Book Description
Recounting twelve significant battles, and the reverberating consequences of their outcomes, that took place in the American West between the United States and American Indians from 1854 to 1890, this book is filled with harrowing stories of sacrifice and misdeeds that are well documented in the annals of history, as well as others that are less well known. Commonly and callously referred to at the time as the "Indian Problem," this issue, and how it was handled, became the defining factor in shaping how American Indians live today and reflects interestingly on how the American military currently handles conflicts with insurgents throughout the world. Further reading suggestions are offered at the end of each chapter.
Customer Reviews:
fine writing, but how much new history?.......2007-09-26
Blake is a terrific writer, and if you want a place to start learning about the Indian Wars, this is a pretty good one. It's very clean, focused writing, with nice photos at a decent size (unlike the usual grainy small photos publishers skimp on.) But if you want more info, Utley's books are better. And I was a little put off by the sensationalistic chapter titles, like "Shock and Awe." On the other hand, the prose is terrific, and the history is very solid.
Concise and moving.......2007-04-05
A heartbreaking account of 19th century war crimes and genocide in the American west. This is not a liberal rant on the evils of America as you might expect. It is a collection of short historical treatises on key events in Indian-White relations of the 19th century. The events described shed new light on how zealots among private citizens, the military, and the state and federal governments used deception to genocide in dealing with American Indians. To truly understand the history of western expansion, one must face the reality of its cost. Mr. Blake has given us a concise and moving account of a side of history we would rather forget but must face to understand. It is one-sided, indeed. It is also true and long overdue.
Provides important connections to today's events and concerns among Indian nations........2006-10-14
Michael Blake is author of DANCES WITH WOLVES, and in INDIAN YELL: THE HEART OF AN AMERICAN INSURGENCY he not only reviews past practices but connects them to modern-day policies. Twelve significant conflicts receive survey in INDIAN YELLOW, a narrative which covers conflict between Indian and white man during the nation's expansion. The analysis dispels common myths and stereotypes of the Indian Wars, uses research to analyze both military and cultural interactions, and provides important connections to today's events and concerns among Indian nations.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Not much learned!.......2006-10-05
From Michael Blake, author of Dances with Wolves, comes a brief account of the "Indian Problem" between 1854 and 1890, described in Indian Yell: The Heart of an American Insurgency. Blake tries to capture how the American Indian was, and is treated, by picking twelve of most significant conflicts/events in American Indian history.
The dust jacket gives voice to Blake's intention: "Beginning in 1854 with a decrepit cow that wandered onto a Sioux encampment that sparked a slaughter, and ending with the last freezing gasps of breath from the victims of the Wounded Knee in 1890, the horrors and shame of war within our borders is recounted." Sounds fascinating, right?
Unfortunately Blake tries to do too much with too little. If the reader isn't steeped in the history, the reader will be as lost as the Indian way of life. Key information is missing in each event.
For example, in "Deceit," the chapter is supposed to provide illumination on how the Apaches were lied to and the fall of Cochise. Instead, sentences like "A new general, known equally for self-promotion and effectiveness, was installed to oversee a mammoth military commitment" leave the reader wondering what is happening. Which general? Does his name live in the history books? Should I know him? Could it be Custer? His name is never mentioned.
Sentence like the one mentioned abound throughout the book. I found this jarring and interruptive to an already dull narrative.
There are two saving graces to Indian Yell. One is that the chapter titles are creative and interesting "The Music Freezes," "Burned at the Tongue," and "Shock and Awe." Second, is that at the end of each chapter, Blake provides a "Recommended Reading" suggestion to further enlighten the reader of that episode.
As far as reading Indian Yell, readers would be better off taking the author's suggestions and reading his recommendations.
Armchair Interviews says: History lesson that leaves much yet to be learned from this author.
Great survey with bonuses.......2006-09-04
Blake does a fine job stripping each of 12 encounters to its essence, introducing us to compelling characters Indian and White alike.
The bonuses are two. First, each chapter ends with a recommended reading, most of which are new to me and most of which I will pursue. Second, Blake's writing invites the reader to visit the places where the battles occurred. The most intriguing of these is Palo Duro Canyon:
"...the second largest canyon in the United States...Often plunging to depths of one thoudand feet, the canyon cuts finger-like across the Texas Panhandle for more than 100 miles. A river runs through its heart supporting life in multitudes..."
see you there
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2006-05-09
The Santee Sioux uprising is not taught much in American history and has not captured the imagination of Hollywood (though there are movies of the same name, it is not the same event) and as such, most Americans have never heard of the largest massacre that occured in American history, nor is it generally known that the victims were white as opposed to Indian.
