The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-11-04

in skins and armed with rude
Observation-Disclosures: terrible vanguard for
a terrible army. Then, the prehistoric tribes
which followed Them all foot glorious to
behold their painted bodies rippled by. Here
were the lords of the Red Gods creation, the
children of Mother Earth who nevertheless
sought battle with their brothers, fighting for
the sheer joy of it.
Then surely there must be little space to
mark the coming of the white men and the
strange consequences of that coming. After that,
again, we would see the tribes which still fought
each other and those who fought with and
against the newcomers, their belts hung with
scalps their moccasined feet eager on the war
path.
Now familiar names and faces pass by: Pope,
leader of the Pueblo rebellion of 1880; King
Philip, whose horrible death in the marches has
been almost forgotten; Sitting Bull Black
Hawk, and others of those superb fighting men
riding by with war-bonnets flying and lances
ready, an eye-flling cavalcade, whose hatred
for their conquerors must still show on their
keen-visaged faces.
Those who befrfended the white men could
not ride with these grim old eagles-even
In the Happy Hunting Grounds there must be
division of opinion which nothing, not
death, could heal! But here come Cornplanter,
Red jacket, and Ouray, making the friendship
sign as they pass
And here strides Negwagon, the Ottawa chief
whose espousal of the American cause in the
War of 1912 resulted in his being driven from
his home. He and his people retired to their
hunting grounds, and raised the American flag
over the camp Happening to be alone. Neg
wagon was visited by British officers, who or
dered him to strike his flag. Though he was
forced to obey, the chief wound the emblem
around his arm, and drawing his tomahawk,
said to the officers, "Engshmen, Negwagon Is
the friend of the Americans He has but one
flag and one heart: IL you take the one you
shall take the other"
Women would not be lacking in this spectac-
ular parade of fighters Here is Bicaganab the
Chippewa woman who defeated a band of Sioux
although her own people ran away and left her.
Here is Winema, the woman chief" who, at
the age of fifteen, rallied her people when they
would have fled during intertribal war. Here,
too. is that unnamed Cherokee woman whose
body, painted and decked like warriors was
found among her dead menfok, where they had
vainly tried to defend themselves on the "Trail
of Tears" as they driven out Of their
homeland.
Warriors thesei And the mothers and fathers
of warriors!
Some historians claim that the entire history
of America would be changed had the Indians
not participated in the Revolutionary war. There
is not war in the history of the United States
I'm which these first Americans did not make
themselves known But it was not until the
World war that they took their places as Amer.
fcan citizens and fought for the land Of their
birth and their ancestry. Then, on strange war
paths, they fought their greatest fight. and sure
ly the great warriors of other days leaped down
from the Happy Hunting Grounds and strobe
with them over the battle fields of France nod
ding grim approval to each other as their
children showed themselves valiant members Of
the fighting race
Surely, too, these World Warriors knew that
d fhavx oil cd hv how hafor
their faith in ancient things is as much part
of them as their fighting hearts. Perhaps tiny
stone fetish, with an arrowhead tied to 1t, or
some other charm that was once the protection
of a fighting chief, reposed in an olive-drab
pocket as 1t once had lain over another stout
heart. Perhaps. while the chaplain invoked the
white mans God, silent appeal to Wakanda
or to Those Above mingled with his words
What If the warpath has given place to the
highway? The fighting heart, essential ingredi-
ent of warrior never dies
Seventeen thousand Indians heard the call to
( thu great battle in 1917; they enlisted as ma
rines, soldiers, sailors physicians nurses law
yers, clerks, clergymen, engineers; they came
from the wigwams of the Chippewa the tips
of the Sioux, the pueblos of the Hopi. Each
tribe sent its best to serve the nation-and what
service 1t wasi
Two allIndian companies were organized.
There were 33 Sioux in the Fourth cavalry. q.
S. A., at one time There were between 80 and
so Indian officers. Four brothers, Blackfeet, en-
listed privates Surely their medicine" was
strong and their hearts brave for they all re-
turned at the end of the war with commissions.
But we want to hear stories about individ-
/ uals, the Red Clouds and Chief Josephs of this
generation. Perhaps the ancient custom of re-
citing their deeds in council has been dropped
but will recite some of them here: