THE STORY OF A MINNESOTAN

[N.p.: Privately Printed, ca. 1912].. 86pp., including frontispiece portrait. Original half grey cloth and paper boards, titles stamped in gilt on front board. Light shelf wear, rear board lightly rubbed. Ink inscription on front free endpaper by Stewart G. Collins, one of the author's sons. Near fine. An autobiographical sketch of Loren Warren Collins, associate justice of the Minnesota State Supreme Court from 1887 through 1904. This brief account of Collins' life includes his first-hand account of the Dakota War of 1862, when Collins was part of the "Hastings Rangers," which formed a part of an army of volunteer infantry, artillery and citizen militia that defeated Chief Little Crow at the Battle of Wood Lake. Collins' narrative includes a brief description of the battle of the Battle of Wood Lake and the subsequent trial of the Dakota men who participated in the battle, as well as a more lengthy account of the largest one-day mass execution in American history, when thirty-eight Dakota men were hanged simultaneously. The present book was privately issued by Collins' sons after his death, as they felt it would be of interest to those men and women who "had their part in the building of Minnesota."