DAKOTA (Sioux) UPRISING

Causes

There will always be a difference of opinion as to the cause of the Dakota Uprising. Poor treatment of the Indians by government officials is a leading explanation. But, in truth, this was only one of many factors. The Dakota had been forced onto reservations by an insurgence of white settlers. They had made treaties with the United States government. In these treaties the Indians agreed to move onto the reservations in return for a large sum of money. However, only a portion of the purchase price was ever paid. The government paid a stipulation regularly, but the agents, to whom it was sent for distribution, often pocketed the larger portion of the money.

By 1862, the situation had reached the boiling point. The Dakota realized that many of the young men were off fighting the Civil War, thus leaving their homes and families unprotected. Then there was a winter starvation brought on by a crop failure the previous fall. The government payments were late again and the traders refused to issue credit to the Indians so that they could buy the much needed food. This further angered the already frustrated Dakota.

The Beginning

Then, on August 17, 1862, the fuse was lit to set off the explosive Uprising. Four braves were pillaging a hen's nest near the cabin of Robinson Jones at Acton in Meeker County. One of the braves objected to stealing a white man's property and the other three called the first a coward. To prove his courage, the first brave declared that he would approach the cabin and kill its white owner. The Jones family saw the braves approaching and fled to the house of their son-in-law, Howard Baker. The braves followed and killed Baker, Jones and three others, two of them women. Then the braves stole horses and rode to Chief Shakopee's camp and reported what they had done. Chief Shakopee immediately took them to Chief Little Crow.

The next night, a council of war was held. The chiefs decided to attack the Redwood Indian Agency the following morning, which was August 19th. The next morning, the Dakota attacked without warning. They killed several white men and then went on to attack New Ulm and Fort Ridgely.

Many years later the four braves were identified as Killing Ghost, Brown Wing, Breaking Up, and Runs Against Something When Crawling.

New Ulm

Bands of Dakota had begun attacking settlements and isolated farm families on the 18th of August. News had traveled quickly and frightened settlers had fled to New Ulm for safety. Other settlers fled to Mankato, which had organized a makeshift militia to hold off the expected attack. Though Mankato was never attacked, Indians did descend on New Ulm and Fort Ridgely.

The first attack on New Ulm occurred on August 19th, 1862. The afternoon before, Sheriff Roos had issued an order placing the local militia under arms. By noon on the 19th, only 42 men had been found sufficiently well armed to be assigned to the defense of the city. These 42 were organized into companies and assigned areas to guard. The rest of the men were "reserves", armed only with pitchforks and other crude weapons to be used in the event that the Indians broke through the fortifications. 16 men from Nicollet and Courtland and 12 horsemen from St. Peter also arrived in time to fight in the first battle. Around five o'clock the first night, a company of hastily assembled businessmen arrived from St. Peter just as the Indians were preparing to give up the struggle.

The city was evacuated and a train of 153 wagons carrying women, children and the wounded arrived in Mankato, after a thirty mile journey. Relief companies were immediately organized. Captain William Bierbauer of Mankato raised a company of 80 men and Captain John D. Zimmerman of South Bend raised a company of 73 men. Both companies set off for New Ulm and arrived on Wednesday the 20th of August. Le Sueur and St. Peter also sent more men to help in the defense. Martial law was declared and the companies were organized and began heavily fortifying the city. On Thursday, most of the South Bend Company elected to return to their homes because of the threat of an uprising on the part of the Winnebagoes, who lived near them. Even with this loss, the enrollment in the makeshift militia continued to increase.

On Saturday, the day of the second attack, the total had reached a total of well over eight hundred men, according to rosters furnished by company commanders. That day, the Dakota attacked a second time. Although most of the town was burned, the settlers managed to hold them off. Help arrived in the form of an advance guard under the command of General Sibley and 175 volunteer citizen horsemen. Demoralized, the Dakota fled, but they had done plenty of damage. Many settlers were dead or wounded and the town of New Ulm had been reduced to a smoking rubble. The only area of the town still standing at the end of the battle was the two block area the settlers had fortified.

Dakota Defeated

With nearby Fort Ridgely secure, General Sibley moved on to fight decisive battles at Birch Coulee and Wood Lake. The defeat at Wood Lake ended all organized Indian resistance and Little Crow fled, leaving his white captives with friendly Indians. Within a few days the 107 white captives and 162 mixed blood captives were turned over to Sibley at a place near the present-day city of Montevideo. Sibley named the place Camp Release and a 51-foot granite shaft was placed there as a monument to the end of the Dakota Uprising.

The Indian Trials and Executions

Many of the braves who had taken part in the Uprising fled west into the Dakota Territory. Others were captured and put on trial for their crimes. The trials began on October25, 1862 because it took Sibley some time to move his captives to the Lower Sioux Agency. On some days the commission heard as many as 40 Indians before the board. Some captives were heard and sentenced in less than five minutes. In what is called a travesty of justice by some, 307 Dakota were sentenced to death and 16 others were given prison terms.

Although some of the generals favored immediate execution, permission was sought from President Lincoln because of the huge number of capital cases. President Lincoln ordered the execution postponed and the papers on each convict sent to Washington D.C. for study by authorized deputies of the President. He then had the deputies distinguish between the murderers and the rapists and those who had only been participants in the battle. The President made it clear that no man was to be hanged because he had fought for his tribe. While this was going on, General Sibley moved the condemned men to Camp Lincoln just outside of Mankato. On December 4th, a mob of vengeful Mankato citizens attempted to slay the condemned prisoners but were turned back by the soldiers. The following day, the prisoners were moved to safer quarters within Mankato.

On December 6th, President Lincoln approved the death sentence for only 39 of the original 307 and pardoned the rest. He ordered the executions to take place on December 19, but then agreed to a week's delay to allow more time for the arrangements to be made. Missionaries spent much time before the execution preaching to the condemned and many of the prisoners were baptized. One Indian was given a last minute reprieve when it was shown that his only accusers were a pair of young boys.

On December 26th 1862, thirty-eight men were lead onto a platform. Thirty-eight nooses were placed around thirty-eight necks. The signal was given and an axe man severed the retaining rope with a single swing. The platform dropped out from under the feet of the condemned and thirty-eight men dangled from their necks until they died. Witnesses gave only a muffled cry as the platform dropped and then stood silently watching the largest mass execution ever to take place in the United States.

The execution took place in front of what is now the Minnesota Valley Regional Library in Mankato. A monument has been raised in memorial to the thirty-eight killed that day.

Reconciliation Park across from the Mankato Library.

Monument which stands outside the Mankato public library. The library was built on the site of the largest execution to ever take place in the United States. This monument commemorates the 38 Indians hanged in 1862.

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