Colonization was so intensive by 1862 to an extend that the Dakota people could not take any substantial action that could unite them. The agents, missionaries and even traders came up with tactics to conquer the Dakota by rewarding those who adopted their desired ways. "I will lead you against the long knives (bayo-nets and swords) of the white men who have come to swindle us, to rob us of our land, and to imprison us, because we do not assist them to rob our wives and children"(Wilson 194) is an important quote. It depicts the real situation like that of “Farmers’ who were those individuals who agreed to do farming in the essence that they would be rewarded with material needs and food while the others were punished for being adamant to abandon leave their traditional lifestyle. This was very mean of the colonialists because they did all they could to break the communal lives of the Dakota. To achieve this strategy, they awarded the ‘farmers’ with individual parcel of land. This was some form of betrayal from the ‘farmers’ to the other Dakota who were still fighting for their freedom.
"One of the chief scouts here tells ... of encountering his own nephew. When he saw his nephew coming, he said, 'I had tears in my eyes, but yet I had the orders of the United States Army to fulfil. And so before my own eyes, I shot him until he died’’ (189-190). There can never be a genuine friendship made up from a colonizer and the oppressed. The sad part is that all the whites even the missionaries themselves believed that it was right removing the Dakota’s from their communal lands and eradicating their way of living. There were white individuals who believed the Dakota men had the right to their land but still they could not get out thus creating that ‘friendship’. I believe they were not true friends because they would have at least lobbied for white people to be removed and the farms given to the rightful owners but that was not the case. To show the least of the ‘friendship’ the government could at least fulfil the treaty obligations and control the traders not to swindle the treaty funds.
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