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DL: Can you tell us anything about the aftermath of the war and the scattering of the Dakota people?
DB: The President of the United States back then, Abe, he made a declaration that all Dakota people would be chased out of Minnesota. I don’t know if you know that or not. But what they did, they wanted all the Dakota people driven off or killed; and of course there was a bounty on them too – I don’t know if you know that or not. That’s how scalping began. The white man started the scalping. They’re the ones – in order for them to be paid, to say “I killed an Indian,” they had to bring the scalp in, that’s how they were paid. Well, Indians took up that banner and they said, well, if they can do it, so can we. So they started [scalping]. But the point is, it was started by the white folks, not by the Indians. But the Indians were driven off into the Dakotas – I have no idea where they all went. They were chased and they were completely excommunicated – that’s the term to use – from the State of Minnesota, never to come back to this part of the country again. But of course we did, we’re just like mice; we can never be completely controlled.
