In 1862 Swedish settlers in Minnesota ended up in the middle of an Indian rebellion, the so-called Dakota Uprising.The uprising took place during the American Civil War (1861 – 1865) in the Upper Midwest, primarily in Minnesota.The Dakota Conflict was an Indian rebellion against the way they were being treated and several bands of the Eastern Sioux (also known as Eastern Dakota) attacked settlers along the Minnesota River.The uprising was led by Chief Little Crow (Taoyateduta), born 1810, died 1863.The United States and Dakota leaders negotiated the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux on July 23, 1851, and Treaty of Mendota on August 5, 1851, by which the Dakota ceded large tracts of land in Minnesota Territory to the United States in exchange for promises of money and goods. From that time on, the Dakota were to live on a 20-mile (32 km) wide Indian reservation centered on a 150 mile (240 km) stretch of the upper Minnesota River.However, the United States Senate deleted Article 3 of each treaty, which set out reservations, during the ratification process. Much of the promised compensation never arrived or was lost. Also, annuity payments guaranteed to the Dakota often were paid directly to traders instead (to pay off debts which the Dakota incurred with the traders).The image to the right shows the Minnesota River in southwestern Minnesota. The image is a free image.When Minnesota became a state in 1858 the northern half of the reservation along the Minnesota River was lost, and rights to the quarry at Pipestone, Minnesota, were also taken from the Dakota. This was a major blow to the standing of Little Crow in the Dakota community. Hunting by settlers dramatically reduced wild game such as bison, elk, deer and bear. Not only did this decrease the meat available for the Dakota in southern and western Minnesota, but it directly reduced their ability to sell furs to traders for additional supplies.Although payments were guaranteed, the United States government was often behind or failed to pay because of Federal preoccupation with the American Civil War. Most land in the river valley was not arable, and hunting could no longer support the Dakota community.The summer of 1862 was particularly hard on the Dakota. Cutworms ruined much of their corn crops, and many families faced starvation.When representatives of the southern Dakota bands met at the Lower Sioux Agency in Redwood on August 15, 1862, for supplies they were rejected. Indian Agent Thomas Galbraith managed the area and would not distribute food to these bands without payment. At a meeting the Dakota representatives asked the representative of the government traders, Andrew Jackson Myrick, to sell them food on credit. His response was said to be, "So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry let them eat grass or their own dung." Myrick was later found dead with grass stuffed in his mouth.On August 17, four young Dakota warriors were returning from an unsuccessful hunt when they stopped to steal some eggs from a white settlement in Acton Township, Meeker County, MN. The youths soon picked a quarrel with the hen's owner, and the encounter turned tragic when the Dakotas killed five members of the family. Among the victims were postmaster and shopkeeper Robinson Jones and his family.Sensing that they would be attacked, Dakota leaders determined that war was at hand and seized the initiative. Led by Chief Little Crow, the Dakota attacked local agencies and the settlement of New Ulm. Over 500 white settlers lost their lives along with about 150 Dakota warriors.On August 18, 1862, led by Chief Little Crow, the Dakota attacked the Lower Sioux (or Redwood) Agency. The warriors burned the buildings at the Agency. Andrew Myrick was among the first who were killed. Minnesota militia forces and B Company of the 5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment sent to quell the uprisings were ambushed at the Battle of Redwood Ferry in Birch Cooley Township, Renville County. Twenty-four soldiers, including the company commander, Captain John Marsh, were killed in the battle.Throughout the day, Dakota war parties swept the Minnesota River Valley and near vicinity, killing many settlers in the communities of Milford, Leavenworth and Sacred Heart Townships, which were set on fire.The image to the left shows Indian Chief Little Crow.Confident with their initial success, the Dakota continued their offensive and attacked the German settlement of New Ulm, Brown County, Minnesota, on August 19, 1862, and again on August 23, 1862. Settlers in the Minnesota River valley were killed in large numbers which caused panic among the people in the settlements. Many fled and left their homes deserted. Others armed themselves and turned their settlements into armed fortifications. The Dakota attacked Fort Ridgely on August 20 and 22, 1862. Although the Dakota were not able to take the fort, they limited the ability of the American forces to aid outlying settlements. The Dakota raided farms and small settlements throughout south central Minnesota.Minnesota militia counterattacks resulted in a major defeat of American forces at the Battle of Birch Coulee in Morton, Renville County, on September 2, 1862. The battle began when the Dakota attacked a detachment of 150 American soldiers at Birch Coulee, 16 miles (26 km) from Fort Ridgely. The detachment had been sent out to find survivors, bury American dead and report on the location of Dakota fighters. A 3 hour battle began with an early morning assault. Thirteen soldiers were killed and 47 were wounded, while only two Dakota were killed. An army force of 240 soldiers