Chief ten bears biography of albert

There has been trouble on the line between us, and my young men have danced the war dance. But it was not begun by us. It was you who sent out the first soldier and who sent out the second… Since that time there has been a noise like that of a thunderstorm. During his lifetime, Ten Bears participated in many treaty negotiations. He is known to have visited Washington D.

Skip to content Home Maps Posts by date Posts by name. Ten Bears Image credit: Comanche Nation. Like Loading Leave a comment Cancel reply. Previous Previous post: Margaret Owens. Next Next post: Frankie McWhorter. He was the leader of the Ketahto "The Barefeet" local group of the Yamparika, probably from the late s. The ethnonym group nameYamparika or "Root Eater" Comanche was known to the Spaniards of New Mexico as early as the s, but until aboutthey were generally north of the Arkansas River and so were chief ten bears biography of albert specifically mentioned in Spanish documents.

After that time, with the advance of Cheyennes Comanche: paka naboo 'striped arrows'and Cuampes, likely Arapahossome Yamparika local groups, including the Ketahto, relocated to the valley of the North Canadian River in New Mexico and Texas. Ten Bears was orphaned as a baby when his family group was murdered by Lakotas. Later Comanche oral history states that in his young adult years, he was noted for leading horse-mounted spear attacks on Lakota villages.

Ten Bears was a key-figure in making peace between the Comanches and the Utes in In the Yamparika chief, Ten Bears, was one among the principal promoters together with the Kiowa chiefs Dohasan and Satank and the Arapaho Hosa Little Raven of the peace and large alliance between the Comanche and Kiowa alliance and the Cheyenne and Arapaho alliance after the Cheyenne and Arapaho's victory at Wolf Creek during the spring Ten Bears first came to the attention of Anglo-Americans in when he, among others, signed the Treaty of Fort Atkinson.

The error was corrected in the revision of the treaty. Ten Bears became the principal Yamparika chief about after the death of the man known to Anglos as 'Shaved Head' Wulea-boopossibly a Kotsoteka rather than a Yamparika Comanche ; the latter's Comanche name is uncertain as there were several men whom Anglos called by that name. Inalong with a delegation of Western Indians, including Southern Cheyennes, Southern Arapahoes, and Kiowas, Ten Bears visited Washington, but he was unable to get any major concessions for his people from the U.

In NovemberTen Bears was the chief of the Yamparika Comanches nearest the ruins of the Bent brothers' old adobe trading post the first Adobe Walls, Texasbuilt ca when troops under Col. Christopher 'Kit' Carson attacked a nearby Kiowa village. Warriors from Ten Bear's village led the counterattack which drove off Carson's men, although one of Ten Bears' sons, Ekamoksu 'Red Sleeve' was killed.

The treaty created a reservation for the Comanches encompassing the entire panhandle of Texas. This was problematic, as the Federal government did not then "own" that territory and therefore could not reserve it: the Republic of Texas was annexed to the United States inbut the Republic did not recognize any native land claims within its borders — this opinion was based on a faulty reading of Spanish and Mexican law and therefore in there were no "federal" versus "state" owned lands within the boundaries of Texas which the Government could "reserve" to the Native Americans.

Two years later, at the October Medicine Lodge Treaty Conference, Ten Bears and other Yamparikas as well as a few other Comanches but none of the newly emergent Kwahada division, who were delayed by sicknessagreed to a smaller reservation in western Indian territory of Oklahoma. My heart is filled with joy when I see you here, as the brooks fill with water when the snow melts in the spring; and I feel glad, as the ponies do when the fresh grass starts in the beginning of the year.

I heard of your coming when I was many sleeps away, and I made but a few camps when I met you. I know that you had come to do good to me and my people. I looked for benefits which would last forever, and so my face shines with joy as I look upon you. My people have never first drawn a bow or fired a gun against the whites. There has been trouble on the line between us and my young men have danced the war dance.

But it was not begun by us. It was you to send the first soldier and we who sent out the second. I looked for benefits which would last forever, and so my face shines with joy as I look upon you. My people have never first drawn a bow or fired a gun against the whites.

Chief ten bears biography of albert: Ten Bears was the principal

There has been trouble on the line between us and my young men have danced the war dance. But it was not begun by us. It was you to send the first soldier and we who sent out the second. Two years ago I came upon this road, following the buffalo, that my wives and children might have their cheeks plump and their bodies warm. But the soldiers fired on us, and since that time there has been a noise like that of a thunderstorm and we have not known which way to go.

So it was upon the Canadian. Nor have we been made to cry alone. The blue dressed soldiers and the Utes came from out of the night when it was dark and still, and for camp fires they lit our lodges. Instead of hunting game they killed my braves, and the warriors of the tribe cut short their hair for the dead. So it was in Texas. They made sorrow come in our camps, and we went out like the buffalo bulls when the cows are attacked.

When we found them, we killed them, and their scalps hang in our lodges. The Comanches are not weak and blind, like the pups of a dog when seven sleeps old. They are strong and farsighted, like grown horses. We took their road and we went on it. The white women cried and our women laughed. But there are things which you have said which I do not like.

They were not sweet like sugar but bitter like gourds. You said that you wanted to put us upon reservation, to build our houses and make us medicine lodges.

Chief ten bears biography of albert: Dances With Wolves is

I do not want them. I was born on the prairie where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no inclosures [sic] and where everything drew a free breath. I want to die there and not within walls. I know every stream and every wood between the Rio Grande and the Arkansas. I have hunted and lived over the country.

I lived like my fathers before me, and like them, I lived happily. When I was at Washington the Great Father told me that all the Comanche land was ours and that no one should hinder us in living upon it. So, why do you ask us to leave the rivers and the sun and the wind and live in houses? Do not ask us to give up the buffalo for the sheep.

Chief ten bears biography of albert: Ten Bears became the principal Yamparika

The young men have heard talk of this, and it has made them sad and angry. Do not speak of it more. I love to carry out the talk I got from the Great Father. When I get goods and presents I and my people feel glad, since it shows that he holds us in his eye. If the Texans had kept out of my country there might have been peace. But that which you now say we must live on is too small.