The
History
I
would guess that most people around the world have
heard of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and
many have heard of Wounded Knee, but how many, even
in America have heard of the Minnesota 'Uprising'
of 1862? Yet it was a very important 6 weeks in
the lives of the Minnesota Dakota back then and
even today. Pain does not go away so easily, and
all of the things leading up to, everything that
happened during and all that occured after those
6 weeks have stayed with the Dakota people.
Starvation
was a big factor in the hostilities, as was the
Civil War. The Government. at the time were too
caught up in their fighting down south to care about
keeping their word to the Dakota people of Minnesota.
So their annuities were late, more than once, and
so their debts to the traders could not be paid,
and more food could not be purchased with out money,
and so the People starved. The traders back then
allowed the Dakota to have a line of credit (yes
even then credit was popular) knowing that the annuity
would arrive and the debt would be paid. However
they did add atrocious amounts of interest on those
credit lines and so even when they were paid up,
guess what? a new credit line had to be given because
they were then short of money.
You
may ask well why didn't they grow their own food,
surely they lived on the land, so why not? Didn't
they know about agriculture? Well yes they did,
in actual fact the Dakota women had been growing
corn and squash for many generations in Minnesota,
the men were the hunters. Then when the first white
missionaries came through the area they insisted
that the men should be farmers, and so showed them
how to grow corn! It was confusing to the People
their roles had been changed. Then of course there
was the land issue, the Dakota had given up much
of their land in exchange for annuities and other
promises that didn't bear weight, so they didn't
have the good land to grow food in, find berries
and other plants that they were used to eating or
to hunt on. On top of all this what they had grown
for a couple of years had been eaten and destroyed
by grasshoppers. They were in a very vulnerable
situation, they had to rely on govt. money that
didn't arrive. They knew that the warehouse was
full of food and supplies but their credit lines
had been cut off and so they couldn't access any
of these things. Starvation grew worse.
Now
you might think that these Dakota were what was
termed in those days, 'savages' or 'heathens', but
not so. Many of them had been converted to Christianity,
they went to church along with their white neighbors.
Some of those white neighbors were also friends
and they helped to provide food for the Dakota they
knew, but I guess there were so many of them that
not all could be helped, and of course not all wanted
to help. Andrew Myrick, a trader, for instance said
that they should 'eat grass' if they were hungry,
very nasty and not helpful especially as he was
one of the traders who could have helped. Little
Crow the leader of the Dakota at that time was actually
in church the morning the 'Uprising' began. He tried
to stop the war but his words fell on deaf ears
and hungry stomachs!
A group of young Dakota men were walking, their
stomachs growling with hunger and they came across
a homestead, where they saw a chicken coop, one
urged another to take an egg, then the cowardice
thing came into play. 'If you don't do it you are
a coward, you are afraid of the white men.' Well
that was the wrong, (or the right) thing to say
because eggs were stolen and with all the noise
the homesteader came out along with another man
and some women, being afraid and knowing they had
done wrong, the young men killed them.
This was the action that started the 1862 Minnesota
six week war between the Dakota and those who oppressed
them. I won't say whites because the Dakota actually
saved a lot of whites who had helped them with food
and shelter. The war was actually against starvation
and oppression, those who died were both Dakota
and White, Warrior and Soldier, Women, Children
and Men from both sides, as you will see as this
story progresses. The act started out to be a petty
theft, but ended up with many people dying and the
effect still living with the People to this day.
These young men hurried to Little Crow and other
chiefs and told what had happened. Little Crow knew
this would cause trouble and tried to explain that
when he was in Washington DC for treaty talks four
years earlier there were more whites than stars
in the sky, and that those people would be sent
to kill them if they carried it any further, again
the cowardice card came into play and the council
of chiefs said he would be a coward if he didn't
fight. He hoped that the civil war would take all
the soldiers and that they wouldn't send any to
Minnesota against them and so he said he wasn't
a coward and war was set.
The first place that was hit was the stone warehouse
where they knew food was, they joined together on
the road that went by there, (it is now a field
but you can still hear their voices if you listen
hard enough, you can still feel their pain and anger.)
From there they attacked, the warehouse (which is
still standing) and the other stores, they killed
those they found and undoubtedly some of them were
killed as well. Later a dead Andrew Myrick was found
with grass stuffed in his mouth.
After this area was sacked the Dakota continued
attacking homesteads and farms and even Fort Ridgely
which was of course fortified. Having been to the
fort you can see how desperate the Dakota had to
have been to use bows and arrows and rifles against
the fort. The walls were made of stone, at least
12 inches thick, neither bullets or arrows would
have pierced those walls. To reach the fort they
would have had to climb up a hill side and then
they would have had cannons firing at them as well
as rifles from the soldiers behind the fortifications.
