Sioux Massacre at Spirit Lake

Scarlet Point's raid in Iowa



In March 1857, after a particularly severe winter, a band of fourteen starving, renegade Wahpekute Santee Sioux led by Scarlet Point (Inkpaduta) descended on the settlements scattered along the north western Iowa frontier close to the Minnesota border. The Indians were desperate for food and, furthermore, sought revenge for outrages perpetrated against them by white settlers-including the murder of Scarlet Point's brother and his family. The killing spree that followed cost the lives of 35-40 settlers who were isolated on their own land holdings. At Spirit Lake the Indians also abducted four women and carried them into captivity. Notable among them was the fourteen year old, Abbe Gardner who survived to be ransomed during the following summer and subsequently wrote an account of her ordeal (is also available as a Leonaur edition). Two attempts were made by government forces to pursue the fleeing Indians from Forts Dodge and Ridgely, but tardy management, a delay in setting off and appalling weather in the form of almost impassable snowfall, meant both rescue and reprisal missions failed. The Spirit Lake raid and massacre was the last Indian attack to take place in Iowa. This unique Leonaur book brings together two accounts of this famous incident in the history of the settlement of the western frontiers of the United States of America.

Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.