from Fort Ridgely relieved the detachment at Birch Coulee the same afternoon.Farther north, the Dakota attacked several unfortified places including the area around Saint Paul. The image to the right shows settlers on the run in Minnesota during the Dakota Uprising of 1862.The Dakota Uprising took place during the American Civil War (1861 – 1865) and most young eligible men in Minnesota were enrolled in the Union Army and away at war with the Confederate Army. The Union had difficulties in sparing troops for the defense of Minnesota during the uprising. They were all occupied in the Civil War. Finally a few Minnesota infantry regiments were ordered back to their home state. After the arrival of a larger army force, the final large-scale fighting took place at the Battle of Wood Lake on September 23, 1862, in Yellow Medicine County. The battle ended in a victory for the Army troops and was the end of the uprising. It is not clear how strong the army detachment was but between 1,200 and 2,000 soldiers were under the command of Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley. The force marched from Fort Snelling, Hennepin County and it took nearly nine days to reach Fort Ridgely. The regiments were 3rd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment and 7th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. These regiments were not complete since the Union Army couldn’t spare all the soldiers for Minnesota. Many soldiers were also inexperienced recruits. On September 19, the troops began their march up the Minnesota River Valley.The force camped east of Lone Tree or Battle Lake, about five miles north of what is now Echo, Minnesota. Sibley's guide thought the lake was Wood Lake, which was about three and a half miles to the west, so the battle is actually misnamed.In "Wood Lake" they were deployed equally in dugouts and in a skirmish line. After brief fighting, the forces in the skirmish line charged against the Dakota and defeated them overwhelmingly.The Dakota counted about 700 – 1,200 warriors under the command of Chief Little Crow and planned to ambush the soldiers. The following morning, September 23, the Dakota had surrounded the camp but were discovered and the battle began. The army troops were supported by their artillery, six-pound guns. The battle went on for two hours and was a decisive victory for the United States, with heavy casualties inflicted on the Sioux.Because of the high losses and the death of Chief Mankato the battle was the last fought by the Sioux in the uprising as the influence of the pacifist chiefs increased which led to the release of those held captives by the Sioux and the surrender of many of the Indians at Camp Release. The place was so named because it was the site where the Dakota released 269 European-American captives to the troops commanded by Colonel Henry Sibley.However, the uprising wasn’t officially over until October 9. Chief Little Crowfled to Canada but returned soon and was killed on July 3, 1863, while gathering raspberries with his son, by a settler named Nathan Lamson, near Hutchinson, Minnesota.The uprising took many lives; exactly how many are not known but 77 soldiers, 33 Sioux warriors and about 450 to 800 civilians. By the beginning of October circa 1,200 warriors were captured.In early December, 303 Sioux prisoners (out of 425) were convicted of murder and rape by military tribunals and sentenced to death. Some trials lasted less than 5 minutes. No one explained the proceedings to the defendants, nor were the Sioux represented by defense attorneys. President Abraham Lincoln personally reviewed the trial records to distinguish between those who had engaged in warfare against the United States, versus those who had committed crimes of rape and murder against civilians.In the end, President Lincoln commuted the death sentences of 264 prisoners, but allowed the execution of 38 men; men that demonstrably raped and killed women and children. One of the 39 condemned prisoners was granted a reprieve. The Army executed the 38 remaining prisoners by hanging on December 26, 1862, in Mankato, southern Minnesota. It remains the largest mass execution in American history. The remaining convicted Indians stayed in prison that winter. The following spring they were transferred to Iowa where they were held in prison for almost four years. The survivors were then sent with their families to Nebraska. Their families had already been expelled from Minnesota. During this time, more than 1,600 Dakota women, children and old men were held in an internment camp on Pike Island, near Fort Snelling.In April 1863, the United States Congress abolished the Minnesota River Valley reservation, declared all previous treaties with the Dakota invalid, and undertook proceedings to expel the Dakota people entirely from Minnesota. In May 1863, Dakota survivors were relocated to the Crow Creek Reservation, in the southeastern Dakota Territory. Many of the survivors of Crow Creek moved three years later to the Niobrara Reservation in Nebraska.
Swedes Struck - The West Lake Massacre
Swedish settlers in Minnesota were also stroked by the Dakota Uprising and about 30 Swedish immigrants were killed. On Wednesday August 20, 1862, thirteen Swedish settlers were attacked and killed by Dakota warriors after a church service at the home of one of the settlers in the West Lake Settlement, Swift County (then Kandiyohi County) in Central Minnesota. These settlers emigrated in 1861 from Södra Härene and Tumbergs parishes at Vårgårda, Västergötland province, Sweden and consisted of the families Broberg, Lundborg and Oman.Read more about the West Lake Massacre.
