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Battle of Wood Lake

Yellow Medicine County · Trunk highway 67, NW¼ sec. 9, T. 114 N., R. 38 W., Sioux Agency Township · location approximate

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Near this point on September 23, 1862, during the Sioux Outbreak, Little Crow's warriors ambushed General Sibley's troops. An advance party of the 3rd Minnesota developed the position and with the arrival of reinforcements, a sharp fight occurred. The Indians were defeated with white losses of 41 killed and wounded. A State monument marks the site.

Verbatim 1940 text, presented as a historical record, not current interpretation. Minnesota now calls the 1862 conflict the U.S.-Dakota War and has since replaced the wording on some of these signs.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Marker data: Minnesota Historical Records Survey Project, Work Projects Administration, Guide to Historic Markers Erected by the State Highway Department Cooperating with the Minnesota Historical Society (1940)

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