The history of US expansion into Dysmas is quite dark. The conflicts with the native Indians are dominated by incidents that today, international bodies, would easily characterize as war crimes. Of course, the Indians also used similar methods, accustomed to inter-racial wars, but also to the cruelty of the Whites.
The Sioux were no exception and fought hard against their Indian and White rivals, but against the latter the hopes of victory were slim.
Sioux and first conflicts
The Sioux were once the largest Indian ethnic group in the Central Plains of the United States. They were distinguished among the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Sioux. The Sioux from the late 17th century developed relationships with French traders who sought to compete with their British counterparts. With the US there were no direct conflicts until 1854-55.
In 1851 the two parties signed the first Treaty of Fort Laramie. Based on this, the US had no right to expand into Indian lands. In return the Indians allowed westward settlers to pass through their lands and forts to be built in the area. On August 19, 1854, however, an insignificant event was to change everything on the plains.
A Mormon settler accused the Indians of stealing a cow from him as he passed through their lands. The US Army was immediately notified. A detachment under Second Lieutenant Grattan, of the 6th Infantry Regiment (IP) with 29 men and a French-born interpreter, headed to the Sioux camp where the man believed to be responsible for the theft lived.
An argument ensued and a soldier shot and killed the "Conquering Bear" leader. Immediately the Sioux retaliated and killed all the Americans and the interpreter. This conflict, known as "Grattan's massacre" was also the beginning, in fact, of the wars between Americans and Sioux.
The Americans then began massing forces to respond. At Fort Kearney, Nebraska, parts of the 2nd Regiment of Dragoons, infantry and artillery were assembled under Colonel Harvey for the purpose of punishing the Indians. The American division located a Lakota Sioux camp on the Plate River. Harvey then ordered his men to surround the camp.
As soon as the circuitous maneuver was completed he charged head-on with the infantry, supported by artillery, while his cavalry charged in the rear against the Indians, who, taken by surprise, endeavored to make as much resistance as they could. But it was in vain. Then the Indians tried to escape but again they could not. At least 85 Indian men, women and children were killed. Another 70 or so were captured. American casualties were light – five killed and seven wounded.
This was the first of a series of similar operations that would take place across the great plains that now make up the central US states. After their defeat, however, the Sioux signed a new treaty with Harvey at Fort Laramie.
The Dakota War
After the above peace prevailed between the Americans and the Sioux for some years. The Americans fought during this time against the Cheyenne and the Comanche. This was followed by the outbreak of the American Civil War.
This fact resulted in the withdrawal of regular American troops from the border with the Indians. Many states then formed volunteer regiments of infantry and cavalry with the mission of guarding the borders.
The US and the Dakota had signed a series of agreements as early as 1851. Under the Mandota Treaty of 1851 the Indians had ceded large tracts of land to Minnesota in exchange for money and food. They accepted to live in a limited space, in one of the first Indian camps, on the Minnesota River.
When Minnesota became a US state in 1858, Indian chiefs, including "Little Crow" went to Washington to negotiate the implementation of existing treaties.
However, nothing was achieved as the Americans arbitrarily occupied part of the territory that they had granted to the Indians based on the treaty. The occupied territories were granted to settlers for permanent settlement. Thus the Dakota were deprived of the areas where they farmed, hunted and fished.
The settlers also proved to be competitors of the Indians in hunting animals that not only provided food for the Indians, but with their furs also provided a valuable marketable product.
The Americans of course had to pay the Indians. The money was paid through government agents. However, payments were not made regularly. On the other hand, the merchant suppliers of the Indians asked the government to immediately give them the corresponding money by abolishing the agents.
By mid-1862 the situation for the Indians had reached an impasse. The starving Indians asked the government agent and later Senator Thomas Galbraith for immediate money as the suppliers had stopped giving them food.
The conflict begins
But nothing happened. And the representative of the suppliers, Andrew Jackson Myrick, when asked about it, answered:"If they are hungry, let them eat grass." It was now a deliberate attempt to exterminate the Indians through starvation.
On August 17, 1862 a group of four young Indians attacked and killed five settlers. The fight started because an Indian was stealing eggs.
That same night the Dakota council met and decided to start a war against the Whites. As a first step, it was decided to attack the settlers in the wider area with the aim of expelling them from the land that the Indians considered their ancestral land.
The next day the Indians, under "Little Crow" made their first organized attack. Their target was the Indian Agency premises at Redwood. There was also Mirig who paid for his previous foolishness with his death.
He was discovered by the Sioux as he was trying to escape from the second floor of the building. After killing him the Sioux stuffed his mouth with grass and then set fire to the building.
This attack served as a warning to many settlers who began to leave their farms in fear. The Americans attempted to intercept the Indians at the Redwood River crossing.
Gathered there were men of the Minnesota National Guard and Company B of the 5th Minnesota Volunteer Regiment, under Captain John Marsh. A total of only 46 men were gathered.
