Ramsey County History – Winter 2007: “An Encounter at Kaposia: The Bishop and Chief”

An Encounter at Kaposia: The Bishop and Chief
Author: Leo J. Harris

In July 1839, there was a meeting of two men at Kaposia during a time of cultural change for the Mdewakanton Dakota who lived there. Their leader at the time was Wakoyantanke (Big Thunder) commonly called Little Crow III (1765–1845). Pierre Mathias Loras, who was the first Catholic bishop for the area and was interested in converting the Native Americans, had come to Kaposia. When the two leaders met, there were speeches and an exchange of gifts and tobacco. Loras baptized 226 people at the meeting. Some of the bishop’s letters have survived and tell of Dakota daily life and their conflicts with the Ojibwe. Bishop Loras never returned to Kaposia, Big Thunder traveled to Washington for treaty negotiations in 1837.
PDF of Harris article