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Those of you who have ever been in a tipi can see that these will not stay warm and safe. I don't know how many people were living in each one but I can imagine they only had their body heat to keep them warm, probably the children were huddled together under what ever type of blanket was given to them while their mother cuddled up to them to supply her warmth as well. I think the thing that hits me the most is the feeling of being scared. When I visited Fort Snelling the first time I could still feel that overwhelming sadness that lingered. Chuck and I said prayers with our Pipes and tried to heal the ground and the trees from the trauma that had occurred there over 100 years previously. I think though that the negative energy from so many tears and fears was too powerful to be helped at that time. In the next few days you will meet some women who walked in their ancestors footsteps, and did Ceremony in the same place that we did. Fort Snelling Internment Camp
Three women who were in the Camp. Their names are not known by us. The photographer from Whitneys Gallery in St Paul, especially Benjamin Franklyn Upton, were well known for taking photos of the Dakota People, they probably knew who each person was and kept a record, but on most photos their names are not shown. Often a name such as 'Dakota Belle' or worse was used. (I have removed all the derogatory names).
Part One. I first learned of this forced relocation from my grandmother, Elsie Cavender, who carried a narrative account passed down to her from her grandmother, Maza Okiye Win (Woman Who Talks to Iron). Maza Okiye Win was ten years old at the time of the war and thus the accounts of events she relayed to her children and grandchildren were born of her own traumatic hardships. Kunsi (Grandmother) Elsie entitled this story of her grandmother's "Death March," consciously drawing a parallel between this forced march and that of the Bataan Death March during World War II during which 70,000 American and Filipino soldiers were forced to walk a 63-mile journey to a prison camp while facing starvation and poor treatment. Learning of this event from a relative of ours who had experienced it, she saw similarities with the march her grandmother was forced to endure. The following account, which I recorded in 1990 with my grandmother remains the most descriptive and lengthy one yet documented. It is relayed here in my grandmother's words: "Right after the 1862 Conflict, most of the Sioux people were driven out of Minnesota. A lot of our people left to other states. This must have been heartbreaking for them, as this valley had always been their home. My grandmother, Isabel Roberts (Maza Okiye Win is her Indian name), and her family were taken as captives down to Fort Snelling. On the way most of them [the people] walked, but some of the older ones and the children rode in a cart. In Indian the cart was called canpahmihma kawitkotkoka. That means crazy cart in Indian. The reason they called the cart that is because it had one big wheel that didn't have any spokes. It was just one big round board. When they went they didn't grease it just right so it squeaked. You could just hear that noise about a mile away. The poor men, women, old people, and children who had to listen to it got sick from it. They would get headaches real bad. It carried the old people and the children so they wouldn't have to walk. Most of the people just walked. Some of them if they were lucky rode horses. (published in Waziyatawin, "Grandmother to Grandaughter: Generations of Oral Tradition in a Dakota Family," in Devon Mihesuah, ed., Natives and Academics: Researching and Writing about American Indians) Copyright of this report belongs to Waziyatawin This narration will be continued over the next couple of days |
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Day 2. December 11th 2019 Prayer for Today Prayers and smoke up for the days journey ahead. Creator, we send thanks of gratitude for Jim's vision and all who are supporting this. This is for us all... for our ancestors, the women, men, children and the horse nation. Those that never got to heal, those present and afar that need the healing, and for those to come. Let us remember and honour those that have gone before us. Let us listen to the messages they are sending and allow our actions to be of love, forgiveness, and a path to healing. Please allow this day to bring us all together as one so that we can begin to heal more deeply. Remove our bitterness, our sadness, and all that blocks us from living free in heart. Allow each step of the horse nation to remind us why we are here and share the goodness in us all. Allow us to hear the prayers, the messages, and to feel the love from others and for all. We thank you for the volunteers,
the support staff, the warm accommodations, and all of the meals for
our riders and our horses. Mitakuye Oyasin A'ho Mo Nichols
Route for Today From Fort Thompson the Ride heads
off to Wessington Springs, where they will stay the night in the Wessington
Springs 4-H building. breakfast will be at the Fort Thompson Hotel,
and dinner will be supplied by the Wessington Spring Ladies, the following
is a message from one of those Ladies. The horses will be in a farmers field across for the Fair Grounds Corral. Incidentally in 2014 Wessington Springs was hit badly by a tornado. Some of our Riders heard about it and went there to lend a hand, just as Wessington Springs always lends a hand to the Riders.
From our Members: Nancy Raven Kohn:
   
Photos from Yesterdays Ride
A Warrior Rider holding the Dakota
38 + 2 Staff
Photos from today 11th December Nothing in yet
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Dakota 38 + 2 Memorial Ride Supporters group on Facebook Historic photographs courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society Website mostly written and Created by Gloria Hazell Derby Dragonfly Dezignz © 2019 to date |
