Indian Heroes and Great ChieftainsEastman, Charles A.
History
Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains
Eastman, Charles A.
Dakota Indians -- Biography; Heroes; Indians of North America -- Biography
“What! What! is this Little Crow? Is that Little Six? You, too, White
Dog, are you here? I cannot see well now, but I can see with my mind’s
eye the stream of blood you are about to pour upon the bosom of this
mother of ours” (meaning the earth). “I stand before you on three legs,
but the third leg has brought me wisdom” [referring to the staff with
which he supported himself]. “I have traveled much, I have visited among
the people whom you think to defy. This means the total surrender of our
beautiful land, the land of a thousand lakes and streams. Methinks you
are about to commit an act like that of the porcupine, who climbs a
tree, balances himself upon a springy bough, and then gnaws off the very
bough upon which he is sitting; hence, when it gives way, he falls upon
the sharp rocks below. Behold the great Pontiac, whose grave I saw near
St. Louis; he was murdered while an exile from his country! Think of the
brave Black Hawk! Methinks his spirit is still wailing through Wisconsin
and Illinois for his lost people! I do not say you have no cause to
complain, but to resist is self-destruction. I am done.”
It is supposed that this speech was his last, and it was made, though
vainly, in defense of the Americans whom he had loved. He died at Fort
Pierre, South Dakota, in 1864. His people say that he died a natural
death, of old age. And yet his exploits are not forgotten. Thus lived
and departed a most active and fearless Sioux, Tamahay, who desired to
die young!
GALL
Chief Gall was one of the most aggressive leaders of the Sioux nation in
their last stand for freedom.
The westward pressure of civilization during the past three centuries
has been tremendous. When our hemisphere was “discovered”, it had been
inhabited by the natives for untold ages, but it was held undiscovered
because the original owners did not chart or advertise it. Yet some of
them at least had developed ideals of life which included real liberty
and equality to all men, and they did not recognize individual ownership
in land or other property beyond actual necessity. It was a soul
development leading to essential manhood. Under this system they brought
forth some striking characters.
Gall was considered by both Indians and whites to be a most impressive
type of physical manhood. From his picture you can judge of this for
yourself.
Let us follow his trail. He was no tenderfoot. He never asked a soft
place for himself. He always played the game according to the rules and
to a finish. To be sure, like every other man, he made some mistakes,
but he was an Indian and never acted the coward.
The earliest stories told of his life and doings indicate the spirit of
the man in that of the boy.
When he was only about three years old, the Blackfoot band of Sioux were
on their usual roving hunt, following the buffalo while living their
natural happy life upon the wonderful wide prairies of the Dakotas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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