Thank you for shining a light on the Knights of the Forest and the horrifying actions toward the Ho-Chunk. It is only when we know the real history that we can address what we have done on this continent and elsewhere. Ignoring or whitewashing (pun intended) the past does us no favors.
I appreciate the pun. As a kid I thought whitewashing was only what Tom Sawyer did to the picket fence, or what he got his friends to do for him. As an adult reader, I recognize the lessons Twain offered went right over my head.
Wow is right. I am sitting here in my comfortable house in Ramsey (!) County, Minnesota, not far from Fort Snelling. Though aware of many of the atrocities committed on “our” soil against Native people, I had no idea of their extent and persistence, or of the racist crimes perpetrated by our own version of the KKK. Just floored by this. I read your article several times, each time more shocked. Thank you again, Jill, for the important work you are doing.
Sibley, Ramsey, Rice, yup, all slave-holders. I hadn't known either. And the Knights of the Forest wouldn't have been revealed had it not been for historians like Cathy Coats. Thanks for reading.
Yes, many thanks to Cathy Coats. I followed your link to the Minnesota Historical Society Press, realized my membership had lapsed, and will order it as soon as I rectify that status.
I feel like so much of America's history has been buried. But the truth always comes out and when it does, never fails to leave a bad taste in my mouth. This is yet another example of the truth literally being unearthed. Glad you brought it to this forum's attention, Jill.
WOW! Just wow. My hope that there are always truth-tellers amongst us and that we are open to what they reveal. Thank you for being a finder of truth, discoverer of the little known and reflector on the outcome of what is revealed!
This wasn't a hard book to read, it was hard to sit with what I learned. Hard to write about. Hard to know what to think but it sure opens up more questions.
This is such important history for so many reasons and for this historical moment as much as for the past. “The revelations about this secret society are significant because they go against a dominant version of the story of American history that the military fought wars against the Indians and that’s how the West was won.” I fear the militia wannabes around me. And I live in Vermont.
I'm glad you see the relevance of this history to what is happening today. Thanks for your honest expression of fear as I think many of us feel it too.
It's horrifying to know what invading settlers did while thinking of themselves as "Good Christians." I didn't know about the Knights of the Forest but the history of the Haudenosaunee who, at first, assisted the white invaders in NY and other eastern states and even shared ideas about democracy were treated no better. It's hard to read this, but it's important to know because the horrors of racism continue on. Thank you for another history lesson.
Thanks, Elaine, for your observations. It took me many years to realize books that referred to the Iroquois Confederacy were talking about the Haudenosaunee. The Seneca, Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga and Tuscarora tribes make up the Haudenosaunee. There are many connections between Indians who were pushed west from New York to Wisconsin. The Oneida Reservation is near me here in Wisconsin.
Thank you for writing this piece. It is a history that needs revealed. I wonder what stories remain in Ho-Chunk and Dakota circles about the Knights of the Forest and other secret societies. There are different levels of stories within Native communities, some of which are only shared within the community. I wonder if that would include this topic.
Alexis, I love the idea that there might be Ho-Chunk and Dakota versions of the history of what happened in Blue Earth County in 1862-1863. I am going to go in search of these stories.
That part of southern Minnesota has the same excellent soil that most of Iowa has. It's all part of the deposits left by the last glacial advance (called the Des Moines Lobe) in the Ice Ages.
Yup! Excellent question! Why was that pamphlet included? But, I also wonder why other copies of it hadn't turned up before the capsule contents were inventoried and made public in 2004. Were other copies destroyed to protect the "perps" of the lawless activities? Or maybe the other copies were destroyed because people felt guilty? Or maybe because of a need to sanitize official historical records? Or maybe destroying any other copies of the pamphlet was just another part of our ongoing inclination to keep stuff like this relegated to the past? Thanks for lifting this up. We need to know our history.
My idealistic imagination wants to picture some person who knew how wrong the pamphlet ideas were including it in the time capsule, to keep a record of the truth, but l know that may indeed be wishful thinking. So much pain and violence in our history.
The most wildly shocking part of this (of course, something we only see in hindsight) is that the compilers of the time capsule thought the Knights of the Forest pamphlet was worthy of -- and appropriate for -- inclusion! It's the epitome of "not aging well" or failing at "timelessness." Thank you for sharing this, Jill.
Twenty years later, the newspaper publisher commissioned a print of the hangings for the commemorative celebrations. Apparently they wanted credit for their victory and their success was certainly well known locally. Did they want evidence left to confirm the oral tradition of their capers?