In 1862 Swedish settlers in Minnesota ended up in the middle of an Indian rebellion, the so-called Dakota Uprising.The uprising took place during the American Civil War (1861 – 1865) in the Upper Midwest, primarily in Minnesota.The Dakota Conflict was an Indian rebellion against the way they were being treated and several bands of the Eastern Sioux (also known as Eastern Dakota) attacked settlers along the Minnesota River.The uprising was led by Chief Little Crow(Taoyateduta), born 1810, died 1863.The United States and Dakota leaders negotiated the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux on July 23, 1851, and Treaty of Mendota on August 5, 1851, by which the Dakota ceded large tracts of land in Minnesota Territory to the United States in exchange for promises of money and goods. From that time on, the Dakota were to live on a 20-mile (32 km) wide Indian reservation centered on a 150 mile (240 km) stretch of the upper Minnesota River.However, the United States Senate deleted Article 3 of each treaty, which set out reservations, during the ratification process. Much of the promised compensation never arrived or was lost. Also, annuity payments guaranteed to the Dakota often were paid directly to traders instead (to pay off debts which the Dakota incurred with the traders).The image to the right shows the Minnesota River in southwestern Minnesota. The image is a free image.When Minnesota became a state in 1858 the northern half of the reservation along the Minnesota River was lost, and rights to the quarry at Pipestone, Minnesota, were also taken from the Dakota. This was a major blow to the standing of Little Crow in the Dakota community. Hunting by settlers dramatically reduced wild game such as bison, elk, deer and bear. Not only did this decrease the meat available for the Dakota in southern and western Minnesota, but it directly reduced their ability to sell furs to traders for additional supplies.Although payments were guaranteed, the United States government was often behind or failed to pay because of Federal preoccupation with the American Civil War. Most land in the river valley was not arable, and hunting could no longer support the Dakota community.The summer of 1862 was particularly hard on the Dakota. Cutworms ruined much of their corn crops, and many families faced starvation.When representatives of the southern Dakota bands met at the Lower Sioux Agency in Redwood on August 15, 1862, for supplies they were rejected. Indian Agent Thomas Galbraith managed the area and would not distribute food to these bands without payment. At a meeting the Dakota representatives asked the representative of the government traders, Andrew Jackson Myrick, to sell them food on credit. His response was said to be, "So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry let them eat grass or their own dung." Myrick was later found dead with grass stuffed in his mouth.On August 17, four young Dakota warriors were returning from an unsuccessful hunt when they stopped to steal some eggs from a white settlement in Acton Township, Meeker County, MN. The youths soon picked a quarrel with the hen's owner, and the encounter turned tragic when the Dakotas killed five members of the family. Among the victims were postmaster and shopkeeper Robinson Jones and his family.Sensing that they would be attacked, Dakota leaders determined that war was at hand and seized the initiative. Led by Chief Little Crow, the Dakota attacked local agencies and the settlement of New Ulm. Over 500 white settlers lost their lives along with about 150 Dakota warriors.On August 18, 1862, led by Chief Little Crow, the Dakota attacked the Lower Sioux (or Redwood) Agency. The warriors burned the buildings at the Agency. Andrew Myrick was among the first who were killed. Minnesota militia forces and B Company of the 5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment sent to quell the uprisings were ambushed at the Battle of Redwood Ferry in Birch Cooley Township, Renville County. Twenty-four soldiers, including the company commander, Captain John Marsh, were killed in the battle.Throughout the day, Dakota war parties swept the Minnesota River Valley and near vicinity, killing many settlers in the communities of Milford, Leavenworth and Sacred Heart Townships, which were set on fire.The image to the left shows Indian Chief Little Crow.Confident with their initial success, the Dakota continued their offensive and attacked the German settlement of New Ulm, Brown County, Minnesota, on August 19, 1862, and again on August 23, 1862. Settlers in the Minnesota River valley were killed in large numbers which caused panic among the people in the settlements. Many fled and left their homes deserted. Others armed themselves and turned their settlements into armed fortifications. The Dakota attacked Fort Ridgely on August 20 and 22, 1862. Although the Dakota were not able to take the fort, they limited the ability of the American forces to aid outlying settlements. The Dakota raided farms and small settlements throughout south central Minnesota.Minnesota militia counterattacks resulted in a major defeat of American forces at the Battle of Birch Coulee in Morton, Renville County, on September 2, 1862. The battle began when the Dakota attacked a detachment of 150 American soldiers at Birch Coulee, 16 miles (26 km) from Fort Ridgely. The detachment had been sent out to find survivors, bury American dead and report on the location of Dakota fighters. A 3 hour battle began with an early morning assault. Thirteen soldiers were killed and 47 were wounded, while only two Dakota were killed. An army force of 240 soldiers