United States (North Dakota) - There were no injuries when a fire Monday morning damaged the museum at the White Stone Hill Battlefield in western Dickey County, said an official with the Edgeley Volunteer Fire Department. The one-room museum has stone walls and floors with a wooden ceiling and support beams holding the ceiling up, which is why the official was not sure if the building was completely destroyed. The building did not have electricity at the time of the fire.

White Stone Hill Battlefield, located 23 miles southeast of Kulm, N.D., was the site of a battle in 1863 between American soldiers and American Indians, according to the North Dakota State Historical Society.

The soldiers attacked a camp of Yanktonai, some Dakota, Hunkpapa Lakota and Blackfeet (Sihasapa La-kota), as part of a military mission to punish participants of the Dakota Conflict of 1862. The battle left many Indians dead or captured with relatively light casualties on the American side, according to the NDSHS.

The museum was fully ablaze when four firefighters arrived at about 7:20 a.m., the official said.

A pumper truck and grass rig where on the scene for three hours fighting the fire, he said.

The museum contained some artifacts from the Civil War era but the official had no damage estimate.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, the official said.

Written by The Jamestown Sun