Abbie Gardner-Sharp (1843 – January 17, 1921) was born in 1843 in New York State to Rowland Gardner and Frances M. Smith. She was the third of four children – Mary M., Eliza M., Abigail and Rowland, youngest child and only son. Her family moved west to pioneer in Iowa in 1856. On March 8, 1857, Gardner-Sharp was one of four young women abducted by

Inkpaduta Inkpaduta ( Dakota: Iŋkpáduta, variously translated as "Red End," "Red Cap," or "Scarlet Point") (about 17971881) was a war chief of the Wahpekute band of the Dakota (Eastern or Santee Dakota) during the 1857 Spirit Lake Massacre and later W ...

during the

Spirit Lake Massacre The Spirit Lake Massacre (March 8–12, 1857) was an attack by a ''Wahpekute'' band of Santee Sioux on scattered Iowa frontier settlements during a severe winter. Suffering a shortage of food, the renegade chief Inkpaduta (Scarlet Point) led 14 ...

. The Indians involved in the massacre were a band of brigands alienated from their tribal structure (Wahpekuta Sioux) and outlawed by every band. By May the young teen was ransomed, and after 81 days of captivity, returned to white society. Gardner-Sharp had a long history of illness after the event, likely due to

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...

, or PTSD. Very soon after returning home, at the age of 14, Gardner-Sharp married 18 year-old Casville Sharp, with whom she had three children, the youngest a daughter who died in childhood. Her memoir of the abduction and captivity provided income for Gardner-Sharp and her family, and it went into seven editions during her lifetime. In 1891 using proceeds from her book sales, as a quietly divorced mother of two sons, she purchased the property and cabin where as a 14-year old she had seen eight of her family members shot and then beaten to death with firewood, and where across the road her parents and siblings were buried. As the location of the last Indian massacre in Iowa, known nationwide through Gardner-Sharp’s memoir, the site became a popular tourist attraction. Gardner-Sharp operated it as a small museum and gift shop. A memorial provided by the State of Iowa was placed on the site. Gardner-Sharp died on January 17, 1921, and was buried with her birth family near the Abbie Gardner Sharp cabin, which still stands near Arnold's Park in Spirit Lake, Iowa.Abbie Gardner Sharp Cabin
State Historical Society of Iowa. Accessed 2 September 2023.

References

External links

* Contemporar
''news article''
pertaining to the death of Abbie Gardner-Sharp
History of the Spirit Lake Massacre and Captivity of Miss Abbie Gardner: the Raid of the Santee Sioux Against the Iowa Frontier Settlements, 1857
By Abbie Gardner-Sharp (Author). Accessed 2 September 2023.
History of the Spirit Lake Massacre and Captivity of Miss Abbie Gardner: the Raid of the Santee Sioux Against the Iowa Frontier Settlements, 1857
By Abbie Gardner-Sharp (Author). University Library Digital Collections, Iowa State University. Accessed 2 September 2023.
A History of Violence: Walking the Blood-Soaked Shores of Spirit Lake: Rethinking an Early-American Captivity Narrative
By Katie Prout (Author), 1 March 2017. www.LitHub.com, accessed 2 Sep 2023. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner-Sharp, Abbie 1843 births 1850s missing person cases 1921 deaths 19th-century American memoirists 19th-century American women American people taken hostage American women memoirists Formerly missing American people Kidnapped American people Missing person cases in Iowa History of women in Iowa Native American history of Iowa

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