IDENTITY OF BANDS:

The Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands are subdivisions of the eastern or Dakotah Indians and are two bands of the eastern Santee Division, who speak the Dakotah language with the "D" dialect. The other divisions of what often is referred to as the Great Sioux or Dakota/Lakota/Nakota Nation consist of the western Teton division and the middle Yankton division who speak the "L" and "N" dialects respectively. The word "Dakotah" can be translated into English as "friend" and is the preferred identification of the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands. The real significance of the word, "Dakotah" derives from the word 'WoDakotah," which means "harmony", "a condition of being at peace with oneself and in harmony with one another and with nature", and "a condition of lifestyle patterned after the natural order of nature". Within the three major divisions of the Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Nation, there are 7 major bands, who are referred to as the Seven Council Fires. In consideration and respect for this alliance, the Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands have erected seven torches in front of the Dakota Magic Casino's entry, and each torch is representational of each of the seven bands among the Dakota-Lakota-Nakota people. These seven torches also are representational of our seven district council communities on the Lake Traverse Reservation. In summary therefore, the three major divisions and bands within each division of this nation are as follows:

DIVISION: BANDS (council fires):

1. Eastern-Santee-Dakota:         1. Spirit Lake People (MdeWakantonwan)

                                                  2. Shooters Among the Leaves People (Wahpekute)

                                                  3. People Dwelling among the Leaves (Wahpetonwan)

                                                  4. People of the Fish Village(s) (Sissetonwan)

2. Middle-Yankton-Nakota:        5. Dwellers at the End - Yankton Ihanktonwan)

                                                   6. Little Swellers at the End - Yanktonai - (Ihanktowanna)

3. Western - Teton - Lakota:       7. Dwellers on the Plains - (Titonwan)

                                                            -7 Major Subdivisions of the Teton:

                                                            1). Oglala (Scatter their own) - Pine Ridge

                                                            2). Sicangu (Burned thighs) - Rosebud & Lower Brule

                                                            3). Hunkpapa (End of Circle) - Standing Rock

                                                            4). Mnikowoju (Planters beside the Stream) - Cheyenne River

                                                            5). Sihasapa (black foot) - Cheyenne River

                                                            6). Oohenunpa (two kettle)    "

                                                            7). Itazipco (without bows)    "

HISTORICAL LOCATIONS OF BANDS:

At time of initial contact in the mid-1700s with European traders and missionaries such as Father Hennepin, the Sisseton Wahpeton bands resided in villages extending from Manitoba, Canada, to the present homelands here on the Lake Traverse Reservation, and further south in Minnesota and northern Iowa. In the mid-1850s, other missionaries such as Rev. Stephan Riggs identified and described the villages of the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands, noting that a typical village ordinarily would consist of 25 to 150 lodges, and each village was comprised of what is called tiospaye, meaning one's extended family. Rev. Riggs reported that in the 1850s the many Sisseton Wahpeton villages had a population ranging from 5,000 to 9,000 residents.

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORDER OF BANDS:

Noted writer and keeper of the traditions, Ella Deloria, correctly stated years ago that KINSHIP IS THE FOUNDATION OF DAKOTA LIFE AND VALUES. From historical times onto the present time, kinship continues to be involved in our Dakota, Sisseton Wahpeton, social life, our economic life, and our political life. In the center of our values is the inner core and circle of immediate family consisting of the father and mother with their children, which is called TIWAHE (immediate family). The brothers and sisters of the father and mother in family are not only considered as in-laws and uncles/aunts, their children become brothers and sisters to the offspring of the brothers and sisters. This inter-relatedness is called TIOSPAYE (extended family). When members of one extended family are related to another extended family, wherein one tiospaye is related to another tiospaye, this extends the kinship to what is called OSPAYE (band), such as the Sisseton Band and the Wahpeton Band. Historically, members of a tiospaye or extended family lived together in a village of lodges numbering 50 to 150 lodges, and as the village grew in numbers, often new villages would form and physically separate from the original village of origin.

Within each Dakota village, the goal of achieving harmony and well-being was strictly enforced by special organizations or societies. The governing society of a village was called the TIOTIPI or Soldiers Lodge, and its members consisted of males from the ages of 9 years to elderly members of the village. From their midst, officers were selected such as a spokesman, often called Chief, as well as his assistants, and other officers were selected which included keepers of the Sacred Pipe, Drum, Eagle Staff, Whip, and so forth. Deliberation and consensus was the form of achieving decisions within the structure of this governing Soldiers Lodge, wherein all males in the village had a seat and voice.

Additional to the Soldiers Lodge, there were other societies within the village, such as the red owl feather or mawatani society whose responsibility consisted of assuring that there would be no exercise of jealousy among the families in the village. Warrior societies such as the Kit Fox and Badger or Brave Hearts were the special forces of the governing Soldiers Lodge, and served primarily as defenders of the people in times of war. Often these societies were comprised of family members whose specialty was in negotiation, warfare, hunting, or other civic purposes.

