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Souix Uprising Essay Example

Souix Uprising I will admit that I am not much for reading. I will also admit after reading the first chapter in this book that I felt sick to my stomach, literally. That I feared reading the rest of the book knowing that this really happened and that people could actually do this to one another. Although the book disgusted me after the first chapter that I didnt want to read it anymore it also made me not want to put it down. It could have been the way the writer described everything made it all so vivid and clear or maybe it was the fact that it was so gruesome and real that I had to read it. Whatever the truth may be I thought it was a very good book.

Up until this class I hadnt even heard of the Uprising. In my impression part of the book was the side of the Indians while part of it was the side of the white mans view. It told of how it started, where it began, when it ended and how it ended. I feel as if the Indians had been changing their ways throughout the war. In the beginning they were killing anyone and everyone but, to a point, by the end of the war they were only killing the white males and were holding the women and children captive so to speak.

Although I dont think the Indians needed to be hung for their crimes they shouldve been arrested and brought into jail. The white men needed to also take responsibility for their actions. It takes two people to start a fight no matter what it is about. Yes, it wasnt all of the white men who held back their annuity payment, but it was those men who insisted that they change their ways. The book was a well-researched and insightful narrative of the bloody uprising and the events which preceded it.

It is another sad chapter in the history of the American West . All the shocking events took place during one week in August of 1862, in response to being tricked and betrayed by broken treaties, cheated continually by traders, and brought to the edge of starvation by delays in dispensing the government’s annuity payments, the Santee Sioux had finally had enough. The Sioux left hundreds of settlers dead and turning forty thousand into refugees. From killings to burnings they did it all. The high point was reached over hens’ eggs when warriors mocked as cowards after refusing to steal the eggs shot the hens’ owner, his wife, and friends in cold blood. Faced with certain reprisals from whites, the most respected Sioux leader, Little Crow, sided with his war chiefs and the rampage began in earnest.

Hundreds of isolated settlers in the area died, with only occasional prisoners taken, while massive attacks took place against the nearby Army garrison and the prosperous town of New Ulm. Even with superior numbers, these assaults failed, however, leaving many warriors dead and the rest disheartened. The Army quickly rounded up all the Sioux to be found, sentencing hundreds to death in military court without allowing them a defense. President Lincoln reduced the number of condemned to 38, who were duly hung. On December 26, 1862, those 38 Sioux Indians were executed for their part in uprisings.