Oehler does an excellent job describing an extremely ugly moment in American history, from the murder of farmer Robinson Jones and most of his family which precipitated the 'uprising' to the execution of a relatively few Santee Sioux. In a time when political correctness is the rule of thumb for television or movies, describing the horrorific murders of so many innocent men, women, and children (primarily German or other immigrants) by Indians is inherently unpopular. Most common sources of this event apparently try to minimize the death toll suffered by whites, whereas Oehler gives a range of 400+ to over 1000 persons and then explains how we could never know the exact number then or now of the dead.
I recommend this book highly for the person who wants to know the reality of the greatest single massacre in American history and is not afraid of facing the truth.
Stupid sioux.......2003-08-19
Frankly, I was amazed by this book - probably well founded and true, it made me think a little bit different on plain indians.
First, they really seemed to have been cowards. With the majority of the warriors focussing on unarmed settlers rather than taking care of army troops.
Secondly, they were amazingly separated in thoughts and opinions. Clearly if they would have standed united in that period of time like they did a decade later, history of the midwest might have turned up differently.
Book Description
December 26, 1862. On the day after Christmas, in Mankato, Minnesota, thirty-eight Indians were hanged on the order of President Lincoln. This event stands today as the greatest mass execution in the history of the United States. In Over The Earth I Come, Duane Schultz brilliantly retells one of America's most violent and bloody events--the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862.
Customer Reviews:
Consider the Primary Sources.......2006-08-24
Schultz's work is not among the best narratives about the U.S.-Dakota Conflict of 1862. The work is an over-dramatizated and ahistorical interpretation of the events. In particular, he draws on Harriet E. Bishop McConkey's "Dakota War Whoop" as a source. McConkey's work is often considered a fallible book among Conflict scholars. Even though Schultz's work earned the New York Times Notable Book in 1992, such an award isn't always based on historical merit. In short, consider works by Alan R. Woolworth and Gary Clayton Anderson - both historians of renown with regard to the 1862 Conflict. I propose "Through Dakota Eyes" for a multi-angled approach to the Dakota participants (including Christian, traditional and farming Dakota accounts). As for diversified military accounts, seek "Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars." Kenneth Carley's "The Dakota War of 1862: Minnesota's Other Civil War" is also a good secondary source. If you have the opportunity and interest, it is advisable to visit the sites where these events occurred. Consider a historical field trip to Fort Ridgely, Birch Coolie and/or New Ulm, Minnesota to investigate the nuances of this often oversimplified history.
Parable of The Crow.......2005-12-04
Having grown up with this book, I thought it would be timely to re-read it again after many years. When I was young, this was the book that would always be on my dad's bookshelf or sometimes, when he had fallen asleep in his EZ Chair late at night, I'd go in, take the pipe from his mouth and tamp it into a nearby ashtray, and remove this book from his lap where he lay sleeping.
We grew up thinking that the tragic events of New Ulm and the other Great Plains sites had happened, perhaps, next door to us on the North Shore of Long Island, for those were the days when large wooded areas were still undeveloped and the paths worn down by Native tribes were still in use. Children read things in funny ways and some of my father's and grandfather's tales were enough to make us think that we too shared the blood of the Dakota people. This book was originally published 13 years ago and was an instant classic. As a young man I argued with my dad about why did author Schultz insist on spilling out the gory details of the Sioux rebellion against white settlers (largely German born and in some cases, German was all they spoke)? Wasn't it designed to stir up bad feeling against the present day descendants of the tribe? If there were any left especially after the executions of so many, including the pragmatic, intuitive, and charismatic leader, Little Crow?
My father said it was like a parable and for that reason the bord "Crow," which we also had plenty of on Long Island, had been adopted as the totem of many Plains Indians, was because the crow sees further than any other bird, and that the slaughter was a by product of basically a prophetic genius (Li'l Crow) who could see into the future, not only the future of his tribe but also beyond the borders of the plains and out to the oceans on either side of the North American continent. The blood spilled by the victims of the uprising, long gone now into the earth, bubbles up again, red and warm, in Schultz's pages. It's as if he couldn't help himself (as a historian) any more than the original "egg" quarrel could have been avoided. As an example, my father also enjoyed the still-ongoing "Crow" film series especially with the late Brandon Lee, claiming that the creators of the "Crow" movies had based their plots on the 1862 events. Hmmm, who knows!
He often spoke in parables, and some of the meaning he wanted to impart to his children was lost in ambiguity. He is gone now but reading OVER THE EARTH I COME returns him to me a little.
Amazing first hand accounts.......2005-09-16
I am an avid reader of western fiction like Louis L'Amour. This book is even better, it is first-hand true accounts of the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota in 1862. I loved it because it presented both sides of the situation in graphic detail. I read it in 2 days and normally a book like this would take me a month of 10 or 15 minute sessions. I couldn't put it down and I have already loaned it to three friends who were equally impressed. Buy it, Read it!
