Big bear

Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear), Library and Archives Canada, nlc-4314, OB Buell 1885

Mistahimaskwa , known as Big Bear (* around 1825; † January 17, 1888 ), was a chief of the Cree , more precisely the Plains Cree . He led the last Indian resistance against the dispersal of the Cree on numerous reservations and demanded a large total reserve . An uprising of the young warriors led by one of his sons destroyed these plans in 1885. He had at least four sons from different women, one of whom was involved in his disempowerment. He always tried to avoid the armed conflict, which he believed was hopeless. He was sentenced to three years in prison for treason in 1885 and was not treated as an opponent of the war.

Life

Mistahimaskwa was born around 1825 as the son of Ojibwa chief Mukitou (Black Powder) near Jackfish Lake . His mother tongue was one of the Cree dialects , but he was equally proficient in the Ojibwa language . When he was twelve years old he survived smallpox , but his face was scarred. He probably grew up near Plains Cree , which mostly overwintered on the North Saskatchewan River and whose survival depended on the summer buffalo hunt. It got its name from a vision of the Bear Spirit, the bear spirit that was worshiped by the Cree. A bear paw protected his life.

Charles Alston Messiter reported in November 1862 that Big Bear was the "head chief" of a large Cree camp near Fort Carlton . John Sinclair, a dealer for the Hudson's Bay Company, reported in 1865 that Big Bear had moved from Carlton to Pitt, where he was chief of a small tribe (band) of relatives. This included only 12 tents or 20 men. Apparently he still enjoyed a great reputation. He apparently took part in the battle against the Blackfoot that took place at the Battle of the Belly River (near Lethbridge, Alberta) in October 1870. Jerry Potts later reported that 200 to 300 Cree and 40 Blackfeet were killed in the process. It was therefore the largest and last battle between Plains Indians on the soil of Canada.

When the Canadian Confederation , founded in 1867, took over the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1870 onwards , the government, through its representative Edgar Dewdney , tried to conclude treaties with the Indians, which should free the land for the hoped-for large numbers of settlers. The Indians, on the other hand, had lost their food source with the slaughter of the buffalo and hoped for support in converting to livestock and agriculture in exchange for the award (not abandonment) of their land. But Big Bear was reluctant to sign Contract No. 6 of the so-called Numbered Treaties . He led his tribe to the Cypress Hills , but found that the government officials were starving to force him to sign.

In 1873 there had already been a quarrel with Gabriel Dumont in connection with the buffalo hunt , from whom Big Bear refused to dictate how the buffalo were to be hunted. In the summer of 1874, HBC dealer William McKay came with gifts such as tea and tobacco to announce the arrival of the North-West Mounted Police. McKay reported that many Plains Cree accepted the gifts, but that two families in Big Bear's group declined the gifts. They believed they were only there to persuade them to sign a contract. McKay reports that Big Bear's camp consisted of 65 lodges, or around 520 people. In contrast, Sweet Grass (Wikaskokiseyin), who had been named "The Chief of the Country" by the HBC as early as 1871 and who had been baptized by Father Albert Lacombe under the name of Abraham, only led 56 people.

Big Bear appeared to Reverend George Millward McDougall, who was supposed to calm down the angry Plains Indians in 1875, particularly problematic. The Methodist and missionary suggested that most of the Indians are moderate in their demands, while Big Bear tries to gain leadership in their congregations. He demanded that the leaders of Canada come "like men" themselves.

Lieutenant governor Alexander Morris actually appeared in August 1876 to negotiate Contract No. 6 of the Numbered Treaties . It was about 120,000 square miles of land. Big Bear did not show up at Fort Carlton and did not come to Fort Pitt until September 13, the day after the contract and associated ceremonies. Sweet Grass and other Cree and Ojibwa chiefs urged him to sign, but Big Bear, claiming to speak for all of the Cree and Assiniboine , said ambiguously, “Hold on, my friends… I will ask to keep me from what I do most afraid - to hang. We were not told to wear the rope around our necks. ”The lieutenant governor concluded that Big Bear was a coward, but it could also be a prophetic metaphor for the future of the Plains Indians. In any case, Big Bear did not sign the contract, which made him the first of the great chiefs to refuse.

He refused for six years, attracting more and more independent warriors. He met Morris' successor David Laird at Sounding Lake in August 1878 . Again he refused all presents. In October, the group led by Little Pine [Minahikosis] found that surveyors were working near what is now Medicine Hat , Alberta . Little Pine contacted Big Bear, who was at the Red Deer Forks, Saskatchewan . For their part, the surveyors called for help at Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan. Colonel Acheson Gosford Irvine agreed with Big Bear that the land surveys should be suspended until a contract is signed.

