random thoughts

Reflective Summary

2010-03-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

I started this inquiry by asking "How did the Dakota Conflict change Minnesota?", and as many twists and turns that I took I am comfortable that I can answer this in a non-historical manner by using my wife's family history as the back drop. I found a lot of conflicting information about the conflict, no pun intended. For appearance sake there seem to be two sides to this story, the European settler/U.S. Government point of view and the Dakota point of view.

If we focus on the Settler/U.S. Government point of view we look at the conflict from the perspective that the Dakota declared war on the U.S. and the settlers and killed many innocent people. Some will go as far as saying that these people were murdered and therefore the U.S. Government was justified in their actions of hanging the 38 Dakota in Mankato.

If we focus on the Dakota point of view we look at the conflict from the perspective that the Settlers and U.S. Government were taking advantage of the Dakota to the point of treating them inhumanely by not distributing food and necessities when it was clear that many Dakota people were starving to death. It only seems natural that the Dakota would lash out against the government and its representatives in a manner that seemed to some justifiable considering the circumstances, and the 38 Dakota were the people who were actually murdered.

But, I think a third perspective is missing and is necessary to answer my question about how did the conflict change Minnesota and I will attempt to explain it by asking and answering questions using my wife's family history as a backdrop.

My wife's grandmother and great-grandfather lived near Mendota, MN, where Henry Sibley's main residence and business ventures were located. Where would they have lived had the conflict not occurred? If the conflict had not occurred, my wife's family would have most likely lived in other parts of Minnesota or where ever the Dakota moved to, had they continued to cede land to the U.S. Government. But, that isn't what happened.

My wife's ancestors were considered mixed blood Sioux. And, from what I can determine based on the information I found, they were kind of the forgotten people and also victims of the conflict. As mixed bloods, it seems they were not considered to be members of the Dakota at the time. They were the product of what historians classify as a business relationship. Many of the fur traders from France and Canada 'married' the daughters of tribal elders and chiefs to establish relationships with the tribe to build trust and friendship so the trader would be allowed to do business with the tribe. In essence, so both would prosper. But, it created a group of people that were not really members of the tribe, nor were they members of what would become western civilization. The Dakota didn't recognize them as Indian, and the U.S. Government and settlers didn't recognize them as white. They were frontiersmen and pioneers who made way for the waves of settlers who would come west in hopes of finding land to settle down on and make out a life of farming and cultivating new communities.

Before the conflict, it appears my wife's family worked for the fur trading companies and may have contracted with the U.S. Government too. After the conflict, their services were no longer needed. After the conflict they did not have a tribe to belong to or a city to move back to. The frontier was becoming settled and the Dakota were being relocated to South Dakota and Nebraska, which reduced and eliminated their opportunities to trade and do business. And, since Francois and Joseph Robinette were killed at the Lower Sioux Agency, the opportunity and need for work disappeared. As a result, it appears that my wife's family moved to Mendota and [continued] to work for Henry Sibley.

For my wife's family, the migratory lifestyle ended. There was no longer a need to travel with the Dakota, because the Dakota were removed from Minnesota and placed on reservations in South Dakota and Nebraska. My wife's family moved to Mendota and 'settled' in one location as they then worked for Henry Sibley, who continued to be influential in the growth of Minnesota.

The Dakota Conflict of 1862 changed Minnesota by creating a situation where the U.S. Government could more quickly take control of the land by using 'justifiable' force instead of the slow process of negotiating and persuading the Dakota to allow whites to move into the territory, create villages and cities, and change the landscape for reasons that conflicted with traditional Dakota life. In my opinion, the Dakota Conflict of 1862 allowed Minnesota to be settled more quickly, and had it not happened who knows how different it may look today.

Family Connections to the Dakota Conflict of 1862

2010-03-14T00:30:00.001-08:00

A KSP643 Inquiry Project.

I intend to use this slideshow as a visual to enhance the oral story I will tell my kids and family about the Dakota Conflict of 1862 and how their family history is involved.

