The Great Sioux Uprising

by C.M. Oehler

In August 1862 the Sioux of Minnesota rose up against their white neighbors in the bloodiest massacre in the history of the West, with four times the fatalities of the Battle of Little Big Horn. They had been viewed by white settlers as a friendly tribe, but in reality they were deeply resentful over the loss of lands, the disappearance of the buffalo, broken treaties, the government's delayed annuity payments, and the refusal of traders to release food to starving Indians. During their week-long rampage the Sioux killed some 800 settlers, took scores of women and children captive, sent tens of thousands of refugees fleeing eastward, and marked the outbreak of a series of wars between whites and Indians over the Great Plains that did not end until nearly thirty years later at a place called Wounded Knee. This book is a gripping but evenhanded reconstruction of the lives and deaths of settlers, Indians, traders, agents, and soldiers as they unknowingly created an epic chapter of frontier history.

Genres: American History

289 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 1959

Reviews

[Thomas Isern · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a really bad book. I mean, there are books that are bad in their execution, and books that are bad in their effect. This one is both. The documentation is capricious and useless. The use of sources in uncritical. The narrative is full of bogus dialog. The posture is deeply racist, and should have been considered so even at the time of original publication (1959). It is amazing that Oxford chose to publish the work then, and sad that De Capo chose to re-issue it in 1997. Sometimes people wonder why Dakota activists remain outspoken, even strident, about the historical memory of the events that took place in 1862. Here's the answer.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this to find more about the history of this uprising. Distant relatives were part of the massacre.

[Thibaud Sanchez · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very white supremacist bias book with most of the casualties focused on the settlers. It barely tells the indigenous side of the uprising.

[Kailyn]

Kind of weird. Very racist.

Written like a vintage radio program where everyone has made up dialogue, claims to be "even handed" in its account.

Very racist.

The "whites" are all citizens and victims who only want to protect their families from being "butchered by the "indians" who are all screeching manipulative murderers. It's bizarre.
Don't waste your time unless you're doing a report on racist accounts of historic events.

[Straw · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a little dated (as you can see by the title) but I'm pretty sure it involves interviews with survivors or relatives of survivors. A really good overview of the uprising in 1862. An area I have no background in, but am very much interested in as a result of protesters.