During the U.S. – Dakota War, Dakota soldiers led by Taoyateduta, or Little Crow, and Tunkanhnamani, also called Walks Under A Sacred Stone, fought Co. B, 9th Minn. Inf. Regt., a force of new recruits and civilians led by Capt. Richard Strout, near this location on Sept. 3rd, 1862. Company B, with 75 men, had been sent to Meeker County to protect civilians and had camped the previous night at the Robinson Jones house, 2 1/2 miles northwest, where one of the Acton murders had occurred in August. After a perilous nighttime journey, messengers from Forest City warned the unsuspecting unit that more than 100 Dakota soldiers were camped only a short distance away. At dawn the company retreated southeast along the Pembina-Henderson trail. Where the track turned south parallel to Long Lake, the Dakota attacked the column at the front and rear and encircled the command. After several volleys of gunfire, the soldiers broke through the Dakota line to the south, but were pursued and attacked for eight miles before eventually reaching Hutchinson safely. In the fighting, the army detail suffered 3 killed and 18 wounded, while Dakota casualties are unknown. On Sept. 4, Taoyateduta and his men attacked Hutchinson and Forest City, but after failing to breach the protective stockades and drive out the settlers, they withdrew from the area and changed their plan to attack from behind a military column moving up the Minnesota River valley.