Events to mark 140th anniversary of Dakota Conflict

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The Brown County Historical Society will commemorate the 140th anniversary of the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War with a variety of free events next Saturday and Sunday.

It all begins at 1 p.m. Saturday at the museum, 2 N. Broadway with a guided walking tour of a three-block downtown area that was located inside the barricades built when the town was attacked. The tour will be conducted from the point of view of Katie Gropper, a 10-year-old girl living in New Ulm in 1862.

Dakota War historian John LaBatte -- who directly descended from at least nine people involved in all sides of the conflict -- will speak with unique perspectives at the Museum Transportation Annex, 12 N. Broadway. LaBatte's talk will focus on the causes of the conflict from the traditional Dakota point of view and from the role of Christian Indians.

LaBatte became interested in the Minnesota Sioux Indian Reservation area in 1974 when he began making business trips to New Ulm. He read books on the subject and visited every historic marker in the area.

"Whenever I entered the Minnesota River Valley, I noticed a peculiar shiver in my spine as if I had been there before," LaBatte said. "

On Sunday, BCHS Research Librarian Darla Gebhard will conduct a tour at 2 p.m. in the New Ulm City Cemetery. The tour will start in the caretaker's building at the north end of Cemetery Avenue.

Tour participants will learn about gravestone symbolism and stories about historical figures of Brown County's past.

Historical marker re-dedications will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Roebbecke Mill site, State and Center Streets (across from the Courthouse); Second Battle of New Ulm marker at 27 N. Broadway (the former Brown County Museum location, now housing the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame); and the Upper Minnesota River Transportation marker at Front and Center (north of Riverside Arts Center).

The historical markers were refurbished thanks to several benefactors. The public is encouraged to attend. For more information, call the BCHS at 507-233-2616.