Personal Connection to Inquiry

2010-03-14T00:22:00.000-08:00

The biggest difference in my approach toward inquiry for this project compared to how I normally approach inquiry projects involves the initial brainstorming of questions. My inquiry projects usually start with a question or two that I am trying to answer, but they are typically just the jumping off stage in my inquiry. My 'big questions' typically don't drive the entire inquiry like it did in this project. I usually refine and change my question as I look for answers and when I find answers I may not be answering the exact question I started with. In this project I worked to find answers to my question and not morph my question into something that may or may not have resembled it. This was my most challenging aspect of this project, because as I was finding information that was interesting but not necessarily answering my big question, I wanted to go in different directions and abandon my original question to make way for the new questions I was asking as I found a lot of 'other' information. I'm glad that I didn't loose site of my original question, because I feel like I actually found my answer. And, I have many new related questions that I can continue to explore for answers.

Wishing

2010-03-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

How did my project go? I found this project difficult to get started. I feel this way, because it took me a bit to select a topic and then I questioned whether it was the topic I really wanted to do. I found my topic a bit overwhelming at times because I wasn't finding the information I wanted to help me narrow in on my question. And, because I didn't feel I was finding what I was looking for, it was a struggle to blog about what I was finding. Once I found the key pieces of information I found it much easier to blog and organize the information and my thoughts.

For me, the fact that I got frustrated and felt overwhelmed made this experience very valuable, because it reminded me about how my students may feel when they struggle to find answers to questions in my classes. My students often want the quick answer or give up easily when they get confused. The process of asking questions, finding answers, and reflecting along the way reminded me that before we get to that 'a-ha' moment that we will probably feel confused, that feeling confused can lead to good things. I want to take this experience into my classroom. I think that my students can benefit from a similar activity to this. I plan to integrate similar activities into my lessons.

Waving

2010-03-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

There are a number of ways that I can communicate my ideas to others. Since I am putting together a PowerPoint slideshow I can simply share that will people. I can show people in my family by having them watch it on my computer and I can email it as an attachment so they can watch it on their computer. But, I think I will either upload it to slideshare.net or to my Google Docs account. Sharing my slideshow on slideshare.net or through my Google Docs account will allow me to easily post my slideshow to my blog, facebook, and other social networking sites. By sharing my slideshow this way, I can publish my slideshow for anyone to see or limit to those whom I call friends to see. If I share it using Google Docs I can share my slideshow with specific people to allow them access without having to email the actual slideshow to them.

Who will I share my project with? Would anyone other than my family be interested? I've been asking myself that question the past couple of weeks. I don't know if anyone would be interested and I've been thinking for a while that I will probably only share my project with my immediate family, but after my wife informed her mother (Francois LaBatte's great-great grand-daughter) I am thinking that if I publish it on my blog or somewhere similar that it could be used to connect members of LaBatte's family tree who never knew each other existed or how they may have been connected to the Dakota Conflict of 1862.

For me this project is important because I want to use it to help my children see a connection to local history, which is something I think they should take pride in. And, if I publish it to the web, maybe others would benefit from it this way too.

Wrapping

2010-03-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

How can this information be used and who needs to know this? I have been asking myself these questions since the project began. I see sharing this information with my wife and children as part of their family history. I will use this information to show my wife and kids a connection to their ancestors, but also a personal connection to a historical event that played a large role in the history of our local community, state and nation. My wife grew up knowing that one of her great grandfathers had been an "Indian", but her family didn't seem to have any pride in this part of their family history. No one in her family knew about their connection to Francois LaBatte and the Dakota Conflict of 1862. I think I will create either a slideshow or concept map that connects their family tree with events and information about the Dakota and the conflict.

Weaving

2010-03-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

I found most of my information online and used Diigo.com to bookmark and annotate information.. I took notes on the information I found, and used them to organize my thoughts about my topic. Instead of building charts or creating diagrams, I shared my ideas about my topic with my wife. She has pretty good radar and was able to help me evaluate and compare my ideas with the information I found, which I described to her. For example, in my wiggling post I commented:

"It seems that it was only a matter of time before the Dakota would be assimilated into the culture of the settlers'."

