Dacotah

The Tribes West of the Mississippi – Indian Wars

By treaties concluded by the agents of the United State government at different periods, nearly all of the Indian tribes have been induced to remove west of the Mississippi. Those who remain in the haunts of their fathers are chiefly converts to Christianity, and in a half civilized state. Many of the tribes have dwindled into insignificance, yet the few who remain are proud to maintain their distinctive appellation, and support the independence of their old clan. The most powerful and numerous tribes in the northwest are the Sioux, or Dacotahs, the Blackfeet, Crows, and Pawnees. A few of the … Read more

The History of the Little Orphan who Carries the White Feather

A Dacota Legend There was an old man with his grandchild, whom he had taken when quite an infant, who lived in the middle of a forest. The child had no other relative. They had all been destroyed by six large giants, and he was not informed that he ever had any other parent or protector than his grandfather. The nation to whom he belonged had put up their children as a wager against those of the giants, upon a race, which the giants gained, and thus destroyed all the other children. Being the sixth child, he was called Chácopee. … Read more

Elements of Picture Writing

Grave Posts of Chippewa and Dacota - Plate 50

The Toltec and Aztec system of Picture Writing, compared with the North American; its general agreement its peculiar traits and common figurative system of the United States Tribes. Devices from a Tree on the Mamakagon River, Wisconsin. Drawing from the Upper Mississippi, denoting a Peace-Mission. Signs drawn on Grave-Posts. Sepulchral honors of the Chiefs Wabojeeg, and Babasekundabee.

The Sioux Massacre, Minnesota

Fort Ridgley Burning

The Sioux massacre of the whites in Minnesota in August, 1862, is one of the bloodiest that has ever occurred in the history of the Indian races in North America. In the earlier periods of the country, the frontier settlements were constantly exposed to. Indian depredations, and their destruction at any time seemed probable from their comparative feebleness and remoteness from succor; but that the savage tribes should rise against the whites almost within sight of our populous cities, our railroads and steamboats, was not dreamed of by any one. The Sioux massacre, had it occurred in a time of … Read more