In the winter of 1878 to 1879, Big Bear was at the height of its influence. Since the buffalo hardly came, the Indians realized that the promised tiny reservations and the $ 5 annual payments were worthless if the hunt was no longer possible. Still, Big Bear held back. In March 1879, Father Jean-Marie-Joseph Lestanc, who was staying with the Métis at the Red Deer Forks, found that all the tribes, namely Sioux , Blackfoot , Blood, Sarcee , Assiniboine , Stoney , Cree and Saulteaux had come together. Superintendent Leif Newry Fitzroy Crozier of the North West Mounted Police achieved no negotiation success. Perhaps Sitting Bull , Crowfoot [Isapo-muxika], and perhaps even Gabriel Dumont were negotiating with Big Bear, thus bridging old hostilities.

Edgar Dewdney , Sir John A. Macdonald's new Indian commissioner , came to Fort Walsh in June 1879. Big Bear lamented the bad contract proposals. Little Pine gave up in the face of the dire food situation and signed for 472 people on July 2nd. Despite food and a reservation, Big Bear continued to refuse.

So he and his followers moved south to the USA , to Montana, and met with Sitting Bull and Louis Riel , the leader of the Métis . But he had to realize that only his hand signal could save his tribe from starvation, because the last buffalo had disappeared. Big Bear now fished on Cypress Lake in Saskatchewan and they also hunted small animals, but on December 8, 1882, he signed Contract No. 6 for his remaining 247 people. Nevertheless, the tribe received, on the grounds that Big Bear had not chosen a reservation , still no food.

He had initially requested a reservation at Fort Pitt, and in July 1883 his band moved there. Now he was visiting his friends on their small reservations in North Saskatchewan . He knew their catastrophic situation and now requested a reservation elsewhere. Several visits by employees of the Indian Department by Hayter Reed and Edgar Dewdney , as well as the deputy superintendent general of Indian affairs Lawrence Vankoughnet from Ottawa led to nothing. Instead, Big Bear called on the tribes to fight for a common, large reservation.

By April 1884, Big Bears' group had grown to around 500. They moved to Battleford, and on June 16, over 2,000 Indians from the Saskatchewan Reservations gathered on the Poundmaker Reservation for a thirst dance performed by Big Bear. This dance was forbidden, so the government now banned all rations. John Craig, the farm instructor , was then beaten by a young warrior. Craig called the police, who came from Battleford with around 90 men. Crozier, who led them, was outraged by Craig's arbitrariness, but now had to arrest the perpetrators. While the young warrior was being arrested, Big Bear, Little Pine and Poundmaker were able to prevent an escalation by shouting “peace, peace” loudly. Crozier then distributed food. He clearly realized that if the government could not win the trust of the Indians, there would be a fight.

Big Bear sat on July 31, 1884 in Duck Lake at a council meeting, at which Louis Riel , the Métis leader, was also present, for a common spokesman for the Indians and criticized the whites for their lack of honesty. On August 17, he met with Louis Riel in Prince Albert . Nevertheless, he wanted to decide on a reserve in the spring of next year.

Dewdney was deeply troubled by the Cree's association with the Métis. Hayter Reed was commissioned to write an extremely one-page report to Vankoughnet in Ottawa. This in turn reminded Dewdney in a letter dated February 4, 1885 that the "Indians really got much more than the government was obliged to give by the treaty". This complacency destroyed Big Bear's efforts to get negotiation outcomes. His authority under the Cree sank, and warriors like Wandering Spirit took the initiative.

Big Bear's group was encamped at Wood Crees on Frog Lake , 50 miles north of Fort Pitt, when news of the Battle of Duck Lake reached them. A week later, on April 2nd, Big Bear's son Little Bad Man and Warchief Wandering Spirit took their people to the Catholic Church on Frog Lake. Wandering Spirit shot the Indian agent Thomas Trueman Quinn. Big Bear yelled “Stop, stop!”, But it was already too late. Nine men, including two Oblate missionaries, were killed, just one woman, and HBC employee William Bleasdell Cameron, the life of the merchant James Kay Simpson's Cree wife, escaped. Big Bear said later in the trial that it was not his actions and that the young men were no longer listening and that he was very sorry for what happened.

Big Bear had meanwhile been practically disempowered by the younger warriors. On April 13th, 250 warriors besieged Fort Pitt and sent an ultimatum to Police Chief Francis Jeffrey Dickens. Big Bear warned Sergeant JA Martin. He should flee before the afternoon. He withdrew with his 25 men to Battleford, the 28 civilians surrendered, the fort went up in flames.

