President Lincoln and the Sioux Indian uprising in Minnesota in 1862

[David Lockmiller]

(04-17-2013 05:40 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(04-16-2013 11:15 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  In 1864, Minnesota Governor Ramsey told President Lincoln that if he had executed all 303 Indians, he would have won more backing for his reelection bid. “I could not afford to hang men for votes," came the reply.

(04-16-2013 11:27 AM)J. Beckert Wrote:  As usual, if Lincoln could figure out a way to spare a life, he did it. If they were guilty of rape and murder, they'd have been hung in those times if they were white.

(04-16-2013 01:50 PM)Gene C Wrote:  President Linclon probably knew this and took the fairest method to deal with this problem.

Yes. Lincoln took extra precautions to make certain no mistakes were made and only those guilty of the most egregious crimes were hanged. The president deliberately spelled out each name phonetically so there would be no question which men (only the rapists and murderers) to hang.

Thank you, Roger, for that additional information regarding Lincoln's caution. I might add to this that Professor Burlingame wrote: "As execution day for those Indians drew near, Lincoln instructed Nicolay, who had been in Minnesota on a troubleshooting mission during the uprising, to warn Sibley not to hang Chas-kay-don, whose name was similar to one of the condemned men."

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I wanted to say something in the defense of Sherman Alexie. He did say in the interview with Bill Moyers that he did suffer from bipolar disorder, which is characterized by extreme highs and lows.

And, I like what Sherman Alexie said in response to one participant’s question yesterday about what can be done to address the pervasive problem on many Indian reservations today of extreme poverty. His response in successive responses was “Donate,” “Donate,” and “Donate some more.” (or, words to that effect) But his best quote of observation was the following, more or less: “Those people who think that you can’t solve a problem by throwing money at the problem, are the people with money.”

And, there is no doubt that Sherman Alexie has an inherent understanding of the suffering of all Indian nations as the white people exercised relentlessly the intolerant national policy of “Manifest Destiny” in taking Indian lands. The term “Indian giver” has a simple, universally understood meaning. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 (?) was the polite sale by the French Napoleon (I believe) to the United States (and the philosophical “king” of this democracy, Thomas Jefferson) of lands “owned” by numerous Indian tribes. When and if, individual Indian tribes objected to this nation’s manifest destiny, they were met with brutality and atrocities, by overwhelming forces and superiority of arms. [On the other hand, before the white man, Indians warred with one another in a similar fierce manner. I came from Illinois originally. There is a place there called Starved Rock State Park. One Indian tribe forced the remnants of another tribe onto this location. The name of the park speaks for itself as to what followed.] And, when the Sioux took supreme advantage of their horseman skills in warfare on the open plains with other Indian tribes, the Sioux did not complain of unfair advantage in war. As with the white man, the Sioux also took what became their own; later, one bully was replaced by another bully with the justification of Manifest Destiny for this democracy.

Last night, I took the time (two hours past my normal bed time) to look into Professor Burlingame’s reference to Lincoln’s call to the U.S. Congress in December, 1862 to reform the Indian agent corruption problem. I first consulted the book, “Abraham Lincoln, In His Own Words.” I found a five page text in large print which I read over twice quickly but could find no reference to this call to Congress. Then, I noticed all the “dot, dot, dot’s” indicating omitted text. But, I have another book, “The Life, Public Services and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln” by Henry Raymond (1865). President Lincoln prepared his annual address to Congress in time for the opening day of the Thirty-seventh Congress on the 1st day of December, 1862. The address in very small print covered 17 pages of Mr. Raymond’s book, from pages 344-360. [When I have some spare time, I intend to post a statement in this regard to the Bixby letter authorship topic.] The reference that President Lincoln made to the Sioux Indians uprising in Minnesota is contained within one extended paragraph and is quoted in part as follows:

“In the month of August last, the Sioux Indians in Minnesota attacked the settlement in their vicinity with extreme ferocity, killing, indiscriminately, men, women, and children. This attack was wholly unexpected, and therefore no means of defense had been provided. It is estimated that not less than eight hundred persons were killed by the Indians, and a large amount of property was destroyed. How this outbreak was induced is not definitely known, and suspicions, which may be unjust, need not be stated. . . . I submit for your especial consideration whether our Indian system shall not be remodeled. Many wise and good men have impressed me with the belief that this can be profitably done.” (“The Life, Public Services and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln,” pages 350-51)

Mr. Raymond prefaced in his printing of President Lincoln’s Annual Message to Congress in 1862 with the statement that “the supporters of the Administration hav[e] a large majority in both branches.” Although this Congress was able to create and run committees on the conduct of the Civil War in order to second guess decisions and actions of the Lincoln Administration on the conduct of the Civil War, the Congress had neither the time nor the inclination to investigate and recommend legislation for a remodel of the corrupt Indian agent system.