Sarah F. Wakefield

 

Sarah F. Wakefield, date unknown. Courtesy of St. Paul Pioneer Press.Sarah Brown was born in Rhode Island in 1829 and came to Minnesota in 1854 where she met her husband Dr. John L. Wakefield whom she married in 1856 and had two children. Dr. Wakefield was a land speculator, legislator, and had a medical practice in Shakopee, Minnesota.
 
The Wakefields moved to Blue Earth City and were among the earliest settlers there. Dr. Wakefield was appointed physician at Yellow Medicine (Upper Sioux Agency), where they were when the U.S.-Dakota War began. Upon hearing about the war, Mrs. Wakefield and her children fled and were taken prisoner on their way to Fort Ridgely. A Dakota man named Chaska (Wechankwastadonpe) and his family took them under their protection throughout the six weeks of battle. They were safely returned at Camp Release after the war.  She urged Chaska and his family not to flee, reassuring them that they would be treated fairly.  About Chaska's protection she said, 'If it had not been for Chaska my bones would now be bleaching on the prairie, and my children with Little Crow."  
 
Chaska was among those whose sentence was commuted during the trials after the war, largely in part due to the testimony of Wakefield. She was harangued by the media for defending Chaska, and rumors flew about their relationship. At one point, General Sibley, who was involved with the trials and convictions after the war, referred to Chaska as Wakefield's lover. Nevertheless, Chaska ended up being among the 38 hanged in Mankato. There is dispute over whether this was accidental or purposeful. Stephen Riggs asserted that the error occured when Chaska's name was called and he stood up instead of the intended man, Chaskadon. Wakefield disputed this point and said, "I will never believe that all in authority at Mankato had forgotten what Chaska was condemned for, and I am sure, in my own mind, it was done intentionally." 
 
After her husband's death in 1874, Wakefield moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where she died in 1899. 

Theme:

1862

Topics:

Settlers in War
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Bibliography

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. 

Resources for Further Research

Primary

Wakefield, Sarah F., and June Namias. Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees: A Narrative of Indian Captivity. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1997.

Key People

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Henry H. Sibley
henery-sibley-1

Henry H. Sibley

In 1834, Henry Sibley became a partner in the American Fur Company and settled in Mendota, Minnesota. Like a number of other traders, Sibley entered into a relationship with a Dakota woman, Red Blanket Woman. Their relationship produced a daughter, Helen Sibley, before the couple parted to live separate lives. Sibley acknowledged his daughter, protected her interests and education, and remained involved in her life. After the fur trade dwindled, Henry Sibley became a successful businessman, investing in lumbering, river transportation, railroads, and land. He played a pivotal role in the 1851 treaty negotiations and later commanded U.S. troops during the war and on the 1863 punitive expeditions.  From 1867-70, he served as president of the Minnesota Historical Society.

 
During the war, Sibley was vilified in the press for his slowness in advancing to Fort Ridgely to liberate captive settlers. He wrote to his wife on September 4, 1862:
 
"I see . . . that the people are dissatisfied with my slow advance. Well, let them come and fight these Indians themselves, and they will [have] something to do besides grumbling. I have told Gov. R. in my dispatch that he can have my commission when he sees fit, as I would be too glad to let some one take my place. . . . I have not slept more than an hour in two nights, and have been in the saddle almost [all] of the time for two days and nights. . . ."
 
Colonel Sibley to Governor Ramsey, August 25, 1862: 
 
"My heart is steeled against them, and if i have the means, and can catch them, I will sweep them with the besom of death." 
 
Sibley convened the military commission that condemned 303 Dakota men to death in the wake of the war.

 

Letter From Col. Henry Sibley to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, December 19th, 1862.
 
"[I]t should be borne in mind that the Military Commission appointed by me were instructed only to satisfy themselves of the voluntary participation of the individual on trial, in the murders or massacres committed, either by voluntary participation of the individual on trial, in the murders or massacres committed, either by his voluntary concession or by other evidence and then to proceed no further.  The degree of guilt was not one of the objects to be attained, and indeed it would have been impossible to devote as much time in eliciting details in each of so many hundred cases, as would have been required while the expedition was in the field.  Every man who was condemned was sufficiently proven to be a voluntary participant, and no doubt exists in my mind that at least seven-eighths of those sentenced to be hung have been guilty of the most flagrant outrages and many of them concerned in the violation of white women and the murder of children." 
 
Source: Executive documents, MNHS collections and Henry H. Sibley: An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society and Governors of Minnesota.

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