I shared this with my wife, and she disagreed. I tried to build my case, but she still disagreed. She felt that the Dakota would have kept their culture, just as many Irish, Germans, and Italians did when they moved to the U.S. in the late 1800s. Our conversation made me rethink my idea that assimilation was inevitable, and I can say this is a tough question to answer and I think I'm changing my mind. I say this because this conversation made me think outside of Minnesota. In other parts of the United States the U.S. Government was using similar tactics with other Native American tribes and encouraging European settlers to move west. Had there not been a conflict which prompted the U.S. Government to move the Dakota out of Minnesota, I now wonder if the Dakota would have been forced to live on reservations in Minnesota instead of South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska.

I think having someone to share my ideas with in this project has been my greatest resource. It helped me see things from a different perspective that I wasn't seeing on my own. I may have ended up in the same place I did, but without my conversation with my wife I think it would have taken a lot longer and may not have happened in the time frame of the project.

Wiggling

2010-03-06T15:54:00.000-08:00

When I started to find information online I digitally archived and annotated what I felt was relevant to my topic using diigo.com. Diigo is an online bookmarking and annotation site/service. It makes it easy for me to revisit, review, and re-process the ideas and information that I find. When visiting the museums I took a few photos, but mainly took some notes about the information that was presented.

What I find interesting is how most of the information I found was a repeat of the same basic story. There did not seem to be much difference from source to source, so when I did find a source that had something unique or from a different perspective, that information really stood out. From what I can determine, it seems that much of the information published about the Dakota Conflict of 1862 is based on the same sources. The information that stood out were the few sources that offered a non-settler perspective on the conflict. Most of the perspectives that I found were from that of the settlers. They address how things changed for the Dakota and even sympathize with their plight and why they struck out against the settlers and the traders and agency workers, but they still present it from the perspective that the settlers and trader's were the victims. I did find a few sites that present the information very differently and offer a perspective that the Dakota were the victims because even those who did not rise up against the settlers and helped Henry Sibley and the U.S. government were treated similarly to the Dakota warriors.

One source seemed to present both sides of the conflict from a neutral perspective. I found it online at Minnesota Public Radio's web site (Minnesota's Uncivil War) where it was presented both written and audio versions of the information. The information included interviews, re-enactments of actual observers, and historical comments, and did a great job of presenting the perspectives both sides in a neutral manner. I found the information on this site the most useful, because it not only reaffirmed and supported the information I found on other sites and in the museums, but because it also helped me address my big question about how the Dakota Conflict changed Minnesota.

The one thing that stands out to me from all the material I found is that the cause and outcome of the uprising is still controversial today, 148 years after it occurred. Even agreeing on a single name for the events seems a struggle for people, but the Dakota Conflict seems to be the most universally used. Some refer to it as an uprising (Lee Taylor, MN Historical Society) or the Dakota Massacre (John Labatte), others call it the Dakota-U.S. War of 1862 (Angela Cavendar Wilson, professor of history at ASU and raised on Upper Sioux Reservation, while others even refer to it as "The Great White Robbery of the Dakotas, or the Murder of the Dakotas (Gary Cavendar - Dakota spiritual leader). But, one thing seems clear to understand the how the conflict changed Minnesota, we have to look at what was happening to the Dakota before the conflict.

To me it seems apparent that even without the conflict and its aftermath, it was inevitable that the Dakota culture and ways would have disappeared from Minnesota. The Dakota were losing their culture because many were assimilating into the lifestyle and practices of the European settlers. As the Dakota sold more and more of their land to the U.S. government, many Dakota became farmers, converted to Christianity, and replaced their traditional clothing and practices with those of the settlers'. It seems that it was only a matter of time before the Dakota would be assimilated into the culture of the settlers'. It was only a small number of Dakota who fought against the settlers' and government, but because of their actions it seems all Dakota were no longer trusted by the settlers and the government, and subsequently were not allowed to continue to assimilate into the world of the settlers. I wonder, if the conflict had not happened, would there be any traces of the Dakota today? Would there still be Dakota reservations in Minnesota? And on a side note, would there be casinos in Minnesota?

It always seems that one question leads to another, which sometimes is a good thing. But, many times it seems that this inquiry is endless. It makes me wonder if I chose too broad a topic for this project.

