Course Description:
Online! Explore the Dakota Conflict of 1862, Minnesota's own civil war, a critical yet comparatively little understood development in the evolution of our state. Discover detailed information about the forces which produced five bloody weeks of conflict in the late summer of 1862.

Develop instructional materials concerning Minnesota frontier history and the relationship between the Dakota people and Euroamerican settlers at the time of the Indian war of 1862. An optional one day guided trip to locations significant to the conflict is available to participants. Those opting not to participate in the field experience will complete additional assignments tailored to the needs of the participant.

Instructor:
Frederick L. Johnson, a retired classroom teacher with 35 years experience, is a writer, researcher, and consultant. A two-time recipient of the Minnesota Historical Society Excellence in Teaching History Award, he has also won the Minnesota Newspaper Association first place reporting award and has published two books and several articles on Minnesota history.

Statement of Purpose:
The Dakota Conflict of 1862, Minnesota's own Civil War, is a critical yet comparatively little understood development in the evolution of the state. The conflict, a terrible climax of two centuries of interaction between the Dakota and Euroamericans, eliminated the Dakota's last foothold in the state &endash; the small strip of land along the Minnesota River between the Lower Sioux Agency (near present day Morton) and Upper Sioux Agency (near today's Granite Falls). It would be years before small numbers of Dakota returned to their former homes in Minnesota.

The 1851 acquisition of nearly 24 million acres of rich Dakota land in southern and western Minnesota Territory, opened the door to Euroamerican settlement. Seven years later Minnesota became the 32nd state. Disputes between the Dakota and state over the treaty provisions and settler encroachment on remaining Dakota land resulted in war in 1862.

Minnesota still wrestles with the ramifications of its acquisition of Dakota lands and the subsequent displacement of the original inhabitants. Despite the Dakota-inspired 1987 Year of Reconciliation between the two races in Minnesota, there remains a need to better inform educators in the state, and hence their students, about the forces which produced those bloody five weeks in the late summer of 1862.

Those enrolling in this course will be expected to apply the knowledge and insights gained from it by developing instructional materials specific to the needs of their students. In a more general sense, it is also expected that those joining the class will develop a broader understanding of how the events of 1862 affect Minnesotans today. Through online interaction and field experiences, they will reflect on the lessons to be learned from the frontier conflict.

Course Outline :

Lesson One
Introduction: Overview of course and its general requirements

"How To": The operation of an online course

Lecture: "A Thoroughly Sordid Affair: The treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota, 1851;" Dakota-Euroamerican interactions from the first contacts through the early territorial days with a focus upon the treaties of 1851.

Assignments:
Students write brief biographies of introduction to classmates for submission to the online conference center. After the introductions, there will be a class discussion on the first lecture and assigned readings.

Completion of the required readings for this session.

Lesson Two:
Lecture: The Coming of War: The Acton Incident and the attack on the Lower Sioux Agency followed by the assaults on New Ulm and Fort Ridgely

Assignments:
Classroom discussion: respond to the instructor's questions regarding the sessions lectures and readings by using the course's online Conference Center.

Students assigned to task groups by the instructor to discuss and prepare answers for questions dealing with the sale of Dakota lands and its ramifications for the Indians and Minnesota's Euroamericans.

Completion of the readings for this session

Private E-mail correspondence between instructor and each student dealing with questions or problems the student may have.

Lesson Three:
Lecture: Preparing for the Field Experience. A detailed site review regarding the historical significance of the stops to be made during the field experience in the Minnesota River valley. All students, including those not taking this day-long optional tour, will take part in this lesson. For those NOT TAKING the optional tour: proposals for class projects must be submitted for approval by the end of this week.

Assignments:
Students begin field experience journals detailing any questions they have about the historic sites to be visited. They will also begin making notes about the classroom applications they plan to make with the information they gather on the trip through the Minnesota River valley. These will be submitted to instructor following the field experience.

