The True Americans are Native Americans

November is Native American Heritage month. It is important for us to remember that we too are strangers to this land that we call home. Long before the Europeans "discovered" and settled what is now North America there lived a proud people. We should all take the time to look back at who they were and how they helped to shape our history. In the next couple of pages I will be highlighting some of the more well known Native Americans. This is by no means a complete listing only a glimpse at a once great people.

I would first like to take a look at the "Plains Indians." There were a few significant Native Americans that lived and died on the Great Plains. They with out a doubt shaped the way the west settled.

Chief Sitting Bull was born in 1837 in what is now North Dakota. He was the son of the Sioux Chief Jumping Bull. He gained significant influence among the restless and dissatisfied young Indians. During the Civil War he orchestrated raids on white settlers in Iowa and Minnesota. Though he had agreed to peace in 1866, from 1869 to 1876 he frequently attacked whites that had encroached on the traditional territories of the Sioux Nation. His refusal to return to the reservation in 1876 led to the campaign in which General George Armstrong Custer, and his 7th Cavalry, were wiped out at the Battle of Little Big Horn, also knows as "Custer's Last Stand". Fearing retribution for his participation in the stunning victory of the Sioux Nation, and Allied Indian tribes, Sitting Bull with a large band moved into Canada. He returned to the US in 1881, and after 1883 lived at the Standing Rock Agency. In 1889 a treaty was made reducing Sioux territory. Difficulties in the working of this, and religious excitement in connection with the Ghost Dance craze, led to an outbreak in 1890. Rumors of a coming Indian Messiah who would defeat the whites, and Indian dissatisfaction at the disposition of their territory, created such great turmoil in 1889-1890 that the US Army decided to arrest Sitting Bull as a precaution.

Chief Red Cloud was born around 1822, and died on December 10, 1909. He was the celebrated Chief of the Oglala Sioux Indian Tribe. One of the fiercest enemies the U.S. Army ever fought, he led the successful Indian Campaign known as Red Cloud's War between 1866 and 1868. He fought the army for control of parts of Montana and Wyoming. He was born close to the present city of North Platte, Nebraska. He was the son of an Oglala mother and Brule Father. Red Cloud's Uncle, Chief Smoke, helped raise him. As a young man, he warred against both the Pawnee and Sioux, and became a skilled warrior. He started Red Cloud's war in 1866, which was the most successful war an Indian nation ever waged against the US Army. The military was building forts along the Bozeman Trail straight through the Lakota Territory of Wyoming and Montana. As miners and pioneers started encroaching on Lakota Land, Red Cloud feared the demise of the Indian way of life there. Red Cloud's military success forced the United States to make treaties. The US abandoned its forts on the Bozeman Trail, and gave the Lakota possession of much of South Dakota. In particular, the Lakota's were given the Black Hills of Montana and Wyoming. Peace was short-lived. In 1874, General Custer attacked Red Cloud. Red Cloud did not take part in the Lakota war of 1876-77 with Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and other war leaders. And therefore was not captured by the US Army. Red Cloud continued to fight for the freedom of his people. At Pine Ridge, he fought corrupt Indian agents who stole from the natives.

Crazy Horse was born on Rapid Creek in 1840. He was killed when he was only 37 years of age, September 6, 1877. He was stabbed in the back by an American soldier at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, while he was under U.S. Army protection. During his life he was a great leader of his people. He did not have an equal as a warrior or a chief. He gave submissive allegiance to no man, white or Indian, and claimed his inalienable rights as an Indian to wander at will over the hunting grounds of his people. He never registered at any agency; never touched the pen; never signed a treaty. He wanted only peace and a way of living for his people without having to live on the white man's reservations. Crazy Horse defended his people and their way of life in the only manner he knew, but only after he saw the treaty of 1868 broken. This treaty, signed by the President of the United States said, "Paha Sapa, the Black Hills, will forever and ever be the sacred land of the Indians." He took to the warpath only after he saw his friend Conquering Bear killed; only after he saw the failure of the government agents to bring required treaty guarantees such as meat, clothing, tents and necessities for existence. In battle the Sioux war leader would rally his warriors with the cry, "It is a good day to fight; - it is a good day to die." In 1877 Crazy Horse's wife, staying at Fort Robinson, was dying of tuberculosis. His only child a daughter had recently died of this same disease. Under a guarantee of safe conduct both into and out of the Fort, Crazy Horse agreed to confer with the Commanding Officers. History has proven since that the intention never was to let Crazy Horse go free, but rather to ship him to the Dry Tortugas in Florida. The chief had no notion what was in store for him until he entered the guardhouse and saw the bars on the windows. Right then he was face to face with the fate the white man had intended for him. He drew a knife (the fact that he had not been disarmed is good proof that he never surrendered) and attempted to get to his Indian friends outside the stockade. Little Big Man, friend and warrior companion of Crazy Horse, carrying out his orders as an Indian policeman, seized Crazy Horse's arms. In struggling to free himself, Crazy Horse slashed Little Big Man's wrist. At this point, an infantry man of the guard made a successful lunge with a bayonet and Crazy Horse fell, mortally wounded. In the minds of the Indians today, the life and death of Crazy Horse parallels the tragic history of the red man since the white man invaded their homes and lands. One of many great and patriotic Indian heroes, Crazy Horse's tenacity of purpose, his modest life, his unfailing courage, his tragic death set him apart and above the others.

Chief He-Dog was born around 1830 on the Laramie plains. He was a member of the Oglala people, one of several groups calling themselves Lakota, but best known by a contradiction of their French nickname - Sioux, the enemy. Warrior brother to Crazy Horse, Chief He Dog played a major part in the brief, heroic battle of the Sioux Indians against the entire force of the United States Government. He was drawn in the hostilities at age 14, in 1854. Side by side, He Dog and Crazy Horse fought many times before their greatest victory, the defeat of Colonel Custer and the Seventh Cavalry at Little Big Horn. The ensuing, massive U.S. military response forced the Plains Indians to reservations soon thereafter; those not ordered were starved. With quiet dignity He Dog continued to lead his people, until his death on the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota at the age of 100 years.

In the next few days I will be adding to what I have published here. I hope sincerely hope that anyone that reads this both learns something new and gains an appreciation for our True American brothers and sisters went through.