The Dakota War: The United States Army Versus the Sioux, 1862-1865

by Micheal Clodfelter

As the United States fought the Civil War in the early 1860s, the country's western frontier was simultaneously the site of significant military campaigns that took the lives of both American and Sioux. The Dakota campaign, led by Commander Henry Hastings Sibley and Brigadier General Alfred Sully against the Sioux between 1863 and 1864 was greater in scope, intensity and bloodshed than almost all other Indian battles fought in the West but is often overlooked. The Minnesota War of 1862 and the Dakota War of 1863–1865 were among the most significant U.S. victories in the Indian wars, but did not temper the passions of the Sioux to preserve their people and land or the desires of the whites to settle the frontier. The wars only incited the Teton Sioux to enter into a long-term resistance that would end only at Wounded Knee in 1890.

267 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1998

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book is easy to read, it feels like it was written to perpetuate romantic notions of the West rather than to convey accurate historical information. Adding to this is a disturbing amount of racist ideology sprinkled throughout the book. The wars between the Dakota and the European Americans is described as an "inevitable conflict between the progressive and the primitive", and members of the Dakota nation are characterized using phases such as as "howling Sioux warriors", "willing squaws" and "blood crazed bands". There is some interesting and solid historical information in "The Dakota War: The United States Army Verses the Sioux 1862-1865", but it's validity is thrown into constant question by the outdated and offensive assumptions made by the author.

[Brook Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clodfelter certainly did an enormous amount of research, and his admiration and intrigue in the U.S. Military during the 19th century to the present is obvious. His observations are sound, and he offered up many excellent points. Though the timbre of the book is a bit dry and scholarly, it was loaded with information necessary for a novelist such as myself. I laud Clodfelter for bringing to light two battles in particular (Whitestone Hill & Killdeer Mountain), which have certainly been all but forgotten in American history. His accounts were sympathetic to both sides and also peeled back facades of famous personages such as General Pope and even Sitting Bull.

Definitely worth the read.

[Thomas Isern · Rating 2 out of 5]

This history by Clodfelter is a good example of what drives Dakota people crazy when white historians write about the Dakota War. There are many instances of thoughtless usage, but the more basic issue is the failure to read sources critically. Sometimes Clodfelter seems judicious, weighing the credibility and weight of alternative narratives, but then other times he seems thoughtless. Here is an offline example, that is, one not directly pertaining to the main action. Clodfelter recounts how following the Mexican War, Alfred Sully eloped with the fifteen-year-old daughter of a wealthy Hispanic family in California. Then,

Sully's teenage wife suffered the fate of so many women in the past; she died at the age of seventeen soon after the birth of their son. The son did not long survive the mother. He died in the embrace of love when we was accidentally smothered to death by his grandmother, who was sleeping beside him.

And Clodfelter just lets this pass.

So, the work stands as a useful introduction to the campaigns of 1862-65, but it is not as critical or enlightening as it might be, and especially lacks considered treatment of Indian actions.