Who Are the Dakota?
The Dakota (Dakhóta, meaning "allies") are the eastern division of the Sioux people, comprising approximately 20,000 members across reservations in Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Canada. They speak Dakota, mutually intelligible with Lakota, with several thousand speakers remaining. The Dakota include four main bands: Mdewakanton, Wahpekute, Sisseton, and Wahpeton—collectively called the Santee Sioux. Originally inhabiting Minnesota, the Dakota were expelled after the US-Dakota War of 1862, the largest mass execution in American history (38 hanged), and subsequent exile. Many fled to Canada; others were confined to scattered reservations.
US-Dakota War of 1862
The US-Dakota War (also called the Sioux Uprising) erupted in August 1862 when starving Dakota, denied annuity payments and food, attacked settlements along Minnesota's frontier. Approximately 500 settlers and soldiers died; the number of Dakota killed is unknown but substantial. The war ended with Dakota defeat and mass imprisonment. Military tribunals sentenced 303 Dakota to death; Lincoln commuted most sentences, but 38 were hanged on December 26, 1862—the largest mass execution in US history. Thousands of Dakota were expelled from Minnesota; bounties were placed on Dakota found in the state. This ethnic cleansing shaped Dakota diaspora across multiple states and Canada.
Exile and Return
After 1862, Dakota scattered across the northern Plains. The Santee Sioux Reservation in Nebraska received some; others went to South Dakota reservations or fled to Canada (Manitoba and Saskatchewan). Minnesota, which had expelled them, gradually allowed limited returns. Small reservations were established at Prior Lake (Shakopee Mdewakanton), Prairie Island, Upper Sioux, and Lower Sioux. These communities—descendants of those who hid or returned—maintained presence in the homeland from which most Dakota were expelled. The separation created multiple distinct communities with shared heritage but different historical experiences.
Contemporary Dakota
Modern Dakota communities vary widely. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community near Minneapolis operates Mystic Lake Casino, becoming one of the wealthiest tribes per capita in America and a major philanthropist supporting other tribes. Other Dakota communities remain impoverished. Canadian Dakota at Standing Buffalo and Whitecap First Nations maintain separate experiences. Language preservation programs work across communities. The 1862 war is commemorated through annual Dakota Commemorative Marches and reconciliation efforts—though full acknowledgment of ethnic cleansing remains politically contested in Minnesota. How Dakota balance economic diversity across communities while healing from 1862 shapes their collective future.
References
- Anderson, G. C. & Woolworth, A. R. (1988). Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862
- Wingerd, M. L. (2010). North Country: The Making of Minnesota
- Westerman, G. & White, B. (2012). Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota