Attack at the Lower Sioux Agency

Attack at the Lower Sioux Agency
Part of the Dakota War of 1862
The stone warehouse built in 1861, the only original building remaining on the Lower Agency site
Date August 18, 1862 Location Lower Sioux Agency, Redwood County, Minnesota 44°31′38″N 94°57′31″W / 44.52722°N 94.95861°W / 44.52722; -94.95861 Result Santee Sioux victory
Belligerents
United States of America	Santee Sioux
Commanders and leaders
	Chief Little Crow
Casualties and losses
20 killed 10 captured 47 escaped	None noted

The Attack at the Lower Sioux Agency was the first organized attack led by Dakota leader Little Crow in Minnesota on August 18, 1862, and is considered the initial engagement of the Dakota War of 1862. It resulted in 13 settler deaths, with seven more killed while fleeing the agency for Fort Ridgely.^[1]

Tensions had run high in the weeks leading up to the attack. Many eastern Dakota were angered by the refusal of traders to extend credit during a summer of starvation and hardship, and the failure of the United States Indian agents to deliver annuity payments as required by treaty.^[1][2] The initial attack on the Lower Sioux Agency by a faction of the eastern Dakota focused on the four trading stores, which they proceeded to raid for flour, pork, clothing, whiskey, guns, and ammunition.^[3]

The attack at the Lower Agency was followed by the Battle of Redwood Ferry.^[1] Violence soon spread to isolated farms and settlements in Brown and Renville Counties,^[1] with an estimated 200 settlers killed and another 200 captured.^[4] Some settlers’ lives were saved after they were warned by the Dakota to flee.^[3]