I was forwarded an email to the Sesquicentennial people by book author Marybeth Lorbiecki about the Dakota communities who were exiled from the state after the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. She wrote:
I would like to suggest that it would be an important part of the history, healing, and celebration of the state to invite the exiled communities home and to create a map of the exiled Minnesotan Dakota communities for exhibit and distribution– and set up a kind of virtual community base of email and web site connections for these exiled people to connect, communicate, and be brought back into the circle of our community.
I wrote a biography (as yet unpublished) on one of our incredible Minnesotans — Ohiyesa: Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman — and as part of the project, I tried to track down the exiled communities (or as many as I could), and I wrote a sidebar on them. (I apologize if I have missed some communities). Perhaps it could serve as the basis for a map and contacting the communities — there could be an intriguing book in this as well for a Dakota scholar!! Where Are They Now?
So I offer this research to you as a springboard for bringing these people home — for apologies, reconciliation, reconnection, and honoring, as we remember, consider, regret, and celebrate various aspects our state’s complex and often painful history and legacy.
I like the idea. I’ll be in Winona this Friday, May 16, for the Sesquicentennial’s Capitals for a Day program . According to Exec Director Jane Leonard, the City of Winona and the Winona Dakota Unity Alliance (the organization that hosts the annual Great Dakota Gathering and Homecoming every June) will be hosting a healing and reconciliation circle and inviting back exiled Dakota tribes, as well as Ojibwe and Ho-Chunk.
Here’s the text of Marybeth Lorbiecki’s sidebar from her forthcoming book on Ohiyesa. (In the meantime, see the Wikipedia entry on Ohiyesa/Charles Eastman.)
The Dakota Diaspora
In 1863, Congress passed the Act of Forfeiture, revoking all treaties with the Dakota, including their reservation lands and payment rights. The state confiscated all their lands and exiled them permanently, leaving only a small group of "friendlies" living on Sibley’s land in Mendota.
By 1893, Congress recognized that the earlier act of forfeiture did not fully address the complexities of the conflict, that there had been many who had not engaged in an act of war against the state and national government. Public pressure arose from Indian rights associations that it was not legal or ethical to simply nullify treaties, since the causes of the conflict had been the Congress’s lack of fulfilling the treaty stipulations in the first place.
In keeping with the Dawes Act, loyal Dakota were given 80 acres each in three areas in the state: Prairie Island, Shakopee/Prior Lake, and around Morton, where Eastman had been born on the former Lower Sioux Reservation. Many Isanti (Santee Sioux) Dakota also settled around Granite Falls on the former Upper Sioux Reservation or around Lake Tewaukon /near Sisseton and Lake Traverse in South Dakota.
Eventually each of these coalesced into recognized tribal communities. But numerous Dakota never made it back to their homelands. Many remained on the Santee Reservation in Niobrara, Nebraska, or in Flandreau, South Dakota. Others were scattered in northern exile, ending up in Fort Totten/Spirit Lake (Devil’s Lake) in North Dakota; at Fort Peck with Assiniboine bands in northeastern Montana, and in Saskatchewan at the Standing Buffalo Reserve near Fort Qu’Appelle; White Cap/Moose Woods Reserve, just south of Saskatoon; Round Plains Wahpeton Reserve near Prince Albert; and in Manitoba at the Sioux Valley Reserve just west of Brandon; the Birdtail Reserve north of Virden; Oak Lake Reserve south of Virden, and the Dakota Plains and Dakota Tipi Reserves near Portage La Prairie.
Many tipospaye and village bands were separated, with links to each other lost in the scattering. Yet, even under the threat of death and imprisonment, many returned to their lands, continued their traditions, spoke in their language, and continued to try to rebuild the sacred hoop of the Dakota and the Oceti Sakowin. These efforts go on today.
I’ve enabled comments on this blog post so that anyone can contribute to the discussion on how to make this happen.