Gender, Sexuality, and Race: Rereading the Dakota War

Authors

Jonathan Went, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

First Advisor

Timothy R. Mahoney

Date of this Version

8-2005

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

Major: History

Under the supervision of Professor Timothy R. Mahoney

Lincoln, Nebraska, August 2005

Comments

Copyright 2005, Jonathan Went. Used by permission

Abstract

December 26, 1862, marked the culmination of the brutal hostilities that transpired between the Dakota Indians and American soldiers and settlers over the late summer and fall months in Minnesota. The American government condemned thirtyeight Dakota men to die on the gallows as punishment for their involvement in the war. While the event served as punishment for the Dakotas, it was also a culturally pregnant spectacle that provides deeper insight into not only the war but also Dakotan and American societies. The hanging was just as much about manhood, sexuality, and race, as it was about retribution.

Organized thematically, this thesis examines how each theme was inflected within the event and influenced the outbreak of war. For Dakota men, war upheld masculine ideals of society. However, losses on the battlefield - particularly to a less than "manly" foe - coupled with death by hanging raised the specter of emasculation.

For American men and soldiers, their gender identities and the Civil and Dakota Wars were closely bundled together. Minnesota men clamored to enlist when the Civil War broke out. Broader American society construed enlisting and fighting on the front lines as "manly," and Minnesota regiments bristled at being mere "home guards" for they were eager to fight against the Confederacy with the "boys."

While gender colored the war and the hanging, so too did sexuality for both societies. Dakota men waging war can - in part - be explained by the widespread abuse of Dakota women. However, their war-making and subsequent capturing of white women fostered the belief that all captives were sexually assaulted. This widely held perception fueled calls for vengeance, though the nature of captivity was decidedly less prurient than imagined.

Race also played an integral part. The hanging of thirty-eight Dakota men evidenced the inherent depravity of Indians and provided the keystones of race science, skulls. Skulls conveyed that the races were separated by intrinsic differences that could then be categorized into a hierarchy of man. Doctors just needed skulls to prove it.

Advisor: Timothy R. Mahoney