 section 14 Little Wolf from Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains by Charles A. Eastman, O. Heesa. Little Wolf. If any people ever fought for liberty and justice it was the Cheyennes. If any ever demonstrated their physical and moral courage beyond cavalry it was this race of purely American heroes, among whom Little Wolf was a leader. I knew the chief personally very well. As a young doctor I was sent to the Pine Ridge Agency in 1890 as government physician to the Sioux and the Northern Cheyennes. While I heard from his own lips of that gallant dash of his people from their southern exile to their northern home I prefer that Americans should read of it in Dr. George Byrd Grinnell's book The Fighting Cheyennes. No account could be clearer or simpler and then too the author cannot be charged with the bias in favor of his own race. At the time that I knew him Little Wolf was a handsome man with the native dignity and gentleness, musical voice and a pleasant address of so many brave leaders of his people. One day when he was dining with us at our home on the reservation I asked him as I had a habit of doing for some reminiscences of his early life. He was rather reluctant to speak but a friend who was present contributed the following. Perhaps I can tell you why it is that he has been a lucky man all his life. When quite a small boy the tribe was one winter in want of food and his good mother had saved a small piece of buffalo meat which she solemnly brought forth and placed before him with a remark, my son must be patient for when he grows up he will know even harder times than this. He had eaten nothing all day and was pretty hungry but before he could lay hands on the meat a starving dog snatched it and bolted from the teepee. The mother ran after the dog and brought him back for punishment. She tied him to a post and was about to whip him when the boy interfered. Don't hurt him mother, he cried. He took the meat because he was hungrier than I am. I was told of another kind act of his under trying circumstances. While still a youth he was caught out with a party of buffalo hunters in a blinding blizzard. They were compelled to lie down side by side in the snow drifts and it was a day and a night before they could get out. The weather turned very cold and when the men arose they were in danger of freezing. Little Wolf pressed his fine buffalo robe upon an old man who was shaking with a chill and himself took the other's thin blanket. As a full grown young man he was attracted by a maiden of his tribe and according to the custom then-invogue the pair disappeared. When they returned to the camp as man and wife, behold there was great excitement over the affair. It seemed that a certain chief had given many presents and paid unmistakable court to the maid with the intention of marrying her and her parents had accepted the presents which meant consent so far as they were concerned. But the girl herself had not given consent. The resentment of the disappointed suitor was great. It was reported in the village that he had openly declared that the young man who defied and insulted him must expect to be punished. As soon as Little Wolf heard of the threats he told his father and friends that he had done only what it is every man's privilege to do. Tell the chief, said he, to come out with any weapon he pleases and I will meet him within the circle of lodges. He shall either do this or eat his words. The woman is not his. Her people accepted his gifts against her wishes. Her heart is mine. The chief apologized and thus avoided the inevitable duel which would have been a fight to the death. The early life of Little Wolf offered many examples of the dashing bravery characteristic of the Cheyennes and inspired the younger men to win laurels for themselves. He was still a young man, perhaps thirty-five, when the most trying crisis in the history of his people came upon them. As I know and as Dr. Grinnell's book Amply corroborates, he was the general who largely guided and defended them in that tragic flight from the Indian territory to their northern home. I will not discuss the justice of their cause. I prefer to quote Dr. Grinnell, lest it appear that I am in any way exaggerating the facts. They had come, he writes, from the high, dry country of Montana and North Dakota to the hot and humid Indian territory. They had come from a country where Buffalo and other game were still plentiful to a land where the game had been exterminated. Immediately on their arrival they were attacked by fever and egg-you, a disease wholly new to them. Food was scanty and they began to starve. The agent testified before a committee of the Senate that he never received supplies to subsist the Indians for more than nine months in each year. These people were meat-eaters, but the beef furnished them by the government inspectors was no more than skin and bone. The agent in describing their sufferings said, They have lived and that is about all. The Indians endured this for about a year and then their patients gave out. They left the agency to which they had been sent and started north. Though troops were camped close to them, they attempted no concealment of their purpose. Instead, they openly announced that they intended to return to their own country. We have heard much in