Webbing the Dakota Conflict of 1862

2010-02-25T19:25:00.000-08:00

In my search for information about the Dakota Conflict of 1862 I used the Internet and Google to locate written information, audio information, and photos and illustrations, I located a few books at the local library, and I made visits to the Traverse des Sioux Treaty Site Museum and History Center in St. Peter and the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul.

When I started searching for information on the Internet I got frustrated quickly, because I did not find as much information as I hoped I would, and much of what I found was similar or a duplicate of what I was finding. Then, I started to think about my topic and my big question and decided that maybe I needed to change my focus. So, I reworded my search terms. I started by searching for the "Dakota Conflict of 1862" and changed my search terms to be "Dakota Uprising" and it led me to new links and information that was still similar to what I had found, but also to more and different information. This prompted me to think about all of the names that the conflict is referred to as and I started searching those and I continued to find new sources and information that came with different perspectives than I originally found.

The information I originally found on the Internet seemed like it could be in a 50 year old high school history textbook. It was very Euro-centric and didn't contain any primary source information, but I was looking for information that would also give me some insight to what life was like for the Dakota after the uprising to help me hypothesize what life would have been like in Minnesota had the uprising not occurred.

Then, I found one web site that had information that seemed to provide me the perspective I was searching for. The web site had text based information, audio information, photos and illustrations to support what was being presented, but it had more. It provided primary and secondary source information that offered the perspective of the Dakota, the U.S. Government, the European settlers, the fur traders, and even some descendants of people involved 148 years ago.

Until I found this web site, I was ready to scrap my topic and start over. I was frustrated. The books I read hinted at what I was looking for, but didn't synthesize it. The museums I visited presented facts, artifacts, and dramatizations of what I wanted to know, but didn't seem to bring it to the level I was seeking. I was afraid that I needed to do deeper research, the kind one would do in writing a thesis or a manuscript, to find an answer to my question.

After finding a certain web site this week, I now feel confident. It has been about five weeks, and I finally feel like I am moving forward with this project.

Some of the Links I have used:
Dakota Conflict:
Traverse des Sioux - http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/tds/index.html
Minnesota Historical Society - http://www.mnhs.org/index.htm
Mankato Wacipi Club - http://www.mahkatowacipi.org/History.htm, http://www.mahkatowacipi.org/History.htm#Dakota
Minnesota Historical Society - http://events.mnhs.org/timepieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=367
Spirit Lake Nation - http://www.thinknd.org/resources/IndianStudies/spiritlake/historical_conflict.html
Voices Education Project - http://www.voiceseducation.org/node/54
Bingham Hall - http://www.bingham-hall.com/DakotaConflict1862NewUlmMinnesota.html
Minnesota North Star - http://www.state.mn.us/
Dakota Conflict Webquest - http://1862.nativeweb.org/
**Minnesota Public Radio - http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200209/23_steilm_1862-m/
Google Search timeline and statistics for terms "dakota conflict" - http://www.google.com/search?q=dakota+conflict
Collection of Memories - Dakota 1795-2007 - http://www.leonardpeltier.net/documents/historywalk1/HistoryWalkEdited.htm
Midwest Weekends - River with a past - http://www.midwestweekends.com/plan_a_trip/history_heritage/frontier_history/dakota_conflict_minnesota.html
Book - Dakota War Whoop: or, Indian massacres and war in Minnesota, of 1862-3 by HAEEIET E. BISHOP McCONKEY, published in 1864 - http://www.archive.org/stream/dakotwarwhoopori00bishrich/dakotwarwhoopori00bishrich_djvu.txt
Book - Through Dakota Eyes - http://books.google.com/books?
Book - Little Crow - http://books.google.com/books?

