Breaker Morant has launched a new blog recounting the history of the Sioux Empire — not just the well-known Lakota tales of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, but also tales of the Sioux of the prairies and forests of Breaker’s home state of Minnesota.
This looks to be an excellent project. Head on over to The Smoke of the Sioux and take in the premier post on the Seven Council Fires of the Great Sioux Nation.
I am most excited about this, for Breaker is going to fill in some of the blank spots in my knowledge and understanding of the Sioux. I know little of the Great Sioux Uprising in Minnesota in 1862, though I know it was of profound importance, informing everything that happened later.
Breaker Morant says
Thanks Jim.
I don’t know how you and Craig do it. As I think ahead, I see an infinite number of posts, plus I can raid off in other directions if I want to. However, as you said in regards to RIR-“The more you write, the more you want to write.”
I have been trying to think of a vehicle to write about this stuff for a long time, and this feels right.
One of the most enjoyable parts of this is going to be pondering what the next post might be.
I mentioned to my wife and daughter yesterday, that I was going to do this and that we might be taking some Sunday drives to Dakota Uprising sites and they got excited. We live 2 to 3 hours northwest of the core Minnesota Massacre sites.
One of the paternal great-grandmothers seemed to come from nowhere and the genealogists in the family can’t find much about her. Given where she came from in Minnesota, and the appearance of some in the family, there is speculation that she may have been part Indian.
I like to think of her as having some Sisseton and Yanktonai blood.
Remember, it is not just Minnesota that I hope to tackle. North and South Dakota are just as important and overlooked-with smoke drifting to Iowa and Nebraska and maybe even Wisconsin and Colorado and Canada.
If you haven’t seen the second post yet, that is a fun little post that I think you will like.
Now, if I can just get “The Smoke of Africa” up to date. I won’t finish ever finish it as I hope to go again.
But, there are worse things to do than write about Africa and the Sioux.
Breaker Morant says
I am not going to rule out writing about the Sioux in modern times. The 3rd World conditions on the reservations and the horrendous treatment of the Sioux (and other tribes) during the building of dams on the Missouri (to say nothing of the environmental devatastation) may receive early treatment.
Black Tyrone says
Breaker, Wish you the best in your quest. This is a taking on of no minor endeavor. there are so many twists and turns as well as helpers whose “knowledge” is marginal at best in their opinions”
Matthew says
Cool!
Paul McNamee says
Good luck!
A worthy writing undertaking, for certain.
Breaker Morant says
Thank You Paul
lane batot says
Definetely one of MY favorite subjects–a great book I got years ago specifically about the Minnesota Sioux uprising is “Over The Earth I Come”. I especially liked the justice dealt out to the crooked Indian agent, who, when the Indians on the reservation were starving because of his crooked dealings with their rations, told them to “go eat grass”. He was found dead after the uprising, with grass stuffed in his mouth! And although quite far removed, the Indian tribes in the central section(the piedmont) of my own home state of N. C. were Siouan speaking tribes–the Cheraw, the Keyauwee, the Catawba, and others. Looking forward to it!
Breaker Morant says
Lane-you will like my short post highlighting the “Let them eat Grass” deal. I assume that you have not seen it yet.
https://thesmokeofthesioux.blogspot.com/2018/03/if-they-are-hungry-let-them-eat-shit.html
JimC says
Breaker is ROLLIN’!
Breaker Morant says
When the dam breaks-LOL.
As I think about the topics in front of me, the one that most needs to come over here is Inkpaduta. He was a renegade Wahpekute with a band of killers. He was everywhere from the 1857 Spirit Lake Massacre to the Little Bighorn. He was Frontier Partisan, through and through.
You are welcome to jump the line on me and do a treatment of him if you want.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This might be Keith West territory, but I have been slowly reading “Cheyenne War:Indian Raids on the Road to Denver 1864-1869.” Obviously, the Cheyenne, Arapaho and the Sioux are all over that thing. Yesterday, I cut the trail of some Cheyenne and Comanche raiding along the Sante Fe Trail.