Very Informative and Fairly Object.......2003-12-18
As a native of New Ulm, I found this book to be extremely interesting. I realized that I have been to most of these places including Lake Shetek, Fort Ridgely, and Birch Coulee where we sometimes had scout camps. It is hard to imagine some of the scenes that happened at each one of these beautiful landmarks today. Schultz does an excellent job of tying all of these places together. If you live in Minnesota, you should read this book. The narrative flows along very smoothly from one exciting tale to the next making it near impossible to put the book down.
Overall, Schultz seems pretty objective. I do not believe that there is anything in the book that Schult does not believe is factual. It is possible that the stories about the atrocoties committed may have changed some over time. It is impossible to tell exactly what is exactly true. I think that Schultz had an obligation to tell as many stories as he could find, no matter how bad it made the Sioux or Dakota look. Schultz puts a lot of effort into explaining Little Crow's side of the story. I got a new perspective about how this war started. The ending is really sad when he explains how the Indian's freedom was striped away from all of them whether they were innocent or guilty. Many were needlessly punished.
The next time that I visit the Minnesota River Valley I intend to visit some of the Memorials or Monuments. I found a good lisiting of them at http://www.rrcnet.org/~historic.
Greek Tragedy in Minnesota, circa 1862.......2002-11-13
In "Over the Earth I Come," military historian Duane Schultz writes a popular history of the infamous Dakota uprising of 1862. The title of the book comes from a Dakota chant of defiance, a fitting title for a book that describes the efforts of a people to cast off the heavy chains of hopelessness, starvation, and general depravation forged through contact with the American government and its Indian agents.
Schultz writes a gripping account of all aspects of the uprising and the aftereffects of the rebellion. The author weaves narratives of survivors with political and military events of the uprising into a seamless and compelling account of this unfortunate incident in American history. According to Schultz, some 500 to 2000 whites died in the uprising, many of them German settlers unaware of the danger they faced from the angry Dakotas. Hundreds of Dakotas died as well in the futile military campaigns launched against Fort Ridgley, New Ulm, and at the battle of Birch Coulee. The uprising was a tragedy for everyone involved, from the white women and children who died in astonishingly brutal ways, to the Indians who lost their freedom and lands as a result of the uprising, to President Abraham Lincoln who signed a death warrant for 38 Dakotas (Lincoln lessened the tragedy somewhat by commuting some 264 death sentences). Schultz conveys the tragedy with a heartfelt eloquence that brings tears to your eyes.
Early in the book, Schultz examines the causes of the uprising. Was the uprising inevitable? Schultz's answer is a resounding NO! The Dakotas rebelled against the government agents and white settlers due to starvation, a tardy annuity payment, and poor treatment by Indian agents and German settlers. Cultural factors also played a role, as the government played Indians off against each other by rewarding Indians who played by the rules (those who adopted white culture and farming methods), and withholding supplies from "blanket" Indians (those who refused to adopt an alien culture in order to preserve their ancient way of life). The Indians who refused to adopt white culture watched their converted kin collect supplies and food from government warehouses anytime they needed it, while the blanket Indians collected their food on a set schedule. The blanket Indians eventually formed a soldier's lodge and planned military action against the whites. A harmless incident over some eggs on a white farm escalated into the murder of a family of whites, and the war was on.
Schultz spends much time discussing Little Crow, the leader of the uprising. Little Crow, who initially opposed the uprising, eventually changed his mind and supported the revolt, a decision that doomed Little Crow and his people. After discussing Schultz's presentation of Little Crow with a friend, he asked if Schultz relied on the "noble savage" stereotype while discussing Little Crow. I don't think that is the case here, as Little Crow appears as a politically astute politician, saddened over the deaths of white children and white women while generally making the best of a situation rapidly spiraling beyond his control.
In a move sure to bring about howls of protest from the politically correct crowd who believe Indians can do no wrong, Schultz provides graphic details of the slaughter and torture of white settlers caught in the uprising. Through the use of narrative accounts, we see Indian braves on a murder spree of shocking proportions. Indians dashed the heads of children against trees, dropped rocks on people's heads, and tore limbs from still living children. Indians shook hands in a gesture of "friendship" with whites, and then shot them when they turned their backs. The list of atrocities goes on and on. As bad as these descriptions are, there are many worse ones found in this book. It is understandable that whites howled for blood when the uprising came to an end.
At the same time, Schultz shows us the many Indians disgusted at the behavior of their fellow Indians. Just as people sheltered Jews during World War II, some Indians risked life and limb to protect innocent whites. These Indian men and women were truly saviors to many. But in keeping with the theme of tragedy, Schultz explains how a few innocent Indians died on the gallows; one of them was Chaska, an Indian who protected Sarah Wakefield, a white woman taken captive early in the uprising. Despite Sarah's protestations (or perhaps because of them; whites were not interested in letting any Indian off the hook), Chaska ended up on the gallows.
