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Post by mdenney on Feb 2, 2007 3:00:49 GMT -5
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Post by mdenney on Feb 2, 2007 18:34:18 GMT -5
The Agony and Anger of the Eastern Sioux By the middle of the nineteenth century, the Sioux nation stretched from Minnesota to the Dakotas and Wyoming, The eastern Sioux tribes, known as the Santee, or in their own language the Dakotas, occupied western Minnesota and the upper Mississippi valley. Between the Mississippi and the Missouri lived the Yanktons and Yanktonais, or Nakotas. West of the Missouri ranged the Teton, or Lakotas, who constituted about half of the entire Sioux population and were themselves divided into seven bands, or sub-tribes. The Santee Sioux — the Mdewa-kantons, the Wahpe tons, the Wahpekutes, and the Sissetons — were the first to come into sustained contact with Americans and the first to endure dispossession and defeat at the hands of the United States, Their experiences in the early 1860s presaged what their western relatives would have to deal with in subsequent decades. In August 1862, while the United States was divided and distracted by civil war, the Santees rose up in furious revolt against white settlers in southern Minnesota, The Great Sioux Uprising, one of the bloodiest conflicts in frontier history, is often portrayed as a classic racial conflict: Pressures from whites produced deep resentments among the Indians that finally led to a bloodbath that cost the lives of hundreds of settlers before the Army defeated the Indians and exacted grim retribution. Though accurate in its broad outlines, however, such a portrayal obscures the complexities of a conflict that was also a civil war within Dakota society. In the eyes of Americans at the time, and many historians since, the Mdewakanton chief, Little Crow, or Taoyateduta, was the villain of the piece, masterminding a bloody uprising against unprotected settlers while American forces were busy in the East. In fact, Little Crow had been a strong advocate of peace. He had led his people in a policy of accommodation, accepting some aspects of American culture while trying to preserve crucial elements of traditional life. At the Treaties of Traverse des Sioux in 1851, and again in 1858, the Sioux gave up large areas of their homeland in return for the promise of annuities in cash and food and assistance in education and agriculture to help them follow "the white man's road/' By 1862, Little Crow had been to Washington and seen American power firsthand, and he wore his hair cut short, lived in a frame house, and attended church.1 But the United States failed to honor its promises. Corrupt agents and bureaucratic indifference deprived the Sioux of food and clothing and produced suffering and anger in Sioux villages. There were few schools or teachers, and the Indians received inadequate training for the difficult transition from hunting to farming. Having obtained title to Sioux lands, white settlers no longer felt the need to treat Sioux people with respect. The winter of 1861-62 was severe. Tensions escalated and young warriors clamored for war. Bowing to the inevitable, Little Crow was forced to abandon his accommodationist policies and lead his warriors in a war he did not want and knew he could not win. Other Sioux people faced equally difficult choices: Generations of intermarriage with whites had produced a complex web of kinship networks and family ties. How were mixed-bloods and full-bloods with white relatives to act? Many Indians went to war reluctantly; others tried to protect friends and relatives in the communities that were attacked. Defeated and hunted down by American troops, Sioux warriors were tried for their "war crimes": Thirty-eight died in the largest mass execution in American history; 326 more were imprisoned for three years in Davenport, Iowa, where more than one-third of them died, while their families were confined near Fort Snelling. Little Crow died ignominiously. He was shot down while picking raspberries, his body dismembered. The war left a bitter legacy of interracial conflict in Minnesota, but it also tore apart Dakota society and shattered bonds of kinship and .coexistence that had been forged over generations.2 It was also the first major conflict in a series of wars between the Sioux and the United States that would last almost thirty years. The selections in this chapter provide a view of the war through the eyes of one Sioux participant and testimony from Sioux people that the root causes of the war remained unresolved three years after the conflict. BIG EAGLE'S ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT SIOUX UPRISING Born in 1827, Jerome Big Eagle was a prominent Mdewakanton chief who tried to pursue a new life as a farmer, as agreed in a treaty with the United States. Like Little Crow, he joined the warriors reluctantly, but he led them in battles at New Ulm, Fort Ridgley, Birch Coulee, and Wood Lake. After he surrendered, a military commission sentenced Big Eagle to death, but he was granted a reprieve, and after serving time at the prison camp at Davenport was pardoned by President Lincoln in 1864. Thirty years later, a newspaper reporter interviewed Big Eagle regarding his role in the war. Now sixty-seven years old, Big Eagle recalled the frustrations that produced the war, some of the divisions and disagreements among the Sioux, and his experiences after the surrender. With memories of the war still fresh in the minds of many Minnesotans, Indians who ventured to speak of their participation in the conflict often were anxious to disassociate themselves from those guilty of committing atrocities. link below- www.hist.umn.edu/hist1301/worddocuments/Dakota%20Conflict.doc |
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Post by mdenney on Feb 2, 2007 18:35:34 GMT -5
JEROME BIG EAGLE A Sioux Story of the War 3 ca. 1894 Of the causes that led to the outbreak of August, 1862, much has been said. Of course it [going to war] was wrong, as we all know now, but there were not many Christians among the Indians then, and they did not understand things as they should. There was great dissatisfaction among the Indians over many things the whites did. The whites would not let them go to war against their enemies. This was right, but the Indians did not then know it Then the whites were always trying to make the Indians give up their life and live like white men — go to farming, work hard and do as they did — and the Indians did not know how to do that, and did not want to anyway. It seemed too sudden to make such a change. If the Indians had tried to make the whites live like them, the whites would have resisted, and it was the same way with many Indians. The Indians wanted to live as they did before the treaty of Traverse des Sioux [1851] —go where they pleased and when they pleased; hunt game wherever they could find it, sell their furs to the traders, and live as they could. Then the Indians did not think the traders had done right The Indians bought goods off them on credit, and when the government payments came the traders were on hand with their books, which showed that the Indians owed so much and so much, and as the Indians kept no books they could not deny their accounts, but had to pay them, and sometimes the traders got all their money. I do not say that the traders always cheated and lied about these accounts. I know many of them were honest men and kind and accommodating, but since I have been a citizen I know that many white men, when they go to pay their accounts, often think them too large and refuse to pay them, and they go to law about them and there is much bad feeling. The Indians could not go to law, but there was always trouble over their credits. Under the treaty of Traverse des Sioux the Indians had to pay a very large sum of money to the traders for old debts, some of which ran back fifteen years, and many of those who had got the goods were dead and others were