past years of the March of the Nez Perce under Chief Joseph, but little is remembered of the Dolknife outbreak and the march to the north led by Little Wolf. The story of the journey has not been told, but in the traditions of the old army this campaign was notable, and old men who were stationed on the plains forty years ago are apt to tell you, if you ask them, that there never was such another journey since the Greeks marched to the sea. The fugitives pressed constantly northward undaunted while orders were flying over the wires and special trains were carrying men and horses to cut them off at all probable points on the different railway lines they must cross. Of the three hundred Indians, sixty or seventy were fighting men, the rest old men, women and children. An army officer once told me that thirteen thousand troops were hurrying over the country to capture or kill these few poor people who had left their fever-stricken south and in the face of every obstacle were steadily marching northward. The War Department set all its resources in operation against them, yet they kept on. If troops attacked them they stopped and fought until they had driven off the soldiers and then started north again. Sometimes they did not even stop, but marched along fighting as they marched. For the most part they tried and with success to avoid conflicts and had but four real hard fights in which they lost half a dozen men killed and about as many wounded. It must not be overlooked that the appeal to justice had first been tried before taking this desperate step. Little Wolf had gone to the agent about the middle of the summer and said to him, This is not a good country for us. We wish to return to our home in the mountains where we were always well. If you have not the power to give permission, let some of us go to Washington and tell them there how it is or do you write to Washington and get permission for us to go back. Stay one more year, replied the agent, and then we will see what we can do for you. No, said Little Wolf, before another year there will be none left to travel north. We must go now. Soon after this it was found that three of the Indians had disappeared and the chief was ordered to surrender ten men as hostages for their return. He refused. Three men, said he, who are traveling over wild country can hide so that they cannot be found. You would never get back these three and you would keep my men prisoners always. The agent then threatened if the ten men were not given up to withhold their rations and starve the entire tribe into submission. He forgot that he was addressing a Cheyenne. These people had not understood that they were prisoners when they agreed to friendly relations with the government and came upon the reservation. Little Wolf stood up and shook hands with all present before making his final deliberate address. Listen, my friends, I am a friend of the white people and have been so for a long time. I do not want to see blood spilt about this agency. I am going north to my own country. If you are going to send your soldiers after me I wish you would let us get a little distance away. Then if you want to fight I will fight you and we can make the ground bloody at that place. The Cheyenne was not bluffing. He said just what he meant and I presume the agent took the hint for although the military were there they did not undertake to prevent the Indians departure. Next morning the TPs were pulled down early and quickly. Toward evening of the second day the scout signaled the approach of troops. Little Wolf called his men together and advised them under no circumstances to fire until fired upon. An Arapaho scout was sent to them with a message. If you surrender now you will get your rations and be well treated. After what they had endured it was impossible not to hear such a promise with contempt. Said Little Wolf, We are going back to our own country. We do not want to fight. He was riding still nearer when the soldiers fired and at a signal the Cheyennes made a charge. They succeeded in holding off the troop for two days with only five men wounded and none killed. And when the military retreated the Indians continued northward carrying their wounded. This sort of thing was repeated again and again. Meanwhile Little Wolf held his men under perfect control. There were practically no depredations. They secured some boxes of ammunition left behind by retreating troops and at one point the young men were eager to follow and destroy an entire command who were apparently at their mercy but their leader withheld them. They had now reached the Buffalo country and he always kept his main object in sight. He was extraordinarily calm. Dr. Brinnell was told by one of his men years afterward. Little Wolf did not seem like a human being. He seemed like a bear. It is true that a man of his type in a crisis becomes spiritually transformed and moves as one in a dream. At the running water the band divided, doll-knife going toward Red Cloud Agency. He was near Fort Robinson when he surrendered and met his sad fate. Little Wolf remained all winter in the Sandhills where there was plenty of game and no white men. Later he went to Montana and then to Pine Ridge where he and his people remained in peace until they were removed to lame-deer Montana and there he spent