Lincoln's Bishop: A President, A Priest, and the Fate of 300 Dakota Sioux Warriors
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About this ebook
In the tradition of Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals comes Gustav Niebuhr's compelling history of Abraham Lincoln's decision in 1862 to spare the lives of 265 condemned Sioux men, and the Episcopal bishop who was his moral compass, helping guide the president's conscience.
More than a century ago, during the formative years of the American nation, Protestant churches carried powerful moral authority, giving voice to values such as mercy and compassion, while boldly standing against injustice and immorality. Gustav Niebuhr travels back to this defining period, to explore Abraham Lincoln's decision to spare the lives of 265 Sioux men sentenced to die by a military tribunal in Minnesota for warfare against white settlers—while allowing the hanging of 38 others, the largest single execution on American soil. Popular opinion favored death or expulsion. Only one state leader championed the cause of the Native Americans, Episcopal bishop, Henry Benjamin Whipple.
Though he'd never met an Indian until he was 37 years old, Whipple befriended them before the massacre and understood their plight at the hands of corrupt government officials and businessmen. After their trial, he pleaded with Lincoln to extend mercy and implement true justice. Bringing to life this little known event and this extraordinary man, Niebuhr pays tribute to the once amazing moral force of mainline Protestant churches and the practitioners who guarded America's conscience.
Lincoln's Bishop is illustrated with 16 pages of black-and-white photos.
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Lincoln's Bishop: A President, A Priest, and the Fate of 300 Dakota Sioux Warriors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Abraham Lincoln: Lessons in Spiritual Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Lincoln's Bishop
5 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dakota Wars of 1862 spread terror among the settlers in Minnesota. Barbaric acts were performed by both sides, resulting in the arrest and potential hangings of 300 Sioux Indians.A part of history I had little knowledge of but recently came across parts of this story in a fiction book I recently read called [book:Flight of the Sparrow: A Novel of Early America|18693612]. The states first Episcopalian minister, Benjamin Whipple, thought that Christian religions needed to do more for what he saw was a gross unfairness. Raised by a mother, and a fatherto be socially conscious, Henry saw much wrong in the governments treatment of the Native Americans. Eventually he would go directly to President Lincoln, pleading the case of the Dakota Sioux, slated for a mass hanging.A moving account of a period in history that is little known. Whipple without doubt was a man ahead of his time, in his views concerning this matter and others enumerated in the book. Well written, and well presented this is a excellent read for those interested in this historical time period.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In 1862, war broke out between the Dakota Sioux Indians and the white settlers in Minnesota, where I currently live. Niebuhr’s new book digs below the surface to tell the story, from a 19th-century Christian bishop’s perspective.Niebuhr writes like a journalist, and he spent nearly the first half of the book setting the stage and introducing the major players (President Lincoln, Chief Little Crow, and Bishop Whipple). There were times I struggled to maintain interest, even in light of the mistreatment of Indians. But then hostilities escalated to warfare between the Sioux and the white settlers, and the story grabbed me by the guts. Indian tactics were gruesome, and half the state of Minnesota fled in terror. Tales of horrific massacre grew like gossip. Niebuhr presents both sides of the story, which is far from clear and hardly guiltless on either side. When the dust settled, 303 Indian warriors stood ready to be hanged, and public opinion was ready to lynch any others who remained.Enter Bishop Whipple, an Episcopal minister who took the side of the Indians. But what could Whipple accomplish against strong public opinion? How could he capture the ear of a distant President (Lincoln) whose attention was more strongly focused on civil war? What would be the fate of the 303 Indians, and hundreds of others who coexisted peacefully or–even more astounding–risked their lives to save white men, women and children during the war?This is a story of out-of-control greed, human limits when backed against a wall, and the ugliness that results … plus one man’s determination to apply Christian principles where humanity could only fail. Highly recommended.HarperOne, © 2014, 210 pagesISBN: 978-0-06-209768-2