not present, and the traders' books had to be received as to the amounts, and the money was taken from the tribe to pay them. Of course the traders often were of great service to the Indians in letting them have goods on credit, but the Indians seemed to think the traders ought not to be too hard on them about the payments, but do as the Indians did among one another, and put off the payment until they were better able to make it. Then many of the white men often abused the Indians and treated them unkindly. Perhaps they had excuse, but the Indians did not think so. Many of the whites always seemed to say by their manner when they saw an Indian, Tarn much better than you," and the Indians did not like this, There was excuse for this, but the Dakotas did not believe there were better men in the world than they. Then some of the white men abused the Indian women in a certain way and disgraced them, and surely there was no excuse for that. All these things made many Indians dislike the whites. Then a little while before the outbreak there was trouble among the Indians themselves. Some of the Indians took a sensible course and began to live like white men. The government built them houses, furnished them tools, seed, etc., and taught them to farm. At the two agencies, Yellow Medicine and Redwood, there were several hundred acres of land in cultivation that summer. Others stayed in their tepees. There was a white man's party ind an Indian party. We had politics among us and there was much feeling. A new chief speaker for the tribe was to be elected. There were three candidates — Little Crow, myself, and Wa-sui-hi-ya-ye-dan ("Traveling Hail"). After an exciting contest Traveling Hail was elected. Little Crow felt sore over his defeat Many of our tribe believed him responsible for the sale of the north ten-mile strip, and I think this was why he was defeated, I did not care much about it. Many whites think that Little Crow was the principal chief of the Dakotas at this time, but he was not. Wabasha was the principal chief, and he was of the white man's party; so was I; so was old Shakopee, whose band was very large. Many think if old Shakopee had lived there would have been no war, for he was for the white men and had great influence. But he died that summer, and was succeeded by his son, whose real name was Ea-to-ka ("Another Language"), but when he became chief he took his father's name, and was afterwards called "Little Shakopee," or "Little Six," for in the Sioux language "Shakopee" means six. This Shakopee was against the white men. He took part in the outbreak, murdering women and children, but I never saw him in a battle, and he was caught in Manitoba and hanged in 1864, My brother, Medicine Bottle, was hanged with him, As the summer advanced, there was great trouble among the Sioux — troubles among themselves, troubles with the whites, and one thing and another. The war with the South was going on then, and a great many men had left the state and gone down there to fight, A few weeks before the outbreak the president [Abraham Lincoln] called for many more men, and a great many of the white men of Minnesota and some half-breeds enlisted and went to Fort Snelling to be sent South. We understood that the South was getting the best of the fight, and it was said that the North would be whipped.... It began to be whispered about that now would be a good time to go to war with the whites and get back the lands. It was believed that the men who had enlisted last had all left the state and that before help could be sent the Indians could clean out the country, and that the Winnebagoes, and even the Chippewas, would assist the Sioux. It was also thought that a war with the whites would cause the Sioux to forget the troubles among themselves and enable many of them to pay off some old scores. Though I took part in the war, I was against it, I knew there was no good cause for it, and I had been to Washington and knew the power of the whites and that they would finally conquer us. We might succeed for a time, but we would be overpowered and defeated at last. I said all this ^nd many more things to my people, but many of my own bands were against me, and some of the other chiefs put words in their mouths to say to me. When the outbreak came Little Crow told some of my band that if I refused to lead them to shoot me as a traitor who would not stand up for his nation, and then select another leader in my place. But after the first talk of war the counsels of the peace Indians prevailed, and many of us thought the danger had all blown over. The time of the government payment was near at hand, and this may have had something to do with it. There was another thing that helped to stop the war talk, The crops that had been put in by the "farmer" Indians were looking well, and there seemed to be a good prospect for a plentiful supply of provisions for them the coming winter without having to depend on the game of the country or without going far out to the west on the plains for buffalo. It seemed as if the white men's way was certainly the best Many of the Indians had been short of provisions that summer and had exhausted their credits and were in bad condition. "Now," said the farmer Indians, "if you had worked last season you would not be starving now and begging for food." The "farmers" were favored by the government in every way. They had houses built for them, some of them even had brick houses, and they were not allowed to suffer. The other Indians did not like this. They were envious of them and jealous, and disliked them because they were favored. They called them "farmers," as if it was disgraceful to be a farmer. They called them "cut-hairs," because they had given up the Indian fashion of wearing the hair, and "breeches men," because they wore pantaloons, and "Dutchmen," because so many of the settlers on the north side of the river and elsewhere in the country were Germans, I have heard that there was a secret organization of the Indians called the "Soldiers' Lodge," whose object was to declare war against the whites, but I knew nothing of it At last the time for the payment came and the Indians came in to the agencies to get their money. But the paymaster did not come, and week after week went by and still he did not come/The payment was to be in gold. Somebody told the Indians that the payment would never be made. The government was in a great war, and gold was scarce, and paper money had taken its place, and it was said the gold could not be had to pay us. Then the trouble began again and the war talk started up. Many of the Indians who had gathered about the agencies were out of provisions and were easily made angry. Still, most of us thought the trouble would pass, and we said nothing about it I thought there might be trouble, but I had no idea there would be such a war. Little Crow and other chiefs did not think so. But it seems some of the tribe were getting ready for it,... At this time my village was up on Crow creek, near Little Crow's. I did not have a very large band — not more than thirty or forty fighting men. Most of them were not for the war at first, but nearly all got into it at last. A great many members of the other bands were like my men; they took no part in the first movements, but afterward did. The next morning, when the force started down to attack the agency, I went along. I did not lead my band, and I took no part in the killing. I went to save the lives of two particular friends if I could. I think others went for the same reason, for nearly every Indian had a friend that he did not want killed; of course he did not care about anybody's else [sic] friend. The killing was nearly all done when I got there. Little Crow was on the ground directing operations. The day before, he had attended church there [the Episcopal mission] and listened closely to the sermon and had shaken hands with everybody. So many Indians have lied about their saving the lives of white people that I dislike to speak of what I did. But I did save the life of George H. Spencer at the time of the massacre. I know that his friend, Chaska, has always had the credit of that, but Spencer would have been a dead man in spite of Chaska if it had not been for me. I asked Spencer about this once, but he said he was wounded at the time and so excited that he could not remember what I did. Once after that I kept a half-breed family from being murdered; these are all the people whose lives I claim to have saved. I was never present when the white people were willfully murdered. I saw all the dead bodies at the agency. Mr. Andrew Myrick, a trader, with an Indian wife, had refused some hungry Indians credit a short time before when they asked him for some provisions. He said to them: "Go and eat grass." 