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Post by carlo on Oct 31, 2012 4:23:42 GMT -5
"Terrible Justice: Sioux Chiefs and U.S. Soldiers on the Upper Missouri, 1854-1868"
Anyone read this yet? Interesting topic, but have not read it myself. Came out in September.
Book description: They called themselves Dakota, but the explorers and fur traders who first encountered these people in the sixteenth century referred to them as Sioux, a corruption of the name their enemies called them. That linguistic dissonance foreshadowed a series of bloodier conflicts between Sioux warriors and the American military in the mid-nineteenth century. Doreen Chaky’s narrative history of this contentious time offers the first complete picture of the conflicts on the Upper Missouri in the 1850s and 1860s, the period bookended by the Sioux’s first major military conflicts with the U.S. Army and the creation of the Great Sioux Reservation. Terrible Justice explores not only relations between the Sioux and their opponents but also the discord among Sioux bands themselves. Moving beyond earlier historians’ focus on the Brulé and Oglala bands, Chaky examines how the northern, southern, and Minnesota Sioux bands all became involved in and were affected by the U.S. invasion. In this way Terrible Justice ties Upper Missouri and Minnesota Sioux history to better-known Oglala and Brulé Sioux history.
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Post by philrob on Nov 10, 2012 5:38:43 GMT -5
This is a solid account of US Indian relations in the Missouri River Region from the Harney campaign through the Dakota war and Sibleys campaign up to the 1868 treaty. Worth a read.
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Post by Dietmar on Jan 22, 2013 11:49:50 GMT -5
I am almost through Terrible Justice. On the whole, I like the book and it has a lot to offer.
Especially the first chapters are very interesting and well written. Chaky writes about many historical occurances that other historians have left out. For example it is one of the few books that at lenght describe General Harney´s councils with the Sioux in 1854.
Another advantage is that Doreen Chaky emphasizes the role of Chief Bear Ribs of the Hunkpapa in Upper Missouri history. He has always been neglected by historians.
What spoils the fun for me is that the following chapters about the Sibley and Sully campaigns of 1863-1865 are in my opinion rather one-sided accounts of white soldiers´ experiences. I wish it would be more balanced. What about the Indians view? What about Whitestone Hill?
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