Book Review: It Is a Good Day to Die

 It Is a Good Day to Die: Indian Eyewitnesses Tell the Story of the Battle of Little Bighorn by Herman J. Viola, Crown Publisher's Inc, a Random House Company, New York, 1998.

This book is what the title says, the story of the Battle of Little Big Horn as told by Native Americans.  This includes scouts working for the military, Crow and Arikara, and those Custer hoped to defeat, Cheyenne, Blackfeet and Lakota (Sioux).  There are stories from young men and young women, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.  There are stories of loss and grieving and deaths happenned amonth the Native Americans.  Many tribes were traveling together for self protection.  When Custer saw them he should have known better than to attack.

The title line has been rumored to be that of Crazy Horse but this book credits the quote to Low Dog, Oglala Chief.  "We retreated until our men all got together, and then we charged upon them.  I called to my men, 'This is a good day to die.  Follow Me!'"  He said the soldiers were brave, but poor shooters because they held their horses with one hand and the horses jerked around and the shooting went awry.

Sitting Bull talks about his vieion before the fight in which he saw soldiers falling into their hands.  At the start of the battle Sitting Bull Said, "Warriors, we have everything to fight for, and if we are defeated we will have nothing to live for; therefore, let us fight like brave men."

Most of the warriors did not recognize or know that General Custer was there.  However he was and he as killed.  A couple of Cheyenne women pierced his ears after the battle so he could hear better in the after life.  He had not listened to the advise of others that the battle was ill conceived.  He also had broken his word about not fighting the Cheyenne.

Little Bighorn was a grrat victory for the Lakota and Cheyenne, but it also proved their undoing.  The U.S. governemtn was so embarassed they continually pursued the Lakota until they were defeated.  

Bob Gibson's Home in Bellevue

 Bob Gibson was one of the greatest baseball players ever.  He was a teo-time Cy Young Award winner, Two-tim World Series champion and the baseball MVP one year.  He is in the Hall of Fame.  He grew up in South Omaha.  After he retired from baseball he lived in Bellevue Nebraska.  He passed away in 2020.  His home recently changed owners and there are still pictures on line.

I snapped a couple upon driving past.

Book Review: The Shoshone People

 The Shoshone People: Native American Cultures by Kristen Rajczak, Garret Stevens Publishing, 2015.

There are three distinct groups of Shoshone.  There are the Northern, Eastern and Western Shoshone.  The Northern and Eastern Shoshone had earlier access to horses.  They hunted buffalo and lived in tepees.  These facilitated their nomadic style.  The Northern Shoshone lived along the Snake River in western Wyoming and Idaho.  They and also ate salmon.  They Eastern Shoshone extended farther into Wyoming in the Green River area.  They would also travel into northern Utah.  The Comanche in Texas were once part of the Shoshone.

The Western Shoshone did not have as meny horses as the Northern and Eastern.  They lived in brush huts called wickiups.  There territory included eastern Utah, Nevada and extended into the Death Valley region of California.  The were gatherers, including pine nuts and roots and seed.  They also hunted small game.  

The book lacks information about specific Shoshone, but it does tell the story of Sacagawea who jioned the Lewis and Clark expedition.  She was Shoshone but living with the Hidatsa as she had been taken slave.  She was able to serve as a guide and help the companhy purchase horses from the Shoshone.

The book also mentions the Bear River Massacre.  In January of 1863 U.S. soldiers attacked them because of issues along the Oregon Trail and attacks on Mormon settlers.  250 Shoshone were killed, including women and children, the largest loss of Native American life in a battle.  

After this defeat the reservation system was established.  Chief Washakie worked with the government to establish the Wind River Reservation in 1868 for Eastern Shoshone.  Also Fort Hall and Lemhi Reservation were established for Northern Shoshone.  However in 1905 those at Lemhi were forced to move to Fort Hall.  There are numerous reservations and colonies that dot Nevada and eastern Utah.  

Very good information but where this bok says it is about the people, I would have liked more information on Shoshone people.

1939 Golden Spike Days Ceremony in Omaha and Council Bluffs

 The Durham History Museum has a display of photographs from their archives of the 70th anniversary of the completion of the railroad and the golden spike in Utah which coincided with the premiere of the Cecil B. Demille movie, Union Pacific, in Omaha.  This resulted in a four-day celebration in Omaha with parades and dancing and festivities.  The town was decorated with an 1867 mode, and there were historic Abraham Lincoln hats and an Abraham Lincoln impersonator.  Lincoln put into motion the transcontinental railroad after having visited Council Bluffs before he was elected president.  Omaha has a long history with the Union Pacific.  200,000 people attended the parades and festivities.  

