Battle of Kathio

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Kathio
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date=1750
place=Rum River/Mille Lacs Lake
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territory=Minnesota, United States
result=Chippewas Victory
combatant1=Native American Chippewas Tribe
combatant2=Native American Sioux Tribe
commander1=
commander2=
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
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ummary

The Battle of Kathio was an oral tradition of the Chippewa reporting a battle fought in 1750 between Chippewas and the Sioux on the Rum River next to Mille Lacs Lake.

An old man, living in a Chippewa village at the Fond du Lac (end of the lake), had four adult sons. They frequently made trips to visit the Sioux and they often returned home with gifts. Until one day, when one of the sons was killed in a quarrel over a Sioux woman. The three brothers returned home for a short while then returned to the Sioux, convinced the death of their brother was a mistake. However, upon this trip, only one brother returned home to his father safely. The last son, filled with forgiveness, went to seek the Sioux and reconcile their differences, but only met his death in the Sioux village.

For two years after, the father hunted and worked hard to obtain enough ammunition and supplies to raid the Sioux village and seek his revenge. As was the custom, he sent his tobacco and war club to the other Chippewa villages asking for help to accompany him “in search of his sons”. The response was overwhelming and a large war party assembled at Fond du Lac. The Chippewas were victorious, and gained control of the northern part of what became modern day Minnesota as a result. However, to date no archaeological evidence has been found to support this, although French explorer Sieur de Luth did, in 1679, record the existence of 40 Sioux villages in the vicinity.

The last vestige of Sioux domination in this area was broken with the destruction, in about the year 1750, of the great Sioux village of Kathio on the Rum River, near the present village of Vineland. [Compiled by workers of the Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Minnesota, (1940), "Kittson County: (A School History)", p. 6]

ee also

Mille Lacs Kathio State Park

References

Bibliography

External References

[http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=280&ResourceType=District National Historic Landmarks program of the National Park Service]