38 Nooses

Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier's End

By: Scott W. Berg

Narrated by: Paul Heitsch

Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

In August 1862, after decades of broken treaties, increasing hardship, and relentless encroachment on their lands, a group of Dakota warriors convened a council at the tepee of their leader, Little Crow. Knowing the strength and resilience of the young American nation, Little Crow counseled caution, but anger won the day. Forced to either lead his warriors in a war he knew they could not win or leave them to their fates, he declared, "[Little Crow] is not a coward: he will die with you."

So began six weeks of intense conflict along the Minnesota frontier as the Dakotas clashed with settlers and federal troops. Once the uprising was smashed and the Dakotas captured, a military commission was convened, which quickly found more than 300 Indians guilty of murder. President Lincoln personally intervened in order to spare the lives of 265 of the condemned men, but the toll on the Dakota nation was still staggering: a way of life destroyed, a tribe forcibly relocated to barren and unfamiliar territory, and 38 Dakota warriors hanged.

Written with uncommon immediacy and insight, 38 Nooses details these events within the larger context of the Civil War, the history of the Dakota people, and the subsequent United States-Indian wars. It is a revelation of an overlooked but seminal moment in American history.

©2012 Scott W. Berg (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

When accountability is lost and blame is always outward and never inward.

The story is told through multiple backgrounds and lenses of those who lived through the experience. As the author is telling the story of the Minnesota conflict - the reader continues to be updated with other tasks pulling on President Lincoln at the time.

While being told to give up their ways and to assimilate - many did that. Starving, not having what was promised - a spark develops when a few young warriors decisions ignited the next great US conflict which still plagues the US this day.

As the listener engages in the story they can see how perceptions and misunderstandings continued to escalate the conflict. As the war rages on, one can see the continual conflict Little Crow faces as he becomes a leader for a movement he didn’t necessarily agree with how it was unfolding.

Powerful condemnation of Manifest Destiny

The book focuses on this one particular atrocity in the history of the American wars with Indian tribes. But the overarching theme is the systemic racism and injustice inherent in that most American of legends, Manifest Destiny. Whether it had the name or not, the phrase being coined in 1845, it is at its core what would now be viewed as White Christian supremacy. This later phrase would never have occurred the people in that day, as the intrinsic superiority of white over red (or black), Christian over heathen, "civilized" over "savage", would have been so obvious as to not warrant notice.

What the author does excellently, is present the history that the story is not about a failure of policy, or a failure of justice (though in the afterward, those notions are mentioned). But rather that it is the success, albeit sloppy, of Indian removal and extermination policy, and the success of deliberate injustice towards native peoples which are the true legacies of manifest destiny mentality. One need look no further in this century at Guantanamo, to see the egregious legal and ethical tapdancing when balancing military and civilian courts. And the the 19th century was already fraught with unscrupulous treaty making and breaking, with only one goal in mind, the expansion into and appropriation of land for white, Christian Americans. An American "Lebensraum", nearly a century before it was implemented in Europe.

My only reservation about the book is that as it presents the accounts of massacres committed both by Americans and Dakota, there is a chance that a false equivalence may be perceived, though the author does well to clearly cite sources. In most cases recognizing that accounts of military atrocities have considerable corroboration, while many accounts of Dakota killings are second or third hand stories, hysterical in nature, and infused with a vitriol which does nothing so much as put the veracity of the narrative into question. I just fear that listeners more inclined going in to find that there are good and bad on both sides, might feel they have a tenuous rope to cling to in that regard, conveniently discarding context. Which is not to say the Dakota did not commit massacres, the certainly did. But as is mentioned in a contemporary account by a white witness, recounted in the book, how would white have acted differently given the same situation? Almost certainly more violently. Again, modern "Stand your ground" legislation should suffice to nail that point home.

As previously mentioned, since the scope of the book really expands beyond the restrictive title, the time with Lincoln is shorter than expected. But there is enough for people who venerate the man, to excuse a morally reprehensible, but politically expedient decision. And enough for those looking to excoriate him, to bolster their view of him as a political hack. I would judge him rather harshly, but ultimately fall into the first camp.

All in all, an entertaining and though-provoking book.

fantastic book

Scott Berg's research and writing in this book are extraordinary, the reader is great. I listened to the book and recommended it to a friend who also bought it, listened to it, and loved it. Highly recommend.

So complete!!

Anyone looking for an accurate account of this chapter in Minnesota, US and Dakota history, this is a must read/listen!

Palefaces’ Atrocities

3-1/2 ⭐️ book! Tough read about the atrocities European Americans committed against the Dakota and other Native Americans during Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency and later! Native Americans fought back against the genocide and were blamed in our history books for their “savagery.”