown he received almost enough votes for the 
nomination. In that same year he was elected to the territorial council 
and served in that capacity with marked ability. He was a delegate to 
the constitutional convention which met at Sioux Falls and thus had a 
part in the leaking of the organic law of the state. Until 1894 he 
supported the republican party but as he believed in the free coinage 
of silver he transferred his allegiance to the populist party in that 
year and was nominated for the state senate. Two years later he was the 
populist candidate for attorney general and campaigned the state for 
Bryan and free silver. He was not only elected but received more votes 
than any other candidate on the populist ticket in the state. He proved 
an efficient and conscientious official and made a record of which he 
has every reason to be proud. In 1912 he was a candidate for the United 
States senate.  

	Colonel Grigsby was serving as attorney general of South Dakota 
at the time of the sinking of the Maine and at once recognized the fact 
that this was almost certain to lead to war with Spain. He was very 
anxious to raise a regiment but knew that he would not be able to 
secure a commission in a volunteer regiment as Governor Lee, who by 
virtue of his office had the power of appointing all officers, was his 
bitter enemy. As Colonel Grigsby was thinking over the situation he saw 
a number of cowboys galloping up on their horses and it flashed upon 
him that the western cowboys would make unusually efficient soldiers. 
He at once telegraphed to President McKinley the following message: 
"The sinking of the Maine means war. In that event the cowboys of these 
western plains will make the best soldiers that can be secured on short 
notice. I tender my services in this connection." He watched very 
carefully the proceedings in congress and when he learned that a law 
providing for the formation of volunteer regiments for service in the 
Spanish-American war was about to be passed he went to Washington. On 
the night before his arrival in the capital the bill passed the house 
and was sent to the senate committee on military affairs. Colonel 
Grigsby secured a copy of the bill and wrote an amendment which 
authorized the raising of three regiments to be composed of men of 
special qualifications as to horsemanship and marksmanship, to be 
recruited from the nation at large and the officers thereof to be 
appointed by the president. He interviewed Assistant Secretary of War 
Micklejohn, who said that there was no use of trying to get the 
amendment added to the bill, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 
Theodore Roosevelt, who said that he would be very glad to help him get 
the amendment through but that he was so busy that it was impossible 
for him to do anything at that time. Colonel Grigsby then went to the 
senate and found that the committee on military affairs was in session. 
He explained the amendment to Senator Warren, who said that it was a 
good thing but that it would be impossible for it to be added as the 
committee would report the bill within twenty minutes. Colonel Grigsby, 
however, finally succeeded in getting the amendment called to the 
attention of the committee and when the bill was reported it contained 
the amendment exactly as it had been written by Colonel Grigsby. The 
bill passed the senate that day and was then sent back to the house, 
where it was passed without objection to the amendment. The following 
morning it was signed by the president and became a law. It was due to 
this amendment that Leonard Wood was appointed colonel and Theodore 
Roosevelt lieutenant colonel of the First Regiment of the United States 
Volunteer Cavalry, Colonel Torrey colonel of the second regiment and 
our subject the colonel of the third. He at once began to recruit the 
regiment, which was mustered in on the 19th of May and left the next 
day for Chickamauga, where the training camp was situated. They were 
popularly known as "Grigsby,s Cowboys." Colonel Grigsby was very 
popular with his men and by the time that they were called into active 
service they were a well drilled and effective regiment. When they were 
mustered out he was presented with a beautiful sword by the other 
officers of the command. On the 2d of June Colonel Grigsby was 
appointed acting brigadier general and placed in charge of the First 
Cavalry Brigade, First Army Corps, and during the entire summer he had 
about thirty-five hundred cavalrymen in training. He remained in the 
service until the 8th of September, 1899, when he was mustered out. 
When Colonel Grigsby became an officer in the United States army 
Governor Andrew Lee asked for his resignation from the office of 
attorney general of South Dakota, which, however, he refused to give. 
The governor then requested that the United States officials discharge 
Colonel Grigsby from the army, maintaining that he could not legally 
hold both positions. The United States attorney general, however, ruled 
that the governor of South Dakota had nothing to say regarding the 
United States army and so Colonel Grigsby continued to hold both 
offices.  

	Colonel Grigsby was married in March, 1873, at Delavan, 
Wisconsin, to Miss Fannie L. Kingsbury, a sister of Hon. George W. 
Kingsbury, the author of the "History of Dakota Territory." To this 
union have been born four children: Sioux K., an attorney of Sioux 
Falls; George B., now mayor of Nome, Alaska; Fannie Lou, of Sioux 
Falls; and John T., familiarly known as "Jack," who is a practicing 
attorney of Flandreau, South Dakota.  

	The three regiments of Rough Riders which served in the Spanish-
American war attracted a great deal of attention and proved unusually 
efficient soldiers and Colonel Grigsby takes justifiable pride in the 
fact that it was due to his efforts that their formation was possible. 
His service in the Civil war made him a valuable officer and as colonel 
of the Third Regiment of United States Volunteer Cavalry and later as 
acting brigadier general of the First Cavalry Brigade, First Army 
Corps, he rendered his country invaluable service. For many years he 
hats been prominent in the affairs of the state of South Dakota and is 
leaving the impress of his individuality upon the history of the state.