Comments on: Spirit Lake Massacre http://www.historynet.com/spirit-lake-massacre.htm?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=spirit-lake-massacre From the World's Largest History Magazine Publisher Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:24:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: James http://www.historynet.com/spirit-lake-massacre.htm#comment-782387 James Sat, 26 Nov 2011 23:45:12 +0000 #comment-782387 The Lakota Sioux were empire builders as the Europeans were. Like whites, they were relative newcomers to the region . The Black Hills were their sacred ground because they took it from other Indians. Motivations of both peoples were similar. Whites took their lands through guile and force in the same way land exchanges have been conducted since the beginning of time. The Sioux Nation would have done the same to us if they had been able. The cold winter of 1856-7 may have played a small role in the uprising. White settlers and Indians were on the brink of starvation as they competed for the last deer herds and contents of graineries. According to local legend, Inkapaduta headed south toward our ancestorial home town, but he changed his mind and marched north. Nels Jurgonsen comments make me wonder how he feels about his northern Scandinavian neighbors who treated some of my cousins, the Sami as we treated the Indians. The Swedes and others tried to destroy the culture and sent children to boarding schools to educate the old ways from them as the United States did to Indian children. The Lakota Sioux were empire builders as the Europeans were. Like whites, they were relative newcomers to the region . The Black Hills were their sacred ground because they took it from other Indians. Motivations of both peoples were similar. Whites took their lands through guile and force in the same way land exchanges have been conducted since the beginning of time. The Sioux Nation would have done the same to us if they had been able.

The cold winter of 1856-7 may have played a small role in the uprising. White settlers and Indians were on the brink of starvation as they competed for the last deer herds and contents of graineries. According to local legend, Inkapaduta headed south toward our ancestorial home town, but he changed his mind and marched north.

Nels Jurgonsen comments make me wonder how he feels about his northern Scandinavian neighbors who treated some of my cousins, the Sami as we treated the Indians. The Swedes and others tried to destroy the culture and sent children to boarding schools to educate the old ways from them as the United States did to Indian children.

]]> By: Perry http://www.historynet.com/spirit-lake-massacre.htm#comment-778641 Perry Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:41:09 +0000 #comment-778641 Just started to read the book , I am a woodturning artist from N.W. Iowa and just got a piece of the Luce cabin that was going to be digarded and have plans to turn some pieces of it to preserve some and have on display somewhere . but I whanted to know more back story before I start just to feel some other aspect of what i will be creating .The woods badley weatherd so some voids I plan on filling with red to represent the blood that was spilled by all back then . wildwoodturning.com Just started to read the book , I am a woodturning artist from N.W. Iowa and just got a piece of the Luce cabin that was going to be digarded and have plans to turn some pieces of it to preserve some and have on display somewhere . but I whanted to know more back story before I start just to feel some other aspect of what i will be creating .The woods badley weatherd so some voids I plan on filling with red to represent the blood that was spilled by all back then . wildwoodturning.com

]]> By: Terry Beyer http://www.historynet.com/spirit-lake-massacre.htm#comment-705960 Terry Beyer Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:37:40 +0000 #comment-705960 There is one thing we all forget when looking back at historic events. The people that lived these events where not 21st century people like we are.Life was much harder,most people had little if any education,and death was a constant reality.Unfortunally these realities probably made life somewhat cheaper than we consider it today. I'm just trying to remind everyone, that we can't look at history through the politically correct lens that we have to endure in modern times. There is one thing we all forget when looking back at historic events. The people that lived these events where not 21st century people like we are.Life was much harder,most people had little if any education,and death was a constant reality.Unfortunally these realities probably made life somewhat cheaper than we consider it today. I'm just trying to remind everyone, that we can't look at history through the politically correct lens that we have to endure in modern times.

