I need info on Turning Bear & family

[lakotaman97]

[Dietmar]

Turning Bear was a son of Gassy, a Sicangu delegate to Washington in 1872. I have compiled some details about Turning Bear´s life that I will post later on.

[lakotaman97]

That will be awesome! I also have a few things to share that I discovered

[gregor]

Here another pic of Turning Bear by John Anderson about 1900

[gregor]

And this is what I have on Turning Bear:

Lakotas on the Rosebud Remember The Life and Death of Turning Bear

By Claes H. Jacobson

He witnessed the killing of Crazy Horse and led Ghost Dancers.

“Turning Bear, a Sioux Indian aged 66 years, of Rosebud Reservation, met death under the wheels of train No. 3 early Tuesday morning,” the weekly Valentine Democrat reported on Thursday, September 7, 1911. The story didn’t make the national wires. Turning Bear was no Red Cloud, whose death at age 87 two years earlier on the Pine Ridge Reservation made headlines in major newspapers across the country. Still, Turning Bear left many marks in Lakota history, and his life story should be remembered—or perhaps heard for the first time—a century after his death at the Valentine railroad station.


The Rosebud (or Sicangu) Lakota people have not forgotten Turning Bear. They marked his death on the Big Missouri Winter Count buffalo hide, the traditional Lakota way of recording historical tribal events. In the early 1920s, John Alvin Anderson, who had begun taking photographs of the Lakota people on the Rosebud Reservation in the 19th century, captured Sam Kills Two holding a paintbrush and sitting before a copy of this winter count. Labelled “The Maker of Records,” it appears in Anderson’s 1929 book Sioux Memory Gems.

Earlier that decade, on October 27, 1921, a newspaper in Todd County, S.D., printed an article by Rosebud resident George DeCory about Turning Bear (Mato Kawinge in Lakota), written in their native language. It begins:

Lakota Wotanin

Mato kawinge, ehenni Laota hin toka ob kicizapi sa qon hehan ohitika keyapi.

Unfortunately, no English translation was provided. But many archived government records register Turning Bear’s name, position in the tribe and activities. The earliest known mention of him appears in the 1886 Rosebud census; the last comes in 1914. His name also appears in contemporary news accounts, a private diary and several books.


Turning Bear, according to Rosebud censuses, was born around 1848 somewhere out on the prairie. His father, Gassy, who would live until 1906, was a local tribal headman and in that capacity visited Washington and met with the president. With Two Strike, Spotted Tail, Whirlwind Soldier, Swift Bear and about 60 other Lakotas, Turning Bear enlisted in July 1877 as a U.S. Army Indian scout at Camp Sheridan, Neb. That September 5 a soldier mortally wounded the great Oglala Sioux warrior Crazy Horse at the then Camp Robinson (Neb.) guardhouse. When Turning Bear himself died 34 years later, the Valentine Democrat noted: “The death of Turning Bear recalls many events in early Indian history to the mind of early settlers of the Northwest. Turning Bear was with Crazy Horse, the noted Sioux chief, when he met his death at Fort Robinson.”

Two years after his second enlistment period as a scout had ended in June 1878, Turning Bear was accused of horse stealing. In an August 9, 1880, letter to the commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, John Cook, Rosebud’s acting Indian agent, wrote: “On or about the 23rd day of July last, six Brule Sioux Indians, named, respectively, Turning Bear, Bear Man, Gray Dog, Bad Thunder, Horned Horses and Two Calf, left this reservation without permission and travelled leisurely toward the Loup in the state of Nebraska. Their object in making this journey was, in their own language, to recover stolen Indian horses. In plain terms, it was a horse-stealing party. They were successful; they stole seven horses used in addition thereto, killed a white man (name unknown) and returned to the agency on the 2nd inst. and boasted of their exploits.”

Indian police at Rosebud arrested Turning Bear and the five other men, but apparently none were convicted of horse stealing or any other crime. Turning Bear’s reputation as a solid citizen remained intact, and on January 1, 1886, new Indian agent James G. Wright appointed him a second lieutenant in the Indian police at a salary of $10 a month. Turning Bear did a good enough job to merit reappointment two years later.

By the end of the decade, Turning Bear had become active in the nonviolent Ghost Dance, which filled many Lakotas with hope but terrified white settlers and Indian agents. In November 1890, troops under Brig. Gen. John R. Brooke arrived. In turn, Turning Bear, Eagle Pipe, Crow Dog, High Hawk and some 1,100 followers left the reservation for the Badlands.

After the massacre at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890, Turning Bear became a spokesman for the Ghost Dancers in peace councils with Brooke. Turning Bear, Eagle Pipe, High Hawk, Two Strike and Crow Dog were asked to come to Washington, D.C. Agent Wright complained about it in a January 23, 1891, letter to the Indian commissioner. “Turning Bear is not nor ever has been considered a chief or headman,” Wright wrote. “I am informed he has acted as lieutenant to the leaders in the recent trouble. He is a fearless Indian who formerly was employed as a policeman and did good service but was too much influenced by the nonprogressive Indians to be reliable. He is a prominent figure in Omaha dances and is generally profusely decorated with paint and feathers and robed in a blanket.”

Lieutenant Edward Dravo of the 6th Cavalry wrote an article in the May 30, 1893, Army and Navy Journal about meeting Turning Bear at the Rosebud Agency that spring while recruiting Indians for Troop L of the 6th Cavalry—the first Indian unit in the Department of Dakota. Dravo sent the War Department a report about trying to recruit Brulé cavalrymen:

During the enlistment I kept myself as closely “in touch” with the Indians as possible and attended the three “Omaha dances” given by Sky Bull and Big Turkey’s camp during my stay at the agency.