the remainder of his days. There is a clear sky beyond the clouds of racial prejudice and in that final court of honor a noble soul like that of Little Wolf has a place. I wish to thank Reverend C. H. Boyo of LaSour, Minnesota for much of the material used in this chapter. In the beginning of the 19th century the Indian nations of the Northwest first experienced the pressure of civilization. At this period there was among them some brilliant leaders unknown to history for the curious reason that they cordially received and welcomed the newcomers rather than opposed them. The only difficulties were those arising among the European nations themselves and often involving the native tribes. Thus new environments brought new motives and our temptations were increased many fold with the new weapons, new goods, and above all the subtly destructive spirit water. Gradually it became known that the new race had a definite purpose and that purpose was to chart and possess the whole country, regardless of the rights of its earlier inhabitants. Still the old chiefs cautioned their people to be patient, for, said they, the land is vast, both races can live on it, each in their own way. Let us therefore befriend them and trust to their friendship. While they reasoned thus the temptations of graft and self-aggrandizement overtook some of the leaders. Hole in the Day, or Bagonay Kishig, was born in the opening days of this era. The word Kishig means either day or sky, and the name is perhaps more correctly translated Hole in the Sky. This gifted man inherited his name and much of his ability from his father, who was a war chief among the Ojibwe's, a Napoleon of the common people, and to carry on a relentless warfare against the Sioux. And yet, as was our custom at the time, peaceful meetings were held every summer, at which representatives of the two tribes would recount to one another all the events that had come to pass during the preceding year. Hole in the Day, the Younger, was a handsome man, tall and symmetrically formed, with much grace of manner and natural refinement. He was an astute student of diplomacy. The Ojibwe's allowed polygamy, and whether or not he approved the principle, he made political use of it by marrying the daughter of a chief in nearly every band. Through these alliances he held a controlling influence over the whole Ojibwe nation. Reverend Claude H. Bolio said of him, Hole in the Day was a man of distinguished appearance and native courtliness of manner. His voice was musical and magnetic, and with these qualities he had a subtle brain, a logical mind, and quite a remarkable gift of oratory. In speech he was not impassioned but clear and convincing, and held fast the attention of his hearers. It is of interest to note that his every day name among his tribesmen was the boy. What a boy he must have been. I wonder if the name had the same significance as with the Sioux, who applied it to any man who performs a difficult duty with alertness, dash, and natural courage. The man applies to one who adds to these qualities wisdom and maturity of judgment. The Sioux tell many stories of both the elder and the younger Hole in the Day. Once when the boy was still under ten years of age he was fishing on Gull Lake in a leaky Birchbark canoe. Presently there came such a burst of frantic war-whoops that his father was startled. He could not think of anything but an attack by the dreaded Sioux. Seizing his weapons he ran to the rescue of his son, only to find out that the little fellow had caught a fish so large that it was pulling his canoe all over the lake. Ugg, exclaimed the father, if a mere fish scares you so badly I fear you will never make a warrior. It is told of him that when he was very small the father once brought home two bear cubs and gave them to him for pets. The boy was feeding and getting acquainted with them outside his mother's Birchbark teepee, when suddenly he was heard to yell for help. The two little bears had treed the boy and were waltzing around the tree. His mother scared them off, but again the father laughed at him for thinking that he could climb trees better than a bear. The elder Hole in the Day was a daring warrior and once attacked and scalped a Sioux who was carrying his pelts to the trading-post in full sight of his friends. Of course he was instantly pursued and he leaped into a canoe which was lying nearby and crossed to an island in the Mississippi River near Fort Snelling. When almost surrounded by Sioux warriors he left the canoe and swam along the shore with only his nose above water, but as they were about to head him off he landed and hid behind the falling sheet of water known as Menaha Fawze, thus saving his life. It often happens that one who offers his life freely will after all die a natural death. The elder Hole in the Day so died when the boy was still a youth. Like Philip of Massachusetts, Chief Joseph the Younger and the brilliant Osceola, the mental fell gracefully upon his shoulders and he wore it during a short but eventful term of chieftainship. It was his to see the end of the original democracy on this continent. The clouds were fast thickening on the eastern horizon. The day of individualism and equity between man and man must yield to the terrific forces of civilization, the mass play of materialism, the