Soldiers to the Rescue

Toward the end of August 1862, the officials in Minnesota had calmed down enough to organize a militia under Henry Hastings Sibley (not the Confederate general).  On September 23 Sibley and 1000 men caught up with Little Crow and his warriors near Wood Lake.  Many of the warriors escaped, including Little Crow who was killed by a farmer soon after.  Sibley rounded up 2000 Sioux as prisoners and released those whites being held captive. 

In Mankato, 392 captured Sioux were given a quick trial, found guilty and sentenced to death.  Most of Minnesota was eager to see the Indians hung, but Episcopal Bishop Henry Whipple appealed to President Lincoln for mercy, "I ask that the  people shall lay the blame where it belongs and demand the reform of an atrocious system which has garnered for us anguish and blood." 

Lincoln did commute the sentences of those who only fought in battle, but on December 26, 1862, 38 braves were hung simultaneously from a common scaffold in Mankato for rape and murder.  After the uprising 1700 Sioux who had not even participated were held at Fort Snelling before being moved to a reservation in Nebraska.  A few raids continued into the summer of 1863, but for the most part the uprising was over.  The struggle between white settlers and the Native Indians had only begun however.

As one Sioux Chief said 30 years later in Pioneer Press "If the Indians had tried to make the whites live like them, the whites would have resisted and it was the same with the many Indians.  They brought goods of traders on credit, and when the government payments did not come, the traders were on hand with their books showing the Indians owed so much.  The Indians kept no books so they could not deny their accounts and the traders sometimes took all their money.  I know that many white men often thought the accounts too larger and they go to law, the Indians could not go to law." 
Chief - Mdewakanton Sioux, July 1, 1894.

Next time...Colorado's Turn
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Today in Pioneer History: "On December 7, 1787, the first state, Delaware is unanimously ratified by all 30 delegates to the Delaware Constitutional Convention.   

Let Then Eat Grass!

August 18, 1862.  Minnesota.  The Sioux, living on a reservation, denied credit and waiting for the US government's promised money, decided to take justice in their own hands.  Led by Little Crow, the braves had lined up in their positions, firing on any white they saw except those they regarded as friends.  Andrew Myrick, a particularly hated white merchant, had denied credit to the Sioux by saying, "Let them eat grass!"  He was found dead and his mouth stuffed full of grass.

About 50 whites escaped to sound the alarm, but the uprising was spreading rapidly.  Some 400 whites were killed by the end of the first day alone.  Settlers ran for Fort Ridgely, on the north side of the Minnesota River, but the fort had fewer than 80 soldiers guarding it and no stockade.  That was a minor obstacle to the Sioux warriors.  When 48 defenders marched out to subdue the rebellion, they were ambushed and only 30 soldiers were left to protect the 200 settlers who had fled there.  Things looked bleak...

Two days later Little Crow mounted his assault on Fort Ridgely only to meet a reinforcement of 180 soldiers plus white volunteers.  They struck back, forcing the Sioux to retreat to the town of New Ulm, where they attacked on August 28th.  Charge after charge was beaten back from the village by hastily organized militia who fought from the town's brick post office and stone windmill, but they couldn't stop the Sioux from burning most of the town's building.  By nightfall, 36 whites lay dead and the village of New Ulm lay in ashes.  Two days later, the survivors left town, going eastward to Mankato. 

In just a week, most of western Minnesota and eastern Dakota Territory were fleeing toward populated cities.  In all 30,000 whites had abandoned their homes and farms and at least 800 were killed.  Twenty-three counties in southwestern Minnesota were now depopulated of white settlers.  Were the Sioux taking over all of Minnesota??

Next time...Calvary to the Rescue!
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On November 4, 1867, Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Grange, which became a powerful political force among western farmers.