Pursuit and
Conspiracy (2 books)
Presentation to
the Annandale History Club
November 5, 2012
Dean Urdahl
This is Dean Urdahl's third presentation to the Annandale History Club. In
2007 he spoke about Uprising,
the first book in his trilogy about
the 1862 Dakota Conflict. In
2010 he spoke about the second
book, entitled Retribution. The
final book in the trilogy is Pursuit,
which is about punitive expeditions into the Dakota Territory. People,
real and fictional, introduced in Uprising are
continued in Retribution, Pursuitand
also in Urdahl's latest book, Conspiracy,
which is about the assassination of President Lincoln. Conspiracy also
details the continued pursuit and punishment of the Dakota. The
dialogue Dean Urdahl writes for the characters in his books (real and
fictional) brings history alive and helps to instill in the reader
deeper understanding of historical events.
PURSUIT
The Battle of Wood Lake on September 23, 1862, was the final battle of
the 1862 Dakota Conflict. The
six-week war left the Minnesota River Valley in flames. An
estimated 700 white settlers were killed. 38
Dakota received death sentences and were hanged at Mankato on December
26, 1862. 265
Dakota warriors, who received a reprieve by President Lincoln, were sent
to a prison in Davenport, Iowa. About
1,500 Dakota, mostly women and children, were held in harsh conditions
at Fort Snelling. In
May 1863 they were forced onto steamboats and sent into the Dakota
Territory to the then desolate Crow Creek Reservation (near Fort
Thompson in central South Dakota). The
Indian Removal Act signed March 3, 1863, by President Lincoln required
all Dakota moved beyond the boundaries of any state. The
demand for retribution continued to grow, and two armies were sent into
the Dakota Territory to find Little Crow and others who had escaped and
to make sure they didn't come back to Minnesota. Pursuit
is about the removal to Crow Creek and the 1863 Dakota expeditions by
Generals Sibley and Sully.
General Henry H. Sibley: Under
General Sibley, thousands of soldiers and civilian support personnel
left Camp Pope on June 16, 1863. The
train spread for four miles up the Minnesota River Valley. Another
2,000 soldiers from Iowa and Nebraska, led by General Alfred Sully,
gathered on the Missouri in northwest Iowa. The
plan was for Sibley's troops to proceed to a point east of Devil's Lake
and for General Sully's troops to wait west of the Missouri River. The
two armies would have Little Crow and an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 Dakota
between them and kill or capture them all. By
the time Sibley and his army reached Devil's Lake, the Dakota had left.
General Sibley's army engaged in a series of battles, which are
described in detail in Pursuit.
The
Battle of Big Mound, July 24, 1863 (near present-day Tappan, North
Dakota).
The
Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake, July 26, 1863.
The
Battle of Stony Lake, July 28, 1863, where Sitting Bull led a charge. In
a final engagement on July 30, 1863, the Indians were chased across the
Missouri River.
By July 25, 1863, General Sully's army was supposed to be waiting on the
west side of the Missouri. Sully's
army was delayed. After
not finding General Sully at the planned rendezvous, General Sibley
declared victory and headed back to Minnesota on August 12, 1863. The
Indians crossed back to the east side of the Missouri.
With only about 17 followers, including his 16-year old son, Wowinape,
and son-in-law, Heyoka, Little Crow returned to Minnesota to steal
horses. The
Indians split into two groups. On
June 19, 1863, five members of the Dustin family were massacred near
Howard Lake. 28-year
old James McGannon was killed by Heyoka on July 1, 1863, near Lake Union
in Southside Township, Wright County. Little
Crow was killed by Nathan Lamson near Hutchinson July 3, 1863. James
McGannon's jacket was found with Little Crow. It
wasn't known that the Indian killed near Hutchinson was Little Crow
until an afraid and starving Wowinape was found by soldiers near Devil's
Lake.
General Alfred Sully: When
General Sully neared the intended rendezvous point, he learned that
Sibley had gone back to Minnesota. Sully
and his army continued east and south to hunt for the Dakota. Whitestone
Hill was a more permanent Indian village in the James River valley. On
September 3, 1863, with Sully's Iowa soldiers on one side and his
Nebraska soldiers on the other side, the armies fired down on a peaceful
camp of Yankton Lakota. The
Indian men circled around to try to protect the women and children. When
darkness fell, some of the Indians managed to escape. There
were several hundred dead and several hundred captured Indians, and also
dead soldiers (many by friendly fire). 500,000 pounds of buffalo meat
were destroyed by Sully's troops, provisions needed by the Indians to
survive the winter. Only
a few of the Indians engaged by Sibley and Sully's armies were part of
the 1862 Dakota Conflict in Minnesota.
Dean Urdahl also wrote about John McKenzie (formerly of McLeod and
Meeker Counties) and his role in capturing Chiefs Medicine Bottle and
Shakopee in Canada. Medicine
Bottle and Shakopee were tried at Fort Snelling and were hanged November
11, 1865, for their participation in the 1862 Dakota War.
CONSPIRACY
In Conspiracy Dean
Urdahl explores the many different theories and the factual information
leading to John Wilkes Booth's assassination of President Abraham
Lincoln at the Ford Theater on the night of April 14, 1865. Lincoln
died at 7:22 a.m., April 15, 1865. Many
different theories exist for Lincoln's assassination, including possible
involvement by the Catholic Church and the Illuminati.
Conspiracy involves
much intrigue, including plots to kidnap President Lincoln to exchange
him for Confederate prisoners, plots to blow up the White House,
clandestine meetings in Canada, Washington, D.C. and Surrattsville,
Confederate attempts at germ warfare in 1863, draft riots incited in New
York City in 1863, possible retaliation for an alleged Union plot to
kill President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet, and more.
There were several reasons for the perceived Catholic Church involvement
in the conspiracies. Only the Vatican recognized the Confederacy as an
independent nation. Almost
all of the Confederate sympathizers involved in the plots were
Catholics. Catholics
in St. Joseph, Minnesota, purportedly knew about Lincoln's death before
it happened. While
Catholics were involved, it was most likely coincidental, and those
involved in the plot used them as scapegoats.
Urdahl relates the interesting story of how Attorney Abe Lincoln of
Springfield successfully defended Father Charles Chiniquey, a priest in
Illinois, against charges by a Jesuit Bishop. The
1856 trial got messy with issues such as slander and theft. The
accusers withdrew the charges because of testimony by an eye witness to
their lying.
Conspiracy also
includes the 1864 Dakota Territory expeditions of General Alfred Sully
and Col. Minor Thomas
to open forts and capture the Indians or push them further west. General
Sully and Col. Thomas embarked on Sully's second Dakota expedition on
July 1, 1864. On
July 4, 1864, an immigrant train of 250 people headed for the Montana
gold mines joined the military expedition. On
July 24, 1864, the expedition reached the Heart River. On
July 26, 1864, Sully's army and Sitting Bull clashed. Sitting
Bull and his Hunkpapa Lakota tribe were not part of the 1862 Dakota
Conflict. The
Hunkpapa along with several other tribes took a stand and expected to
win. General
Sully and his troops defeated the Indians at the Battle of Kildeer
Mountain and pursued them through the Badlands (in present-day western
North Dakota), chasing them into Montana beyond the Yellowstone River.
Note: What
started in Minnesota in 1862 didn't end until the Battle of Wounded Knee
in 1890.
Notes by Annandale History Club Secretary