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Glacial Lakes and Prairies Tourism Association
P.O. Box 244
Watertown, SD 57201
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1-800-244-8860 |
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(605) 886-7305 |
Contact@sdglaciallakes.com
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Enemy SwimBefore the white man came, the Sisseton Sioux and the Chippewas were rivals. One night, a band of Sissetons ate and danced at their camp on a point of land. The point almost reached an island in a lake. A war party of Chippewas planned a surprise attack on the village after the powwow ended and all were asleep. While they waited, they made rafts in the woods across the bay from the island.
The tom-toms were still beating loudly in the Sioux camp when the Chippewas drifted to the island on the rafts, waded across a sandbar to the point of land, then hid in the bushes.
And old Sisseton squaw out gathering wood for the fire came upon a brave in strange war paint. She screamed and he hit her with his tomahawk. The other wood gatherers ran to the camp crying, "Enemies, enemies!"
The Sisseton chief sent older men across the bay to wait in the woods on horses. The young warriors were ordered to chase the Chippewas to the island. Outnumbered, the Chippewas fled to the island where many were scalped. The rest started to swim across the bay. As they reached shore, they were trampled, drowned, or tomahawked by the older Sissetons.
The Sissetons had many enemy scalps. They sang and danced all night, saying "Swimming enemy, swimming enemy." To this day, the lake is called Enemy Swim Lake.
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