Chief Joseph surrendering Oct


Chief Joseph surrendering Oct. 5, 1877 after an incredible journey evading the army. "It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are, perhaps freezing to death. I want time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs, I am tired, my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. Chief Seath, Seattle around 1855 The president in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you sell or buy the sky, the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the presence of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? "Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle. Every sandy shore. Every mist in the dark woods. Every meadow. Every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people. We know the sap that courses through our veins. We are a part of the earth and it is part of us. Perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same family. The shining water that moves in the rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land you must remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father. The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give to the rivers the kindness you would give any brother. If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us. That the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. That wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. The wind also give our children the spirit of life. So if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers. Will you teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself. One thing we know, our God is also your God. The earth is precious to Him. And to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator. Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? Where will the eagle be? Gone. And what is to say good-bye to the swift pony and the hunt, the end of living and the beginning of survival? When the last red man has vanished with his wilderness and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left? We love this earth as a newborn loves it's mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you this land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it as God loves us all. As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land, This earth is precious to us, it is also precious to you. One things we know, there is only one God. No man, be he red man or white, can be apart. We are brothers, after all." Red Dog Oglala Sioux We are all poor because we are all honest. Chief Joseph We do not go to churches because they will teach us to quarrel about God..... Chief Luther Standing Bear Teton Sioux Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and his granting a space of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness and regardful of the rule that thought comes before speech. And in the midst of sorrow, sickness, death, or misfortune of any kind, and in the presence of the notable and great, silence was the mark of respect. More powerful than words was silence with the Lakota. His strict observance of this tenet of good behavior was the reason, no doubt, for his being given the false characterization by the white man of being a stoic. Has been judged to be dumb, stupid, indifferent, and unfeeling. As a matter of truth, he was the most sympathetic of men, but his emotions of depth and sincerity were tempered with control. Silence meant to the Lakota what it meant to Disraeli when he said, Silence is the mother of truth, for the silent man was ever to be trusted, while the man ever ready with speech was never taken seriously. But why should I mourn the untimely fate of my people? Your time of decay may be distant, but it will surely come, for even the white man, whose God walked and talked with hem as friend with friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We will see..... Chief Joseph I believe much trouble and blood would be saved if we opened our hearts more. I will tell you in my way how the Indian sees things. The white man has more words to tell you how they look to him, but it does not require many words to speak the truth Crazy Horse (and another) "A very great vision is needed and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the sky. I was hostile to the white man...we preferred hunting to a life of idleness on our reservations. At times we did not get enough to eat and we were not allowed to hunt. All we wanted was peace and to be left alone. Soldiers came and destroyed our villages. Then Long Hair (Custer) came...They say we massacred him, but he would have done the same to us. Our first impulse was to escape but we were so hemmed in we had to fight."	Chief Seattle Suqwamish and Duwamish What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit, for what happens to the beasts also happens to man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth. Long Mandan Sioux My friends, when I went to Washington I went into your money-house and I had some young men with me, but none of us took any money out of that house. At the same time, when your Great Fathers people come into my country, they go into my money-house and take money out. Tecumseh Shawnee No tribe has the right to sell, even to each other, much less to strangers ... Sell a country? Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Didn't the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children? Chief Joseph If you tie a horse to a stake, do you expect him to grow fat? If you pen an Indian up on a small spot of earth, and compel him to stay there, he will not be contented, nor will he grow and prosper. Cochise Chiricahua Chief You must speak straight so that your words may go as sunlight into our hearts. Chief Joseph Good words do not last long unless they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people. They do not pay for my country, now overrun by white people. They do not protect my fathers grave. They do not pay for all my horses and cattle. Good words will not give me back my children. Good words will not make good the promise of your War Chief. Good words will not give my people good health and stop them from dying. Good words will not get my people a home where they can live in peace and take care of themselves. I am tired of talk that comes to nothing. It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk. Chief Joseph If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace. Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. If you tie a horse to a stake, do you expect he will grow fat? If you pen an Indian up on a small spot of earth, and compel him to stay there, he will not be contented, nor will he grow and prosper. Young seminarians, 12-15 years old, to the Jesuit father Paul Le Jeune, late 1630s You say that baptism is absolutely necessary to go to heaven. if there were a man so good that he had never offended God, and if he died without baptism, would he go to hell, never having given offense to God? If he goes to hell, then God must not love all good people, since He throws one into the fire. You teach that God existed before the creation of heaven and earth. If He did, where did He live, since there was neither a heaven or earth? You say that the angels were created in the beginning of the world, and that those who disobeyed were cast into hell. How can that be so, since you say the angels sinned before the earths creation, and hell is in the depths of the earth? You declare that those who go to hell do not come out of it, and yet you relate stories of the damned who have appeared in the world -- how is that to be understood? ..but if (devils) are made like men and some are even among men, do they still feel the fires of hell? Why is it that they do not repent for having offended God? If they did repent, would not God be merciful to them? If Our Lord had suffered for all sinners, why do they not receive pardons form Him? You say that the virgin, mother of Jesus, is not God, and that she has never offended God. You also say that her Son has redeemed all men, and atoned for all\; but if she has done nothing wrong, her Son could not redeem her nor atone for her. Red Jacket Seneca Brother! We are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while, and see what effect your preaching has on them. If we find it does them good and makes them honest and less disposed to cheat us, we will then consider again becoming Christians. Chief Joseph Nez Perce Suppose a man should come to me and say, Joseph, I like your horses. I want to buy them. I say to him, No, my horses suit me, I will not sell them. Then he goes to my neighbor and says to him, Joseph has some good horses. I want to but them, but he refuses to sell. My neighbor answers, Pay me the money and I will sell you Josephs horses. The white man returns to me and says, Joseph, I have bought your horses and you must let me have them. If we sold our lands to the government, this is the way they bought them. Chief Seattle The red man has ever fled the approach of the white man, as the morning mist flees before the morning sun ... It matters little where we pass the remnants of our days. They will not be many. Chief Sealth (Seattle) to President Franklin Pierce in 1855 "The white man is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land what he needs. The earth is not his brother but his enemy. Continue to contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. Anonymous Chief (1876) Tell your people that since the Great Father promised that we should never be removed we have been moved five times. I think you had better put the Indians on wheels so you can run them about wherever you wish.	Chief Seattle We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy -- and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his fathers graves, and his children's birthright is forgotten. Sitting Bull Teton Sioux When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world. The sun rose and set on their land; they sent ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them? What white man can say I ever stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet they say I am a thief. What white woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian. What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and left me unfed? Who has ever seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken? Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am a Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country? Four Guns Oglala Sioux I have attended dinners among white people. Their ways are not our ways. We eat in silence, quietly smoke a pipe, and depart. Thus our host is honored. This is not the way of the white man. After his food has been eaten, one is expected to say foolish things. Then the host feels honored. The Seven Nations of Canada In a letter (1793) Brothers, money to us is of no value, and to most of us unknown and as no consideration. Whatever can induce us to sell the lands, on which we get sustenance for our women and children? We hope we may be allowed to point out a mode by which your settlers may be easily removed and peace obtained. Brothers, we know that these settlers are poor, or they would never have ventured to live in a country that has been in continual trouble ever since they crossed the Ohio. Divide therefore this large sum of money that you have offered us among these people ... and we are persuaded they would most readily accept it in lieu of the lands you sold to them.... Chief Seattle A few more hours, a few more winters, and none of the children of the great tribes that once lived on this earth, or that roamed in small bands in the woods, will be left to mourn the graves of a people once as powerful and hopeful as yours. The whites, too, shall pass -- perhaps sooner than other tribes. Continue to contaminate your own bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. When the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires, where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone. And what is it to say farewell to the swift an the hunt, to the end of living and the beginning of survival? We might understand if we knew what it was that the white man dreams, what he describes to his children on the long winter nights. what visions he burns into their minds, so they will wish for tomorrow. But we are savages. The white mans dreams are hidden from us. Black Hawk Sauk The path to glory is rough, and many gloomy hours obscure it. May the Great Spirit shed light on your path, so that you may never experience the humility that the power of the American government has reduced me to. This is the wish of a man who, in his native forests, was once as proud and bold as yourself. Chief Seattle Every part of all this soil is sacred to my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove has been hallowed by some sad of happy event in days long vanished. The very dust you now stand on responds more willingly to their footsteps that to yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch. Even the little children who lived here and rejoiced her for a brief season love these somber solitudes, and at eventide they greet shadowy returning spirits. And when the last red man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the white man, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe\; and when our children's children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. At night when the street of your cities and villages are silent and the think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled and still love this beautiful land. The white man will never be alone. Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a change of worlds. INDIAN PRAYER Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there. I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glint on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain. When you wake in the morning hush I am the swift, uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circling flight. I am the soft starlight at night. Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there. I do not sleep. Chief Luther Standing Bear Teton Sioux "Civilization has been thrust upon me... and it has not added one whit to my love for truth, honesty, and generosity." Red Cloud, Lakota (Sioux) Look at me- I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches, but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.