Spirit Lake Massacre
Encyclopedia
Inkpaduta
Inkpaduta was a war chief of the Santee Sioux during the 1857 Spirit Lake Massacre and the 1862 Dakota War against the United States Army in Minnesota and the Dakota Territory.-Early life:Inkpaduta was born in what later became the Dakota...
(Scarlet Point) led 14 Sioux against the settlements near Okoboji and Spirit
Spirit Lake, Iowa
Spirit Lake is a city in Dickinson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 4,261 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Dickinson County.The town is located along the western shore of East Okoboji Lake, in the Iowa Great Lakes region....
lakes in the northwestern territory of Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
near the Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
border. The Sioux killed 35-40 settlers in their scattered holdings, took four young women captive, and headed north. The youngest captive, Abbie Gardner, was kept a few months before being ransomed in early summer. It was the last Native American attack on settlers in Iowa, but the events increased tensions between the Sioux and settlers in the Minnesota Territory.
Nearly 30 years after the events, in 1885 Gardner-Sharp published her memoir, History of the Spirit Lake Massacre and Captivity of Miss Abbie Gardner, whose popularity led to reprinting several editions. It was one of the last captivity narrative
Captivity narrative
Captivity narratives are stories of people captured by "uncivilized" enemies. The narratives often include a theme of redemption by faith in the face of the threats and temptations of an alien way of life. Barbary captivity narratives, stories of Englishmen captured by Barbary pirates, were popular...
s written of European Americans' being held by Native Americans. Gardner-Sharp sold the book at the tourist site she operated at her cabin for 30 years after buying it back in 1891. The town erected a memorial, and the state now maintains the park and Abbie Gardner Sharp home site.
Background
Inkpaduta led a small band of Wahpetukes who had been expelled from the main band in dissension following the murder of a chief in 1840. (Other major bands of Sioux in the region were the WahpetonWahpeton
Wahpeton may refer to:People*The Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, a branch of the Dakota or SiouxPlaces*Wahpeton, the name of two cities in the United States:**Wahpeton, Iowa**Wahpeton, North Dakota*The Wahpeton Micropolitan Statistical AreaShips...
and Sisseton.) Including some women and children, his band followed the game and lived by hunting, which yield was decreasing under pressure of new settlement. They also received some annuities under the Traverse des Sioux
Treaty of Traverse des Sioux
The Treaty of Traverse des Sioux was a treaty signed on July 23, 1851, between the United States government and Sioux Indian bands in Minnesota Territory by which the Sioux ceded territory. The treaty was instigated by Alexander Ramsey, the first governor of Minnesota Territory, and Luke Lea,...
and Mendota
Treaty of Mendota
The Treaty of Mendota was signed in Mendota, Minnesota on August 5, 1851 between the United States federal government and the Sioux tribes of Minnesota ....
1852 treaties but never received the rightful amount owed by the United States for lands the Sioux were forced to cede.
By the terms of the Traverse des Sioux treaty, a reservation was set up along the Minnesota River, about 15 miles above Fort Ridgely. Promised improvements were not made on time, the federal government repeatedly failed to make adequate and timely annuity payments (even failing to authorize adequate budgets for the Department of Interior for this purpose). Provisions for education were not started for several years; only a few missionaries taught the Sioux bands. Lands were not adequately plowed for cultivation. Supplies were shipped too late and in inadequate amounts, to the point the Sioux could not survive on them. By 1856, many Mdewakantons and Wahpetukes still came to the reservation just to get annuity payments, and returned to old hunting grounds to survive, especially during the winter. As they encountered more new settlers, conflicts arose. In a reorganization, in the summer of 1856 Charles A. Flandrau was appointed US Indian agent. Said to be an experienced trader and a man of integrity, he worked at improving conditions, but had much ground to make up. Many Sioux in addition to Inkpaduta's band were living off the reservation because of the government's failures.
Suffering food shortages during the severe winter of 1856-1857, which had heavy snows, Inkpaduta and his band begged for food at European-American settlements in northwestern Iowa. Also struggling that winter, whites rebuffed the Indians with violence and a posse disarmed Inkpaduta's band after they killed a settlers' dog that had bitten one of the band. They managed to gain arms and retaliated by attacking settlements there and at Spirit Lake
Spirit Lake, Iowa
Spirit Lake is a city in Dickinson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 4,261 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Dickinson County.The town is located along the western shore of East Okoboji Lake, in the Iowa Great Lakes region....
. The warriors killed 35-40 settlers in total. The Sioux took a total of four young women as captives, 14-year-old Abbie Gardner and three who were married, and headed back to Minnesota territory. Word spread about the attacks, and the US Indian Agent
Indian agent
In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with Native American tribes on behalf of the U.S. government.-Indian agents:*Leander Clark was agent for the Sac and Fox in Iowa beginning in 1866....
organized an armed militia of white citizens. Because of the heavy snows, a relief expedition from Fort Dodge failed to arrive in time to defend Springfield. Another expedition from Fort Ridgely
Fort Ridgely
Fort Ridgely was a United States Army outpost near the Dakota reservation in southwestern Minnesota . Built between 1853–1855, it played an important role in the Dakota War of 1862...
in Minnesota pursued Inkpaduata and his band, but failed to catch them.
While settlers demanded vengeance and rumors proliferated, the territorial authorities decided not to act against the Sioux until the captives had been returned. Settlers killed innocent Sioux who were caught hunting near them. When contact was made with Inkpaduta's group, the officials found two of the captive women had been killed. In May the territorial legislature authorized a ranson, and a few days later, two Wahpeton men brought in the third matron, Mrs. Margaret Ann Marble, for ransom. By the summer, Gov. Samuel Medary
Samuel Medary
Samuel Medary Born and raised in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, he settled in Ohio in 1825. After a term in the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio State Senate as a Jackson Democrat, he purchased a newspaper in Columbus that became the Ohio Statesman, which he edited until 1857...
of the Minnesota Territory, and the Indian agent at Lac qui Parle
, completed negotiations for the ransom of Abbie Gardner, who was returned to Spirit Lake. During the summer, after struggling to get troops and attract allied Sioux warriors, the Indian Agency pursued Inkpaduta and his band, but most evaded capture. The Sioux refused to join another expedition.
Aftermath
This was the last attack of Native Americans against settlers in Iowa. Historians have considered it a foreshadowing of the Sioux uprising in Minnesota in 1862. The events worsened relations between the Sioux and settlers in the territory, with mistrust and fear higher on both sides. Whites reacted by attacking some innocent Sioux who were hunting near settlements. Because of competition over the lands, white settlers feared that the remaining free Indians would attack them, so they called for their removal by the US government. The Sioux resented the failure of the government to fulfill treaty obligations; they were starving due to inadequate rations and annuities at the reservations. By 1862, seeing thousands of children and elders die from starvation while whites broke the laws by seizing prime Sioux lands, the Sioux rebelled in what historians called the Sioux "Uprising."Nearly 30 years later in 1885, Abbie Gardner-Sharp, by then married, published her short memoir of the 1856 attack and her captivity, entitled History of the Spirit Lake Massacre and Captivity of Miss Abbie Gardner. Perhaps because the Indian Wars
Indian Wars
American Indian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between American settlers or the federal government and the native peoples of North America before and after the American Revolutionary War. The wars resulted from the arrival of European colonizers who...
were over, the book was very popular and had several editions; it was reprinted in 1892 and 1910. This was one of the last works in the United States in the literary genre
Literary genre
A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even length. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young-adult, or children's. They also must not be confused...
known as captivity narratives, dealing with the holding of European Americans by Native Americans.
After years of marriage and living elsewhere, Gardner-Sharp returned to Spirit Lake in 1891 and bought her former family cabin. She operated it as a tourist site until her death in 1921, and sold her book, postcards and souvenirs there. In 1895 the state erected a memorial to the settlers at Arnolds Park near the site. The monument erected in 1895 reflected the attitudes of the European-American society, in terms of memorializing its pioneers and disregarding the indigenous peoples they had displaced.
The area of the Spirit Lake settlement was later redeveloped as Camp Foster, a YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
youth summer camp, where legends and ghost stories related to the events are recounted.
Abbie Gardner Sharp Cabin
The Abbie Gardner Sharp Cabin, where Gardner lived as a girl and which she later ran as a tourist attraction, still stands at Arnolds Park, IowaArnolds Park, Iowa
Arnolds Park is a city in Dickinson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,126 in the 2010 census, a decline from the 1,162 population in the 2000 census.-Geography:Arnolds Park is located at ....
. The state Conservation Commission purchased the cabin in 1941 and transferred it to the State Historical Society of Iowa
State Historical Society of Iowa
The State Historical Society of Iowa , a division of the , serves as the official historical repository for the State of Iowa and also provides grants, public education, and outreach about Iowa history and archaeology. The SHSI maintains a museum, library, archives, and research center in Des...
in 1974. Under the guidance of architects and archeologists, it has been restored to its 1856 appearance. The park's visitor center features artifacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
relating to the period, and to the cultures of both the Sioux and the European-American settlers.
Fiction and film
- The silent filmSilent filmA silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
With Sitting Bull at the Spirit Lake Massacre (1927) was loosely based on these events; in fact, Sitting Bull had nothing to do with the attacks. - MacKinlay KantorMacKinlay KantorMacKinlay Kantor , born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 novels, several based on the American Civil War, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his 1955 novel Andersonville, about the Confederate prisoner of war camp...
based his novel Spirit Lake (1961) on the historic events.
Further reading
- Carley, Kenneth. The Sioux Uprising of 1862, St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1976.
- Abbie Gardner-Sharp, History of the Spirit Lake Massacre and Captivity of Miss Abbie Gardner, full text online at Archive Website
External links
- "Abbie Gardner Sharp Cabin", State Historical Society of Iowa
- Stephen N. Kallestad and David L. Snook, "The Spirit Lake Massacre: The Northern and Southern Border Brigades", History of the Iowa National Guard
- David L. Bristow, "Inkpaduta’s Revenge: The True Story of the Spirit Lake Massacre"
- Clara Berry Wyker, ANDREWS GENEALOGY AND ALLIANCES: 1857 Spirit Lake Massacre - Dickinson County, Iowa, Rootsweb/USGenWeb
- "The Spirit Lake Massacre", IowaGreatLakes.com