Slaughter Slough

Last updated
Lake Shetek Massacre
Part of Dakota War of 1862
Slaughter Slough memorial cairn 2023-07-23.jpg
The memorial cairn at Slaughter Slough
LocationLake Shetek Settlement & Slaughter Slough, Minnesota, United States
Coordinates 44°5′33.28″N95°37′21.97″W / 44.0925778°N 95.6227694°W / 44.0925778; -95.6227694
DateAugust 20, 1862
Attack type
 Indian massacre
Deaths15
PerpetratorsSisseton Dakota
No. of participants
40

Slaughter Slough is a wetland in southwestern Minnesota, named for being the site of the Lake Shetek Massacre during the Dakota War of 1862. It is located in Murray County east of Lake Shetek. On August 20, 1862, about 40 Sisseton warriors led by Chiefs White Lodge and Lean Bear attacked the Euro-American settlers living nearby, killing 15 and taking 3 women and 8 children captive. 21 settlers escaped and made difficult treks across the prairie to safety.

Contents

Today the site is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as Slaughter Slough Waterfowl Production Area, a component of the Windom Wetland Management District. It is developed with interpretive signage, a short trail, and a memorial.

The Lake Shetek settlement

About 50 Euro-American settlers from perhaps a dozen families were living along the east shore of Lake Shetek in August 1862. [1] They were quite isolated, 40 miles (64 km) from the nearest settlement and even farther from any sizeable town; it was over 60 miles (97 km) east to New Ulm or 70 miles (110 km) southwest to Sioux Falls. [2]

The first homesteaders arrived in 1855. By 1862 at least 9 families had cabins spread along 5 miles (8.0 km) of lakeshore. [3] Listed roughly north to south they were the Meyers, the Hurds, the Kochs, the Irelands, the Eastlicks, the Duleys, the Smiths, the Wrights, and the Everetts. [4] There were also a few single men. [3]

The settlers interacted and traded with the local Dakota people. Some even spoke the Dakota language passably. [4]

The Dakota

The growing Euro-American population, however, was making it increasingly difficult for the easternmost Dakota people to pursue their traditional lifestyle. Resettlement on reservations, treaty violations by the United States, and late or unfair annuity payments by Indian agents caused increasing hunger and hardship among the Dakota. [1] Pushed to the breaking point, a council of Dakota leaders decided to wage war on the whites on August 17, 1862.

The declaration of war reached White Lodge and Lean Grizzly Bear, the chiefs of two bands living northwest of Lake Shetek. Their villages were Sisseton Dakota, a sub-tribe still living outside the reservation. They had not been signatory to any treaties with the United States. About 40 warriors and a few women set out to remove "white" encroachment on their land. [3] A third Sisseton band, headed by Old Pawn, was camped near the Wrights' cabin at the south end of the Lake Shetek settlement. [1]

The attack

On the morning of Wednesday, August 20, 1862, the eastern Dakota entered the settlement from the north. At the first farm they simply trampled through the cornfield and vandalized a fence, leaving the Meyers family perplexed but unharmed. [3] At the next farm, the Hurds', circumstances changed. Phineas Hurd and another settler were long overdue from scouting land in Dakota Territory. Now his wife Alomina recognized that one of the Dakota men was riding her husband's horse. Some of the men followed her into the dwelling, which woke one of her two children. John Voigt, a hired hand, carried the crying toddler outside. Without warning one of the Sisseton killed Voigt while not harming the child. Many more attackers then looted the farm. [2] Mrs. Hurd was told that she and the children would be spared if she didn't warn the other settlers. [2] Refusing them to take provisions, some attackers escorted the Hurds 3 miles (4.8 km) from home and pointed them in the direction of New Ulm. [3]

The Sisseton next arrived at the Andreas and Mariah Koch farm, German immigrants with no children. [2] Andreas was asked to bring water from the well and was then shot from behind. Mariah, emerging from the dwelling, was told to flee, and ran unhindered to a neighbor's. [4]

John Voigt and Andreas Koch were the only people killed within the settlement. Voigt had recently angered some Sisseton, [3] and Koch had poor relations with them due to his broken English. [4] Conversely both Andrew Meyers and Alomina Hurd had been friendly with the Native Americans and spoke their language, which she credited for her and her children being spared. [2] At the beginning of the attack the victims may have been the target of specific grudges. [3]