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," When I returned to my village that day I found that many of my band had changed their minds about the war, and wanted to go into it. All the other villages were the same way. I was still of the belief that it was not best, but I thought I must go with my band and my nation, and I said to my men that I would lead them into the war, and we would all act like brave Dakotas and do the best we could. All my men were with me; none had gone off on raids, but we did not have guns for all at first.,. Soon after the battle [of Wood Lake] I, with many others who had taken part in the war, surrendered to Gen. Sibley. Robinson [Robertson] and the other half-breeds assured us that if we would do this we would only be held as prisoners of war a short time, but as soon as I surrendered I was thrown into prison. Afterward I was tried and served three years in the prison at Davenport and the penitentiary at Rock Island for taking part in the war. On my trial a great number of the white prisoners, women and others, were called up, but not one of them could testify that I had murdered any one or had done anything to deserve death, or else I would have been hanged. If I had known that I would be sent to the penitentiary I would not have surrendered, but when I had been in the penitentiary three years and they were about to turn me out, I told them they might keep me another year if they wished, and I meant what I said. I did not like the way I had been treated. I surrendered in good faith, knowing that many of the whites were acquainted with me and that I had not been a murderer, or present when a murder had been committed, and if I had killed or wounded a man it had been in fair, open fight. But all feeling on my part about this has long since passed away. For years I have been a Christian and I hope to die one. My white neighbors and friends know my character as a citizen and a man. I am at peace with every one, whites and Indians. I am getting to be an old man, but I am still able to work, I am poor, but I manage to get along. link below- www.hist.umn.edu/hist1301/worddocuments/Dakota%20Conflict.doc |
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Post by mdenney on Feb 2, 2007 18:36:36 GMT -5
THE COMPLAINTS OF STRIKE THE REE, MEDICINE COW, AND PASSING HAIL The Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 outraged many Americans in the East and led to demands for investigations of the massacre itself and the overall handling of Indian affairs/In 1865, Wisconsin Republican senator James R Doolittle headed a special committee to investigate "the condition of the Indian tribes and their treatment by the civil and military authorities of the United States." The work, said Doolittle, "was immense, covering a continent." Three commissioners visited Indian groups on the southern plains and the Southwest; two traveled to the Pacific coast; and two more investigated conditions in Minnesota and the northern plains. Doolittle submitted his report in 1867. In it the commission admitted that "many agents, teachers, and employees of the government are inefficient, faithless, and even guilty of peculations and fraudulent practices upon the government and upon the Indians." Doolittle himself pointed out the reasons for the situation. "Many, perhaps a majority in Congress, would prefer honesty and good faith in an Indian administration/' he wrote, "but I have little hope in your action. There are too many hungry politicians to feed, there is too profound an ignorance in your body, and there is too great an indifference among the people. "3 The testimonies of Strike the Ree and Medicine Cow of the Yanktons and Passing Hail of the Santees reveal the impact on the Sioux of the system of official indifference and ingrained corruption described by Senator Doolittle. The commissioners described the chiefs as "wise and good men" who recognized that their people's survival depended on becoming "civilized" and had worked steadily toward that end. (Medicine Cow told the commissioners, "Since I made the treaty I am an American.") But they had been betrayed. Strike the Ree was now "bowed to the earth, as well with age as sorrow for his people," and every speech he made revealed his great disappointment.4 On one occasion, reminded by the Americans of his duty to remain peaceful and not act like his friends in Minnesota, the old man burst out: You blame the Minnesota Indians. They did wrong, but you do not know the cause. We know it! We know it! You do not. For long winters and summers they had been cheated and robbed by the agents and traders. They complained, but the Great Father would not make it right. Their hearts became bad; they thirsted for blood; they got plenty. We have the same cause to kill as our friends in Minnesota. But this (pointing to a cross suspended from his neck) keeps my heart right. I would not let my young men fight. The Yanktons have never killed a white man.5 The conditions that had sparked open war in 1862 continued to plague the Sioux in 1865. link below- www.hist.umn.edu/hist1301/worddocuments/Dakota%20Conflict.doc |
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Post by mdenney on Feb 2, 2007 18:40:09 GMT -5
STRIKE THE REE, MEDICINE COW, AND PASSING HAIL Speeches to the Special Joint Committee on the Condition of the Indian Tribes 6 1865
My grandfather, Mr. Redfield, the first agent, did not tell me the same things that my grandfather told me, neither did Agent Burleigh, but both of them told me lies; they filled my belly with lies. Everybody has got a copy of the treaty I made with my grandfather, I suppose. I suppose you are sent by my grandfather to represent the great council, I am here to represent my great council. The money my grandfather sent me has been thrown away. You know who threw it away. The guns, ammunition, wagons, horses, and everything have been thrown away. I can tell who threw them away. The reason the whites have trouble with the Indians is on account of the agents. When the goods come they are not according to the treaty; they never fulfill the treaty. When the agent goes away he says he is going to leave these things to be done by his successor. When Agent Burleigh came he made fine promises of what he would do. Tasked for my invoice, but he would not let me have it; and I told him what my grandfather told me. I think the agents are all alike. The agent puts his foot on me as though I were a skunk. And the agents are all getting rich and we are getting poor.
My friend, what I am telling you is the truth, and what I have seen. What the agents have done in the night, I cannot tell. That is the reason I am telling you this; I want you to report it to my grandfather. I want to go to Washington; and I wish you to do all you can with my grandfather to induce him to let me come there next winter. I want to see my grandfather to ascertain how much money and goods have been sent me, and that I may know how much has been stolen and who stole it. I would like to have the agents there with my grandfather when I talk to him, that they may hear what I have to say. If there was a bible there for them to swear upon, they could not swear that they had not stolen the goods....
