Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2020
Ṡakpe (pronounced ‘shock-pay’) is a Dakota word for the number six and is the name of three leaders of the Dakota village of Tínṫa Otuŋwe.
According to one story, Dakota leader Ṡakpe I (1750-June 1827) received this name when his wife, Ptesaŋ Wiŋ (White Buffalo Woman), also known as Pteska Wiŋ, gave birth to sextuplet boys.
When Ṡakpe I died, his adopted son took the hereditary name of Ṡakpe II.
Marhpia Nazhe (Standing Cloud) (1794-1857), now called Ṡakpe II, was the biological twin son of the Anishinaabe leader Ozaawindib (Yellow Head).
His father gave him to the Mdewakaŋtoŋwaŋ Dakota to forge an alliance with the band, and to provide them with a hereditary leader. This alliance between the two bands helped keep the peace.
As an adult, Ṡakpe II identified equally as being both Anishinaabe and Dakota.
Ṡakpe II was a prominent leader of a Mdewakanton band of Dakotas whose village, called Tínṫa Otuŋwe, the prairie village, was situated in what later was called Shakopee.
A famous spring, which gushes at once in a small river of excellent water from the head of the stubby ravine, marked the site. The trader, Oliver Faribault, and Wakan Yaŋke Wiŋ lived on one side of the spring starting in 1844. The missionary, Rev. Samuel W. Pond and his wife, Cordelia Eggleston Pond, lived on the other side starting in 1847. And Ṡakpe II and his followers, about 600 members, resided in the bark huts and skin lodges (called tipi tonka) scattered all about. They had been living in the area since the late 1600s.
The City of Shakopee is named after Ṡakpe II, whose band was living in the area along the Minnesota River when Thomas A. Holmes and William Quinn established a trading post here in 1851.
William Keating wrote in 1823 about Tínṫa Otuŋwe: “…it consists of fifteen large bark lodges, in good order; they were arranged along the river. Some of them were large enough to hold from thirty to fifty peoples, accommodated as the Indians usually are in their lodges. The ground near it neatly laid out, and some fine corn-fields were observed in the vicinity.”
Documentation shows that Tínṫa Otuŋwe was located on the north side of the river from 1823-1839, and on the south side of the river from 1839-1858. According to Leonard Wabasha, the cultural resources director for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Tínṫa Otuŋwe was located on several places on both the north and south side of the river.
Throughout the summer season, the Dakota women grew crop gardens, collected wild fruits, and fished. The men would also hunt for deer, elk, and bison. Many Dakota would also practice other skills such as tanning, beadwork, and bow-making during the long summer days.
Once the European Americans moved to the area, the village of Tínṫa Otuŋwe was on the east half of the third ward, starting at what was later called Sommerville Street. It continued east to the Pond Mill in eastern Shakopee.
Ṡakpe II is said to have possessed a wonderful voice. Stepping outside his lodge on an evening and standing alone in the middle of the camp, he would deliver a speech while his warriors, sitting inside in the bark huts and tipi tonka, heard distinctly every word he said. He was fond of putting thoughts into epigrammatic forms which were long remembered by the Dakota people.
For more information about Ṡakpe II, Tínṫa Otuŋwe, and the Dakota, Hoċokata Ti [ho-cho-kah-tah-tee], the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community’s (SMSC) cultural center and gathering space, is worth visiting. The public exhibit, “Mdewakanton: Dwellers of the Spirit Lake,” enhances the knowledge and understanding of the Mdewakanton Dakota people and their history. Hoċokata Ti is at 2300 Tiwahe Circle, Shakopee, MN 55379. (952) 233-9151.