Samantha Specks. Dovetails in the Tall Grass. Spark P, 2021.
Dovetails in the Tall Grass is a powerful story. It is fiction, but it is fiction the same way that The Red Badge of Courage is fiction. The Crane novel tells of the Battle of Chancellorsville from the perspective of an ordinary and young soldier on the Union side. Dovetails in the Tall Grass tells the story of the largest mass execution in American history—the hanging of 38 Dakota Sioux warriors in the wake of the 1862 Dakota War—from the perspective of two young women caught up in the events.
Sixteen year old Emma Heard’s family immigrated to Western Minnesota from Germany. They settle in what is then the village of New Ulm. Her father has studied law and becomes the de facto lawyer for the town. Much of his work is filing property deeds for newly opened up land nearby.
Oenikika is about the same age as Emma and is the daughter of Little Crow, a Dakota Sioux chief. Her father has actually gone to Washington to make a treaty setting boundaries between the Indians and American settlers. Unfortunately, the treaty did not last very long. We hear the story from both sides. We are reminded of the Bible’s admonition, “Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker” (Deuteronomy 27:17 NET).
The novel’s title comes not from ornithology but from carpentry. A dovetail joint is a fitted joint in which cuts are made at angles in two pieces of wood and, if done right, lock together for a perfect fit. That is precisely what the stories of the two young ladies do.
In the novel, and in the actual events leading up to the war, much of the conflict revolves around a Mr. Myrick, the local store owner who has the contracts for the food and supplies for the Indians. The Indians, in turn, were to get an annual stipend from the federal government to stay on their reservations. When the stipend did not arrive on time and Myrick refused to give the native people credit, things escalated, especially after Myrick insulted them in a very crude manner.
Little Crow has been East to Washington and has seen how many white people there are in the land. He has also seen the Federal Army mobilize for the Civil War. He understands that in spite of their warrior culture, it will be impossible for the Native American tribes to fight the white men. The reader also notes that the tribes themselves are not united. Little Crow remembers wars his tribe had against both the Blackfeet and the Ojibwe (a.k.a. Chippewa).
Still, the tribe’s people are beginning to starve, and many are looking for the promised justice. The Indians attack New Ulm. Emma’s family’s farm is attacked when she and her mute older sister Ida are the only ones at home. Ida is about to be raped by four men when a fifth comes and stops them. He apparently rebukes them for seeking vengeance, not justice. He also tells the girls, “Go!” It is the one English word they hear from him.
While some townspeople are killed and property destroyed, New Ulm survives. Soon an army unit comes to the area and begins rounding up the Indians. They are especially looking for those who might have killed people. Nearly four hundred are taken in and put on trial.
We use the term trial loosely. Put in charge of the trial is General Pope, probably the least successful military leader in American history. About three quarters of the men on trial are found guilty of something, and thirty-eight will be hanged. (This is not a spoiler. We are told that in the very first sentence of the book.)
How this all comes about we see from the perspective of people on both sides. Interestingly, while both Emma and Oenikika tend to side with their own people, both understand the complications. Myrick is the villain of the story. Oenikika’s father does not want to fight because he understands the consequences. He tries to avoid trouble by moving still farther West since he cannot get other tribes to join with his to stand against the Americans.
The young women have their own problems. Emma would love to be a teacher, but she does not think her mother will approve. Besides, she would have to leave Ida behind, and she understands her mute sister better than anyone.
Oenikika and her father and grandmother have moved onto a reservation as part of the treaty. Because he is the chief, Little Crow was given a log cabin. Oenikika hates it. The square corners and wooden floor are strange. She would much rather be in a tipi. Besides, she has been learning to be a healer, and this new location does not have access to the variety of healing plants that she needs to do her work.
Mixed into all of this are a few love stories. Oenikika marries Tashunke, a skilled trainer of horses who is orphaned and belongs to no tribe until hers takes him in. He does behave nobly but is nevertheless one of the men arrested by the Federal authorities. Ida ends up connecting with Rudolph, a young widower in town with a young son. We learn that Ida talked until the family moved to Minnesota and has been silent since. She and Emma have learned to communicate with each other, and Emma is her de facto spokesperson.
Meanwhile, with both intelligence and good handwriting, Emma becomes not only secretary to her father but the court transcriber during the Indian trials. She sees things firsthand. She becomes attracted to the young missionary who acts as a translator in the trials. The historical Stephen Riggs who did act as a translator was actually a fifty-year-old grandfather at the time of the trial, but Specks’ poetic license does make the story a little more appealing.
Like most historical fiction, most of the characters like Emma and Oenikika are the author’s creations, but Little Crow, Myrick, and Missionary Riggs really existed. Little Crow would die at the hands of a Minnesota bounty hunter but about a year later than in the book. And General Pope? Most Civil War buffs are inclined to think of him as one of the least competent generals. He surrendered ten thousand men to the Confederates at Harpers Ferry. Let’s just say, if anything, he acts even worse in this story. He was an army man but was supposed to take the role of a judge. He comes across as neither.
The historical Riggs lived most of his life among the Native Americans and tried as best he could to defend their rights. He also translated the Bible into a Sioux language and contributed to other studies on Native American linguistics. Some of the people of New Ulm called him an Indian lover, and that is what he was.
I have a lawyer friend who once said to me that the Declaration of Independence says the role of government is to protect the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of its people. Historically, he said, the United States has done a good job at this with the exception that they did not protect the liberty of black slaves, they did not protect the pursuit of happiness of the Native Americans, and now they do not protect the life of the unborn. Dovetails in Tall Grass shows us the truth of his observation about the the Indians while, ironically, at the same time America was mobilizing to set the slaves at liberty. And this is done in an effective and engaging way. We are not preached at. We are simply told a story—but what a story it is.