Friends, my people are friendly to the white man. Our grandfather promised us (referring to the treaty of 1858) money, a school-house, and blacksmith shop. I have seen neither, but I believe that it is no fault of our grandfather; he has done all in his power to keep his promise. I believe our money is being kept for us, and when it is paid we shall receive the interest with it; you should pay it. My young men, squaws, and children are starving; the black spots you see on the hills before you are the graves of many of my people. When we receive anything from the white man it is given as you would throw it to a hog. The Indian stands as upon a snow-bank; the sun of prosperity shines brightly for others, but it is gradually melting away his support, and by and by all will be &one. Our grandfather at Washington promised that we should be raised up, but his young men put their feet on us and keep us down; that is the way the white man treats us.
Medicine Cow spoke as follows:...
I am glad you are here. You know the cause of the murders in Minnesota; if you do not, I do; the agents were the cause. Our agents never give us what our grandfather sends us. I think when the whites make an agreement with each other they do as they agree with each other. If the whites did as they agree with the Indians, there would not be so much difficulty. The agents bring goods, but do not give them to us. When the agent brought us money we asked him to let us see it; but more than half was carried back to the house and we never received it. One time he got and told us that he would keep it until winter, but he never let us have it The blacksmith won't work for the common Indians, but works for the chiefs and all white men; If the common Indians go to him he will tell them to go away.
I think all the work Doctor Burleigh had done was done for himself. He purchased lots of cattle and things. When he came there he only had a trunk, but now he is high up — rich. Once in a while I went and asked Doctor Burleigh about the money, and he said he saved it for all the Indians, and we did not get it
When Agent Conger came there he and Doctor Burleigh were together, and we felt bad to see him with the new agent. We went and told Doctor Burleigh that we wanted him to give us the money which he had taken from us; but he would not. I told him if he did not I would tell my grandfather when I went to see him.
I think a great many of our tribe have frozen to death, and a great many have died of starvation. When I was talking that way to Doctor Burleigh he said he did not care what I said to him; that all up and down the Missouri river all the big men and generals were on his side. The reason I talk this way, the governor said I must not talk so hard against a young man. The doctor told me I was against him. I answered, 'Tes; you are always against the Indians; you never try to do anything for us."
Another time Doctor Burleigh came and brought us money, and gave us two dollars in paper money and some three and some one dollar, and we don't know what he did with the gold money, but we want to know, and we want to know if that is the way our grandfather does with us. I think if they had asked the young men to learn at school they would have done so; they would willingly attend the school and learn, but they have never had an opportunity. For my part I think the agents have been an injury to us, When we moved here we had to dig the ground with our fingers. We have done as the whites told us. When Burleigh told us to be soldiers we became soldiers; we burnt the dirt lodges, as he told us; but we were not paid for being soldiers. We tried hard to please the whites. We have often told the same things to the big men before, but it made no difference; but we are glad to see you and hope you will do us some good, One time the doctor (Burleigh) came up and said he had got plenty of goods to keep us all winter; that he had 4,000 sacks of flour, and plenty of blankets; but we found out that he was not telling the truth; he put it into the store and we had to buy it. One time he told us he was going to keep seven large boxes of goods (one containing traps) for another time, to be distributed to us; but we never received any of these goods, excepting three of our young men got three guns and three suits of clothes as a reward for killing a Santee, and that was all we got. I asked Burleigh to do right; but Burleigh's interpreter would not tell him right. I told him to get another interpreter. Things are no better now. The new agent has come, but he is like a man in the middle of the prairie. Burleigh cleaned the agency of everything, and the new agent has nothing to go on with; no cattle, no wagons, no ploughs, in fact nothing; everything has melted away like a snow bank in the summer's sun. I think our grandfather don't know what is done with the money, from what you say to us to-day. I think everything on the agency is gone, and one saw mill does us no good; there is no one to attend to it. It is the business of the agent to attend to it. It would take a month to start it. We have no lumber. There is no one to attend to our blacksmith shop, nor the carpenter shop; all the tools are gone. Sometimes the blacksmith does some things for the Indians, but works mostly for whites, Since the new agent came there is a good blacksmith. When Burleigh came to the agency there were two mules there, and they are there now; and there were also two horses, but Burleigh went away and swapped them away for two bob-tailed horses, and the Indians have never since seen their horses or the bob-tails.
Chief Passing Hail — Wasuhiya-ye-dom — says:
It has been a long time since I have heard such talk, and I am very glad. Myself and three of these chiefs with him here were at Washington, and heard what the grandfather told them, and we know we live by what the government gives them, and we abide by what the government does for us. At Redwood they took all the young and smart men and put them in prison, and they took all the chiefs and women and children and put them in Fort Snelling. They done with us as they would grain, shaking it to get out the best, and then brought our bodies over here; that is, took everything from us and brought us over here with nothing.,.. When the provisions were brought here the agent told us the food was to be divided between us and the Winnebagoes, and only five sacks of flour were given us per week through the winter; they were issued to us each Saturday. They brought beef and piled it up here; they built a box and put the beef in it and steamed it and made soup; they put salt and pepper in it, and that is the reason these hills about here are filled with children's graves; it seemed as though they wanted to kill us. We have grown up among white folks, and we know the ways of white folks. White folks do not eat animals that die themselves; but the animals that died here were piled up with the beef here and were fed out to us; and when the women and children, on account of their great hunger, tried to get the heads, blood, and entrails, when the butchering was being done, they were whipped and put in the guard-house. It is not right for me to omit anything. The heads, entrails, and liver were piled about here in the stockade, and the agent would keep watch of them, and when he wanted some work done he would pay for the work with the most rotten part of it. He employed the Indians to work, and paid them with the most rotten part, as above stated, Last fall the agent told us to go out on a hunt, and while they were out on the hunt the goods came, and we suppose the reason he wanted us to go on the hunt was, that he did not want us to see what was done with the goods. Last fall the agent called the chiefs and said he would give us the goods. The next day we came up, and the agent, from the top window of the warehouse, threw out the goods; he threw out a dress for each woman and a blanket for each family. I think there were over one hundred blankets given out at that time. They brought us here to a windy country, and we supposed the wind had blown the goods away; but we heard afterwards that there were some round in the houses in the stockade. We heard that the agent traded some of our goods away, and we suppose he traded them for robes and furs. We think if he had not traded them away there would have been plenty to go round, and the women would not have been crying with cold. You told me that you wanted me to tell all that the agent did....