It would be really cool if the Sioux and Comanche ever rode together on a raid(s), I wasn’t looking for it earlier, but I encourage everybody to keep their eyes open for Sioux and Comanche riding together. I would not want to meet that crew in a dark alley.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Obviously, I hope to do a lot on the 1862 Dakota Uprising/Ojibway/French etc and all of it is a labor of love. However, the special part for me is the large US Army expeditions into the Dakotas in 1863 and 1864 that nobody seems to know about.
If anyone is interested in the topic: I suggest “Columns of Vengeance:Soldiers, Sioux, and the Punitive Expeditions 1863-1864” by Paul N. Beck.
Another book is “The Dakota War: The United States Army Versus the Sioux, 1862-1865”-by Micheal Clodfelter.
JimC says
See what happens? You’re exactly where I am all the time — SO many great stories to tell, so many of them known only to specialists. Crack on! This is gonna be fun. BTW — anything you want to cross-post or plug, you let me know; open invitation.
Jd Schooley says
Inkpaduta was a distraction for the US gov. long before the attacks at Okoboji and Jackson Mn. He and his slain brother Sintominaduta disrupted all along the Sioux rivers and south to Fort Dodge, and east to Algona. Refusing to sign away his Wahpacute land made him enlargeable for any of the annuities the other Dakota collected for what was not theirs to sell. Seeing him as an equal to the whites who hunted the same grounds made him an outlaw only to the thieves who tried to push his band into the crowded Minnesota settlements.
Mrs. Pettitcaras says
Scott W. Berg: “38 Nooses, Lincoln, Little Crow and the Beginning of the Frontier’s End”
Breaker Morant says
I read “38 Nooses” from the library-but I am going to have to buy it. My book buying is going to expand. Just ordered a book on Inkpaduta.
Thankfully, however I do have quite a collection of Sioux books including some pretty specialized stuff.
There was an older rancher near Sisseton, South Dakota, who ran a Western book store out of his home and he twisted my arm to buy some obscure stuff-plus the guy who runs the Nicollet Center in Sisseton keeps his eyes out for books for me.
I sell my cattle in Sisseton so that is how I became aware of both venues-I think the rancher doesn’t sell books anymore.
Breaker Morant says
I could not resist posting “The Buffalo Ridge and Books” as my next post with more pictures from 2008. The last 4 pictures with the books might look familiar to many of us LOL.
https://thesmokeofthesioux.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-buffalo-ridge-and-books.html
Mrs. Pettitcaras says
That would be Paul Beck’s book? you’ll find a Oct, 2008 interview with him on the
Friends of the Little Bighorn Battle Field website. Also of interest David L. Bristow’s
The True Story Of The Spirit Lake Massacre. Search and ye shall find, break a leg!
Breaker Morant says
Thank You for the suggestions-I will check them out.
Yep, that is Beck’s book. I have a different one that might be more hagiographic, it is 10 years since I read it.
“Inkpaduta:Sitting Bull’s Predecessor” by Maxwell Van Nuys.
Everything leads to the Little Bighorn doesn’t it? And you can’t avoid going there-see my latest post-“The Hard Way to the Little Bighorn.”
However, what really wags my tail is stuff like the Hunkpapas, including Sitting Bull, coming east of the Missouri to hunt buffalo in 1863 (they did hang around with the Yanktonais) and tangling with Sibley’s columns out for revenge after the 1862 Minnesota Uprising.
Mrs. Pettitcaras says
Your most welcome unlike some you are always responding and always sharing,
the pleasure is mine! Have you ever seen Bill Groethe’s Sept 2, 1948 photo of the
“Little Bighorn veterans” ?
