By late summer 1862, the United States was consumed by the Civil War, but a separate and brutal conflict was erupting on the Minnesota frontier. It began with a deadly ambush at Redwood Ferry, an engagement that would mark the opening salvo of the Dakota War of 1862. On August 18, 1862, a company of 47 soldiers from the Fifth Minnesota Infantry, led by Captain John S. Marsh, was dispatched to respond to Dakota attacks at the Lower Sioux Agency.
As they approached the ferry landing near the agency, they walked into a carefully laid trap. Dakota warriors, concealed in the thick grass and brush, opened fire on the unsuspecting column. The ambush was devastating. In the chaos of the retreat, 24 soldiers were killed, including Captain Marsh, who drowned while attempting to cross the river.
One soldier drowned during the escape, and five others were wounded. The Dakota side suffered minimal casualties, with just one warrior known to have been killed. A Dakota leader named White Dog was involved in an initial parley with the soldiers, which was later suspected of being a delaying tactic meant to allow other warriors to move into position for the attack. White Dog was subsequently accused of signaling the warriors to fire, though he denied the accusation.
The clash at Redwood Ferry did not happen in a vacuum. Decades of broken treaties had forced the Dakota onto increasingly smaller parcels of land. As white settlers encroached further, traditional hunting grounds became unsustainable. By the summer of 1862, the situation had reached a breaking point.
A poor harvest in 1861 and a severe winter left the Dakota facing starvation. Government annuity payments, which the tribe depended on, were delayed because federal funds were being diverted to the Civil War effort. Traders refused to extend credit, and the Indian agent withheld food from the warehouse until the annuity money arrived. When informed of the Dakota’s desperate plight, one merchant reportedly responded callously, “Let them eat grass.
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The spark that ignited the conflict came on August 17, 1862. Four young Santee men, returning from an unsuccessful hunting trip, stopped at a settler’s cabin. After one of them took eggs from a hen’s nest, an argument broke out. By the end of the encounter, five settlers were dead.
When the young men returned to their village and confessed what they had done, the Dakota knew serious trouble was coming. While the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands believed a conflict would bring only bad results and stayed out of the fighting, the Wahpeton and Wapakute bands felt they would be held responsible regardless. With most Minnesota soldiers deployed to fight the Confederates, some factions believed the time to strike had come. The influential leader Little Crow argued strongly against war.
He warned the warriors that the United States would respond with overwhelming force, telling them, “You will die like rabbits. ” But the warriors would not be held back, and in the end, Little Crow reluctantly agreed to lead them. The following day, Dakota warriors attacked the Lower Sioux Agency, killing 31 people and capturing 10. Authorities and settlers alike were caught completely by surprise.
After the ambush at Redwood Ferry, the Dakota launched two attacks on Fort Ridgely, both of which were successfully fended off. The town of New Ulm also managed to defend itself. On September 1, a force of 1,700 soldiers was sent out from Fort Ridgely to bury settlers killed in the fighting. That evening, they camped near Birch Coulee Creek.
The ground was poorly chosen: open, flat, and exposed, with nearby woods that offered cover for an attacker. The Dakota surrounded the camp during the night and attacked at dawn. The fighting at Birch Coulee was furious and lasted 36 hours. The Dakota were on the verge of victory when a detachment arrived from Fort Ridgely and drove them off.
The original force suffered severe casualties: 13 men were killed, 47 were wounded, and every horse and mule was killed. The battle demonstrated just how determined the Dakota were. The Dakota offensive slowed after the defeat at Birch Coulee. Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley reached out to Little Crow, who explained the causes of the war and hinted he might be open to negotiations.
Sibley refused to negotiate and demanded surrender. Little Crow refused. Sibley arrived at Fort Ridgely with 1,400 men, but his advance was delayed by supply shortages. Settlers grew impatient, and a Saint Cloud newspaper editor wrote, “For God’s sake, put some live man in command of the force against the Sioux.
” Supplies finally reached Sibley, and he set out on September 19. Little Crow was aware of the advance and planned an ambush along the line of march. As the troops moved out, some wagons left the main road and drove directly toward where Little Crow’s warriors were hidden in the brush. When the warriors fired on the wagons, the Battle of Wood Lake began.
The Dakota soon found themselves facing seasoned troops who had been fighting Confederate forces in the South. The battle lasted about two hours, and when it ended, the organized Dakota uprising was effectively over. The Dakota suffered heavy casualties, and the arguments of the peace faction finally won out. Most of the Dakota surrendered after Wood Lake at a place called Camp Release, so named because it was where the Dakota released the captives they had taken during the fighting.
About 270 captives were turned over to Sibley. Little Crow did not surrender. He was killed by a settler on July 3, 1863. The warriors who surrendered were subjected to military trials in November 1862.
Of the 498 men tried, 303 were sentenced to hang. President Abraham Lincoln commuted the sentences of all but 38. On December 26, 1862, 38 Dakota men were hanged at Mankato, Minnesota, in what remains the largest mass execution in American history.