Dakota Uprising of 1862 or We Humans Never Learn

Person number 82 killed in New Ulm during the Dakota Uprising, buried in the street, and later exhumed and moved to the Pioneer Cemetery.






This white buffalo (in Reconciliation Park)  marks the spot in Mankato were 38 Indians were hung until they died. 



In my travels last weekend I learned much about the Dakota Uprising in 1862.  Despite growing up and going to school in Minnesota, I hadn't heard much about this.  38 Indians were hung to death as a result of this conflict - the largest one day execution in the United States.  Is genocide too strong of a word?  We learned about racism in school but that referred to the southern states like Mississippi and Georgia.  We never applied it to our own culture in the Midwest.  Because we didn't discuss 1862, it's as if it never existed.  This makes me very interested.  To learn from mistakes, the actions have to be discussed and examined.  As we toured New Ulm with our very capable history center volunteer, she told us many sides of the same story.  The year was 1862.  Our country was in a civil war. Many men from Minnesota were serving our nation in the south.  Some southerners, knowing there was a war in Minnesota and knowing they had Minnesota troops in their prison camp, being equally prejudiced against Indians and blacks, released the Minnesota boys if they promised to go home and fight the Indians.  We had a treaty with the Dakota tribe.  In exchange for land we would provide blankets, food and money.  Because our nation was at war,  and because some Indian agents were corrupt, we didn't have the money to honor that agreement.  The Indians, without their land and without the buffalo, were starving to death.  The trust between the Indians and the white people went down.  An Indian agent, Thomas Galbraith, had the blankets and food designated for the Indians but refused to hand it over without being paid.  When asked what the Indians should do, he suggested they "eat grass."  Later he was found dead, his mouth filled with grass.  The local settlers were unaware that the treaty was not being honored. Two angry braves were in the countryside.  One stole 5 eggs from a farm.  The other brave told him he shouldn't have done that.  The brave responded he could steal eggs and he could kill the farm family too.  And then he killed the farm family.  The two braves returned to their encampment and told the tribe what they had done.  Reactions varied.  Some Indians wanted to fight.  Starving to death, they felt they did not have much to lose. They wanted all white people to leave the area.  Now, with many men serving in the Civil War, was the right time to attack. Little Crow, the leader of the tribe, said this was impossible.  He knew if the Indians killed white people, they would lose.  More white people would come to fight until all was lost.  Little Crow was accused of being weak.  Hungry and desperate, most of the Indians wanted to fight.  So Little Crow went along with the majority, knowing in his heart it was a lost cause.  Not every Indian wanted to start this battle.  One white family was known for their honesty in running their store, trading furs for goods.  The Indians helped that white family pack their belongings and head into New Ulm to be safe with the rest of the town.  The white people in New Ulm blocked off a three by two block area. They set up a barricade with whatever they could get their hands on - wagons, boards, mattresses, etc.  Three of the buildings in that 3 block area still stand today.  For five days the battle raged.  The people inside the barricade were starving.  A baker, seeing his shop across the street from the barricaded area, went into his shop to bake bread and bring it back.  To get back inside the barricade safely, he threw a buffalo hide over himself.  Under the buffalo hide and holding loaves of bread, he was mistaken for an Indian when he returned and was killed by friendly fire.  Some of the sick and wounded perished inside the barricade.  For sanitary reasons they were temporarily buried in the streets.  Later they were exhumed and moved to the pioneer cemetery at the edge of town.  Those people's graves are marked with numbered white stone circles.  After five days, the remaining survivors abandoned New Ulm and did not return for six months.  The battle went on for months not only in New Ulm, Mankato, but all the way from Iowa to the Canadian border.  By the end the remaining Indians were forced to march to Fort Snelling.  Many of them died along the way.  300 Indians were sentenced to death by hanging.  President Abraham Lincoln pardoned all but 38.  38 Indians were hung in Mankato on the same day.  People came to watch the hangings.  Medical doctors, including William Mayo (father of the famour Mayo brothers) dug up the bodies of the 38 Indians for medical study. Little Crow, the leader of the Dakota, was not punished.  He was shot to death about year later as he visited his former home near Hutchinson.  At that time there was a bounty for any Indians found in the area.  He was shot so his killer could collect the $25 bounty.  The museum had a first hand account by an 11 year old boy who was held for ransom by the Indians.  He had the very white hair common to Norwegian stock.  He was teased by the other boys (both white and Indian) for his white head of hair.  His Indian caretaker, a woman, tried to help him out by rubbing the red soil onto his head, trying to darken his hair.  He said he was treated well by the Indians during his capture.  And he never saw any of the white women (also held captive) molested by any Indians.  Not every captive had such a good experience.  I read the Wikipedia account of the Dakota Uprising.  I think the "first hand accounts" section is unnecessarily shocking and slanted.  I am tempted to write to the Minnesota Historical Society and ask them to amend it.  Why have I never heard this story before?   The older I get the more disgusted I am by what I learned in history class in school.  In August of this year New Ulm and other towns along the Minnesota river are marking the 150th anniversary of the Uprising with a variety of learning experiences and cultural events.  I heard the Minnesota History Center is also noting the anniversary.  If you want to learn more about the Dakota Uprising, this summer would be an excellent time to study it.