Posting here is kind of like the analogy of finding a flower growing out of a tiny crevice at the top of a bare rock at the edge of the desert. It's just there. Probably won't be seen, but the flower enjoys blooming anyway.
So, this it is a good place to post beloved trivia surrounding our Lord Jesus Christ that might not be of interest in other places.
Sitting Bull since my earliest days has been a person the Americans and Europeans have continued to obsess upon some 108 years after his horrifying murder.
Factually proven history surrounding sitting bull.
There was a band of HIGHLY spirit-filled saint-like catholic (of all things, how they managed to stay that way under the Pope's rules, I don't know, but they did, believe it) priests, who were the legacy of the same band of the Society of Jesus monks (Jesuits, of all things) who did the enormous evangelizing work in Paraguay (per the movie the Mission--highly recommended movie.)
Anyway, in l823 a very young apparently Marlon Brando look-alike Belgium priest got here with other french and belgium monks and made their life work the salvation of the American Indians. They were assigned all of the reservations along the Columbia river west of St. Louis. That took in about every single buffalo hunting Indian tribe.
Father DeSmet very soon networked into the Sioux. His major convert was Two Bears (shot to death over a pathetic lame cow in the first atrosity of the "Indians Wars", there in Laramie in l851. Then the most vocal convert of all was head of the whole Yankton Sioux, whose name for the first time excapes me. His indian name was Pannanopie, or something, but his American name was something much like Two Bears. Anyway, soon Sitting Bull entered Father DeSmets world, or visa versa, and on the Powder River in l868, DeSmet and an ex-major went alone to meet with all of the forces of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. As DeSmet wrote his incredibaly detailed memoires, he used only the Indian names of the major warriors. They were not yet renamed, many of them, due to notarity in the press. So his writings record their indian name and exact little band they were living in , and where and when he met with them, and how manyh of the children the men in charge asked him to baptise. Usually ALL children under 10.
This is all just factual historical background. I'm not making up or quoting fables.
During this time on the Powder DeSmets life was in great danger because many of the braves in their 20s wanted to kill anytihing white just to get a tiny bit of vengance. so, Sitting Bull had his teepee placed a few feet outside of Sitting Bulls front door flap on his teeppe. There De Smet said he slept like a baby, surrounded by over 4,000 of the fiercest fighting machines the world had ever seen, given the weapons.
He also spoke to the "younger braves of stature in the band." Since that most certainly would be Crazy Horse, absolutely, who was undoubedly given the job of personal protector of De Smet.
After three days of discussing the new army ideas of what the indians should do, and three full days of spiritual discussions of the four main chiefs, Crazy Horse and the younger shirt bearers, and Father DeSmet and his famous Major Gaulpin, I think, nad Gaulpin's pure Sioux wife who spoke also fluid English and of course Sioux, well, the reason I'm writing all this is because DeSmet records that at that point Sitting Bull gave his word that he would obey the teachings of the son of the Great Spirit (Great Spirit Himself) and raise his hand no more to tkae the blood of the white man, but to try and do it God's way, in so many words.
Now, for serious and knowledgable Plains Indians Freaks such as myself, it may totally blow you away to know just WHO Sitting Bull assigned as one of the four personal escourted east out of the hostile indian country. Guess. GALL. The one and only.
And more amazing than anything, Gall is not an indian name. I was wondering about that and looked it up and found that St. Gall was very important to the particular priests of the Society of JEsus. I think it may be that DeSmet named Gall, Gall.
We know that after that Sitting Bull left a very famous note on the Black Hill path for the army, miners, scouts, whatevaer: "What are you doing here? This is our Black Hills and (God) lives here. Leave all of your weapons and food and go away. Your friend, Sitting Bull"
Today the History channel is going through Custer's last stand again, and this comes up over and over over, over over. WHY Sitting Bull didn't join the battle. White man and Indian man alike have a 1000 theories. The fact? He was sitting on the hill praying his head off to God the Father, keeping his word to Father DemSmet and God that he would never again raise his hand to take the blood of the white man. Because he didn't think he should.
I have those pages of DeSmet's personal narratives written mostly for the benefit of his favoritesuperiors, and mostly his very beloved younger niece and newphew in Belgium, all photocopied for reference.
When you look very closely at all of the lives the humans still look at with wonder--William Wallace, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, a hundred others, you will always scratch away the pagan surface details and looking deeper, find JEsus Christ.
It helps to keep me focused to keep remembering these wondrous facts.
Would anyone be interested to know what the Army Archive records record that the last comment of Sitting Bull was? When they demanded he dress and be brought to the station house for some horrible end?
"I don't have time for you. I am going to Pine Ridge now to see God." (They were ghost dancing and waiting for Jesus to come get them. Even our pagan army records couldnt' bury that.)
I never edit, and writing all of this is tedious anyway. I hope whoever can benefit from this priceless little bar of lost gold will benefit from it. I have found such knowledge indeed the same as having a stash of hidden gold. From my intense detective work, it appears without a possible doubt that Crazy Horse, perhaps the most beautiful human being God ever created in many, many ways,(being in my mind the quintessential Poor Knight of the Temple of Jerusalem equivalent in the Sioux world) was among ALL of the children under 10 that Old Smoke had rounded up and brought to Father DeSmet to be sure they were baptised at the LArmaie gathering of l851. It is just almost proven fact, since Crazy Horse absolutely was in Old Smokes Band that year and for several more.
It is all very, very interesting.
Then you REALLY get into Black Elk and look under the surface and the whole thing goes off the reichter scale as far as what really was going on versus what we think we know. |
