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Settlers in the Aftermath

Settlers in the Aftermath

The Lake Shetek Captives, November 30, 1862. Courtesy State Archives of the South Dakota Historical Society."There are in St. Paul at the present time, 23 widows, whose husbands were killed by the Indians. They have in the aggregate 57 children, mostly small and many of them infants. There are also four children who lost both parents. . . . There are so many to be provided for, here and elsewhere, that it is impossible to prevent suffering."

St. Paul Daily Union, December 22, 1862

The war left an indelible mark on the region’s settlers and their descendants.
 
Children were left orphaned, with no social-service agencies in place to see to their needs. Widows struggled to maintain homes and farmsteads. The communities of Mankato and St. Peter became ad hoc refugee camps. As people crowded into hastily assembled lodgings, diseases spread like wildfire.
 
The community of New Ulm was particularly devastated by the war. On August 25, after two battles had left most of the town in ashes, about 2,000 residents of New Ulm and outlying areas were evacuated to Mankato, St. Peter, and St. Paul.
 
 
Map of settler deaths by location. Statistics compiled by Curtis Dahlin; map by Philip Schwartzberg
 

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1862

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Aftermath of War Family in War Settlers in War Family in 1862 Aftermath of 1862
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Bibliography

Map of settler deaths by location. Statistics compiled by Curtis Dahlin; map by Philip Schwartzberg

Resources for Further Research

Websites

www.USDakotaWarMNCountyByCounty.com

Primary

Dakota Conflict of 1862 Manuscript Collections. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

Zabelle Derounian-Stodola, Kathryn. “Many persons say I am a ‘Mono Maniac’”: Three Letters from Dakota Conflict Captive Sarah F. Wakefield to Missionary Stephen R. Riggs. Prospects, 29, pp 1-24.

Renville, Mary Butler, Carrie R. Zeman, and Kathryn Zabelle-Derounian-Stodola. A Thrilling Narrative of Indian Captivity: Dispatches from the Dakota War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2012.

Secondary

"The Fool Soldiers." Roseville, MN: Minnesota's Heritage 4 (2011).

Dahlin, Curtis A. The Dakota Uprising. Edina, MN: Beaver’s Pond Press, 2009.

Eastlick, Lavinia. Thrilling Incidents of the Indian War of '62: Being a Personal Narrative of the Outrages and Horrors Witnessed by Mrs. L. Eastlick in Minnesota. Mankato, MN: Free Printing, 1890.

Wakefield, Sarah. Six Weeks in the Sioux Teepees a Narrative of Indian Captivity. Shakopee, MN: Argus and Job Printing Office, 1864.

Related Images

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Ellen McConnell
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The Kochendorfer family
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The William Luskey Family
A_McConnell

Ellen McConnell

Born in Scotland in 1791, Ellen McConnell was 70 years old and  living near Birch Coulee with her son, David, when the war broke out. On the late afternoon of August 18, Ellen was alone in her house when two Dakota men broke in. Ellen was unharmed during the attack, but her 13-year-old grandson (Thomas Brooks) was killed and her daughter (Martha Clausen) and infant grandchildren were captured. Her son-in-law, Fred, and his father, Charles, were also killed. Martha Clausen witnessed the murder of her husband.
The day after the attack, Ellen and David began walking to Fort Ridgely, 12 miles away. There they met Ellen’s other son, Joseph, who had been working as a plasterer at the Lower Agency and escaped on the morning of the attack. They were at Fort Ridgely during both battles that took place there.
 
Ellen never returned to Birch Coulee. She received $112 in compensation for the belongings listed on her depredation claim, including a family Bible. She and David moved to Houston County, where she died in 1868.
 
Generations of settler families were affected by the war. All were forced from the land they worked so hard to improve. My great-great-grandmother’s mind was ‘shattered,’ according to historical reports, and she was never the same after her losses.
 
--Mary McConnell, 2012

View full article: Ellen McConnell

W4SS1

The Kochendorfer family

Johann and Catherine Kochendorfer settled with their children in Flora Township, Renville County, in April 1862. On August 18, Johann, Catherine, and their baby, Sarah, were all killed in an attack on their homestead. Johann lived long enough to motion to his children — John, age 11, Rose, age nine, Kate, age seven, and Margaret, age five — to hide in the brush until the attack ended. The children then walked about 11 miles before meeting up with neighbors, all of whom eventually reached Fort Ridgely safely.

The family, from left: Catherine holding Margaret, John, Johann holding Kate, and Rose, about 1860.

Courtesy Brown County Historical Society, New Ulm, MN

View full article: The Kochendorfer family

A_WmLuskeyFam_0_0

The William Luskey Family

"On August 19, pleas for assistance in fighting the Dakota War reached Le Sueur County. About 150 settlers responded. Calling themselves the Le Sueur Tigers, they formed two companies and marched to New Ulm."
 
William Luskey, an Irish immigrant, joined the Tigers along with several of his close neighbors. On August 23, during the second battle of New Ulm, six Tigers were killed, including William Luskey and his neighbors Matthew Ahern and William Maloney. The three men left behind their wives and a total of 13 young children.
With the deaths of the Tigers, it became extremely hard for the surviving young widows and children to physically carry on. The tasks the men performed on a daily basis on their farms were now assigned to their wives and young children.
The oldest of the surviving children was eight years old. The children took a leading role in the months and years following the war. The hard physical labor they had once done on occasion by helping out their parents now became a daily way of life.
They all grew into adults, eventually raising their own children, but the thought of their younger days was never far from their minds and hearts.
I am proud to be one of their descendants.
George Luskey, 2012

View full article: The William Luskey Family