lane batot says
Gosh, B. Morant, but it’s hard not to inundate you with book suggestions(Turnabout IS fair play, as they say!)–also not knowing what you’ve already read or collected. But a few MUSTS I am compelled to mention–one of my favorites is Charles Eastman’s “Indian Boyhood”, about growing up an eastern forest Sioux(Sisseton?); also both of Standing Bear’s books: “My People The Sioux” and “Land Of The Spotted Eagle”; Mari Sandoz’s “These Were The Sioux”; and for modern day stuff, MANDATORY is John Fire Lame Deer(with Richard Erdos’s) “Lame Deer; Seeker Of Visions”; and anyone who wants to TOTALLY IMMERSE themselves in the life of a Plains Sioux back before the wasichu screwed things up(and you’ll pick up a good bit of Lakota vocabulary by the time you’ve finished it!), is Ruth Beebe Hill’s incredible bible-thick EPIC, “Hanta Yo”……I haven’t read any account of Sioux riding with the Comanche in my voluminous readings(of both Sioux and Comanche!), but I’ll keep my eyes peeled. You Do know the BOOK “Dances With Wolves” was written about COMANCHES, but when they made the movie, they switched it to being about the Sioux, for various logistic reasons; one big one being that almost NO original Comanche territory terrain remains intact as it was back in their heyday, AND, the big buffalo herd they used was up in Montana!….And interesting injun geek factoid others may not know–where in the heck did the word “Sioux” come from? Turns out it is a French corruption and contraction of the Ojibway/Chippewa term for the tribe(which were their bitter enemies) Naduwaysu(my spelling may be a bit off there), meaning “little snakes”! The French just used the last syllable “-su”, and, being French, they had to throw in a bunch of unused consonants and vowels! So “-su” became “Sioux”! The Comanche were also called “Snakes” by the majority of tribes(as were their sister tribe, the Shoshones), so there’s yer Sioux/Comanche connection!
Breaker Morant says
To Mrs. Pettitcaras-Yes, I think I have seen the picture, but I am also getting a mental image of the Pickett’s Charge reunion.
There are a couple of ways that history seems really short to me. My paternal line Great-Grandfather was born in Wisconsin in 1850, thence they moved to Minnesota. He was 52 years old when my grandfather was born in 1902.
My grandfather was 40 years old when my dad was born in 1942 and then I came along in 1966. If I make it to 84-we stretch 200 years in 4 generations.
I think that is pretty neat. The Indian Wars and frontier settlements seem very close to me as my grandfather died when I was 24 and we lived on the same farm.
He had half-brothers and sisters that broke the sod in Saskatchewan. He went west on threshing crews when he was 18. It is really close to me.
It was his wife, my paternal grandmother that told the second-hand stories of fleeing from the Sioux.
I got another story, but that is enough for now.
To Lane Batot- It is hard for me to get a handle on the Comanche for some reason, they seem more like an amorphous mass.
I think the “Dances with Wolves” buffalo herd they used was near Pierre, South Dakota. We have driven by there and there are signs to that effect.
We are going to Kauai next week and I have been debating what book(s) to bring. It is a major decision-LOL. I have been setting aside magazines as they can be read and disposed of easily at the beach and airport and so forth.
I am not one to sit at the beach, but I suppose I have to give her a few hours of beach time (LOL)
I am only going to bring 1 book and I have decided to bring “Jock of the Bushveld.” I have found a bookstore on Kauai and we will visit Pearl Harbor-so I will certainly buy some more-but only taking one.
Breaker Morant says
Not sure if I phrased my grandmother’s Sioux stories correctly. She had it first-hand from people that were there, then I heard it from her. So I guess it is seond-hand(?).
JimC says
It’s all so much closer than most people think (or feel). That feeling that it’s right there is the best kind of frisson for those of us bent that way.
Breaker Morant says
One other thing that is kind of neat for me is that while I have the connection the 1862 Uprising and know those sites, I also went to North Dakota State University so when I read of the Battle of Killdeer Mountain (for example) in North Dakota, I know people from there. It is a fun connection somehow.
Mrs. Pettitcaras says
The past is never dead. It’s not even past.
One that might go some way to resolving your Comanche conundrum is
perhaps: Pekka Hamalainen_The Comanche Empire.
JimC says
That and “War of a Thousand Deserts” are excellent companion pieces.
Breaker Morant says
Read the “Comanche Empire” and it helped a lot. I was especially intrigued by the small prairie area deep into Mexico that they used as a base for deeper raids.
I just can’t quite get there on the Comanche-Yeah, I should do War of a Thousand Deserts.
I read “Empire of the Summer Moon” right around the same time as Comanche Empire.
