Narrative of the Conquest of Finland by the Russians, in the Years 1808-09 (1854)

Sixteen-year-old Zakarias ( Zak ) Hammer, born to a white father and a Dakota Indian mother, is considered neither fish nor fowl by an 1862 Minnesota frontier society. When the Dakota attack Minnesota’s prairie settlements, Zak is unwillingly thrust into the conflict and sees it from both sides. After the Dakota are defeated by the U.S. Army, Zak’s Dakota cousin his same age is captured and wrongly labeled as a war criminal to be executed. Zak takes drastic measures to save his cousin, and in so doing makes a choice about his heritage that changes his life forever.