Books Relating to

Dakota Uprising

 

Minnesota’s Heritage


Through the support of a Legacy Grant, this journal features well-documented research into new and little known sources about the Dakota Conflict and the Civil War. Minnesota's Heritage #7 is currently at the printers, and includes an article entitled "Forgotten Victims: Terror, Refuge, and Recovery" which provides more of the story. It should be mailed to subscribers the first week in February. The website gives you an opportunity to subscribe and purchase this and back issues. Go to:
http://www.minnesotasheritage.org/

DAKOTA DAWN: The Decisive First Week of the Sioux Uprising, August 17-24, 1862


[Hardcover] By Gregory Michno. In August of 1862, hundreds of Dakota warriors opened without warning a murderous rampage against settlers and soldiers in southern Minnesota. The vortex of the Dakota Uprising along the Minnesota River encompassed thousands of people in what was perhaps the greatest massacre of whites by Indians. Available at www.amazon.com


The Leavenworth Rescue Expedition Revisited

By Gary Wiltscheck, this is an account of how a rescue party left the safety of New Ulm hoping to rescue families and neighbors along the Big Cottonwood River, only to return empty-handed and placing themselves in peril. The book opens by documenting the settlers' flight, including details of six wagon parties of refugees.

It goes on to chronicle the rescue expedition itself, discussing the subsequent contribution of the refugees to the defense of New Ulm. Numerous maps and black & white photographs, with survivor accounts and quotations from newspapers of the time.

Montevideo 1860 to 1930: Through Their Eyes and in Their Words


Written by Wayne Ostlie, Odell Bjerkness and Paul Ostlie, this book portrays over 200 of the most beautiful and interesting photographs of the town’s early years. Through these images - coupled with first-hand accounts obtained through historic newspapers, messages scrawled on the back of postcards, and other historical sources - the authors weave a rich tapestry that is an untold history of Montevideo over its first 60 years. Available at http://www.montevideohistory.org/


View the slide show found under the Images of Montevideo tab to see rare photos taken at Camp Release at www.montevideohistory.org

Outbreak and Massacre by the Dakota Indians in Minnesota in 1862


Marion P. Satterlee's Minute Account of the Outbreak, with Exact Locations, Names, Prisoners, Refugee, Indians, Etc. [Paperback]

Don Heinrich Tolzmann (Editor). Available at  www.amazon.com

The Matter Lies Deeper


This book, published in 2004 by Elroy E. Ubl, is an ambitious undertaking of the author's efforts to find the burial locations of New Ulm pioneers. It is much more than that though as it includes a section on gravestone symbolism, cemetery listings, an extensive history of New Ulm, a section on the Sioux Uprising, a list of the National Historic Sites in the area, a genealogy section and much more. The book is 981 pages with over 2300 photos and 5000 burial listings. A must read for anyone interested in anything associated with New Ulm, Brown County. Available at www.amazon.com

The Dakota Uprising - A Pictorial History


This hard cover book, written by Curtis Dahlin, is 400 pages long and printed on glossy paper. It contains about 275 period photographs of people and places who were involved in the Dakota Uprising, with a number of photographs being published for the first time. A narrative accompanies each photograph, relating the story of that person or place. Among the photographs are those of twenty-eight white victims and of seven of the thirty-eight Dakota who were hanged. Over 100 period newspaper clippings support the narratives and provide an interesting and informative view into the events of the day. Out of print.

Historic Sites of the Conflict of 1862


The Renville County Historical Society has published a self-guided tour to the historic sites of the 1862 Conflict in the Renville County area. It includes old and new photos of each site along with directions and the historical significance of the site, the people involved, and personal stories told by survivors. Available at: http://www.renvillecountyhistory.com/shop.php

Dakota Uprising Victims:

Gravestones and Stories


The book, by Curtis Dahlin in 2007,

contains information on the gravesites and stories of victims of the U.S. Dakota Conflict. It contains maps, pictures and locations of gravesites. Curtis Dahlin is an independent historian specializing in the Dakota Uprising of 1862 in Minnesota. Curtis has put a face on the events of the Dakota Uprising, bringing us a vivid and intimate portrait of Minnesota's "war within" during the Civil War period. Out of print.

The Dakota Indian Internment at Fort Snelling, 1862-1864


By Corinne L. Monjeau-Marz, this book is an actual, objective account of the camp and the experiences of its 1600 Dakota women, children and old men who lived there. Virulent disease swept the camp, killing hundreds. Led by missionaries, a religious revival occurred, with many becoming Christians and literate in their own language. 2005, paper, illus. $ 19.95 F-540. Available at Park Genealogical Books  www.parkbooks.com. Click on Shop Online, then Minnesota Military to find this and other books.

