The only house in Hutchinson, Minnesota left standing after the September 4, 1862 attack on the town during the Dakota War — reportedly spared because Chief Little Crow intended to occupy it after the war
Hutchinson, MN 55350
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Private residence; not open to the public. The McLeod County Historical Society Museum at 380 School Road NW interprets the related history.
Access
Limited Access
Residential street; sidewalk view only.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1860 · Only surviving building of the September 4, 1862 attack on Hutchinson · Associated with Chief Taoyateduta (Little Crow) · Dakota War of 1862 historic site
The Dakota War of 1862 was a six-week conflict between the United States and bands of the eastern Dakota (Santee Sioux) in southwestern Minnesota, sparked by long-unpaid treaty annuities, encroaching settlement, and the failure of the federal government to honor its obligations. Chief Taoyateduta (Little Crow) led the Dakota military effort beginning August 17, 1862.
On September 4, 1862, a Dakota force of approximately 200 warriors under Little Crow attacked the town of Hutchinson, then approximately two years old. Most townspeople had taken refuge in a wooden stockade. The Dakota burned most of the town's buildings, businesses, and homes outside the stockade but failed to breach the defenses. According to local oral tradition recorded in the McLeod County Historical Society's archives, the Harrington home — the largest residence in town — was deliberately spared because Little Crow intended to occupy it himself after the war's conclusion. The house remains standing today as a private residence.
The Dakota War ended in late September 1862 with the surrender of approximately 1,200 Dakota at Camp Release. A military commission convicted 303 Dakota men of crimes in proceedings widely regarded by historians as procedurally deficient. President Abraham Lincoln reviewed the cases and approved the execution of 38 men, who were hanged at Mankato on December 26, 1862 — the largest mass execution in U.S. history.
Little Crow himself fled to Canada and returned to Minnesota in 1863. On July 3, 1863, he was shot and killed by farmer Nathan Lamson while picking raspberries with his teenage son Wowinape approximately six miles north of Hutchinson. The Minnesota legislature paid Lamson a $500 bounty. According to historical accounts collected by the Crow River Media, Little Crow's body was brought into Hutchinson, where townspeople inflicted indignities on the remains before they were ultimately taken to St. Paul. Wowinape was captured several weeks later. Little Crow's remains and personal effects were returned to his descendants by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1971.
Sources
Local Hutchinson tradition, recorded in the original Shadowlands account and in a 2003 correction citing Sioux rather than Crow tribal identity, holds that Taoyateduta spent a night in the Harrington House with two companions, both of whom were shot inside the building — one in the basement and one on an upper floor. The framing of this story has shifted across retellings; primary-source corroboration in the McLeod County Historical Society's holdings is limited, and the story should be treated as folklore until further documentation is available.
Residents and visitors have, according to local tradition, reported voices and footsteps in unoccupied rooms, pictures falling from interior walls, and occasional reports of moisture on floors — variously described in folklore as 'blood coming through the floor,' though without documented physical evidence.
The Dakota War carries continuing significance for the Dakota people and for Minnesota. According to the McLeod County Historical Society and the Minnesota Historical Society's published interpretation, the war's events — including those at Hutchinson — should be understood within the broader context of treaty violations, hunger among the Dakota in summer 1862, and the subsequent forced removal of the Dakota from Minnesota. The Hauntbound editorial framing of any paranormal accounts at the Harrington House is intended to respect this context rather than to sensationalize it.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The Harrington House is private property. View from the public street only and do not approach the building. For the documented history, visit the McLeod County Historical Society Museum at 380 School Road NW in Hutchinson, which interprets the September 4, 1862 attack and Little Crow's death in the area.
The county historical museum holds primary-source materials on the 1862 Dakota War in McLeod County, the Harrington family, the attack on Hutchinson, and the death of Taoyateduta (Little Crow) near Hutchinson on July 3, 1863.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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