This is your community page where members can post ... anything!
"On November 7, 1862, a group of about 1,700 Dakota, primarily women, children and elderly, were force-marched in a four-mile long procession from the Lower Sioux Agency to a concentration camp at Fort Snelling. Two days later, after being tried and convicted, over 300 condemned men who were awaiting news of their execution were shackled and placed in wagons then transported to a concentration camp in Mankato, Minnesota.
"Both groups had surrendered to the United States army at the end of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, believing they would be treated humanely as prisoners of war. Instead, the men were separated out and tried as war criminals by a five-man military tribunal. As many as forty cases were tried in a single day, some taking as little as five minutes. Upon completion of the trials, 307 men were condemned to death and 16 were given prison sentences.
"The remaining Dakota people, primarily women, children, and elderly were then forced to endure brutal conditions as they were forcibly marched to Fort Snelling and then imprisoned in Minnesota's first concentration camp through a difficult winter.
"As both groups were paraded through Minnesota towns on their way to the camps, white citizens of Minnesota lined the streets to taunt and assault the defenseless Dakota. Poignant and painful oral historical accounts detail the abuses suffered by Dakota people on these journeys. In addition to suffering cold, hunger, and sickness, the Dakota also endured having rotten food, rocks, sticks and even boiling water thrown at them.
 |
| Drawing from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, June 1863 New Ulm citizens attacking Dakota captives |
(Above)Little Crow's wife & 2 of his children
(At left)Dakota girls identified as two of Little Crow's daughters
An unknown number of men, women and children died along the way from beatings and other assaults perpetrated by both soldiery and citizens. Dakota people of today still do not know what became of their bodies.
"After 38 of the condemned men were hanged the day after Christmas in 1862 in what remains the largest mass hanging in United States history, the other prisoners continued to suffer in the (Mankato) concentration camp through the winter of 1862-63. In late April of 1863 the remaining condemned men, along with the survivors of the Fort Snelling concentration camp, were forcibly removed from their beloved homeland in May of 1863. They were placed on boats which transported the men from Mankato to Davenport, Iowa where they were imprisoned for an additional three years. Those from Fort Snelling were shipped down the Mississippi River to St. Louis and then up the Missouri River to the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota.
A memorial to some of those people was dedicated at Crow Creek in 2001."
|
"Now that I have wiped the tears from my eyes, I can speak. wow! That is a lot of names. I have never seen such a long list of women's names at once. Can you imagine how terrible those women had to have felt to be the heads of their families after their men were taken from them in one way or another. Women in those days and especially in the Dakota culture were never known as the head of the family, that was the job or title of the men. So on top of all this degradation of the march and the loss of friends and family they also had the indignity of being in the place of their husband/partner as head of the family." "It seems stupid I guess that I am reacting this way, after all I know the history, and I know the names of the 38 + 3, (The 38 + 3 refers the 38 men hung at Mankato on December 26th, 1862, and to Medicine Bottle, and Shakopee who were both tricked in Canada and were bought back to Minnesota to be hung. The third one is Little Crow who was not hung but was killed by a farmer in a field, that was bad enough but then his body was put on show and taken around the country. He wasn't buried until over 100 years later in Flandreau. over the years it was decided to add Little Crow to those remembered because of that degradation.) but I guess it didn't bring it home to me until I saw this list with all of the women's names. So many 'Win'. It really needs to be seen because if I, with my knowledge, reacts like this how will people who have no knowledge about it react." "These people, these women, these incredibly strong, courageous women need to be remembered. I will do my best to make a web page that does that. Thank you for allowing me to do this. It is a great honor."
The names of the people follow, the number next to their names are the family members who were with them. Remember these are just the Head of family names. |
Fort Snelling Concentration Camp Dakota Prisoners 1862-63
Heads of families and number of family members as compiled by the U.S. Army on December 2, 1862
3368 people altogether
|
Wapahasa's Band (196) Wapahasa 8 |
Passing Hail's Band (227) Wasuhiyayada 7 |
|
Red Leg's Band (172) Husasa 5 |
Wakute's Band (254) |
|
Eagle Head's Band (130) Huicape 7 |
Black Dog's Band (74) Napesni 5 |
|
Yellow Medicine's Band (664) Anawangmani 8 |
Taopi's Band (390) Taopi 5 |
|
Good Road's Band (119) Wamanus'a 7 |
Mixed Blood Families (142) John Moore 5 |
Comments