The Sioux Uprising

While soldiers from Minnesota were fighting for the Union, a conflict was brewing at home.  The eastern branch of the Dakota tribe, known as the Santee Sioux, was growing more and more angry at the white settlers.  The tribe had been moved to a tiny reservation along the Minnesota River.  Many of the Santee Sioux felt their land and their future had been given away for little in return.  In 1862, a drought killed the Indians crops and the government refused to give the Indians money and supplies it promised them in the treaties.  Many of the Indian agents were unfair and corrupt which caused increased tension between the two groups.

At first, Chief Little Crow tried to convince the tribe to make peace, but younger leaders wanted to fight.  Little Crow finally gave in to them although he feared the outcome.  The Santee Sioux uprising began on August 17, 1862 when a small group of Indians who were searching for food killed three men, a woman, and a 15 year old give at a farmhouse near Acton.  The following day the Indians stormed the Lower Sioux Agency near Redwood Falls and killed or wounded about 40 soldiers.  Little Crow and his warriors then went on a raid along the Minnesota River.  The looted and burned everything in their path.  They were joined by Indians from other Dakota bands. 

The Minnesota militia was smaller than usual because many members were away fighting in the Civil War.  The soldiers desperately tried to stop the uprising.  They were commanded by Colonel Henry Sibley, the former governor who had once been friendly with the Dakota Indians.  On September 23, the army defeated the Santees at the Battle of Big Lake.  Three days later, Sibley’s troops captured more than 1,600 of the rebellious Indians, but Little Crow had escaped.    Of the 400 Indians were put on trial for taking part in the uprising, more than 300 were found guilty of various crimes and sentenced to death.  Abraham Lincoln reviewed the trial records and ordered that only those guilty of murder or rape would get the death sentence lowering the number down to 38.  

At the end of the uprising, more than 1600 Dakota men, women, and children were rounded up and marched to Fort Snelling where they lived in very cramped quarters.  Various diseases and epidemics took the lives of many.  They were held at the Fort until May of 1863.  It was very much like a concentration camp.  The Minnesota uprising was one of the nations most costly Indian wars, both in lives and property destroyed.  It resulted in the near depletion of the frontier life and exile of the Dakota from Minnesota.  This marked the largest mass execution in American history.        

Captured Dakota at Fort Snelling

After the war, most of the remaining Dakota in Minnesota were rounded up and held in a makeshift prison camp at Fort Snelling. Most later were expelled from the state to new reservations in South Dakota, Nebraska and other areas.

1. Dakota women at the prison compound, Fort Snelling.

2.  Little Crow, one of the leaders of the uprising, was not captured after the war, but his wife and two children   were and they were held at Fort Snelling.

3.  Dakota Chief Wacouta was held captive at the Fort Snelling compound, even though he opposed the war.

4.  Shakopee (Little Six), a prisoner at Fort Snelling.

Map of 1862

Key: 1: Dakota Reservation in 1862 (shaded area); 2: Dakota land ceded in 1858(outlined area north of Minnesota River);

3: Upper Sioux Agency; 4: Lower Sioux Agency; 5: Acton, site of first violence; 6: New Ulm; 7: Fort Ridgely; 8: Camp Release; 9: Camp Lincoln and Mankato

Minnesota's Uncivil War 

Listen as the story of the Sioux Uprising is told.  There is also a great photo slideshow of images during this time period as well as stories of the Dakota Indians who lived during this time.

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200209/23_steilm_1862-m/index.shtml

T\e Dakota Conflict Trials

1862 

The Dakota Conflict Trials 

Look at maps, key figures, accounts of the trials and executions, Lincoln's involvement, causes of the war, images, and exerpts from speeches and letters concerning the the Dakota Conflict. 

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/dakota/dakota.html 

Metro MN: Fort Snelling Introduction