HISTORY
The Spirit Lake Reservation, formerly Devils Lake Sioux Reservation, is located in north central North Dakota near the present town of Devils Lake, ND. The people of Spirit Lake Reservation, refer to themselves as the Mni Wakan Oyate, “the people of the Spirit Water, or Dakota Oyate. Dakota translates as “friends” and Oyate translates as “the people”. The word Sioux which many people use today, refers to the Dakota, Lakota and Nakota people, but is a corrupted version of an Ojibway-Algonquian word used by the French during early contact between the two peoples. The Dakota people believe they originally lived in the area of Mill Lacs Lake in Minnesota and recently uncovered archeological sites near Granite Falls and Browns Valley Man in Minnesota have provided evidence the Dakota inhabited this area for over 8,000 – 10,000 years. The Dakota people believed that all living creation was made by the mysterious creator (God) and they were part of that creation.
The Great Dakota Nation is formed by Seven Council Fires or Oceti Sakowin, a political alliance, comprised of the Western Division, who are the Lakota (Teton); the Middle Division, who are the Nakota (Yankton); and the Eastern Division who are the Dakota (Santee). From this, the seven council fires are the Teton (Western); the Yankton and Yanktonai (Middle); and the Mdewakanton, Wahpekute, Wahpeton, and Sisseton (Eastern). The Spirit Lake Dakota are comprised of two Bands from the Eastern Division, the Wahpeton known as the Dwellers Among the Leaves and the Sisseton known as the People of the Ridged Fish Scales. The term Santee or Isanti is used only when referring to the Bdewakanton, Sisseton, Wahpeton, and the Wahpakute. It will not be used in referring to the Spirit Lake people because two treaties made in 1851 were made with different bands, the Traverse Des Sioux with the Sisseton-Wahpeton and the Isanti (Bdewakanton-Wahpakute).
The Dakota occupied most of the region now known as Minnesota, although the Cree and Ojibway people resided in the most northerly portion of that area. Before the contact between the Dakota and the early white explorers and traders, the Teton Dakota begin to move to the Plains and Black Hills in the region now known as South Dakota. As the Dakota, who were originally influenced by their woodlands environment and very similar in respect to culture, they begin to adapt to their new Plains environment and became more distinct from their original ways of life. The Dakota bands begin a westward migration in the 1700’s and away from the Ojibwa who had begun to obtain guns from the French traders and explorers.
Around 1805-1806, the Zebulon Pike expedition made official relations with the Dakota as they reached the Upper Missouri. It was a governmental goal to obtain cessions of land from the Indians for military posts, trading post and oversee trading relations. On September 23, 1801 near the Minnesota River, the first Treaty with the Dakota was made and signed by Little Crow and Wanyagyainajin. There were five other Dakota chiefs who were also present but did not sign this treaty. The treaty resulted in 100,000 acres of land being ceded to the United States in return for $200 in presents exchanged on the spot and later on a monetary transaction of $2,000. There were further cessions of land made by the Dakota and in an effort to end inter-tribal warfare, and a treaty conference was held in August 1823 called the Prairie du Chen Treaty conference; however, many Indians believed it would fail. The Dakota held a different concept of land usage and did not believe land could be divided since it was used by everyone. Later in 1837, Lawrence Taliaferro, who had been appointed as the agent for the Mississippi Sioux in 1819, was instructed to take a Sioux delegation to Washington. The delegation went under the impression they were going to negotiate a settlement with the Sacs and Foxes, but instead it resulted in a cession of lands east of the Mississippi. When the annuities that had been promised finally arrived, they were insufficient and of poor quality. By the summer of 1851, another treaty was negotiated by Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Luke Lea and Alexander Ramsey which resulted in the Upper Sioux of the Upper Mississippi Valley, the Sissetons and Wahpetons, being coerced into relinquishing their land claims to Minnesota and a small portion of South Dakota.
DAKOTA CONFLICT
Many conflicts begin to arise between the Dakota and white settlers of Minnesota and even with the Dakota themselves. There was a strong pressure by the government and missionaries for the Dakota to give up their cultural identity, language and culture and to adopt the ways of the white man. Some of Dakota did so, and cut their long hair, gave up their native attire, wore white man’s clothing, began farming, became Christianized and gave up their traditional spirituality. Those who had begin farming and had shorn their hair became known as “Cut-Hairs” and were favored by the government agents and given good and supplies, while those that resisted, were denied these rations. Many of those who refused to give up their Dakota ways, began to form Warrior societies in attempt to preserve Dakota tribal traditions.
After a very harsh winter in 1862 and lack of food because of crop failure the year before, many Dakota people were starving and it was believed by many that the treaty payments would not be made because of the Civil War. This further escalated the lack of food and hardships as many of the traders would no longer grant credit to the Dakotas. Then in early August of that year, as many as 5,000 starving Dakotas gathered near the upper agency to demand the rations and supplies owed to them. They were refused by the government agent and it led to the Dakotas storming the agency warehouse where they took 100 sacks of flour in order to feed their starving people. A major crisis developed, when a military detachment threatened to blow up the Dakotas in the warehouse and a traditional Dakota Chief, Little Crow, attempted to intervene by stating that the traders would be reimbursed when the government provided authorization and stated, “When men are hungry, they help themselves.” A trader Andrew Myrick, exacerbated the situation by retorting, “So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry, let them eat grass.” Eventually tensions were decreased when the agent sent for soldiers and food was given to the Dakota; however, the influence of the chiefs begin to wane as more militant warriors began to gain stronger influence.
In 1862, armed conflict began after an unfortunate incident occurred with four Dakota warriors who had taken some eggs from a hunter while they were hunting. It resulted in the warriors engaging in a gun skirmish that resulted in the deaths of a postmaster, his family and other new settlers being killed. Thinking there was no way to reverse the tragic events, many Dakota thought they had choice but to commit to armed fighting for the return of their lands. For an eight day period, August 17 – 25th, Chief Little Crow began attacking trading posts and settlers. After being unable to take back the Minnesota Valley, Little Crow and some of his followers fled to the plains. In October 1862, General Sibley disarmed and captured the Dakota men who had remained, although many had not participated in the armed conflict. It resulted in President Abraham Lincoln authorizing the largest mass execution in U.S. history, when 38 Dakota men were hung in Mankato, MN. Today, many tribal people still gather in Mankato in memory of the many innocent Dakota men who died that day.
By the November 1862, 1,700 Dakota women, children and elderly men were interned at Fort Snelling, MN, then shipped down to Missouri and eventually transferred back to what is now the Crow Creek reservation in South Dakota. The Crow Creek area was unfit for habitation and the surviving 1,000 Dakota were sent to the Santee Reservation in Nebraska. Many of the other Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota who fled to the plains, and eventually settled in northern Dakota while others fled into Canada.
Creation of the Devils Lake Sioux Reservation
In February 1867, a delegation of Dakota went to Washington to negotiate for a new treaty and lands. The treaty established the Lake Traverse or Sisseton Reservation in eastern Dakota and another reservation south of Devils Lake because many Dakota refused to move to Lake Traverse. The Cut Head band of Yanktonai Sioux were also included in the treaty. Initially, Indians were scarce in the immediate vicinity of Fort Totten built in 1867, however, starvation and harsh winter conditions eventually forced many of the Dakotas to move to this area. By 1870, the number of Dakotas grew to more than 500. Many of them took up farming and living in their houses although they felt the surrounding resources such as wild game and food sources were being depleted by Fort Totten, which covered a large area of the reservation and which created greater dependence on the government. Eventually, the region grew further with squatters who had begin occupying a town called Creelsburg, which eventually became the community of Devils Lake.
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