Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862

Editors: Gary Clayton Anderson & Alan R. Woolworth

Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press (1988)

A collection of thirty-six narratives presenting the Dakota Indians' experiences during a conflict previously known chiefly from the viewpoints of non-Indians, this volume brings together an invaluable collection of vivid eyewitness accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862 and its aftermath. Of greatest interest is the fact that all the narratives assembled here come from Dakota mixed-bloods and full-bloods. Speaking from a variety of viewpoints and enmeshed in complex webs of allegiances to Indian, white, and mixed-blood kin, these witnesses testify not only to the terrible casualties they all suffered, but also to the ways in which the events of 1862 tore at the social, cultural, and psychic fabrics of their familial and community lives. This rich contribution to Minnesota and Dakota history is enhanced by careful editing and annotation.