This was no wooden fort.
Many white women and children were taken in by various
Dakota families who in the most part looked after
them well, even giving them food that they needed
themselves. Often they had to hide them from other
Dakota who were wanting to kill the women. These
women and children were eventually released at 'Camp
Release' a safe haven for them.
Eventually the soldiers came in and after skirmishes
and battles in various places the Dakota gave up
or were captured. They were given a court hearing
and many condemned to death. The court transcripts
are really something to read, most Dakota didn't
understand english and so had to have translators,
who knows what they translated, was it correct or
not. Most of the Dakota because they were warriors
said that yes they had fought and killed, because
that was what warriors did, they protected their
people, and their people were in danger, if from
nothing else, starvation! To say they hadn't participated
would have made them out to be a coward. So they
would rather be hung than say they hadn't participated.
An appeal was put before Abraham Lincoln by one
of the Missionaries at the Yellow Medicine Agency,
(Lower/Upper Sioux area) to spare the lives of the
over 100 Dakota due to be hung. Lincoln spared all
but 39, and another was spared before the hanging
day, leaving 38. It is these 38 that are honored
by this ride.
After the six weeks of fighting and haggling from
both sides, the Dakota were captured or gave themselves
up and were imprisoned. The women, children and
elders were force marched to Fort Snelling, in November.
Those of you who know Minnesota weather are probably
saying, 'No!' but yes, they were. Some were put
on wagons but most walked, some died on the way
from exposure, hunger, and attacks from the angry
people in various towns they had to walk through.
If you would like to know more about this part of
the 1862 history, that isn't something that is known
or spoken about, please go to the following site,
that is from the Women's march group
http://dragonflydezignz.50megs.com/dakota-march/index.html
(Written by Gloria for the women's March 2002 -
2021 )
The men were taken to Mankato and imprisoned there
until the executions and there they found out their
fate. Were they to be hung or not? Chaske a respected
man who had saved Sarah Wakefield and her family
was assured that he would be safe because of the
way they had cared for Mrs Wakefield, however when
it came to the actual hanging names were called
and the men stepped forward, Chaske being one of
them. The real Chaske stayed back and allowed the
innocent man to be hung. Sarah Wakefield was astounded
when she heard and contacted the government, missionaries
and dignities, only to be told that it was basically
one of those things. (When President Clinton's term
of office was up I and another woman asked him for
a pardon for Chaske, we didn't get it, so he still
needs pardoning, maybe we can ask Obama for one
for him.)
Another man who was hung was a white man. The story
goes that two women one day found this small boy
by a stream, he was white they were Dakota, he was
about 4 at the time. Where he came from they never
found out, but one of them took him in and cared
for him and eventually he was like a son to them,
he became a Dakota and was involved in the fighting.
The military didn't know he was white, and so they
hung him. I have heard this story from the Dakota,
they said at the time that the military didn't know
they killed one of their own. A list of the names
of the executed men will appear on here later.
The day they were to be hung the death song sounded
from the prisoners jail, they continued it until
they were on the scaffold. They were ready to die,
it was a good day for them.
"SAINT PAUL, December 27, 1862. The PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES:
I have the honor to inform you that the thirty-eight
Indians and half-breeds ordered by you for execution
were hung yesterday at Mankato at 10 a.m. Everything
went off quietly and the other prisoners are well
secured. Respectfully, H. H. SIBLEY, Brigadier-General."