As a popular history, "Over the Earth I Come" does have its limitations. For example, in his discussion on the causes of the uprising, Schultz completely fails to mention the Spirit Lake massacre in 1857 and the withholding of annuity funds by the government in order to force the Indians to do what the government told them to do. Both of these events contributed to the uprising, and discussing them is essential in understanding the events that followed.
"Over the Earth I Come" is an excellent, well written introduction to this troubling event in American history. The book has all the trappings of a novel: dramatic battles, perilous escapes, mind blowing ironies and "what-ifs," and touching stories of human kindness. Schultz conveys the multiple tragedies of this sad event with great sympathy and understanding.
Book Description
This collection of thirty-six narratives presents the Dakota Indians' experiences during a conflict previously known chiefly from the viewpoints of non-Indians.
Customer Reviews:
History in All it's Contradiction.......2006-02-08
A number of years ago, I was privileged to take an Internet class on the Dakota War of 1862 that was being taught by none other than Mr. Gary CLayton Anderson. After the course was over he took us to all the battle sites, trading posts, and places where treaties were signed. The good professor had a very great knack for evoking the visuals. That is a tendency that has carried over into his books. To write this book he has spent literally hundreds of hours combing through manuscripts, museum archives, and musty old books and newspapers in order to find first hand accounts of Minnesota's only Indian War. The results are absolutely stunning. The Dakota warriors and tribal chiefs who waged war on the whites come across not as peaceful children of nature or even as blood thirsty savages, but as men of flesh and blood. Although there are heroes and villains in this book, there are times when it is very difficult to tell them appart. At the same time as Chief Little Crow countenanced bloody massacres of women and children he secretly ordered his foster brother to save as many of them as he could. In addition, there were very few "hostile" Indians who didn't have some white people or Americanised Indians they desired to protect. Most of the people in this book seemed only interested in protecting their families and friends. One of the most sympathetic figures proves to be a Dakota "half breed" known as Joseph Coursolle or Hinhankaga, depending on which language you spoke. To Coursolle, after his daughters were taken prisoner by "hostiles," getting them back became his obsession, one understandable to any parent. The most fascinating thing about this book was that there were Indians who favored the whites and whites who favored the Indians. Coursolle, whose mother was Dakota, would go on to become a Corporal in the US Army, serving as a scout and a sniper against the men who had stolen his family. And among the "hostiles" hanged at Mankato was a white man who had been adopted into the Dakota Nation. In closing, this book reveals what happened in all it's complexities and brutal truth. History, no matter how hard one may try to change it to fit one's own politics, is so complex that even the characters you come to know intimately can still surprise you. No matter how hard some people may try, it cannot be pushed into a box. I am very much surpised that noone has tried optioning this book for TV or a movie. It would make a very powerful tale.
The Indian Side of the 1862 War.......2002-11-27
Historians discovered many years ago that oral history is a vibrant cornucopia of information. Even better, integrating oral history into traditional modes of inquiry opened up more chances for earning a Ph.D., or getting that career making book contract. In the case of "Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862," oral history is the only game in town. Every selection in the book is an oral story from Indians or mixed-blood Indians about the disastrous uprising that killed hundreds of soldiers, settlers, and Indians. One of the editors of "Through Dakota Eyes" is none other than Gary Clayton Anderson, the premier scholar on Dakota history. As usual, Anderson goes above and beyond the call of duty in researching the narratives, providing background color on the people involved (and also providing information about what happened to these people after the uprising, something I greatly appreciated).
For nearly a century after the uprising, articles and books concerning the 1862 war only used white narratives as sources of information. There is definitely nothing wrong with relying on these narratives; they are invaluable sources of information on the uprising. The white narratives also reveal the tragic dimensions of the conflict, showing how innocent men, women, and children died (or persevered) in especially brutal ways. With the addition of these Indian narratives, however, historians can now go inside the camps and meeting places of the Dakotas intimately involved in the conflict.
The narratives are lumped into distinct categories dealing with different stages of the uprising. Each category then provides a succinct description of that particular phase of the war. With each narrative, the editors provide a small capsule of information on the person telling the story, allowing the reader to understand that person's place in the overall scheme of things. It is recommended to read the endnotes for each narrative, as they provide excellent information on each narrative. Excellent maps and pictures of many of the people involved also help the reader to understand the accounts.
Some of the narratives are more helpful than others. A few are difficult to understand due to poor grammar or contradictory information. Several of the narratives appeared in newspaper articles or as testimony in a case against the government in 1901, and there is a possibility that someone altered or changed them as they saw fit. That does not mean there are not any "WOW!" moments found here. In Cecelia Campbell Stay's account of the attack on the Redwood Agency (also known as the Lower Agency, where the killing began in earnest on August 18th), Cecelia describes seeing the sunlight flashing on the bayonets of Captain Marsh's patrol as they headed to their doom at the ferry crossing. Another narrative, now widely used in accounts of the uprising, comes from Wowinape, the son of Little Crow (the leader of the warring Dakota). Battle narratives allow the reader to feel as though they are at Fort Ridgely, New Ulm, or Birch Coulee as the cannons roar and the bullets fly.