A Thrilling Narrative of Indian Captivity

Dispatches from the Dakota War


By Mary Butler Renville; edited by Carrie Reber Zeman and Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola; foreword by Gwen N. Westerman.


Written by an Anglo woman, with the assistance of her Dakota husband, John Baptiste Renville, “A Thrilling Narrative. .“ was printed only once as a book in 1863 and has not been republished since. The work details the Renvilles’ experiences as “captives” among their Dakota kin in the Peace Party camp.

 

This book will be available about May 1, 2012.  Click on this pdf file for ordering information: A Thrilling Narrative of Indian Captivity.pdf

The War in Words: Reading the Dakota Conflict through the Captivity Literature

By Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola, “The War in Words. . .“ is the first book to study the captivity and confinement narratives generated by a single American war as it traces the development and variety of the captivity narrative genre. Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola examines the complex 1862 Dakota Conflict (also called the Dakota War) by focusing on twenty-four of the dozens of narratives that European Americans and Native Americans wrote about it. This six-week war was the deadliest confrontation between whites and Dakotas in Minnesota’s history. Conducted at the same time as the Civil War, it is sometimes called Minnesota’s Civil War because it was—and continues to be—so divisive. Available at Amazon.com

Captured by the Indians: Reminiscences of Pioneer Life in Minnesota

 

By Minnie Buce Carrigan, this book is an account of Carrigan's captivity among the Sioux after the 1862 uprising and her subsequent experience as an orphan. Carrigan emigrated with her German parents to Fox Lake, Wisconsin in 1858. Two years later they helped to establish a German settlement at Middle Creek in Renville County, Minnesota, where they lived in relative comfort and peace among the Sioux [Dakota]. By 1862, the numbers of settlers had grown exponentially, and their Sioux neighbors began to display signs of hostility. On August 18, 1862, when Carrigan was only about seven years of age, her parents and two of her siblings were killed during the Sioux uprising. Carrigan was taken captive with a brother and sister and spent ten weeks among the Sioux before the U.S. army compelled the return of all captives. Several other survivors, Emanuel Reyff, J.G. Lane, Mrs. Inefeldt, and Minnie Krieger, relate their own experiences in a final section of the book.

German Pioneer Accounts of the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862

 

Amazing eyewitness accounts written by two women who, as children, suffered and witnessed horrific experiences during this tragic period of our history. Mary Schwandt-Schmidt and Wilhelmina “Minnie” Bruce Carrigan lived to tell their stories, as well as those of their family, friends, and neighbors in Renville County, Minnesota. An immediate result of the uprising was the flight of nearly 40,000 people from their homes. This uprising resulted in the loss of at least 800 lives. The index provides a wealth of names of the pioneers in the area. The editor hails from Renville County, where his German immigrant great-grandparents settled after the Civil War. Editor: Don Heinrich Tolzmann  Available at this site: http://www.littlemiamibooks.com/shop/pc/German-Pioneer-Accounts-of-the-Great-Sioux-Uprising-of-1862-3p17.htm

Don Heinrich Tolzmann has edited/translated four additional books on the Dakota War experience.  They are:

 

  1. •Berghold, Alexander. The Indians’ Revenge, or Days of Horror: Some Appalling Events in the History of the Sioux. Edited by Don Heinrich Tolzmann. (Roseville, MN: Edinborough Press, 2007).

  2. •Fritsche, L.A. Memories of the Battle of New Ulm: Personal Accounts of the Sioux Uprising: L.A. Fritische’s History of Brown County, Minnesota (1916). Edited by Don Heinrich Tolzmann. (Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, Inc., 2001).

  3. •Leonhart, Rudolf. Memories of New Ulm: My Experiences during the Indian Uprising in Minnesota, 1862. Translated and edited by Don Heinrich Tolzmann. (Roseville, MN: Edinborough Press, 2005).

  4. •Nix, Jacob. The Sioux Uprising in Minnesota: Jacob Nix’s Eyewitness History. Translated by Gretchen Steinhauser, Don Heinrich Tolzmann and Eberhard Reichmann. Edited by Don Heinrich Tolzmann. (Indianapolis: Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis & Indiana German Heritage Society, 1994).

Through Dakota Eyes

Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862


By Gary Clayton Anderson & Alan R. Woolworth, Editors.

Available at the Minnesota Historical Society at this site:  http://shop.mnhs.org/moreinfomhspress.cfm?Product_ID=210&CFID=7632&CFTOKEN=38612125.    This collection of thirty-six narratives presents the Dakota Indians' experiences during a conflict previously known chiefly from the viewpoints of non-Indians.

