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Columns of vengeance : soldiers, Sioux, and the Punitive Expeditions, 1863-1864 / Paul N. Beck.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, [2013]Description: xiv, 314 pages : maps ; 23 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0806143444 (hardback)
  • 9780806143446 (hardback)
Subject(s):
Contents:
The coming of war: "We...were in a starving condition" -- The Dakota War of 1862: "Let it be a war of extermination" -- Preparing for the first expeditions: "To crush the Sioux Lilliput under the ponderous heel of strategy" -- Sibley's expedition departs: "One day was much like another" -- The battles of Big Mound, Dead Buffalo Lake, and Stony Lake: "We must fight for our children" -- Sully's 1863 expedition: "Your movements have greatly disappointed me" -- Whitestone Hill: "The prairie was covered with white warriors" -- Sully's 1864 expedition: "Generals Pope and Sully are anxious for another campaign" -- The battle of Killdeer Mountain: "The prairie seemed alive with Indians" -- The fight in the badlands: "The Indians were all around us trying to break in" -- Aftermath: "This whole thing is one confounded humbug".
Summary: "The Punitive Expeditions of 1863 and 1864 against the Dakotas led to some of the most significant engagements between the Sioux and the U.S. Army. However, they have been underappreciated and less covered by historians than the Dakota War of 1862 and the latter post Civil War conflicts with the Sioux. This manuscript intends to examine the Punitive Expeditions as part of the overall Civil War experience and highlight the Dakotas' interpretations of the campaigns. Additionally, the manuscript will use diaries and accounts from common soldiers to focus on the personal, human side of the conflicts and how they impacted the lives of the people involved. The author applies a "bottom up" approach, which uses personal accounts by participants and interpretations by descendants to understand the conflicts on a larger scale. The Dakota as well as U.S. Army soldier's perspectives will be presented to give an even-handed account of the significance of these military encounters"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 978.0049 B393 Available 33111007154103
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In summer 1862, Minnesotans found themselves fighting interconnected wars--the first against the rebellious Southern states, and the second an internal war against the Sioux. While the Civil War was more important to the future of the United States, the Dakota War of 1862 proved far more destructive to the people of Minnesota--both whites and American Indians. It led to U.S. military action against the Sioux, divided the Dakotas over whether to fight or not, and left hundreds of white settlers dead. In Columns of Vengeance , historian Paul N. Beck offers a reappraisal of the Punitive Expeditions of 1863 and 1864, the U.S. Army's response to the Dakota War of 1862.

Whereas previous accounts have approached the Punitive Expeditions as a military campaign of the Indian Wars, Beck argues that the expeditions were also an extension of the Civil War. The strategy and tactics reflected those of the war in the East, and Civil War operations directly affected planning and logistics in the West. Beck also examines the devastating impact the expeditions had on the various bands and tribes of the Sioux. Whites viewed the expeditions as punishment--"columns of vengeance" sent against those Dakotas who had started the war in 1862--yet the majority of the Sioux the army encountered had little or nothing to do with the earlier uprising in Minnesota.

Rather than relying only on the official records of the commanding officers involved, Beck presents a much fuller picture of the conflict by consulting the letters, diaries, and personal accounts of the common soldiers who took part in the expeditions, as well as rare personal narratives from the Dakotas. Drawing on a wealth of firsthand accounts and linking the Punitive Expeditions of 1863 and 1864 to the overall Civil War experience, Columns of Vengeance offers fresh insight into an important chapter in the development of U.S. military operations against the Sioux.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-303) and index.

The coming of war: "We...were in a starving condition" -- The Dakota War of 1862: "Let it be a war of extermination" -- Preparing for the first expeditions: "To crush the Sioux Lilliput under the ponderous heel of strategy" -- Sibley's expedition departs: "One day was much like another" -- The battles of Big Mound, Dead Buffalo Lake, and Stony Lake: "We must fight for our children" -- Sully's 1863 expedition: "Your movements have greatly disappointed me" -- Whitestone Hill: "The prairie was covered with white warriors" -- Sully's 1864 expedition: "Generals Pope and Sully are anxious for another campaign" -- The battle of Killdeer Mountain: "The prairie seemed alive with Indians" -- The fight in the badlands: "The Indians were all around us trying to break in" -- Aftermath: "This whole thing is one confounded humbug".

"The Punitive Expeditions of 1863 and 1864 against the Dakotas led to some of the most significant engagements between the Sioux and the U.S. Army. However, they have been underappreciated and less covered by historians than the Dakota War of 1862 and the latter post Civil War conflicts with the Sioux. This manuscript intends to examine the Punitive Expeditions as part of the overall Civil War experience and highlight the Dakotas' interpretations of the campaigns. Additionally, the manuscript will use diaries and accounts from common soldiers to focus on the personal, human side of the conflicts and how they impacted the lives of the people involved. The author applies a "bottom up" approach, which uses personal accounts by participants and interpretations by descendants to understand the conflicts on a larger scale. The Dakota as well as U.S. Army soldier's perspectives will be presented to give an even-handed account of the significance of these military encounters"-- Provided by publisher.

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