As the editors point out, many of the mixed-blood Indian narratives identify a central tension of the conflict, namely the division between Indians who adopted white modes of civilization (the farmer Indians) and those who stayed true to traditional Indian values (the blanket Indians). Many of the mixed-blood Indians worked closely with whites; they feared the war parties of the traditionals just as much as whites did. As the war began to wind down, it was the mixed-bloods along with some full-blooded Indians who confronted the warring Indians, forcing these hostile forces to turn over their white captives in an effort to make peace with the military forces sweeping into the area.
This is an absolutely essential book for anyone interested in the Minnesota 1862 uprising. Actually, anyone writing a paper on this conflict without using this book as a source could find themselves in hot water. Since the editors graciously organized the narratives in chronological order, there is no reason someone unfamiliar with the conflict and its principal figures would have any difficulty understanding the book. Gary Anderson and Alan Woolworth have made an important contribution to Indian scholarship with this impressive tome.
An indepth look at life of an indian in the 1800s.......2000-03-29
This book has some wonderful narratives from the very people who were caught up in the middle of the uprising in Minnesota in 1862. The author does a good job of explaining how the book is laid out. You definitely need to read the intro to understand this. While I was reading the book, I felt as though I was there in the middle of it with all those involved. I don't excuse what was done, but I have a better understanding of what horrors the indians went through that drove them to this place. I would definitely recommend this book.
Book Description
On the bright Sunday morning of August 17, 1862, four Sioux warriors emerged from the Big Woods northwest of St. Paul, Minnesota, on their way home from an unsuccessful hunt. When they came upon the homestead of Robinson Jones, a white man who ran a post office and general store and offered lodging for travelers, the Indians opened fire on the settlers, killing almost all of them.
Soon bands of Sioux were rampaging across southwestern Minnesota, attacking farms and trading posts and murdering everywhere they went—splitting the skulls of men; clubbing children to death; raping daughters and wives before disemboweling them; cutting off hands, breasts, and genitals; and looting whatever could be taken before setting fire to what remained. Perhaps as many as two thousand settlers were brutally massacred, although the number has never been firmly established.
Once the uprising was suppressed, 303 Sioux warriors were sentenced to death. The people of Minnesota called for their immediate execution, a sentiment that matched the national mood. Abraham Lincoln suspected that most of those convicted were marginal players in the rebellion and that the worst culprits had escaped, and he carefully reviewed each case before selecting the 39—later reduced to 38—men to hang whom he believed to be guilty of the worst crimes. The remainder were committed to life in prison. "I could not hang men for votes," he later explained. On December 26 the 38 were simultaneously hanged on a gallows construction especially for them.
The Sioux Uprising of 1862, also known as the Dakota War, sounded the first shots of a war that continued for another 28 years, culminating in the massacre of Indian women and children at Wounded Knee in 1890. Lincoln's death at the hands of John Wilkes Booth ended his intention to reform the government's Indian policy, and both political parties continued to use the system to reward their supporters, a practice that largely continues to this day.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting reading, but sheds little light on the subject........2007-01-07
IN 1862, over 800 settlers lost their lives at the hands of Sioux warriors in what would become known as the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862. Many of the Sioux warriors were eventually brought to justice and in the end, 39, about 9% of the total number convicted of the crimes and sentenced to death, would swing from the gallows of Mankato, MN in the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Only the intervention of then President Abraham Lincoln would save the remaining 264 Sioux warriors from the same fate. LINCOLN AND THE SIOUX UPRISING OF 1862 by Hank Cox, tells the details of the account that has been largely forgotten in history due to events that were occurring at the same time in the eastern U.S. Names like Bull Run, Harper's Ferry and Vicksburg dominated the headlines.
By 1862, many of the Sioux had migrated west to capture new lands and annihilate their Indian brethren of the Dakotas. Yet others chose to stay behind on land delineated by the 1851 Treaty of Mendota in which the Sioux had agreed to live on a reservation on the upper Minnesota River in exchange for money and trade goods. Due to a combination of government corruption, inefficiency, (no, not much has changed in the last century and a half) and preoccupation with the Civil War, much of the promised provisions never made it to the Sioux and they began taking out their frustration on the local settlers, led largely by Chief Taoyateduta, known to us as Chief Little Crow.
