Lincoln's Bishop Quotes

“Many whites attributed the violence to the Indians’ nature. By contrast, the bishop continued to blame the government corruption and mistreatment of the Indians, and he publicly told the stories of Dakotas who had risked their lives to rescue whites. His narrative was a lonely one, cutting against the grain of the dominant story. He persisted in telling it, without apology, while also showing his sympathy for the suffering of white civilians. Given the extremity of the circumstances, publicly following the path he did meant risking his reputation and even his physical well-being.”
― Gustav Niebuhr, Lincoln's Bishop: A President, A Priest, and the Fate of 300 Dakota Sioux Warriors

“Whipple called him by his Indian name: Enmegahbowh, which translates from the Ojibwe language as He Who Prays for His People While Standing.”
― Gustav Niebuhr, Lincoln's Bishop: A President, A Priest, and the Fate of 300 Dakota Sioux Warriors

“Whipple, as an old man nearing death, would recall her words to him as a child: “Never hesitate to defend the weak.”
― Gustav Niebuhr, Lincoln's Bishop: A President, A Priest, and the Fate of 300 Dakota Sioux Warriors

“They canoed past a point of land and found themselves in a place where the natural acoustics produced what Whipple called “a wonderful echo.”28 And, he wrote, “[w]e saw quantities of the wild plum, cherries, currants, gooseberries, whortle and blueberries; also black and red cherries, and the finest hazelnuts I ever saw.”
― Gustav Niebuhr, Lincoln's Bishop: A President, A Priest, and the Fate of 300 Dakota Sioux Warriors