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Sisseton
Sioux Indian Tribe History
Sisseton ('lake village'). One of
the seven original tribes of the Dakota. They appear to have formed a link
between the eastern and western tribes, though generally included in the
eastern division, with which they seem to have the closest affinity. Riggs
says that the intercourse between the Mdewakanton on the Mississippi and
lower Minnesota rivers. and the Wahpeton, Wahpekute, and a part of the
Sisseton has been so constant that but slight differences are discoverable
in their manner of speaking, though the western Sisseton show greater
difference in their speech. This tribe was in existencet the corning of
the whites. Rev. T. S. Williamson, who was well acquainted with the
history, traditions, languages, and customs of the eastern Dakota, says:
"From what was written on this subject by Hennepin, La Hontan,
Le Sueur, and Charlevoix, and from the maps published under the
superintendence of these authors, it is sufficiently clear that in the
latter part of the 17th century the principal residence of the Isanyati
Sioux [Mdewakanton, Wahpeton, Wahpekute, and Sisseton] was about the
headwaters of Rum river, whence they extended their hunts to St Croix and
Mississippi rivers, and down the latter nearly or quite as far as the
mouth of the Wisconsin. " (Minn. Hist. Soc. Coll, I, 295, 1872.)
The first recorded mention of the tribe is probably
that of Hennepin (Descr. La., 1683), who said that in the neighborhood of
Mille Lacs were many other lakes, whence issue several rivers, on the
banks of which live the Issati, Nadouessans Tinthonha (Teton), Oudebathon
(Wahpeton) River people, Chongaskethon (Sisseton), and other tribes, all
comprised under the name Nadouessiou. This locates the tribe in 1680 in
the vicinity of Mille Lacs, not in the region of Rainy lake, as Hennepin's
map appears to place them. In the Prise de Possession of May 1689, they
are mentioned as living, the greater part of them, in the neighborhood of
the Mdewakanton, in the interior northeast of the Mississippi. Du Luth,
who was in that region as early as July 1679, found them in the vicinity
of the Wahpeton. The statement that apart of the tribe was in the vicinity
of Mille Lacs at the time of Hennepin's visit (1680) indicates that the
division into the two bands had already taken place. Pike states that the
two divisions, the Kahra and the Sisseton proper, hunted eastward to the
Mississippi and up that river as far as Crow Wing river. Long (Exped. St
Peters R., 1824) names the divisions the Miakechakesa and Kahra, giving as
the number of the latter 1,500, and that of the former 1,000. Lewis and
Clark (1804) located them on the headwaters of Minnesota river.
Schermerhorn, following Pike, said they were on the upper parts of Red
river of Lake Winnipeg, and that they roved on the Mississippi and also on
Crow Wing river, which was the boundary between them and the Chippewa.
Brown (1817) gave their habitat as on Minnesota river up to Big Stone
lake. According to Ramsey (1849) they then claimed all the lands west of
Blue Earth river to James river, South Dakota.
Their principal village was located near Lake Traverse.
In 1854 the distributing point of annuities for the Sisseton and Wahpeton
was then at Yellow Medicine river. Subsequently they were gathered on a
reservation.
Lewis and Clark estimated the number of warriors in
1804 at 200, and a total population of about 800. According to Neill they
numbered 2,500 in 1853. The combined population of the Sisseton and
Wahpeton at Lake Traverse reservation in 1886 was 1,496. In 1909 there
were 1,936 of both tribes at the Sisseton agency, South Dakota, and in
North Dakota 980 Sisseton, Wahpeton, and Pabaksa, representing bands that
fled thither after the Minnesota massacre of 1862.
Two subdivisions were mentioned by Pike (1811) and Long
(1824), the Miakechakesa, or Sisseton proper, and the Kahra. Rev. S. R.
Riggs, in a letter to Dorsey (1882), gives the following bands:
Chanshdachikana
Tizaptan
Okopeya
Amdowapuskiyapi
Basdecheslini
Kapozha
Ohdihe
Rev. E. Ashley, in a letter to Dorsey (1884), gives
these, with the exception of the first, name from chief Sleepyeye, and
adds the following:
Witawaziyataotina;
Itokakhtina;
Kakhmiatonwan;
Maniti;
Keze;
Chankute.
Bands that can not be identified with any of these are the Grail and
Little Rock bands, Mechemeton, Red Iron band, and the Traverse des Sioux
and Wabey bands.
The Sisseton made or joined in the following treaties
with the United States: Prairie du Chien, Michigan Territory, July 15,
1830;
St Peters, Minnesota, Nov. 30, 1836;
Traverse des Sioux, Minn. Territory, July 23, 1851;
Washington, D. C., June 19, 1858; Feb. 19, 1867;
Lake Traverse res., Dakota Territory, Sept. 20, 1872 (unratified);
agreement at Lac Traverse agency, Dakota Territory, May 2, 1873. By
resolution of the Senate, June 27, 1860, the right and title of certain
bands of Sioux, including the Sisseton, to lands embraced in the
reservation on Minnesota river, were confirmed.
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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