Published: July 19, 2008 11:37 pm         

Your View: River series got some history wrong

I enjoyed the recent series of articles by John Cross and Tim Krohn highlighting the significance of the Minnesota River on virtually every aspect of life here in South Central Minnesota. For the most part, they have been very well done.

However, as a historian, I could not ignore a major error in the July 12 installment of “Voyage Down the Minnesota II.” When discussing the role of Minnesota’s first governor — Henry Hastings Sibley — in the U.S./Dakota War of 1862, The Free Press printed a photograph not of him, but of Henry Hopkins Sibley, a Confederate general.

Henry Hopkins Sibley’s choice to side with the Confederacy cost him any opportunity to earn royalties from his patent for the Sibley Tent, granted to him in 1858. Ironically, this was the year Minnesota became a state and the year Henry Hastings Sibley became its first governor.

Another error made was in the same photo caption when it stated the Dakota were defeated at Birch Coulee, the last battle of the Dakota Conflict. This was not the last battle. Most historians regard Wood Lake as the engagement that gave Henry Hastings Sibley and his troops the upper hand in the Minnesota Indian War. In reality, the Dakota and their Lakota allies wouldn’t be defeated for another 30 years, at a place called Wounded Knee in South Dakota.

When writing historical pieces in the future, it would be a great idea for The Free Press to actually consult with a historian before printing the story to avoid similar inaccuracies.

History does matter, but as Lincoln said, “History is not history unless it is the truth.”