# Wood Lake *Site of the final battle of the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862 (September 23, 1862), and the subject of at-issue record 070.* The Battle of Wood Lake, fought on September 23, 1862, was the last battle of the [[U.S.–Dakota War]] of 1862. The two-hour engagement was named for Wood Lake but was fought at Lone Tree Lake nearby.[^1] U.S. forces under Colonel [[Henry Hastings Sibley]] defeated the Dakota forces led by [[Little Crow]] and inflicted heavy casualties. Little Crow then left for the northern plains with 150 followers. Other [[Mdewakanton]] joined the camp of the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands that became known as Camp Release.[^1] The battle was followed by trials, executions and confinement. At-issue record 070 states three outcomes. Military commissions sentenced 303 Dakota men to death in trials the record calls "rushed." Thirty-eight were hanged at [[Mankato]] on December 26, 1862. [[Lincoln's review]] reduced the number by 265.[^2] On November 7, 1862, a stockaded camp was established on the river bottom below [[Fort Snelling]]. It held roughly 1,600 Dakota and mixed-race non-combatants, of whom an estimated 130 to 300 died before removal in May 1863. For that camp the [[Minnesota Historical Society]]'s reference work MNopedia uses the term "concentration camp."[^3] The battlefield's documented commemoration began with efforts in 1907–1910 that culminated in a stone monument.[^4] On July 30, 2010, the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Wood Lake Battlefield Historic District, nominated as the final engagement of the war and for embodying those early commemoration efforts.[^4] ## When In early September 1862 the U.S. defeat at the Battle of Birch Coulee and the sieges at Hutchinson, Forest City and Fort Abercrombie added to the settlers' flight. Governor [[Alexander Ramsey]] and Colonel Sibley were both heavily criticized for not moving faster.[^5] Republican supporters of Ramsey objected in newspaper editorials to his choice of Sibley, a Democrat and former governor, to lead the army. Their editorials accused Sibley of excessive sympathy for the Dakota because of his personal and business ties with them.[^5] On September 6, 1862, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton created the Military Department of the Northwest and placed General John Pope in command. Stanton directed Pope to "employ whatever force may be necessary" to defeat the Dakota. Pope reached Minnesota on September 16.[^5] Supplies reached Sibley's poorly experienced recruits between September 11 and 14. On September 19 Sibley's entire command left Fort Ridgely and marched up the [[Minnesota River]] valley.[^5] On September 22 the troops camped east of Lone Tree Lake.[^6] The battle took place on September 23. Afterward Sibley wrote to his wife that the Dakota had received "a severe blow." He wrote that they "will not dare to make another stand."[^7] The battle ended organized Dakota warfare in Minnesota, though Sibley pursued the leaders who had fled north into the following year.[^7] The victory opened the way for the release of 269 prisoners at Camp Release, nearly all women and children. It also led many Dakota warriors to surrender on the understanding that Sibley would punish only those who had taken part in murdering innocents.[^7] President [[Abraham Lincoln]] later promoted Sibley to brigadier general of volunteers.[^7] In 1907 or 1908 the Minnesota Commission on the Wood Lake Battlefield reported on the U.S. dead and wounded.[^8] The National Register listing followed on July 30, 2010.[^4] ## Where The battle was fought at Lone Tree Lake, also called Battle Lake. It is a small lake drained by a creek that runs northeast to the Minnesota River, about five miles north of present-day Echo, Minnesota.[^6] Wood Lake lies about three miles southwest of the battle site. Historians have concluded that "the battle was simply named for the largest lake in the vicinity." In his narrative of the war, Big Eagle gave a different account: the old Dakota name for Lone Tree Lake had been "M'da-chan," meaning "Wood Lake".[^6] Sibley's camp placed the 3rd Minnesota on the crest south of the creek, the 6th Minnesota beside the lake, and the 7th Minnesota behind the creek's ravine. Trenches partly enclosed the camp.[^6] Sibley intended to cross the Yellow Medicine River valley toward the ruined Upper Sioux Agency. The Dakota plan was to attack his column on the road to the agency, a mile or more northwest of the lake.[^6] Two parties hold the battlefield today. The Wood Lake Battlefield Preservation Association, with the American Battlefield Protection Program of the [[National Park Service]] and the American Battlefield Trust, has acquired and preserved 240 acres. The Minnesota Historical Society owns a one-acre roadside commemorative area with a granite obelisk.[^4] ## How many Estimates of Sibley's command when it left Fort Ridgely range from 1,450 to 1,619 men.[^5] The units engaged included the 3rd Minnesota Infantry and nine companies of the 6th Minnesota. They also included five companies of the 7th, one company of the 9th, and a detachment of the 10th. Alongside them were 38 to 45 Renville Rangers, 28 mounted citizen guards and 16 citizen-artillerists.[^8] The adjutant general of Minnesota reported: "As the hottest of the enemy's fire was borne by the Third Regiment and the Renville Rangers, the heaviest part of the loss was confined to those troops."[^8] The Minnesota Commission on the Wood Lake Battlefield counted seven U.S. soldiers killed: four buried in the field and three who died soon after of their wounds.[^8] The commission's *Report on the Battle of Wood Lake* gives 34 U.S. soldiers wounded. Historian Gary Clayton Anderson estimates closer to 50.[^8] The commission also recorded an error in *Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars*. That work listed Joseph Paro (Perrault) as killed, but the Ranger killed was Ernest Paul.