The settlers flee

Two chance visitors to the Hurd cabin spread the alarm about the coming attack. Charlie Hatch was living with his sister Almira Everett and her family at the south end of the settlement. He went to borrow the Hurds' oxen and found John Voigt's body and the looted dwelling. Running back to tell the others, he saw the Dakota around the Koch farm. [2] Meanwhile, the Meyers cabin at the north end of the settlement had so far been bypassed by the war party. Mrs. Meyers was quite sick with pneumonia, so 10-year-old Arthur had been sent to the Hurds to ask for some bread. When he returned with the news of the violence done there, Mr. Meyers went to warn the Kochs. Instead he found Andreas dead and heard the Sisseton nearby. He rushed to his family getting them into a wagon to flee. [3]

Hatch borrowed a horse to warn the settlement. The settlers decided to gather at the most defensible structure, the two-story Wright house built on higher ground. [3]

As the settlers gathered at the Wright home they encountered Old Pawn and members of his band, who were camped nearby and well-known to the whites. Old Pawn offered to fight on their side. The 34 settlers and 8 Dakota crowded into the Wright home and prepared their paltry defenses. The whites argued about strategy and whether they should trust Old Pawn's Dakota men. [3]

The men fired a volley when the Sisseton appeared, and Old Pawn offered to negotiate with them. He returned with this deal: abandon the settlement and their belongings and they would be spared. The settlers argued and ultimately held a vote, accepting the offer. [3] The group started for New Ulm in a wagon and on foot. [2]

After they had gone a mile or two, Old Pawn and the Sisseton appeared behind them in pursuit. Henry Smith and Mr. Rhodes panicked and ran, though William Duley shouted at them to stay or at least leave their guns. Rhodes was a bachelor boarding with the Eastlicks, but Smith abandoned his own wife. [3] Duley suggested the party take cover in a nearby slough, reed-filled and mostly dry in late summer. On the way the parties exchanged fire, and several settlers were wounded. Then came the killing: fifteen settlers, including three of Duley's children. Duley's wife and seven others were taken captive. [5]

Afterwards the bands went west crossing into Yankton land. There Yankton Chief Struck-by-the-Ree offered to trade horses for the captives, but was turned down. Conveying his unhappiness to the Santee they headed north. One hundred miles north of Fort Pierre a fur trader ran into them and offered to trade goods for the captives. He was turned down being informed they would only trade for horses. He continued to Fort Pierre with that information. There a band of Two Kettles Lakota, self named the Strong Hearts, decided to secure their release. [6] They caught up with the Sisseton and offered a horse a piece for the release of each woman and child. They were scoffed at. The Lakota replied either take the horses or fight. [7] [8] [1] They returned the captives to Fort Pierre only to be imprisoned for their effort. Some died awaiting a determination.

Aftermath

Abraham Lincoln authorized the execution of the eastern Dakota involved in the massacres and kidnapping during the uprising, but those involved at Lake Shetek escaped to the plains. William Duley requested to be the executioner Mankato, December 26, 1862, for the loss of his children. [5] In November Company F of the 25th Wisconsin was tasked with burying the dead at Lake Shetek. They reported finding nine skeletal remains, some of which had been burnt by prairie fires. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sioux</span> Native American and First Nations ethnic groups

The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples. Collectively, they are the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, or "Seven Council Fires". The term "Sioux", an exonym from a French transcription ("Nadouessioux") of the Ojibwe term "Nadowessi", can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or to any of the nation's many language dialects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberts County, South Dakota</span> County in South Dakota, United States

Roberts County is a county in the U.S. state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,280. Its county seat is Sisseton. The county was named either for S. G. Roberts of Fargo, North Dakota, or for Solomon Robar, an early local French fur trader. It was created on March 8, 1883, and fully organized by August 6 of that year. Its boundary was altered once, in 1885.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walnut Grove, Minnesota</span> City in Minnesota, United States

Walnut Grove is a city in Redwood County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 871 at the 2010 census. Another name formerly associated with the area is Walnut Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Ramsey</span> American politician (1815–1903)

Alexander Ramsey was an American politician. He served as a Whig and Republican over a variety of offices between the 1840s and the 1880s. He was the first Minnesota Territorial Governor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lower Sioux Agency</span> United States historic place

