Husasa (Red Legs) Santee Sioux Chief and his Christian journey

Part 1 of 2

On December 26, 1862, 38 Dakota Sioux were hanged by the U.S. military in Mankato, MN for their role in the Sioux uprising of the same year – an unsuccessful effort to retake their traditional Minnesota homelands. It is the largest mass hanging in recorded American history.

Originally, 303 Sioux warriors had been condemned to death by a military commission, however President Lincoln commuted the sentences for all but the thirty-eight, those accused by witnesses of committing the worst atrocities against whites during the uprising. 

A key figure in that history was Husasa, Chief of the Wahpekuta Tribe, one of the seven bands that comprise the Great Sioux Nation. Jim James, former Chairman of the Santee Sioux Tribe is the great-great-grandson of Husasa. 

James kindly shared the following tragic historical account with the congregation of the St. Davids Episcopal Church in Lincoln, Nebraska on November 12, 2023.  More significantly, the James family who are parishioners at that church then presented an original portrait of Husasa to the church where it will hang prominently.  “This is to celebrate and symbolize diversity,” James explained.

The portrait, commissioned by James from an old photograph, is by Daniel Long Soldier, a very talented Lakota artist from Pine Ridge, South Dakota.

Because he believes that many Natives, especially the younger ones, need to gain a more thorough understanding of their history, James also suggested that this account be printed by NSNT, which is happy to oblige.

Husasa signed treaties with the federal government in 1851and 1862 ceding twenty-four million acres of prime agricultural land which is now the low third of the state of Minnesota. Violations of those treaties and further invasion into treaty lands led to the Sioux uprising of 1862.

The short-lived war resulted in Husasa, and hundreds of Sioux being imprisoned at Fort Snelling, MN, then a military post. While in prison Husasa and many other Dakota were baptized and confirmed by the Minnesota Episcopal Bishop Benjamin Whipple, Husasa became one of the first Sioux Chiefs to convert to Christianity.  He took the English name of Thomas Whipple after the Bishop.

There was a huge Minnesota outcry for justice. A military commission, whose members were the recent enemies of the Sioux during the uprising was convened.  It condemned 303 Dakota Sioux to death. Bishop Whipple appealed this monumental injustice to President Abraham Lincoln who commuted the sentences for all but the thirty-eight.

On their way to makeshift gallows, their heads covered with hoods, the condemned joined hands and sang the gospel song #141 from “Dakota Odowan” a Presbyterian hymnal.

They were later buried in one large grave.  Soon after the grave site was breached by the Mayo brothers, the bodies were removed for medical research. The skeleton of one, “Cut Nose”, was kept for years at the Mayo Clinic. In the 1970’s, over a century later, it was finally reunited with the Dakota Tribe Flandreau, South Dakota.

After the mass hanging, the surviving Dakota were banished from their original homelands in Minnesota. They were relocated by the U.S. Military in 1863 to Crow Creek, SD and then in 1867 to their current reservation in Santee, Nebraska. Husasa died there in 1892, buried at the family site.

As James explains, Christianity, beginning with Husasa in 1862, is a defining factor in the lives of his descendants. For example, Henry H. Whipple, a grandson became an Episcopal minister in 1919.  He served many of the Sioux reservations in the Dakotas and at Our Most Merciful Savior (OMMS) in Santee NE, established in 1871, the first Episcopal Church in Dakota Territory.  OMMS is still active and registered as a historical site.

Henry Whipple was the grandfather of Jim James, Meredith James DeCory and Marilyn James Damien who are now all members of the St. David’s Episcopal Church, Lincoln, NE where they reside. Gospel music, translated to the Sioux tongue was and is a large part of their worship, especially the Dakota Gospel Hymnal.  Sophie James, (Jim’s mother) was a long-time church organist, now taken up by Tonya James, Jim’s daughter.

Part 2 of this article will look at the time Husasa, and his people spent at the Crow Creek Reservation, which Jim James said was a very tragic, yet powerful time.

(Contact Clara Caufield at 2ndcheyennevoice@gmail.com)

The post Husasa (Red Legs) Santee Sioux Chief and his Christian journey first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

Visit Original Source