Post by emilylevine on Sept 10, 2020 17:11:37 GMT -5
Josephine Waggoner has a page or two about Turning Bear in her book, published as Witness:
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Matȟó Kawíŋǧe
Turning Bear
<IMAGE 72 verso>
Chief Turning Bear was born the year called Šúŋgleškáota Awičáglípi, When Many Spotted Horses Were Brought Home. This was 1840 and these horses were taken from the southern tribes. He was of the Hiŋháŋšuŋ Wapȟáha band; this band was later called Wágluȟe for hanging around the garrison. They were accused of trading their daughters to the white man for loaves of white bread. The hostiles who did not want to mix their blood with the whites made the accusation. Turning Bear was of the Brulé tribe of Sioux. He was with Red Cloud, Swift Bear, and Spotted Tail when they were sent out into Wyoming to bring in Crazy Horse. Turning Bear swore allegiance to Crazy Horse and gave his word that he would stay by him no matter what happened.
These promises proved futile when the time came for Crazy Horse to be imprisoned. Turning Bear could not bear the thought of imprisonment. After Crazy Horse’s speech at Fort Robinson, he was escorted by soldiers toward a building which proved to be a guardhouse. When Turning Bear saw the windows and door he stopped short and exclaimed, “Why, this is a guardhouse!” Little Big Man, a Brulé warrior who was there said, “Crazy Horse, do not disgrace yourself by entering a prison. Remember what you are and what you have been to your people. To an Indian, an honorable death by an enemy is better than an ignoble imprisonment of shame and disgrace.”
Crazy Horse was a proud chieftain, a born leader in battle, too proud to be subdued by an enemy race. It was never intended that he should grovel in the dust while the enemy stood on his neck. He was a true son of his ancestral forefathers who had died fighting for what God had given them as a natural heritage. It was right that he should die at the point of a sharp instrument—in those days a racial claim for all who would die defending their nation.
After a guard stabbed Crazy Horse through the body for refusing to enter the guardhouse, he was placed in a hospital tent where hourly messages were sent to General Lee by scouts on duty. Louis Bordeaux was the interpreter.1
Turning Bear tried to rally the hostiles to action, but they were held to their promise for peace by the agency Indians and the scouts. Half the Indians were for fighting and half were against it. All the chiefs had to talk a good deal to keep their men from breaking out. The Indians had been disarmed, so there were no weapons to avenge this deed, and it was Crazy Horse’s wish that his life be the only one to be sacrificed. He wanted peace among his people.
Turning Bear lost his life while crossing a railroad track at Valentine, Nebraska in 1896. He was fifty-two years old.2
(Information from Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun)
My note:
2. Hardorff gives us the following “capsule biography of the Brulé leader: ‘Turning Bear . . . enlisted in the U.S. Indian Scouts in 1877. In 1880 he was indicted for the killing of a Nebraska citizen, but was released because civilian authorities did not have legal authority over Indians. It is further known that he took a leading part in the Ghost Dance hostilities that broke out in 1890. Turning Bear was killed by a train in 1912 while waiting for his son’s arrival from Carlisle Institute at the railroad station in Valentine, Nebraska” (114).
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Matȟó Kawíŋǧe
Turning Bear
<IMAGE 72 verso>
Chief Turning Bear was born the year called Šúŋgleškáota Awičáglípi, When Many Spotted Horses Were Brought Home. This was 1840 and these horses were taken from the southern tribes. He was of the Hiŋháŋšuŋ Wapȟáha band; this band was later called Wágluȟe for hanging around the garrison. They were accused of trading their daughters to the white man for loaves of white bread. The hostiles who did not want to mix their blood with the whites made the accusation. Turning Bear was of the Brulé tribe of Sioux. He was with Red Cloud, Swift Bear, and Spotted Tail when they were sent out into Wyoming to bring in Crazy Horse. Turning Bear swore allegiance to Crazy Horse and gave his word that he would stay by him no matter what happened.
These promises proved futile when the time came for Crazy Horse to be imprisoned. Turning Bear could not bear the thought of imprisonment. After Crazy Horse’s speech at Fort Robinson, he was escorted by soldiers toward a building which proved to be a guardhouse. When Turning Bear saw the windows and door he stopped short and exclaimed, “Why, this is a guardhouse!” Little Big Man, a Brulé warrior who was there said, “Crazy Horse, do not disgrace yourself by entering a prison. Remember what you are and what you have been to your people. To an Indian, an honorable death by an enemy is better than an ignoble imprisonment of shame and disgrace.”
Crazy Horse was a proud chieftain, a born leader in battle, too proud to be subdued by an enemy race. It was never intended that he should grovel in the dust while the enemy stood on his neck. He was a true son of his ancestral forefathers who had died fighting for what God had given them as a natural heritage. It was right that he should die at the point of a sharp instrument—in those days a racial claim for all who would die defending their nation.
After a guard stabbed Crazy Horse through the body for refusing to enter the guardhouse, he was placed in a hospital tent where hourly messages were sent to General Lee by scouts on duty. Louis Bordeaux was the interpreter.1
Turning Bear tried to rally the hostiles to action, but they were held to their promise for peace by the agency Indians and the scouts. Half the Indians were for fighting and half were against it. All the chiefs had to talk a good deal to keep their men from breaking out. The Indians had been disarmed, so there were no weapons to avenge this deed, and it was Crazy Horse’s wish that his life be the only one to be sacrificed. He wanted peace among his people.
Turning Bear lost his life while crossing a railroad track at Valentine, Nebraska in 1896. He was fifty-two years old.2
(Information from Susan Bordeaux Bettelyoun)
My note:
2. Hardorff gives us the following “capsule biography of the Brulé leader: ‘Turning Bear . . . enlisted in the U.S. Indian Scouts in 1877. In 1880 he was indicted for the killing of a Nebraska citizen, but was released because civilian authorities did not have legal authority over Indians. It is further known that he took a leading part in the Ghost Dance hostilities that broke out in 1890. Turning Bear was killed by a train in 1912 while waiting for his son’s arrival from Carlisle Institute at the railroad station in Valentine, Nebraska” (114).