Henry Hastings Sibley: Divided Heart by Rhoda R. Gilman

136 Michigan Historical Review Over the years the Veneklasens produced millions of bricks in eight variations of red, orange, brown, and white. Veneklasen structures can still be seen?in Holland, Zeeland, and elsewhere in Ottawa, Allegan, and Kent counties. The book presents Douma's documentation of more than 250 structures?^including churches, schools, residences, and businesses? and even a county poorhouse. Many remain undocumented, however. Unfortunately, many of the original Veneklasen structures have been demolished or radically altered. Despite being born in an age that ushered in a popular rush of standardized catalogue plans, Veneklasen houses tended to be one of a kind?reflecting the specific needs of their owners. Veneklasen Brick is an example of cultural resource documentation and preservation history at its best as well as a good read. Towns like Zeeland and Holland understand the economic value of historic preservation, but it is difficult to predict how many of the surviving Veneklasen houses in the countryside will survive demolition asWest Michigan suburban sprawl continues to cover the traditional landscape. Douma's story has a happy ending: a photograph of the new brick entrance arch to the Quincy Elementary School in Zeeland, which matches the color, texture, and design of the traditional Veneklasen brick. This is a brilliant way to introduce schoolchildren to a forgotten part of the economic and cultural history ofWest Michigan. James Schmiechen Central Michigan University Rhoda R. Gilman. Henry Hastings Sibley: Divided Heart. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004. Pp. 320. Bibliography. Index. Maps. Notes. Photographs. Cloth $32.95. Henry Hastings Sibley: Divided Heart is a much-needed full-scale biography of the first governor of Minnesota. Henry was born in 1811 in Detroit. He was the son of Solomon Sibley, chief justice of the Michigan Territorial Court. As he grew up, he was influenced by and came to share the ideals and the self-interests of the class of leaders who gave shape to the American colonization of the Old Northwest. Sibley's name is often associated with his controversial role as the commander of the militia that put down the 1862 uprising of the Dakota in southern Minnesota. In her excellent biography, Rhoda Gilman has chosen to focus on Sibley the man and not specifically on the Dakota controversy. She gives us the whole fabric of Sibley's life and clears the way so that readers may better understand his career. Book Reviews 137 Gilman starts with Sibley's background, his youth inDetroit, and his apprenticeship with the American Fur Company on Mackinac Island. In 1834 he was made a junior partner in the western division of the company and was placed in charge of the Dakota trade in theMinnesota River valley. So began his complex involvement with the Dakota. Gilman carefully explores that relationship?beginning with Sibley's early interactions with the Dakota as a trader and a hunter. Like most traders, Sibley forged close ties to those with whom he traded. In 1841 Red Blanket Woman, who was of the Dakota tribe, gave birth to their daughter Helene. That same year, Sibley lobbied unsuccessfully in Washington for a plan to establish an all-Indian territory. Not all of Sibley's dealings with theDakota were harmonious, however. He had a trader's relationship with them for the most part, and he treated the Dakota both as friends and adversaries to be outwitted in business dealings. In the treaties negotiated at Traverse de Sioux in 1851, southern Minnesota was essentially taken from the Dakota. The treaties?which Sibley guided with a heavy hand, and which Hercules Dousman, Sibley's associate, prophesied "would hang like a curse over our heads the balance of our lives" (p. 134)?favored the traders at theDakota's expense. Gilman is especially deft at providing the political context in which the treaties were created. Her treatment of the uprising, which followed the failure of those treaties, and its suppression (during which time Sibley was named a brigadier general in the Union army), is equally impressive. In time Sibley emerged as a business and community leader in the area around Fort Snelling (now Minneapolis /St. Paul) and became the father of a growing white family. He had married...

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