cupidity of commerce with its twin brother politics. Under such conditions the Younger Hole in the Day undertook to guide his tribesmen. At first they were inclined to doubt the wisdom of so young a leader, but he soon proved a ready student of his people's traditions. And yet, like Spotted Tale and Little Crow, he adopted too willingly the white man's politics. He maintained the territory won from the Sioux by his predecessors. He negotiated treaties with the ability of a born diplomat, with one exception, and that exception cost him his life. Like other able Indians who foresaw the inevitable downfall of their race, he favored a gradual change of customs, leading to complete adoption of the white man's ways. In order to accustom the people to a new standard, he held that the chiefs must have authority and must be given compensation for their services. This was a serious departure from the old rule, but was tacitly accepted, and in every treaty he made there was a provision for himself in the way of a land grant or a cash payment. He early departed from the old idea of joint ownership of the Lake Superior, Ojibwe's, because he foresaw that it would cause no end of trouble for the Mississippi River Branch of which he was then the recognized head. But there were difficulties to come with the Leech Lake and Red Lake Bands, who held aloof from his policy, and the question of boundaries began to arise. In the first treaty negotiated with the government by young whole in the day, in 1855, a surplus was provided for the chiefs aside from the regular per capita payment, and this surplus was to be distributed in proportion to the number of Indians under each. Holden the day had by far the largest enrollment, therefore he got the lion's share of this fund. Furthermore, he received another sum set apart for the use of the head chief, and these things did not look right to the tribe. In the very next treaty he provided himself with an annuity of one thousand dollars for twenty years, beside a section of land near the village of Crow Wing, and the government was induced to build him a good house upon this land. In his home he had many white servants and henchmen and really lived like a lord. He dressed well in native style with the touch of civilized elegance, wearing coat and leggings of fine broadcloth, linen shirt with collar, and topping all a handsome black or blue blanket. His moccasins were off the finest deerskin and beautifully worked. His long, beautiful hair added much to his personal appearance. He was fond of entertaining and being entertained, and was a favorite both among army officers and civilians. He was especially popular with the ladies, and this fact will appear later in the story. At about this time the United States government took it upon itself to put an end to warfare between the Sioux and the Ojibwe's. A peace meeting was arranged at Fort Snelling with the United States as mediator. When the representatives of the two nations met at this grand council, whole in the day came as the head chief of his people, and with other chiefs appeared in considerable pomp and dignity. The wives of the government officials were eager for admission to this unusual gathering, but when they arrived there was hardly any space left except next to the Sioux chiefs, and the white ladies soon crowded this space to overflowing. One of the Sioux remarked, I thought this was to be a council of chiefs and braves, but I see many women among us. Thereupon the Ojibwe arose and spoken his courtliest manner. The Ojibwe chiefs will feel highly honored, said he, if the ladies will consent to sit on our side. Another sign of his alertness to gain favor among the whites was seen in the fact that he took part in the territorial campaigns, a most unusual thing for an Indian of that day. Being a man of means and influence he was listened to with respect by the scattered white settlers in his vicinity. He would make a political speech through an interpreter, but would occasionally break loose in his broken English and wind up with an invitation to drink in the following words. Gentlemen, you pemicons, Republicans, come out and drink. From 1855 to 1864 whole in the day was a well-known figure in Minnesota and scarcely less so in Washington, for he visited the capital quite often on tribal affairs. As I have said before, he was an unusually handsome man and was not unresponsive to flattery and the attentions of women. At the time of this incident he was perhaps thirty-five years old but looked younger. He had called upon the president and was on his way back to his hotel when he happened to pass the treasury building just as the clerks were leaving for the day. He was immediately surrounded by an inquisitive throng. Among them was a handsome young woman who asked through the interpreter if the chief would consent to an interview about his people to aid her in a paper she had promised to prepare. Whole in the day replied, If the beautiful lady is willing to risk calling on the chief at his hotel, her request will be granted. The lady went, and the result was so sudden and strong in attachment that both forgot all racial biases and differences of language and custom. She followed him as far as Minneapolis, and there the chief advised her to remain, for he feared the jealousy of some