View of Mendota, 1848, Minnesota Historical Society
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In 1849, a tide of white settlers was moving westward and settling in Minnesota. Seeking more land, the U.S. government asked trader Henry Sibley to negotiate with the Dakota. In 1851, Sibley secured a deal to take most of the Dakota homeland in exchange for about 1.5 million dollars and the release of five Dakota prisoners. The treaty was approved by Congress in 1852, and the Dakota began moving to reservations. The treaty of Mendota left a bloody legacy in Minnesota. When the U.S. government failed to meet the treaty’s terms, Dakota warriors rose up in what would become the three-month U.S. Dakota War.
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