The President gave us some laws, and we have changed ourselves to white men, put on white man's clothes and adopted the white man's ways, and we supposed we would have a piece of ground somewhere where we could live; but no one can live here and live like a white man. I have changed my body to a white man's body. I have not told any lie. You told me to tell the truth, and I have done so....
NOTES
1 Gary Clayton Anderson, Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1986).
2 Gary Clayton Anderson, Kinsmen of Another Kind: Dakota-White Relations in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1650-1862 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984); Gary Clayton Anderson and Alan R. Woolworth, eds., Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988).
3 Jerome Big Eagle, "A Sioux Story of the War," Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society 6 (1894), 382-400. Reprinted and edited in Gary Clayton Anderson and Alan L Woolworth, eds., Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862 (St Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988), 23-27,55-56,237.
4Report of the Joint Special Committee on the Condition of the Indian Tribes, 39th Congress, 2d session (186,6-67), Senate Report No. 156, Serial 1279 (quotations at 3, 7, and 387),
5 Ibid., 372,286.
6 Ibid., 384.
7 Report of the Special Joint Committee on the Condition of the Indian Tribes, 39th Congress, 2nd Session (1866-67), Senate Report No, 156, Serial 1279; 368-70; 406-07
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Post by mdenney on Feb 2, 2007 21:44:08 GMT -5
Archived Story 07-16-2006: news-local Despite odds, Graham beat Taylor One of the early pioneers in what is now North Dakota won a battle against a national war hero who later became president of the United States. With a force of 30 soldiers, one piece of artillery and about 1,000 American Indians, Duncan Graham defeated the Americans under the command of Major Zachary Taylor at the Battle of Credit Island on Sept. 5, 1814. Soon after the Treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the war in 1814, Graham established a trading post next to Devils Lake. James Alexander Duncan Graham was born in the Scottish Highlands in 1772. He came to America as a young man, heeding the call of Wapasha I, chief of the Mdewakanton band of Santee Sioux, who was actively seeking traders and trappers to interact with his tribe. Chief Wapasha sided with the British during the Revolutionary War, but when the conflict ended he encouraged engagement with both England and the U.S. Graham became a close friend of the elderly chief and was given the Indian name Hohayteedah, which means "Horse Voice." Graham eventually married the benevolent chief's granddaughter, Istagiwin, aka Susan thingyhon. In 1805, Istagiwin gave birth to their first child, a daughter. At the time, the Mdewakanton band of Sioux occupied the northern regions of what are now Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. Graham kept busy serving as a trading liaison between the Indians and British. In 1806, Wapasha I died and was replaced by his son, Wapasha II. The new chief, Istagiwin's uncle, was also a man of peace. Although he encouraged the exchange of American and British goods and culture, he recognized the danger of alcohol and excluded it from the items to be bartered. The peace and tranquility of Wapasha II, his band of Sioux, and the family of Duncan Graham was shattered with the outbreak of the War of 1812. On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Great Britain because England had harassed its merchant marine and interfered with its frontier settlements. The Sioux, Pottawatomie, Sauk, Fox, and other tribes allied themselves with the British in hopes of protecting their hunting lands from the Americans. The British gave Graham a commission (reports differ as to whether he was a lieutenant or captain) and enlisted his services with the British Indian Department. On July 17, 1814, he assisted Lt. Col. William McKay in taking the fort at Prairie du Chien, Wis., from the Americans. Prairie du Chien is located on the Mississippi River, separating Wisconsin from Iowa. In an attempt to eventually retake the fort at Prairie du Chien and to punish the Indians, Taylor was ordered to lead a force up the Mississippi to Rock Island, in northern Illinois, to destroy Indian crops and villages and build a fort to control the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers. Taylor sailed up the Mississippi River with eight gunboats and 350 (some sources list 430) men from the 7th U.S. Infantry Division. Graham was sent to intercept Taylor and his force. Under Graham's command were 30 volunteer fur trade employees, and his arsenal composed of one artillery cannon. Graham also enlisted the aid of about 1,200 Sauk, Sioux, Winnebago, and Kickapoo Indians to help him in his cause. However, he left instructions with them that there was to be no scalping or mutilation of prisoners. The location he chose to launch this defense was Credit Island, which is the site of present day Davenport, Iowa. Before daybreak on the morning of Sept. 5, 1814, Graham and his allies spotted the flotilla commanded by Taylor. The first shot from Graham's cannon blasted through the bow of Taylor's boat, and, simultaneously, Graham's men and allies opened fire on Taylor's soldiers. Taylor realized that his objective was hopeless and, for the only time in his long and illustrious military career, he ordered a retreat. Prairie du Chien would remain under British control for the remainder of the war. The Treaty of Ghent was signed on Dec. 24, 1814, ending the War of 1812. The treaty outraged the Indian chiefs of this region who had sided with the British because they had not been consulted. The British soldiers moved north to Canada; however, this was not practical for the Indians whose homes and families were tied to the land. Graham kept the trust of his Indian friends by continuing to live and work with them in land belonging to the U.S. This article will be concluded next week as we examine the later life and legacy of Duncan Graham and his family. (Written by Curt Eriksmoen and edited by Jan Eriksmoen. Reach the Eriksmoens at cjeriksmoen@;cableone.net.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments James W. Brown wrote on August 29, 2006 12:13 PM:"As a decendant of Duncan Graham I have been doing research for our Family Journal. I believe you may have some errors in your article (James Alexander not a part of his name), however, if they are not errors I certainly would like to learn your sources so I can make corrections. I can be contacted at jgroton@aol.com. Thank you Jim Brown" link below- www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/07/16/news/local/117844.txt |
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Post by mdenney on Feb 2, 2007 21:44:52 GMT -5
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Post by mdenney on Feb 8, 2007 1:58:33 GMT -5
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Post by mdenney on Feb 8, 2007 21:17:56 GMT -5
