The Lake Shetek Captives & the Fool Soldiers

On August 20, 1862, Dakota warriors attacked a group of settler families fleeing from a small community near Lake Shetek. When the fighting was over, eight adults and six children from Lake Shetek were dead, as well as several Dakota soldiers. Three women and eight children were taken captive by the Dakota men.

The captives were taken north and west into Dakota Territory, where they were split up among several Dakota families with whom they traveled for months.

On November 20, the captives were released to a group of young Lakota men known as the Fool Soldiers, who had formed two years earlier with a pledge to follow a path of non-violence. The Fool Soldiers traded their own horses, blankets, food, and weapons for the captives. Left with two rifles, a tipi, some blankets, and a horse, the Fool Soldiers and the captives began an arduous journey that ended at Fort Randall, a U.S. military post on the Missouri River.

The Fool Soldiers were imprisoned once they reached the fort; before they were released months later, several had died. The captives’ lives were shattered. Laura Duley, who had lost two sons in the ordeal, returned to Minnesota with her daughters. She was reunited with her husband, William; the family moved to Alabama and eventually to Washington. Julia Wright, who was raped during her captivity, was pregnant when she returned to Minnesota. She was abandoned by her husband after giving birth. The remaining children--Lillie Everett, Roseanne Ireland, and Ellen Ireland--had lost their mothers in the fighting. They were reunited with their fathers after their release.