from Fort Ridgely relieved the detachment at Birch Coulee the same afternoon.Farther north, the Dakota attacked several unfortified places including the area around Saint Paul. The image to the right shows settlers on the run in Minnesota during the Dakota Uprising of 1862.The Dakota Uprising took place during the American Civil War (1861 – 1865) and most young eligible men in Minnesota were enrolled in the Union Army and away at war with the Confederate Army. The Union had difficulties in sparing troops for the defense of Minnesota during the uprising. They were all occupied in the Civil War. Finally a few Minnesota infantry regiments were ordered back to their home state. After the arrival of a larger army force, the final large-scale fighting took place at the Battle of Wood Lake on September 23, 1862, in Yellow Medicine County. The battle ended in a victory for the Army troops and was the end of the uprising. It is not clear how strong the army detachment was but between 1,200 and 2,000 soldiers were under the command of Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley. The force marched from Fort Snelling, Hennepin Countyand it took nearly nine days to reach Fort Ridgely. The regiments were 3rd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment and 7th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. These regiments were not complete since the Union Army couldn’t spare all the soldiers for Minnesota. Many soldiers were also inexperienced recruits. On September 19, the troops began their march up the Minnesota River Valley.The force camped east of Lone Tree or Battle Lake, about five miles north of what is now Echo, Minnesota. Sibley's guide thought the lake was Wood Lake, which was about three and a half miles to the west, so the battle is actually misnamed.In "Wood Lake" they were deployed equally in dugouts and in a skirmish line. After brief fighting, the forces in the skirmish line charged against the Dakota and defeated them overwhelmingly.The Dakota counted about 700 – 1,200 warriors under the command of Chief Little Crow and planned to ambush the soldiers. The following morning, September 23, the Dakota had surrounded the camp but were discovered and the battle began. The army troops were supported by their artillery, six-pound guns. The battle went on for two hours and was a decisive victory for the United States, with heavy casualties inflicted on the Sioux.Because of the high losses and the death of Chief Mankato the battle was the last fought by the Sioux in the uprising as the influence of the pacifist chiefs increased which led to the release of those held captives by the Sioux and the surrender of many of the Indians at Camp Release. The place was so named because it was the site where the Dakota released 269 European-American captives to the troops commanded by Colonel Henry Sibley.However, the uprising wasn’t officially over until October 9. Chief Little Crowfled to Canada but returned soon and was killed on July 3, 1863, while gathering raspberries with his son, by a settler named Nathan Lamson, near Hutchinson, Minnesota.The uprising took many lives; exactly how many are not known but 77 soldiers, 33 Sioux warriors and about 450 to 800 civilians. By the beginning of October circa 1,200 warriors were captured.In early December, 303 Sioux prisoners (out of 425) were convicted of murder and rape by military tribunals and sentenced to death. Some trials lasted less than 5 minutes. No one explained the proceedings to the defendants, nor were the Sioux represented by defense attorneys. President Abraham Lincoln personally reviewed the trial records to distinguish between those who had engaged in warfare against the United States, versus those who had committed crimes of rape and murder against civilians.In the end, President Lincoln commuted the death sentences of 264 prisoners, but allowed the execution of 38 men; men that demonstrably raped and killed women and children. One of the 39 condemned prisoners was granted a reprieve. The Army executed the 38 remaining prisoners by hanging on December 26, 1862, in Mankato,southern Minnesota. It remains the largest mass execution in American history. The remaining convicted Indians stayed in prison that winter. The following spring they were transferred to Iowa where they were held in prison for almost four years. The survivors were then sent with their families to Nebraska. Their families had already been expelled from Minnesota. During this time, more than 1,600 Dakota women, children and old men were held in an internment camp on Pike Island, near Fort Snelling.In April 1863, the United States Congress abolished the Minnesota River Valley reservation, declared all previous treaties with the Dakota invalid, and undertook proceedings to expel the Dakota people entirely from Minnesota. In May 1863, Dakota survivors were relocated to the Crow Creek Reservation, in the southeastern Dakota Territory. Many of the survivors of Crow Creek moved three years later to the Niobrara Reservation in Nebraska.
Swedes Struck - The West Lake Massacre
Swedish settlers in Minnesota were also stroked by the Dakota Uprising and about 30 Swedish immigrants were killed. On Wednesday August 20, 1862, thirteen Swedish settlers were attacked and killed by Dakota warriors after a church service at the home of one of the settlers in the West Lake Settlement, Swift County (then Kandiyohi County) in Central Minnesota. These settlers emigrated in 1861 from Södra Härene and Tumbergs parishes at Vårgårda, Västergötland province, Sweden and consisted of the families Broberg, Lundborg and Oman.Read more about the West Lake Massacre.
