Social Studies - Chapter 9U.S. – Dakota War of 1862

Test Date: Friday, Jan. 30

Parent Signature Due: Friday, Jan. 23

Vocabulary• 1. agency – a U.S. government field office• 2. traditional Dakota - Dakota who wanted to

maintain their culture and resist efforts to make them live like European Americans

• 3. farm Dakota – Dakota who adopted some European American ways, including farming like settlers

• 4. internment camp – a place where civilians, prisoners of war, and/or political prisoners are held

• 5. exile – to force to leave one’s country or homeland

U.S. – Dakota War of 1862 pp. 169-171• As the Civil War was splitting the nation in two, another conflict was

brewing in MN between the Dakota (indigenous people) and the European American white settlers who were pouring in.

• 1851 – Treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota left the Dakota with a narrow strip of land along the Minnesota River.

• 1858 – Dakota leaders were taken to D.C. where they were kept until they signed a treaty turning over the northern half of their reservation.

• 1858 – Now the Dakota had an even narrower strip of land (only 10 miles wide) and their traditional way of life was no longer possible.

• Dakota hunting grounds became filled with settlers who tried to convince Dakota to become farmers. Dakota were hungry. Promised payments were often late. All that was needed was a spark to ignite a war.

• Sioux Massacre, Sioux Uprising, Little Crow’s Uprising, Minnesota Indian War of 1862, Dakota Conflict, U.S. – Dakota War of 1862 – many names for the same war

Setting the Stage at the Lower Sioux Agency

• The Dakota reservation along the Minnesota River was split into two areas – each with its own government field office (agency) – the Upper Sioux Agency (confluence of Yellow Medicine and Minnesota Rivers) and the Lower Sioux Agency (confluence of Minnesota and Redwood Rivers).• Both had grown into small towns. The Lower

Sioux Agency was especially bustling.

Traditional Dakota

• In 1862, many Dakota at Lower Agency lived in tipis and bark lodges and had a leader – Little Crow V, Taoyateduta, Blue Earth, Makato, Red Banner, Wapahasa. They were traditional Dakota because they wanted to continue their traditional ways of life. They did not convert to Christianity, but kept their traditional rituals and men continued to hunt and gather food.

Farm Dakota

• By 1862, several hundred Dakota were living on farms away from the reservation. These farm Dakota grew crops, raised livestock and lived in brick and wooden houses. Most had abandoned traditional Dakota ways and had adopted a European American lifestyle. They went to Christian churches and dressed like the white settlers.

Government Workers/Agents

• In 1862, the top government official at both agencies was Thomas Galbraith. He was charged with assimilating the Indians and handing out money that had been promised in the treaties.

• Galbraith thought: The beliefs and habits of the Indians must be wiped out. They should abandon laziness and become hard workers. They should embrace home life and leave the war path. They should welcome these changes.

Traders

• The government allowed a small group of traders (Andrew Myrick) to run stores where the Dakota could buy food and supplies on credit – until their annuities arrived. The Dakota did not trust the traders. The traders kept written records – the Dakota did not.

• Myrick – in August 1862, afraid he would never be paid, Myrick rejected Dakota requests for food. “So far as I’m concerned, if they are hungry, let them eat grass.”

Missionaries

• The main goal of the missionaries was to convince the Dakota to give up their spiritual traditions and adopt Christianity.

• Churches were set up. The missionaries thought the only way for the Dakota to survive was to adapt to the new situation.

• Stephen Riggs – missionary who participated in the treaty negotiations of 1851; it is quite a thing for Indians to adopt these new ways; whenever the wife of one of the Dakota men at Lower Agency looked at her husband’s short hair, she cried.

Tensions Rise pp. 175-177

• Tensions rose because Dakota resisted giving up their traditional way of life.

• As more Dakota adopted white ways, tensions among the Dakota people themselves rose. Traditional Dakota were jealous of farm Dakota because they got more stuff from the government. Traditional Dakota thought farm Dakota were sell-outs.

• Farm Dakota either believed in new lifestyle or adopted it as a safer way to go.

Credit Cut Off and Food Withheld

• Annuity payments from the government (promised in treaties) often arrived late. This was especially true in 1862 when gold coin was scarce because of the Civil War.

• Dakota turned to traders for help, but even though many traders were married to Dakota women, they were businessmen first. In the summer of 1862, they shut down the entire credit system so the Dakota could no longer buy food and supplies.

• From this time on, the Dakota and the traders were at odds.