Family connection:
Oyate Research Center (Francois LaBatte, grandson of Chief Wabasha)- http://oyate1.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=ancestry&thread=1547&page=2
Mack Family Tree (Francois LaBatte, fur-trader, killed at Lower Sioux Agency, August 18, 1862, my wife's great-great-great grandfather, son of Angelique Wapahasha, grandson of Chief Redleaf Wapahasha, also known as Wabasha I) - http://www.mackreunion.com/genealogy/gp525.htm
Mack Family Tree (Mathilda LaBatte, daughter of Francois, wife to Vanoss Robinette, my wife's great-great grandmother) - http://www.mackreunion.com/genealogy/gp661.htm
Philip Labatte (son of Francois, 1/2 brother to Mathilda) - http://web.tnics.com/peeversd/Philip%20LaBatte.htm

Still Wondering About The Dakota Conflict of 1862

2010-02-08T15:30:00.001-08:00

The Dakota Conflict of 1862
Originally uploaded by Meaghan Courtney

Reflecting on my last post and doing some planning for the 'webbing' task, it feels like I really didn't ask very many questions in my wondering. I mainly asked questions about where to look for information, rather than what to look for. I now feel like I have a handle on where to look, but I need to articulate what I'm going to look for when I get to wherever I go...

To understand how things changed as a result of the Dakota uprising, I need to know what life was like before and then compare it to life after.

What was life like for the Dakota prior to the uprising?
Why did some Dakota resist the integration of their culture with that of the European settlers?
Why did some Dakota embrace and attempt to convert to the culture and lifestyle of the European settlers?
(Why were the settlers an influence on some and not on others?)

Why did the European settlers feel it was OK to violate the Treaty des Sioux and move onto Dakota land?
Why did the U.S. authorities do nothing to stop the settlers?
Where the Dakota taken advantage of by the U.S. when they purchased the Dakota's land?
Why did the Dakota sell their land to the U.S.?
Was there any violation of trust between the Dakota and the U.S. after the Treaty des Sioux?

Who were the 'traders'?
How did they get established to trade with the Dakota? Did they trade with anyone else?
Did they knowingly take advantage of the Dakota in their trading?

What was Dakota family life like?
When a Dakota woman married a non-Dakota, did she remain a member of the tribe? What was the status of her children? What was the status of her non-Dakota husband?

Were Dakota chiefs selected/elected representatives for their tribe members, or where they more like royalty?
Were the daughters of the tribal chiefs married to non-Dakota for the purpose of alliance building or economics? Or, was it based on the relationship between the man and woman?

With these questions I am trying to identify what life was like before the uprising, because I wonder what life would have been like had there not been an uprising? How would Southern MN look different had the Dakota uprising not took place? Was the uprising inevitable? So if not in 1862, then another year? Another place? Settlers moved west and similar events took place as the U.S. opened up the territories for settlement, so had they not fought against the settlers, would the Dakota have moved westward to the lands of the Lakota?

Is the uprising considered to be a part of the U.S. Civil War?

Would I be living in MN today had it not been for the uprising? My grandmother's parents were born in LeSueur County on small farms in the 1860s to Irish immigrants who moved here in 1862. They lived on land that was acquired by the U.S. through the Treaty des Sioux of 1858. Were they involved or affected by the uprising?

I know these questions will continue to lead to other questions as I explore the Dakota Conflict of 1862. But, they will get me started as I web, wiggle, and weave my way to hopefully discovering some information that will help me better understand how much did this event change southern MN.

Just wondering...where to start looking

2010-02-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

For the past two weeks I've been thinking, a lot. I've been thinking about my topic. Not just about the details about my topic, or where am I going to find more information about my topic, but also should have I chosen this topic? I read Jill's wondering post last night and I had an aha moment. It's all about asking questions. And not just the right questions, but all the questions I have, because even the wrong questions will take me to a place where I haven't arrived yet. Like Jill, I feel a little overwhelmed by my topic. I know that right before learning comes confusion, but I have barely started my project, so why am I confused? Ok, enough of that...back on topic...the Dakota Conflict of 1862.

One of the questions I keep rolling through my head is, 'where am I going to find stuff'? (Note: stuff is an all inclusive technical term for information, details, facts, data, resources, books, movies, films, names, places, events, dates, sites, and other stuff.) And when I find it, when am I going to have time to look at it with a true investigative eye? Because I keep asking myself, 'is my topic too broad'? And it might be, but I think that will be alright. One of the places that I decided I would find stuff is on the Internet. It's easy to get to and it's open 24/7.

