Mary Anderson

When the war began, Mary Anderson was a housekeeper living near the Lower Sioux Agency with the family of Joseph B. Reynolds. The family was attacked by the Dakota at the Lower Agency. Mary was shot while trying to escape, and died in capitivity a few days later. The Reynold's niece, Mattie Williams, and Mary Schwandt were taken prisoner at the same time. Mary Anderson's depredation claim was filed by the family of Joseph B. Reynolds and is comprised mostly of dresses and clothing, which had been made in preparation for her upcoming wedding.

"I was awake when she died, and she dropped away so gently that I thought she was asleep, until Mattie told me she was dead. . . .  Joseph Campbell, a half-breed, assisted us in having her buried.  Mattie and I saw her carried to the grave by the Indians, wrapped in an old piece of tepee-cloth, and laid in the ground near Little Crow’s house.  She was subsequently disinterred, as I am informed, and buried at the Lower Agency.  A likeness of a young man, to whom she was to have been married, we kept and returned to him; and her own we gave to Mrs. Reynolds, who yet retains it."-- Mary Schwandt, recalling Mary Anderson’s death, 1864

Theme:

1862

Topics:

Settlers in War
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Bibliography

Bryant, Charles S. and Murch, Abel B. A History of the Great Massacre by the Sioux Indians in Minnesota. Cincinnati: Rickey & Carroll Publishers, 1864.

Resources for Further Research

Bryant, Charles S. and Murch, Abel B. A History of the Great Massacre by the Sioux Indians in Minnesota. Cincinnati: Rickey & Carroll Publishers, 1864.

Glossary Terms

Depredation claim

Key People

Snana and Mary t
Snana and Mary
Snana and Mary t

Snana and Mary

The lives of Mary Schwandt, a 14-year-old German American, and Snana (Maggie Brass), a 23-year-old Dakota woman, became intertwined during the war. Mary’s parents and all but one of her six siblings were killed in Renville County on August 18. Mary was taken captive by a soldier from the Lower Sioux reservation.
Maggie’s seven-year-old daughter, Lydia, had died six weeks before the war broke out. Maggie arranged to have Mary Schwandt released from her captors, and then protected her from harm for the remainder of the war by hiding her and dressing her in Dakota clothing. Each of the women later wrote a memoir; in hers, Mary wrote to Maggie,
“I want you to know that the little captive German girl you so often befriended and shielded from harm loves you still for your kindness and care

View full article: Snana and Mary

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Mary Anderson's Depredation Claim

When the war began, Mary Anderson was a housekeeper living near the Lower Agency with the family of Joseph B. Reynolds. The family was attacked by the Dakota at the Lower Agency. Mary was shot while trying to escape, and died in captivity a few days later. The Reynolds’ niece, Mattie Williams, and Mary Schwandt (whose story is told earlier in this exhibit) were taken prisoner at the same time. Mary Anderson’s depredation claim was filed by the family of Joseph B. Reynolds and is comprised mostly of dresses and clothing, which had been made in preparation for her upcoming wedding.

I was awake when she died, and she dropped away so gently that I thought she was asleep, until Mattie told me she was dead. . . . Joseph Campbell, a half-breed, assisted us in having her buried. Mattie and I saw her carried to the grave by the Indians, wrapped in an old piece of tepee-cloth, and laid in the ground near Little Crow’s house. She was subsequently disinterred, as I am informed, and buried at the Lower Agency. A likeness of a young man, to whom she was to have been married, we kept and returned to him; and her own we gave to Mrs. Reynolds, who yet retains it. --Mary Schwandt, recalling Mary Anderson’s death (1864)