Sioux Indians, The [Laws B11]

DESCRIPTION: A train of white settlers is bound for Oregon. While on their way they are attacked by a band of Sioux. Outnumbered, the whites are nonetheless victorious and finish their journey
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Lomax, Cowboy Songs)
KEYWORDS: Indians(Am.) battle settler
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1862 - Dakota Conflict
FOUND IN: US(Ap,Ro,So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Laws B11, "The Sioux Indians"
Randolph 195, The Indian Fighters" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SouthernFolkBalladsVol1, pp. 148-149, "The Indian Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol1, pp. 14-15, "The Indian Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 134, "Sioux Indians" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #156, "Sioux Indians" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burt-AmericanMurderBallads, pp. 142-143, "(The Sioux Indians)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 179-181, "Sioux Indians" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 43, "Sioux Indians" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 155-156, "The Indian Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia2, pp. 487-488, "Sioux Indians" (1 text)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, pp. 259-260, "The Sioux Indians" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 379, SIOUXIND*
Roud #3235
RECORDINGS:
Eugene Jemison, "Crossing the Plains" (on Jem01)
Alex Moore, "The Sioux Indians" (LC -------, 1940)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Sioux Indians" (on NLCR14)
Cyril O'Brien, "Killing the Deer and the Wild Buffalo" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
Pete Seeger, "Sioux Indians" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a, AmHist1)
Marc Williams, "Sioux Indians" (Brunswick 240, 1928) (Decca 5011, 1934; on BackSaddle)
NOTES [528 words]: Despite the title, the Jemison recording is not the same as the song we've called "Crossing the Plains," but is a version of "Sioux Indians," with the Kaw being substituted for the Sioux. - PJS
Jonathan Lighter pointed out an interesting note about the version of the song printed by Robert W. Gordon but collected by W. S. Charles (whom I presume wrote the note):
"I have heard snatches of this old song by old timers for years, but never was able to get it in total, in any form, until I met Mother Dorcas Lorana Hambleton, an old pioneer of Auburn mining days in Eastern Oregon. Her maiden name was Elliott. Her father was wagon master of a '48 wagon train which crossed the plains during Oregon Trail days. His name, I think, was William Elliott.
"'Mother Hambleton is not sure of her own age. But she does remember, as a young girl, the hardships of that trip. This was the train from which the Sioux Indians took a young man and skinned him alive for the wanton killing of an inoffensive Sioux squaw.
"'From Mother Hambleton's information the song was composed in 1861 or 1862. A member of their wagon train wrote it after their arrival at Pocahontas, Baker County, Oregon, a small pioneer settlement, now deserted.'"
If fhis is correct, then the year 1862 could be significant, because that is the year of Minnesota's "Dakota Conflict." In early 1862, the U. S. government cheated the Dakota of Minnesota of the benefits they had promised when forcing them onto a reservation.
Not all Dakota wanted to fight, but some did (led mostly by Little Crow), and the American forces under Henry Sibley defeated the Dakota and forced them west or (in several dozen cases) hung them in the period 1862-1863.
However, Lighter points out that Pocahontas, Oregon (originally Pine City), mentioned in the Hambleton text of the song and also in Lomax's, did not get its post office until 1863. Yet it was established when the party arrived. So, despite the Gordon/Charles date, it is unlikely that the song is older than 1863, and it could be newer.
A bigger problem is the mention of "Sioux" Indians, i.e. the people properly referred to as the Dakota. Because the Oregon Trail did not pass through the territory of the Dakota tribes.
If the Hambleton party followed the "standard" Oregon Trail along the Platte through Nebraska, as is stated in some versions of the song, they wouldn't have come anywhere near the Dakota lands; the Dakota areas never reached the Platte and barely reached northeastern Nebrasks. Still, the local tribes (some of whom, such as the Lakota, spoke languages of the Siouan language family although not Dakota itself) might have heard of the Dakota Conflict and been restive. And if the party instead followed the Missouri River into Dakota Territory (which had been organized in 1861), they might possibly have encountered very hostile Dakota who had actually fought in the Conflict.
We should further note that "Sioux" is an improper name, imposed by Europeans on the Dakota. So this song is arguably a double slur -- the murderous Indians, if they existed at all, cannot have been "Sioux," and the name "Sioux" is not their name anyway. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: LB11

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