Feb 07 2010
Historic Marker: New Sweden Indian Attack
Taken in Norseland, Minnesota. (Click photo to go to Flickr, where exact location is mapped.)
New Sweden Indian Attack
Mrs. Maria Jonsson, wife of Erik Jonsson, and their son, Pehr, were killed by Sioux Indians on August 23, 1862, near their home in New Sweden Township, about five miles northwest of this marker. Both natives of Sweden, Mrs. Jonsson was thirty-five and Pehr was twelve years old at the time of the massacre. Another son, August, born in New Sweden Township in 1861, died of exposure two days after his mother’s death. All three bodies are buried in this cemetery, which was consecrated in 1859 by the Scandian Grove Lutheran Church.
The Jonsson homestead was one of the eastern-most sites involved in depredations committed by the Indians during the Sioux Uprising of 1862.
“Days of affliction come to meet me” Job 30:27
This marker was erected in 1962 by the Scandian Grove Lutheran Church in grateful memory of these pioneer members of the congregation.
Depredations committed by the Indians? You don’t know your history. The depredations were committed by the white settlers who screwed the Dakota out of their homeland and were depriving them of food, the food that was owed them from the treaty at Travese Des Sioux. The good white Christians were starving them into submission. This was an act of genocide. This historical marker is not only historically incorrect it is yet another attempt by the guilty white society to tell only one side of the story.
to David Murray:
You don’t know your history.
The Jonsson family is one small footnote in the devastation wrought on the mostly unarmed and innocent settlers during the “Dakota Uprising of 1862″. Over 500 civilians were killed by Dakota “warriors”. Mutilation and rape were common. (The Jonsson teenage daughter, Inga, was raped and left for dead but she survived to tell her story.) Who screwed who?
More than 50 of the “good white Christians who screwed the Dakota” were under six years of age when brutally murdered.
Numerous settler families lost ten and twelve members to the “noble Dakota warriors” on August 18th & 19th, 1862.
Yes, this was genocide. Genocide by the Dakota.
Study your history before spewing the politically correct propaganda that passes today for history.
Thank-you Steve Keith
These are my direct family members. Thanks for informing the fools
Steve Keith and Andrew,
Interesting comments. Where can I find more information on the attack on the Jonsson homestead?
Both sides were wronged many times during that time period. Two wrongs don’t make a right?
My understanding is that a lot of the violence against the natives were done by authorities, i.e. by soldiers. The small farm communities were probably busy with building their lives rather than going to war with local natives.
By the way, some interesting Swedish history can be found at the blog: http://www.go-to-sweden.com especially about the first Swedish king, Gustav I, a.k.a Gustav Vasa..