2 CDVs on cardstock mounts, both with imprint of Whitney's Gallery in St. Paul, Minnesota; negatives taken by Adrian Ebell.

In 1862 the new state of Minnesota was home to thousands of Native Americans, many of whom were disenchanted with the Government's promise for annuities. In August of that year, a number of the Dakota were starving; on the 18th, Indians at the Lower Agency attacked the white settlers there. Over the next few weeks hundreds of whites were killed, until the uprising was finally put down by Federal troops under the command of Henry Sibley. Whitney photographed a number of the Native American principals involved with the uprising.

These cartes feature the following scenes: A view of white refugees, with printed caption on mount recto, "People escaping from the Indian Massacre of 1862, in Minnesota, at Dinner on a Prairie. Photographed by one of the party." -- A view of Dakota people with members of the Williamson family at their home (Pajutazee Mission), near Yellow Medicine on 17 August 1862, the day before the fighting began. With penciled inscription on verso, "Indians at Mission House," incorrectly identifying the photograph as being taken "on the Day of the 'Outbreak.'" Pictured third from right in the photograph is Jane Williamson, a schoolteacher and anti-slavery activist from Ohio who ventured to the Presbyterian Dakota Mission at Lac qui Parle in 1843, spending the remaining 52 years of her life working with Dakota people. (Information obtained from Minnesota Historical Society website.)

Provenance: Cowan's, Historical Americana, 20 May 2004, Lot 253.