Lake of the Woods massacre

Lake of the Woods massacre
A satellite image of Lake of the Woods
Date 6 June, 1736 Location Lake of the Woods Result Sioux victory
Belligerents
Lakota and Dakota war party	French explorers
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Jean Baptiste de La Vérendrye
Strength
About 100 warriors	21 men

On June 6, 1736, a party of twenty one French explorers led by Jean Baptiste de La Vérendrye were massacred by Lakota and Dakota warriors on an island in Lake of the Woods. The massacre came about as a result of a recent French alliance with the Cree, who, under French protection, had been attacking Lakotas. The explorers had been en route to Fort Kaminstiquia on the northern shore of Lake Superior when the group of about one hundred warriors descended on and killed them in revenge for the French-sponsored Cree raids and French slave trading.^[1]