Battle of Birch Coulee

Battle of Birch Coulee
Part of the Dakota War of 1862, American Civil War

Battlefield in 2010
DateSeptember 2–3, 1862
Location44°34′35″N 94°58′29″W / 44.57639°N 94.97472°W / 44.57639; -94.97472
Result Santee Sioux victory
Belligerents
 United States Santee Sioux
Commanders and leaders
Captain Hiram P. Grant
Captain Joseph Anderson
Major Joseph R. Brown
Gray Bird
Mankato
Big Eagle
Red Legs
Units involved
Company A, 6th Minnesota Infantry Regiment
Cullen Frontier Guards
Big Eagle's Band
Mankato's Band
Gray Bird's Band
Red Legs' Band
Strength
~150 ~200
Casualties and losses
13 killed
47 wounded
90+ horses killed
2 killed
Unknown number wounded

The Battle of Birch Coulee occurred on September 2–3, 1862, and resulted in the heaviest casualties suffered by U.S. forces during the Dakota War of 1862. The battle occurred after a group of Dakota warriors followed a U.S. burial expedition, including volunteer infantry, mounted guards and civilians, to an exposed plain where they were setting up camp. That night, 200 Dakota soldiers surrounded the camp and ambushed the Birch Coulee campsite in the early morning, commencing a siege that lasted for over 30 hours, until the arrival of reinforcements and artillery led by Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley.