Indian Wars | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

January 14, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Standing Bear

“A Hawaiian by the name of Frank Grouard is living as a scout in the American Army under General Crook, fighting Sioux Indians.” (Kuakoa, September 30, 1876; Krauss)

Whoa, that’s getting waaay ahead of ourselves … let’s look back.

May 23, 1843, Elders Benjamin F Grouard, Addison Pratt, Noah Rogers and Knowlton F Hanks, intending for the Hawaiian Islands, set sail as the first Mormon missionaries to the Pacific Islands. Rather than Hawai’i, they ended up in the Solomon Islands. (Cluff)

In 1846, Elder Grouard married Ana, a local chieffess; a few years later, on September 20, 1850, Frank Grouard was born. A couple years later (1852,) the Grouards and Pratts left Polynesia. In California, young Grouard was turned over to Addison and Louisa Pratt, for care. (His own mother had returned to the islands and later died; Elder Grouard died in 1894.) (Trowse)

The Pratts, with Grouard, emigrated to Utah. Grouard ran away and at the age of nineteen, ended up a Pony Express mail carrier … “out West” through hostile Indian Country (between California and Montana.) (Trowse)

“During one of his trips on a lonely trail he was captured by Crow Indians and taken prisoner. The Crows took him many miles from the road, and in a lonely forest, stripped off his clothes and possessions, then released him to wander alone.”

“He wandered, cold and hungry, a piece of fur for clothing, eating grasshoppers and other bugs for food. When he had given up hope of surviving, he was discovered by a group of Sioux Indians. Because of his expressions of aloha, they took a liking to him.” (Kuakoa, September 30, 1876; Krauss)

There were two factions in the camp – one led by Chief Sitting Bull, the other led by Chief Crazy Horse. Grouard was held for nearly seven years, during the first two of which he was practically a prisoner.

He all but became an Indian, and, though he declared he never, as an Indian, fired upon a white man, he took part in scores of battles against other enemies of the Sioux and in hundreds of forays after game and the horses and cattle of settlers. (Trowse)

“The Sioux took him into a heavily forested area where he was cared for. Chief Sitting Bull adopted him to be his own child of his own blood but with a different language. He grew in stature to be greatly admired by the Indians for his skill and wit.” (Kuakoa, September 30, 1876; Krauss)

He was given the name ‘Standing Bear.’

“In a very short time, he became one of the best riders of wild Indian horses and he became one of the best shots. For nine years he lived with the Indians, his manner becoming much like them.” (Kuakoa, September 30, 1876; Krauss)

He learned the landscape, customs and traditions – all the while constantly on alert to escape captivity. Around age 26, he eventually escaped from his Indian captors. Then, Grouard became an Indian Scout in the American Army under General George Crook, fighting Sioux Indians.

Almost every summer for nearly a dozen years, Grouard was in the field as a scout, commanding as many as 500 scouts and friendly Indians with all the Indian fighters who made reputations in subduing the Indians. He was wounded many times, suffered almost incredible hardships, saved small armies on several occasions and often saved the lives of individual men and officers.

He never led a party to disaster, was invariably chosen to head any “forlorn hope” enterprise or to make any particularly perilous ride; with Grouard, victory followed victory. Gen. Crook never wearied of telling anecdotes of Grouard and praising his favorite. (Trowes)

Crook noted, “he would sooner lose one-third of any command than lose Grouard and accredits him as the greatest scout and rider and one of the best shots and bravest men that ever lived.” (Berndt)

By February 1876, believing there was peace, many Indians were leaving the reservations in search of food. Orders had been given by the American government to return, but they did not take it seriously. General Crook began his winter march from Fort Fetterman, March 1, 1876 with many companies of troops.

When Sitting Bull learned that Grouard was the scout for General Crook, he saw the chance to kill Grouard in battle. By March 17, Grouard located Crazy Horse’s village on the Powder River in Montana. (Dodson) In May 1876, in preparation for the summer campaign, the Army was fitted out at Fort Laramie, Wyoming.

Fort Laramie, founded as a local trading post in 1834 at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers, soon served as a stop for folks emigrating West on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails (the westward migration peaked in 1850 with more than 50,000 traveling the trails annually.)

The US military purchased the post in 1849 and stationed soldiers there to protect the wagon trains. The US Civil War took soldiers away from it and other outposts. The Western migration continued. With the ending of the Civil War, soldiers came back. (Talbott)

Tension between the native inhabitants of the Great Plains and the encroaching settlers resulted in a series of conflicts … this eventually led to the Sioux Wars. The most notable fight, fought June 25–26, 1876, was the Battle of Little Big Horn (Lt Col George Armstrong Custer lost – Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and others won.) (Grouard was not involved in that fight.)

Most native Americans were confined to reservations by 1877. In September 1877, Chief Crazy Horse left the reservation and General Crook had him arrested. When Crazy Horse saw he was being led to a guard house, he resisted and was stabbed to death by a guard. (Denardo)

In the fall of 1877, Sitting Bull headed north to Canada; life there was tough and in 1881 he surrendered to the US. In 1889 Sitting Bull was shot by Police. (NPS)

Grouard continued in the service of the US government until the end of the Indian Wars. Frank Grouard died at St. Louis, Missouri in 1905 where he was eulogized as a “scout of national fame”.

“To him perhaps more than to any other one man is due the early reclamation of that rich section of the mainland embraced in South Dakota, a large part of Montana, the whole of Northern Nebraska, and the whole of Northern Wyoming. Let us, then, write him as a factor – a Polynesian factor – in the making of the nation of nations.” (Trowse)

(There is conflicting information on the ethnicity of Grouard – Kuakoa reported in 1876 that Grouard was half-Hawaiian; he, himself, claimed to be “partial Hawaiian” (Dobson) and he told Trowse that his mother was a “woman of the Sandwich Islands”. (Trowse) Several others note he was son of a chiefess from the Solomon or ‘Friendly’ Islands (Tonga.))

There is more to the story … After serving with the Confederate Army during the Civil War, John Carpenter Hunton came West to work at Fort Laramie. His brother James came to join him in 1876; James’ headstone tells the rest of his history that ended later that year – “Killed by Indians”.

As noted above, the Sioux Wars military campaign provisioned at Fort Laramie, prior to heading north to South Dakota and Montana. Hunton was fort sutler (providing provisions out of the camp post) – Hunton and Grouard were at the fort at the same time, so it is likely they met.

They had closer ties than that. Hunton lived with/was married to LaLie (sister to fellow scout (and half-breed) Baptiste Garnier (Little Bat.)) LaLie later left Hunton and married Grouard – that marriage didn’t last either, and she left Grouard, too.

Oh, one other ‘rest of the story’ … John Hunton is Nelia’s Great Great Uncle. On a number of ocassions, we visited Fort Laramie and the John and James Hunton gravesites in Wyoming.

December 29, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Wounded Knee

Nearly two centuries before the trouble at Pine Ridge, South Dakota began, the Sioux tribes left their historical homelands at the headwaters of the Mississippi River and moved westward to the great plains of Nebraska and the Dakotas.

One reason for their departure was that their enemies, the Ojibwas, had obtained firearms from the French and thus made life uncomfortable for the Sioux.

Another reason for the move to the great plains was the abundance of buffalo discovered there. In the early 1700s, the Sioux acquired the horse and this gave them great mobility, especially for hunting and war-making activities and their territory extended from Minnesota to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Yellowstone River to the Platte River.

The Sioux were quick to see the value and potential of the hundreds of miles of open range available to them. They were proud and powerful warriors and maintained their mastery over the region. (Alexander Kelley)

In 1868, government policy was implemented that was designed to bring all Plains Indian tribes under direct control of the government in Washington. In April of that year, the Sioux signed a treaty which stated optimistically at its outset, “From this day forth, all wars between the parties of this agreement shall cease forever.”

The treaty required the Sioux to give up a large part of their land in return for a guarantee that the rest of their land (portions of South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming) would be “set apart for their absolute and undisturbed use and occupation.” The government abandoned three forts on the Bozeman Trail, but established Indian agencies and agents. (Alexander Kelley)

In December of 1890, approximately 350 to 375 Sioux men, women, and children under the leadership of Chief Big Foot journeyed from the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation at the invitation of Chief Red Cloud to help make peace between the non-Indians and Indians.

The journey of Chief Big Foot and his band of Minneconjou Sioux occurred during the Ghost Dance Religion period when extreme hostility existed between Sioux Indians and non-Indians residing near the Sioux reservations, and the US Army assumed control of the Sioux reservations.

Chief Big Foot and his band were intercepted on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation at Porcupine Butte, surrendered unconditionally under a white flag of truce, and were escorted to Wounded Knee Creek, on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the US state of South Dakota. (Congress)

However, Sitting Bull, “being in open rebellion against constituted authority, was defying the Government, and encouraging disaffection, made it necessary that he be arrested and removed from the reservation.”