After I decided that one place I knew I would find info was on the Internet, I edited my question to be, where besides the Internet will I find information about my topic? Thanks to some comments left by Johannes and others, my brainstorming got triggered to think big picture and think about places (resources) that I don't frequently visit, like the local historical societies in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Brown counties. This led to me asking, why not the Traverse de Sioux history center? Which then led to, why not the Minnesota History Center? I've been to most of these places in the past, and if you add in the Lower Sioux Agency history site, the Birch Coulee Battlefield, Fort Ridgely, Henry Sibley's house in Mendota, and even Fort Snelling, I know I will be able to access a lot of facts, artifacts, and basic information about the Dakota Conflict. So, I think I have a better handle on the 'where' aspect of my inquiry. Even though I may not be able to get to some of these places, I know I can find some information in these archives and museums of local history.

When I thought about the information these places would have I wondered to myself, will their information be presented in a neutral manner? Or, will it be from the settler's and U.S. Government's perspective? The town of New Ulm (it was merely a town then) was practically burned to the ground by the Dakota during the uprising. I wonder if there is any lingering resentment or ill feelings because of it. It was 148 years ago, but I still wonder. Because most of what I've read seems to be from the view point of the settlers. I wonder if there are any descendants of the settlers who survived still living around New Ulm? I wonder if there are any Dakota who live around New Ulm? Would they even know anything about the uprising? If they did they would be great resources. If they did, would they be interested in sharing?

So, where will I find a perspective from the Dakota? Will I find it at one of the historical sites? Or, will I find something at one of the reservations? I have never been to Jackpot Junction, which I think is less than a mile from the Lower Sioux Agency which is where the trader's village was located and now stands a history center (which is closed in the winter). Jackpot Junction is a casino located on a Mdewakanton (Dakota) reservation just south of Redwood Falls, MN. What about Mystic Lake Casino or Little Six village? Mystic Lake and Little Six are located on Mdewankanton land near Shakopee, MN and over the past 15 years have used a lot of the money they've made from their casino to build a community center and other community resources for the Dakota and other people from surrounding areas. If I visited Jackpot Junction and Mystic Lake, would I find any historical information about the uprising or conflict between the Dakota and the U.S. Government or settlers? If I do, will it be from the perspective of the Dakota? Is it safe to assume so? What do the members of the tribe think about the conflict? Do they refer to it as an uprising, a conflict, or a massacre? Is tribe the appropriate term to use? Or should I refer to them as a community? A group of people? Respectfully speaking, does it matter?

Every September, the Dakota host a pow wow in Mankato to honor the 38 Dakota warriors who were executed by the U.S. Government for their actions in the uprising. If it were September and I were to attend a pow wow, would I learn anything about the uprising?

What about books? In the past I've tried to locate information about the uprising, but there doesn't seem to be too much in print about this historical event, and what I've found is not typically from the perspective of the Dakota. Which leads me to a more pointed question, 'what is the Dakota's perspective of the uprising'? The pow wow website talks lists that the pow wow association aims to "organize events with the Dakota communities that have allowed descendants of the 38 Dakota to feel comfortable in returning to their ancestral home"

When I'm looking up info on the Internet or in the library, what key words should I be searching for? The Dakota Conflict of 1862 is also known as the Dakota Uprising of 1862, the Sioux Uprising, and the U.S.- Dakota War depending on who you listen to and what you read.

I know I'm going to continue my wondering in another post, but one question my mind keeps jumping to involves my wife's family history.

My wife's great-great-great grandfather was Francios LaBatte (also LaBathe), who was one of the four 'traders' who traded with the Dakota and traveled with them when they migrated back and forth between their summer and winter villages. From some family genealogy that I've poked around at, I've learned that LaBatte's mother was the Daughter of the Dakota Chief Red Leaf II, who is also known as Chief Wapahasha or Chief Wabasha. This man lived in the late 1700s and fought for the British in the Revolutionary War, and was the father of the Chief Wabasha who the town of Wabasha was named after. LaBatte's father was Michel LaBatte, who was a French or French-Canadian fur-trader. LaBatte is 1/2 Dakota and 1/2 white. In the books I've read about the Dakota, he is what is referred to as a half-breed. I don't particularly subscribe to this term, but considering the times and the evolution of being politically correct, it is what it is.

