“Incident at Fort Sod”

In the fall of 1856, speculators from the Western Town Company of Dubuque, Iowa, claimed a town site at the Falls of the Big Sioux River. The next spring, men joined them from the Dakota Land Company of St. Paul. Together, they founded Sioux Falls City, Minnesota Territory. Both groups came in anticipation of a treaty with the Yankton Sioux Indians, which would cede most of the Big Sioux River valley to the federal government. Since the Sioux looked upon these people as trespassers, their hold on the town site was precarious from the outset.

In the summer of 1858, the settlers received the alarming news that the town of Medary to the north had been destroyed by Indians. Sioux Falls City was thrown into a state of excitement. After some discussion, the settlers resolved to stay and defend their property. A fortification, made primarily of sod, was erected around a one-and-one-half story stone building owned by the Dakota Land Company. Called ‘Fort Sod’ by its builders, the earthen ‘Alamo’ stood near the site of this marker.

The walls of Fort Sod were four feet thick and ten feet high and enclosed an area about eighty feet by eighty feet, which included a spring of good drinking water. A deep ditch surrounded the fort and small portholes for shooting were cut out of the sod walls. When it was finished, the entire population of Sioux Falls City, with their belongings, entered the sanctuary and waited.

The lone woman of the group, Rebecca Goodwin, made a flag from flannel shirts and one of her skirts. In an act of sturdy defiance, the Stars and Stripes flew from the battlements.

One of the besieged, James M. Allen, wrote a letter to his father, dated June 17, 1858. Allen reported that morale was high among the thirty-five men and one woman, who were determined to stay and defend themselves and their property at the risk of their lives. They formed sentries and scouting parties, according to Allen, including Mrs. Goodwin, who could ‘shoot a gun as well as anyone.'

As they feared, Indians appeared at Sioux Falls City. After three days of cautiously and indecisively watching Fort Sod, they left. Not a shot was fired by either side. The settlers’ anxieties were not allayed, however, and they maintained their vigilance. After living six weeks within and near the walls of Fort Sod, the makeshift garrison was low on provisions and ‘poor in flesh and weak in spirits.' To their relief, two men with a buggy full of supplies arrived at the gates of the Fort. The siege was broken, and the gallant defenders marched out of Fort Sod, according to Allen, ‘in battle array, rivaling Falstaff’s army.' They had survived the incident at Fort Sod and, in the uneasy peace that followed, continued to build the new settlement.

Dedicated in 1997 by the Minnehaha County and South Dakota State Historical Societies

Minnehaha County, Corner of Mall St. and River St. southeast corner of 1st National Bank (2006)