During the winter of 1862-63 more than 1600 Dakota non-combatants, including women, children and the elderly, as well as "mixed-blood" families and Christian and farmer Dakota who had opposed the war, were force-marched to a fenced concentration camp near the base of Fort Snelling which was built on the Dakota sacred area called 'Bdote' where the Mississippi River and Minnesota Rivers meet. Living conditions and sanitation were poor, and infectious diseases such as measles struck the camp, killing between an estimated 102 and 300 Dakota. Here the women were separated from the men before being exiled to reservations in neighboring states and Canada. These reservations tended to disregard Native American culture and traditions and their children were placed in boarding schools, which focused on European-based culture and religions.Minnesota Historical Society, Photograph Collection, Reserve Album 113 no. 52. Title: Captured Sioux Native Americans, corralled at Fort Snelling, 1862. Photographer: Edward Augustus Bromley (1848–1925)
