Henry Hastings Sibley

Henry Hastings Sibley
1st Governor of Minnesota
In office May 24, 1858 – January 2, 1860
Lieutenant	William Holcombe
Preceded by	Samuel Medary as Territorial Governor
Succeeded by	Alexander Ramsey
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota Territory's at-large district
In office July 7, 1849 – March 3, 1853
Preceded by	New district
Succeeded by	Henry Mower Rice
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin Territory's at-large district
In office October 30, 1848 – March 3, 1849
Preceded by	John H. Tweedy
Succeeded by	District abolished
Personal details
Born	(1811-02-20)February 20, 1811 Detroit, Michigan
Died	February 18, 1891(1891-02-18) (aged 79) Saint Paul, Minnesota
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Sarah Jane (Hume) Steele
Profession	supply-purchasing agent
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America Union
Service/branch	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1862–1866
Rank	Brigadier General, USV Brevet Major General, USV
Commands	District of Minnesota
Battles/wars	American Civil War Dakota War of 1862

Henry Hastings Sibley (February 20, 1811 – February 18, 1891) was the first Governor of the U.S. state of Minnesota and a U.S. Representative of the Minnesota Territory and the Wisconsin Territory.

Early life and education

Henry Hastings Sibley was born in Detroit, Michigan, where his parents, Solomon Sibley (1769–1846), a native of Sutton, Massachusetts, and Sarah Whipple (Sproat) Sibley had moved in 1797. It was part of a major westward migration after the American Revolutionary War by New Englanders. Solomon Sibley became a prominent judge in the early history of the city and state. He was of entirely English ancestry, all of which had been in North America since the early 1600s.^[1]

As a young man, Henry Sibley read about and studied law in his father's office to prepare for the bar and licensing.

Career

In 1828, the young Sibley started as a clerk at a mercantile house in Sault Ste. Marie, a prominent fur trading center on both the United States and Canadian sides. From 1829–1834, he worked as a supply-purchasing agent of the American Fur Company at Mackinac. In 1834, Sibley became a partner in the company and relocated to their headquarters in St. Peter's (now called Mendota), Minnesota. He lived there from 1834–1862.^[2]

Marriage and family

Sibley's House at St. Peter, now Mendota

In 1836, Sibley built the first stone house in Minnesota, which is now the Sibley House Historic Site. The home, in Mendota, overlooked Fort Snelling from across the Mississippi River. Over the winter of 1839-40 he entered a de facto marriage with Red Blanket Woman, granddaughter of a Mdewakanton Dakota chief; a daughter, Helen Hastings Sibley, also known as Wahkiyee (Bird), was born in August 1841. The circumstances of Sibley and Red Blanket Woman's relationship are obscure, but several sources suggest that she remarried a Dakota man, perhaps in 1842, and died in early 1843.^[3]

On May 2, 1843, Sibley married Sarah Jane Steele, daughter of General James Steele, commander of Fort Snelling, and his wife Mary (Hume). Sarah Jane's brother was Franklin Steele, a prominent Minneapolis businessman, and her sister Anna Abby Steele married Dr. Thomas R. Potts, who later became the first mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota. For her part, Helen was eventually placed with a missionary family and grew up acculturated to white society in St. Paul; Sibley maintained a congenial and public relationship with Helen until her death in 1859, although this reportedly upset Sarah.^[4]

Sarah Jane Steele Sibley

The political boundaries changed so frequently from 1836 through 1862 that, although all of Sibley's white children were born in this house, they were each recorded as having been born in different political units: Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota Territory and finally, the state of Minnesota. In 1862, the Sibley family moved to St. Paul.

Political career

Sibley started his public career shortly after the organization of Iowa Territory, receiving a commission as Justice of the Peace of Clay County by governor John Chambers.^[5] He received commissions and extensions to his commission in 1838, 1839 and 1840.^[6]

Sibley's political life began when he was elected to represent Wisconsin Territory to the 30th United States Congress in an unusual organizational vacuum after Wisconsin became a state on May 29, 1848. His election was mandated to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John H. Tweedy. He took over as the Wisconsin Territory At-large congressional district representative on October 30, 1848, although he was not recognized to be seated until the subsequent January. The Wisconsin Territory's At-large congressional district was eliminated with the creation of the Territory of Minnesota on March 3, 1849.^[7] He was subsequently elected as the first representative of the Minnesota Territory's At-large congressional district, serving in the 31st and 32nd congresses from July 7, 1849 - March 3, 1853.

Sibley was elected to the Minnesota Territorial House of Representatives, convened from January to March 1855, as the representative of Dakota County. He was a member of the Democratic Party wing of the first Minnesota Constitutional Convention, of which he eventually became president. Assembled July 13, 1857, the convention resulted in adoption of the constitution as framed on October 13, 1857.^[8]

In 1858 Sibley was elected as the first governor of the state, and is one of just four Minnesota Democrats to win a gubernatorial election with a Democrat in the White House.^[9] He served from May 24, 1858, until January 2, 1860.^[10] After narrowly defeating Republican Alexander Ramsey in the first state gubernatorial contest, Sibley declared in his inaugural address, "I have no object and no interests which are not inseparably bound up with the welfare of the state." He did not seek reelection.