Topics for required individual course projects, for those not taking part in the optional field experience, need to be submitted for approval. 

Lesson Four:
Field Experience [materials for this experience were developed with the support of the Minnesota Historical Society and the Science Museum of Minnesota]. Each student will receive a field experience packet detailing information on the historic sites visited along with specific objectives to be met at those sites. These materials are designed to enable the class members to lead tours for their own students. Topics and readings related to the historic sites are also provided.

This is a 12-hour trip from Ft. Snelling to the Minnesota River valley with stops at sites significant to the Dakota War of 1862. Visits will be made at Traverse des Sioux, New Ulm, Milford, Fort Ridgely Historic Site, Lower Sioux Agency Historic Site and Birch Coulee battlefield for more detailed study.

Group will leave Fort Snelling at 8 a.m. arriving at Traverse des Sioux by 9:45 for tour of the former townsite and treaty site of 1851.

New Ulm by 11:15 for tour of city's 1862 battle sites. Lunch in New Ulm

Milford township memorial at 1:30 for discussion of fighting in the area

Fort Ridgely Historic Site - view video on the fort's history and its role in the 1862 war. Also touring the grounds. 2:15-3:15

Lower Sioux Agency Historic Site - view video of the agency's history and its significance as the starting point of the 1862 fighting. If time permits, walk down to Redwood Ferry site on the grounds. 3:45-4:45.

Light meal Redwood Falls, 5:00-5:45

Birch Coulee battlefield 6:00-6:15

Return to Fort Snelling 8:15

Assignment: Students to work on their field experience journals throughout the day-long trip. Knowledge gained will be applied the classroom lessons, units and related educational activities that the teachers will use in their classrooms. The journal accounts for 20% of the course grade and the proposal (how you intend to use what you've learned with your students) is 20%.

For those not going on the optional field experience: your class project will make up 40% of your grade.

Lesson Five:
Lecture: Fighting Ends in Minnesota: Sibley's Expedition and September offensive overcomes Dakota resistance in Minnesota

Assignments:
Online classroom discussion of topics covered - Course Conference Center

Prepare a brief monograph addressing either of the two topics listed by the instructor and submit it via Email.

Lesson Six:
Lecture: The Uprising's Immediate Aftermath and the Punishment and Exile of the Dakota

Assignments:|
Online classroom discussion regarding the lecture and the major points raised. Also: online discussion and general comments and the course of study itself with suggestions for improvement - Course Conference Center.

Final writing assignment: "Little Crow and the Dakota Dilemma;" students will submit a paper considering this topic which is specifically spelled out in the lesson itself.

All written assignments and class projects due by the end of this week. Instructor will E-mail evaluations to the students.

Processes:
I will rely upon the best published research and sources considered most definitive on the subject. Also utilized will be materials for teachers which I developed for the Minnesota Historical Society and the Science Museum of Minnesota. My new research regarding a peace movement led by Wabasha III and Wakute during the uprising, which was published in my new history Goodhue County, Minnesota in September, 2000 will also be used. Students will be required to keep up with course lectures, readings and specific individual and group assignments. They will be expected to participate in class activities and discussions and complete assigned projects dealing with the course material.

Outcomes:
All class members will have demonstrated a familiarity and understanding of the material covered. Specifically they will have learned the historical relationship between the Dakota people and Euroamericans and the dynamics that produced war between the two cultures. They will understand the causes of that conflict; be able to relate a detailed chronology of the actual fighting; be able relate the human cost of the fighting to both sides; and detail the resolution of the 1862 war, including its immediate and long term ramifications. Students will develop their own educational materials on the conflict for use with their own students

Evaluation:
Students will design and prepare teaching lessons/units and materials to be used in their own classrooms, utilizing knowledge gained from this class. Such projects will demonstrate an understanding of Minnesota frontier history in general and, more specifically, a knowledge of the clash of cultures that resulted in war between the Dakota and Minnesota's Euroamerican community. They will demonstrate understanding of the concepts taught during lecture, online class discussions and participation in group learning exercises. Students will also be expected to pass examinations on the course material.

