Gabriel Renville (April 1825 – August 26, 1892), also known as Ti'wakan (Sacred Lodge), was a US-government appointed chief of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Sioux Tribe from 1866 until his death in 1892.

Gabrielle Renville's influence and political leadership were critical to the eventual creation of the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, which lies mainly in present-day South Dakota.

[2] (Akipa, son of Buffalo Man, was "neither a Renville nor a Mdewakanton"[4] but admired Gabriel's famous uncle and adopted his English name in tribute.)

[5] Gabriel Renville received little formal education beyond classes at the school at Lac qui Parle Mission, where he learned to read and write the Dakota language, and do arithmetic.

Brown, later wrote that "schoolroom confinement and association with strangers speaking an unintelligible and strange tongue did not agree with him or suit him, and in about a month he ran away on foot across the prairies of Illinois and the woods of Wisconsin back to his home in Minnesota.

Sam Brown, who served as his interpreter during multiple trips to Washington, D.C., wrote that in his opinion, "Gabriel Renville had no superior –– no equal, even –– as to the use of the Sioux language.

"[2] In 1841, Joseph R. Brown brought Gabriel Renville in to serve as a clerk in his fur trading business based in the Coteau des Prairies.

[6] To compensate for their loss, the U.S. government authorized a swap, offering "land scrip" to eligible mixed-race applicants in exchange for giving up their claim to the "half-breed tracts.

He was a driving force within the Dakota Peace Party that emerged among the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands, which soon attracted the support of disgruntled Mdewakantons.

[8] As Renville, his men and their families moved north, they passed through the hostile soldiers' camp, realizing that over half of the 200 European American and "mixed-blood" prisoners there were women and children.

[8] With tensions running high, Gabriel Renville had the idea to call a council and invite the opposing soldiers to negotiate the release of the prisoners.

Renville's side decided to form a single camp of families sympathetic toward the European settler-colonists, with a large tent at the center of a circle west of Riggs's Hazelwood Mission buildings.

During the council the Mdewakantons also shared information about the Battle of Birch Coulee, and several hostile soldiers mentioned that they had recognized the voice of Major Joseph R. Brown.

Wanting to find out whether Brown was still alive, Renville suggested sending Charles Crawford out to Birch Coulee to investigate how many had been killed.

[8] Upon his return, Crawford reported to Renville that he had found a letter from Colonel Henry Hastings Sibley left on the battleground, inviting the Native Americans to come speak with him without reprisal.

The "hostiles" moved north but were halted at Red Iron's village; their camp was forced to scatter once shots were fired, breaking up their soldiers' lodge and weakening their position.

[8] On the night of September 22, Little Crow and the soldiers prepared to attack Sibley's troops under cover of darkness and threatened to kill any men who refused to follow.

Renville, Two Stars and others argued that Little Crow's battle plan was foolhardy given the numbers of men they had seen in Sibley's command, deliberately prolonging the debate until daylight when the "friendlies" could warn the troops.

[3] On their way there, the residents of Henderson threw stones in anger at the Native Americans passing through; among the general white population of Minnesota at the time, all Dakota were blamed for the deaths and destruction that occurred in August 1862.

We all moved into this inclosure, but were so crowded and confined that an epidemic broke out among us and children were dying day and night, among them being Two Stars' oldest child, a little girl.