At daybreak, a force of thirty-nine policemen and four volunteers (one of whom was Sitting Bull’s brother-in-law, ‘Gray Eagle’) was dispatched to the Standing Rock Reservation.

Sitting Bull accepted his arrest quietly at first, but then got stubborn and refused to accompany them. The policemen took him out of the house; but, getting outside, they found themselves completely surrounded by Sitting Bull’s followers, all armed and excited. (Eye witness account by McLaughlin, Indian Agent, 1891)

“While the troops were searching for arms among the Indians’ tepees at Wounded Knee, Dec. 29 (1890,) the Indians suddenly attacked them. The soldiers turned on them with machine guns and rifles, almost abandoning tactics in their wrath at the treachery of the savages.” (Daily Bulletin, January 9, 1891)

“The wounded Indians lying on the battle-field fought like fiends. They continued shooting until they were killed or their ammunition was exhausted. There were many single-handed ferocious combats between wounded soldiers and Indians.” (Daily Bulletin, January 9, 1891)

A few minutes later, the plain was covered with the dead and dying. More Indians had been killed there than in any fight for the thirty years preceding. (Alexander Kelley)

“The result was the killing of thirty men and three officers and about 160 Indians. The fight was a hot one and no mercy was shown on either side. It is now reported that the Sioux tribe numbering about 3,000 warriors has left the Agency and gone on the warpath, notwithstanding, a dreadful blizzard is and has been raging for some days past.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 9, 1891)

Historians regard the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre as the last armed conflict between Indian warriors and the US Cavalry which brought to a close an era in the history of this country commonly referred to as the Indian wars period characterized by an official government policy of forcibly removing the Indian tribes and bands from the path of westward expansion and settlement through placement on reservations. (Congress)

As a time comparison (and not associated with Wounded Knee,) failing health for some months made it seem advisable that King Kalākaua should seek to regain it by a voyage to the more bracing climate of California, and inspired with this hope, he left his kingdom in November (1890.) The voyage and change of circumstances at first seemed to benefit him. (Privy Council)

“The United States steamer Charleston, with King Kalākaua, of Hawaii, on board, entered the harbor at 11 o’clock this morning. Colonel McFarlane, chamberlain to King Kalākaua, stated that the king visited California for the benefit of his health and eyesight, which is somewhat impaired.”

“The king would probably remain in California five or six weeks, and during that period would visit the southern part of the state, but would not go east. The king is accompanied only by Colonel McFarlane and a few servants.” (Los Angeles Herald, December 5, 1890)

On December 18, the Daily Alta California announced that local favorites from San Francisco and Oakland would be competing in the baseball game, which would be held December 20 at the Haight Street grounds, where the bleachers could seat 14,000 fans.

The king and his party arrived at 2:15 pm. The band played ‘Hawaii Ponoʻi’ and the game began. Despite a triple by Picked Nine right fielder Ebright, the All-Californians won 12-8. The king did not stay for the whole game. He was a sick man suffering from kidney disease. (San Jose Mercury News)

Then, the sad news …

“The announcement yesterday of the death of King Kalākaua fell like a clap of thunder from the skies. Although we all knew that he was not a well man when he left here and that he had in his system a most insidious disease …”

“… yet the reports of the decided improvement in his health from the voyage over and the bracing climate of California deceived us as to his frail hold on life.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 30, 1891)

“He passed away at exactly 2:35 pm of Tuesday, January 20, 1891 … Kalākaua I was buried with great state on February 15th, 1891, another guest in that mausoleum which is so fast filling with the mortal remains of Hawaiian royalty. His sister Liliʻuokalani reigns in his stead”. (Gowen)

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Gen Brooks camp at Pine Ridge Agcy S.D.

Sioux camp scene, ca. 1880 (National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution – P22843)

Photograph of the Mass Burial at Wounded Knee, January 1, 1891

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Wounded Knee sign

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May 4, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Killed By Indians’

“The red skins are on the war path, and are amusing themselves with scalping Black Hills immigrants. On May 6 they made (their) appearance near Fort Laramie.”