Texts and other published materials:

Rhoda R.Gilman, "How Minnesota Became the 32nd State," Minnesota History, 56(Winter, 1998-99), Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota, pages 154-165.

Frederick L. Johnson, Goodhue County, Minnesota: A Narrative History, Red Wing: Goodhue County Historical Society. Chapter 2 "A Thoroughly Sordid Affair - the Land Transfers of 1851," pages 20-29.

William W. Folwell, A History of Minnesota, Vol II. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society (revised edition, 1961). Appendix 9, pages 393-400.

Newcombe, Barbara T. "A Portion of the American People: The Sioux Sign a Treaty in Washington in 1858," Minnesota History, 45 (Fall 1976), 82-96.

Kenneth Carley, The Sioux Uprising of 1862, Minnesota Historical Society, 1976. ISBN 0-87351-102-6. "Attacks on Fort Ridgely," pages from 25-31.

Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, 6 (1894) "Mrs. J. E. De Camp Sweet's Narrative of Her Captivity in the Sioux Outbreak of 1862," pages 354-366.

Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, 6 (1894) Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota. Jerome Big Eagle, "A Story of the War," pages 382-400.

Minnesota Board of Commissioners on Publication of History of Minnesota in Civil and Indian War. Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, 1861-1865. 2 volumes. St. Paul, 1890-93, pages 193b-203, 208-212, 223-229.

Gary Clayton Anderson and Alan R. Woolworth (eds.), Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988. "Wood Lake and Camp Release," pages 219-229.

Bibliography:

Anderson, Gary Clayton. Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1986.

Anderson, Gary Clayton and Alan R. Woolworth (eds.), Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862, St.Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988.

Beaulieu, David. "A Place Among Nations: Experiences of Indian People." In Clark, Clifford E., Minnesota in a Century of Change: The State and Its People Since 1900. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1989.

Brown, Dee A. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970. See "Little Crow's War," pages 37-65.

Carley, Kenneth A. The Sioux Uprising of 1862. 2nd edition, St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1976.

Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, 6 (1894) "Mrs. J. E. De Camp Sweet's Narrative of Her Captivity in the Sioux Outbreak of 1862," pages 354-366.

Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, 6 (1894) Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota. Jerome Big Eagle, "A Story of the War," pages 382-400.

Folwell, William W. A History of Minnesota, Vol. II. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society (revised edition, 1961).

Gilman, Rhoda R. "How Minnesota Became the 32nd State," Minnesota History, 56(Winter, 1998-99), Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Hachin-Wakanada [Lightning Blanket]. Story of the Battle of Fort Ridgely, Minn., August 20 and 22, 1862. Morton, Minn.: O. S. Smith, 1908.

Johnson, Frederick L. Goodhue County, Minnesota: A Narrative History. Red Wing: Goodhue County Historical Society, 2000.

Meyer, Roy W. History of the Santee Sioux: United States Indian Policy on Trail. Lincoln. Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1967. Reprinted, Lincoln: Bison Books 1980.

Minnesota Board of Commissioners on Publication of History of Minnesota in Civil and Indian War. Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, 1861-1865. 2 volumes. St. Paul, 1890-93.

Newcombe, Barbara T. "A Portion of the American People: The Sioux Sign a Treaty in Washington in 1858," Minnesota History, 45 (Fall 1976).

Riggs, Stephen R. Mary and I: Forty Years with the Sioux. Chicago:1880; reprint edition, Minneapolis, 1968.

Russo, Priscilla. "The Time to Speak is Over: The Onset of the Sioux Uprising," Minnesota History, 45: Fall, 1976 Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Williamson, John P. "Removal of the Sioux Indians from Minnesota," Minnesota History Bulletin 2 (May, 1918).

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 updated 6/14/02