The names of those executed were as follows:
~Ptan Du-ta (Scarlet Otter)
~O-ya'-te Ta-wa (His people)
~Hin-han'-sun-ko-yag-ma-ni (One who Walks Clothed
in Owl Feathers)
~Ma-za Bo-mdu (Iron Blower)
~Wa-hi'na (possibly meaning I Came)
~Sna Ma-hi (Tinkling Water)
~Hda In-yan-ka (Rattling Water)
~He-pan (Second born child, this was given to the
second boy)
~Tun-kan' I-ca'hda Ma-ni (One Who Walks by His Grandfather)
~Ka-mde'-ca (Broken to Pieces)
~He In'-kpa (The Tip of the Horn)
~Na-pe'-sni (Fearless)
~Ma-za Ku-te Ma-ni (One Who Shoots As He Walks)
~A-i'-ca-ge (To Grow Upon)
~Ho-i'-tan-in Ku (Returning Clear Voice)
~Ce-tan' Hun-ka' (Elder Hawk)
~Can-ka-hda (Near the Woods)
~Hda'-hin-hde (Sudden Rattle)
~O-ya'-te A-ku' (He Brings the People)
~Ma-hu'-we-hi (He Comes for Me)
~Ti-hdo'-ni-ca (One Who Jealousy Guards His Home)
~Wa-kan Tan-ka (Great Mystery or Great Spirit)
~Cas-ke'-da (First Born Child. this was given to
the first boy)
~Do-wan'-s'a (Sings a lot or Singer)
~Ta-te' Ka-ga (Wind Maker)
~Sun-ka Ska (White Dog)
~Wa-kin'-yan-na (Little Thunder)
~Baptiste Campbell (a mixed blood)
~Wa-hpe Du-ta (Scarlet Leaf)
~Wa-si'-cun (White Man)
~I-te' Du-ta (Scarlet Face)
~Ma-ka'-ta I-na' (One Who Stands on Earth)
~Hypolite Auge (a mixed blood)
~Ma-hpi'-ya A-i'-na-zin (One who Stands on a Cloud,
a.k.a. Cut Nose)
~Tun-kan' Ko-yag I-na'-zin (One Who Stands Cloaked
in Stone)
~Ta-te' Hdi-da (Wind Comes Home)
~Ta-te Hmi-hma (Round Wing)
Little
Crow (Ta-oya-te-duta) was discovered by accident
July 3 1863 and shot to death by a white farmer
who was paid over $500 for his body that was then
mutilated and displayed for over 100 years. His
body was eventually discovered in 1971 and buried
in Flandreau, SD. The ceremony was performed by
Galen Drapeau Sr.
Two chiefs, Shakopee (Little Six) and Medicine
Bottle were pursued into Canada, captured and
kidnapped back to the States. On November 11 1865
they were hung in Fort Snelling... These are the
+2.
In 1995 - 1997 Chuck and I were members of The Gathering
of Kinship Committee. The group was started to heal
the wounds of the 1862 heartache, from both sides.
In 1997 we had decided to allow people to carry
the names of the 38 plus 3 (Little Crow was the
third person) for the following year, so that they
could have the mourning process done for them. Dakota
people back then would honour the dead for a year,
a wife would carry a bundle of her husbands things
with her, she would talk to it, put food out for
it and she would put it in his seating place and
sleeping place, as if it were him, she would not
wear new clothes, or dance, nor socialize. After
a year she would return the bundle to his relatives
and they would provide her with new clothes to begin
her life again.
I guess it was a good way to get used to the loved
one not being around, it was a custom and so she
could do it in a way that was acceptable to everyone.
Nowadays we are told to 'get over it' in many cases,
we are not allowed to mourn our dead, for as long
as they were allowed to. Of course when the men
were hung in Mankato they had no one to mourn for
them as their wives and family were imprisoned and
were having a hard enough time just to survive.
They needed to be mourned and their Spirits put
to rest. So I asked Galan Drapeau Sr, the man who
buried Little Crow if he would do a ceremony for
these men, and he said yes. The committee made up
leather name tags for each man and they would be
given to people in place of the bundle. We hoped
to get actual descendants to take them home but
that was hard to do and so only a few in the end
were taken by family members.
Anyway the day came for the ceremony it was to be
done at Birch Coulee, during the memorial powwow
that was on for 2 days. We gathered together in
the sun around Galen while he took every one of
those name tags and did a ceremony with them. It
was amazing. people just stood quietly and watched
him (and another spiritual leader) do their spiritual
work. Then the names were given out to the people.
The one thing that came from that day was the amount
of people (including myself) who saw the spirit
lights in the trees circling us. they were just
flashing off and on all over those trees, but of
course we knew not to say anything that would disturb
the spiritual men while they worked. I don't know
if they saw those lights but I know many of us did.
Those spirits were watching as well, as enthralled
as we all were, while the men did their wonderful
work. It was a great honour to be there and to be
a part of that committee. Baine Wilson who was the
man who was the founder of the group has gone now,
his wife Lillian became a good friend, as did most
of that group. We had a spiritual link to each other.
(The day that we did the ceremony, was the same
day that Princess Diana died. The following day
everyone at the powwow did an honor dance for her,
probably the first honoring for her in the world.)
I went back to England a few weeks afterwards, and
so never got to see the name tags bought back the
following year. I know all of them were not returned,
I have heard of one that is worn on regalia as a
continuing honoring to that man.