Frustration Builds Among Dakota

• Dakota were frustrated.• They had lost their land. They could no longer

hunt.• Government was trying to change them.• Promised annuity payments were late.• Agent Galbraith refused to give them food and

supplies.• The Dakota were hungry and sick.

War pp.178-181

• On August 17,1862, the tensions turned to bloodshed.• Four young Dakota men killed five European

American settlers near the town of Acton in an argument over eggs.• Little Crow was conflicted over whether to go

to war. But in the end, he agreed to lead his people into battle.

Attack at the Lower Sioux Agency

• The next morning, August 18, 1862, Dakota soldiers attacked the Lower Sioux Agency. They killed several traders, including Andrew Myrick who was later found with grass stuck in his mouth. Then they spread out and started killing white settlers. More than 300 people, including many women and children were killed in the first two days.

• Farm Dakota (Wounded Man) became very scared.

Settlers React

• White settlers began fleeing their homes. Mary Schwandt and two other girls and two men fled their homes and about eight miles from New Ulm encountered a large group of Dakota. The two white men were killed and the three women were taken to Little Crow’s village on the reservation. There Mary saw the Indians had some of their cattle and household goods. Her parents, a sister and two brothers were killed by the Indians. In the next days, the Dakota launched attacks on New Ulm and Fort Ridgley, but did not succeed.

Destruction of War• Nine days after the fighting began, Colonel Henry

Sibley led 1,400 men into battle with the Dakota. It was clear the Dakota could not win. The final battle took place at Wood Lake, MN on September 23, 1862. • Over 2,000 Dakota Surrendered to Sibley and

hundreds fled MN to avoid capture, including Little Crow.• 70 U.S. soldiers and 75-100 Dakota soldiers were

killed. More than 500 settlers had been killed. Towns (including New Ulm) were devastated.

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Aftermath

• In the fall, Colonel Sibley set up a military court in Lower Sioux Agency and hundreds of Dakota were rushed through trials (without lawyers) for their crimes.

• Although missionary, Stephen Riggs thought the trials were unfair, most Minnesotans supported the trials and thought the Dakota should be punished.

• In 39 days, the military court sentenced 303 Dakota men to death. They were taken to a military camp near Mankato. None could be executed without the approval of President Abraham Lincoln.

• Lincoln approved the execution of 39 Dakota who had been convicted of crimes against civilians. 17

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• Bishop Henry Whipple talked with Lincoln and told him about the terrible conditions on the reservation and asked Lincoln to show mercy.

• In the end, Lincoln approved the execution of 39 Dakota who had been convicted of crimes against civilians.

• On December 26, 1862, in front of a large crowd in Mankato’s public square, 38 of the Dakota were hanged. One man, Round Wind, was spared at the last minute.

• It was the largest mass execution in U.S. history, before or since.

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• President Lincoln ordered the rest of the 300 Dakota to be moved to a military prison camp in Iowa - Camp McClellan. 120 died there from poor conditions.

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Exile• After the war, 1,700 Dakota women, children

and elders were forced from their homes in Lower Sioux Agency to an internment camp on the riverbanks below Fort Snelling. The 100 mile march was difficult. The Dakota were attacked (even though they were accompanied by U.S. soldiers) as they passed through the town of Henderson. At least one Dakota child was killed on the march and several were injured.

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• On November 23, 1862, the group arrived at Fort Snelling. Conditions were hard there. During the winter, measles and other diseases killed 100-200 Dakota.

• By early 1863, the U.S. government had canceled all treaties they had signed with the Dakota. The reservations and annuities were gone and the Dakota were forced to leave MN and go to a reservation at Crow Creek, SD. Conditions there were very harsh. Many dies from hunger and disease.

• In 1866 the government allowed the exiled Dakota to move to a reservation in NE.

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A Changing Landscape• In the summer of 1863, hardly anyone lived in

southwestern MN. Settlers had abandoned their homes during the war. The Dakota had fled MN or been exiled. Only 200 Dakota who had helped settlers during the war remained.

• As the years went by, the Dakota remained separated, but some came back to establish communities at Upper and Lower Sioux Agencies, Prairie Island, and Prior Lake.

• But the land had changed. Thousands of white settlers were now farming the land.

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Never Forget• The outcomes of the U.S. - Dakota War still

affect people today. Since 2002, a group has gathered to walk the 150 miles from Lower Sioux Agency to Fort Snelling to honor the journey their ancestors made in 1862.

Adapting to Change

• In the 1850s there was a dramatic population shift in MN. In just ten years, the region went from mostly American Indian to mostly European American. The Dakota people had to decide whether to reject the new lifestyle, adopt it, or compromise.