…………………………………..
The same thing happens with the Sioux on occasion. I read a book on mining in the Black Hills and there were several Indian raids in the hills in 1876 on the miners. Who were those Sioux (the likely culprits). The answer is probably buried in some archives, but I don’t have a handle on those Sioux and it bugs me-Oh, well now I have a venue to pursue it with.
Mrs Pettitcaras says
This link is not working mister Jim might as well remove it please.
Mrs. Pettitcaras says
It’s meant to link to a WSJ. article called A Massacre In The Family by Michael Allen.
Breaker, speaking of The Black Hills, Terry Mort should get a mention here “Thieves Road”
is particularly good at framing matters in an economic perspective, his book on Cochise
also well worth some time.
As far as any “collusion” betwixt Sioux and Comanche I think Gregory Michno should be
called on as an expert witness. Renegade raiding parties of young bucks and other wayward
souls would have certainly caused havoc.
lane batot says
Yup, Breaker M., it WAS South Dakota, not Montana, where they filmed the buffalo herd for “Dances With Wolves”–got out my book on the making of the movie(that I got cheapo in a used book store many moons ago)–but anyway, they moved it NORTH, and changed Comanches to Sioux for that reason. Maybe I was thinking of Ted Turner’s ranch with buffalo in Montana, and got the two mixed up?…..I’m not perzackly understanding what your confusion? Less interested in? Understanding? –of the Comanches is–confused on their tribal “organization” perhaps? They WERE “less organized” and just harder for white historians to pigeon-hole, as Europeans tend to like to do with other indigenous cultures, and some other cultures just won’t “fit”into these nice, neat categories–the Apaches were even moreso like that, from an Anthropological perspective. All the Comanche bands did tend to be allies, at least, even if they operated quite independently–unlike a lot of the various Apache groups who were often antagonistic with each other! Comanche “religion” was also all over the place–it was considered a very private, personal thing, and there weren’t as many tribal ceremonies as in many other American Indian groups. That’s a major aspect I really like about the Comanches, their fierce, arrogant, and almost fanatic adherence to individual freedom–one reason they were such a “problem” for their resistance to European control efforts…….And it was most assuredly mainly Lakota(Western Sioux) who would have been raiding in the Black Hills.Not that there might not have been the occasional visiting or intermarried Dakota(Eastern) or other Siouan affiliate involved. And the Northern Cheyenne and Arapahos very often would join in or raid independently in the area, too. But it was all very fluid and individual, so really rather impossible for the categorizing type to accurately define. But that’s just another major difference between the cultures! You MUST get “Lame Deer, Seeker Of Visions” and start thinking like a Lakota!
lane batot says
….and,Breaker M. you couldn’t have chosen a better “vacation book” than “Jock Of The Bushveld”! South African CLASSIC!(And I hope you got an unedited/unabridged version! BLASPHEMY that there are now “politically correct” edited versions out there–rather like editing “Huckleberry Finn”!)–but it WILL make you want to get yer rifle, whistle up yer faithful dog, and go HUNTIN”!
Breaker Morant says
I have to make notes to check out all these suggestions. My youngest son and I made the first photo run for “The Smoke of the Sioux.” He is 15 and needs hours for his drivers license so we drove an hour west to take pictures of the “Coteau des Prairies (Head of the Prairie) AKA-“The Buffalo Ridge.”
I don’t think the photos will turn out well-too washed out I think.
Stopped at a local library and checked out a book on Fort Snelling-a good place to start, I think. I also checked out Kantor’s novel “Spirit Lake.” My understanding is that he treats Inkpaduta as the devil, but I want the settler’s view of him too. It seems like Inkpaduta is going to be central to wherever I take this thing.
Oddly enough, the Sand Creek Massacre might be the next place that I land on. Hey, I can do Cheyenne stuff too, if I want.
Mrs. Pettitcaras says
Are you sure? careful what you wish for, you open that door you’ll end up with a reading
list the likes you’ve never seen. I put that link up as an example of inter generational collective
memory. Do you want to start investigating the sort of trauma that is capable of changing DNA?
