Andrew Myrick, a trader who told starving Dakota to “eat grass or dung” was killed on the first day of the Dakota War of 1862. His head was cut off, and his mouth was stuffed with grass.
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2025
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On the morning of August 18, 1862, Dakota warriors launched a devastating attack on the Lower Sioux Agency, igniting the Dakota War. For years, the Dakota had endured broken treaties, starvation, and the callous exploitation of corrupt traders. Among the most despised was Andrew Myrick, a trader who had married a Santee Dakota woman to secure access to the profitable trade with her people. Despite this connection, Myrick became a symbol of cruelty and greed. Earlier that summer, when desperate Dakota leaders pleaded for food to save their starving families, Myrick infamously sneered, “As far as I’m concerned, if the Indians are hungry, let them eat grass, or their own dung!”
When the attack began, Myrick tried to escape through an attic window but was shot and killed by Dakota warriors. His death, however, was not the end of his story. His body was later found mutilated in a grisly act of symbolic revenge. His head had been cut off, his mouth stuffed with grass—a direct and macabre answer to his heartless remark. Grass had also been stuffed into his buttocks, a final, brutal gesture underscoring the Dakota’s rage at his cold indifference to their suffering.
Mdewakanton chief Big Eagle (Waŋbdí Tháŋka) said, “Now he was lying on the ground dead, with his mouth stuffed full of grass, and the Indians were saying tauntingly: ‘Myrick is eating grass himself.’”
Myrick’s death became an enduring symbol of the Dakota War, encapsulating the deep anger born of years of systemic injustice. For the Dakota, it was an act of vengeance against a man who had profited while they starved, a visceral demonstration of their desperation and fury. For the white Minnesota settlers, his gruesome fate served as a stark reminder that they were now at war. As the Dakota War unfolded, Myrick’s death stood out as a brutal warning of the costs of exploitation, neglect, and the path of unchecked greed and cruelty that can lead to catastrophic consequences.
Image source: [https://www.usdakotawar.org/history/andrew-myrick](https://www.usdakotawar.org/history/andrew-myrick)
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that was personal
Mouth **AND** anus
That’s important.
The Dakota came to the fort and said “please give us ammunition to go hunt buffalo because the promised provisions have not arrived and our people are starving”.
The fort commanders said no. “We’re still waiting for money from the government.”
The Dakota said “You know the government said I can have this. Give me my provisions now and when the money comes just pay yourself.”
This gentleman, the trader Myrick, says he’s not giving anything away until he gets paid first. This is when he delivers the famous line.
The Datoka warn them that they are only asking to be polite and if they are not given the supplies they will simply come back and take them. Well, guess what happened?
The book *Buried My Heart At Wounded Knee* covers this event in detail.
Such a smug, punchable looking face
THIS energy in 2025 please.
This is the energy I want to see brought back for 2025
I Love Happy Endings
Looks like Nate Bargatze
As i got older i seem to find myself always on the indians side, even when i rewatch old westerns i am more inclined to shout for them . The government always breaking treaties really pisses me off now . When i was a kid i was always on the cavalry side.
Myrick had it coming.
Hopefully he’s been burning in hell 👍
Elons turn
I thought this was jizz vance for a second.
For anyone interested (and if Google can be believed), his wife, Wiyangewin (Nancy), managed to survive this retribution. She went on to marry again (possibly twice), and have more children (she had one with Andrew). Her death certificate says she died of pneumonia at 89 years old.
[Nancy “Wiyangewin” Stone Wapaha](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13375999/nancy-wapaha)
Were they just not able to find dung?
He got off pretty lightly
Now that my friends is Karma.
Well that was fitting
I love that for him.
Narrator: Andy learned a valuable lesson that day – the last lesson he would ever learn.
I think it’s actually Andrew Bargatze.
Sometimes you find out
Did he invent that maga thing?
One the earliest examples of fuck around and find out.
Thus the origin of the phrase “Your ass is grass!”
The owners of the Schell’s Brewery in New Ulm, MN had treated native Americans with kindness which left the brewery and family untouched during the uprisings.
Hopefully the grass was first
The Dokata did not only cut his head off, they also stuffed ‘grass’ up his anus.The ultimate insulate.
19th century Nate Bargatze
He looks like a dung eater
Why not dung? Definitely deserved a death-dessert of butt-custard.
He looks like that comedian guy, Nate Bargatze
These are the history lessons I wish I had heard more about in school. FOFA.
Chumlee looking MFer
He looks like the kind of dude who today would spend his dad’s private equity firm earnings on a $60k lifted Ram
I guess we love violent insurrectionists now.
I’ve gotta say that I’ve always appreciated the sense of humour and irony of the First Nations people.
He looks a lot like Nate Bargatze.
Wow what a douche bag
He reminds me of a certain couch-fucking little putz.
Talk about the return of a feel-good story of the year.