Staff photo by Fritz Busch Makatoh Reconciliation Riders of Fort Thompson, S.D. ride in State Highway 4 east ditch several miles south of Sleepy Eye Monday. Two dozen riders and support team members rode to the Sleepy Eye Historical Museum before stopping for hot chocolate, coffee and cookies. The ride will continued through New Ulm Tuesday to Courtland and Reconciliation Park in Mankato on Thursday, Dec. 26.

SLEEPY EYE — Leading a motorized support team, four horseback riders rode in the ditch on the east side of State Highway 4 south of Sleepy Eye Monday.

After taking a year off, the reconciliation and healing ride began a week and half earlier in Fort Thompson, S.D. on Dec. 10 en route to Reconciliation Park in Mankato in memory of the 38 Dakota men executed Dec. 26, 1862 in Mankato following the U.S.-Dakota War.

The ride began two decades ago when Lakota spiritual leader Jim Miller dreamed of a ride from the Crow Creek Reservation where the Dakota tribe of Minnesota was exiled after the 1862 war. Miller died of cancer in March 23. There was no ride last year.

This year the ride was renamed the Makotah Reconciliation and Healing Ride. It was organized by Wilfred Keeble of Fort Thompson.

“This year, the ride’s route came through Sleepy Eye. It’s the first time we came through here. Hopefully, next year we’ll be back and find accommodations here. It’s good to be home. I appreciate the media coverage, law enforcement escort and support,” he said.

The riders stopped at the Sleepy Eye Historical Museum for coffee, hot chocolate and cookies Monday before continuing to New Ulm, Courtland and Mankato Dec. 26.

“I’m sure there will be a lot of people in Mankato (at Reconciliation Park),” said Keeble.

He said he wants more people to learn about Chief Sleepy Eye and other Native American history.

“A lot of Minnesotans don’t know it because people have tried to wipe out our identity and annihilate us. Hopefully, there will be better understanding about truth for everybody,” said Keeble.

The ride support team included Katie Boone of Mankato, a qualitative researcher and community engagement coordinator at the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families, she is pursuing a PhD in Organizational Leadership Policy Development in Evaluation Studies at the University of Minnesota.

Boone, who said she has ancestors involved in the U.S.-Dakota War, joined the ride in Flandrau, S.D.

“I think that we as descendants of immigrants have a role and responsibility to understand what it is that’s ours to do in this work and not just think about it in our heads but get it into our hearts. I think we need to begin to find relationships, partnerships, and collaboration that can help support good actions and good working partnerships with the Dakota people. It’s what’s needed to help support healing and reconciliation efforts that are needed now. We have a responsibility to understand our stories and how we’re connected to this” said Boone.

She is interviewing riders as part of her doctoral dissertation to understand the importance and connection to place and feels its good for people of European ancestry to do so too.

Riders spent Thursday night at the Jeffers Petroglyphs site. Earlier stops were Pipestone on Dec. 18, and Slayton on Dec. 19.

The riders reached Sleepy Eye Monday, but were lodged at Turner Hall in New Ulm over the evening. The horses were kept at the Brown County Fairgrounds. Tuesday, Dec. 24 the rider and horses will return to Sleepy Eye to continue the horseback ride. The team is scheduled to ride through New Ulm around noon. Courtland is the stopping point on Tuesday. Riders and horses will once again spend a second evening in New Ulm. On Christmas Day, the Dakota will restart the ride in Courtland and will reach Mankato by the evening. On Thursday, Dec. 26 the riders will reach Reconciliation Park in Mankato for a program honoring the anniversary of the mass hanging.