of his many wives. She died there, soon after giving birth to a son, who was brought up by a family named Woodbury. And some fifteen years ago I met the young man in Washington and was taken by him to call upon certain of his mother's relatives. The ascendancy of Whole in the day was not gained entirely through the consent of his people, but largely by government favor. Therefore there was strong suppressed resentment among his associate chiefs, and the Red Lake and Leech Lake Bands, in fact, never acknowledged him as their head, while they suspected him of making treaties which involved some of their land. He was in personal danger from this source, and his life was twice attempted, but though wounded, in each case he recovered. His popularity with Indian agents and officers lasted till the Republicans came into power in the sixties, and there was a new deal. The chief no longer received the favors and tips to which he was accustomed. In fact, he was in want of luxuries, and worse still, his pride was hurt by neglect. The new party had promised Christian treatment to the Indians, but it appeared that they were greater grafters than their predecessors, and unlike them kept everything for themselves, allowing no perquisites to any Indian chief. In his indignation at this treatment Whole in the day began exposing the frauds on his people, and so at a late day was converted to their defense. Perhaps he had not fully understood the nature of graft until he was in a position to view it from the outside. After all, he was excusable in seeking to maintain the dignity of his office, but he had departed from one of the fundamental rules of the race, namely, let no material gain be the motive or reward of public duty. He had wounded the ideals of his people beyond forgiveness, and he suffered the penalty. Yet his courage was not diminished by the mistakes of his past. Like the Sioux chief, Little Crow, he was called the betrayer of his people, and like him he made a desperate effort to regain lost prestige and turned savagely against the original betrayers of his confidence, the agents and Indian traitors. When the Sioux finally broke out in 1862, the first thought of the local politicians was to humiliate Whole in the day by arresting him and proclaiming some other head chief in his stead, and so doing they almost forced the Ojibwes to fight under his leadership. The chief had no thought of alliance with the Sioux, and was wholly unaware of the proposed action of the military on pretense of such a conspiracy on his part. He was on his way to the agency in his own carriage when a runner warned him of his danger. He thereupon jumped down and instructed the driver to proceed. His coachman was arrested by a file of soldiers, who when they discovered their mistake went to his residence in search of him. But meanwhile he had sent runners in every direction to notify his warriors and had moved his family across the Mississippi. When the military reached the river bank he was still in sight and the lieutenant called upon him to surrender. When he refused the soldiers were ordered to fire upon him, but he replied with his own rifle and with a whoop disappeared among the pine groves. It was remarkable how the whole tribe now rallied to the call of Whole in the day. He allowed no depredations to the young men under his leadership, but camped openly near the agency and awaited an explanation. Presently Judge Cooper of St. Paul, a personal friend of the chief, appeared, and later on the assistant secretary of the interior, accompanied by Mr. Nicolet, private secretary of President Lincoln. Apparently the great humanitarian president saw the whole injustice of the proceeding against a loyal nation, and the difficulty was at an end. Through the treaties of 1864, 1867, and 1868 was accomplished the final destiny of the Mississippi River Ojibwe's. Whole in the day was against their removal to what is now White Earth Reservation, but he was defeated in this and realized that the new turn of events meant the downfall of his race. He declared that he would never go on the new reservation, and he kept his word. He remained on one of his land-grants near Crow Wing. As the other chiefs assumed more power, the feeling of suspicion and hatred became stronger, especially among the pillager and red lake bands. One day he was waylaid and shot by a party of these disaffected Indians. He uttered a whoop and fell dead from his buggy. Thus died one of the most brilliant chiefs of the Northwest, who never defended his birthright by force of arms, although almost compelled to do so. He succeeded in diplomacy so long as he was the recognized head of his people. Since we have not passed over his weaknesses, he should be given credit for much insight in causing the article prohibiting the introduction of liquor into the Indian country to be inserted into the Treaty of 1858. I think it was in 1910 that this forgotten provision was discovered, and again enforced over a large expanse of territory occupied by whites. It being found that the provision had never been repealed. Although he left many children, none seem to have made their mark, yet it may be that in one of his descendants the undaunted spirit will rise again. End of section 15 End of Indian Heroes in Great Chieftains by Charles A Eastman Ohiasa