Customer Reviews

Inkpaduta: Dakota Leader

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This is a nice little book. Beck's treatment of Inkpaduta is very good. But who is he kidding? He states in his introduction that he is presenting, apparently for the first time, a more reasonable, sound, historical assessment of Inkpaduta. He points out that several other historians, such as Doane Robinson and Maxwell Van Nuys, seemed to have an agenda other than the strict truth, to either emphasize Inkpaduta as bloodthirsty demon-like monster or as the "general" of the Dakota, Nakota and Lakota in many of the US-Indian battles during the western Indian War period. He fails to mention at least one historian, Mark Diedrich, who, in his book, Famous Dakota Chiefs (formerly titled Famous Chiefs of the Eastern Sioux), made all the same arguments that he does for a more accurate interpretation of Inkpaduta's life. A casual look at Beck's footnotes indicates that he used my work unsparingly (although it was only fifteen pages long). Then why wouldn't he acknowledge this in his introduction? You would think that a historian, who argues for an honest interpretation of Inkpadua's life, would be willing to give credit where credit is due from the historians who preceeded him in writing on Inkpaduta. THe plain fact is that several historians began arguing for more reasonable treatment of Inkpaduta before I did. I was not the first. However, my treatment of Inkpaduta included much material on the history of his tribe, etc., and not just on the killings of the Spirit Lake Massacre. At any rate, although Beck is unquestionably a good writer, he has simply amplified the material he found in my chapter on Inkpaduta, first published in 1987 (except for the detailed description of the killings of the Spirit Lake Massacre). There is little new here, except for some opinions expressed in interviews he did with several of Inkpaduta's descendants. I purposely bought the book to see if he could find out something new that I hadn't discovered. In this, I am disappointed, as I always hoped that some new sources would be found to fill in the historical holes in the Inkpaduta story. My wife always tells me that I should do something about being "ripped off" as a historian. Usually there is little one can do, except at least here on Amazon.com.. I just think historians should be as honest about their predecessors, who they are following, as they are about the subject they write about.

Today it is quite common to consider Inkpaduta "a caricature of evil on the level of a comic book villain, void of any decent values or virtues", as Dr. Paul Beck states. I agree. It is how I've always pictured this mysterious figure from the American West. I was taken completely by surprise while reading Dr. Beck's new and most extensive biography about Inkpaduta, "Inkpaduta: Dakota Leader" ("Inkpaduta"). For the first time, Inkpaduta is revealed in realistic terms: a human being and not the devil incarnate. He was an American Indian respected by the white settlers who lived amongst Inkpaduta's people and traded goods between them. Dr. Beck also accurately portrays the enigma that Inkpaduta became when he writes with stark clarity the horrible acts of killing woman and children at Spirit Lake and Springfield.

Dr. Beck, an academic historian, researched his subject for years. His due diligence led him down a completely unexpected path. Primary accounts in the form of letters, diaries, and military official reports demonstrate for the first time that Inkpaduta and the white settlers in Iowa and Minnesota actually had good relations just prior to the Spirit Lake attacks. For the first time, a historian does not rely on second -and third - hand evidence and avoids repeating the same historical untruths about Inkpaduata. The result is an eye-opener. To some, these revelations might be controversial; to others they demonstrate why writers of history need to research properly in order to better serve the public.

The opening act of "Inkpaduta" is a quick overview of the history of the different bands of the Dakota, their migrations, their governmental system, and geographical divides that aid the reader in fully understanding the events that follow. Dr. Beck does not linger long on this material and quickly moves his story through tribal warfare between the Dakotas and the Sac and Fox. Here, Dr. Beck begins to report the many historical errors from past historians falsely portraying Inkpaduta negatively. That list of errors grows long, which begs one to ask how great and respected historians missed these errors before.

Dr. Beck builds one case after another of Inkpaduta's positive and trusting relations with the white settlers wherever he lived. One case in particular involved Curtis Lamb, a farmer and trader (with the Dakotas), who lived in the Smithland, Iowa area in 1851. Inkpaduta's band would spend the cold winters camped near Lamb's farm. The Lambs lent Inkpaduta traps and traded furs while the Indian women supplied the Lamb family with firewood. When Lamb traveled to Council Bluffs to trade - which kept him from home for days - Lamb trusted Inkpaduta to protect his family. Inkpaduta did more than watch over them, he hunted and provided game to the Lamb family as well.

Dr. Beck begins the second act by presenting the complex issues between whites and Indians concluding with the Spirit Lake Massacres. It is a common story: treaties signed by Indians to give up land, but it was never enough. Small conflicts erupted into major disasters. Dr. Beck clearly expresses how the positive relations between Inkpaduta and the whites deteriorated into death on the frontier. In our interview with Dr. Beck, he states how difficult it was for him to write about the Spirit Lake Massacres. It is hard and sad to read about them: women and children were brutally tortured and murdered.

