Little Wolf
The following is from Charles Alexander Eastman whose given name as a Dakota Indian was Ohiyesa. He lived from 1858 to 1939, graduated from Boston Medical School in 1890 and became a practicing physician.
If any people ever fought for liberty and justice, it was the Cheyenne. If any ever demonstrated their physical and moral courage beyond cavil, it was this race of purely American heroes, among whom Little Wolf was a leader.
I knew the chief personally very well. As a young doctor, I was sent to the Pine Ridge agency in 1890, as a government physician to the Sioux and the Northern Cheyenne. While I heard from his own lips of that gallant dash of his people from their southern exile to their northern home, I prefer that Americans should read of it in Doctor George Bird Grinnell’s book, “The Fighting Cheyennes.” No account could be clearer or simpler; and then too, the author cannot be charged with a bias in favor of his own race.
At the time that I knew him, Little Wolf was a handsome man, with the native dignity and gentleness, musical voice, and pleasant address of so many brave leaders of his people. One day when he was dining with us at our home on the reservation, I asked him, as I had a habit of doing, for some reminiscences of his early life. He was rather reluctant to speak, but a friend who was present contributed the following…
Continue reading about Little Wolf here.
Charles Alexander Eastman’s biography is here.
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