The old people who came from these times, prior to 1862, and were a part of the establishment of the Lake Traverse Reservation, often referred to those times as one of innocence and purity, wherein the lifestyle of the Dakota people was not only pure, but also euphoric. It was very difficult to do wrongdoing in those times, as the societies in the village assured that everyone had to obey the traditional Dakota virtues which include RESPECT for other persons and their property, SHARING one's earned goods and food with those in need, BRAVERY in regard to freely offering one's life in battle for the village so that the village can survive, COMPASSION for everyone in the village, and therefore offenses and crimes were virtually unknown in those times.

In those times, the Sisseton and Wahpeton people considered themselves as a CIVILIZED PEOPLE by virtue of the fact that the WHITE BUFFALO CALF WOMAN had come to the Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Nation to give them the Sacred Pipe and with this Pipe, the Seven Sacred Rites and Ceremonies which foster and enhance a civilized way of life. Most of all, these ceremonies enhance the value of KINSHIP, and as an example, if one's parents died, whether from sickness or other cause, the RITE OF HUNKA, adoption, immediately was performed so that the orphan always would have a mother, father, and siblings. From the time of one's birth to the time of one's funeral, the Dakota people utilized appropriate rites and ceremonies for each stage of life, to foster and promote the name that lead been given to them, WODAKOTA, which means the condition and stability of harmony and well-being in the village. It is for such reasons, that the old people would say that this way of life was CIVILIZED and EUPHORIC, and fostered HARMONY and KINSHIP.

It is for such reasons, that the old people often said that there was no poverty in those times, and that the people were wealthy corporately and as individuals. They also have stated that it was very rare for anyone to openly display anger, aggression, or violence in the village, since the value of harmony and peace permeated the entire community. The old people also have stated that the people had to have considerable wealth, as the cardinal Dakota virtue consists of GENEROSITY, and in order to be generous, one must have goods and resources to share with others, which come from one's exercise of personal responsibilities, whether in hunting, warfare, or in agricultural endeavors.

This same system of living in a civilized way upheld the value of women in the family and in the community. It is the woman as spouse who owns the lodge and decides who lives therein and who is welcome in this home. Dakota theologians have likened the role of the woman to that of the tri-pod, which are the three foundational tipi-poles used to erect the tipi. The husband is the covering for this lodge, and the children are the pegs which hold the tipi to the earth. The sacred Pipe of the Nation was brought to the people by a sacred woman who also instructed the people in regard to the sacred seven rites and ceremonies of the Dakota-Lakota-Nakota people. In the family, the wife and mother also is the instructor about the ways of the Pipe and the ceremonies, and during certain ceremonies, it is the woman who holds the sacred Pipe during the enactment of the ceremonies. The woman is considered as a co-participant with the Creator since in giving birth to a child, she participates with the Creator in the creation of new life for the family and the community. Her role therefore is significant, and the greatest respect and honor must always be shown to the woman in the home by the spouse, children, and all members of the household. Historically, therefore, the Dakota people considered this view of the woman's role in the family and community as CIVILIZED. In this same context, the Dakota people call the earth their MOTHER who gives life to all plants and creatures, and at all times, the traditional Dakota people require that respect and honor always be shown to their sacred mother, the earth.

CONFLICT AND INTENTIONAL DESTRUCTION OF A WAY OF LIFE:

Commencing in 1815, contact with Euro-Americans occurred and as the decades of the 1800s continued, the Sisseton Wahpeton bands would be detrimentally impacted by contact and relations with white settlers who entered their homelands and villages. From 1815 to 1858, the United States negotiated under show of armed force a series of treaties with the Sisseton Wahpeton bands, which essentially involved land cessions with promises to pay for these cessions with goods and cash. In Minnesota, many of the Sisseton and Wahpetons were assigned to a reservation, and furthermore were subjected to federal Indian agents and missionaries who viewed their way of life and religious practices as pagan and unlawful. The Sisseton and Wahpeton people were required to relinquish their village form of life and practices and were urged to settle upon individual tracts of land and to become farmers. They also were urged to cut their hair and wear factory made clothing appropriate for farmers. Finally, they were urged to banish their own spiritual leaders and medicine men and become christians. In reviewing this drama of enforced acculturation of an indigenous people, Vine Deloria Jr. and others in assessing the impact of such policies have commented: "When the missionaries first came, we owned the land, and they owned the Bible; now, we own the Bible and they own the land".

