1815-1882
Wahpekute Santee
The renegade band of Wahpekute Santee led by Inkpaduta saw its beginning when Wamdesapa, Inkpaduta's father, killed his old rival, Chief Tasagi. Wamdesapa died in 1848 leaving his son to direct the freely roaming band of renegades. They roamed the prairies of South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. Other members of the Wahpekutes wanted no part of the fierce, cruel leader whose band became a refuge for cast-outs and undesirables from many Santee tribes.
Inkpaduta's extreme hatred for whites seemed to be derived from the senseless murdering in 1854 of his brother and family by Henry Lott. Henry Lott, a white whiskey trader and horse thief, reputedly had killed without cause. For this reason, probably, Inkpaduta fiercely opposed white encroachment on the Minnesota frontier. He did not sign one of the 1851 treaties, but often appeared at the agencies demanding a share of the annuity payments.
During the severe winter of 1856-57, even the agency Santee suffered. Inkpaduta's band, with no annuities to fall back on, survived only by begging and preying on white settlements. A white posse, angered over the shooting of a dog which had bitten a member, forcibly took their weapons leaving them unable to even hunt. The weapons were recovered in some manner. The Inkpaduta band then proceeded to retaliate against the whites by a general slaughter of settlers in the area.
On March 8 and 9, 1856, Inkpaduta led his band on a murdering spree that ended with 35 deaths and the capture of 4 women in the Okoboji and Spirit Lakes area in Iowa. These deaths have been recorded in history as the Spirit Lake Massacre.
Inkpaduta showed no mercy to the captive white women. Two of the women died after the band fled into what is now South Dakota. Mrs. Margaret Ann Marble and Abbie Gardner were rescued by other Santee for the promise of individual rewards and the return of the entire tribe's annuities. The Santee hotly resented being deprived of their annuities for the actions of the 14 or 15 members of Inkpaduta's band of Wahpekute Santee.
A little more than 5 years later during the Minnesota Uprising, Inkpaduta was one of the ingenious leaders at the battles of Big Mound and White Stone Hill, 1863. It was a young member of Inkpaduta's band who shot Dr. Joseph S. Weiser that started the Big Mound Battle. Inkpaduta led his small band up and down the frontier killing settlers and leaving a trail of terror. The whites blamed all of the Santee for his actions.
At the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Inkpaduta was one of the few Santee present. Afterwards, fled into Canada never making peace with the whites. He died in 1882.
