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"The Spirit Lake Massacre (March 8–12, 1857) was an attack by a Wahpekute band of Santee Sioux on scattered Iowa frontier settlements during a severe winter. Suffering a shortage of food, the renegade chief Inkpaduta (Scarlet Point) led 14 Sioux against the settlements near Okoboji and Spirit lakes in the northwestern territory of Iowa near the Minnesota border, in revenge of the murder of Inkpaduta's brother, Sidominadotah, and Sidominadotah's family by Henry Lott. The Sioux killed 35-40 settlers in their scattered holdings, took four young women captive, and headed north. The youngest captive, Abbie Gardner, was kept a few months before being ransomed in early summer. It was the last Native American attack on settlers in Iowa, but the events increased tensions between the Sioux and settlers in the Minnesota Territory. Nearly 30 years after the events, in 1885 Gardner-Sharp published her memoir, History of the Spirit Lake Massacre and Captivity of Miss Abbie Gardner, whose popularity led to reprinting several editions. It was one of the last captivity narratives written of European Americans' being held by Native Americans. Gardner-Sharp sold the book at the tourist site she operated at her cabin for 30 years after buying it back in 1891. The town erected a memorial, and the state now maintains the park and Abbie Gardner Sharp home site." (Wikipedia 2018)
Explanations for the massacre vary. In another version, "The Dakotas considered Spirit Lake a sacred dwelling place for the gods. The Indians were not permitted to fish from those lakes or even place a canoe in the waters. The sight of the log cabins and fences incensed them, according to one account, to ‘bloodlust and butchery,’ for this was viewed as an invasion of their sacred shores." (S. Michno 2006)
Resources
- History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa (1917), p. 422.
- Gregory Michno, Susan Michno, A Fate Worse Than Death: Indian Captivities in the West, 1830-1885 (2007), pp. 189-198.
- Susan J. Michno, "Spirit Lake Massacre" in Wild West (February 2006), reprinted at Historynet.com, visited Nov. 30, 2018.
- Wikipedia: Spirit Lake Massacre, visited Nov. 30, 2018.