Fort Ridgely was a key battle site in the United States–Dakota War of 1862. The war raged across central Minnesota, then a newly-admitted state, for five weeks. According to legend, this Minnesota battlefield is haunted by the spirits of Dakota warriors and federal soldiers who perished there. However, most visitors come to what is now Fort Ridgely State Park to learn more about the history of the war. And to enjoy the park’s serene natural setting.

Fort Ridgely State Park is located in central Minnesota, near the town of Fairfax, along the Minnesota River.
Justin B/Trip Advisor
It contains the site of its namesake fort.
The United States established the fort in 1853 as a “police” outpost, five years before Minnesota's statehood.
Fort Ridgely is a haunted battlefield in Minnesota
Adam Niosi/Google Reviews
Fort Ridgely was built to serve as a buffer between a newly-formed Dakota reservation and the German settlement of New Ulm. In addition, the fort’s orders included protecting settlers streaming onto the land the Dakota had ceded to the United States.
In 1862, the U.S. agency at the Lower Sioux Reservation began withholding rations from the Dakota people.
Fort Ridgely is a haunted battlefield in Minnesota
Dorian Warner/Google Reviews
The rations had been a condition of the treaty that had removed the Dakota from their land. Along with crop failures and the actions of dishonest traders, this led to the tensions that erupted into the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862.

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The Dakota attacked Fort Ridgely twice in August 1862.
Fort Ridgely is a haunted battlefield in Minnesota
Dan Krueger/Google Reviews
Although the fort held, both sides suffered losses in the battles.
The war lasted just five weeks. However, only a few years later, in 1867, the U.S. Army abandoned Fort Ridgely.
Fort Ridgely is a haunted battlefield in Minnesota
rweintothewoodsyet/TripAdvisor
If you walk the clearings around the fort, you may yet hear ghostly battle cries carried on the wind.
A visit to the park offers a glimpse into some of the Northstar State’s darkest moments.
Justin Mattson/Google Reviews
However, the park’s serene natural settings afford some relief from the site’s violent history.
Stacy K/TripAdvisor
Moreover, it offers hope that we might learn from what the spirits of the past have to teach us.

After a visit to Fort Ridgely, be sure to complete your history lesson with visits to other important sites in the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862. The conflict broke out at the Lower Sioux Agency, now a historical site operated Lower Sioux Indian Community. Upper Sioux Agency in Granite Falls and Reconciliation Park in Mankato, located on the site where 38 Dakota men were executed – the largest mass execution in the nation’s history – are important places in this dark chapter in Minnesota’s history and in the story of the Native American peoples whose ancestral lands underlie the state’s geography.

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Fort Ridgely State Park, 72158 Co Rd 30, Fairfax, MN 55332, USA