Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainFounded to bury victims of the 1862 Dakota War siege; now home to guided dark-history tours
900 S Minnesota St, New Ulm, MN 56073
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Cemetery is publicly accessible at no charge; Brown County Historical Society tours may have separate fees
Access
Limited Access
Uneven cemetery ground with grass paths; some sections have gravel walkways
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1862 · 1862 U.S.-Dakota War battle dead · New Ulm siege August 1862 · Brown County frontier settlement history · Victorian-era epidemic burials
The 1862 U.S.-Dakota War brought two pitched engagements to New Ulm within five days of each other. On August 19 and August 23, Dakota warriors attacked the German immigrant settlement while much of the Minnesota militia was engaged elsewhere. The Minnesota Historical Society documents that settlers were killed in both attacks, and the city was subsequently evacuated and partially burned. Those who died in the defense and evacuation are among the earliest burials in the city cemetery.
The Brown County Historical Society has developed formal dark-history cemetery tours that trace these events through the grave markers, connecting individual deaths to documented military records and newspaper accounts from 1862. The tours also cover epidemic burials from later decades — yellow fever and typhoid outbreaks that hit the immigrant community — giving the cemetery a layered historical record across multiple disasters.
One grave in particular became a fixture of local lore: Allie Peterson, who died in 1883 at age eight. Her small marker and short lifespan attracted the kind of memorial tradition common to children's graves in Victorian-era cemeteries, and local teenagers developed dare rituals around it. The Mankato Free Press covered the cemetery's role in regional dark-history tourism, citing the historical society's efforts to contextualize the site's full record rather than reduce it to a single legend.
Sources
The grave of Allie Peterson, a child who died in 1883, became the center of a local dare tradition among New Ulm teenagers. The tradition is primarily a function of the grave's small scale and isolated placement rather than any documented history of unusual events. Spooky Traveler documented the Peterson grave legend and the cemetery's broader reputation as a site for late-night visits.
The darker historical weight of the cemetery lies not in paranormal legend but in its founding: battle casualties from the 1862 Dakota War sieges, many of them recent German immigrants who had been in Minnesota for only a few years when the conflict overtook the region. The Brown County Historical Society's formal tours present that history without paranormal framing, treating the site as a window into one of the deadliest episodes in Minnesota's territorial period.
Notable Entities
The cemetery is publicly accessible. The grave of Allie Peterson (d. 1883, age 8) is among the notable markers. Period headstones from the 1862 battle dead and subsequent epidemic burials are throughout the grounds. Interpretive context from the Brown County Historical Society is available through their tours.
The Brown County Historical Society leads formal dark-history walking tours of the cemetery, covering the 1862 Dakota War battle dead, epidemic burials, and historical context of New Ulm's two sieges in August 1862. Contact the historical society for current tour schedule and fees.
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