THE GREAT SIOUX UPRISING

by C. M. Oehler ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 19, 1959

This well planned and well written book by a Chicago advertising executive turned historian tells of the worst Indian massacre in American history, the terrible uprising of the Minnesota Sioux in August, 1862. Because of the first Battle of Bull Run the affair was largely overlooked at the time in the East and since then has been surprisingly neglected by Western historians. The trouble came because four young Indians without cause killed five whites and then announced that the whites had started war on the Sioux; at once the Sioux, already discontented because of white encroachments, started further killings which spread like fire through remote farms and settled villages. Responsible chiefs tried to stop the bloodshed and failed; more than 800 whites, largely European emigrant settlers, were butchered with incredible ferocity. White troops under an incompetent general, Sibley, finally ended the uprising, capturing hundreds of Indians who were sentenced to death; in the end 38 were hanged, many of them innocent. Carefully documented but too heavily loaded with tales of atrocities for pleasant reading, this volume fills a gap in the annals of the West and should find a place in public and historical libraries, but many addicts of history will be sickened by its detailed accounts of tortures.

Pub Date: Feb. 19, 1959

ISBN: 0306807599

Page Count: -

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1959

Categories: NONFICTION