DAKOTA EXPEDITIONS OF SIBLEY AND SULLY

DAKOTA EXPEDITIONS OF SIBLEY AND
SULLY (1863–1865). In 1863, during the American
Civil War, Major General John Pope ordered Union
general Henry Hastings Sibley to march from Camp
Pope near Fort Ridgely, Minnesota, against the Dakota
(Sioux) Indians, who had taken part in hostilities of 1862
in Minnesota. He was to drive them west toward the
Missouri River, and General Alfred Sully was ordered to
proceed up the Missouri and intercept the Dakotas before
they could cross to the western side of the river. Sibley
set out on 16 June and established his field base at Camp
Atcheson, North Dakota. He defeated the Dakotas in
three battles: at Big Mound, Kidder County, on 24 July;
at Dead Buffalo Lake on 26 July; and at Stony Lake on
28 July. Retreating Dakota fighters held back Sibley’s
army until their families crossed to safety on the western
side of the Missouri.
Sibley established his camp at the mouth of Apple
Creek, near present-day Bismarck, North Dakota. On 1
August he began his return march by way of Camp Atcheson
to Fort Abercrombie, which he reached on 23 August.
Meanwhile, Sully established headquarters at Sioux
City, Iowa, and set up a base camp at Fort Pierre, South
Dakota. On 13 August he left the fort for a quick march
northward. On 3 September he fought a battle near White
Stone Hill, North Dakota; the Dakota camp was dispersed
and their supplies destroyed. Sully took prisoners
and returned to his winter quarters at Sioux City.
Sully conducted the next two summer campaigns. In
the summer of 1864 his army proceeded up the Missouri
River from Sioux City, accompanied by two steamboats
that carried his supplies to the rendezvous point at the
site of the new army post at Fort Rice, North Dakota.
Leaving a part of his force to construct the fort, he
marched northwest to the Dakota camp located in the
Killdeer Mountains. There a battle was fought on 28 July,
and the Dakotas were defeated and scattered. The follow-
ing summer, Sully’s force moved up the Missouri River to
Fort Rice and marched north of Devils Lake. On 2 August
he set out for the Mouse (Souris) River and from there
marched southwest to Fort Berthold. There he met the
famous Jesuit missionary Father Pierre Jean De Smet.
Sully’s force returned to Fort Rice on 8 September and
went into winter quarters at Sioux Falls, South Dakota.