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
Thus ended the life of a natural strategist of no mean courage and
ability. The great chief was buried without honors outside the cemetery
at the post, and for some years the grave was marked by a mere board at
its head. Recently some women have built a cairn of rocks there in token
of respect and remembrance.
RAIN-IN-THE-FACE
The noted Sioux warrior, Rain-in-the-Face, whose name once carried
terror to every part of the frontier, died at his home on the Standing
Rock reserve in North Dakota on September 14, 1905. About two months
before his death I went to see him for the last time, where he lay upon
the bed of sickness from which he never rose again, and drew from him
his life-history.
It had been my experience that you cannot induce an Indian to tell a
story, or even his own name, by asking him directly.
“Friend,” I said, “even if a man is on a hot trail, he stops for a
smoke! In the good old days, before the charge there was a smoke. At
home, by the fireside, when the old men were asked to tell their brave
deeds, again the pipe was passed. So come, let us smoke now to the
memory of the old days!”
He took of my tobacco and filled his long pipe, and we smoked. Then I
told an old mirthful story to get him in the humor of relating his own
history.
The old man lay upon an iron bedstead, covered by a red blanket, in a
corner of the little log cabin. He was all alone that day; only an old
dog lay silent and watchful at his master’s feet.
Finally he looked up and said with a pleasant smile:
“True, friend; it is the old custom to retrace one’s trail before
leaving it forever! I know that I am at the door of the spirit home.
“I was born near the forks of the Cheyenne River, about seventy years
ago. My father was not a chief; my grandfather was not a chief, but
a good hunter and a feast-maker. On my mother’s side I had some noted
ancestors, but they left me no chieftainship. I had to work for my
reputation.
“When I was a boy, I loved to fight,” he continued. “In all our boyish
games I had the name of being hard to handle, and I took much pride in
the fact.
“I was about ten years old when we encountered a band of Cheyennes.
They were on friendly terms with us, but we boys always indulged in sham
fights on such occasions, and this time I got in an honest fight with a
Cheyenne boy older than I. I got the best of the boy, but he hit me hard
in the face several times, and my face was all spattered with blood and
streaked where the paint had been washed away. The Sioux boys whooped
and yelled:
“‘His enemy is down, and his face is spattered as if with rain!
Rain-in-the-Face! His name shall be Rain-in-the-Face!’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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