The Third United States Infantry, established in 1784 as the First American Regiment, was the storied veteran of many imperial campaigns. Created by act of Congress, it formed the nucleus of the regular United States Army. William Henry Harrison commanded it on the Canadian border during the War of 1812, after which it was rechristened as the Third Infantry. In 1840 , it was sent to Florida to flight the Second Seminole War. Under Winfield Scott, it stormed the ramparts of Chapultepec. As a result of its hardcharging service in the Mexican War, it was given the rare distinction of...

The Anishinaabe observed themiigis,themidewiwinspiritual shell, or cowrie, as a source of visionary presence in the northern woodland lakes. The Grand Medicine Society,midewiwin,is an association of Native healers and shamans. Themiigisarose from the eastern sea and moved westward with the natural course of the sun. The Anishinaabe origin stories count themiigisfor the last time ingichigami,the great sea, or Lake Superior.

The Anishinaabe envisioned their associations with the earth by natural reason, by tricky stories, and byodoodemi,to have a totem, an imagic sense of presence in the time...

the anishinaabe

natives of the miigis

fugitive rivers

canoe birch

white pine

face the clouds

and cedar boughs

worthy hunters

cut the barren

masks of hunger

boreal shadows

eternal spirits

on the ancient stone

crafty trickster

naanabozho

created natives

bears and cranes

muskrats

beaver moves

by sorrow and tease

arouses stories

lonesome

uncertain scenes

blue and watery october storms

turn and rush

across leech lake

great waves

break on shore

at bear island

native colors heave

elusive otters

trace the bay

ravens bounce

on the main

and wolves await

the sacred rise

of sandhill cranes

over the birch

feathers and...

sugar point

near bear island

south of federal dam

comes to light

creation stories

chance and crusade

memories ashore

native rights

of rivers

ginseng

cedar stands

stolen by grafters

constitutional

greed and guile

stately suits

treaty decadence

over native liberty

anishinaabe warriors

honored forever

among ravens

bright leaves

and chancy shamans

outmaneuvered

the third infantry

that october

trace of costumes blue shadows

wounded soldiers

shiver alone

at sugar point

wabigamaa

the sandy narrows

bears the name

battle point

on the leech lake

indian reservation

six soldiers dead

bones cracked

muscles torn

bloody wounds

by winchesters

over the turnips

cabbage and...

treacherous waves

break overnight

on leech lake

lanterns out

at the lakeside hotel

on walker bay

boats groan

and beat

an ominous air

against the city dock

natives shiver

at onigum agency

hungry children

bound in blankets

ait outside

for late annuities

demeaned

by treaty ties

federal legacies

overrun by factors

and shady agents

bugonaygeshig

bear island pillager

midewiwin healer

elusive warrior more than sixty years

the third native

honored by the name

hole in the day

turns his eyes

against the wind

and rides the shadows

with the ravens

that cold morning

at agency bay

colonel tinker

and deputy...

brevet major

melville wilkinson

mustachioed

combat commander

third infantry regiment

fort snelling

service in civil

and colonial wars

gallant crusader

plucked the nez perce

from their homeland

by military lies

never imagined

as he marched

down the city dock

at walker bay

saluted the brigadier

general john bacon

department of dakota

unlucky names

and military chance

that cold and miserable

october morning

a slow and miserable

winchester death

by pillager warriors

at sugar point general bacon

charily boarded

the chief of duluth

a new steamer

on leech lake

owned by the walker

timber company

heaved on the rise

shuddered

against...

lieutenant colonel

abram horbach

returned a salute

boarded a slow train

for walker

and leech lake

endowed by fidelity

dominion duty

two hundred

soldiers of destiny

clumsy and rustic

with empire weapons

and a gatling gun

arrived in time

to honor the dead

and badly wounded

mostly immigrants

never to fight

hole in the day

bear island pillagers

the chance war

closed overnight

third infantry

cold and bloody

routed by natives

at sugar point sentries posted

trenches cut

across the garden

scent of cabbage

bloody blue wool

dusted with snow

silent counts

by wounded soldiers

newspaper storiers

side by side...

hole in the day

undaunted warrior

pillager of liberty

returned at sunrise

with the ravens

to his garden

cabbage cut

potatoes plundered

midewigaan

cabin bloodied

by soldiers

traces of dead

blue savages

at sugar point

medicine bundles

midewayaan

miigis and otter

eagle feathers

stolen and stained

sacred stories

trickster creations

corrupted

by nervy soldiers

routed at last

by pillager bears hole in the day

gathered cucumbers

and spent shells

from newly issued

krag jorgensens

cast among

bloody potatoes

and wounded cabbages

fashioned a memorial

war necklace

native survivance

remembrance

a defeated army

overcome by winchesters

and fierce irony

private wicker...