The document summarizes the events leading up to and during the U.S. - Dakota War of 1862 in Minnesota. Tensions grew as the Dakota people lost their land and traditional way of life due to increased settlement and failed treaty obligations. A spark was ignited when hungry Dakota killed settlers over unpaid debts. Under Little Crow, the Dakota attacked settlements, though they were eventually defeated by the U.S. army. Over 300 Dakota men were sentenced to death, though only 38 were hanged, with the rest exiled from Minnesota.

1. Social Studies - Chapter 9
U.S. – Dakota War of 1862
Test Date: Friday, Jan. 30
Parent Signature Due: Friday, Jan. 23

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.”

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 17
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

18. 18
• 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. 18

19. 19
• 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.

20. 20
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.

21. 21
• 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.

22. 22
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.

23. 23
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.

24. 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.