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Minnesota History

Part 12: Minnesota forgets her history

Part 12: Minnesota forgets her history

For a short time after the war, Wingerd says, Minnesotans were triumphant at having beaten back the savage Indians. They relished the story. But then the events fade from memory.

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Part 4: The white government pressured tribes for land

Part 4: The white government pressured tribes for land

To get more of the story, Gwen and I drive to a small museum. From the outside, it looks like one of those wayside rest buildings. It sits on Highway 169 about 15 miles north of Mankato, just outside St. Peter, the town where I went to college.

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Part 6: The buildup to war

Part 6: The buildup to war

Gwen Westerman and I have driven west, out on the prairie, for the next part of the story -- the buildup to the war.

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Part 8: The war spreads across the prairie

Part 8: The war spreads across the prairie

The morning after Little Crow's speech, and after the murders at the Acton farm -- Aug. 18, 1862 -- several hundred Dakota warriors, led by Little Crow, started their assault at the federal outpost that sat on their land: the Lower Sioux Agency.

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Part 11: The condemned end up in Mankato

Part 11: The condemned end up in Mankato

Back in Mankato, we're in an old park, which is a favorite place of mine. This same spot is where the Dakota men ended up -- the ones who turned themselves in after Henry Sibley promised to treat them fairly. And it was where many of them were condemned to death.

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The Dakota War through a Minnesotan's eyes

The Dakota War through a Minnesotan's eyes

It was 150 years ago this month that the U.S.-Dakota war ended with one of the most noteworthy events in Minneosta history -- the hanging of 38 Dakota men in Mankato. We hear the story today from the perspective of a Mankato native -- longtime public radio producer John Biewen. John heard next to nothing about the U.S.-Dakota War during his childhood there. Over the past year, John traveled southern Minnesota to places where key events occurred, so he could explore what happened in all its complexity.

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Part 3: The incident at Acton

Part 3: The incident at Acton

This was the incident that started the U.S.-Dakota War. A steel plaque was added to the monument in the 1960s, which describes what happened.

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Part 7: The spark that ignites the war

Part 7: The spark that ignites the war

That brings us back to where we began our story, to that farmyard in Acton where the four young Dakota men killed the five settlers.

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Part 9: Sibley chosen to defeat the Dakota

Part 9: Sibley chosen to defeat the Dakota

The man appointed to lead a force to defeat the Dakota was Henry Sibley -- the fur trader who served as Minnesota's first governor from 1858-1860, and who helped orchestrate the treaties of 1851.

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Part 2: Mankato's history largely hidden

Part 2: Mankato's history largely hidden

In setting out to understand what happened in southern Minnesota in 1862, I asked Gwen Westerman to be my guide. I grew up in Mankato, a white kid, knowing next to nothing about the bloody history that happened beneath my feet. Gwen, a Dakota tribal member, got a teaching job and moved to Mankato, also knowing nothing about that history.

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