HISTORY TOPICS: U.S.-Dakota War of 1862

Overview

In 1862, Minnesota was still a young state, part of a frontier inhabited by more than one million Indians. Times were hard and Indian families hungry. When the U.S. government broke its promises, some of the Dakota Indians went to war against the white settlers. Many Dakota did not join in, choosing to aid and protect settlers instead. The fighting lasted six weeks and many people on both sides were killed or fled Minnesota. Former Minnesota governor Henry Sibley led an expedition of soldiers and Dakota scouts against the Dakota warriors. The war ended on December 26, 1862, when thirty-eight Dakota Indians were hanged in Mankato in the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Afterwards the government forced most of the remaining Dakota to leave Minnesota. For white Minnesotans, their experience of blood and terror negated all promises they had made to the Dakota. Stories and history books told about the great "Minnesota Massacre," but for many years the Indian side of the story was ignored.

Get Started With Secondary Sources

• Brackett's Battalion: Minnesota Cavalry in the Civil War and Dakota War, by Kurt D. Bergemann.
  St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004.
  MHS call number: Reading Room E 515.6.B73 B47 2004.
• The Dakota War: The United States Army Versus the Sioux, 1862-1865, by Micheal Clodfelter.
  Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1998.
  MHS call number: Reading Room E 83.86 .C56 1998.
• The Dakota War of 1862, 2nd ed., by Kenneth Carley.
  St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001.
  MHS call number: Reading Room E 83.86.C3 2001.
• Henry Hastings Sibley: Divided Heart, by Rhoda R. Gilman.
  St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004
  MHS call number: Reading Room F 605.1.S56 G54 2004.
• Little Crow: Leader of the Dakota, by Gwenyth Swain.
  St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004.
  MHS call number: Reading Room E 99.D1 L733 2004.
• Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux, by Gary Clayton Anderson.
  St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1986.
  MHS call number: Reading Room E 99 .D1 L732 1986.
• Over the Earth I Come: The Great Sioux Uprising of 1862, by Duane Schultz.
  New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.
  MHS call number: Reading Room E83.86 .S428 1992.
• The Peace Seekers: The Indian Christians and the Dakota Conflict, by Elden Lawrence.
  Sioux Falls, S.D.: Pine Hill Press, 2005.
  MHS call number: Reading Room E 83.86 .L38 2005.
• Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862, edited by Gary Clayton Anderson and Alan R. Woolworth.
  St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Historical Society, 1988.
  Thirty-six narratives present the Dakota Indians' experiences during the conflict.
  MHS call number: Reading Room E 83.86 .T48 1988.

Websites

• Minnesota Tragedy: The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. Minnesota Historical Society
• U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. Minnesota Historical Society - Historic Fort Snelling.

