The Fool Soldiers--i

 

The text of this historical marker goes like this:

In 1862, a dramatic rescue of white captives held by a band of hostile Santee Sioux, took place near this spot. A group of eleven young Teton Sioux boys left Ft. Pierre on a cold November day determined to overtake and meet with the Santees to negotiate the exchange of nine women and children for the food and blankets which they took with them. The Santees had taken the captives on a raid of a settlement near Lake Shetek in Minnesota four months earlier.

Memorial at Lake Shetek

The August 20 attack, part of the Dakota War of 1862, left 14 people did and several women and children hostage. The Santees chased up north and west, all the way into North Dakota before turning back. Along the way, they sought refuge with various other bands of Sioux, but generally got little welcome. Other bands were aware that the massacre of white folks at Lake Shetek wasn't going to go unpunished. 

That four-month trek brought them into winter, and as temperatures dropped and snow began to fall, simply securing provisions to live became difficult. One of the groups who would not take them in was a Two Kettles band, who fed them, but determined that they would have to leave. "The boys" the historical marker speaks of, were members of that Two Kettles band.

The boys: Martin Charger, Kills Game and Comes Home, Swift Bird, Four Bear, Mad Bear, Pretty Bear, Sitting Bear, One Rib, Strikes Fire, Red Dog, and Charging Dog had decided on their own to attempt this dangerous and entirely selfless mission of mercy after hearing of the plight of the Lake Shetek captives. The hostile band of about one-hundred and eight Santees was led by Chief White Lodge.

The woman standing near the sign (above) is Marcella LeBeau, whose ancestors include Four Bear, one of "the boys" the sign identifies as "Fool Soldiers." In the last few years, she's become a friend of mine.

History states that they came upon the Santee encampment on the east side of the Missouri River at a point opposite the mouth of the Grand River. The Santees drove a hard bargain and the young Tetons had to give all of their worldly possessions, including their guns and horses, to effect the exchange. Only one horse and wagon was left to carry the weak and distraught captives the one hundred miles back to the nearest white settlement at Ft. Pierre. The Tetons walked and gave their clothes to the white women and children. This Christian act of mercy by the Tetons was never rewarded by the U. S. Government and no record can be found of any repayment for the personal possessions given in exchange.

 

Because the Santees had been on the warpath, the odds against success were very high. Thus, the Teton boys were dubbed the 'Fool Soldier Band.'”

The Fool Soldiers' heroism happened at a spot along the Missouri River now under the waters of Lake Oahe, created when river was drawn and quartered by a series of dams that created reservoirs for farmers and ranchers, as well as immense recreational resources for tourism, but also buried all kinds of history and culture of the Native people who lived there.

Today, the town of Mobridge celebrates the story of the Fool Soldier Band with markers in the downtown cemetery, and one of seven murals painted into the ceiling of the municipal building downtown, murals undertaken and finished during the 1930s, when the Works Progress Administration hired the Lakota artist, Oscar Howe to honor the Lakota people.

 

Just exactly why the Fool Soldiers Band determined to rescue the hostages White Lodge and his people had captured and abused is a question no one will ever answer with certainty, but this almost non-sensical act of bravery and heroism had to have cause. 

Tomorrow, I'd like to offer a possible answer.