Shakopee I

Chief Shakopee was one of the seven Dakota who attended a council with U.S. Lieutenant Zebulon Pike on September 23, 1805. Pike, whose written French was full of errors, referred to Shakopee in his journal as "Le Demi Douzen."^[6] Shakopee, however, did not end up signing the Treaty of St. Peters, which granted the United States approximately 100,000 acres of land at the mouth of the Minnesota River, for the purposes of building a fort. Historian Gary Clayton Anderson suggests that the two chiefs who did sign the treaty, Little Crow I and Penichon, probably had the best claims to the land which would later form the Fort Snelling military reservation.^[5]

In 1816, American treaty commissioners met with nearly ten eastern Sioux chiefs and headmen in St. Louis to negotiate peace following the War of 1812 and to reaffirm the terms of Pike's 1805 treaty. However, Shakopee's name does not appear as a signatory to the 1816 treaty, which was signed instead by Mdewakanton chiefs such as Tatankamani (Red Wing II), Bad Hail and Penichon.^[7]

In the fall of 1817, Chief Shakopee went to Prairie du Chien to meet with U.S. Indian agent Benjamin O'Fallon. O'Fallon reported that Shakopee expressed strong friendship for the American people. He quoted Shakopee as saying, "Bad Birds", [meaning the British], "have attempted to whisper in my ears. They told me to turn my back upon the smooth face chief [O'Fallon]."^[5] According to O'Fallon, Shakopee said that he would reject the advice of the British, and invited him to visit his village the following year with presents and to "drag from among them" the British who were corrupting his young men.^[5]

In 1819, Major Thomas Forsyth was sent by the United States Department of War to visit the Sioux Indians to distribute approximately US$2,000 worth of goods as payment for lands ceded to the U.S. in the 1805 treaty signed with Pike (also known as "Pike's Purchase").^[8] Forsyth, who was generally unimpressed with the upper Mississippi River valley, was highly critical of most of the Dakota he met during his expedition.^[7] On July 26, 1819, while recovering from illness, he met with Chief Shakopee and two other leaders at the mouth of the St. Peter's (Minnesota River). He reported feeling offended by Shakopee's aggressiveness.^[8] In a journal entry dated July 26, Forsyth wrote:

Yesterday evening three chiefs arrived with many followers, viz: The Six, whose village is thirty miles up the river St. Peter's; the Arrow, twenty-four miles still higher, and the Killiew (thus named from a species of eagle) whose village is six miles still higher. They wished to go about business immediately; but it was too late. This morning we met and had some talk, but I by no means liked the countenance of Mr. Six, nor did I like his talk; I gave them the remainder of my goods, yet the Six wanted more. Not having any more, they had to do without. I found on enquiring that Mr. Six is a good-for-nothing fellow, and rather gives bad counsel to his young men than otherwise. In all my talks with those Indians, I generally told them the same I told the Leaf [Wabasha]; and in all cases I had to give each band a little whisky. These are the last Indians I am to see in this quarter; therefore, I am done with the Sioux for this year.^[8]

In 1823, Major Stephen Harriman Long returned to the Minnesota River on a scientific expedition, together with geologist William H. Keating, naturalist Thomas Say, and topographer James Edward Calhoun. Long arrived at "the village of the Six" on July 10, and found that most of the Dakota who lived there were away on a hunting expedition. At this time, he reported that Shakopee's village was on the north side of the Minnesota River. The village would later move to the south side of the river, to where present-day Shakopee, Minnesota is today.^[3]

William H. Keating, who accompanied Long on the expedition but traveled in a separate boat, referred to Shakopee's band as "Taoapa," and wrote:

The chief of this part is called Shakpa, which means six. He inherited his station, and is a distinguished man, ranking in the nation third only to Wapasha and Petit Corbeau. He has but one village; it is situated on the St. Peter, between which river and the Mississippi he hunts.^[1]