Leader of the Santee Sioux, Inkpaduta (1815-79) participated in some of
the most decisive battles of the northern Great Plains, including
Custer's defeat at the Little Bighorn. But the attack in 1857 on forty
white settlers known as the Spirit Lake Massacre gave Inkpaduta the
reputation of being the most brutal of all the Sioux leaders.
Paul N. Beck now challenges a century and a half of bias to reassess the
life and legacy of this important Dakota leader. In the most complete
biography of Inkpaduta ever written, Beck draws on Indian agents'
correspondence, journals, and other sources to paint a broader picture
of the whole person, showing him to have been not only a courageous
warrior but also a dedicated family man and tribal leader who got along
reasonably well with whites for most of his life.
Beck sheds new light on many poorly understood aspects of Inkpaduta's
life, including his journeys in the American West after the Spirit Lake
Massacre. Beck reexamines Euro-American attitudes toward Indians and the
stereotypes that shaped nineteenth-century writing, showing how they
persisted in portrayals of Inkpaduta well into the twentieth century,
even after more generous appreciations of American Indian cultures had
become commonplace.
Long considered a villain whose passion was murdering white settlers,
Inkpaduta is here restored to more human dimensions. Inkpaduta: Dakota
Leader shatters the myths that surrounded his life for too long and
provides the most extensive reassessment of this leader's life to date.
