Clashes between white and Indian societies are erupting into war when Sarah Wakefield is taken captive in 1862. She is the wife of an Agency doctor and a known friend of the Sioux. As desperate Sioux warriors attack the Agency, Sarah falls victim to the circumstances. In her narrative of the six weeks she is held captive, she vividly describes her trials, anguish, and pain, both physically and psychologically. Caught between two cultures, she is a woman and a mother struggling with a situation thrown upon her and her family. When she returns to white society, she finds that her battles are not over yet.With this reprint of the classic narrative of her survival, readers will come to know the Sioux culture and appreciate her struggle on the Great Plains. Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees is a reprint of the classic narrative of Sarah Wakefield's survival. Told in her own words, this compelling tale was a best seller when it was originally published more than one hundred years ago. Today it offers readers a unique perspective on Sioux culture and what life was like on the Great Plains in mid-nineteenth-century America.

The Dakota War (1862) was a searing event in Minnesota history as well as a signal event in the lives of Dakota people. Sarah F. Wakefield was caught up in this revolt. A young doctor's wife and the mother of two small children, Wakefield published her unusual account of the war and her captivity shortly after the hanging of thirty-eight Dakotas accused of participation in the ""Sioux uprising."" Among those hanged were Chaska (We-Chank-Wash-ta-don-pee), a Mdewakanton Dakota who had protected her and her children during the upheaval. In a distinctive and compelling voice, Wakefield blames the government for the war and then relates her and her family's ordeal, as well as Chaska's and his family's help and ultimate sacrifice.This is the first fully annotated modern edition of Six Weeks in the Sioux Tepees. June Namias's extensive introduction and notes describe the historical and ethnographic background of Dakota-white relations in Minnesota and place Wakefield's narrative in the context of other captivity narratives.