Violence first erupted in 1857 at the Spirit Lake Massacre in Iowa but remained largely in check until August 18, 1862 when Chief Little Crow led a raid at the Lower Sioux Agency in Minnesota. This was quickly followed by literally dozens of raids on settlers and settlements over the following few months. When the dust finally settled, 303 Sioux stood convicted and sentenced to hang and the majority of Minnesotans were ready for justice.
This is when Lincoln took a huge political risk and time out from the Civil War to intervene and called only for the hanging of those 39 Sioux known to have taken part in the massacres and rapes and commuted the sentences of all others. History tells us very little for Lincoln's motives and the book sheds little light in this vain as well, but is still quite an interesting read on a largely forgotten piece of American history.
Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com
Worth Reading.......2006-11-10
Treaties, no matter how hard one or both parties may try, cannot settle some wars. Wars involving a clash of culture where neither side can retreat or convert fall into this category. The American Civil War, World War II and the Indian Wars are classic examples of this type of war. The Indian Wars involved two cultures that were totally incompatible and neither side had the option of retreating. Fighting was not between armies but between small family bands, with the woman and children occupying the front lines and falling in combat. Each side's idea of correct behavior in battle and treatment of prisoners could not be comprehended by the other.
Hank Cox's book details the Minnesota Sioux Uprising of 1862. Four warriors returning from a failed hunting trip, attack farms on the way home. As usual, payments are late and/or diverted the Indians are starving and despondent seeing a way of life disappear. Seeing the majority of men fighting the Civil War, some Sioux leaders seize the opportunity and turn murder into an uprising. The uprising is a tale of murder, rape, plunder and revenge. The Sioux divide in war and peace factions. The war faction is unable to keep men in the field and mount a real military campaign to retake the area. What follows are attacks on isolated farms, travelers and failures to take cities and the local fort. In the end soldiers and militia turn the tide, capture many of the Sioux and restore "order". What follows is a series of military trials of Sioux for rape and murder. Hundreds were sentenced to death by hanging and many others were imprisoned. Lincoln's intervention reduced to executions to 39, the largest mass execution in American history.
The author writes well and the chapters dealing with the Sioux Uprising are well done. His writing about the overall war and the impact of uprising and questionable, over estimating the impact of the uprising and making some questionable statements about the war in the East. His coverage of Lincoln, the problems this caused him, his preoccupation with the larger war and why he took such an unpopular stand are very good.
Overall, this book is a good introduction to the Sioux Uprising of 1862, an enjoyable read but some conclusions need to be researched.
An Intriguing Book.......2005-12-08
I was fascinated by Lincoln And The Sioux Uprising Of 1862. Hank Cox's book was a real page-turner and afforded me a look into a part of history that was never part of my schooling. Through history classes in high school and college, we studied the Civil War but there was never a mention of the Indian uprising in Minnesota. I found the layout of the book, with chapters alternating between the Civil War and the Sioux uprising, to be totally captivating. Thank you, Mr. Cox, for teaching me about a chapter in our history that I had never known about in your intriguing and apparently well-researched book.
A Disservice to Lincoln and to History.......2005-09-05
This shoddy history delivers much less than its title or cover blurb promises. Much of it consists of "filler" material about the Civil War. The coverage of the 1862 Dakota Conflict is sensationally superficial, in the "bloodthirsty savages" genre of some of the worst pulp histories. The author breathlessly proclaims that the Dakota attackers committed the "largest and most prolonged gang rape" in American history, an over-the-top assertion accepted by no responsible scholar today. Fixated on this rampant rapes theme, he virtually ignores one of the main points stressed by Lincoln himself: Debunking false claims of mass rapes, the president wryly noted that only two of more than 300 Dakotas convicted by a military court had been found guilty of rape. The book is laced with similar factual inaccuracies, but you can't determine Cox's supposed sources due to a total absence of footnotes or endnotes. If you think you might be interested in this topic, read David Nichols' "Lincoln and the Indians" instead and give this book a pass.
A good book on a fascinating subject.......2005-08-27
The Uprising of the Santee Sioux of 1862 is an important episode in U.S history often ignored by history because it coincides with the civil war. While more than a million Americans died in brutal fighting involving armies of 100,000 men, bands of Sioux fought a war in Minnesota against settlers. This book looks into claims that `thousands' of white settlers were killed. In the end the uprising was put down and 303 and Sioux were sentenced to death, a large number for a tribe that numbered only in the area of 10,000 people or less. In the end 28 were hung. Lincoln took a personal interest in the matter and at a time when 1000s of American soldiers were dying daily on the battlefield he became concerned with the lives of 28 native-Americans. In this we see the lie put to sleep that Americans of the time saw Indians as only blood thirsty savages, instead we see that Lincoln was a just man, not only interested in freeing slaves, but also interested in saving the lives of native Americans. He hoped to review and reform U.S Indian policy but his untimely death did not allow it. Instead further wars were fought with the Sioux tribes, primarily the Dakota and Hunkpapa tribes over control of the Black Hills. Celebrated chiefs came out of those conflicts such as Red Cloud and Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and the famous Custer last stand. We see in the war of 1862 a prelude to this, but also a fascinating story that reminds us how close the frontier was at that time, only as far as Minnesota.