The Lower Sioux Agency, or Redwood Agency, was the federal administrative center for the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation in what became Redwood County, Minnesota, United States. It was the site of the Battle of Lower Sioux Agency on August 18, 1862, the first organized battle of the Dakota War of 1862.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Shetek</span> Lake in the state of Minnesota, United States

Lake Shetek is the largest lake in southwestern Minnesota, United States, and the headwaters of the Des Moines River. It is located in The Lakes, an unincorporated community in Murray County a few miles north-northwest of Currie. The name Shetek is derived from "pelican" in the Ojibwe language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spirit Lake Massacre</span>

The Spirit Lake Massacre was an attack by a Wahpekute band of Santee Sioux on scattered Iowa frontier settlements during a severe winter. Suffering a shortage of food, the renegade chief Inkpaduta led 14 Sioux against the settlements near Okoboji and Spirit lakes in the northwestern territory of Iowa near the Minnesota border, in revenge of the murder of Inkpaduta's brother, Sidominadotah, and Sidominadotah's family by Henry Lott. The Sioux killed 35-40 settlers in their scattered holdings, took four young women captive, and headed north. The youngest captive, Abbie Gardner, was kept a few months before being ransomed in early summer. It was the last Native American attack on settlers in Iowa, but the events increased tensions between the Sioux and settlers in the Minnesota Territory. Nearly 30 years after the events, in 1885 Gardner-Sharp published her memoir, History of the Spirit Lake Massacre and Captivity of Miss Abbie Gardner, which was reprinted seven times in small editions. It was one of the last captivity narratives written of European Americans' being held by Native Americans. In 1891, Gardner-Sharp purchased the primitive family cabin and returned home. For the last 30 years of her life, she subsisted on the modest earnings from her book and souvenir sales. The town erected a historical monument to commemorate the attack. The State of Iowa now maintains the park and Abbie Gardner Sharp home site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monson Lake State Park</span> United States historic place

Monson Lake State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, originally established as a memorial to 13 Swedish American pioneers who were killed there in the Dakota War of 1862. A district of 1930s New Deal structures is on the National Register of Historic Places. Despite being nearly doubled in size in 2009, the state park remains one of Minnesota's smallest. It is located off Minnesota State Highway 9 just west of Sunburg and 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Willmar. This seasonally-staffed park is managed from nearby Sibley State Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Shetek State Park</span> United States historic place

Lake Shetek State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, on Lake Shetek, which is the largest lake in southwestern Minnesota and the headwaters of the Des Moines River. It is most popular for water recreation and camping. However the park also contains historical resources related to the Dakota War of 1862, including an original log cabin and a monument to 15 white settlers killed there and at nearby Slaughter Slough on August 20, 1862.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Abercrombie</span> United States historic place

Fort Abercrombie, in North Dakota, was a United States Army fort established by authority of an Act of Congress, March 3, 1857. The act allocated twenty-five square miles of land on the Red River of the North in Dakota Territory to be used for a military outpost, but the exact location was left to the discretion of Lieutenant Colonel John J. Abercrombie. The fort was constructed in the year 1858. It was the first permanent military installation in what became North Dakota, and is thus known as "The Gateway to the Dakotas". Abercrombie selected a site right on the river. Spring flooding was a problem and the fort was abandoned. However, in 1860 the Army returned, moving the fort to higher ground.

The 25th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment was a volunteer infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. During their service, they first participated in the Dakota War of 1862, then spent most of the rest of the war in the western theater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attack at the Lower Sioux Agency</span> Battle as part of the Dakota War of 1862

The Attack at the Lower Sioux Agency was the first organized attack led by Dakota leader Little Crow in Minnesota on August 18, 1862, and is considered the initial engagement of the Dakota War of 1862. It resulted in 13 settler deaths, with seven more killed while fleeing the agency for Fort Ridgely.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battles of New Ulm</span> Battle of the American Civil War

The Battles of New Ulm, also known as the New Ulm Massacre, were two battles in August 1862 between Dakota men and European settlers and militia in New Ulm, Minnesota early in the Dakota War of 1862. Dakota forces attacked New Ulm on August 19 and again on August 23, destroying much of the town but failing to fully capture it. After the second attack, New Ulm was evacuated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surrender at Camp Release</span>

