The Spirit Lake Massacre (March 8–12, 1857) was an attack by a ''Wahpekute'' band of

Santee Sioux The Dakota (pronounced , or ) are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into the Eastern Dakota and the Wester ...

on scattered Iowa frontier settlements during a severe winter. Suffering a shortage of food, the renegade chief

Inkpaduta Inkpaduta ( Dakota: Iŋkpáduta, variously translated as "Red End," "Red Cap," or "Scarlet Point") (about 17971881) was a war chief of the Wahpekute band of the Dakota (Eastern or Santee Dakota) during the 1857 Spirit Lake Massacre and later W ...

(Scarlet Point) led 14 Sioux against the settlements near

Okoboji Okoboji is a city in Dickinson County, Iowa, United States, along the eastern shore of West Okoboji Lake in the Iowa Great Lakes region. At the time of the 2020 census, its population was 768. Geography According to the United States Census ...

and Spirit lakes in the northwestern territory of

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

near the

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

border, in revenge of the murder of Inkpaduta's brother, Sidominadotah, and Sidominadotah's family by Henry Lott, a drunken white whiskey trader. 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 Abbie Gardner-Sharp published her memoir, ''History of the Spirit Lake Massacre and Captivity of Miss Abbie Gardner,'' which was reprinted seven times in small editions. It was one of the last

captivity narrative Captivity narratives are typically personal accounts of people who have been captured by an enemy, generally a enemy with a foreign culture. The best-known captivity narratives in North America are those concerning Europeans and Americans taken ...

s written of European Americans' being held by Native Americans. In 1891, Gardner-Sharp purchased the primitive family cabin and returned home. For the last 30 years of her life, she subsisted on the modest earnings from her book and souvenir sales. The town erected a historical monument to commemorate the attack. The State of Iowa now maintains the park and Abbie Gardner Sharp home site.

Background

Inkpaduta led a small band of Wahpekutes 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 Wahpeton and Sisseton.) Including some women and children, his band followed the game and lived by hunting, whose yield was decreasing under pressure of new settlement. They also received some annuities under the

Traverse des Sioux Traverse des Sioux is a historic site in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Once part of a pre-industrial trade route, it is preserved to commemorate that route, a busy river crossing on it, and a nineteenth-century settlement, trading post, and missi ...

and Mendota 1851 treaties but never received the rightful amount owed by the United States for lands the Sioux were forced to cede.Roy Willard Meyer, ''History of the Santee Sioux: United States Indian Policy on Trial''
Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1967, revised edition 1993, accessed 17 Oct 2010 By the terms of the Traverse des Sioux treaty, a reservation was set up along the Minnesota River, about 15 miles above

Fort Ridgely Fort Ridgely was a frontier United States Army outpost from 1851 to 1867, built 1853–1854 in Minnesota Territory. The Sioux called it Esa Tonka. It was located overlooking the Minnesota River southwest of Fairfax, Minnesota. Half of th ...

. Promised improvements were not made on time and 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 where the Sioux could not survive on them. By 1856, many Mdewakantons and Wahpekutes 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 saw 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 settler's dog that had bitten one of the band. They managed to acquire arms and retaliated by attacking settlements there and at Spirit Lake. In another account, the tribe was camped near current day

Smithland, Iowa Smithland is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, United States. It is part of the Sioux City, IA– NE– SD Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 181 at the time of the 2020 census. History Smithland is one of the oldest se ...

. Native people were sometimes beaten and chased for stealing livestock and scavenging grain in harvested fields; thus, weary of the group, who in turn "borrowed" community items freely if they could, a vigilante group from Smithland went out to their encampment. The group, including John Howe, Eli Floyd and Jonathan Leach, appropriated guns and told the tribe they would be back in the morning. The Indians broke camp that night. Defenseless and hungry, the band moved north. Perhaps the first raid came near Gillet Grove, Iowa. A warrior of the group, who approached the Gillett cabin, was allegedly shot after repeated visits to the cabin believed to fancy Mrs. Gillett while also looking for food and rifles. As the tribe destroyed homes and lives on their journey, they came across Jowl Howe, who was also decapitated. The warriors killed 35-40 settlers, regardless of age or gender. Most of the victims were scalped.Keenan, Jerry. ''Encyclopedia of American Indian Wars''
ABC-CLIO, Inc.: California, 1997, accessed 16 Oct 2010 The Sioux took four young women as captives, 14-year-old Abbie Gardner and three who were married, and headed back to Minnesota territory.Gardner-Sharp, Abbie. ''History of the Spirit Lake Massacre and Captivity of Miss Abbie Gardner''
Des Moines: Iowa Printing, 1885 (reprinted 1892, 1910), accessed 16 Oct 2010 Word spread about the attacks, and the U.S.