The Dakota women and children were taken to Crow
Creek in South Dakota by riverboat the following
spring, they went to St Louis on the Mississippi
and then on the Missouri to Crow Creek. They were
basically dropped off there with nothing to their
names. I would like to think that there were people
there who could have assisted them to get settled
in their new land, but I suspect that wasn't the
case. There were soldiers there and probably some
missionaries but that was all, no friendly faces
to help them. They also had the Winnebago people
on a different part of the reservation who were
enemies and so had to worry about those as well.
They too had been moved from Minnesota en masse.
The Winnebago eventually moved to the Omaha reservation
in Nebraska.
I do know that a lot of Dakota people died on the
way to Crow Creek, those who were weak from the
awful winter they had just survived at Fort Snelling,
the elderly and the young. I can guess that some
died when they got to Crow Creek as well because
other than the weather being warmer what else did
they have. They had to start again, without their
men and without protection.
A few years ago Chuck was invited to Crow Creek
where they did a ceremony and laid a stone to remember
those women who landed there. The memorial is in
the middle of a Medicine Wheel on the banks of the
Missouri River on the edge of the reservation. We
visited there this summer, and even then a chilly
wind was blowing and I pictured these poor women
and children landing there, not knowing where they
were or what they should do, I said prayers, gave
offerings and I cried for them.
In the book 'The Sioux Uprising of 1862'
by Kenneth Carley, he states that the 'dismal drought
striken place was soon dotted by Sioux graves'.
and the following about the food that they had,
or didn't have, the next winter to eat, 'The pork
and flour that arrived was condemned as unfit for
the soldiers to eat and 300 head of cattle became
so emaciated on their 300 mile trek to the reservation.
Nevertheless, the flour and meat, including entrails
and other undesirable parts, were the main ingredients
of a nauseous stew that was cooked in vats and ladeled
out to the Dakota women. The "rotten stuff"
was understandably refused by many Dakota.'
After three years at Fort Thompson, the Dakota were
moved to Santee Nebraska, where things became much
better for them.
Eventually the Dakota returned to Minnesota, to
the Upper and Lower Sioux, to Prairie Island, and
Shakopee. They came to build new lives for themselves
and their families on their beloved homeland, but
the memories of the past never left them, the pain
was handed down from one generation to the next.
It is time to heal that pain.
I hope that this ride goes a long way to heal it,
and to dispel the stereotypes from both sides. We
can all remember the loss of life and lifestyle
from both the Dakota side and the Settlers side.
The war should never have happened, the People from
both sides should have been respected by the government
at the time, they should have all been cared for
by Lincoln and his fellow politicians instead of
being left to fend for themselves in the face of
adversity.
The Dakota and many of the whites who lived in the
area were friends, they visited with each other,
the broke bread with each other. They also prayed
together all bending their knees in respect to the
Creator/God. Then in a blink of an eye, because
of greed, ignorance and racism that bond of friendship
and trust was broken. Many of the settlers were
helped by their friends, they were told to get away
to safety, because more Dakota were coming in to
join in this fight and they would be just another
white person to them. It would not be safe. Some
like John Otherday got a lot of people to safety.
From the Dakota side many of them were Christian,
The missionaries Riggs and Williamson had taught
them about the Bible and had in fact translated
the Bible into Dakota. They were taught hymns in
Dakota, and even today those same hymns are sung
in the Dakota language at funerals and yet these
same people, these Christian Dakota, were called
heathens and savages only a few days after being
in Church. as I said earlier Little Crow had been
in Church the morning the War began.
There is a photo of a young woman, Wabasha's daughter
in law, sitting by a ramshakled tipi in the Fort
Snelling internment camp. She looks completely lost,
she doesn't know what happened to her husband, she
just knows that he isn't with her. She was one of
the Christian Dakota, she is wearing a wedding ring,
the same way we wear them today, she was married
probably by Bishop Whipple in a church service,
and yet there she is, in an internment camp because
she was Dakota. Her husband was one of the men hung
at Mankato. She was one of the women who couldn't
mourn her husband in the traditional way or even
in a Christian way because of where she was and
because the date was 1862.
In the Little Feather Center in Pipestone we have
many of these photos on display, if you are around
our way do please come in and see them. Our Center
is free entrance.
The
Little Feather Center closed for Education in 2017.
The Ride still goes there for food and shelter every
year when they pass us. First
they visit the cemetery in Flandreau where Little
Crow is buried, then they move on to the Center
for dinner and breakfast the following morning.
Thanks for your time and your support for this Ride
through the years.
Gloria Hazell-Derby
2008 - 2021
An additional part to the History HERE:
- By Archie D. Fool Bear
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