Almost immediately,
Tawasuota regretted killing an unarmed man, according to an account
published 45 years later.
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As Chief Little Crow's
top soldier, Tawasuota followed orders and took the first
fatal shot of the U.S.-Dakota War in 1862. Charles Eastman,
an author and lecturer, wrote one of the most complete accounts
of Tawasuota's life. (Curtis Dahlin, "Aborigines of Minnesota/Minnesota
Historical Society)
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His Dakota name, Tawasuota, roughly translates to "Many Hailstones."
But it was just one shot that blasted his name into the history
books as the warrior who, most scholars agree, fired the first deadly
bullet in the U.S.-Dakota War.
Starving, tired of broken treaties and frustrated by delayed government
payments, Dakota leaders decided to go to war in southern Minnesota
158 years ago this week. Tawasuota's shot came after a violent outburst
on Aug. 17, 1862, when four young Dakota hunters killed five white
settlers in a dispute that began over a farmer's eggs in Acton Township
in rural Meeker County.
The next day, following Chief Little Crow's orders, Tawasuota carried
a double-barreled shotgun into the reservation store at the Lower
Sioux Agency 40 miles northwest of New Ulm on the Minnesota River
and fatally shot Kentucky-born trader James Lynd, a man the Dakota
considered a friend.
Almost immediately, Tawasuota regretted killing an unarmed man,
according to an account published 45 years later. As war erupted
in the Minnesota River Valley, the warrior made a secret trek to
Faribault, where his wife and two sons had fled with other Indians
willing to adopt white people's ways.
"Tawasuota took each boy in his arms, and held him close for a
few moments," Charles Eastman wrote in "Old Indian Days," a book
published in 1907. "He smiled to them, but large tears rolled down
his cheeks. Then he disappeared in the shadows, and they never saw
him again."
Tawasuota rejoined the war raging in the 4-year-old state of Minnesota,
the bloodiest six weeks in state history. When it ended, an estimated
600 white soldiers and settlers were dead, along with more than
100 Dakota fighters. Gov. Alexander Ramsey insisted that the vanquished
Dakota "must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the borders
of the state," which had been their home for centuries. In the largest
mass execution in U.S. history, 38 Dakota were hanged in Mankato
four months after Tawasuota fired that first deadly round.
"There was no glory in it for him; he could wear no eagle feather,
nor could he ever recount the deed," Eastman wrote. "It was dreadful
to him the thought that he had fired upon an unarmed and
helpless man."
Stacks of books have been written about the war, but few mention
Tawasuota's role. "Old Indian Days," in which Eastman devotes a
3,500-word chapter to Tawasuota, was one of 11 books he wrote in
the early 1900s.
Eastman's story "humanizes and adds nuance to the complicated and
complex decisions made during the chaos of war," said Kate Beane,
a distant Eastman relative with a University of Minnesota doctorate
who directs Native American initiatives for the Minnesota Historical
Society.
Eastman, born in a tepee near Redwood Falls, was only 4 when the
U.S.-Dakota War broke out. His family fled to Canada, where he got
the name Ohiyesa, or Winner. He eventually followed his father into
white society and took the name Charles Alexander Eastman, graduating
from Dartmouth College and earning a medical degree in Boston. He
became a reservation physician in South Dakota and supervised YMCA
programs for Indians in the western United States and Canada.
Beane said Eastman published the stories he'd heard from relatives
and told his kids through the years. His wife, Elaine Goodale, a
white teacher and writer, "helped shape the narratives to appeal
to a white audience," Beane said. "It's not historical fiction because
these things actually happened, but as with anything, the stories
might be embellished."
Eastman's story portrays Tawasuota as more than a violent, impulsive
instigator of an awful war. Like many Dakota displaced by the war,
Tawasuota escaped to Canada, where years later he acknowledged his
role in the conflict. He died in 1902 near Birdtail Creek in southwestern
Manitoba, according to Mitchell Cody Hunter, 33, another Eastman
descendant who lives in Brandon, Man., amid Dakota whose elders
fled north in 1862.
"Tawasuota was a great warrior who had earned the respect of his
tribe. They even chanted his name," said Hunter, who has extensively
researched his Dakota roots. "Tawasuota lived and died an enemy
of the United States, but he was doing what he thought was best
for the Oyate [the people]."
Eastman's account shows a merciful side of Tawasouta, adding a
wrinkle to the story of Andrew Myrick. He's the white trader who
reportedly said, "Let them eat grass," when Dakota leaders requested
credit to buy food until their late annuity payments arrived in
1862.
Eastman wrote that a "nearly nude" Myrick jumped from the roof
of a store after the shooting broke out. Tawasuota could have killed
him, but he took an errant shot and yelled at him to "run, run!"
They'd been on good terms, but other Dakota fighters shot Myrick
as he fled. His corpse was found later with grass stuffed in his
mouth.
Curt Brown's tales about Minnesota's history appear each Sunday.
Readers can send him ideas and suggestions at mnhistory@startribune.com.
His latest book looks at 1918 Minnesota, when flu, war and fires
converged: strib.mn/MN1918.
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