For thousands of years, Native peoples throughout the West have used medicine wheels in many forms for health and healing. The Spirit of the Circle Monument honors and remembers more than 1,300 Dakota people who were forcibly removed from their homelands in Minnesota to the Crow Creek Reservation in 1863, and many of them died from malnutrition, exposure, and disease. Dedicated in 2002 by delegations from the Dakota nations on land provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it is a cooperative project between the Tribes and the Corps that emphasizes healing and coming together. The monument includes a large medicine wheel, an important symbol for the Dakota people, and 13 flags representing the ten Dakota Nations, the United States, Canada, and Native American veterans. A memorial stone at its center came from Minnesota as a symbol of the terrible journey endured by the Dakota people. Each year, a group of Native Americans rides from the monument to Mankato, Minnesota, in memory and honor of the Dakota people killed during the Uprising in 1862, promoting healing and reconciliation between Native and non-Native people.