“Upwards of 35 head of cattle were driven off. Massacres have been committed in Red canon, and three fights have occurred, in which the Indians were repulsed. The Black Hills miners have something to do besides digging gold.” (Northern Tribune, May 20, 1876)

“The Indians run off thirty-one head of horses and mules from Hunton’s ranche, belonging to Col. Bullock, of Cheyenne, and Mr. John Hunton, yesterday.” (Nebraska Advertiser, May 11, 1876)

“A courier has just arrived at this post from Hunton’s ranch with news that the body of James Hunton had been found. It is completely riddled with bullets, and moccasin and pony tracks in the vicinity of where he was found show that the victim was chased some distance by twenty-five Indians and finally surrounded and was shot at leisure.”

“Mr. Hunton was a prominent and highly esteemed frontiersman, and the murder causes great excitement. Scattering bands of hostile Sioux have even come within four miles of the fort the past few days, and we expect more of their bloody work at any moment.” (Cincinnati Daily Star, May 8, 1876)

His headstone simply says, “James Hunton – Killed by Indians – May 4, 1876 – Aged 24 yrs”.

“Prior to the spring of the year 1867, there were no white inhabitants living within the area of what is now Platte County, Wyoming, except a few, less than ten, along the Oregon Trail from the Platte river valley east of Guernsey”. (John Hunton)

“In the spring and early summer of 1868 the Government, having induced the Indians to consent to be moved to White Clay River, near Fort Randall on the Missouri River; then to concentrate into one large camp east of Ft Laramie about 8-miles”. John Hunton)

Tension between the native inhabitants of the Great Plains and the encroaching settlers resulted in a series of conflicts … this eventually led to the Sioux Wars.

The most notable fight, fought June 25–26, 1876, was the Battle of Little Big Horn (Lt Col George Armstrong Custer lost – Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and others won.)

In the fall of 1877, Sitting Bull headed north to Canada; life there was tough and in 1881 he surrendered to the US. In 1889 Sitting Bull was shot by Police. (NPS)

OK, back to Hunton and a connection (although indirect) to the Islands.

“James Hunton, a brother of John was killed (and scalped.) His body was found eight miles from the ranche, at Goshen Hole, and brought into the ranche last night, by JH Owens, of Chug spring’s ranche, and Little Bat, a hunter and scout.” (Nebraska Advertiser, May 11, 1876)

His brother John provides a description of what happened, “James Hunton, my brother, left Bordeaux, my home, on the afternoon of that day (May 4, 1876) to go to the ranch of Charles Coffee on Boxelder Creek about 14 miles east of Bordeaux, to get a horse he had traded for.”

“While going down through ‘the Notch’ in Goshen Hole, about half way between the two places, he was waylaid, shot and killed by five Indian boys who were out on a horse stealing expedition.”

“The Indians then went to my ranch at Bordeaux after night and rounded up, stole and drove off every head of horse and mules (38) I owned except my saddle horse, which I had with me at Fort Fetterman, where I received the news by telegraph the evening of the 6th.”

“The horse my brother was riding ran and the Indians could not catch him and the next morning was seen on top of the bluff east of the ranch. Blood in the saddle told the tale and a searching party found the body that afternoon.” (John Hunton)

The Sioux Wars military campaign provisioned at Fort Laramie, prior to heading north to South Dakota and Montana. John Hunton was fort sutler (providing provisions out of the camp post.)

John Hunton lived with/was married to LaLie (sister to fellow scout (and half-breed) Baptiste Garnier (Little Bat – the scout who helped bring James Hunton’s body back to the Hunton ranch.))

(I don’t mean to be repetitive, I just want you to remember that LaLie was Little Bat’s sister.) LaLie later left Hunton and married Frank Grouard – that marriage didn’t last either, and she left Grouard, too.

The Grouard family lived in Utah; Frank ran away from home and at the age of nineteen, ended up a Pony Express mail carrier … “out West” through hostile Indian Country (between California and Montana.) (Trowse)

Kuakoa tells us the Hawai‘i/Polynesia link … “A Hawaiian by the name of Frank Grouard (Standing Bear) is living as a scout in the American Army under General Crook, fighting Sioux Indians.”

“During one of his trips on a lonely trail (Grouard) was captured by Crow Indians and taken prisoner. The Crows took him many miles from the road, and in a lonely forest, stripped off his clothes and possessions, then released him to wander alone.”

He learned the landscape, customs and traditions – all the while constantly on alert to escape captivity. Around age 26, he eventually escaped from his Indian captors. Then, Grouard (Standing Bear) became an Indian Scout in the American Army under General George Crook, fighting Sioux Indians.

OK, one other bit to this story … John and James Hunton are Nelia’s Great Great Uncles.