America's Great Indian Leaders

America's Great Indian Leaders

1994, History  -   103 Comments
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The great herds that covered the prairies are no more. Along with their guns and disease the Europeans brought hearts formed on conquest and fortunes built on ownership of the Earth. They could not understand the Indian who lived upon the world, taking life from it as the birds of the forest. After the whites drew their lines on paper, and so made their new country, the Indian lands were trampled under the feet of immigrants more plentiful than the Buffalo.

The mighty nations of the East were rubbed out leaving only their names on the white man's maps. By the white man's year of 1861 there were 31 million Europeans on Indian soil. Their Pony Express raced from St. Louis to Sacramento in the passing of only ten days and the talking wires were strung across their land.

The time had come to face the vanishing of the Indian world. Many went quietly to the reservations, yet some chose to fight even in the face of so many foes with such ferocious weapons. And so the last great leaders rose to take their people to safety or to strike back.

Crazy Horse was a quiet man but very brave and courageous. He lived in a time when war was necessary to protect the very existence of his people and his family. Chief Joseph was the diplomat of the "Nez Perce" nation, a great heart who always spoke for peace. He tried to lead his people to another place where they could live in their way. But at the end his heart and spirit were broken. Geronimo was a great medicine man whose magic allowed him to hide from the armies of two nations. When his people were pursued they would run deep into the canyons and turn themselves into a rock, a tree, or a cactus.

Quanah Parker realized they were in a time of change. He knew that warfare no longer worked for his people so he made the transition to being a statesman and he chose to walk the path between two worlds. This is the story of these last great leaders and their peoples at the end of their time of freedom.

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Michel Marion
Michel Marion
3 years ago

Since the day they set foot on this land, the settlers screwed the native americans over and over and over again, just like the spanish and portuguese conquistadors did in south america to the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas and they all did it for one thing...greed and power (all types) . It started out as a discovery of the "New World" but in reality it was church/king/queen sanctionned torture, rape, pillage and murder and annihilation of people and civilizations who were far more advanced in architecture, civil and agricultural engineering and general science than one might think. Then later on when the english and french settlers arrived in North America, they and their descendants did the exact same thing to the native americans...it's as simple as that. The veil of shame is always hidden by the flags of conquerors with tales of adventures and glorious achievements, it's just that they usually don't let everyone in on how they got there and everything else that happened along the way...they usually give you the light version.

