Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2013

In the summer of 1862, Americans could not pick up a newspaper without reading of yet another tragic loss of life during the never-ending series of battles in the War Between the States. During this same period, a series of horrific events unfolded along the frontier in western Minnesota that would have captivated the attention of every American had they occurred at any other time in history. The Dakota Sioux, who had initially lived in peace with the growing population of whites, became increasingly frustrated with what they considered a series of broken promises by the federal government. As a result, they decided the only permanent solution to their problems was a quick and brutal campaign to kill every white settler in the area. Almost one thousand innocent lives were lost during the rampage, the largest loss of life during any Native American uprising in the history of America.

An enclave of emigrants consisting of former German revolutionaries, religious freethinkers, and Turners who only a few years prior had built the city of New Ulm, Minnesota within just a few miles of the reservation became prime targets of the bloody rampage. The Fuse is a fictional account of these actual events as seen through the eyes of New Ulm residents Anna and Richard Fischer, the author’s great-great-grandparents.