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Mdewakanton Indian Tribe History
Mdewakanton ('mystery lake village,'
from mde 'lake', wakan 'sacred mystery', otonwe
'village'). One of the subtribes composing the Santee division of the
Dakota, the other 3 being the Sisseton, Wahpeton, and Wahpekute. A. L.
Riggs contends that the Mdewakanton are the only Dakota entitled to the
name Isanyati ('Santee'), given them (from their old home on Mille Lac,
called by them Isantamde, 'knifelake.' In every respect this tribe appears
to be most intimately related to the Wahpeton. Wahpekute, and Sisseton. It
is possible that the Mdewakanton formed the original stem from which the
other 3 subtrihes were developed. It is probable that the Nadowessioux
mentioned by early missionaries and explorers were in most cases the
people of this tribe and the tribes associated with them then living in
the region of 'Mille Lac and the headwaters of the Mississippi. Dr
Williamson, who spent years among these Indians, fixes the home of this
tribe (who by tradition had once lived on Lake of the Woods and north of
the great lakes and had migrated toward the southwest) at Mille Lac, the
source of Rum river, which is apparently the ancient location of the
Issati of Hennepin. This identifies the Issati with the Mdewakanton and
sustains the conclusion of Biggs. After the Mdewakanton came to the
Mississippi they appear to have scattered themselves along that river in
several villages extending from Sauk Rapids to the month of Wisconsin
river and up the Minnesota 35 miles.
According to Neill (Minn. Hist. Coll., I, 262, 1872)
this splitting into bands was due to the influence of French traders. This
author asserts that the people of this division were still residing at
Mille Lac at the time Le Sueur built his post near the mouth of blue Earth
river in 1700, and that their change of location to the region of lower
Minnesota river was due to the establishment of trading posts in that
section. This would indicate a later removal to that locality than
Williamson supposed. Rev. G. H. Pond, as quoted by Neill, says: "When to
this we add the fact that traders taught them to plant corn, which
actually took the place of wild rice, nothing was wanting to bring the
Mdewakanton south to the Minnesota river. Accordingly tradition tells us
that this division of the Dakotas no sooner became acquainted with
traders, and the advantage of the trade, than they erected their teepees
around the log hut of the white moan and hunted in the direction of the
Minnesota river, returning in the "rice-gathering moon" (September) to the
rice swamps nearest their friends." In Le Sueur's list of the eastern
Dakota tribes the name Issati is dropped and that of Mdewakanton, under
the form Mendeouacantons, is used, evidently for the first time.
The whites came into more intimate relation with
this tribe than with any other of the Dakota group, but the history which
is not of general interest except in so far as it relates to the outbreak
of 1862, in which some of them took an active parties chiefly that of the
different bands and not of the tribe as a whole. After their defeat by the
United States, they and the Winnebago were removed to Crow Creek
reservation, Dakota Territory. Subsequently the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute
were transferred to the Santee reservation in Nebraska. Ultimately lands
were assigned them in severalty, the reservation was abolished, and the
Indians became citizens of the United States. In general customs and
beliefs they resemble the other divisions of the eastern Sioux. (See
Dakota.)
The tribe joined in the following treaties with the
United States: Prairie du Chien, Wis., July 15, 1830, by which they and
other eastern Sioux tribes ceded a strip 20 miles wide from the
Mississippi to Des Moines river, Ia. Convention at St Peters, Minn., Nov.
30, 1836, with the upper Mdewakanton, agreeing on certain stipulations
regarding the treaty of July 15, 1830. Treaty of Washington, Sept. 29,
1837, by which they ceded to the United States all their interest in lands
east of the Mississippi. Treaty of Mendota, Minn., Aug. 5, 1851, by which
they ceded all their lauds in Iowa and Minnesota, retaining as a
reservation a tract 70 miles, wide on each side of Minnesota river. Treaty
of Washington, June 19, 1858, by which they sold that part of their
reservation north of Minnesota river, retaining the portion south of the
river, which they agreed to take in severalty. By act of Mar. 3, 1863, the
President was authorized to set apart for them a reserve beyond the limits
of any state and remove them thereto, their reserve in Minnesota to be
sold for their benefit. The new reserve was established by Executive
order, July 1, 1863, on Crow creek, South Dakota. See Reservations.
Lewis and Clark (1804) estimated them at 300 fighting
men or 1,200 souls.
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
Handbook
of American Indians, 1906
Index of Tribes or Nations
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