(Arnolds Park)– Today (March 8th, 2007), marks a very important date in local history.
It was 150 years ago a band of renegade Sioux Indians led by Chief Inkpadutah went on a rampage around the lakes, killing atleast 38 settlers by the time it was said and done several days later.
The attack started March 8th, 1857 at the Roland Gardner cabin in what is now Arnolds Park. That’s where Gardner, his wife and other family members…all but his daughter, Abigail, were murdered and scalped. Abigail was taken hostage.
From there, the renegade band went to other sites around the lakes, killing settlers and setting fire to their cabins.
The rampage continued north, where the band attacked the settlement of Springfield, Minnesota…which is now Jackson. From there, they eventually retreated west toward the Big Sioux River. That’s where Abigail Gardner was freed several months later when the state of Minnesota put up her ransom.
Several accounts of the massacre say Inkpadutah and his followers were seeking revenge from settlers over the killing of a fellow chief, and that they were angry their territory was being taken over by white people.
The Gardner cabin still stands to this very day in Arnolds Park…a few blocks west of the amusement park. A large monument is also on that site, commemorating those settlers who lost their lives in the attack.
The Spirit Lake Massacre is chronicled in a number of books and articles.