After the massacres, Inkpaduta's band fled to the west, but according to the newspapers, he never left. People were rightfully frightened after the word of the massacres began to spread; however, mass hysteria followed, and it can obviously be blamed on the media. Dr. Beck covers countless newspaper articles - some as far away as New York - to reveal the outright and completely false reports of raids and massacres that never happened. Of course, all of these reports blamed Inkpaduta. Inkpaduta became the devil incarnate, raping and killing practically anything that moved, according to every newspaper in the region and beyond.

We are fortunate that it was Dr. Beck who sifted through these many accounts. A completely different book might have emerged in the hands of an amateur historian. Improperly filtering the newspaper reports and taking them as fact would result in a repeat of the same old tired stories and myths about Inkpaduta and inaccurate conclusions made.

The third and final act has Inkpaduta leaving his homeland to travel farther and farther west to avoid capture or death by the authorities in Iowa and Minnesota. He eventually lived with the Hunkpapa. Dr. Beck briefly covers Inkpaduta's involvement in the Dakota War of 1862, the Punitive Expedition of 1863-64 against the Sioux, and the Sioux/Cheyenne War of 1876. On June 25, 1876 a very old Inkpaduta was living in Sitting Bull's village at the Little Bighorn when the 7th Cavalry attacked. It is not fully known whether Inkpaduta fought in the battle; at his age, if he did, it was strictly defensive. Inkpaduta eventually made his way to Canada where he lived the rest of his days; he never surrendered, nor was brought to justice for the Spirit Lake Massacres.

Dr. Beck never attempts to excuse Inkpaduta or his warriors for the massacres, and it is impossible for any historian to fully explain why Inkpaduta decided to commit them. However, Dr. Beck - with due diligence - clearly demonstrates that Inkpaduta never hated whites up to the eve of the massacres; misunderstandings between the white and Indian cultures, beliefs, and different needs all contributed to Inkpaduta becoming a killer. Dr. Beck presents the evidence from all sides but allows the reader to make the final judgment. You can read an interview with Paul Beck on the Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield website.

I agreed with Mr. Diedrich in thinking this book would also provide new accounts of the life, travel's and family of Inkpaduta. The book is good in its sense that the author makes a valid attempt to offer another view of Inkpaduta. An attempt where Mr. Diedrich makes a valid point. Because every book always tries to portray a "new" look or view of Inkpaduta. I feel in attempting this Mr. Beck rehash's a lot of redundant information about Inkpaduta killing, well basically everyone and everything he crosses path's with and makes no attempt was made to swing the pendulum too far to the other side. Like the author Maxwell Van Nuys had attempted to do in his book about Inkpaduta.

With regard to the material or information, it does let the reader know of the author Doane Robinson's very biased portrayal of Inkpaduta as the Forrest Gump of his time, as in appearing at every major event concerning the Sioux. I feel, this book could be used as the first step needed to totally disregard much of information given by Doane Robinson, as well as other authors that have stood on his shoulders which had establish a pre-concieved notion about him that has never changed. However, I feel the book can literally be classified as an anthology as it list's and re-enlist's all this biased information. By doing this, it does create a type of nexus for all this biased information that is used in a "moderate" sense by today's authors, but from who's point of view?

That is where I was disappointed in this book. The lack of participation with the families in Canada, where the majority of descendants of Inkpaduta live. One of the only reference's from them was a snippet from James H. Howard's book, "The Canadian Dakota" that was given by a Mrs. Arthur Young. So, like all books and articles, no mention is given to the descendants and what stories they may have, along with geneology information to prove that these people are the living descendants of this man author's argue about as the book really seems to give the notion that as Inkpaduta and his family crossed the border they fell of the face of the earth. Just like the cover where this is no face, which is really good and as a image, really depicts Inkpaduta's story, I think it would have been respectful to include the descendants of Canada in this research, they do have stories to tell. As most authors have never even visited a family of descendants, and yet, claim to have written the entire life story through military records. So, I do applaud the effort of Mr. Beck in picking apart the layers established by the previous author's to try and find a sense of the truth.

Now I am convinced that Inkpaduta is not only a hero and saviour of the Dakota people, but also of the Lakota and Nakota peoples. It is unbeliefable that there are nowadays still many whites who see him as a public enemy and bogeyman. He fought against the reservationlife of the proud Dakotas. Can you imagine: they lived on the shores of the Minnesota river for several hundred years, and than some men in Washington decided that the Dakotas had to move to a small reservation. The promises the whites made weren't kept: no money, no food, no goods. I whish I was a Dakota. Thank you mr. Paul Beck for your complete and with warm written biography of Inkpaduta. I certainly will come this year to the state of Minnesota to visit the historical places which are written in the book. John Grooteman, Bergen, the Netherlands.