]]> By: Art Taschner http://www.historynet.com/spirit-lake-massacre.htm#comment-649844 Art Taschner Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:02:01 +0000 #comment-649844 I understand that Abbie was taken as for into So. Dak. as Redfield and obtained back in the trade near Lake Herman , near Madison So. Dak. , Does any one have any information on this? I don't know why so many want to rewrite history, Read Abbie;'s book. I understand that Abbie was taken as for into So. Dak. as Redfield and obtained back in the trade near Lake Herman , near Madison So. Dak. , Does any one have any information on this? I don't know why so many want to rewrite history, Read Abbie;'s book.

]]> By: Betty http://www.historynet.com/spirit-lake-massacre.htm#comment-546917 Betty Tue, 03 May 2011 13:46:01 +0000 #comment-546917 hi, I need more stuff cuz its a stupid website!!!!11 hi, I need more stuff cuz its a stupid website!!!!11

]]> By: Beth Ostlund http://www.historynet.com/spirit-lake-massacre.htm#comment-412777 Beth Ostlund Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:48:44 +0000 #comment-412777 Hello! I am very interested in your information that Henry Lott was caught cheating at cards and killed in Tombstone. I grew up in Webster City Iowa and many of my friends and family are connected to the Spirit Lake Massacre, either descendants of Abigail G., or descendents of Minnesotans who fled after the massacre and resettled here, etc etc. Webster City is one of the two towns that sent citizens on the rescue party to the lakes after the massacre to bury the bodies. I have been fascinated with this history since I was a child, and obsessed with it since reading our native Webster Citians Pulitzer-prize winning book, Spirit Lake, as a high school student back in the late 60s. I have tried to track down what happened to Henry Lott and have never found anything definitive. One theory is that he went to Kansas and used his connections to Indians who had been re-located from here to that area to obtain the position of Post Master in a town there. Another, from an original settler here who was a contemporary of Henry Lott, was that he went to California...oddly, this one hints that he was indeed killed when caught cheating (at cards?)....SO, all this to say I would dearly love to know your source for the statement about Lott in Tombstone....if you can remember it. Would you contact me at mbowc@hotmail.com and let me know if you have it? I would be SO appreciative. Thanks in advance, Beth Ostlund mbowc@hotmail.com Hello!

I am very interested in your information that Henry Lott was caught cheating at cards and killed in Tombstone. I grew up in Webster City Iowa and many of my friends and family are connected to the Spirit Lake Massacre, either descendants of Abigail G., or descendents of Minnesotans who fled after the massacre and resettled here, etc etc. Webster City is one of the two towns that sent citizens on the rescue party to the lakes after the massacre to bury the bodies. I have been fascinated with this history since I was a child, and obsessed with it since reading our native Webster Citians Pulitzer-prize winning book, Spirit Lake, as a high school student back in the late 60s. I have tried to track down what happened to Henry Lott and have never found anything definitive. One theory is that he went to Kansas and used his connections to Indians who had been re-located from here to that area to obtain the position of Post Master in a town there. Another, from an original settler here who was a contemporary of Henry Lott, was that he went to California…oddly, this one hints that he was indeed killed when caught cheating (at cards?)….SO, all this to say I would dearly love to know your source for the statement about Lott in Tombstone….if you can remember it. Would you contact me at mbowc@hotmail.com and let me know if you have it? I would be SO appreciative.

