Pow Wow Native

Chief Big Tree
Big Tree, a Kiowa warrior and chief was born in 1850. Here’s what the authorities at the Texas State Historical Association have to say about him:
Big Tree (Ado-Eete), Kiowa warrior, chief, and cousin of Satanta, was born somewhere in the Kiowa domain at the time when pressures from the expanding non-native population were threatening the tribe’s traditional way of life. By the late 1860s the embattled Kiowas were forced to seek an accord with whites. The agreement, arrived at during the Medicine Lodge Treaty Council in 1867, forced Big Tree and the Kiowas to move to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma. Frustrated by the confinement, Big Tree came under the sway of leaders of the tribal war faction at an early age. He joined Satank, Lone Wolf,qqv and Satanta in raids on settlements inside Indian Territory and across the Red River in Texas. He reputedly was involved in an abortive attack on Fort Sill in June 1870 but really gained notoriety as a result of his participation in the Warren Wagontrain Raid, or Salt Creek Massacre, of May 18, 1871.
On August 22, 1874, a number of Kiowas, led by Satanta and Big Tree, combined with Quahadis and skirmished with troops during ration distribution at Anadarko Agency, Indian Territory. From there the Indians moved onto the Llano Estacado in Texas, where, on September 9, 1874, a party of 200 Kiowas, including Lone Wolf, Satanta, and Big Tree, attacked Gen. Nelson A. Miles’s supply train, some thirty-six wagons escorted by a company of the Fifth Infantry and a detachment of the Sixth Cavalry. For three days the army held off the Indians until, unable to overwhelm the soldiers, the Kiowas drew off and returned home.
Big Tree remained imprisoned at Fort Sill until the Kiowas were finally defeated in December 1874. After his release, he spent the remainder of his life counseling peace and acceptance of the white man’s ways. His new direction was especially manifested in his drive to discredit the revivalist doctrine preached by the prophet P’oinka in 1887 and in his decision not to participate in the Kiowa Ghost Dance of 1890. He was among those who requested a missionary and was instrumental in establishing the first Baptist mission on the Kiowa reservation. By 1897 Big Tree’s conversion was complete; he became a member of the Rainy Mountain Baptist Church and served as a deacon for thirty years. He died at his home in Anadarko on November 13, 1929, his last act of leadership being his unsuccessful opposition to the allotment of Kiowa lands in 1901. He was buried near his home in the Rainy Mountain Cemetery.

These four Chiefs were Chief Joseph, Sitting Bull, Geronimo and Red Cloud. Each of these forefathers played an important role in shaping their tribe's customs and history. Because of their influence over the shaping of Native American history, they are often referred to as the real founding fathers.!
Left-Right : Chief Joseph, Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and Red Cloud.

Red Fox James at the White House, 1915
In March 1914, Red Fox James began a journey of approximately 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) on horseback from the Crow Indian Reservation in southern Montana to Washington, D.C. He made this ambitious nine-month trip on a horse named Montana. “The ride was made for the purpose of creating interest in a proposal to establish a national holiday in commemoration of the North American Indian,” reported the Billings Weekly Gazette shortly after Red Fox James completed the journey.

Red Fox James, who is widely believed to have been of both Blood (Kainai) and Blackfoot ancestry, was born sometime around 1890 in the Blood Indian Reserve No. 148 in what is now the Canadian province of Alberta. By 1914, he was living in the town of Waldheim, Montana.

During his long-distance 1914 journey, Red Fox James traveled mostly on the Lincoln Highway. He often walked in the daytime to help conserve the strength of his horse. Red Fox James’ journey attracted press coverage nationwide. The Greensboro Daily News in North Carolina, for example, featured a front-page photo of Red Fox James and his horse during their stopover in Omaha, Nebraska, in August. This photo depicted both of them alongside an automobile carrying the city’s mayor James Dahlman.

As he slowly but steadily made his way eastward, Red Fox James spoke in many communities en route about the needs and cultures of Native Americans. He also performed equestrian stunts at those stops. Red Fox James carried with him a letter of support from Governor Sam V. Stewart of Montana for an American Indian Day and he ultimately obtained similar endorsements from 23 other state governments during his ride to the nation’s capital.

Red Fox James finally arrived in the Washington, D.C., area in December. He visited the White House, where Senator Thomas J. Walsh of Montana introduced him to President Woodrow Wilson. Red Fox James gave Wilson all of the documents promoting the call for American Indian Day. (This meeting, incidentally, took place just a few days after representatives from the newly formed American Association of State Highway Officials had met with Wilson there at the White House.)

While such a national holiday commemorating Native Americans was not established at the time, a few states subsequently created their own versions of that day. The first of these states was New York, which began officially celebrating American Indian Day in 1916.

Red Fox James is best known today for his 1914 horseback trek between the Great Plains and the Eastern Seaboard, but he also made other noteworthy contributions during his life. These contributions included serving as a member of the Society of American Indians, the first national rights organizations run by and for Native Americans; establishing the first Boy Scout troop for Native Americans; and championing the right of women to vote.

Red Fish was a chief of the Oglala Lakota tribe in the 1840s. He had met with the Jesuit missionary Father Peter John De Smet at Fort Pierre in South Dakota in 1848. He asked for De Smet's help in gaining the return of his daughter who had been kidnapped by the Crow after he had made a disastrous unprovoked raid upon them.
Red Fish was a participant in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, where he represented the Miniconjou with his son Lone Horn (c. 1814-1875). He negotiated with Chief Big Robber of the Crow to establish regional boundaries.