James Lynd

{{short description|American politician}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

James William Lynd (November 25, 1830 – August 18, 1862) was a member of the Minnesota Senate, elected in 1861, and the first person killed in the initial action of the Dakota War of 1862.{{cite book |author= |title=Sketches, historical and descriptive, of the monuments and tablets erected by the Minnesota Valley Historical Society in Renville and Redwood counties, Minnesota: to preserve the sites of certain incidents and in honor of the devotion and important services of some of the characters, whites and Indians, connected with the Indian outbreak of 1862 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nc51AAAAMAAJ |location=Morton, Minnesota |publisher=Minnesota Valley Historical Society |page=6 |date=1902}} At the time, he was working in the Lower Sioux Agency as a clerk at Myrick's trading store.{{Cite book |last=Carley |first=Kenneth |title=The Dakota War of 1862: Minnesota's Other Civil War |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-87351-392-0 |edition=2nd |location=St. Paul |pages=5–6, 7–14, 21}} A historical marker stands at the site he was killed.{{cite book|last=Thornley|first=Stew|title=Six Feet Under: A Graveyard Guide to Minnesota|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z8bizMiODPcC&pg=PA70|year=2004|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press|isbn=978-0-87351-514-6|page=70}} The town of Lynd, Minnesota is named after him.{{cite book|last=Upham|first=Warren|title=Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance|url=https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog|year=1920|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|page=[https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog/page/n332 313]}}