Perhaps the greatest misconception about the Dakota Conflict is that most Native-Americans in and around Minnesota supported the war. A key fact is this: most of the 7,000 Dakota in Minnesota opposed the war from the beginning and took no part in it. In addition, most Chippewas in northeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin not only were shocked by the massacres of white settlers and opposed the war, but many chose to volunteer to fight on the side of white settlers against the Dakota.
Even in the Lower Sioux Agency, where the decision to fight was made, a number of Dakota leaders argued against war, even understanding that white settlers were likely to exact revenge after four young Dakota men returned from a hunting trip on August 17, 1862 and reported that they massacred three white men, one white woman, and a 15-year-old white girl. Big Eagle recounted what happened that night at the Agency: Wacouta, myself and others still talked for peace, but nobody would listen to us, and soon the cry was "Kill the whites and kill all these cut-hairs who will not join us." A council was held and war was declared. Parties formed and dashed away in the darkness to kill settlers. The women began to run bullets and the men to clean their guns....[Big Eagle, Dakota Chief, Lower Sioux Agency]
To the north, the chiefs of the Upper Sioux Agency region opposed the fighting. Chiefs Red Iron and Standing Buffalo even threatened to fire upon any of Little Crow's warriors who entered their territory.
When word of the outbreak of violence against white settlers in Minnesota reached Chippewa chiefs in Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota, they responded by offering to join whites in fighting their old enemy, the Sioux, whom many Chippewas considered overly prone to violence and with whom they had a long history of conflict.
Monument Erecting Honoring Chippewas Who Joined the Fight Against the Sioux
Inscription on Monument:
Chippewa Chief Naw-Gaw-Nub, Who Led Band of Warriors Fighting the Sioux During the Dakota Conflict:
