Inkpaduta led a small band of Wahpekutes who had been expelled from the main band in dissension following the murder of a chief in 1840. (Other major bands of Sioux in the region were the
Wahpeton and Sisseton.) Including some women and children, his band followed the game and lived by hunting, whose yield was decreasing under pressure of new settlement. They also received some annuities under the
Traverse des Sioux and
Mendota 1851 treaties but never received the rightful amount owed by the United States for lands the Sioux were forced to cede. By the terms of the Traverse des Sioux treaty, a reservation was set up along the Minnesota River, about 15 miles above
Fort Ridgely. Promised improvements were not made on time and the federal government repeatedly failed to make adequate and timely annuity payments, even failing to authorize adequate budgets for the Department of Interior for this purpose. Provisions for education were not started for several years; only a few missionaries taught the Sioux bands. Lands were not adequately plowed for cultivation. Supplies were shipped too late and in inadequate amounts, to the point where the Sioux could not survive on them. By 1856, many Mdewakantons and Wahpekutes still came to the reservation just to get annuity payments, and returned to old hunting grounds to survive, especially during the winter. As they encountered more new settlers, conflicts arose. In a reorganization, in the summer of 1856 Charles A. Flandrau was appointed US Indian agent. Said to be an experienced trader and a man of integrity, he worked at improving conditions, but had much ground to make up. Many Sioux in addition to Inkpaduta's band were living off the reservation because of the government's failures. Suffering food shortages during the severe winter of 1856–1857, which saw heavy snows, Inkpaduta and his band begged for food at European-American settlements in northwestern Iowa. Also struggling that winter, whites rebuffed the Indians with violence and a posse disarmed Inkpaduta's band after they killed a settler's dog that had bitten one of the band. They managed to acquire arms and retaliated by attacking settlements there and at
Spirit Lake. The Indians broke camp that night. Defenseless and hungry, the band moved north. Perhaps the first raid came near Gillet Grove, Iowa. A warrior of the group, who approached the Gillett cabin, was allegedly shot after repeated visits to the cabin believed to fancy Mrs. Gillett while also looking for food and rifles. As the tribe destroyed homes and lives on their journey, they came across Jowl Howe, who was also decapitated. The warriors killed 35-40 settlers, regardless of age or gender. Most of the victims were scalped. The Sioux took four young women as captives, 14-year-old Abbie Gardner and three who were married, and headed back to Minnesota territory. Word spread about the attacks, and the U.S.
Indian Agent organized an armed militia of white citizens. Because of the heavy snows, a relief expedition from
Fort Dodge failed to arrive in time. Another expedition from
Fort Ridgely in Minnesota pursued Inkpaduta and his band but failed to catch them. Abbie states in her memories that Lt. Murray and his men were within eyesight the second day after the Springfield, Minnesota, raid, but were unaware of how close they came to encountering the Sioux. While settlers demanded vengeance and rumors proliferated, the territorial authorities decided not to act against the Sioux until the captives had been returned. Settlers killed innocent Sioux who were caught hunting near them. When contact was made with Inkpaduta's group, the officials found that two of the captive women had been killed. In May the territorial legislature authorized a ransom, and a few days later two Wahpeton men brought in the third matron, Mrs. Margaret Ann Marble, for ransom. completed negotiations for the ransom of Abbie Gardner, who was taken by two Sisseton to the Upper Sioux Agency on the Minnesota River. From there she was taken to
Fort Ridgely and then to
St. Paul, Minnesota. During the summer, after struggling to marshal troops and attract allied Sioux warriors, the Indian Agency pursued Inkpaduta and his band, but most evaded capture. The Sioux refused to join another expedition. ==Aftermath==