It began innocently enough. Four Indians, Brown Wing, Breaking Up, Killing Ghost, and Runs Against Something When Crawling were coming home from an unsuccessful hunting trip on August 17, 1862. According to reports, they came upon a hen's nest on the Minnesota property of Mr. and Mrs. Robinson Jones.
One brave picked up some eggs, but another told him not to take them. An argument broke out and one of the braves was called a coward. To show he wasn't, the brave declared he was going to kill Mr. Jones. The braves went to the homestead of the Jones', and innocently began to play a game of target practice. They all took turns shooting at a target with Mr. Jones, then all at once the braves turned and shot Jones dead. When the smoke settled, five white settlers lay dead and the panicked Indians returned home with the news.
The Sioux (Dakotas) were fed up with their mistreatment at the hands of the United States government. Treaties had been violated and millions of acres of their land stolen. Added to that, the Indians were starving in the Summer of 1862 and the government was slow distributing food and clothing stored at a warehouse near present day Redwood Falls, Minnesota. The killings by the four Indians, therefore, were enough of an impetus to lead to war. The chieftains felt timing couldn't have been better since the majority of the white men in Minnesota were off fighting in the Civil War.
Toward the end of August, refugees from Minnesota began to flood into Wisconsin, bringing news of attacks at Lower Agency and New Ulm. This news caused a near statewide panic as people from all over Wisconsin fled to Milwaukee. As hysteria grew, rumors spread that places like Hartland and Oconomowoc had burned and people in Pewaukee had been slaughtered. It became known as the Wisconsin Indian Scare of 1862.
The uprising lasted a month. In Minnesota more then 500 white settlers and 60 Indians were killed. And in Wisconsin, despite all the panic and rumors, no violence occurred.
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