The History and Culture of the Spirit Lake Dakota
Within the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota is a coolie which drains into the Red River of the North. It is known by the name English Coulee from a translation of the French fur trader name Coulee de L’ Anglais. The name stems from an attack upon the Tully family by the Dakota in 1823. Unfortunately the Dakota name of this coolie has not survived. We might surmise that it was called Sakdaŝa Takaksiza or British Coulee.
In 1819 the Earl of Selkirk from Scotland employed a number of families for a period of three years to start an experimental farm at what is now the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. They were to prepare the way for others to follow. The group pf adventurers began their work.
In 1820, just as they were preparing to harvest their first crop a plague of grasshoppers came and totally destroyed their crop as well as eating the leaves from the trees. The settler’s only recourse was to hunt and fish in order to survive. Sometimes they had to travel 200 miles south to find buffalo in the winter. Even with this the suffering was great. It was reported that for the three years of their contract there was no bread in that whole settlement. At the end of three years James David Tully (a blacksmith) and his uncle Robert Campbell made up their minds to leave the settlement and go to the United States.
David was married to Alsie Curl and Robert to Ann Curl, sisters. Tully and Campbell along with their families hired a guide in the fall of 1823. The group traveled south about 75 miles to Pembina where they stopped for the night at a fur post of a French trader. In the morning it was discovered the horses had strayed and it was decided that Robert Campbell and their guide would look for the horses. They followed the trail almost back to the Selkirk Settlement before recovering the horses and returning on the third day. In the meantime David Tully had made up his mind to leave Pembina and go to Grand Forks where it was reported a band of Métis hunters were camped, from whom he could trade for some buffalo meat. Predetermined at the start that Tully and Campbell would travel no further than Lake Traverse, as winter was about to set in. Just as Campbell arrived back at Pembina with the horses, the sad news was received that David Tully and his family were all killed by the Dakota.
Robert Campbell learned that his nephew had traveled south to Grand Forks in order to reach the camp of the Métis hunters. They discovered the hunter’s camp at dusk on the opposite side or east side of the Red River while they were on the west side.. The river was frozen over by just a thin layer of ice making it unsafe to cross. So they camped for the night and were joined by two Métis who laid with an ear on the ground, and reported a party of some kind coming towards them. Just as the report was given a small war party of Dakota appeared on the ridge. The two Métis told the Tully’s to follow them and they all could escape over the river. The two hunters started off, the Indians came upon them so fast that someone perhaps David Tully fired and killed one of the Dakota. David took his two boys telling his wife and baby daughter to follow him out onto the ice. The ice broke under David’s weight and he sank into the water, the two boys being lighter in weight remained standing on the ice. A Dakota on the river bank shot and killed David, the two boys were captured. The Dakota proceeded to the Tully camp where they shot an arrow into Mrs. Tully killing her, and began to plunder, destroying what they could not carry off. The Dakota disappeared as fast as they had appeared being afraid of the Métis camp within site of the killings on the opposite river bank. The two Métis hunters had crossed the river at a point further south where the ice was thicker and made their escape.
As soon as the news of the killings was received, Robert Campbell and the guide started for the Grand Forks. When they arrived they could find none of the bodies. While scavenging through the camp they discovered some Bills of Exchange from the Hudson’s Bay Company. Robert made it a sacred trust to ransom the three children with these Bills of Exchange.
The little girl would not stop crying so the Dakota bashed her brains out before daylight.
The Dakota spit into two groups. One with Andrew, about age 3 went toward Devils Lake, and the other with John, about age 5 traveled south. John’s whereabouts was reported by an old scout named Dixon. This man ransomed John for fifty dollars soon after he was captured, and brought to the Agent at Lake Traverse. Major Taliaferro, the Indian Agent at Ft. Snelling authorized the Agent at Lake Traverse to offer a reward of Fifty Dollars for Andrew. Still the Indian who owned John would not give him up. An unnamed Métis, but possibly with the name Jeffois, and an Indian guide traveled to the Indian camp. He entered the camp singing his Death Song and asked where the white boy was held and the Indians pointed it out. An old woman was looking out the tent door. Just as he arrived at the door it was closed and fastened from the inside. The Métis took his knife and ripped open the leather tent. Upon entering he discovered the old woman holding a knife, who threatened to kill Andrew. Within a second, the Métis snatched the boy and ran out. None of the other Indians present made a move as he challenged them to kill him. He was well known by the Indians and they thought it wise to let him go. This Métis man took Andrew to Lake Traverse and received his reward.
The boys were taken to Fort Snelling where John later died of scarlet fever. It was reported that John received a scalp wound at English Coulee and never regained his health. Andrew was taken to Fort Winnebago in the care of Captain Clark. Then he was taken to New York by way of New Orleans where he was placed in an orphanage. It seems that Colonel Snelling was attempting to bring Andrew back to his relatives, but was persuaded to leave him at the New York Asylum. Robert Campbell found out in 1835 that Andrew was apprenticed to John Thompson as coach trimmer and harness maker. Andrew once traveled west to visit the Campbell family then living in Dakota County, Nebraska, twenty miles southwest of Sioux City. Andrew Tully died on February 18, 1892. John Tully became Henry Hunt Snelling’s foster brother. He says John died of lock-jaw at age eleven when he cut his ankle joint with an ax at Fort Snelling, not of scarlet fever. John was buried in the fort’s cemetery.
