Page 215 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

FRON I E R PLACE: G E N D E R MATTERS
T
A ceremony took place at the site, to which the local railroad company
gave all survivors fr ee transportation. Also, a monument built to Dr.
Whitman dislodged bones and skulls that offered mute testimony to the
disastrous nature of the "massacre."204
Other captivity stories are f r om the 1 8 60s and 1870s, the era during
which Native American resistance to white invasion of their lands and
hunting grounds peaked. Because conflict increased during these
decades the number of captivities also proliferated. W o men's reactions
to Indians did not become more negative as violence intensified. If any­
thing, the troubles of these years convinced many women to intensify
their efforts to understand and aid captives. Many women also grew
increasingly sympathetic with natives on the issue of taking prisoners
of war. 205
One chronicle of the 1 8 62 New Ulm tragedy in Minnesota, which
gained wide circulation in published f o rm, was Mary Renville's Thrilling
Narrative if Indian Captivity. Renville's account was designed to titillate
and shock. The incidents it recounted included the rape of white women
captives by several drunken Indian men.Yet a close reading reveals that
Renville justified Indian actions by blaming whites, who had a cor­
rupting influence. Who supplied the liquor f o r the Indians in the first
place? Renville asked. And how many crimes committed by Indians have
been caused by thoughtless whites? Renville blamed greedy traders and
government agents f o r introducing some of the white's "most flagrant
vices" to Native Americans. She concluded her narrative by advising
Minnesota settlers not to punish all Indians, which would drive peace­
f u l Indians into the ranks of the warlike. Furthermore, Renville sug­
gested, those settlers who went among American Indians in the f u ture
needed to support "Justice, Morality, and T r uth" rather than encourag­
ing dishonesty and dissipation.206
Another account of the New Ulm affair illustrates that some
women liked their captors. Taken prisoner in the 1 8 62 New Ulm
conflict, Minnie Carrigan later spoke with f o ndness of the two Indian
women who cared f o r her during her captivity. "It seems wrong f o r me
to call those two Indian women squaws," she stated. "They were as lady­
like as any white women, and I shall never f o rget them."When the pris­
oners were dispersed to other camps, Carrigan was protected by a young

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