Henry Hastings Sibley

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 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.

As a young man, Henry Sibley "read" (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.

Marriage and family
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.

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. 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 political career in 1838 when he was appointed the first Justice of the Peace west of the Mississippi River by the governor of Iowa Territory, John Chambers. He was elected a delegate from the Wisconsin Territory to the 30th United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John H. Tweedy. He took over as the Wisconsin Territory At-large congressional district representative from October 30, 1848, to March 3, 1849. The Wisconsin Territory's At-large congressional district was eliminated with the creation of the Minnesota Territory on March 2, 1849. However, Even though Wisconsin had become a state Henry Sibley continued to serve out his term as the Delegate from the Territory of Wisconsin until March 3, 1849 making the district's effective elimination on March 3, 1849 the conclusion of the Congress. After the formation of the Territory of Minnesota he was 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. His influence in the 30th Congress included causing a part of Wisconsin and a tract west of the Mississippi River to be separated as the Territory of Minnesota.

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.

In 1858 Sibley was elected as the first governor of the state. He served from May 24, 1858, until January 2, 1860. 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.

Military career
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 New Ulm
 * The Battle of Fort Ridgely
 * 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. The defendants were not even explained what are they being accused. 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.

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 Turf, Field and Farm.

Legacy and honors

 * 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, Sibley, North Dakota, Sibley, Iowa, Hastings, Minnesota, Sibley State Park, and Henry Sibley High School in Mendota Heights, Minnesota.

He died in St. Paul, Minnesota on February 18, 1891, and is buried in Oakland Cemetery in St. Paul.

Further references

 * Henry Hastings Sibley, Biographical information, Minnesota Historical Society
 * Gubernatorial records, Minnesota Historical Society
 * Henry Hastings Sibley Papers, Minnesota Historical Society




 * Pedersen, Kern, Makers of Minnesota: An Illustrated History of the Builders of Our State. St. Paul: Minnesota Territorial Centennial (1949)