Here is an extensive reading list suggested by the National Scenic Byway Minnesota River Valley website that pertains to the Dakota War: 

 

http://www.mnrivervalley.com/stories/readings.php?catid=5

The New Ulm Pioneer and the Indians 1858 - 1862

Historian John LaBatte has released a new book called “The New Ulm Pioneer and the Indians, 1858-1862,”  which is a compilation of translations from the German-language newspaper, the “New Ulm Pioneer” from 1858 to 1862. This 44-page booklet features articles related to the Indians, reservations and Fort Ridgely. The book is available at the Brown County Historical Society, New Ulm, MN, at http://www.browncountyhistorymn.org/                                             

Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees: A Narrative of Indian Captivity

By Sarah F. Wakefield. The Dakota War (1862) was a searing event in Minnesota history as well as a signal event in the lives of Dakota people. Sarah F. Wakefield was caught up in this revolt. A young doctor’s wife and the mother of two small children, Wakefield published her unusual account of the war and her captivity shortly after the hanging of thirty-eight Dakotas accused of participation in the "Sioux uprising." Among those hanged were Chaska (We-Chank-Wash-ta-don-pee), a Mdewakanton Dakota who had protected her and her children during the upheaval. In a distinctive and compelling voice, Wakefield blames the government for the war and then relates her and her family’s ordeal, as well as Chaska’s and his family’s help and ultimate sacrifice. Available at Amazon.com

Let Them Eat Grass: The 1862 Sioux Uprising in Minnesota


Written by John J. Koblas. The individual titles are: Volume 1: Smoke, Volume 2: Fire, and Volume 3: Ashes. While the books are out of print, most local libraries have them. To learn more, here is the website: http://www.mnriv.com/grassvol.html  Kindle versions of the first two volumes are available at Amazon.com.

Over the Earth I Come: The Great Sioux Uprising of 1862

Written by Duane Schultz. A retelling of the Sioux uprising describes how in one week in August of 1862, the Sioux went on a rampage, leaving hundreds of settlers dead and turning forty thousand into refugees, and discusses the execution of thirty-eight of the Sioux who were involved. “December 26, 1862. On the day after Christmas in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Sioux Indians were hanged, by order of President Abraham Lincoln. It stands today as the largest mass execution in US history. In “Over the Earth I Come,” Schultz brilliantly retells one of American’s most violent and bloody events, the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862. It recounts a part of American history that should never be forgotten.”   

Go to: http://duaneschultz.com/overtheearthicome.php for more information. Available at amazon.com, AbeBooks.com, and Barnes and Nobel.

Eight Days in August


By Darla Cordes Gebhard and John Isch, this book is now available at the Brown County Historical Society and online. Purchase Price of $19.95 plus tax.


Click here to order the book online.


The Dakota Trials

By John Isch, this book is 558 pages of unedited transcripts of the 1862-1864 trials of the Dakota Indians and now available at the Brown County Historical Society and on their online store. Purchase Price $29.95 plus tax


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The Greater Mankato Convention and Visitors Bureau has this link that directs you to a U.S. Dakota Conflict Resources page that includes written work, videos, websites and news articles: http://www.visitgreatermankato.com/DakotaConflictResources.php

Published by the Brown County Historical Society (BCHS), this book fits in with the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the U.S.-Dakota War. The author adds profiles of some of the Leavenworth Rescue members, and concludes with secondary and supporting information about the rescue.

Available at http://shop.mnhs.org/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=3082 and at www.browncountyhistorymn.org

Below is a very thorough booklist as a PDF document, compiled by Terry Sveine while he was employed by the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce. While all books are not specific to the uprising, they do provide a wonderful list for any reader who has interest in New Ulm and the Brown County, MN area. We have only included those focusing on the Dakota War. Click on:

Terry Sveine's Booklist.pdf 

      


This is a family history book site which has a wealth of books on the Dakota War: Go to: http://www.parkbooks.com/. Click on Shop Online,  then on Minnesota Military and/or Indians - Dakota to see the catalogue of books that Park Genealogical Books has to offer. There are selected Civil War/Dakota Conflict titles in Park Genealogical Books Catalog. Includes the series on claims (including care of the refugees, Dakota War pensions, and more).


Here’s one of interest:

• Perspective on the Sioux War: Oscar Malmros, MN’s Adjutant General, and Thomas J. Galbraith, U.S. Sioux Indian Agent: www.parkbooks.com/Html/perspectives.pdf