The Surrender at Camp Release was the final act in the Dakota War of 1862. After the Battle of Wood Lake, Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley had considered pursuing the retreating Sioux, but he realized he did not have the resources for a vigorous pursuit. Furthermore, he was aware that Chief Little Crow had been losing support and was in contact with several Mdewakanton chiefs who had signaled their opposition to further conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dakota War of 1862</span> Armed conflict between the United States and four bands of the eastern Dakota

The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, the Dakota Uprising, the Sioux Outbreak of 1862, the Dakota Conflict, or Little Crow's War, was an armed conflict between the United States and several eastern bands of Dakota collectively known as the Santee Sioux. It began on August 18, 1862, when the Dakota, who were facing starvation and displacement, attacked white settlements at the Lower Sioux Agency along the Minnesota River valley in southwest Minnesota. The war lasted for five weeks and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of settlers and the displacement of thousands more. In the aftermath, the Dakota people were exiled from their homelands, forcibly sent to reservations in the Dakotas and Nebraska, and the State of Minnesota confiscated and sold all their remaining land in the state. The war also ended with the largest mass execution in United States history with the hanging of 38 Dakota men.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriel Renville</span>

Gabriel Renville, also known as Ti'wakan, was an US-government appointed chief of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Sioux Tribe from 1866 until his death in 1892. He opposed conflict with the United States during the Dakota War of 1862 and was a driving force within the Dakota Peace Party. In 1863, Renville volunteered to serve as a Dakota scout serving in US military leader Henry Hastings Sibley's punitive expedition against Dakota escapees, hunting those considered "hostile" including Little Crow. Renville would become chief and superintendent of scouts in 1864. Gabrielle Renville's influence and political leadership were critical to the eventual creation of the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, which lies mainly in present-day South Dakota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate</span>

The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, formerly Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe/Dakota Nation, is a federally recognized tribe comprising two bands and two subdivisions of the Isanti or Santee Dakota people. They are on the Lake Traverse Reservation in northeast South Dakota.

Leavenworth is an unincorporated community located in Leavenworth Township in Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The elevation is 1,004 feet. It was situated on two locations in Brown County, one before the Dakota War of 1862, and in section 27 of the township along the Cottonwood River after the war.

The Department of the Northwest was an U.S. Army Department created on September 6, 1862, to put down the Sioux uprising in Minnesota. Major General John Pope was made commander of the Department. At the end of the Civil War the Department was redesignated the Department of Dakota.

Samuel Jerome Brown, better known as Sam Brown, was an American frontiersman and settler in Minnesota and Dakota Territory. He earned regional fame as the "Paul Revere of the Prairie" or the "Prairie Paul Revere" for riding 150 miles (240 km) on the night of April 19–20, 1866, first to warn others of an expected Native American attack and—when the threat proved false—back through a spring blizzard to intercept his request for reinforcements from the U.S. Army. Though the ordeal left him dependent on a wheelchair for the rest of his life, he went on to serve as an educator, civic leader, advocate for Native Americans, and historian.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Dahlin, Curtis A. (2007). Dakota Uprising Victims: Gravestones & Stories. Edina, Minn.: Beaver's Pond Press, Inc. pp. 95–97. ISBN   978-1-59298-170-0.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dahlin, Curtis A. (2009). The Dakota Uprising: A Pictorial History . Edina, Minn.: Beaver's Pond Press, Inc. ISBN   9781592982752.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Michno, Gregory F. (2011). Dakota Dawn: The Decisive First Week of the Sioux Uprising, August 17–24, 1862. New York: Savas Beatie. ISBN   978-1-932714-99-9.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Lake Shetek State Park signage". Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. 1 2 "Image found of man who hanged 38 Dakota men 153 years ago". Star Tribune .
  6. ↑ The Wisdom of the Fool Soldiers, Michael Zimny, South Dakota Magazine.com, Feb.6, 2019,
  7. ↑ Highly important News, Chatfield Democrat, Jan 10, 1863, Minnesota Digital Newspapers Hub, MNHS, 345 Kellogg Blvd, St Paul, MN
  8. ↑ The Saint Paul Daily Press, Dec 6, 1862, p.1, Minnesota digital newspaper hub, 2024, MNHS, 345 Kellogg Blvd, St. Paul, MN
  9. ↑ The Sioux War, Mankato Semi-Weekly Record, November 8, 1862, p.1, Minnesota digital newspaper hub, 2024, MNHS, 345 Kellogg Blvd, St. Paul, MN
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.