The Fool Soldiers: Minnesota’s Forgotten 1862 Heroism

Following the August 1862 attack at Lake Shetek, Minnesota, Santee Dakota warriors took two white women and six children captive into Dakota Territory. In November 1862, eleven young Lakota warriors marched 100 miles into a sub-zero blizzard to trade away everything they owned, their horses, blankets, food, and arms, to rescue eight starving hostages. They were mocked as "Fool Soldiers" and later imprisoned by the U.S. Army, but their act of moral courage defined civilian protection decades before international law.