[Vigilanteman]

That's a reasonably accurate map. An old Sioux legend declares that a remnant of our people escaped from a great battle in that area circa 400 a.d. in which tens of thousands were slaughtered and moved to the Ohio Valley and from there, over the next millennium or so, to the present Siouxian lands (most of Minnesota, Iowa, the Dakotas and parts of Nebraska, Montana and Wyoming).

Our cousins the Mandan buried their dead facing toward the Ohio Valley for this reason. Legend is that Minnesota was chosen because it was a land of many waters like this great battleground in western and central New York.

[Vigilanteman]

As a postscript, I should also add that legend has it that the six tribes which later formed the Iroquois nations were also the meanest, nastiest and most victorious of those who survived the last great battle. That's why the rest of us moved elsewhere shortly thereafter.

[minnesota_bound]

#47 Why didn’t your ancestors “Sioux” the other Indians? : )

our people escaped from a great battle in that area circa 400 a.d. in which tens of thousands were slaughtered