One of the dignitaries Barbara Stanwyck.  She and Robert Preston
attended the festivities as they starred in the film.

Unveiling of the Golden Spike Monument in Council Bluffs.  The largest
golden spike monument in the world

Vietnam War History as per the Nebraska Vietnam War Memorial

The Nebraska Vietnam War Memorial is in Papillion.  Among the memorial is a series of columns that give an outline of the Vietnam War which lasted from 1959 to 1975.

 

Magazine Article Review: Beyond Reach (The story of Crazy Horse's Death)

 Beyond Reach, by Ron J. Jackson jr.,  Nebraska Life, November/December 2025, pp 20-25.

Crazy Horse was murdered September 6, 1877.  He had been summoned to talk with General George Crook at Camp Robinson (now Fort Robinson).  However this was false pretense as the intent was to arrest him based on reports the general had received of Crazy Horse's intent to leave the reservation.  When he arrived, Crazy Horse realized he was being arrested and resisted.  He was stabbed in the side with a bayonet, which pierced both his kidneys.  The arresting officers were Lakota.  Crazy Horse had been the Lakota war chief of the Oglala band.

One year earlier he had participated in the Battle of Little Big Horn and the death of General Custer.  Since that time the American Army had pursued an unrelenting war against the Sioux, burning villages, killing buffalo.  They brought the Sioux to starvation.  Crazy Horse and his band survived the winter, but in the spring the surrendered at the Red Cloud Agency.  

Even so rations were still sparse.  The rumors of Crazy Horse leaving the reservation were based on the lack of food.  However mostly the were promoted by rival leaders and some by army officers skittish of Crazy Horse's influence.  

After Crazy Horse was wounded, his father Crazy Horse Sr. was allowed to see him.  "I am hurt bad, I am going to die."  By morning he was dead.  

His father was allowed to take the body and a procession took him to the Spotted Tail agency near Camp Sheridan.  He traveled on a travois.  In the precession was his wife, Black Shawl Woman.  He was placed in his coffin in a tree on a bluff overlooking Camp Sheridan and the valley of Beaver Creek.  Old Man Crazy Horse and others kept vigil there for five weeks.  The Native Americans were ordered to move north they took Crazy Horse with them, again on a travois.  Lt. William P. Clark, aid to General Crook reported that "Crazy Horse's father was hauling along his dead son.  This is the last confirmed mention of Crazy Horse's body.  

Horn Chips, cousin to, and spiritual advisor to Crazy Horse would say he had been at five interments, Beaver by the cliffs, then along Clay Creek, white Horse Creek, in a cave above the cliffs and finally at Wounded Knee.  Victoria Conroy, niece to Crazy Horse Sr. wrote in 1934 that her mother had helped bury Crazy Horse secretly between Porcupine and Wounded Knee Creeks.  

The exact location of the burial of Crazy Horse is not known.  It was a secret kept by the family.  Anyone who would have known has now passed away.

What Did Crazy Horse Look Like?  Crazy Horse was lighter complected than most Native Americans.  His hair was sandy brown.  He was not tall, about five feet six inches.  Despite being of average heights, his courage and calm made him seem larger than life.

Book Review: The Hopi

The Hopi: Native American Nations by Liz Sonneborn, consultant Tim Topper, Blastoff Discovery, Bellwether Media, Minneapolis, MN, 2024.

The Hopi are a people from Northeast Arizona.  Their history dates back at least until 1150 when the city Oraibi was established, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the United States.  They live in a harsh arid desert environment with springs and rain water to sustain them.  The developed a unique culture to deal with the hardship based on balance, community and peace.  They raise corn and cotton.  They weave baskets.  They gather nuts and berries and wild fruit and raise turkeys.  They built pueblos of stone and mud.  They also built kivas for religious ceremonies.  

In 1540 the Spaniars arrived looking for gold.  The Spaniards held them in subjugation for the next 140 years until Po'pay lead them in revolt in 1680.  In 1821 they became part f Mexico and in 1848 part of the United States.  In 1882 their reservation was established.  In 1894 Hope elders were imprisoned because they refused to send their children to boarding schools.  They struggled to keep their culture alive.  Children were forced by the government to Indian schools.  The Hopi peo0ple have insisted on keeping their cultre and language and have been able to do so.

Famous people of the Hopi include Po'Pay, Nampeyo who is known for pottery and Tsökahovi (Lewis) Tewanima who is a long distance runner and won a silver medal in the 1912 Olympics.

The tribe is facing problems with the left overs of now abandoned coal kines, and with the lack of water.