Thanks in advance,
Beth Ostlund
mbowc@hotmail.com

]]> By: Beth Ostlund http://www.historynet.com/spirit-lake-massacre.htm#comment-412767 Beth Ostlund Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:40:15 +0000 #comment-412767 Actually, Nils, Inkpaduta was not a great patriot and freedom fighter, although the Sioux in that area and in that time had a great deal to be angry about. Inkpaduta was an outcast and led a group of outcasts that had been thrown out of their own tribes. He was no more admirable than any other psychopath. It is the fact that from his own motivations he accidentally contributed to an admirable effort by Native Americans to defend and keep their heritage that he is sometimes wrongly considered to be a hero. He was a criminal. There are notable men and women to whom your words could be aptly applied. Unfortunately, historical record, that of white settlers and recordings of the natives, both indicate that Inkpaduta's band was composed of "half-breeds" (who were outcasts from both societies) and those who could not live cooperatively with their own people and had been rejected from their native societies. Actually, Nils, Inkpaduta was not a great patriot and freedom fighter, although the Sioux in that area and in that time had a great deal to be angry about. Inkpaduta was an outcast and led a group of outcasts that had been thrown out of their own tribes. He was no more admirable than any other psychopath. It is the fact that from his own motivations he accidentally contributed to an admirable effort by Native Americans to defend and keep their heritage that he is sometimes wrongly considered to be a hero. He was a criminal. There are notable men and women to whom your words could be aptly applied. Unfortunately, historical record, that of white settlers and recordings of the natives, both indicate that Inkpaduta's band was composed of "half-breeds" (who were outcasts from both societies) and those who could not live cooperatively with their own people and had been rejected from their native societies.

]]> By: lynn von holtum http://www.historynet.com/spirit-lake-massacre.htm#comment-368647 lynn von holtum Fri, 19 Nov 2010 05:03:19 +0000 #comment-368647 i guess abbie gardner did not know who held her captive,too bad you were not around to tell her,those peace loving civilized red men must have been mistaken,i bet they thought they were being attacked,what else could they be expected to do except dash out babys brains,slaughter cattle and burn cabins,and not to confuse anyone they went to every other cabin and did the same thing,its perfectly clear to me now,thanks for your liberal insite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i guess abbie gardner did not know who held her captive,too bad you were not around to tell her,those peace loving civilized red men must have been mistaken,i bet they thought they were being attacked,what else could they be expected to do except dash out babys brains,slaughter cattle and burn cabins,and not to confuse anyone they went to every other cabin and did the same thing,its perfectly clear to me now,thanks for your liberal insite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

]]> By: lynn von holtum http://www.historynet.com/spirit-lake-massacre.htm#comment-368619 lynn von holtum Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:17:01 +0000 #comment-368619 right on,i have read many acounts of indian savagery,such as smashing babys heads on rocks because they would not stop crying,we learned scalping from them.i admire all native american cultures but want to see the truth written not reinvented. right on,i have read many acounts of indian savagery,such as smashing babys heads on rocks because they would not stop crying,we learned scalping from them.i admire all native american cultures but want to see the truth written not reinvented.

]]> By: Brian Mc http://www.historynet.com/spirit-lake-massacre.htm#comment-298304 Brian Mc Sun, 20 Jun 2010 11:37:47 +0000 #comment-298304 To relate Inkpaduta of the Whakpekuti band of the Dakotah Tribe of the Sioux Nation, a man who liked to brag that he could crush a baby's head with his bare hands, with the French Underground of WWII is folly. Furthermore, to maintain that the settlers of the Spririt Lake Region were akin to the Nazi invaders is a stretch of dementedness. I don't believe the Wermacht brought their families with them in order to hack out a claim in the wilderness of the Ukraine. By the way...Henry Lott was caught cheating at cards in none other than Tombstone, caught a bullet in his brain and was unceremoniously dragged from the saloon and dumped in the street. A fitting end to a life that had brought only misery and suffering to those who came into contact with him. To relate Inkpaduta of the Whakpekuti band of the Dakotah Tribe of the Sioux Nation, a man who liked to brag that he could crush a baby's head with his bare hands, with the French Underground of WWII is folly. Furthermore, to maintain that the settlers of the Spririt Lake Region were akin to the Nazi invaders is a stretch of dementedness. I don't believe the Wermacht brought their families with them in order to hack out a claim in the wilderness of the Ukraine.

By the way…Henry Lott was caught cheating at cards in none other than Tombstone, caught a bullet in his brain and was unceremoniously dragged from the saloon and dumped in the street. A fitting end to a life that had brought only misery and suffering to those who came into contact with him.

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