On June 6, 1736, a party of twenty one French explorers led by Jean Baptiste de La Vérendrye were massacred by Lakota and Dakota warriors on an island in Lake of the Woods.

The explorers had been en route to Fort Kaminstiquia on the northern shore of Lake Superior when the group of about one hundred warriors descended on and killed them in revenge for the French-sponsored Cree raids and French slave trading.

La Vérendrye armed a war party of around six hundred Cree and allied tribes in 1734, and sent his eldest son Jean-Baptiste among them, directing them not to attack Sioux.

The party, against La Vérendrye's warning, proceeded to attack Lakotas and sell captives into slavery.

[4] The explorers were scalped and mutilated, with their decapitated bodies arranged in a circle, while their heads were wrapped in beaver skins.