In 1851, the Santee Sioux Indians of Minnesota had been forced to cede to the government their hunting ground of . In 1852, they were corralled into a reservation on the Minnesota River. In 1858, they were swindled of half that land. In August 1862, when the government failed to pay the $1.4 million compensation provided by treaty, and its agents and politicians stole most of the supplies that the treaty granted, the Indians rebelled. When Chief Little Crow complained that despite stacks of provisions in clear sight, supposedly theirs by treaty, his people had nothing to eat, the government agent responded, "So far as I'm concerned... let them eat grass or their own dung. Minnesota political leaders, led by Governor Alexander Ramsey, in league with commercial interests, advocated expelling