Railroad bond issue

When the legislature voted for the state to issue bonds to the railroads to provide for construction of the transcontinental route, Sibley refused. He said the railroads did not give priority of lien to the state on their property. The state supreme court ordered the governor to issue the legislatively authorized state bonds to railroads. The legislature asked him to market the bonds in New York. Although he made an effort to do, the capitalists refused to buy the bonds. The state subsequently repudiated the issuance.^[11]

Military career

Henry Hastings Sibley in uniform, 1862

The U.S. Dakota War of 1862

In 1862, after the American Civil War began, Sibley was appointed colonel of the state militia. He was directed to the upper Minnesota River to protect exposed settlements from the Sioux American Indians. After the massacre at Acton, August 18, 1862, he was involved in the following engagements:

• The Battle of Birch Coulee
• The Battle of Wood Lake

The last engagement was a decisive battle. It resulted in Sioux bands' releasing about 250 captive whites. In the action, the militia captured 2,000 Sioux, both men and women. Of these captives, 321 warriors were tried for capital crimes and 303 were sentenced to death. It was a "kangaroo court" with no lawyers for the defendants. Some of the "trials" lasted only a few minutes. Thirty-eight men were hanged at Mankato, December 26, 1862, including at least one whose sentence had been commuted by President Lincoln.^[12]

For gallantry in the field, Sibley was promoted to brigadier-general of volunteers, September 29, 1862. In 1863, he led a second successful expedition against the Sioux in Dakota Territory. This campaign included the battles of Big Mound (July 24), Dead Buffalo Lake (July 26), and Stony Lake (July 28).

Sibley continued to defend the western frontier, 1864–1865. On November 29, 1865, he was brevetted as major-general of the volunteers for "efficient and meritorious services." He was relieved from the command of the district of Minnesota in August 1866 after the end of the American Civil War.

Post-military career

After his military service, Sibley was active in settling several Indian treaties. Upon reentering business life in St. Paul, he served as president of the chamber of commerce, as well as the president of several railroads, banks, and other large corporations.

He also served a variety of civil organizations. He became a member of the Minnesota Historical Society in 1849 and eventually served as president. He joined the Old Settlers' association of that state in 1858. He contributed to the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, to Spirit of the Times, and to The Turf, Field and Farm. Among his work for the Minnesota Historical Society were memoirs of Joseph Nicolas Nicollet,^[13] Hercules L. Dousman^[14] and Jean Baptiste Faribault.^[15]

He died in St. Paul, Minnesota on February 18, 1891, two days before his 80th birthday and is buried in Oakland Cemetery in St. Paul.

Legacy and honors

Sibley family grave column

A close-up of Sibley's and wife Sarah's marker

• In 1867 he was appointed to the board of visitors to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
• He was also president of the board of regents of the University of Minnesota, and president of the Board of Indian Commissioners from 1875–1876.
• He was awarded an honorary LL.D. from the College of New Jersey (later known as Princeton University), in 1888.
• Sibley was memorialized in numerous place names, including: Sibley County, Minnesota,^[16] Sibley, North Dakota, Sibley, Iowa, Hastings, Minnesota,^[17] Sibley State Park, and Henry Sibley High School in Mendota Heights, Minnesota.

See also

• List of American Civil War generals
• We-Chank-Wash-ta-don-pee

Notes

Other references

• Henry Hastings Sibley, Biographical information, Minnesota Historical Society
• Gubernatorial records, Minnesota Historical Society
• Henry Hastings Sibley Papers, Minnesota Historical Society
• Rossiter, John (1906). "Henry Hastings Sibley". Biographical Dictionary of America. IX. Boston: American Biographical Society. Retrieved August 18, 2014. 
• Pedersen, Kern Owen (1949). Makers of Minnesota: An Illustrated Story of the Builders of Our State. St. Paul, MN: Pederson. Retrieved August 19, 2014. 
• Williams, John Fletcher (1894). "Henry Hastings Sibley: A Memoir". Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society. Minnesota Historical Society. 6: 257–310. Retrieved August 19, 2014. 

External links

• Henry H. Sibley in MNopedia, the Minnesota Encyclopedia

• United States Congress. "Henry Hastings Sibley (id: S000396)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.  Retrieved on 2008-12-01

Governors of Minnesota
Territorial (1849–58)	Ramsey Gorman Medary
State (since 1858)	Sibley Ramsey Swift Miller Marshall Austin Davis Pillsbury Hubbard McGill Merriam Nelson Clough Lind Van Sant Johnson Eberhart Hammond Burnquist Preus Christianson Olson Petersen Benson Stassen Thye Youngdahl E. Anderson Freeman Andersen Rolvaag LeVander W. Anderson Perpich Quie Perpich Carlson Ventura Pawlenty Dayton