Heart of the Sandhills by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Author:Stephanie Grace Whitson [Whitson, Stephanie Grace]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Historical Fiction, faith, Heart of the Sandhills, Dakota Moons Book 3, Dakota war of 1862, Daniel Two Stars, Dakota Sioux, Stephanie Grace Whitson, Christy-award finalist, southwestern Minnesota, Dakota Moon Series, Dakota war commemoration, Genevieve LaCroix
Publisher: eChristian, Inc.
Published: 2012-06-27T14:00:00+00:00

The troop left Fort Randall the next day, going overland and stopping at various Yankton lodges in the vicinity. Elliot kept careful records of every visit for the benefit of Senator Lance and his committee back in Washington. He wrote that all the bands he had met thus far were “very friendly and well disposed toward the whites. They like agriculture and seem to be cheerfully about planting crops with the assistance of their agent and farmer.”

At each group of lodges, the troops stopped and waited. While Elliot smoked peace pipes and took notes, Daniel and Robert rode ahead scouting the area. A week after they left Fort Randall on the Missouri, they rode into Fort Thompson where more than one hundred Indian lodges were camped. With Zephyr Picotte’s help, Elliot interviewed Brules, Two Kettles, and more Yanktonais. He assured them of the Great White Father’s peaceful intentions toward them and impressed upon them the absolute necessity of their keeping away from the hostile bands to the north.

Several chiefs, among them Iron Nation and Two Lances, made speeches assuring Elliot of their peaceful intentions. ‘White Bear concluded the meeting with a moving speech in which he declared that he was getting too old to fight anymore and that his many children wanted only peace. “We only wish to stir up the ground to feed our wives and children. We will trust our Great White Father to take pity on us and to help us. Send us tools for working the earth. Help us grow corn.”

While espousing their intention to become farmers, the chiefs reminded Elliot that they were often visited by their more warlike brothers to the north, and that while they themselves were content, they could not promise that some of the younger warriors would not be induced to join the trouble to the north. “We cannot this year grow enough for all our families. We will still need to hunt, but we will do so in peace with all white men we may meet. We only want to find buffalo. Our women will dig roots and gather berries. We will not fight.”

Robert Lawrence caught up with the party after two days into their trip up the Niobrara. That was the day Picotte’s horse tossed him next to a rattlesnake hole. The trader was eye to eye with a huge rattler when Daniel blew its head off. Picotte scrambled to his feet only to hear the sound of another rattler nearby. Two more were crawling out of the hole. He clubbed one and Daniel got the other. The two men stood side by side clubbing snake after snake after snake. When the last rattler was dead, the two men stood in the center of a circle of nearly fifty dead rattlesnakes. Picotte decided Two Stars—and by association, Robert Lawrence and Big Amos—were exceptions to his rule about the Dakota Sioux, after all.

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