well it starts here goes to www.rootsweb.com/~mnwabbio/ch1.htmchapter ? I looked to 40 Chapter 4 TREATIES WITH THE NATIVES Pages 589-590 From the book about Wabasha Co. Minnesota "HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY" Compiled by Dr. L. H. Bunnell Published Chicago by H. H. Hill, Publishers, 1884 Republished Currently by Higginson Books In 1830 steps were taken for a congress of tribes at Prairie du Chien, and at this council the M'dewakantonwan Dahkotahs made a treaty, and conveyed to their relatives of mixed blood that tract of land about Lake Pepin known as the "half-breed tract." The tract of said treaty is described as follows: "Beginning at a place called the barn, below and near the village of the Red Wing chief, and running back fifteen miles, thence in a parallel line with Lake Pepin and the Mississippi about thirty-two miles to a point opposite Au Boeuf river, thence fifteen miles to the grand Encampment opposite the river aforesaid." This is the tract upon which our annals are laid, and with which the history of the city of Wabasha is so closely connected. Oliver Cratte, of this place, asserts that he was present at that treaty, and that the above is a true rendition of it; also that these lands were intended for the half-breeds of that generation only, and that no "scrip" should ever have been placed upon them. The chiefs present upon that occasion, according to Mr. Cratte, were Red Wing, Black Dog, Little Crow (the father of the great Crow of Sioux massacre notoriety), Waconta and Wapashaw. In 1831, during the month of April, the authorities at Washington instructed the Indian agent at Sault Ste. Marie, H. R. Schoolcraft, to proceed to the upper Mississippi, and use his influence to make peace between the contending tribes, Dakotahs and Ojibways, in which he partly succeeded, and in 1832 he was again instructed to visit the tribes toward the sources of the Mississippi. In June of that year he arrived, in company of a military escort commanded by Lieut. James Allen, at the Fond du Lac trading-house on the St. Louis river, and, slowly making their way, in July they arrived at Elk Lake, which Mr. Schoolcraft names Itasca. The party were sure they had reached the true source of the great river at last, and geographers still mark Lake Itasca as the head and source of the Mississippi. The lake is about seven miles long, and varies from one to three miles broad, is of irregular shape, with no rock in place but some boulders on the shores. The Indian trade of the northwest was found to be so completely in the hands of British subjects, that trade could not be carried on by the Americans without their assistance. The secretary of the treasury in consequence issued a circular allowing the agents to license interpreters and voyageurs, who might be employed by the American traders. Mr. Taliaferro was the first Indian agent in Minnesota, and he held the office twenty-one years, licensing traders at different points as occasion demanded at different times. In 1833 the licensed traders of Minnesota were: Alexis Bailly, Mendota; J. R. Browne, mouth of the St. Croix; J. B. Faribault, Little Rapids; Joseph Renville, Lac qui Parle; Louis Provencalle, Traverse des Sioux; Hazen Moores, Lac Traverse, and B. F. Baker at Fort Snelling. In 1835 we find Joseph R. Brown at Lac Traverse, the Coteau de Prairie, at the Lake of the Two Woods, and Alexander Faribault, son of J. B. Faribault, on the Cannon river. There were other prominent traders who came into the country in 1837, among whom were N. W. Kittson, Philander Prescott and Francois Labathe. Franklin Steele and Wm. H. Forbes also came to Minnesota in 1837, and H. M. Rice, who was at the head of an extensive trade with the Winnebagos and Chippewas, in 1839. In 1837 about twenty chiefs and traders, by direction of Gov. Dodge, proceeded to Washington to make a treaty ceding to the United States their lands east of the Mississippi. They were accompanied by Maj. Taliaferro, agent, and Scott Campbell as interpreter. The fur company was represented by H. H. Sibley, Alexis Bailly, Joseph La Framboise, Augustin Rocque, Labathe, the Faribaults, and others. Joel R. Poinsette, a special commissioner, represented the United States. link below- www.rootsweb.com/~mnwabbio/ch4.htm |
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Post by mdenney on Feb 11, 2007 0:30:46 GMT -5
Exiled at Crow Creek Vernon Ashley is former chairman of the Crow Creek reservation in South Dakota. The Indians shipped to the reservation after the 1862 war had nothing, but Ashley says his people were honest and hardworking. Ashley says the curent tribal government is dishonest, and has created a crushing debt burden for the tribe. "They've lost all principles. They run it like dictators," he claims. (MPR Photo/Mark Steil) picture of Vernon Ashley is former chairman of the Crow Creek reservation link below- news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200209/23_steilm_1862-m/images/vernonashley_small.jpgElmer Weston is still bitter over the Dakotas' forced settlement in Crow Creek. After the 1862 war, every Indian was treated the same. He says even those who helped white settlers escape the fighting were shipped out. (MPR Photo/Mark Steil) picture of Elmer Weston is still bitter over the Dakotas' forced settlement in Crow Creek link below- news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200209/23_steilm_1862-m/images/elmerweston_small.jpgThe cemetery on the Crow Creek reservation news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200209/23_steilm_1862-listen to a story on radio link below- news.minnesota.publicradio.org/standard/images/001/listen.gifAfter the 1862 Dakota conflict, Minnesota's Dakota Indians were expelled from the state. It was one of the most heartbreaking results of the war. It broke out in the Minnesota River Valley. When the Dakota were defeated, the federal government rounded up the survivors and sent most of them to Crow Creek, S.D. Disease and starvation killed many of them. There's still a reservation there, and times are still hard. Vernon Ashley is in a hurry. He has many memories and is eager to show them to a visitor. On his left is a highway. To the right, a green strip of trees and grass. Beyond that is the blue Missouri River. He stops, and points with his right arm. "I was born in 1916, from that pointed bank you see there - about 200, maybe 300, yards this way," Ashley says. There's nothing left of the house now. In fact, there are few signs that anyone lived in these hills. The reservation hugs the east bank of the Missouri River in the middle of South Dakota. Ashley was the Crow Creek tribal chairman in the 1950s, but eventually moved off the reservation. He lives about 60 miles away now in Pierre, S.D. But he still remembers his boyhood neighbors. "His Battles lived up here, Yellow Dog up the river, Little Eagle, Round Head and all of these people, were all living in here. But those people were hearty, they were devoted to themselves, to survive," says Ashley. His Dakota ancestors had to be tough. Some had gone through war, and been shipped here from Minnesota and other parts of the Midwest. Others were the sons and daughters of the deportees. "Our people were brought from Fort Snelling in barges. Down the Mississippi River to St. Louis, and then back up the Missouri River, and brought to this area," says Ashley. The Indians were expelled from Minnesota by the government. The action followed a war in 1862 between the Dakota Indians, settlers and government soldiers. Some Dakota fled