Was LaBatte a contemporary of Henry Sibley? LaBatte was definitely small time compared to Sibley. Along with Sibley's and other traders, LaBatte's name is on the trader's papers, which are a part of the Traverse des Sioux treaty that articulate how much money the Dakota owed the traders and would need to pay back to the trader's from the proceeds of the treaty before they received any payment for the sale of their land east of the Minnesota River.

The question I have about LaBatte and my wife's family ancestry is, were they considered to be members of the Dakota or not? My wife's family don't consider themselves to be Dakota, they don't look Dakota, and they don't necessarily even have any strong emotional connection to the fact that their ancestors were Dakota. They are more emotionally connected to their European roots of Polish and Austrian decent. Nobody in my wife's family knew about LaBatte before I did a little genealogy digging. This leads to a whole different set of questions that I will not pursue finding answers to in this project.

LaBatte was one of the first four people killed at the Lower Sioux Agency. He was one of the four traders at the agency. When I visited the agency last summer I learned that his house was used as the jail when Henry Sibley and the army captured Dakota warriors before they brought them to Mankato. Why didn't anyone in my wifes family know about LaBatte? Their family name was Robinette and it links back to Vanoss Robinette who was married to LaBatte's daughter Mathilda. Through some digging, I learned that Vanoss Robinette was the adopted son of Joseph Robinette, who was also killed at Lower Sioux Agency. These people were all Indians (or Native American depending on your political correctness). They appear to all be of Dakota decent, but don't seem to be part of the Dakota tribe So, should they be considered Dakota? Or, is there some mixed-blood rules that seem to transcend time? Were they not included as members of the tribe because they were the children of European men and Dakota women? If they had been the children of Dakota men and European women, would it have been the same? Or, would they have been included as members of tribe? Or, where they not true to the tribe and did they embrace the ways of the white settlers which disconnected them from the Dakota tribe? I always think of Dakota as a culture. Did they live in between the Dakota and white cultures? The family's religious history is Catholic. If LaBatte was Catholic, was it because of his French father? Why was LaBatte not a member of the tribe? His grandfather was one of the great chiefs in the history of the Dakota and the land that became Minnesota. Why did his great-great grand-daughter not know about him? Oops, not going to go there, but it really makes me wonder, and is one of the reasons I chose this topic. In my project, I want to learn more about the history of the Dakota, the culture of the Dakota, and hopefully some insight to some of the family history for my three children.

With all this, I now ask: Is my topic one of a historical inquiry or one more rooted in anthropology?

More Watching

2010-01-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

The Dakota Conflict of 1862 is a historical event that touched many people and changed Minnesota in ways that may not have happened had the event not occurred. I am going to refine my topic to focus on how the Dakota Conflict of 1862 changed Minnesota. My refined focus is a statement. Should my focus be in the form of a question, such as "How did the Dakota Conflict change Minnesota?"

Inquiry Project - Watching

2010-01-24T11:12:00.000-08:00

Selecting a topic for my project has been a bit of a struggle. I am by nature an inquisitive person. I like to learn details about most everything, so coming up with and choosing one topic to focus my inquiry on seemed a bit overwhelming to me at first. But, I now have it narrowed down to two topics. The Dakota Conflict of 1862 and Watercolor painting. Choosing between the two is tough. I have a strong interest in both and I also have personal connections in both, so they feel like strong topics.

My initial topic idea was watercolor painting. I admire people who paint and I have been experimenting with it for a few years, but I hesitated with this topic because I am having difficulty seeing how to expand it into this project. I know I could look at the technical aspects of the medium, the history of watercolors, featured artists, personal experiences, but it still seems weak to me.

My second idea was family history. I have lightly explored some family history over the past few years and I thought it would be interesting to take it further and dig deeper into my roots. In my brainstorming about how would I execute this as my topic the Dakota Conflict came to mind. I learned recently that my wife's family has some connections to the Dakota Conflict and I have been intrigued by the history of the conflict ever since I moved to Mankato. My wife assures me that since I'm married to her that I too am connected to the Dakota Conflict, so I have decided to choose the Dakota Conflict of 1862 as my topic. I still need to refine my topic to be more focused than just the Dakota Conflict in general and I aim to identify a more specific focus in the wondering exercise.