Fort Ridgely was a United States Army outpost (1853–1867) near the Dakota reservation in southwestern Minnesota (located near Fairfax).
 Built between 1853–1854, it was named for three officers named Ridgely who were killed in the Mexican–American War.
 The fort played an important role in the Dakota War of 1862.
 The Battle of Fort Ridgely was fought there in two engagements over August 20–22, 1862 between Army volunteers and refugees from the Minnesota River valley, and Dakota forces.
The War Powers Resolution (also known as the War Powers Resolution of 1973 or the War Powers Act) (50 U.S.C. 1541–1548) is a federal law intended to check the president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress.
 The Resolution was adopted in the form of a United States Congress joint resolution.
 It provides that the U.S. President can send U.S. Armed Forces into action abroad only by declaration of war by Congress, "statutory authorization," or in case of "a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces."
The Arikara War was an armed conflict between the United States, their allies from the Sioux (or Dakota) tribe and Arikara Native Americans that took place in the summer of 1823, along the Missouri River in present-day South Dakota.
 It was the first Indian war west of the Missouri fought by the U.S. Army and its only conflict ever with the Arikara.
 The war came as a response to an Arikara attack on trappers, called "the worst disaster in the history of the Western fur trade".
The Colombian Red Cross is a Colombian-based nonprofit private entity member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society.
 It has been a member since 1922.
 The Colombian Red Cross embraces the principles of the International Red Cross.
 It provides humanitarian aid to people in need of protection, protection of life and health during armed conflict and disaster relief during emergencies within the Colombian territory.
 The Colombian Red Cross has played a major humanitarian role within the Colombian Armed Conflict as a mediator in the area of Human rights.
Jewish Americans have served in the United States armed forces dating back to before the colonial era, when Jews had served in militias of the Thirteen Colonies.
 Jewish military personnel have served in all branches of the armed forces and in every major armed conflict to which the United States has been involved.
 The Jewish Chaplains Council estimated that there are currently 10,000 known Jewish servicemen and servicewomen on active duty.
 As of 2011, Jews made up around 0.3% of the total number of those serving in the armed forces.
The Cayuse War was an armed conflict that took place in the Northwestern United States from 1847 to 1855 between the Cayuse people of the region and the United States Government and local American settlers.
 Caused in part by the influx of disease and settlers to the region, the immediate start of the conflict occurred in 1847 when the Whitman Massacre took place at the Whitman Mission near present day Walla Walla, Washington when fourteen people were killed in and around the mission.
 Over the next few years the Provisional Government of Oregon and later the United States Army battled the Indians east of the Cascades.
 This was the first of several wars between the Indians and American settlers in that region that would lead to the negotiations between the United States and Indians of the Columbia Plateau, creating a number of Indian reservations.
The Nez Perce War was an armed conflict between several bands of the Nez Perce tribe of Native Americans and their allies, a small band of the "Palouse" tribe led by Red Echo ("Hahtalekin") and Bald Head ("Husishusis Kute"), against the United States Army.
 The conflict, fought between June–October 1877, stemmed from the refusal of several bands of the Nez Perce, dubbed "non-treaty Indians", to give up their ancestral lands in the Pacific Northwest and move to an Indian reservation in Idaho.
 This forced removal was in violation of the 1855 Treaty of Walla Walla, which granted the tribe 7.5 million acres in their ancestral lands and the right to hunt and fish in lands ceded to the government.
The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, Dakota Uprising, the Sioux Outbreak of 1862, the Dakota Conflict, the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862 or Little Crow's War, was an armed conflict between the United States and several bands of Dakota (also known as the eastern 'Sioux').
 It began on August 17, 1862, along the Minnesota River in southwest Minnesota.
 The war saw extensive attacks on hundreds of settlers and immigrants, and caused many to flee.
 Intense desire for immediate revenge ended with the mass execution of 38 Dakota men on December 26, 1862, in Mankato, Minnesota.
The Mohave War was an armed conflict between the Mohave people against the United States from 1858 to 1859.
 With the California Gold Rush of 1849, thousands of American settlers headed west through Mohave country and into California.
 The influx of migrants passing through, combined with simple misunderstandings, led to conflict.
 Fort Mohave on the Arizona side of the Colorado River was built for operations against the hostile natives and was the second American military post established on the river after Fort Yuma.
 Eventually advanced weaponry and tactics forced the Mohave and their allies to surrender.
 After the signing of a peace treaty in 1859, the Mohave never again opposed the United States through warfare.
 The peace also ended a long guerrilla war between the Mohave and the Maricopa of south central Arizona.
The Negro Rebellion (Spanish: "Levantamiento Armado de los Independientes de Color" , "Armed Uprising of the Independents of Color", also known as the Little Race War, the War of 1912, or The Twelve) was an armed conflict for several weeks during 1912 in Cuba between Afro-Cuban rebels and the armed forces of Cuba and the United States.
 It took place mainly in the eastern region of the island where most Afro-Cubans were employed.
 After a widespread massacre of Afro-Cubans by the Cuban Army and the intervention by the U.S. military brought an end to the rebellion in a matter of weeks.
 The leaders of Afro-Cubans rebels, Evaristo Estenoz and Pedro Ivonnet, were killed during the rebellion and their political movement, the Independent Party of Color, was dissolved.

Question: Fort Ridgely played an important role in an armed conflict between the United States and several bands of Dakota, that started when?
Answer: August 17, 1862