Redwood Falls Gazette
Lower Sioux Indian Community is making plans to finalize a land acquisition with historic significance. The land to be returned to the Community includes Minnesota Historical Society parcels at the site where the U.S. Dakota War of 1862 started that eventually led to the largest single day, mass execution in U.S. history.
The closing for the land transfer is scheduled on Feb. 12 at 11 a.m. at the Lower Sioux Recreation Center in Morton.
This transfer is of great historical significance. The United States established the Lower Sioux Agency site in 1853 in response to the Mendota Treaty of 1851, between the Mdewankanton and Wahpekute bands of Dakota. In 1862, after a decade of United States’ unfulfilled treaty obligations, the Dakota raised arms fighting for enforcement of the treaties. Many lost their lives on both sides.