A good popular history on an often unnoticed topic.
Seth J. Frantzman
Average customer rating:
- An Overlooked Chapter of American History
- An aspect of western americana little known
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The Galvanized Yankees
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Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
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Best of Dee Brown's West: An Anthology
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Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow: The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroads
ASIN: 080326075X |
Book Description
Here is the fascinating and little-known story of the Galvanized Yankees, who stood watch over a nation that they had once sought to destroy. They were Confederate soldiers who were recruited from Union prison camps in the North to serve in the West. On the condition they would not be sent south to fight their former comrades, they exchanged gray for blue uniforms.
From 1864 to 1866 six regiments of Galvanized Yankees fought Indians, escorted supply trains along the Oregon and Sante Fe trails, accompanied expeditions, guarded surveying parties for the Union Pacific Railroad, and manned lonely outposts on the frontier. Dee Brown, the author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, tells what happened to a lost legion, unhonored and unsung.
Customer Reviews:
An Overlooked Chapter of American History.......2007-06-13
The author is the agriculture librarian at the University of Illinois, and has written other books on 19th century Western history. These "Galvanized Yankees" were the Confederate prisoners of war who joined the Union army to fight Indians in the West, guarded surveyors for the Union Pacific, accompanied expeditions, escorted supply trains, and protected stage coach routes. This book covers the events from September 1864 to November 1866. The 'Introduction' says this phrase was first used for captured Union soldiers who joined the Confederates (p.9). Later it was used for any Confederate prisoner who pledged allegiance to the Union. It started with prisoners of foreign or Northern origin (p.12). Later discouraged Southerners were recruited (p.13). 'Full rations' were an inducement (p.14). The Sand Creek massacre of peaceful Cheyennes started Indian wars all over the Plains (p.16). Guarding the trails and forts became the job of the Galvanized Yankees.
After four years of Civil War the country chose a series of peace councils rather than Indian wars (p.51). The Sioux uprising in Minnesota 1862 created a need for paroled soldiers (pp.61-62). This book tells about the Army forts along the upper Missouri river, and the use of Galvanized Yankees as troops there. The long winter and short supplies led to diseases like scurvy and diarrhea (p.87). State troops did not want to fight Indians now that the Civil War was over (p.119). General Dodge sought recruits from prison camps.
Timbered areas on the Plains were usually Indian burial sites, any logging there was considered a desecration (p.141). Stage horses were picked for strength and endurance; Indians always tried to steal them. Winter was severe on the plains (Chapter 10). Chapter 12 concludes by telling about Galvanized Confederates. They enlisted foreigners only, they did not trust Yankees who often escaped back to the Union lines or surrendered when attacked (p.213). So did many of the foreign born (p.214). These were recruited to again become Union soldiers.
An aspect of western americana little known.......2001-03-07
This is the first book to touch on the subject of southern prisoners taking an oath to the US Government to fight indians in the west. During the civil war, most military men returned east to seek their glory in the many battles. This left our western borders unprotected. Yet the tide of western migration was not stalled. Civil war prisons in the north became overcrowded. The idea of releasing POWs for service in the west was born; hence the name galvanized. This book is the story of those soldiers, who out of desperation for better living conditions agreed to a term of service to fight indians and protect the western frontier. My only complaint on this book was that it was to thin. I craved for more knowledge.
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BRACKETT'S BATTALION: Minnesota Cavalry in the Civil War and Dakota War
Kurt D. Bergemann
Manufacturer: Borealis Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0873514777 |
Book Description
General Maxey, dignified, articulate, and confident, arrives in Indian Territory in 1863 to assume command of a diverse and motley army of Indians. The troops are in disarray; they are suspicious of tribal alliances, weakened from malnutrition, their crops have been pillaged, and they are discouraged by a series of battlefield setbacks at the hands of the Union Army invading from Kansas. Maxey calls upon all of his leadership and administrative skills and his insight into Indian culture to win the confidence and loyalty of these soldiers. Desperately he fights to secure badly needed munitions and provisions from the Confederate bureaucracy, which is focused on the plight of its eastern armies. All the while he struggles with his own field commander, the able and ambitious Douglas Cooper, friend of Jefferson Davis, who is eager to supplant him. Yet, Maxey perseveres and succeeds in molding this "army without infantry" into an effective fighting force that plays an important role in the Red River and Arkansas Campaigns and ultimately helps prevent a Union invasion of north Texas. A little known story, dramatically told by a distinguished author.