[^8] The war's aftermath also produced its own counts. At Camp Release, 269 prisoners were released after the battle.[^7] At-issue record 070 gives 303 death sentences, 38 hangings and a reduction of 265.[^2] ## In the at-issue record [[At issue 070 - The U.S. Dakota War ended at Wood Lake]] dates the war's end to Wood Lake on September 23, 1862. It sets that date beside the 303 death sentences, the 38 hangings at Mankato on December 26, 1862, and the 265-sentence reduction by Lincoln's review.[^2] The record calls the hangings "the largest mass execution in American history." It describes the reduction as "the federal correction of a Minnesota proceeding."[^2] Its anchor is a 2026 White House fact sheet on the establishment of a Department of Justice division for national fraud enforcement. The file chose that anchor as "the earliest instance in this file of a federal review correcting a Minnesota tribunal".[^2] The record lists its source domain as mnhs.org, but the only URL it carries is the fact sheet. That fact sheet does not itself document the 1862 sentences.[^2] ## In the Minnesota record ### When - July 23, 1851: the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux. After the two official copies were signed, trader Joseph R. Brown presented a third document directing annuity funds to traders' claimed debts. It was neither read aloud nor translated, and all but two signers believed it another copy of the treaty.[^9] - August 5, 1851: the Treaty of Mendota. Together with the Traverse des Sioux treaty, it opened twenty-four million acres at roughly seven and a half cents an acre.[^10][^9] - November 7, 1862: the stockaded camp below Fort Snelling was established, holding roughly 1,600 Dakota and mixed-race non-combatants, mostly women, children and the elderly.[^3][^11] - May 1863: survivors were removed to [[Crow Creek]]. An estimated 130 to 300 people had died in the camp of mumps, measles and pneumonia and of assaults by soldiers and civilians.[^3][^11] ### Where - The 1862–1863 camp stood on the river bottom below Fort Snelling, at [[Bdote]].[^3][^12] - MNopedia defines its term for the camp as "a place where people are confined, often in poor conditions, without regard to legal norms of arrest".[^3] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Battle of Wood Lake*, lead section (revision 1381483083, retrieved 2026-10-27) — date, final battle, Lone Tree Lake location, Sibley and Little Crow, Little Crow's departure with 150 followers, Camp Release. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wood_Lake [^2]: Minnesota wiki at-issue file, *At issue 070* (rows AI-070 / AI-Hennepin-070; src Freeman_Apex_Dossier_2026-09-02.md §VI; anchor: White House fact sheet, January 2026) — the pair's text, figures and stated anchor rationale; the anchor URL does not itself document the 1862 figures. https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2026/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-establishes-new-department-of-justice-division-for-national-fraud-enforcement/ [^3]: Minnesota Historical Society, MNopedia, *Fort Snelling at Bdote: Civil and U.S.-Dakota Wars, 1861–1866* — the November 7, 1862 camp, roughly 1,600 confined, an estimated 130 to 300 deaths and their causes, removal to Crow Creek in May 1863, and the term "concentration camp" with its definition. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/place/fort-snelling-civil-and-us-dakota-wars-1861-1866 [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Battle of Wood Lake*, "Battlefield preservation" (revision 1381483083) — National Register listing of July 30, 2010; 1907–1910 commemoration and stone monument; 240 acres preserved; one-acre Minnesota Historical Society area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wood_Lake [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Battle of Wood Lake*, "Background" (revision 1381483083) — September 1862 events, criticism of Ramsey and Sibley, Stanton's order of September 6, Pope's arrival, the march from Fort Ridgely, and the size of Sibley's command. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wood_Lake [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Battle of Wood Lake*, "Battle" (revision 1381483083) — the September 22 camp, location relative to Wood Lake and Echo, the naming accounts, unit positions and battle plans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wood_Lake [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Battle of Wood Lake*, "Aftermath" (revision 1381483083) — Sibley's letter, end of organized warfare, the 269 prisoners released at Camp Release, the terms of surrender, and Sibley's promotion by Lincoln. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wood_Lake [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Battle of Wood Lake*, "Units" (revision 1381483083) — units engaged, the adjutant general's report, and the casualty figures of the Minnesota Commission on the Wood Lake Battlefield and of Gary Clayton Anderson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wood_Lake [^9]: Minnesota Historical Society, MNopedia, *Treaty of Traverse des Sioux (1851)* — treaty of July 23, 1851, and the unread, untranslated third document. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/event/treaty-traverse-des-sioux-1851 [^10]: Minnesota Historical Society, MNopedia, *Treaty of Mendota (1851)* — treaty of August 5, 1851; with Traverse des Sioux, twenty-four million acres at roughly seven and a half cents an acre. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/event/treaty-mendota-1851 [^11]: Minnesota Historical Society, *U.S.-Dakota War of 1862: Forced Marches and Imprisonment* — the post-war confinement and removal of Dakota non-combatants. https://www.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/history/aftermath/forced-marches-imprisonment [^12]: Minnesota Historical Society, Historic Fort Snelling, *Bdote* — the confluence site below the fort. https://www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling/learn/bdote