Trying to hide from the Americans

DL: What did you learn about Dakota history while you were growing up? Did your grandparents ever talk about where they came from and how they got there?

MJ: Yeah, at nights when we go to bed, my grandpa used to tell us stories like how they came across and how they used to come and hide in the daytime and travel at night so nobody would see them. He used to tell us all little stories like that. One day they were coming and they met some wagons coming and they had a Canadian flag on it. So they didn’t have to hide. They shared their food with them. So they kept on going.

DL: Let’s back up a little bit to the war itself. This is your family in Minnesota. Did you hear stories about that six week war from your grandpa? Did he ever talk about any of the battles or the fighting or did he only become involved with the part where they had to leave Minnesota?

MJ: Well, they were way down… They talked about some hot water coming out of the ground that I can hardly…

DL: Warm springs, it’s called Cold Water Springs but it’s 44 degrees I think year round. Very warm, it never freezes and it’s near the Twin Cities and there’s rivers that come together like this and the springs are over here. Do you think that’s the area that he’s talking about?

MJ: Maybe, you know he just tells us this like bed time stories and we used to listen to them. He said they lived near those places. Through the war, they start moving and trying to hide from the Americans because they were always you know trying to kill…

DL: What was your grandfather’s name again? Which grandfather?

MJ: Poci.

DL: Your grandfather Poci, did he participate in the war at all?

MJ: No, he was just a small boy then. His dad and his older brother were in the war.

S: They were little boys when the war was on. Remember she told you they were like eight. They had an older brother date that was 14 but he went away to fight somewhere and they never saw him after that. So they don’t know but they always just say that maybe it was the Battle of Little Big Horn because nobody knew where he went. He was going back down to the States and that was the last they ever heard of him.