Battle of Lower Sioux Agency

Significance

The attack on the Lower Sioux Agency on August 18, 1862, led by Chief Little Crow, marked the opening engagement of the Dakota War of 1862. Thirteen settlers were killed at the agency itself, with seven more killed as they fled toward Fort Ridgely. As the first organized military action of the conflict, it set the Dakota War in motion and signaled a coordinated Dakota effort to challenge American settler presence in Minnesota. The engagement established Little Crow as the central military leader of the uprising and directed the subsequent course of the war toward the surrounding frontier settlements and military posts.

Commanders (1)