In late summer of 1862, the eastern bands of the Dakota people in Minnesota had not received their treaty-committed goods and payments, and conditions agriculturally had brought them to a point of starvation and desperation. The policies of acculturation and assimilation furthermore had served to create factions and hard feelings among the families of the eastern Dakota, to such an extent, that groups of the eastern Dakota in August of 1862 declared war and began warfare in the Upper and Lower Sioux Reservation areas in Minnesota. The Army under General Henry Sibley succeeded in bringing this Dakota War to a halt in the late fall of 1862. Thereafter, many members of the eastern Dakota bands were rounded up and incarcerated at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, as well as at Mankato, Minnesota. A military court was convened and as a result, 300 of the Dakota leaders were tried and sentenced to death by hanging. President Abraham Lincoln after reviewing these cases commuted the death sentences of all except for 38 of the chiefs and war leaders, and ordered them to be executed. On December 26, 1862, the Army executed by hanging all 38 of these eastern Dakota war leaders at Mankato, MN. In the aftermath of this mass execution of the eastern Dakota leaders, Congress enacted legislation which abrogated all previous treaties with the Eastern Dakota bands, and furthermore ordered all Eastern Dakota bands banished from the State of Minnesota. Often it has been said by the Old People that the civilized way of life of the eastern Dakota bands came to an end at the time of the execution of the 38 eastern Dakota leaders at Mankato, MN, on December 26th, 1862, one day after christmas, the observance of the birth of the savior.

Sisseton and Wahpeton war leaders who had been acquitted then were recruited by General Henry Sibley as scouts and were assigned the task of accompanying the Army to Dakota Territory in order to capture the balance of the eastern Dakota band members who had escaped there and many fled to Canada. On the western edge of the Lake Traverse Reservation, the Army established Fort Wadsworth, later re-named Fort Sisseton, where the Sisseton Wahpeton leaders, under force of Army Cannon, were ordered to establish up to 30 scout camps where they were to detect any of the other Dakota people who had escaped from Minnesota and were trying to return to Minnesota. General Sibley's orders to the Sisseton and Wahpeton Scouts were very clear, as he ordered them to TAKE NO PRISONERS, and should they fail in regard to this order, they and their families themselves would be killed by the Army. The scouts followed their orders to the letter, and approximately 150 prisoners were executed.

Since the Army could not justifiably exterminate the scouts and their families numbering approximately 1,500 Sisseton Wahpetons, the government consented to allow the Sisseton and Wahpeton leaders to request Congress to create a special reservation for them. On February 19th, 1867, Congress approved the request of the Sisseton Wahpeton leaders, and the Lake Traverse Reservation was established pursuant to provisions of Treaty. This Sisseton Wahpeton Treaty however contained many policies of acculturation which included the requirement that the reservation be allotted to members of the tribe, that schools be established, and that a tribal government would be authorized as well as a tribal police force.

From 1884 until 1913, the Sisseton Wahpetons utilized an adoptive from of tribal government based on the model of the Soldiers Lodge, however the federal Indian agents and missionaries strenuously opposed this form of tribal government, preferring that christianized members of the community comprise the elected positions on the tribal council. In 1913, owing to conflicts and turmoil, the federal Indian agent at Sisseton Agency abolished the tribal government and established an advisory committee, comprised of church elders and others who were amenable to government policies of enforced acculturation and assimilation.

In 1934, the government urged the Sisseton Wahpetons to adopt the Indian Reorganization Act, however sufficient families on the Lake Traverse Reservation were influential enough to defeat this proposal, stating that their Treaty of 1867 still remained in effect, and that the Sisseton Wahpeton people can and should organize its own government pursuant to provisions of this treaty. In 1946, the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved a Constitution and By-Laws which returned governance to the Sisseton Wahpeton people, citing authority to do so from the tribe's Treaty of 1867.

In 1978, Congress approved the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, which recognized that tribes and their members have the right to practice their own religious beliefs, rites, and customs, and can utilize their own language. Since enactment of this law which finally granted freedom to the Sisseton Wahpeton people to practice their own religious and cultural ways, the overwhelming task of renewing and sustaining the human and natural resources of the tribe and its communities on the Lake Traverse Reservation has been challenging for contemporary tribal leaders.

It is said that in 1867, the people could drink water from any of the streams and lakes on the Lake Traverse Reservation, and that fish and game always were in great abundance. When the Sisseton Wahpeton leaders were banished from their homelands in Minnesota in 1862, they paid a heavy price in order to acquire a new homeland, and now this homeland in the name of progress and productivity has become polluted. The Sisseton Wahpeton people are urging their leaders to restore the lakes and streams, and they are asking for safe water to drink. The small band of refugees in 1863 consisted of only 1,500 tribal members, and today there are close to 11,000 Sisseton Wahpetons on their homeland who want to be keepers of their mother, the earth, whether with regard to her water, the food, and the wildlife.

The Sisseton Wahpeton people know that renewal and new life cannot come from their efforts alone, that our brothers and sisters from across this land from other tribes and nations must come together to bring about this renewal. Our young people who comprise over 45% of our enrollment and the children yet to be born require us to unite, and set forth an agenda for renewal and hope.

MITAKUYAPI OWASIN - ALL MY RELATIVES.