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FRIDAY. JtKI 17, 1»27Lest We Foiof the Great Battle, as Told to Cole(By BAN it. CONWAY)WhMc «u the right and the wroniT Sins It, o faneral coats,With t voice that is (all of tear*.And say that oar broken faith Wreurht all this rain and scathe In the rear of a hundred years.—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.‘But it all comes back to me now' “Listen! I will tell you of a great 1 prophecy—a prophecy which today coming true:Long Hair's Prophecy “Many winters ago—so many that he was a very old man when I was your age there lived among the Crows a great medicine man and chief called iB-she-u huts-kl-tu. or Long Hair as the white Before Long Hair diedI HOLD that to the man who has caught the true spirit of the Old.Frontier, there la nothing that lends, him. ——wv.,quite so strong an appeal; nothing \ ®e warned our people that ‘there are so vividly expressive of Nature In all her Ithree things that will come to pass. First fullness; nothing so romantic as the pic- I there_ will come a night longer than wasBaa R. Caawarture which focuses In cone-shaped dwellings river bank In the heart of a wilderness as yet untouched by the harsh hand of a white man’s civilization.Six years ago this month I was at Hardin, Montana (in the land of the Crows); and the occasion was the commemoration of the forty-fifth anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn.It was a momentous event and thousands of people representative of two separate and distinct races had gathered to re-enact the scenes akin to an event in this day regretted by both the descendants of the white usurper and the aboilglne.Following the road that leads south from the city of Hardin, and crossing the bridge which spans that deceiving river, I found myself in the midst of a land transformed.The Crow CountryHere, in the heart of this historic valley, the cottonwood groves and wlllowed coulees were dotted white with the lodges of these descendants of the aborigines. Rude tripods supported poles laden with freshly butchered meat; squaws sat In circles while out In the open space, bedecked In gala attire, the braves participated In the dances taught them by thetr fathers many years ago. Everything was significant or a life close to Nature—Just as the Indian would like It to be. It was an impresive scene, and as I paused to catch the full significance of such a panorama, thererough circle of , *ver known upon the earth before. Nexttouching some the wolves will become so numerous thatthey will fill the lodges of the Crows and devour their horses. Lastly, the white men whom you have seen In but small numbers, will swarm over the land of the Crows In such numbers as the Crows never Imagined of any people. Afterwards, the Crows shall decay and never be so powerful as In the past.’ 'Long Hair died. Then, one morning, after the Sun had started His walk across the sky, there came a sudden darkness which lasted for some timeThus, the first prophecy came true.“Many snows following this, therecame a severe winter and the wolves became so numerous that they swarmed into the Crow camps In such numbers that our people could not leave their lodges. Our horses were eaten at their pickets. Long Hair’s second prophecy had been fulfilled. The Last SignThe spirit voice then paused for _ moment, as If for reflection, and then proceeded: And then, my son, aftermany moons, the Crows one day discovered an immense wagon train with many white people—crossing through the country along the eastern slopes of the mountains. Soon another train was seen coming from the southeast. Then It was, too. my boy, that the ‘fireboats' came up Big river loaded with white people. Presently our people found the country to the north and west of them teeming with people of a new race.“Long, Hair's final prophecy had come true.It was not possible, my son, for me to sit ldlv by with the grim prospect that my people would be forced to starvation without a home, without food and driven from the land we loved.“Now, boy, I go to the Sand Hills. Go you with your mother and sister to your people. Long Hair's prophecy Is coming lt;itrue. Perhaps It is the will of the Great Spirit that a new race overcome us and our people lose forever their power. At any rate, the Crows can never hope to block the progress of this Invasion.The camps of the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoe6 have begun a hurried departure. The dead have ben burled In trees and the scalp dance has ended. On the slope of this little hill stands a Crow widow with her daughter and son. It Is now night and the wall of the chant of death can be heard above the din of departing horsemen, while from an opposite direction faintly sounds the bugle of pursuing troopersThfc t command ••Painful In all my Gall.Chief led a non at this tij ins Rock to Colone character tblncs wfcLest We Forget Today, when we are wont to celebrate the events which have resulted In our acquisition of the great Northwest, It Is well to remember that the scores of millions of a paler race now thronging the site of a vanished frontier are enjoying the luxuries of a later day over the ashes of general GEORGE Armstrong CUSTER fifteen million North Amer-Thls is a most striking likeness of the ill-fated raralrr com-‘?a® Indians. George Cat-sander and a photorraph which Mrs. Cnsier likes best. says that Six million of __these fell victims of small-«,'pox, and the remainder “to the sword”arose a vision of. this valley of the Little Big Horn In the days when the last remnants of mighty red nations fought tenaciously to protect their home against an Inevitable white Invasion.On the Little Big HornRrnrrhpH nnrt wollmv linHnr theall of which means that their death and destruction have been Introduced and visited upon them by an acquisitive white race; and by white men also, whose forefathers were' welcomed and embraced in the land where the poor Indian met and fed them with ears of Breen cornSantees long whites, and slow to brins of game, the women and c tered all ove white soldier;My fair I whirlwind. 1 and fish In s; nor my youn plains. Whe; the smoke of rise from the road over ms heart sad. ar forgotten his “I look out and plains a the whites, a but I cannot to war when their countrs among us the but I am not shake hands, travel throug but they maj take more tt year to pay i In feeding an; we want our let us live i and hunting i “I never pi; can learn, if me; but my i hunting of ga planting Is s
Newspaper Details
Hardin Tribune
Hardin, Montana, US
Fri, Jun 17, 1927
Page 3
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 20 Aug 2023
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