Indian Jim

This installment of Indian Jim: A Tale of the Minnesota Massacre by Edward S. Ellis opens aboard a Minnesota River steamer in August 1862 carrying settlers and travelers. Among the passengers are Adolphus Halleck, a young artist seeking landscape sketches inspired by Bierstadt's Rocky Mountain paintings, and his cousin Marian Allondale, visiting from Cincinnati. Through their conversation, Marian expresses strong disapproval of local Dakota Indians, calling them violent and repulsive, while Adolphus defends them as noble and chivalrous based on romantic literature. Marian reveals she intends to leave Minnesota after her stay, and discusses her uncle John Brainerd's settlement and his family, including his son Will, a wounded Civil War veteran with whom she apparently has romantic feelings. The dialogue touches on Christian Indians like "Christian Jim" and praises missionaries' work.