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You get a sense of belonging to that part of history and surviving

You get a sense of belonging to that part of history and surviving

Ms. Swenson describes how she feels in places like Birch Coulee, a site of battle in the U.S.-Dakota War.

Audio Chapters

Chapter 1

DL: So when you see the Birch Coulee Field….

LS: Oh yes, then it takes you back to: just think, in history you’re part of what went on here. I’m a survivor of those same people and we have picnics down there, and pow-wows and just think that at that time, they had pow wows back then and it had to have been a happy time. And then for it to turn to tragedy, and how many lost their lives, including children? You get a sense of belonging to that part of history and surviving, and still being here too. Your family tree keeps going on, where some families ended. And it makes you think how things could have been or would have been now.

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LaVonne Swenson. "You get a sense of belonging to that part of history and surviving." https://www3.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/contributors/lavonne-swenson/1127
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Oral History- Interview | Narrator LaVonne Swenson Interviewer Deborah Locke made in Morton, Lower Sioux Community, MN | Tuesday, February 15, 2011
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Citation: Minnesota Historical Society. U.S. - Dakota War of 1862. You get a sense of belonging to that part of history and surviving. May 23, 2025.