Perhaps look at that 1948 photo, I think you were thinking of altogether different “veterans”.
And what about Red Cloud? Remember that he is really the only one that beat the US.
Breaker Morant says
Mrs Pettitcaras>>>”Are you sure? careful what you wish for, you open that door you’ll end up with a reading
list the likes you’ve never seen.”<<<
And she slaps me with the glove-LOL. I am not known here as "The Breaker of Book Budgets" for nothing. Jim's wife has threatened to put a restraining order on me because I am a bad influence on her husband's book buying habit. In my defense, I didn't have to twist his arm to hard.
Last night was kind of fun. I came out as a writer (or whatever you call it) to the family. I had to, I am too excited about "The Smoke of the Sioux", plus we need (get) to take some short trips to various Sioux sites.
However, the kids did not know about "The Smoke of Africa"
http://thesmokeofafrica.blogspot.com/
and my 17 YO daughter started reading it. The weakness of the format is that you have to scroll way back to the beginning to read in chronological order.
She read through 15 posts before other duties called and she said "This is really good" and she did not even hit the pictures yet. FWIW, she was the most excited of all the kids about the Africa trip and I have often said that she is the one I will take with me when/if I got again. It is hard to remember that she was only 12 when we went in 2013.
Next up at Smoke of the Sioux will be more on the 7 Council Fires of the Great Sioux Nation I found some good stuff on the structure and early geographic locations of the various branches.
JimC says
I love that. You might consider publishing Smoke of Africa as a book. Just sayin’.
Breaker Morant says
Per “The Smoke of Africa” as a book.
Thanks Jim, I am interested in pursuing that. My original hope was to go that route. I had a 2nd cousin that started an E-Book press, but that seems to have died out and we lost touch.
I do have your model to follow-so I would want your advice and guidance-there isn’t much left of the story itself to tell.
However, where I believe I can add value to the typical book of that genre is the essays. I think you share this belief, plus the unique photos that you just don’t see anywhere else. I think the pictures would work better in a real book than in an e-book.
Things get busy for me very soon here as spring farm work begins, plus I want to move forward (albeit more slowly now) on “The Smoke of the Sioux.”
I would appreciate if you could start thinking of next steps for me in the process. Sort of preparing the ground for next winter, when I would be able to devote more time to it. I do have some time spring/summer/fall time also so the process isn’t necessarily at a dead stop.
We are taking my computer to Hawaii and I can’t do “Sioux” stuff there-but I can easily do some “Africa” stuff if I get sick of sitting around. My wife has plans for serious beach time. I can handle that for half-a-day or so (LOL).
To seriously move forward with “The Smoke of Africa” as a book, I have to
1)Finish the story-that is relatively easy from this point.
2)Write more essays-
After that or in conjunction with #2: What is the first step to seriously move towards publishing?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
One neat Indian thing here is that the University of Minnesota Morris is 15 miles from my house. I can see the wind towers from my driveway.
The school started as an Indian boarding school, so the library has extensive archival collections of Indian stuff. I like archival research and it might be fun to root around in there next winter.
JimC says
I’ll email my phone number and we can talk through my approach.
Mrs. Pettitcaras says
Jeez Louise! that faulty link is gone but so is a lot of other stuff, hope you
aren’t running a newspaper. Check your notes Breaker and let me know if I
can be of any help.
JimC says
To what do you refer Mrs. P?
Mrs. P. says
Do not worry, I know you have many things on the boil Jim. I must endeavor
to package content in a way that ensures it doesn’t fall by the way side, there’s
tech, continents, paywalls etc to overcome. I am determined to push FP, this subject
and Breaker further along, therefore: a shout out to make sure names and links previously
posted are remembered otherwise I’ll have to chip in again.
JimC says
Chippin’ away. Excellent.
lane batot says
I can read “Smoke of the Sioux”, but I cannot comment with that format, alas(ditto for “Smoke Of Africa”). But you might consider that a good thing, Breaker M. ……..
JimC says
I have similar limitations. But we love it!
Breaker Morant says
Just saw this post. I would love to get comments, but I don’t know how to address at this time. For now, I am pleased that some would like to comment.