The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-06-06
NEWS or THE BOOK WORLD
Indians OF Minnesota and the Northwest
In History Second Volume Of DefinItlve
History OF North America Contains
Something OF Special Interest to Min
nesotans.


Something OF Special Interest to Min-
nesotans.
What does The History OF North Amer
lea have to say about Minnesota? AL
work Of twenty volumes, of five hundred /
pages each, and protesting to be def1ni-
tive, ought to have much to say. 1t Is |
too early yet to tell what the history
will have to say Of the history OF the
state and of the northwest since they
were settled by whites, for the volume
which Is to include that has not yet been
issued, but volume No. 2, The Indians In
Historic Times, contains material that the
Minnesotan, and residents Of the north
west generally, will find interesting.
Chapter XIV, THE Sioux and the Tribes
of the Palms. comes right home to u.s.
Lying on the very threshold of the chap
ter Is a bit Of information which, we
venture, will be news to many readers.
Here it is:
| The principal Indians who have made these
| western plains their habitat are those known as
| the Sioux. These Indians, who form the chief
division Of the siouan family, were known to
! the early French missionaries and explorers as
INA dowessioux,' > which has been abbreviated to
tile modern term Sioux The name they apply
to themselves is Dakota The former name,
applied to them by Algonquins, and indicates the
relations in which the two peoples stood toward
each other. The name Dakota signifies
single word, has embodied in it evidence that the
group embraced number Of cognate elements.
Outbreak Of 1862.
Coming down to the outbreak of 1862,
i the history deals with a subject that is
familiar, not only to those who lived thru
the stirring days Of the period, but to
hosts who have been made acquainted
with it by hearing the story often re-
peated by those who were a part Of 1t
or by reading in the daily press and else
where accounts of the bloody scenes in
which 700 whites persisted. The causes
, Of the outbreak, besides the failure Of the
government to carry out certain treaty
, | st1pulations, are summed up thus:
The rapacity of the agents, their deception
and swindling of the Indians, the cheating by
which the Sioux were induced to sign the treat
les, the wholesale theft of their lands, the de-
bauchery Of their families by white men, and the
, abuse to which they were subjected by traders
from whom they were obliged by regulations
to purchase goods and supplies p
"This," says the author, DR.. Cyrus
/ Thomas Phi. D. archaeologist in the bu
reau Of American ethnology, sis certainl,
a lengthy list Of ugly charges, yet tn,
/ present writer several years ago received
: evidence of the truth Of some Of then
/, to the full extent charged,
a Incidents of the atrocities perpetrate,
q by the Indians are selected from the &C
. count of Isaac V. D. Heard, who was OF
q the ground and acted as recorder Of tn
a military commission that tried the cap
;, tured Indians.
: Judge Flandrau's (spelled Flandreau'
in the text) march to the relief Of Ney
, Ulm with about one hundred volunteers
y and Colonel Sibleys command and part i
. bringing the conflict to a close, are men
). toned in the chapter. Excellent photo
v gravures of types Of Brule Sioux also len
= interest to it.
. Treatment Is comprehensive.
a Very naturally the author, having tn
Il entire subject Of North American Indiar
N to account for could not give great de;
y Of space to the Sioux and the tribes
~ the plains. Nevertheless he does not ia
in to show the changes that mark the hi:
Ii tory Of the tribes, outline the character
1e istics Of the different nations, and sho
the effects Of their tribal existence ar
Il presence upon the infoWing white civi
ization.S fa y:
NJ In covering the broad subject Of II
70 volume, DR.. Thomas has given a histol
a.. Of the Indians, their tribal organization
ed their habits and customs, their intertrib
If policies and enmities, their relative stag
or of culture and their migration, the effec
70 Of all which are found in the Ameri
nd Of to- day.
nj A valuable contribution to the Indi;
DIV question also is the synoptical review
rs the policy Of the United States in its dee
lIv ings with the native tribes. The auth
If sets forth the prominent negotiation
DIV treaties and agreements which have be
N. made by the government with its ware
Ire and makes his contention clear that Whs
mt ever may have been the blots on the re
IN ord Of the relations Of the governrne
nd and the Indians, such were not Of
spirit and purport Of the administratic
but the fault Of the agents
This volume, then, seems to meet fu
\ the demands that the subject and
place in a definitive history Of the CO
tinent make. It gives an admirable
= view Of the history Of the tribes 81
= hciently detailed to be very interestil
the yet avoiding unnecessary minutia.
i'll reading, for one thing, leaves one w
* the sense Of having seen the struggle
-. the two races from the Indians point
view.