Joseph Godfrey

Joseph Godfrey (1835 – July, 1909) was an African American who escaped from slavery into a Dakota community in Minnesota, United States, and fought on their side during the Dakota War of 1862. He was the only African-American combatant of the war. Background Joseph Godfrey was born a slave in 1835 in Mendota, Minnesota. He was the son of a French Canadian voyageur named Joseph Godefroi and Courtney(aka Polly), a female slave brought from St. Louis, Missouri, to Fort Snelling by an U.S. Army officer. Godfrey was raised in the household of Alexis Bailley, where his mother worked. Not much is known about his childhood, except that he received little to no education. At some point Godfrey was taken to St. Paul, Minnesota, by a man named Bronson. During this time Godfrey served as an aid for Henry Hastings Sibley, prominent trader and later first governor of Minnesota, who also played a key role in the U.S.-Dakota War. His mother was sold south again when he was five. She sued for her freedom for having been held as a slave in the Northwest Territory where slavery was illegal and won. Suffering ill treatment from his owners, Godfrey ran away and found refuge among the Dakota as a fugitive slave. In 1857 he moved to the Lower Sioux Agency, where he married the daughter of Wahpaduta (Red Leaf). In August 1862, while helping local Dakota load hay onto a wagon, Godfrey was approached by another Dakota man announcing that all the white people had been killed at the agency. On the spot, Godfrey was asked what side he would take. Afraid for his life and family, Godfrey felt compelled to join the war. "Slayer of Many" Later that fall Godfrey was accused by Col. Sibley of joining the Dakota between August 19th and September 29th and actively participating in attacks. Dakota warriors awarded him the name "Atokte," meaning "slayer of many" in the Dakota language. Godfrey denied he had killed anyone. However, there were conflicting reports about his role in the conflict and how active he really was.