At this point they were attacked by 300-350 Indians and were defeated. The Americans lost 25 men, including Captain Marsh. The Indians had only one dead.
Attacks…
After their victory the Indians launched attacks on farms killing many settlers of all genders and ages. Three settlements, Milford, Leavenworth and Sacred Heart were set on fire and their inhabitants exterminated.
After these early successes, with morale high, the Indians attacked New Ulm on August 19, but were repulsed. A new attack on August 23 had the same fate.
The Indians did not, at first, venture an attack against the nearby fort of Ridgely. But finally they carried out two attacks against him which were repelled.
So they preferred to continue the attacks against the colonists. This situation continued in the following days. On September 2 a force of 150-170 American soldiers was ambushed by Indians in Birch Canyon.
The Americans suffered a heavy defeat with losses of 13 killed, 47 wounded and 90 horses. The Indians had only two dead.
The American division was saved only by the dispatch of reinforcements from Fort Ridgely. Further north the Sioux attacked several stagecoach filling stations and river crossings on the Red River.
Terrified, the civilians who were rescued fled to Fort Abercrombie. The Sioux also attacked this fort but were again repulsed. Then they besieged it but without success.
American response
The developments alarmed Washington, and despite the pressure of the Civil War, President Lincoln created the Bureau of Northwest Territories to coordinate action against the Dakota Sioux. Led by General John Pope who was ordered by the president to end the Indian rebellion.
Pope assembled a brigade consisting of the 3rd, 4th, 9th, and 10th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiments. The problem was that these constitutions simply did not exist and were just beginning to form. Their companies, as soon as they were formed, were sent to the Pope. Of course there can be no talk of perfect education for men.
The governor of Minnesota, however, also hired Henry Hastings Sibley, a well-known merchant and later politician, influential in the state and among the Indians, whom he named a colonel and put him in command of the state national guard. Simbley tried to negotiate with Chief "Little Crow".
The Indian chief explained the reasons why the Dakota Sioux rebelled. However, the negotiations soon reached an impasse, and Shibley finally demanded the unconditional surrender of the Indians.
When they refused Shimbley assembled the 6th and 7th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiments and parts of the 3rd, 9th and 10th Minnesota Volunteer Regiments and marched against them.
It also had a 6 pdr (pounder) gun. The two rivals met on September 23, 1862 in the area of the small dried up Lake Wood. Shibley's force numbered between 1,200 and 2,000 men. Accordingly, "Little Crow" extended 700-1,200 men.
The conflict lasted two hours and the Indians were defeated. Losses were light on both sides, with the Americans having seven dead and 34 wounded and the Indians having 15 dead, including Chief Mankato by a cannon shot.
The latter's death seems to have decided the outcome. After all, the Sioux warriors were not regular troops and their morale was easily changed. The unique American cannon seems to have been the key to success.
Humiliation and retaliation
Three days after their defeat the Sioux laid down their arms. They even released 269 Americans who were held captive. The Americans, however, were not satisfied with their victory and tried 498 Sioux in military courts. Of these, 303 were sentenced to death. However, with the intervention of President Lincoln, only the 38 convictions were ratified.
The Sioux were convicted of murder and rape in mock trials, often lasting less than 5 minutes an hour. The accused were not even translated the indictment, nor were they defended by a lawyer. The 38 were hanged on December 26, 1862, in the largest mass execution in American history.
The 38 executed were literally thrown into a mass grave. But they didn't let them rest there either, as one day after the burial the corpses were sold to doctors for training in anatomy, while the skeletons were then "utilized" in the same way.
The leader "Little Crow" managed to escape. But he was killed in July 1863 by settler Nathan Lamson while picking raspberries with his teenage son who was also killed.
Lamson did not initially know who he had killed. When it turned out to be the leader "Little Crow" the state of Minnesota rewarded them with $500. Two other Sioux chiefs who initially escaped were caught in 1865 and executed.
The Sioux who were not executed remained in prison for four years. When they were ordered to be released almost 1/3 of them were dead from disease and abuse. At the same time over 1,600 Sioux women and children were being held in a camp at Pike, Minnesota.
Over 300 people died of disease there. In 1863 Congress, the one that declared war on the South for supposedly freeing the slaves, ordered the deportation of every Sioux from Minnesota.
A reward of 25 dollars was announced for a dead Sioux within the limits of that state. At the same time, Congress declared null and void all previous treaties between the US and the Dakota Sioux.
In May 1863 the surviving Dakota were moved to Crow Creek Camp in southeastern Dakota. There they suffered from drought. Some were transferred, three years later, to the Niobara camp in Nebraska.
After the Sioux were driven from Minnesota some Indian warriors settled on Lakota Sioux land. And there the Americans invaded. Simbley, at the head of 2,000 men pursued the Indians and defeated them in a series of skirmishes in 1863-64. American campaigns continued until 1865.