The Nature of Violence: Four Families in the Dakota War of 1862 — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

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The Nature of Violence: Four Families in the Dakota War of 1862

Name: Mitchel Steinke
Major: History
Hometown: Sioux Falls, SD
Faculty Sponsor: Stephanie Mitchell
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Senior thesis

Abstract

When academics discuss the 1860s today, they usually focus on America's brutal Civil War between North and South. Few have heard of, and even fewer care about America's other Civil War to the north. Utilizing firsthand accounts of four families who lived through the conflict, I attempt to answer whether the indirect violence used by the settlers was just as violent as the direct violence used by the Dakota people. From this, I also examine whether the existing trade bonds of reciprocity and friendship stood between the Dakota people at the outbreak of direct violence. The Dakota War of 1862 is significant as it represents the struggle the Dakota people faced through later conflict, ending in the devastating surrender of Chief Sitting Bull in 1881, the effects of which the Dakota nation experiences to this day. Due to the political nature of the indirect violence used by the settlers in addition to various government programs, I concluded that the indirect violence utilized by the settlers and the U.S. government was just as violent as the direct violence used by the Dakota people. From the four documented primary family accounts, I found the Dakota did not betray their bonds of reciprocity years before or during the conflict itself.

Poster file