By
1658 the Jesuits had learned of the existence of thirty Dakota villages
west-northwest from the Potawatomi mission St Michel; and in 1689 they
recorded the presence of tribes apparently representing the Dakota
confederacy on the upper Mississippi, near the mouth of the St Croix.
According to Croghan's History of Western Pennsylvania, the "Sue" Indians
occupied the country southwest of Lake Superior about 1759; and Dr T.S.
Williamson, "the father of the Dakota mission," states that the Dakota
must have resided about the confluence of the Mississippi and the
Minnesota or St Peters for at least two hundred years prior to 1860.
According to traditions collected by Dorsey, the Teton took possession of
the Black Hills region, which had previously been occupied by the Crow
Indians, long before white men came; and the Yankton and Yanktonnai, which
were found on the Missouri by Lewis and Clark, were not long removed from
the region about Minnesota river. In 1862 the Santee and other Dakota
tribes united in a formidable outbreak in which more than 1,000 whites
were massacred or slain in battle. Through this outbreak and the
consequent governmental action toward the control and settlement of the
tribes, much was learned concerning the characteristics of the people, and
various Indian leaders became known; Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse,
Sitting Bull, American Horse, and Even-his-horse-is-feared (commonly
miscalled Man-afraid-of-his-horses) were among the famous Dakota chiefs
and warriors, notable representatives of a passing race, whose names are
prominent in the history of the country.
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