Lynne
Lynne
6 years ago

Loosing it here.
I am reminded of a program where they took two trips across the same land and the history had two stories. One white and one native.
The whites talked about the wars and wipeing torture,in slaving and killing. That in many cases how bad went to worse.
Then they took the native tour. It started with " first you have to remember it was a different time with different belief's. Then a long talk on how the Natives beliefs lead to what the whites saw as torture.
Old Chris did not come here to take over. He was looking to get to China by water. And he was one rotten to EVERYONE. He was sent back in chains. He never got passed to islands in 4 trips.
No he nor the men did not have guns. The first gun used was 1505 and that in Spain. And you might want to look up how long it took to make just one gun. And how much it cost. And how many wars were going on. And how long they stayed at war.
And let's talk about illnesses. Look again a d you find 90% of the world's population was wiped out at that time by there was no cure for. And if you look again you will find that two illnesses are still killing millions today. Both from Natives here.
Now it was Spain and Portugal that came to South America,Central America and Mexico. While the Dutch and French went into Hudson Bay and the lakes. English showed up in 1600 s. The first disappeared.To this day no one has a answer to that.
1607 Jamestown. They did not get greeted by helpful friendly Natives. One ship was attacked right off bat. Smith was taken and held and taken tribe to tribe to be killed at end but was let go. And you might look up the Starving Winter. This being the Natives killing anyone trying to get water(as theirs was poison) or hunt for food.
Now according to the native stories there were many tribes with each having their own Chief to make a nation which was one Chief.
Now comes a problem that happens from then forward. Big Chief makes deal and goes to the others and there is always someone who says no. And in this case the stories go that the head Chief let's them attack the English. And when the English ask what is going on. Chief just says he can't get them to listen the English will have to take care of the problem. Nice guy.
It works it self for years. That Chief dies and his brother ( who hates the English) takes over with a plan. They pretend to be friends while they get together to be able to wipe out all at once inside and outside. So like Pearl Harbor the Natives come into Jamestown one day to trade and attack killing 348 men,women and children. Natives believing they were Christians saved who they could and waited for the next ship to come.
Accounts show that there were 8,000 that came but they never could keep 1,000 alive at the same time till after 1622.
Now we got the Pilgrims in 1620 who already know what the Natives did to Jamestown. They have left to late. And find themselves lost and starving. 102 passengers and not all are Pilgrims. The Pilgrim's came with their wife s and kids and pg. The rest were company men.
So they land in wrong spot but go looking for food because they are dieing.T hey come across a village were everyone is been dead so long they are all bones and mostly lay were they had fallen. They found some food and were attacked and ran back to the ships.
They spent sometime looking for a place to bring the people to land. They found place which turn out to be the land of the tribe of which only one native was left. He came forward and told them they would be safe there.
They started building as it was winter and they needed place for woman and children. But most were dieing already.
To not let the Natives know how many there were left the dead and dieing would be set by trees and buildings with guns. The woman covered the children to keep them warm. Most the woman froze to death. By the end of the first winter only 47 were alive. Most were children.
The ship had stayed to house them till they built something. It was heading back but had lost some of its crew to cold and hunger as well.
The Pilgrims gave the ship what they could to go back with for them and the company but it wasn't much.
The one English speaking native had his own reason for helping. See again there are these many tribes with many Chiefs. But they got a few who have band together who demanded payment for their protection. Of course most that protection was from them. You did not give up what they wanted. They just come in and kill and burn and took what they wanted and who they wanted.
The English speaking one decided that interpretation would allow him to start a fight and get even.
At the same time the English company unhappy with what was sent back divided that the problem was the Pilgrims were more worried about their families. So they sent a ship with just men. The Pilgrims found them bad and asked them to leave. They did only after they stole food and set up elsewhere where they began trading with Natives for food right down to their clothes were they were left to die.
The Pilgrims set up to walk into the bad tribes. But the English speaking one told them they were being set up. They killed the ones who were going to kill them.(the chiefs)
The other tribes said they would have to put those Chiefs heads on poles to stop the rest of the tribe from fighting.
Of course with children learning the language s. Well they let the adults know on both sides that he was not telling either side what the other was saying.
Now what you don't hear much about. For 30 years after there were no problems between them.
The hit the fan in the King Philip War(King Philip being a native). Seems the Natives once again felt they could pretend to be friends and kill all the whites on the coast. All they had to do was seek around getting all the tribes to fight and none to tell the whites.
The Natives attacked and the war went on 2 years. Damn near wiped out both sides. Took 10 years for both sides to recover.
Now there is one tribe in Southwest who has no problem bragging about the things they did to other tribes, Spanish or Mexicans as well as the whites.
Now when they wanted rid of the Apache. They went south and told the Missionaries how they wanted to be taught. And they wanted them to come up and build on this piece of land so they could learn.
So they come up and start building. The Apache tell them stop and get out. But the keep building. The Apache kill them. The Mexicans come up and go after the Apache killing all they find cutting the numbers down over half before they leave.
The land this tribe told the Missionaries they could have wasn't their but Apache land. This tribe knew what would happen.
This tribe had been setting tribes against one another for years with lie's. They let them fight each other and then go in when they stopped and wipe out what was left. And their cruelty and killing was so bad most were afraid of them to began with.
If you check you will find the Natives had been killing, in slaving, demanding those they kept to give up their language and beliefs and taking on theirs. Stealing their food and goods and leaving them to starve and taken over. Hundreds of tribes were gone in both America s.
Aztec's took over others to have their daily cut out hearts of men while alive religion. Tribes left alive were to proved for the main group or die . Take a look at the area they ruled.
The fact is Chris landed in South to something like 30 million(they were on decline at that time). And out guns to start within 30 years had South, Central America and Mexico shortly after they had gone up both coasts as well as the Mississippi claiming all while at war with France and England.
While you are at it take a look at treaties. In every case Some Chiefs would sign and take it back to the other Chiefs and a group would refuse and walk away and go on fighting. And of course the whites would take theirs back to Congress and sometimes they would vote a treaty down.
Then go read the Cherokee. Chiefs signed to sell the land. Land and 5 million dollars and they got to take their slaves.
The first that left had easy trips. But those finding out what they others had done felt they would be able to fix the mess and stay. It was late when they left and they lost many.
When they got to OKLA by Cherokee law they went about killing all the male's and the male heirs,even unto the new births of those who signed. That killing was going on even into the civil war as some hide.
The Main Chief moved by Washington DC for the rest of his life.
By the way part of that sale was the USA was only to help support for first year till they got going. We are still giving support.
The Natives reported casino profits in all the 2000s started at one billion and has done nothing but go up every year.
2015 reported over 35 billion. The USA GAVE another 20 billion. That did not count welfare or food stamps or medical. This for 5.5 million people by native count.
There are tribes that all are millionaires.
And one tribe has refused to take and give it's people the over billion sitting paid them.
There is a lot going on and the stories of each tribe are not the same.

john
john
6 years ago

We had to take there land so we could have woodstock in the 60s. Indian music just couldn't cut it with us hippies. They had to make room for Led Zeppelin and the Stones. But now we've giving them cool places to live and booze and even casinos. We have been pretty darn good to them. Not to saved them so they can all be our servants in heaven. Praise de Lawd.

Ozzie Sollien
Ozzie Sollien
8 years ago

Not being very knowledgeable about the relations between the different tribes in North America, there is still a question that has struck me: Why did the Sioux claim that the Black Hills belonged to them, when they took it by driving out the Crow, since they, themselves were driven out of Wisconsin by the Chippewas, as the Chippewas had guns bought from the white trappers? Then the Black Hills would not really have belonged to the Sioux, but to the Crow - or is it something I am missing - in which case the Sioux would not have a strong case about the whites being next in line to annex it? Just the next occupier, or is my information incorrect?

chris
chris
8 years ago

the strong win the war and wright the history books . its when they work out that they are not going to leave is when the fighting begins .

chris
chris
8 years ago

the strong win the war and wright the history books .

