In August 1862,
sixteen months after the start of the Civil War,
Led by Little Crow,
the Sioux Uprising resulted in the deaths of at least 45 white settlers and
soldiers, and approximately twenty Dakota. (The Sioux Indians are more
correctly called Dakota Indians but were called Sioux by their enemies the
Chippewa, or Ojibwa.)
The uprising was due to
a number of factors: (1) advance of the
white settlers into the Dakota lands; (2) frauds in the treaty system; (3)
vulnerability of the white settlers due to their involvement in the Civil War;
(4) crop failure the previous winter; and (5) tardy arrival of goods and cash
to the Indians as promised by the U.S. government as part of the treaties.
All of these things
contributed to the unrest of the Dakota and in August of 1862 a small group of
Indians attacked a family of white settlers and sparked a war which would last
five months. [l8]
[18] Carley, Kenneth, Sioux Uprising -1862,
This was a difficult time
for Henry, Valentine and their families. Many settlers were so panic-stricken
that they left their homes and arms and fled to nearby temporary shelters or
large cities such as
[19] Goodrich, Albert M., "The Towns of Champlin and
Although the majority of the Indian attacks
took place in the
I will now describe everything to you as thoroughly as I am able, and as far as my heart, which is trembling with fear, will allow me... The Indians have begun attacking the farmers. They have already killed a great many people, and many are mutilated in the cruelest manner. Tomahawks and knives have already claimed many victims. Children, less able to defend themselves, are usually burned alive or hanged in the trees, and destruction moved from house to house. The Indians burn ever thing on their way - houses, hay, grain, and so on... These troubles have now lasted for about two weeks, and every day larger numbers of settlers come into St. Peter to protect their lives from the raging Indians. They crowd themselves together in large stone houses, for, protection, and the misery is so great that imagination could not depict it in darker colors. [5]
[5] Robbins, Albert, Coming t
The Sioux Uprising brought panic to the
white settlers and fear that other Indian tribes (Winnebago and Chippewa) would
join in the uprising. [18] "Little Crow had dispatched embassies to the Dakota
bands of the far west and even to his old time enemies, the Mille Lacs Chippeways, with the word
that now or never was the time to strike for the recovery of their lost hunting
grounds...the younger Chippeways were [then] excited
and quarrelsome, and it was from this direction that Anoka County was
principally exposed to attack." [19]
[18] Carley, Kenneth, Sioux Uprising -1862,
[19] Goodrich, Albert M., "The Towns of Champlin and
The Uprising ended in December after troops
from
[18] Carley, Kenneth, Sioux Uprising -1862,