These important historical pieces remain hard for me to read. I have shared this one with my friend, Michael Thurmond. His new book has recently been published, Michael Thurmond's James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia: A Founder’s Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist. In a recent talk he gave at the Clarke-County Library he mentioned how he was uninformed until he worked on this book about the Indian population. Michael is one of my heroes, and I wanted him to read what you have said in this piece.
Thank you Margaret. Michael Thurmond's book was already on my radar, but now I must get a copy to read. I remember him from my days in Athens at the start of his career in public service.
Thank you Jill for exposing this. And thanks to historian Cathy Coats. A mystery why the pamphlet was put in there to begin with and how it never was circulated or known prior?? I, too, thought of the Ho-Chunk as a Wisconsin tribe and I very much remember "Winnebago" when I was younger. I always appreciate how you weave in yours and others' ancestral backgrounds (Coats, a great- great- granddaughter of immigrant settlers and you, "my home is on the land the Ho-Chunk shared with the Menominee..."). It makes it interesting and personal and triggers my own questions and reflections. Learning For Justice had a podcast "Teaching Hard History." One of the Teaching Hard History episodes was "INSEPARABLE SEPARATIONS: SLAVERY AND INDIAN REMOVAL." I think it speaks some to that connection you raise in "Knights of the Forest" between treaty violations and slavery. https://www.learningforjustice.org/podcasts/teaching-hard-history
Important clues to follow up for me in this episode. Wow. I hadn't thought about what settlers were planting and who they were selling it to ... the profitability of the removal of Indians is a lightbulb moment!
It is!! I had forgotten a lot of the details of that podcast but your post got me thinking about it again. It was all rather serendipitous. And I am listening to it a second time now!
Thank you for shining a light on the Knights of the Forest and the horrifying actions toward the Ho-Chunk. It is only when we know the real history that we can address what we have done on this continent and elsewhere. Ignoring or whitewashing (pun intended) the past does us no favors.
I appreciate the pun. As a kid I thought whitewashing was only what Tom Sawyer did to the picket fence, or what he got his friends to do for him. As an adult reader, I recognize the lessons Twain offered went right over my head.
I know what you mean--I think Twain's lessons were really for adults, not kids.
Wow is right. I am sitting here in my comfortable house in Ramsey (!) County, Minnesota, not far from Fort Snelling. Though aware of many of the atrocities committed on “our” soil against Native people, I had no idea of their extent and persistence, or of the racist crimes perpetrated by our own version of the KKK. Just floored by this. I read your article several times, each time more shocked. Thank you again, Jill, for the important work you are doing.
Sibley, Ramsey, Rice, yup, all slave-holders. I hadn't known either. And the Knights of the Forest wouldn't have been revealed had it not been for historians like Cathy Coats. Thanks for reading.
Yes, many thanks to Cathy Coats. I followed your link to the Minnesota Historical Society Press, realized my membership had lapsed, and will order it as soon as I rectify that status.
I feel like so much of America's history has been buried. But the truth always comes out and when it does, never fails to leave a bad taste in my mouth. This is yet another example of the truth literally being unearthed. Glad you brought it to this forum's attention, Jill.
It turns out it was buried in plain sight, but it took a long time to discover the truth.
WOW! Just wow. My hope that there are always truth-tellers amongst us and that we are open to what they reveal. Thank you for being a finder of truth, discoverer of the little known and reflector on the outcome of what is revealed!
Wow! agreed.
This wasn't a hard book to read, it was hard to sit with what I learned. Hard to write about. Hard to know what to think but it sure opens up more questions.
This is such important history for so many reasons and for this historical moment as much as for the past. “The revelations about this secret society are significant because they go against a dominant version of the story of American history that the military fought wars against the Indians and that’s how the West was won.” I fear the militia wannabes around me. And I live in Vermont.
I'm glad you see the relevance of this history to what is happening today. Thanks for your honest expression of fear as I think many of us feel it too.
It's horrifying to know what invading settlers did while thinking of themselves as "Good Christians." I didn't know about the Knights of the Forest but the history of the Haudenosaunee who, at first, assisted the white invaders in NY and other eastern states and even shared ideas about democracy were treated no better. It's hard to read this, but it's important to know because the horrors of racism continue on. Thank you for another history lesson.
