The history and Culture of the Spirit Lake Dakota
The first Indian Agent (Ateyapi) to serve the Spirit Lake Reservation was a man by the name of William Henry Forbes. He was born on November 1, 1815, on the Island of Montreal, Canada. His father was a native of Scotland and a member of the Hudson Bay Company as early as 1785. William came to Minnesota in 1837. A short time later he became a clerk for the American Fur Company at Mendota [Mdota] (Saint Paul, Minnesota), a position he held for ten years. He was an intimate associate of Henry H. Sibley. In 1846 at age 34 married Agnes Faribault 1829 – 1852 (Wozniak 1978:116). In 1847 he took charge of the “St. Paul Outfit” for the American Fur Company. Forbes formed a partnership with Charles Cavileer (a native of Springfield, Ohio, whom Cavalier North Dakota is named) and Commodore Norman W. Kittson in 1853 at Pembina to engage in the fur trade. After three years Forbes withdrew (Holley 1892:145). From 1853 to 1856 he was Postmaster of St. Paul. During this period, he was elected to four sessions as a member of the Minnesota Territorial Council. In 1859 Forbes was appointed to a ‘paper’ Minnesota State Militia in (Folwell 1962:(2) 28). He had the Forbes Store at the Lower (Redwood) Agency. He lost 40,000 dollars in inventory when his store was burned during the opening day of the Minnesota Uprising in 1862 (McConkey 1970: 330). He was appointed Commissary of Subsistence and Captain of the United States Volunteers 1862 –1863 (Mn. Hist. Coll. 4:54). He participated in the punitive expeditions against the Dakota people into Dakota Territory 1862 – 66. Captain Forbes was in-charge of 225 supply wagons (McConkey 1970:330). He completed his military obligation in 1866.
During the fur-trade period he learned to speak the Dakota Indian language. He was so well versed in its use he was appointed one of the interpreters (Iyeska) for the treaty between the United States of America, and the Wahpeton and Sisseton bands of Dakota or Sioux Indians at Traverse des Sioux (Oiyuweģa) in 1851. The Dakota essentially sold almost all their lands in Minnesota for seven and one-half cents an acre. Individual Dakota people had unpaid debts to various fur traders for supplies obtained over the years; after the chiefs signed the treaty they were led over to a large wooden barrel upon which was a document that said the Indians would pay off these debts with the treaty money. The chiefs signed this document thinking it was just another copy of treaty. This deception later became one of the grievances, which led to the uprising in 1862. Forbes had a bill paid out of this contested document for one thousand dollars. Little Crow wrote a letter to General Sibley on September 7, 1862 informing him the “reasons why we commenced this war,” one of which was “Mr. Forbes told the Lower Sioux they were not men.” (Sisseton Claims 22524: pages138-139).
In May 1871 Forbes was appointed the first Indian Agent for the Devils Lake Reservation.
He was a devout Catholic; his sister Mother Forbes–McMullen was a member of the Grey Nuns (Sisters of Charity) at Saint Boniface, Manitoba. He was instrumental in having them start the Saint Michael Mission.
Forbes also went to Sisseton in 1872 and in 1873 to St. Paul to “help” with the agreement to sell the remaining land owned by the Sisseton – Wahpeton. The chiefs sold 8 to 11 million acres between Spirit Lake and Lake Traverse for ten cents an acre.
He died on July 20, 1875, at the Devils Lake Indian Agency, Dakota Territory.
Paul Edmond Beckwith succeeded him as Indian agent.
Bibliography
Durand, Paul C. Where the Waters Gather and the Rivers Meet: An Atlas of the Eastern Sioux. Privately published, Faribault, MN 1994.
Folwell, William Watts. A History of Minnesota (in four volumes) Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. 1961.
Holley, Frances Chamberlain. Once their Home or Our legacy from the Dahkotas.
Chicago: Donohue and Henneberry 1892.
McConkey, Harriet B. Dakota War Whoop. Ross and Haines inc. Minneapolis. 1970
Reprint of 1863 edition.
McLaughlin, James Papers State Historical Society of North Dakota archives.
4337 Roll 19, frame 742. (Half-breed script issued to Catherin Forbes, wife of Agent Forbes)..
Wozniak, John S. Contact, Negotiation, and Conflict: An Ethnohistory of the Eastern Dakota 1819 – 1839. University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland. 1978.
