On the Sioux Trail: Schwandt Family

U.S. – Dakota War of 1862, Part VII

The Schwandt State Monument

On the 18 August 1862, the Schwandt family farm was one of many attacked by roving Dakota warriors. Six members of the Schwandt family were killed, along with one family friend. Young August Schwandt escaped by crawling away through the tall grass, and daughter Mary was away from the farm at the time. Mary was soon taken captive, however.

The victims were buried in scattered, unmarked graves about the farm where their bodies were found. The Schwandt Monument was erected in 1915 by the state of Minnesota. It is located off of Renville County Road 15 south of Sacred Heart.

” ‘Till the war drum throbs no longer,
And the battle flags are furled
In the parliament of men
And the federation of the World.’ ”
— Spoken at the monument dedication in 1915