Big Bear was now treated with the deepest contempt. Except for a few raids, the warriors did nothing to unite with Poundmaker for the attack on Battleford, or to support Riel at Batoche. Finally, on May 28 , Major-General Thomas Bland Strange attacked Wandering Spirit's position on a hill near Frenchman Butte . Although Strange was repulsed, the warriors also withdrew. Big Bear stayed with the prisoners and women in the background. When Samuel Benfield Steele's men attacked Big Bear's trailers at Loon Lake Narrows on June 3, Big Bear intervened with his protective bear claw - with success. The exchange of fire has ended.

When the troops of General Frederick Dobson Middleton had triumphed on May 12 at Batoche, Big Bear's son Imasees ( Üyimis§s - "Bad Child") (c. 1850-1921) fled with several Plains Cree and Métis to Montana and took the Name "Little Bear"; Wandering Spirit surrendered, and in November 1885 he and five other warriors were hanged. Big Bear was looking for his son and surrendered on July 2, 1885. He was brought to Regina with 14 of his men .

Big Bear was tried in Regina on September 11, 1885 for treason and imprisoned in the Stony Mountain Penitentiary , a prison in Manitoba . He was released in 1887, but died the following winter on the Poundmaker reservation near Battleford in Saskatchewan .

The judge at the trial was Hugh Richardson. He charged treason on September 11, 1885. Although he recognized that Big Bear had sought peace, he could only have been found innocent if he had left the riot areas. The six-member jury came to the verdict “Guilty, with a pardon” within 15 minutes. Richardson sentenced the chief to three years at Stony Mountain Penitentiary on September 25 . Cameron recalled Big Bear saying immediately before, “Many of my tribe have been hiding in the woods, paralyzed by fear. ... I therefore ask you again, the chiefs of the law of the White Man, for mercy and help for the outcasts of my tribe. ”However, this short address does not appear in the minutes.

The chief learned the carpentry trade in prison. He was baptized in July 1886. Crowfoot and other chiefs repeatedly petitioned Dewdney for Big Bear's release. In February 1887, the prison doctor reported, "Prisoner No. 103 “get weaker. He was released on March 4th. Since his tribe had been divided into several reservations, he went to the Poundmaker Reserve on March 8th . He died there on January 17, 1888. Shortly before, his wife had left him, and he was going to join him. He was buried in the reservation's Catholic cemetery, around the site of the last thirst dance .

Big Bear was not a chieftain appointed or recognized by whites, but a traditional chief whom his people followed for his prestige. He tried to counter the destructive civilization of the white people and a tribal confederation as well as the demand for a large common reservation. The hasty but ultimately inconsistent support of the Métis uprising by the young warriors made these plans obsolete. His treatment as a traitor rather than an enemy of the war is now considered questionable.

The US government spent $ 5,000 in 1896 to deport Little Bear, Big Bear's son, and his so-called Canadian Indians back to Canada - as they did not recognize any land rights of the Cree or Chippewa in Montana and North Dakota. But returned within a few weeks Little Bear and his Plains Cree-Métis group back to Montana back - there they joined a small Chippewa group under Chief Rocky Boy ( Asiniiwin , literally "Stone Child"), which, however, no reserve had . In 1916, Congress allocated a piece of land from an abandoned military base as a reservation to the Plains Cree, Métis and Chippewa under Little Bear and Rocky Boy. Today the Rocky Boy's Reservation of the Chippewa Cree Tribe is located in Hill and Chouteau Counties in northeast Montana, near the Canadian border, approx. 50 km south of Havre . It is the smallest and at the same time the last reservation that was set up in Montana.

literature

• Hugh A. Dempsey: Big Bear: The End of Freedom. Canadian Plains Research Center, 2006.
• William B. Fraser: Big Bear, Indian patriot. Historical essays on the prairie provinces , Ed. Donald Swainson, Toronto, 1970, 71-88.
• Rudy Wiebe: The temptations of Big Bear. Toronto, 1973
• Robert S. Allen: Big Bear. In: Saskatchewan History. Volume 25, 1972, pp. 1-17
• Maria Campbell: She who knows the truth of Big Bear. History calls him traitor, but history sometimes lies. In: Maclean's. Volume 88, 1975, pp. 46-50.
• David G. Mandelbaum: The Plains Cree. In: American Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Papers. Volume 37, 1941, pp. 155-316.

Web links

• Mistahimaskwa . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).

Remarks

1. ↑ “Stop, my friends. ... I will request [the governor] to save me from what I most dread - hanging; it was not given to us to have the rope about our necks. "

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This article is based on the article Big Bear ( Memento from July 1st, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) from the free encyclopedia Indianer Wiki ( Memento from March 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) and is under Creative Commons by-sa 3.0 . A list of the authors was available in the Indian Wiki ( Memento from July 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).