Dakota War-Whoop

First published in 1970, this volume from Mrs Harriet E. Bishop McConkey, a pioneer schoolteacher of St. Paul, Minnesota, was part of the first wave of contemporaneous accounts from Americans in 1863 documenting their perspective of the Sioux Uprising between the 17th of August and the 26th of September 1862. At least 450 settlers and soldiers were killed, depopulating large areas. Although not a direct eyewitness to events, Harriet McConkey was on the fringes of the action in St. Paul and gathered material firsthand from the participants themselves, enabling her to convey the settlers' story with profound emotional involvement and intimacy, though with equally profound bitterness for the Native Americans. McConkey made little attempt to explore their motivations in the form of famine, late payment and poor treatment. Though imperfect, hers remains an important account documenting the settlers' experience of the event which began a succession of wars over thirty years, ending at Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1890.

Harriet E. Bishop McConkey, Author of 'Floral Homes'.

1. Introduction. 2. The Bread Raid. 3. The First Blow. 4. The Council Fire. 5. The Outbreak at Red Wood. 6. The Slaughter. 7. George H. Spencer. 8. Captivity and Release of George Spencer, as Told by Himself. 9. U.S. Troops Cut to Pieces. 10. Yellow Medicine. 11. The Family of an Old Settler Taken Captive. 12. The Panic. 13. Attack on New Ulm. 14. Attack on Fort Ridgley. 15. Second and Final Attack on New Ulm. 16. Official Report of Judge Flandrau. 17. The Mission Party. 18. Massacre at Big Stone Lake. 19. Murder of Amos W. Huggins. 20. Cause of the War - What is an Indian? 21. Lake Shetak Massacre. 22. The General Onslaught. 23. Outbreak at the North. 24. Siege of Fort Abercrombie. 25. Indians at Sioux Falls City. 26. The Heroic Boy. 27. Siege of Hutchinson. 28. Battle of Birch Coolie. 29. Battle of Birch Coolie - Official Report. 30. Wandering Refugees. 31. The Maniac. 32. Tales of Suffering. 33. The Athenæum. 34. The Captive's Experience as Further Related by Himself. 35. Efforts to Regain the Prisoners. 36. Correspondence of Gen. S. and Little Crow Continued. 37. Battle of Wood Lake. 38. Official Report of Col. Sibley to Gov. Ramsey. 39. The Chippewas. 40. The Captive's Peril. 41. The Friendly Camp. 42. Camp Release. 43. Trial of the Prisoners. 44. Mrs. Huggins in Captivity. 45. Mrs. Huggins in care of Walking Spirit. 46. The Alarms. 47. Leaving for the Plains. 48. Release and Return. 49. Removal to Camp Sibley. 50. Removal of the "Good Indians" to Fort Snelling. 51. Protest on Senator Wilkinson. 52. Cause of the Dakota Uprising. 53. Preparations for the Execution of the Condemned Indians. 54. The Execution. 55. The Condemned. 56. The Winnebagoes Declare War with the Sioux. 57. An Alarm. 58. Removal of the Good Indians. 59. Horse Stealing. 60. Murder of the Dustin Family. 61. Little Crow's Whereabouts. 62. The Ransomed. 63. The Indian Expedition. 64. Death of Gen. Little Crow. 65. Capture of Wo-wi-nap-a. 66. The Captive Boys. 67. Thrilling Adventure of Mr. Brackett, and Death of Lieut. Freeman. 68. The Captive, John Julien. 69. Progress of the Expedition. 70. Capture of a Teton. 71. Death of Lieut. Beever. 72. Terminus of the Campaign. 73. Official Report of Maj. Gen. Henry H. Sibley. 74. Official Report of Brigadier General Alfred Sully. 75. Tie of Comradeship. 76. Home Again. 77. Conclusion.