The Amidon monument

South Dakota · United States · Cemetery

He was killed while ploughing his field in 1862. His fourteen year old son was killed with arrows trying to help him.

A stone monument above the north side of Sioux Falls, South Dakota marks where Judge Amidon and his son died in August 1862.

He was ploughing. His son, who was fourteen, was killed trying to help him.

What that monument does not say is what the killings were part of. In the summer of 1862 the Dakota went to war in Minnesota after years of broken treaties, stolen annuity payments and outright starvation, with traders refusing them food they were owed. Hundreds of settlers were killed and so were a great many Dakota.

When it ended the United States hanged thirty eight Dakota men at Mankato in a single morning, which remains the largest mass execution in American history, and expelled the survivors from Minnesota.

Both the Amidons and the people who killed them belong to that.

The monument stands near the cemetery and can be visited.

FAQ

Where is The Amidon monument located?

The Amidon monument is in South Dakota, United States.