the state when the war ended. Many of those had fought in the war, and they feared being captured. Some were caught and tried, and sentenced to death. Thirty-eight were hanged in Mankato in December 1862. But most Dakota did not fight, and even opposed the war. They knew they were innocent and had no reason to leave Minnesota. But when the fighting ended, Ashley says all the Dakota were rounded up and shipped west. For some, it was a death sentence. Of the 1,300 people that was on those barges, 300 died," says Ashley. A memorial was dedicated this year on the Crow Creek reservation to those who died. The survivors found that Crow Creek was a difficult place to live. There were frequent droughts, and wild game was scarce. Ashley's family stayed at Crow Creek, but many moved on. Some went to Nebraska, North Dakota and even Canada. Some returned to Minnesota. The Minnesota Dakota waited until the uproar over the 1862 war had subsided. Then they walked hundreds of miles back to the state. Despite the forced removal of his people, Ashley is not bitter. "We had to accept it. What else do we have? And we learned to adjust our lives to it," says Ashley. Not all Indians are so accepting. Elmer Weston lives near Flandreau, S.D. His ancestors were sent to Crow Creek in the 1860s, but after a few years they moved to Nebraska. Later they returned to South Dakota to farm on homestead claims near Flandreau. Weston is 81 years old. When he was a boy, he knew people who lived through the 1862 war and the expulsion from Minnesota. One woman told him she saw a lot of children die at Crow Creek. "They didn't get any food when they were there. They get some kind of a sickness where they cry - you know they're sick. They cry, they cry. When they quit crying, that's when they die," he says. Weston also remembers hearing his grandfather talk about the 1862 war. His grandfather was shipped to Crow Creek with the rest of the Dakota. He had a very personal way of expressing his bitterness over the treatment. Weston says he refused to speak English. "(In) summertime we wanted to stay at the boarding school, because we like it. He'd say, 'No, you can't stay over there, you better come home. You might forget how to talk Indian', he says. He didn't want us to lose our Indian language," Weston says. Weston says what still hurts is that after the 1862 war, every Indian was treated the same. He says even those who helped white settlers escape the fighting were shipped out. "At that time all they wanted to do was get them Indians out of the way, so they could come and live there," says Weston. "They must have planned it that way too - this uprising. The government did. They don't feed them, so they can go to war. They have an excuse to move them out of there." Vernon Ashley bends his 6 ft. 3 in. frame in two over his mother's tombstone on the Crow Creek reservation. He's tearing up the tall grass crowding her memory. "Just a shame we don't keep these graves up," he says. Ashley says the cemetery is one of many things that need attention at Crow Creek. Just as his childhood home is gone, he says the reservation of his youth has disappeared. The Indians shipped here after the 1862 war had nothing, but he says his people were honest and hardworking. Ashley says things are different now, and he pins the blame on the tribal government "They've lost all principles. They run it like dictators," he claims. The reservation is almost $35 million in debt. Ashley says he's found many examples of wasteful, possibly fraudulent, spending. He says in one case, the tribal council paid off the gambling debt of one of its members. He says the leaders of his boyhood would never have done that. "They were not educated men, but the one thing I said - they were honest," Ashley says. "They were dedicated to helping their people. They wouldn't take a dime if it wasn't theirs. But we lost that." Ashley says the current leadership is to blame. Tribal chairman Duane Big Eagle refused to comment for this story. Ashley wonders what his ancestors would think. "Our people have just gone downhill. Just think of what they came from. Some dedicated, strong people - to come down to what we are now," says Ashley. "What's ruined the race is welfare. A lot of these people grew up in a dependent society. A lot of those councilmen up there - that's all they know is welfare." Ashley is leading an effort to get rid of Crow Creek's tribal structure. But his solution takes him back to the same institution that brought immeasureable pain to his people. Ashley wants the U.S. government to run the tribe's affairs while it searches for a way out of the crushing debt load. It's been almost 140 years since a tragic war gave birth to the Crow Creek reservation. Misfortune is nothing new. link to where all this is from below- news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200209/23_steilm_1862-m/crowcreek.shtml |
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Post by mdenney on Feb 11, 2007 0:46:42 GMT -5
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Post by mdenney on Feb 14, 2007 16:36:52 GMT -5
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Post by mdenney on Feb 18, 2007 20:43:55 GMT -5
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Post by mdenney on Feb 18, 2007 22:10:13 GMT -5
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Post by mdenney on Feb 23, 2007 1:48:37 GMT -5
The Santees were Christian Indians and wished to establish their own church, become ... Wakpaipaksan, The River bend www.dakotablues.nl/fsst.htm ----------------- After the Sioux uprising, the Minnesota people feared the Indians, who were imprisoned and the newspapers kept the atrocities of the uprising before the public. Because of these pressures and the poor conditions in the prison camps, the Minnesota legislature and the congressional delegation moved to force the expulsion of the Sioux from Minnesota. The new Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Clark W. Thompson decided that the Crow Creak area was the right spot for a new reservation. This location, on the Missouri River, Dakota Territory, was located 80 miles south of Ft. Pierre and 100 miles north of Ft. Randall. It was a land totally unsuited for agriculture, devoid of timber and other resources. The hasty and ill-prepared movement of Indians began May 4, 1863 from Ft. Snelling. 