Thanks, Elaine, for your observations. It took me many years to realize books that referred to the Iroquois Confederacy were talking about the Haudenosaunee. The Seneca, Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga and Tuscarora tribes make up the Haudenosaunee. There are many connections between Indians who were pushed west from New York to Wisconsin. The Oneida Reservation is near me here in Wisconsin.
Thank you for writing this piece. It is a history that needs revealed. I wonder what stories remain in Ho-Chunk and Dakota circles about the Knights of the Forest and other secret societies. There are different levels of stories within Native communities, some of which are only shared within the community. I wonder if that would include this topic.
Alexis, I love the idea that there might be Ho-Chunk and Dakota versions of the history of what happened in Blue Earth County in 1862-1863. I am going to go in search of these stories.
That part of southern Minnesota has the same excellent soil that most of Iowa has. It's all part of the deposits left by the last glacial advance (called the Des Moines Lobe) in the Ice Ages.
I thought this area was known for its rich farmland: a different sort of "black gold" than oil.
Yup! Excellent question! Why was that pamphlet included? But, I also wonder why other copies of it hadn't turned up before the capsule contents were inventoried and made public in 2004. Were other copies destroyed to protect the "perps" of the lawless activities? Or maybe the other copies were destroyed because people felt guilty? Or maybe because of a need to sanitize official historical records? Or maybe destroying any other copies of the pamphlet was just another part of our ongoing inclination to keep stuff like this relegated to the past? Thanks for lifting this up. We need to know our history.
All good questions, George. Is this familiar terrain? Is it true this is some of the richest soil in Blue Earth?
Thank you for continuing to bring all this to light, Jill.
My idealistic imagination wants to picture some person who knew how wrong the pamphlet ideas were including it in the time capsule, to keep a record of the truth, but l know that may indeed be wishful thinking. So much pain and violence in our history.
I'd like to think so too and keep the door open to such a possibility, but given the rest of the contents of the book I am not inclined to believe it.
Sadly, I'm afraid you're right!
Thanks so much for the restack!
The most wildly shocking part of this (of course, something we only see in hindsight) is that the compilers of the time capsule thought the Knights of the Forest pamphlet was worthy of -- and appropriate for -- inclusion! It's the epitome of "not aging well" or failing at "timelessness." Thank you for sharing this, Jill.
Twenty years later, the newspaper publisher commissioned a print of the hangings for the commemorative celebrations. Apparently they wanted credit for their victory and their success was certainly well known locally. Did they want evidence left to confirm the oral tradition of their capers?
These important historical pieces remain hard for me to read. I have shared this one with my friend, Michael Thurmond. His new book has recently been published, Michael Thurmond's James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia: A Founder’s Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist. In a recent talk he gave at the Clarke-County Library he mentioned how he was uninformed until he worked on this book about the Indian population. Michael is one of my heroes, and I wanted him to read what you have said in this piece.
Thank you Margaret. Michael Thurmond's book was already on my radar, but now I must get a copy to read. I remember him from my days in Athens at the start of his career in public service.
Thank you Jill for exposing this. And thanks to historian Cathy Coats. A mystery why the pamphlet was put in there to begin with and how it never was circulated or known prior?? I, too, thought of the Ho-Chunk as a Wisconsin tribe and I very much remember "Winnebago" when I was younger. I always appreciate how you weave in yours and others' ancestral backgrounds (Coats, a great- great- granddaughter of immigrant settlers and you, "my home is on the land the Ho-Chunk shared with the Menominee..."). It makes it interesting and personal and triggers my own questions and reflections. Learning For Justice had a podcast "Teaching Hard History." One of the Teaching Hard History episodes was "INSEPARABLE SEPARATIONS: SLAVERY AND INDIAN REMOVAL." I think it speaks some to that connection you raise in "Knights of the Forest" between treaty violations and slavery. https://www.learningforjustice.org/podcasts/teaching-hard-history
Here is that specific podcast episode https://www.learningforjustice.org/podcasts/teaching-hard-history/american-slavery/inseparable-separations-slavery-and-indian-removal#:~:text=Indian%20Removal%20was%20a%20brutal,people%20participated%20in%20chattel%20slavery.
Important clues to follow up for me in this episode. Wow. I hadn't thought about what settlers were planting and who they were selling it to ... the profitability of the removal of Indians is a lightbulb moment!
It is!! I had forgotten a lot of the details of that podcast but your post got me thinking about it again. It was all rather serendipitous. And I am listening to it a second time now!
Thanks Stephanie. I look forward to listening to this podcast, especially this episode!