Massacre Site

Massacre Site. . In late July 1864, members of a uniformed, all-Indian, Yankton Agency scout unit followed the trail of an unknown war party. When the warriors attempted to flee, they were pursued, captured, and taken to the Yankton's camp about one mile north of this site. The prisoners were Santee who left Devil's Lake 20 days earlier in search of settlers to rob and murder. One captive, a member of White Lodge's band, claimed that he had killed ten settlers during the Dakota Conflict., The Santee were told that the Yankton scouts were friendly to settlers who belonged to Great Father, the President of the United States. The Yankton were from the tribe of Chief Struck by the Ree. Called Old Strike, he had positioned his warriors to protect settlers during the uprising in Minnesota., In view of their confessions, the Santee were summarily executed. "Receipts" in the form of scalps were taken and delivered to the Yankton Indian Agent., During the winter of 1938-1939, some 74 years after the mass execution, workmen building a runway for the new Sioux Falls Municipal Airport uncovered 12 shallow graves and removed the remains of 14 Santee warriors. . This historical marker was erected in 2008 by the Minnehaha County Historical Society and the Minnehaha Century Fund. It is in Sioux Falls in Minnehaha County South Dakota