The U.S.-Dakota Conflict of 1862 Tour Guide
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r u o T d e d i u G - f l e S SETTING A THE SCENE ong before Europeans made their first forays into the ter - ritory now known as Minnesota, Native American tribes L regularly crossed the Minnesota River at a fording place 14 miles north of the present city of Mankato, half a mile north of St. Peter. Early French explorers gave the site its present name, Traverse des Sioux (Crossing Place of the Sioux People). The solid river bottom through shallow water provided a nat - Signing of the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux by Irvin D. Shope Treaty Site History Center in St. Peter ural gateway between the dense woodlands on the east and the prairies and bison on the west. As a well-travelled junction, it be - came a natural convergence point for commerce both for the Na - tive Americans and for European traders and trappers. By the 1820s, Louis Provencalle, a Frenchman working for John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Co., had set up a permanent fur- VISIT THE SITES OF trading post at Traverse des Sioux. Soon a settlement sprang up around the post. THE U.S.-DAKOTA CONFLICT Myrick’s Trading Post Site On July 23, 1851, one of the most significant Indian treaties in our nation’s history was signed at Traverse des Sioux between the U.S. government and the Wahpeton and Sisseton bands of Begin your tour by taking Minnesota Highway 169 north from 7. REDWOOD FERRY Capt. John Marsh and interpreter Peter Quinn the Dakota. Two weeks later at Mendota, a treaty was signed with Mankato along the beautiful Minnesota River Valley. You will with 45 men on their way from Ft. Ridgely to the lower agency were 2 6 8 1 f the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute bands. These treaties were in - reach the site of the signing of the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux ambushed at Redwood Ferry on Aug. 18. Quinn and Marsh drowned o strumental in opening the American west to European settlement. at the intersection of Minnesota highways 169 and 22 a half mile and 23 other men were lost. A trail beginning at the stone ome 24 million acres in Minnesota were ceded by the north of downtown St. Peter (14 miles north of Mankato). warehouse at Lower Sioux Agency Historical Site ends at the ferry From St. Peter head west to Fort Ridgely along either Highway Dakota in exchange for reservation lands and for crossing site on the south side of the river. A large marker on the Stone Warehouse at the Lower Sioux Agency Birch Coulee Monument in Morton t c i l f n o 22 or the Old Fort Road (County Hwy. 5). We recommend that you north side of the river is on State Hwy. 19 north of Morton. C S $3,075,000 to be paid over a 50-year period in annual continue from Fort Ridgely to the Lower Sioux Agency at Morton, annuities of goods and money — about 12 cents an acre for then on to the Upper Sioux Agency near Granite Falls and beyond 8. BIRCH COULEE BATTLEFIELD STATE HISTORICAL SITE The heaviest U.S. some of the richest agricultural land in the country. to Camp Release near Montevideo. This military casualties of the war were suffered a t o k a on Sept. 2 at Birch Coulee, an area of deep D Before ratifying the Treaty, the U.S. Senate added amendments will be the farthest point of your tour. ravines and rolling prairie still largely that weakened the Dakota position. Even with the changes, the Return along the river, taking in Redwood Falls, Sleepy Eye and New TERMINOLOGY unchanged since 1862. About 170 of Col. terms of the treaty were not entirely honored by the U.S. Sioux means “snake” or “snakelike enemy,” a name Ulm. From New Ulm return to Mankato. Sibley’s army, sent out to bury the bodies - . S . given to the Dakota Nation by the Ojibwe, their ene - U The treaties left about 7,000 Dakota with two reservations, Follow our map for these sites: of settlers and soldiers killed in the each 20 miles wide and about 70 miles long, with a 10 mile strip mies. Although Sioux is still in common usage, the uprising, were taken by surprise in a camp 1. THE TREATY SITE HISTORY CENTER built in name they give themselves, (or and on each side of the Minnesota River. In 1858 the strip of land Dakota Lakota poorly selected for defense. Twenty-three 1994 by the Nicollet County Historical Nakota in western dialects) , meaning “friends” or “al - soldiers and two warriors were killed and Milford Monument e h along the north side of the river, nearly a million acres, was also T Society, interprets events leading up to the lies,” is preferred. “Dakota Sioux” is redundant. Na - many more were wounded on both sides. ceded to the U.S. The government established two administrative treaty signing and subsequent results. It tive American, Indian and American Indian may be This state historic site is one mile north of centers, the Upper and Lower Sioux agencies. includes exhibits, archives and a gift shop. used interchangeably. The Dakota Nation was made Morton off U.S. Hwy. 71 on Renville County Delayed and skipped payments drove the Dakota to increasing The History Center is landscaped with up of a number of subtribes. Those in Minnesota Hwy. 2. Lower Sioux Agency Interpretive Center desperation with each passing year. Through deceptive business native prairie grasses and wildflowers. were the Mdewakanton, Wahpeton, Sisseton, and In Treaty Site Park, foundation remains Wahpekute, known as a group as the Santee (or East - 9. BIRCH COULEE MONUMENT A 52’ granite practices, unscrupulous traders and government agents took much of the village of Traverse des Sioux may be ern) Dakota. West of Minnesota were the Yanktons shaft in memory of soldiers and citizens of what the Indians did have. Poverty, starvation and general suf - viewed. The Traverse des Sioux and Yanktonais, and beyond the Missouri River were who fought in battle, this monument fering led to unrest that in 1862 culminated in the U.S.-Dakota Commemorative Encampment, a the Tetons, divided into seven bands. surprisingly is not on the battlefield but Conflict, which launched a series of Indian wars on the northern rendezvous enactment of the 1850s, tucked away on a bluff overlooking the A publication of: town of Morton. Take State Hwy. 19 to Y complete with trappers, traders, settlers T plains that did not end until the battle of Wounded Knee in 1890. E I Monument Drive at the east edge of C and Native Americans, was held in the park O S Colonel Henry H. Sibley commanded the military. A well- town. Follow directional signs up L annually. A C I known fur trader, Sibley was the Minnesota Territory’s first dele - Monument Drive to top of hill R O T S gate to Congress and the state’s first governor. 2. OLD TRAVERSE DES SIOUX CEMETERY Four miles northwest of St. Peter (gravel road). I H Y Foundations at Fort Ridgely on County Hwy. 20 is the final resting place of 12 missionaries to the T With most of the able-bodied men away fighting the Civil War, N 10 . LOYAL INDIANS MONUMENT U Dakota. O C the Indians seized their opportunity and very nearly succeeded. Greater Mankato Growth, Inc. Next to the Birch Coulee H T R 3. NORSELAND A half mile east of the unincorporated community of A 1961 Premier Drive, Suite 100 After first advising of the futility of challenging the white man Monument, this marker E E Norseland on Hwy. 22 is an Indian attack marker at the old Lutheran U (“Kill one, two, ten and ten times ten will come to kill you,” he honors six Dakota who saved L Mankato, MN 56001 Cemetery. The general store in Norseland, founded in 1858, is still in B said), Mdewakanton Chief Little Crow was persuaded to head the the lives of whites during the Execution in Mankato 507.385.6640 l 800.697.0652 operation and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Conflict. It was erected in Dakota effort. greatermankato.com 1899. efore the Conflict (or Sioux Uprising, as it is often called) 4. THE OLD FORT ROAD County Hwy. 5 between Ft. Ridgely and St. Peter follows the old Red River Ox Cart Train trail of the 1840s and could be brought under control, at least 450 white settlers 11 . SCHWANDT MEMORIAL ’50s and is still known locally as the Fort Road. A memorial to the Schwandt family Birch Coulee Memorial and soldiers were killed and considerable property was de - Colonel B Henry H. Sibley slain during the uprising. South of stroyed in southern Minnesota. There were uncounted numbers 5. FORT RIDGELY STATE PARK & STATE HISTORIC SITE Unprotected by a stockade and situated on an open prairie plateau, Ft. Ridgely was County Rd. 15, west of Co. 21. of Dakota casualties because of the Indian custom of removing 17 . CAMP RELEASE MEMORIAL MONUMENT Sept. 26, 1862, the Dakota 19 . MILFORD MONUMENT Eight miles west of New Ulm on not prepared to withstand attack. Fewer than 200 volunteer 12 . UPPER SIOUX AGENCY The Agency was established in 1854 near released 269 captives at this place about two miles west of County Rd. 29, this granite monument commemorates the Greater Mankato Convention & Visitors Bureau all dead and dying warriors from the battlefield. soldiers and civilian refugees defended the fort in two battles that the confluence of the Yellow Medicine and Minnesota Rivers as a Montevideo on U.S.