The Lower Sioux Agency, or Redwood Agency, was the federal administrative center for the

Lower Sioux Indian Reservation The Lower Sioux Indian Community, ( Dakota: Caŋṡa'yapi; ) also known as the Mdewakanton Tribal Reservation, is an Indian reservation located along the southern bank of the Minnesota River in Paxton and Sherman townships in Redwood County, Mi ...

in what became

Redwood County, Minnesota Redwood County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 15,425. Its county seat is Redwood Falls, Minnesota, Redwood Falls, along the Redwood River n ...

, United States. It was the site of the Battle of Lower Sioux Agency on August 18, 1862, the first organized battle of the

Dakota War of 1862 The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, the Dakota Uprising, the Sioux Outbreak of 1862, the Dakota Conflict, or Little Crow's War, was an armed conflict between the United States and several eastern bands of Dakota people, Da ...

. Today it is a historic site managed by the Lower Sioux Community in partnership with the

Minnesota Historical Society The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Educational institution, educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the Minnesota Terr ...

. In February 2021, ownership of half of the site was transferred from the historical society to the Lower Sioux Community. The site contains an interpretive center, self-guided trails, and a restored 1861 stone warehouse that is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

History

The Lower Sioux Agency was established in 1853 by the United States government, to oversee the newly created Lower Sioux Indian Reservation. This reservation was to be the home for the

Mdewakanton The Mdewakanton or Mdewakantonwan (also spelled ''Mdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ'' and currently pronounced ''Bdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ'') are one of the sub-tribes of the Isanti (Santee) Dakota people, Dakota (Sioux). Their historic home is Mille Lacs Lake (Da ...

and

Wahpekute 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 ...

bands following the 1851

Treaty of Mendota The Treaty of Mendota () was signed in Mendota, Minnesota, on August 5, 1851, between the United States federal government and the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute Dakota people of Minnesota. The agreement was signed near Pilot Knob on the south bank ...

. On August 15, 1862, the Lower Sioux turned to the Agency staff for supplies. Representatives of the northern Sissetowan and Wahpeton Dakota bands had successfully negotiated to obtain food at the Upper Sioux Agency on August 4. However Thomas J. Galbraith, the

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 ...

in charge, rejected the Lower Sioux bands, as he would not distribute food to these bands without payment from their annuities, which were delayed. At a meeting of the Dakota, the U.S. government, and local traders, the Dakota representatives asked the representative of the government traders, Andrew J. Myrick, to sell them food on credit. His response was said to be, "So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry let them eat grass or their own dung." On August 16, 1862, the treaty payments to the Dakota arrived in

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 ...

, and were brought to

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 ...

the next day. They arrived too late to prevent violence. On August 17, 1862, four young Dakota men were on a hunting trip in Acton Township, Minnesota, during which one stole eggs and killed five white settlers. Soon after, a Dakota war council was convened and their leader,

Little Crow Little Crow III ( Dakota: ''Thaóyate Dúta''; 1810 – July 3, 1863) was a Wahpekute Dakota chief who led a faction of the Dakota in a five-week war against the United States in 1862. In 1846, after surviving a violent leadership contest w ...

, agreed to continue attacks on the European-American settlements to try to drive out the whites from their territory. On August 18, 1862, Little Crow led a group of warriors who attacked the Lower Sioux Agency. They discovered Andrew Myrick trying to escape through a second-floor window of a building at the agency. Myrick's body later was found with grass stuffed into his mouth because of his recent statement to the Dakota (See above). The warriors burned the buildings at the Lower Sioux Agency, giving enough time for settlers to escape across the river at Redwood Ferry. Minnesota

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

forces and B Company of the

5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment The 5th Minnesota Infantry Regiment was a Minnesota USV infantry regiment that served in the Union Army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War and Dakota War of 1862. The regiment distinguished itself serving in its home state and th ...

sent to quell the uprising were defeated at the Battle of Redwood Ferry. Twenty-four soldiers, including the party's commander (Captain John Marsh), were killed in the battle. Throughout the day, Dakota war parties swept the Minnesota River Valley and near vicinity, killing many settlers. Numerous settlements, including the Townships of Milford, Leavenworth, and Sacred Heart, were surrounded and burned, and their populations nearly exterminated. At the conclusion of the Dakota War, most of the Sissetowan and Wahpeton bands were driven out of Minnesota, west to Dakota Territory. Today the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate is a federally recognized tribe with a reservation in northeastern South Dakota and southwestern North Dakota.

Current use

Self-guided trails take visitors around the site. The 1861 granary is the only surviving structure from the agency. Interpretive signs mark the locations of other features, including the location of the Redwood Ferry crossing the

Minnesota River The Minnesota River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles (534 km) long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa. It rises in southwestern ...

. Period gardens and plots demonstrate differences between traditional Dakota and Euro-American farming.

References

External links

Minnesota Historical Society: Lower Sioux Agency
{{National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota 1853 establishments in Minnesota Territory Dakota War of 1862 Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Lower Sioux Indian Community Minnesota Historical Society Minnesota River Minnesota state historic sites Museums in Redwood County, Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Redwood County, Minnesota Protected areas of Redwood County, Minnesota Warehouses on the National Register of Historic Places