Dakota War

The history of the Sioux is replete with constant reminders of the consequences of both their accommodation of and resistance to American incursions into their territory by pioneering white settlers pushing further westward during the 19th century. Some Sioux leaders and their bands resisted incoming whites, while others tried to accommodate them, but the choice often had little impact on the ultimate outcome. Crazy Horse, who was never defeated in battle by U.S. troops, surrendered to them in 1877, only to be bayoneted to death by soldiers attempting to imprison him.

“The story of what Dakota did . . . will be told for generations.”—President Barack Obama, from remarks given at Meyer’s Medal of Honor ceremony In the fall of 2009, Taliban insurgents ambushed a patrol of Afghan soldiers and Marine advisors in a mountain village called Ganjigal. Firing...

Buffalo Valley, North Dakota. A few years ago, this was a dying town. Now it's come back to life! People are feeling good about living here again the way they used to. They're feeling confident about the future. Stalled lives are moving forward. People like Margaret Clemens are taking risks on...

August 18, 1862: On the Sioux reservation in southwestern Minnesota, Indians desperate for food and freedom rise up against whites in the region. Sarah Wakefield, the wife of a physician, is taken captive with her two babies. Their fate falls into the hands of the warrior Ćaske. As war rages, little does she know how entwined their lives will become.

Young Dakota Creed lost his family, saw friends die in the Civil War, and spent time in an illegal Union prison. Now, after the war, he has a dream: to build an empire of land, cattle, and horses and find a woman to spend his life with, all in the dangerous surroundings of Texas and the Indian Territory. His dreams and his plans are challenged at almost every turn. Will he ever be able to accomplish what he has set out to do, rescue his fellow prisoners and build the empire of his dreams? Will he even survive the attempt?

When I first started to think of writing, I was in a foxhole in a war zone as an American soldier. Being a scared 21-year-old, I was lacking sleep, tired, stressed, and dirty. Eating cigarettes for breakfast while my ripped and torn-up clothes were rotting off my body, my thoughts seemed to be a little delusional at the time. I believed that writing down my thoughts would help me cope with my current life of death, destruction, misery, bullets, bombs, chemicals, and the enemy charging toward me.