300 Indians died on the three shipments, due to overcrowded boats, extreme heat, poor food that was too salt and made them thirsty. The polluted river water also contributed to their deaths. The Indian prisoners at Davenport, Iowa were to remain there. They joined their families at the Santee Agency three years later. The trips from Minnesota to Crow Creek and the years spent at Crow Creek have been recorded as some of the darkest spots in U.S. History. The desperate situation of the Indians at Crow Creek was investigated in 1865 by a peace commission with Newton Edmunds, governor of Dakota Territory, as chairman. In their official report the commission spoke in the strongest possible terms the recommendation that the Sioux be moved. The decision was to move the Indians to the mouth of the Niobrara River south of Ft. Randall to a newly acquired reservation. This time the prisoners at Davenport, Iowa, were the first ones to be moved to the Niobrara Reservation by riverboat. On June 11, 1866 the first families from Crow Creek were reunited with their families from Davenport at Niobrara. The conditions at Niobrara were exceedingly better than at Crow Creek, except for most of the land. Again the Indians were dependant upon government rations and the Santees became restless in wishes for their own land. The Fort Laramie treaty, signed by the Santee chiefs in the summer of 1868, had been the last treaty signed by the Sioux Indians. It was the basis for the Indian's claim for permanent and individually owned land. This treaty had contained a provision for the Indians to receive as much as 160 acres of land for farming purposes. The Niobrara Reservation did not supply this land, and the land was no substitute for the rich soil of the Minnesota Valley taken from them in 1863. The government failed to define available land for the permanent possession by the Indians. The Santees were Christian Indians and wished to establish their own church, become citizens and break away from government regulations. The Niobrara Reservation was not the answer to their problems and wishes for their future. Wakpaipaksan, The River bend In early March of 1869 Indian Agent James M. Stone was in Washington DC, when the Santee Sioux decided to leave, without authorization, and travelled overland to the Bend in the Big Sioux River, known to them as "Wakpaipaksun". It was there where Agent Charles A. Flandreau had tried to establish a village in 1856. Under the guidance of Rev. John P. Williamson, the group decided to break away from tribalism and live like Christian white men. Basis of their hope for land in the Flandreau area was the Sioux Treaty (ft. Laramie) of 1868. Eleven families left the Santee Reservation in March 1869 for Wakpaipaksun, now known as Flandreau, a very nice country with plenty of game as deer, Elk, goat, Buffalo and plenty of trapping along the river for Beaver, Otter, Mink and Muskrat and an abundance of fish in the river. And it was wonderful country for agriculture. The ponies hauled the tents and tent poles and other possessions. People that were able to walk walked all the way. Half way between Wasiyupaguwakpa (Vermilion River) and Flandreau, they were caught in a snowstorm. Some were able to reach the river, but others buried themselves in the snow, until the storm was over. One woman froze to death in the storm. When the storm was over, the started out again and arrived at the Fort at Sioux Falls, where they were given a lot of food by the General and a storekeeper named C.K. Howard. There they waited for warm weather and then continued their way to Flandreau, following the river and hunting and trapping as they went. They never failed to have religious service, always conducted by W.A. Rogers. The families built log cabins along the river and lived there for 4 years, without receiving annuities of any kind. There were no white men and no roads. In 1870 35 more families came from the Santee Agency to Flandreau and in 1873 their population reached 250. From 1873-1879 the Flandreau colony was known as a Special Agency served by Rev. John Williamson, who ran it according to the Philosophy characterizing mission work laid out by President Grant's Peace Policy. The Indians discarded their Indian names and took English Christian surnames. During this time they cultivated 600 acres of land and they started a Day school. The First Presbyterian Church was built in October 1869. Wowinape, the son of Little Crow and then known as Thomas Wakeman was one of the founders of that church. The population of the Flandreau colony increased to 365 in 1879 and the Indians continued to live as white settlers, despite the hardships of the time. The Indians and their white neighbours had great struggles with climate and grasshoppers along with limited tools to plant and harvest crops. While the soil was better at Flandreau, the unpredictable weather was always a factor. In 1875 Congress extended the benefits of the Homestead Act to Indians without exacting from them a renunciation of benefits to which they might be entitled as members of a recognized tribe. This protected the homesteads of the Flandreau establishment During the latter part of the 1880's and the early years of the 20th century the Indians had a continual struggle due to decreasing land base, taxation and drought. Many of them turned to trades to supplement or provide their living. Rations were given the aged, but the government supplied little else. Alcoholism became a problem with the young Indians, but the Flandreau Indians committed no major crimes. In 1890 the town of Flandreau was selected as the site for a non-reservation boarding school to serve Indian children in the Dakotas and adjacent states. Due to the efforts of Senator Pettigrew of Sioux Falls, the Indian boarding school was established on March 7, 1893. The school was named Riggs' Institute in honour of Missionary Stephen R. Riggs. There were 98 students from the midwestern area and 12 staff members. The students lived on campus for 9 months of the year and were taught trades like masonry, carpentry, farming, baking and later also auto mechanics. The students produced their own food and dairy products through the farming operation. The name was changed to Flandreau Indian School, but remained primarily a vocational school until the late 1950's when it became an academic institution. During the first 30 years of the 1900's the loss of Indian land became a serious problem. This was due to several situations. The original homesteaders had passed away and the lands came into the possession of their legal heirs who wanted settlement. This caused the sub-dividing of the lands into small units, which were not large enough to support a profitable farming operation. Some of these small plots were sold or rented to others. Many times the heirs of these plots moved to other areas and did not pay taxes or care for the property. Younger Indians, who had learned trades, preferred living and working in towns to living on agricultural land and farming. In June 1929, the Flandreau Indians formed a tribal council and asked for recognition as a reservation. This gave them a structural form of government that is still in existence today. The were granted recognition as the Flandreau Indian Reservation on August 17, 1936 and the tribe became officially known as the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe with radification on October 29, 1936. Membership in the tribe included all names on the census roll as of June 30, 1934 and January 1, 1935 and all children born to members of the Flandreau Santee Sioux provided the child possesses one-quarter or more degree of Flandreau Santee Sioux blood. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 established the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe and Reservation consisting of 2,300 acres. A Constitution was developed with an Executive Committee or Tribal Council consisting of one appointed and seven elected members. These members are elected by the general tribal membership. Current tribal enrollment is 712 members with 240 adult members living on the reservation. On the FSST Rez. Please visit the Tribe's website here BACK www.dakotablues.nllink below- www.dakotablues.nl/fsst.htm |
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