Rapid City, South Dakota. -- Eighty-two years ago today a ceremony was held to initiate the National American Indian Memorial at Fort Wadsworth, Harbor of New York.
The occasion is an almost forgotten part of American history. ""TC recently received some of the documentation of this event from Charles Fergus, whom I met while I was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Mr. Fergus was in the process of writing a book, called "Shadow Catcher," that took a look at what became known as the "Wanamaker Expedition."
In attendance for this auspicious occasion were the mayor and governor of New York city and state, the president of the United States, William Howard Taft, four Cabinet secretaries, Adm. George Dewey and many others. The president of the North American Indian Memorial Association, Rodman Wanamaker, was guest of honor -- along with 32 chiefs of Western Indian tribes.
On the program for the occasion, President Taft would "dig the first shovelful of earth as Chief Magistrate of the Nation, thus inaugurating the work of constructing the memorial."
Immediately following this ceremonial dig, Chief Hollow Horn Bear, listed on the program as "a full-blooded Sioux and one of the participants of the Custer fight," gave a speech. The chief was listed as a member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe. Other Yankton Sioux chiefs were identified as Chief Pretty Voice Eagle and Chief Runs the Enemy.
The program of events reads: "The address of Chief Hollow Horn Bear will be interpreted by Maj. James McLaughlin, Indian author and Inspector Interior Department." This is a direct quote from the program: "The Indian chief will continue digging of the earth with the thigh bone of a buffalo, the Indian's primitive implement. The guns of Fort Wadsworth will fire a salute in honor of the Red Men -- the first inhabitants of the soil where the guns are mounted."
If the planners of this event had taken a look in their own back yard, they probably would have been able to find some real "first inhabitants" of the harbor at New York. Several Indian tribes lived on the East Coast at the time, and many still live there. Perhaps the white planners believed local Indians didn't have the flair and the attire of the Plains Indians and, therefore, would not have been as colorful.
The 1913 program is interesting as a product of its time. It reads: "The thirty-two Indian chiefs will hoist the United States flag as a symbol of their loyalty to our Nation, their recognition of the government against which they fought when Custer fell, slain by these very Indians on that fatal June day in 1876 and as a prophecy of the memorial to their race to rise on this ground."
Few of the Indian chiefs present were at the Custer battle, as it was called at that time. In fact Chiefs Young, Old Dog, Drags Wolf, Wounded Face and Rustler of the Gros Ventre; Chief Joseph Packeneau of the Mandan; Chiefs Little White Man and Little Low Land of the Arikara; Chiefs Mountain Chief, Big Spring, Black Weasel and Little Dog of the Black Feet; Chief Brave Bear of the Southern Cheyenne; Chief Nethla of the San Carlos Apache; Chief Lone Wolf of the Kiowa, and Chiefs Red Blanket and Gay-she-geor-ar-ah of the Chippewa -- all of whom were in attendance -- did not fight at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, as it is now called.
The efforts to organize the transportation of all the Indians from their reservations to New York was a masterpiece of logistics. The Pennsylvania Railroad drew up a 15-page transportation schedule. It lists points and times of departure and arrivals, such as "Leave Muskogee, Okla. Saturday on M.K & T Railroad (called the 'Katy'), arrive on Wednesday, 6/11 at 8:35 p.m."
Some of the Sioux Chiefs listed are Red Cloud and Red Hawk of the Oglala Sioux; Chief Swan of the Minneconju; Chief One Feather of the Standing Rock Sioux, and Chief Ghost Bear of the Crow Creek Sioux.
The Crow-Asparaka Chiefs on the program are White Man Runs Him, Plenty Coups and Medicine Crow, while the Northern Cheyenne Chiefs (who did participate in the Custer battle) are Chiefs Two Moon, Little Wolf, Black Wolf, Wooden Leg and Shoulder Blade.
These elderly chiefs traveled by wagon, horseback, automobile and trains to get to New York in order to be a part of this inauguration of the National Indian Memorial.
Dr. Irvin J. Morgan provided some of his original Indian music for the grand event. This will give you an idea of what the government in Washington thought of Indians in 1913. Dr. Morgan's songs included, "The Indian Requiem" memorializing the "Vanishing Race."
The railroad car Signet started out in Philadelphia and covered 22,000 miles while taking the Wanamaker Expedition people on their historic journey. From June 10 until December 5, 1912, the Wanamaker Expedition visited 70 Indian reservations while collecting signatures for the Declaration of Allegiance that was unveiled at the National American Indian Memorial at Fort Wadsworth on dedication day.
The program's final paragraph reads: "The requiem will follow the raising of the flag until the stars and stripes are mast-headed when the combined military bands will merge into the exultant strains of 'The Star Spangled Banner' signifying the union of the First Dwellers on the soil with the civilization of our day."
Tim Giago is editor-in-chief and publisher of Indian Country Today, a national weekly newspaper on American Indian issues.