Indian Agent In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the U.S. government. Agents established in Nonintercourse Act of 1793 The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the Un ...

organized an armed militia of white citizens. Because of the heavy snows, a relief expedition from

Fort Dodge Fort Dodge is a city in and the county seat of Webster County, Iowa, United States, along the Des Moines River. The population was 24,871 in the 2020 census, a decrease from 25,136 in 2000. Fort Dodge is a major commercial center for North Ce ...

failed to arrive in time. Another expedition from

in Minnesota pursued Inkpaduta and his band but failed to catch them."Spirit Lake Massacre"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'', accessed 3 May 2010 Abbie states in her memories that Lt. Murray and his men were within eyesight the second day after the Springfield, Minnesota, raid, but were unaware of how close they came to encountering the Sioux. 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 that two of the captive women had been killed. In May the territorial legislature authorized a ransom, 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 (February 25, 1801 – November 7, 1864) was an American newspaper owner and politician. Biography Born and raised in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, he settled in Bethel, Ohio, in 1825. After a term in the Ohio House of Represent ...

of the Minnesota Territory and the Indian agent at ''Lac qui Parle'' ,"DICKINSON COUNTY: DESCRIPTION, From our Own Correspondent"
Tour of Iowa Counties, ''Daily State Register'', 4 May 1869, on Genealogy Trails, accessed 16 Oct 2010 completed negotiations for the ransom of Abbie Gardner, who was taken by two Sisseton to the Upper Sioux Agency on the Minnesota River. From there she was taken to

and then to

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...

. During the summer, after struggling to marshal 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''.Abbie Gardner-Sharp, ''History of the Spirit Lake Massacre and Captivity of Miss Abbie Gardner''
full text online at Archive Website, accessed 15 January 2011 Perhaps because the

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, was a conflict initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas agains ...

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 A literary genre is a category of literature. Genres may be determined by List of narrative techniques, literary technique, Tone (literature), tone, Media (communication), content, or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from mor ...

known as

captivity narratives Captivity narratives are typically personal accounts of people who have been captured by an enemy, generally a enemy with a foreign culture. The best-known captivity narratives in North America are those concerning Europeans and Americans taken ...

, 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."Abbie Gardner Sharp Cabin"
Site History, State Historical Society of Iowa, accessed 16 Oct 2010 In 1895 the state erected a memorial monument to the settlers at Arnolds Park near the site. The area of the Spirit Lake settlement was later redeveloped as Camp Foster, a

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

youth summer camp, where legends and ghost stories related to the events are recounted.

Abbie Gardner Sharp Cabin

The Abbie Gardner Sharp Cabin, also known as the Spirit Lake Massacre Log Cabin, where Gardner lived as a girl and which she later ran as a tourist attraction, still stands at

Arnolds Park, Iowa Arnolds Park is a city in Dickinson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,110 in the 2020 census, a decline from the 1,162 population in the 2000 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total ...

. The state Conservation Commission purchased the cabin in 1941 and transferred it to the

State Historical Society of Iowa The State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI), a division of the Iowa Department of Administrative Affairs, serves as the official historical repository for the State of Iowa and also provides grants, public education, and outreach about Iowa his ...

in 1974. Under the guidance of

architects An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

archeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeolog ...

, it has been restored to its 1856 appearance. The park's visitor center features artifacts relating to the period, and to the cultures of both the Sioux and the European-American settlers.

Fiction and film

* The

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

'' 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 Kantor MacKinlay Kantor (February 4, 1904 – October 11, 1977), born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 novels, several set during the American Civil War, and was awarded the ...

based his novel ''Spirit Lake'' (1961) on the historic events.

References

External links

State Historical Society of Iowa

History of the Iowa National Guard * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20051218234009/http://members.aol.com/dlbristow/inkpadut.htm David L. Bristow, "Inkpaduta's Revenge: The True Story of the Spirit Lake Massacre"br>Clara Berry Wyker, ANDREWS GENEALOGY AND ALLIANCES: 1857 Spirit Lake Massacre - Dickinson County, Iowa
Rootsweb/USGenWeb
"The Spirit Lake Massacre"
IowaGreatLakes.com {{Authority control Sioux Wars Conflicts in 1857 Battles involving the Sioux Massacres by Native Americans Native American history of Iowa History of Iowa 1857 in the United States Captives of Native Americans 1857 in Iowa March 1857