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Chapter X
The Final Days
"As the newly promoted General Sibley and his officers examined the evidence against the many Dakota Indians who surrendered in late 1862, the final chapter of the war took shape on the plains northwest of Camp Release. Perhaps as many as 250 Mdewakanton men had fled Sibley's army in late September, joining the bands of Sioux who lived on the plains. Among the latter were Sissetons and Wahpetons, most of whom had not participated in the fighting in the Minnesota River valley, and large numbers of Yanktons, Yanktonais, and Tetons. While the Tetons made their home in the Missouri River and to the west, the Yanktons and Yantonais frequently resided at Devils Lake, an oasis of sorts inthe middle of the vast northern plais. By early november, Sissetons, Wahpetons, and few Mdewakanons turned to the lake for refuge, making it the focal point of Dakota activity in the west.
Little Crow, as spokesman for the Mdewakantons, sought to mold the Sioux bands into an alliance that would resist the whites. The plan came to naught because the Yanktons quickly rejected such a coalition, and the leaders of the Sissetons and Wahptons held the Mdewakantons responsible for starting a war that they wished had never happened. By springtime as it became evident that General Sibley would launch a campaign against the Sioux, all remaining thoughts of an alliance among the western tribes faded. Little Crow reacted to this failure by deciding to return to Minnesota in June with hs son, Wowinape, and a few others. He was fatally shot by a white famer on July 3, 1863 near Hutchinson. His son survived the attack and left a narrative of the chief's last weeks. By the time of Little Crow's death, the Mdewakantons who had followed him to the plains had scattered.
As the Sioux on the plains debated the war issue, Sibley made plans to invade the stronghold around Devils Lake. Being aware of the need for accurate information regarding the whereabouts of the Indians and fearing that the warring faction would mount raids during the winter, he decided for form a scout camp and recruited Dakota mixed-bloods and full-bloods. The scouts, dominated by the Renvilles and the mission Indians, played important roles in protecting the whites living on the frontier, the summer campaign into Dakota Territory, and the eventual surrender of most of the Indian participants in the war. The scouts also carried messages between the plains Sioux and Sibley’s camp. Nevertheless, they were not successful in preventing a clash between Sibley’s army and the Indians at Big Mound, about forty miles east of the present-day Bismarck, on July 24, 1863. The skirmish, known as the Battle of Big Mound, began when a Sisseton warrior shot Dr. Josiah S. Weiser, an army surgeon, during an impromptu negotiation. The army pursued the Sioux westward to the Missouri, fighting at Dead Buffalo Lake on July 26, and Stony Lake on July 28. More than a hundred Indians were killed and a quantity of food, utensils, and other goods destroyed, By fall, the Dakota War came to a close.
The narratives that have survived from this period recount the organization of the scout camps, the negotiations that occurred on the plains, and Sibley’s expedition into Sioux lands during the summer of 1863. They show once again the divisiveness that existed among the various Dakota groups over the issues of war, negotiations with the whites, and peace.”
Narrative 1
FRANK JETTY’S REMINISCENCES
Frank Jetty was born in the vicinity of the Yellow Medicine Agency in about 1858.
“ When the Indian warriors saw the soldiers arrive (near Camp Release in September 1862), they fled in this direction (Devil’s Lake). My mother too, fled here with my sister Josephone and myself, we were the halfbreeds of the band. For fear of being killed, the peaceful Indians fled along with the rest. This happened in 1862, That year my mother spent the winter on the Lake shore (devils Lakes). My mother showed me the place where she stayed. It is right here behind your heating building. (St. Michael, ND) There was a thick woods along the shore, where my mother went fishing with her cousin, White-Dog….
The next spring we left for the prairies between here (St. Michael, ND) and Bismarck. In June the government sent Scouts to find out where the Indians were. When the Indians saw the regiment coming, they thought the soldiers were coming to fight. But this was not the reason. They wanted to bring back the Sioux to yellow Medicine, MN, from whence they had come.
The Indians fled again, and the soldiers followed with the intention of overtaking them at the Missouri River. When the Indians arrived between Mandan and Bismarck, ND, below the hills of the river shore, they camped. Sibbly {sic}and his soldiers watched them four miles from the encampment to encircle them the next morning. When the Indians perceived (sic) that they were discovered, they started to improvise boats with small tress on which they tied buffalo hides. All during the night the Indian swimmers guided these boats across the river with ropes held between their teeth. Thus, all who could not swim and the women, children and belongings were carried across. Only a poor old squaw who had died during the night remained behind. The Indians had prepared her well. The next morning, the soldiers found her sitting, waiting for them. When the soldiers was (saw) they were tricked, they returned…”
Excerpted from THROUGH DAKOTA EYES, Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862. Edited by Gary Clayton Anderson/Alan R. Woolworth
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Damakotah!
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These things also are good to remember.