Customer Reviews:
The Forgotten Western Theater: An Intriguing Story.......2004-05-22
Having the good fortune of hearing John C. Waugh at the Austin Civil War Roundtable, I discovered this series "Civil War Campaigns and Commanders." They tend to be rather short, an evening's read...on less frequently treated topics that are quite intriguing. This volume tells the history of battles and participants in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the War of Northern Aggression, with an emphasis on the participation of the "civilized" Indian tribes, mostly located in Oklahoma (Indian Territory), their commanders, and the passing through western commands of many "failures" in eastern theatres of the war.
This book includes brief biographies (about 1.5 to two pages) of many interesting officers (Stand Watie, Sam Bell Maxey, Albert Pike, Douglas H. Cooper)--many who were born early in the 1800s, some West Point graduates prior to the beknighted Class of 1846 (which included Thomas J. Jackson), some of whom lived until late in the 19th century and saw America go from the ascendancy of the cotton gin to the Industrial Age!
With great accompanying photos, clear maps, and great storytelling, this book will leave you wanting to learn more about this rather neglected region of the war, but one no less important in many regards for the defining of the nation's future than the more well-known battlefields of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Highly recommended!!!!
Sam Bell Maxey and the Confederate Indians.......2002-01-30
A side of the civil war in the west that you don't hear about. It is nice to read about the Confederat side in the west. The confederates did treat the indians lots better than the Union side. An excellent story.
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German Pioneer Accounts of the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862
Don Heinrich Tolzmann
Manufacturer: Little Miami Pub. Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0971365768 |
Book Description
Annie Heloise Abel describes the 1862 Battle of Pea Ridge, a bloody disaster for the Confederates but a glorious moment for Colonel Stand Watie and his Cherokee Mounted Rifles. The Indians were soon enough swept by the war into a vortex of confusion and chaos. Abel makes clear that their participation in the conflict brought only devastation to Indian Territory.
Born in England and educated in Kansas, Annie Heloise Abel (1873–1947) was a historical editor and writer of books dealing mainly with the trans-Mississippi West. They include The American Indian as Slaveholder and Secessionist (1915), also reprinted as a Bison Book. Abel's distinguished career is noted in an introduction by Theda Perdue, the author of Slavery and the Evolution of Cherokee Society (1979), and Michael D. Green, whose Politics of Indian Removal: Creek Government and Society in Crisis (1982) was published by the University of Nebraska Press.
Customer Reviews:
Native Americans at war.......2006-10-10
Great book on the involvment of Native Americans in the Civil War. I especially enjoy the chapters covering the Oklahoma Cherokees.
Review of Reprint of Abel's American Indfian in Civil War.......2006-09-20
The American Indian in the Civil War, 1862-1865 by Annie Heloise Abel; Introduction by Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green
University of Nebraska Press
ISBN:0-8032-5919-0
The University of Nebraska Press publishes here the middle volume of the three volume series "The Slaveholding Indians" by Anne Heloise Abel . These included " The American Indian as Slaveholder and Secessionist" in 1915, " The American Indian as a Participant in the Civil War" in 1919, and "The American Indian under Reconstruction" in 1925. Front papers of the edition lacked this identifying tag, and it would have added a helpful placement. This edition itself, however, although in paper back, represents a complete and faithful rendition of the original text with all notes, references, bibliography , and illustrations included. It is accompanied by a helpful introduction by two University of North Carolina professors , Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green, who together have published several books on North Carolina's original native peoples.
In the time span of 1862 to 1865 the participation of the American Indian, - settled only some 30 odd years in Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma by force - in a war he did not cause or desire , but could not avoid, has its own drama and tragedy. Fact on fact supports the unique solidity of this singular story . No matter what is tried it seems the inevitable will happen; and indeed we are told the American Indian suffered more than any other group from the effects of the civil war .The run of this story, simply in its telling , attests to the chaos of a civil war.
Historiography works by layering, each generation profiting by the work of the last and improving by new discovery of text and records. Thus Green and Perdue are quick to point out that Miss Abel's books is an excellent outline , a base on which to build further work in the area; work that will profit from original sources not available at the time such as the papers of Chief John Ross, pioneer diaries, and so on. Her work is not as complete a picture of the events as might be had now, moreover our attitudes and sensitivities have changed. While this is quite possibly true , it is important to note that Miss Abel's accomplishment has yet to be repeated, and in fact, yet stands quite alone.
Copies of the Abel three volume work on the Slaveholding Indians were once available in university libraries. However, they disappeared from open shelving after the 1960s. They are now most usually available only in closed, special collections and cannot be consulted at one's leisure. This fact means the University of Nebraska publication with the Perdue and Green introduction is specially important and provides an important contribution. Americana buffs, students of the civil war, the American west, or the American Indian ..... all will appreciate the opportunity to own this book.
By Sylvia Starr
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