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Three historical markers with outdated language were replaced and ready for viewing in 2012. The three completed signs are in the ground at Acton Township, Ft. Ridgely and the Wood Lake Battlefield.

Six new rail-style markers are in production for the Upper Sioux Community at the site of what was called the Yellow Medicine Agency. The signs will be displayed following the spring thaw of 2013.

The content of the new signs was reviewed by an MNHS historical marker committee, as well as by Dakota consultants and the MNHS Indian Advisory Committee.

Theme:

1862

Topics:

Shared History

Wood Lake

Education for Understanding

Glossary Terms:

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The Wood Lake Battle

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The Wood Lake Battle.
Three historical markers with outdated language were replaced and ready for viewing in 2012. The content of the new sign was reviewed by an MNHS historical marker committee, as well as by Dakota consultants and the MNHS Indian Advisory Committee.

The marker reads: In mid-September, 1862, more than 1,600 soldiers commanded by Colonel Henry Sibley marched northwest from Fort Ridgely into the Minnesota River Valley with an aim to end the U.S.-Dakota War. Word of that movement reached the Dakota soldiers’ lodge near present-day Montevideo, sparking a debate about the most effective campaign to permanently defeat the enemy. Dakota leader Taoyateduta (Little Crow) argued for a risky nighttime attack; others called that cowardly, preferring to attack in the early morning hours. Sibley’s command camped here, the site of the Lone Tree Lake which has since disappeared. (At the time of the war, Lone Tree Lake was mistaken for Wood Lake, 3.5 miles to the west.) At dawn on September 23, 1862, hundreds of Dakota warriors prepared to attack from the tall grass near Sibley’s encampment, three miles south of the Yellow Medicine Agency, known today as the Upper Sioux Community. The ambush was thwarted when several men from Sibley’s camp left in a wagon in search of potatoes. Gunfire erupted as the wagons threatened to run over the Dakota, alerting the soldiers at Sibley’s camp. Battle-hardened Civil War veterans of the Third Minnesota Infantry sprang into action, bolstering the raw recruits and volunteers during this final battle of the war. Two hours of fighting on the 600-acre-site brought victory for Sibley’s command and put an end to the war. Taoyateduta retreated westward with 200 to 300 warriors who refused to surrender. The Dakota who surrendered were taken into custody; almost 400 men, including non-combatants, were hastily tried by military tribunal. Of those, 303 Dakota men were found guilty and sentenced to hanging. Aides to President Abraham Lincoln reviewed the records, and Lincoln reduced the sentences. On December 26, 1862, in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 men were sentenced to hang in what became the largest mass execution in U.S. history.

The Acton Incident Marker

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The Acton Incident marker.
Three historical markers with outdated language were replaced and ready for viewing in 2012. The content of the new signs was reviewed by an MNHS historical marker committee, as well as by Dakota consultants and the MNHS Indian Advisory Committee.

The sign reads: "On August 17, 1862, four young Dakota hunters, returning to their hungry families from an unsuccessful hunt, argued about stealing food from white settlers. Sungigidan, Kaomdeiyeyedan, Nagiwicakte, and Pazoiyopa dared each other this: who among them was brave enough to shoot the settlers? The youth spoke with Robinson Jones, Acton’s postmaster and storekeeper, at his farm. They followed him to this location, about a quarter mile from the home of Howard Baker. Here they shot and killed Baker, Viranus Webster and Robinson Jones and his wife. After they left, passing Jones’s home, they killed his daughter, Clara D. Wilson. The Indians then fled 40 miles south to Rice Creek Village. After several council meetings, the Dakota who wanted to go to war with the United States convinced Taoyateduta (Little Crow) to lead them into battle. Thus began the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862, the bloodiest chapter in Minnesota history. Although the war was ignited by the actions of a small band of teenage hunters, its causes were far deeper. By 1862, European Americans were pouring onto the ancestral lands of the Dakota. White leaders, determined to seize millions of acres of rich farmland, forced the Dakota onto reservations. The Dakota were expected to assimilate: to farm rather than hunt, to speak English, to cut their hair and wear unfamiliar clothing. Missionaries sought to replace the Dakota belief system with Christianity. The payments promised in the 1851 and 1858 treaties were illegally taken by traders or were late in delivery. Families were torn between the past and a foreign, uncertain future. To some, war seemed the only option. The U.S.–Dakota War of 1862 launched 30 years of war between the United States and American Indians on the Northern Plains."

Fort Ridgely Marker

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The historical marker for Fort Ridgely.

Three historical markers with outdated language were replaced and ready for viewing in 2012. The content of the sign was reviewed by an MNHS historical marker committee, as well as by Dakota consultants and the MNHS Indian Advisory Committee.

The sign reads: "Fort Ridgely both contradicts and fits the popular culture stereotype of a frontier fort. Following its 1855 completion, the Fort’s primary role was to assist the federal government with an orderly transition of land ownership from American Indians to the growing number of European immigrant farmers. Nothing in that definition suggests the need for a stockade for defense against dramatic attacks. Yet that is what happened. When the six-week U.S.-Dakota War began in August, 1862, the fort assumed great importance as the only military post in the area. On August 20 and 22, 1862, as many as 400 Dakota warriors attacked the fort, defended by just 280 soldiers and refugees. The use of artillery compensated for the lack of a stockade and for the fort’s vulnerable location, compelling Dakota forces to withdraw. Up until the events that led to war in 1862, loneliness and boredom afflicted the Fort Ridgely soldiers: records described complaints about housekeeping detail and harsh winters. With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Minnesota’s citizen soldiers relieved regular Army soldiers needed in the South. When the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 erupted, those same volunteer soldiers were among the first to respond and the first to fall in combat. Hundreds of European immigrant families fled to Fort Ridgely for protection. The U.S. military abandoned the fort in 1872, and most of the buildings deteriorated or were converted for other uses. The state erected a battle monument in 1896. In 1911, the Minnesota Legislature created Fort Ridgely State Park. Excavations in 1935 revealed eight building foundations. The fort’s stone commissary was preserved and today serves as a visitor center."

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