Primary Resources

• [The Battle of Birch Cooley], report to the adjutant general by Col. H.H. Sibley, Sept. 4, 1862.
  [St. Paul, Minn.?: s.n., 1862?]
  MHS call number: Reserve E 83.86 .S56. Digital copy of the report.
• James M. Bowler and Family Papers.
  This archival collection and family memorabilia of Bowler, who settled in St. Anthony (Minneapolis) in 1858, and of his family, includes materials related to his Civil War service with the first and third Minnesota infantry regiments at Fort Snelling (1861) and in the western theater (1861-1865); with the Sibley expedition against the Dakota Indians (1863).
  MHS call number: P1330; see the green Manuscripts Notebooks-at both P1330 and alphabetically under Bowler, James Madison, and under +103 for the oversize items-for detailed lists of boxes and locator numbers (there are 4 boxes and 4 oversize items), or use an electronic version of the inventory.
• Census of Dakota Indians Interned at Fort Snelling After the Dakota War in 1862.
  Report no. 156 in the Report of the [U.S.] Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the year 1863. William McKusick, superintendent of the "Indian Camp" at Fort Snelling conducted a census of the Indians under surveillance of the United States military during the winter following the 1862 Dakota War, together with an inventory of property. The list is divided by Indian band (e.g. Wabashaw's Band, Yellow Medicine's Band) and lists the Indian name of the head of families, the number of persons in each family, and the number of horses, oxen, wagons, and chains owned by each family. The families are mostly those of the condemned Indians in confinement near Davenport, Iowa. Digital copy of the list.
  MHS call number: Reading Room E93 .U71 1863; also available on microfilm: Microfilm 1599. Note: Microfilm may be borrowed on Inter-library Loan.
• Dakota Conflict of 1862 Manuscripts Collections.
  This compilation comprises a variety of small collections of letters, reminiscences, reports, diaries, and related materials dealing with Minnesota's Dakota Conflict and related activities of 1862-1865. They primarily detail the personal experiences of both white and Indian participants or witnesses, including raids and killings, construction of fortifications, hostages' experiences, the execution at Mankato of 38 Dakota Indians, and the subsequent Sibley and Sully punitive expeditions into western Minnesota and Dakota Territory. A few items offer insight into the background and causes of the conflict.
  MHS call number: M582; see the green Manuscripts Notebooks — filed under M582 — for a detailed list of the collections on each reel (there are 4 reels of microfilm), or use an electronic version of the inventory. Electronic versions of the microfilm are also available: reel 1 (PDF), reel 2 (PDF), reel 3 (PDF), and reel 4 (PDF).
  Note: Microfilm may be borrowed on Inter-library Loan.
• Edward D. Neill and Family Papers
  Neill's papers document his career as a Presbyterian missionary and minister, state superintendent of education and chancellor of the University of Minnesota (1858-1861), chaplain of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, private secretary to Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson (1864-1866), American consul at Dublin, Ireland (1869-1871), and president of and professor at Macalester College (1873-1893). Included in the collection are documents by President Lincoln relating to the execution of the Indians convicted of participation in the Dakota Conflict of 1862, including Lincoln's December 6, 1862, letter ordering the execution and listing the names of 39 Indians.
  MHS call number: P2668; see the green Manuscripts Notebooks for detailed lists of boxes (there are 19 boxes, but not all material relates to this topic), or use an electronic version of the inventory.
• "The Sioux War," report by Adjutant General Oscar Malmros.
  In Annual Report of the Adjutant General to the Governor of Minnesota, 1863., pp. 23-133.
  St. Paul, Minn.: Wm. R. Marshall, State Printer, 1863.
  This is a concise, beautifully-written, and factual summary of the conflict from a military perspective.
  MHS call number: UA 43 .M6.
• Stephen R. Riggs and Family Papers.
  Letters, reminiscences, genealogical data, and miscellany of this Presbyterian missionary, his wife Mary Ann Longley Riggs, and other family members, focusing on the Riggs' missionary service at Lake Harriet (now Minneapolis) and Lac Qui Parle, Minnesota (1837-1862), his work as an interpreter during the 1862 Dakota Conflict, and his subsequent activities as an author of Dakota-language teaching materials.
  MHS call number: see the green Manuscripts Notebooks for detailed lists of boxes and locator numbers (there are 5 boxes), or use an electronic version of the inventory.
• Henry H. Sibley Papers.
  Correspondence, financial records, legal papers, speeches, and miscellany of this early Minnesota fur trader, entrepreneur, and governor. There is considerable data on the 1862 Dakota Conflict, on the 1863 punitive expedition led by Sibley, and on his subsequent service with several Indian affairs commissions and boards.
  MHS call number: M164; see the published "Guide to a Microfilm Edition of the Henry Sibley Papers," by Jane Spector Davis in the green Manuscripts Notebooks under M164 (there are 34 reels of microfilm, but not all relate to this topic), or use an electronic version of the inventory.
  Note: Microfilm may be borrowed on Inter-library Loan.
• Henry B. Whipple Papers.
  Personal papers, 1833-1934, of the first Protestant Episcopal bishop of Minnesota (1859-1901) and a reformer of the United States Indian service. The records provide information particularly on ecclesiastical policy, Diocese of Minnesota matters, Indian missions, government relations with the Indians, and the Indian rights movement of the latter 19th century. Whipple corresponded with his clergy, many of whom founded the first churches in their areas; with missionaries to the Dakota and Ojibwe Indians, notably Enmegahbowh, Joseph A. Gilfillan, and Samuel Hinman; with men in public life throughout the state and nation; and with Indians and mixed-bloods. He was particularly concerned about treatment of the Dakota and Ojibwe in Minnesota and about a humane response to the 1862 Dakota Conflict. He served on several commissions appointed to negotiate treaties or oversee the Indians' welfare.
  MHS call number: P823; see the green Manuscripts Notebooks for detailed lists of boxes and locator numbers (there are 45 boxes, + 3 items in Reserve), or use an electronic version of the inventory.

NewsPapers

• Minnesota Pioneer (St. Paul, Minn.)
• Mankato Record

Visual Resources

• Visual Resources Database subjects that may be useful for this topic:
  • Dakota Conflict of 1862
• Check the library catalog for other materials.