The History and Culture of the Spirit Lake Dakota
By now most White traders learned how to read and write but, also the local Government officials and white settlers. Ten years after the 1851 Treaties were signed the Dakota people discovered they were cheated. They sold all their land in Minnesota for eight cents an acre. In the fall of 1862 the Dakota in a fit of frustration attacked and killed 400 or more settlers and soldiers. Depoulating a vast area in Minnesota. While this event at face value seemed to end the Dakota Bible project, it was a God-send as all the prisoners in prison camps in Davenport, Iowa and Fort Snelling were offered the chance to occupy their idle hours by learning to read and write. With Reverend Dr. Williamson (Pezutawicasta) and Rev. Riggs (Tamakoce) present, they were able to read the Bible and other Christian material. They led to the big Dakota religious revival, When the prison doors were opened in 1865 the Dakota began to start churches. This led to having hymn books printed and native pastors installed. Today the Presbyterian, Congregational, Episcopal and Catholic Churches are continuing the language as well as the education systems that formerly suppressed the Dakota culture are now embracing it. What happened to the Missionaries? The Pond brothers went to Bloomington, MN to administer to the white settlers, the Reverends Williamson and Riggs continued on with their families to administer to the Dakota. Their lives are another chapter in Dakota history.
Sisseton – Wahpeton Oyate Alphabet
A (ah) sound of A in far. B (Be) same as English. C (Che) sound of Ch in Chin. C (dot under the C- an exploded C) not in English. D (De) same as English. E (E) sound of E in Then.
G (Ghe) sound of G in Give. G (Dot over the G, guttural)- not in English. H (He) same as English. H (Dot over H, sound of Ch in German Ach). J the sound of J in French Au Jus.
K (Ke) same as English. K (Dot under the K (Exploded K, not in English). M (Me) same as English. N (A nasal sound, a hook-on end) similar to the N in Ink. O (Oh) sound of O in Go.
P (Pe) same as English. P (dot under the P, (an exploded P, not in English). S (See) same as English. S (She0 sound of SH in She). T (Te) same as English. T (Dot under T, exploded) not in English.
U (Oo) Sound of O as in Moon. W (We) same as English). W (We) same as English. Y (Ye) same as English. Z (Ze) same in English. (I have not typed the diacritical marks as fluent speakers say they are not needed except in teaching the correct pronunciation). (DuMarce and DeCoteau, No date).
With the new and improved alphabet, more dictionaries and educational material are being produced. Many internet websites and colleges offer Dakota as well as other Siouan nation linguistics.
Bibliography
Canku, Clifford and Simon, Michael The Dakota Prisoner of War Letters. Dakota Kaskapi Okicize Wowapi. St. Paul; Minnesota Historical Society Press. 2013.
DuMarce, Eric L. and DeCoteau, Tammy English to Dakotah Dictionary.
Old Agency: Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Publishing. (No Date).
Foreman, Grant Sequoyah. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1938.
Pond, Samuel Wilson Dakota Life in the Upper Midwest. With introduction by Gary Clayton Anderson. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press 1986.
Two Volunteer Missionaries Among the Dakotas. Or tory of the labors of S.W. and Gideon H. Pond. Boston and Chicago: Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society 1893. Kessinger’s Legacy Reprints.
Silverman, David This Land is their Land; The Wampanoag Indians Plymouth Colony and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. 2019