Among the headmen of these camps is Turning Bear, who was a chief of the dog soldiers of the Brulés in the Badlands during the last outbreak. His brother is enlisted in the troop, and he tried to have his oldest son, a boy of 16, enlisted, but he failed to pass. Turning Bear afterward expressed great regret to me about his failure and hoped that when he got older and stronger he would have another chance. Turning Bear also came to me and asked me to promise him that if ever the troop was to go on dangerous service near where he was, I should let him know so that he could go with them.

Turning Bear’s son, Ottomar Turning Bear, got that second chance on February 13, 1893, when at age 17 he enlisted at Fort Niobrara as a trumpeter in Troop L. Certifying that he was the boy’s father, Turning Bear placed his X mark on the enlistment form. Another of Turning Bear’s sons, David, would enlist on June 24, 1918, as a private in the 351st Infantry, though by then his father had been dead for seven years. David served in northern France, dying of pneumonia at an Army hospital on October 10, 1918.

After that mention in the 1893 Army and Navy Journal, Turning Bear’s name did not appear in any written accounts until his death. The Valentine Democrat wasn’t the only newspaper to note the September 1911 train accident that killed the respected Lakota leader. “Turning Bear, a Rosebud Sioux Indian, was struck [by] the westbound passenger train at 1:30 o’clock Tuesday morning,” reported The Republican, also of Valentine. “He and his family were at the depot expecting to meet a friend. As No. 3 passenger train approached the depot from the east, Turning Bear attempted to join his family by crossing in front of the engine. It is believed that when he saw the train approaching, he became bewildered and did not realize the danger or the risk he was taking. Turning Bear was recognized as one of the best Indians on the reservation and never indulged in intoxicating drinks. Valentine citizens regret the accident and sympathize with his family and other relatives.”

Father Florentine Digmann, a Jesuit on the Rosebud Reservation, wrote in a September 5, 1911, diary entry: “Last night Turning Bear was overrun by a passenger train on the Valentine depot. Buried on the 7th. His family offered Holy Communion for his soul. Had been to the Sacraments not long ago.”

But Turning Bear is best remembered in pictures. Anderson photographed him several times and bought a tomahawk pipe from him in 1886.


Originally published in the April 2011 issue of Wild West.

[kingsleybray]

thanks for posting the useful biography of Turning Bear, gregor.

Some points to add. The first reference I have to Turning Bear is for 1868. According to Hollow Horn Bear, who was also there, Turning Bear fought at the Battle of Beecher's Island, in September of that year. He would have been probably 19 or 20.

When Turning Bear and his fellow defendants were released by a Nebraska court in spring 1881 after facing charges of killing a white man on Loup Fork, they were accorded a heroes' welcome home at Rosebud Agency. Spotted Tail seems to have been fond of Turning Bear and he urged the young man (age 32-33) to pledge the Sun Dance. Turning Bear then acted as Chief Dancer in the Rosebud Sun Dance (late June or July), just weeks before the killing of Spotted Tail by Crow Dog.

Thanks to Dietmar for some of these sources.

The 1886 Rosebud census lists his family as follows:

Turning Bear age 37
Standing Holy, wife, 35
Owns the Battle, daughter, 4
Brings Plenty, son, 15
Use His Eyes, son, 9
Brings the Horse, son, 7
Black Man, son, 2
Leader, step-son, 3

This implies that Turning Bear married in or about 1870. Given the reference to his role in the Beecher's Island fight, he and his family (including father Gassy) were probably in Two Strike's camp which refused to leave the hunting grounds south of the Platte when Spotted Tail led part of the Sicangu tribe to Whetstone Agency in September 1868. Two Strike's people joined Spotted Tail's camp in January 1870 after being driven from the hunting grounds by Col. Eugene A. Carr's 5th Cavalry and Pawnee Indian Scouts. So Turning Bear probably married later that year after his band re-integrated into the main Sicangu tribal camp.

Oral tradition shared with me indicates that the Strong Heart, Cante Tinza, society was in charge of policing duties in Two Strike's camp in 1868. This raises the possibility that Turning Bear himself was a member of that society as a young man. Later he certainly belonged to the Omaha society, as photographic evidence attests.

[Dietmar]

Thank you all,

I hope you have a little patience, I´m still gathering some great stuff about Turning Bear.

In the meantime, here he is with a woman and a child. She looks a little too old to be his wife, doesn´t she? Maybe his mother?:

[gregor]

Hi guys, thank you for your contributions ... but, when I look at the photographs ... is this really always the same person?
Or is it possible there were different "Turning Bears" among the Brulés?
Toksha
Gregor

[Dietmar]

Hi Gregor,

I believe it´s the same Turning Bear. We have his portraits in different time, light, angle, setting, etc., but I always recognize him as Turning Bear:

[emilylevine]

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).

[kingsleybray]

Turning Bear, Mato Kawinge, c. 1843-1910, was the son of a Sicangu (Brule) headman named Gassy. In the 1883 Upper Brule camp circle obtained by Rev WJ Cleveland (posted in the Tribal Circles section of this site), there is listed a band called Kakega (Making a Grating Sound, used of antler rasps used by some warrior societies). This was the band associated with Turning Bear's family. This was a wicoti or extended family group, numbering between about 50 to 100+ people. Not a large social group, then. In the 1860s it ran with Two Strike's larger band, hence Josephine Waggoner's assignment of Turning Bear to Two Strike's band, Hinhansunwapaha (Owl Feather Headdress).

[carlo]

Two Strike and Turning Bear were still close in the 1880s, as supported by their (aborted) joint visit to the Crows in 1886.


Just to note, there is another Turning Bear (or Circling Bear), who was born and raised a Hunkpapa but became an Itazipco leader in late 1872, evidently through marriage.