John forde
John forde
8 years ago

Only the strongest survive

armin1653
armin1653
9 years ago

The point is, so called Christians bougth slaves from whoever, you are right that Caucasians only been there for a short time, they have done more cruel and inhuman things no one else has done in their short span.

USA and & Canada have screwed the Indian and under Christianity have tried to educate their young ones by making laws that took their kids for education christian style, anyone that can take their young to see how Blacks are lynch is a true Christian, give me an amen.

Beyondmatter
Beyondmatter
9 years ago

History is the everlasting witness, pointing its finger towards the true terrorist: the white Christian man.From the americas, Australia, Africa, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Iraq, Afghanistan to the enslaved Black man.History is forever damning him,while he finds the audacity to point his finger to others.

Naidster Doolan
Naidster Doolan
9 years ago

It is so sad to hear about the fruitless struggle's the American Indians endured against the whites. My heart ached watching this documentary. I am an Indigenous Australian and my ancestors were treated just as cruelly by the British and other colonisers of this country. Many of my people died and suffered under their hands and to this day they still fight and suffer. I cannot understand the ignorance and lack of compassion for the Indigneous people of America not only by the government but ordinary citizens as well. I feel we will never have our traditional lands and rights back again as Indigenous peoples and that is a tragedy for mankind. The only consolation I see in this story is that the proud men who took a stand are still remembered clearly and will never be forgotten. Rest in peace dear chiefs for your lives were not in vain....the struggle continues and because of you the job is a little easier and familiar. I do not know anyone from your tribes and families but I felt a sense of pride in you, as human beings, because you proudly fought for what you believed in and stayed true to all that you represented.

Kat S
Kat S
9 years ago

I'm half Lakota (of the Sioux tribe) and still hate what Europeans have done to the Am. Indians. I found that much more of an atrocity than slavery, because it is still going on.

Gadea
Gadea
10 years ago

The American Indian was destroyed.
American Indian Reservations are chock full of alcoholics and rapist.
A lot of them women are physically beautiful and the men handsome.
But it does them no good.
They are a conquered people and behave as such.

rngfarrell
rngfarrell
10 years ago

"The great herds that covered the prairies are no more. Along with their guns and disease the Europeans brought hearts formed on conquest and fortunes built on ownership of the Earth. They could not understand the Indian who lived upon the world, taking life from it as the birds of the forest. After the whites drew their lines on paper, and so made their new country, the Indian lands were trampled under the feet of immigrants more plentiful than the Buffalo." - hate-mongering. This sets up a dichotomy of white vs. native, or unnatural vs. natural, or guilty vs. innocent.
As long as this kind of language is used we will never be free of hatred and racism. Is the agenda here really to document these great leaders, or is the documenting of these leaders just an advocating of white guilt?
I could be wrong and this could be a totally innocent documentary, but the language used in just the first paragraph of the description is so abhorrent that I cannot bring myself to watch it.

Terry Bell
Terry Bell
10 years ago

It is overly simplistic to think all Indians were good and all whites were bad. The reality is that there was enough bad to go around on both sides. Slaves? check out how the native tribes ravaged each other and enslaved each other. I agree, the whites weren't much better, if any. But what if the natives had won. Are you saying we'd all be better off now?
Personally one of my heroes is Quanah Parker. He was the real peace maker. We need more people like him today.

Terry Bell
Terry Bell
10 years ago

Does anybody who ever writes in this forums ever read any real history, or do you get it just from the comic books? How about some documentation for your ideas about killing off 90% of the native and enslaving the rest? Some documentation other than National Enquirer. How about some primary sources. Does anybody care to mention that most of the Eastern tribes were cannibalistic. And talk about slaves, they all enslaved each other. Yes, many things the white men did to them were wrong.... but what they were doing to each other wasn't all that great either.

~Oliver B Koslik Esq
~Oliver B Koslik Esq
10 years ago

I haven't watched this part of the series, but I remember it from high school.

A lthough in my personal opinion, it is in these lessons that we must learn, in order to progress from our background/old ways.

o n many levels we have leaders or heads we uphold. Political, religious, even social ones on Youtube. Whom neglect or even punk the lessons and examples (such as in this series) of violence, in history. Simply for the sake of dogma.

C urrently our leadership figures are some of the best we have. But still many continue to conduct themselves in methods proven to be antiquated.

Stable, sustainable progress takes time. It is important not to just too far ahead of what is viable. But as well accept what is constructive and useful to our community as a whole.

But most importantly to take the best of what everyone has to offer, in collaboration and activation of the greater good.

Society is evolving
+1 TDF

a_no_n
a_no_n
10 years ago

the history isn't very accurate at all.
the "Europeans" (i.e the british and the french and the dutch) were more than happy trading with the native tribes.
The whole reason that the thirteen colonies rebelled against England was because the colonists wanted to go after the rest of the native land, and the British wouldn't let them take it because it would mess up all their trade agreements.

don't try fobbing off the Yankee cleansing of America on the Europeans...we tried to stop them!