150 years ago

To the South on the Mississippi River- The Charge on Fort Donelson - 1862*


“On Aug. 17, 1862 four young Dakota men killed five people living at the farms of Robinson Jones and Howard Baker near Acton, Minnesota. When word of the killings spread to the people at the Lower Sioux Reservation, a group of Dakota men argued that it was time to go to war with Minnesota’s European-American population to reclaim their ancestral land.’
_ Fort Snelling Web Site

While reading of the Dakota War of 1862, I have noticed what appears to me to be an often overlooked, but vital factor in this tragic historical event. The war took place simultaneously with the American Civil War. Chief Little Crow was advised of this and was persuaded that it was an opportunity, since The Minnesota Militia was occupied with battles to the South and East; Civil War Battles like “Bull Run” with casualties and deaths in the tens of thousands...

*The engravings above were taken through a store front window in Lyon, Colorado. The engraving was commissioned by Congress, and was created by George Perine of New York.