Native American Civil War

Dakota Uprising in Minnesota

Jul 24, 2007 Christine Musser

President Lincoln not only had to deal with the Civil War, but he also had to deal with a band of Dakota Indians attacking white settlers in Minnesota in 1862.

On August 17, 1862, four braves from the Lower Sioux Agency along the Little Minnesota River, set out to find food. On their way back to the Agency they came across a farm owned by Robinson Jones. While walking past Jones’ farm fence, they came upon some eggs in a hen’s nest. One of the braves picked up the eggs to carry home with him. A second brave expressed it was wrong to take eggs from a white settler. The first brave become furious, threw the eggs to the ground, and called the second brave a coward. This infuriated the second brave. He exclaimed he was not a coward and to prove it he would kill farmer Jones.

The First Murders

The four braves walked up to the farmer’s house and demanded liquor. When Jones refused to give them the alcohol, the braves became angry. Jones felt he had no reason to fear the braves since they've lived peaceably together.

Mr. and Mrs. Jones needing to visit the Baker homestead, left their farm with the braves in tow. There Jones, his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Viranus Webster (a young couple from Wisconsin), Howard Baker and wife, and the four braves engaged in a shooting contest. After shooting at a target on a tree the braves reloaded their guns and without warning turned on the white settlers. Webster, Baker, Mr. and Mrs. Jones were killed. Mrs. Webster found cover in her Conestoga wagon, while Mrs. Baker found cover in the cellar.

After the murders, the braves rode back to the Agency and told the rest of the Lower Sioux tribe what they did. Immediately a meeting was called between all the Dakota tribe who lived along the Little Minnesota River. At the meeting, the leaders determined that it was time for an uprising due to the following:

Annuity goods and cash that were promised to the tribe never arrived. The winter of 1861 – 62 was extra hard on the Dakota due to a dry fall and little crop harvested and they were near starvation.
Settlers continued to move to Minnesota, pushing the tribe further and further to the west.
Most of the military in Minnesota left to assist in the Civil War, therefore leaving Minnesota settlers without protection.

The Dakota Uprising Officially Begins

While the sun rose on August 18, a band of Dakota, most of them being from the Lower Sioux Agency in the southeast corner of Minnesota, burned buildings, attacked men, women and children at the Redwood Agency.

A trader at the Agency, Andrew Myrick, who was hated the most by the Dakota for refusing to give them credit for supplies and for remarking “let them [Indians] eat grass”, was found with grass in his mouth.

Abraham Lincoln Sends Relief

Requests for more horses, ammuniton, and men were sent to Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War, by Governor Alexander Ramsey, but the requests were refused. On September 8, Ramsey wrote to President Abraham Lincoln and told him, “It is not our war; it is a national war . . . . Answer me at once. More than 500 whites have been murdered by the Indians.” Lincoln responded to Ramsey’s request immediately and by September 23 the Dakota uprising had ended.

The Trial and Executions

By November 5, after being tried by a military court, a total of 303 Dakota were sentenced to death. General Henry Hastings Sibley had the names and the involvements of those found guilty forwarded to President Lincoln. Lincoln reviewed the list and cut it down to 39 prisoners to be executed. This outraged many of the settlers in Minnesota and on December 5 a mob from Mankato made their way towards Camp Lincoln where the prisoners were being kept. Fortunately, the mob was stopped by troops. The following day the Indians were moved to a log structure at Mankato for safekeeping.

On December 26, the 38 (one prisoner died prior to the hanging) prisoners were executed in the largest mass execution in United States history.

Carley, Kenneth. The Dakota War of 1862: Minnesota’s Other Civil War. St. Paul: The Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1976.

Cox, Hank H. Lincoln and The Sioux Uprising of 1862. Nashville: Cumberland House Publishing, Inc., 2005.

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Dakota Uprising Minnesota